Hello

Hope you are all keeping warm. It's been so very cold here this week with a few frosty nights and biting cold breezes. No snow although we do live in hope.

We've had a fairly good week. Mum is so much better but still doesn't want to get up in the mornings. I don't blame her for not getting up out of a nice warm and cosy bed when she doesn't have to.

Where have I been this week that has been different from the usual? M and I went to my Aunties funeral which was a lovely service. It was a non-religious service (although she was a regular at the local Methodist church) but a celebration of her life. Afterwards we all met up at a quiet pub.

L and I went to a careers convention at her school. L got some great information on the different career paths she's interested in. I did too because in the not too distant future I will be looking a different and more fulfilling job and at the moment I don't know what I want to do or capable of.  The one thing that all the people we talked to said was that L had to work as hard as she could to get the best results she could for her English and Maths. Some things never change do they?

Who have I met? I met up with some of my cousins that I've not see for quite some time. It was so lovely to meet up again although it would have been much nicer had it been under different circumstances. Now we can keep in touch.

We met lots of interesting people at the careers convention. some I knew and some that we've met before.

What else have I done? I bought a dress pattern for L for the Gala and bought her crown from last years queen. She had two because the first one they bought was too big and didn't look right. Looks good on L. She's four years older so I suppose that makes quite a difference.
I've just finished a little blanket for my unborn niece. Will take pictures ready for next week. Some wonderful ladies at the craft club are still making the cuffs for the twiddle muffs so I've been decorating them again and want to finish them for a week on Thursday so that I can drop them off at the hospital's dementia unit when I have my eye check up.

That's my news for this week and now I need to get the roasties in the oven ready for L and M coming back from archery. The hall they shoot in is so very cold even though there is some heating on it just doesn't get warm.

Have a good week

Carolx

Emotional Roller Coaster

Hello

We are now heading into the third week of the new year and Christmas holidays fee such a distant memory.
We, really I should say, I have been on such a roller coaster this past two weeks.  The first week back at work and mum was very poorly and we had to persuade the Dr to come out and see mum as we just couldn't get her out of bed (and we didn't want to). We were so worried that we were loosing her. Anyway the Dr came and it turned out she had a bad chest infection and gave her some antibiotics. Woe they were good, We saw a difference in her after the fist dose. She is much recovered now and is to return to day care tomorrow. Also the same week mum's sister, who also had dementia (different type though) died and the funeral is tomorrow at St Anne's crematorium. Mum and dad are not going so I'm going in their place.

This past week L was chosen as our local Gala Queen and her friend S is Prince Charming. She is well pleased. We've already sorted the theme and design of the float (need agreement from the retinue mums yet) possible colour of costumes and the design of dress and cloak for L. It looks like it's going to be another super busy year, There are a lot more children in the retinue this year so hopefully there will be many willing hands to make the float (fingers crossed).

Oh no just spotted the time, must dash off to mum and dads to help feed mum her tea and give dad a break.

See you soon.

Carolx

Happy 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope you all had a very enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Our Christmas wasn't as planned but was very enjoyable all the same. L has had a lot of art homework to do over the holidays and has worked on it every day except Christmas day and Boxing day. Poor thing was so stressed about the amount she had to do so we broke it down into chunks. There is still a fair bit to do but the majority of it is done and there is still two more weeks to complete. It will be done if we keep chunking away.

Here are to pictures of the two bags I made for my baby nephew and niece. They were made from my scraps of fabric I already had and some that I was recently given. The embellishments were hand stitched (whilst watching TV) and then put together by machine. I filled them with age suitable gifts (not hand made)

I haven't made any resolutions again this year but I have made some goals. Last year I said I wanted to get rid of 365 things from the house. I think we made it I forgot to keep my records up to date and I want to continue with this again this year but try and be a bit mire ruthless. I feel I should adopt the motto of "More out, Less in". I have a plan to do, on average, 15 minutes a day on this project starting in one area at a time. I'm 45 mins behind already so my plan is to start today whilst L and M are at archery.

My other goal I want to do is to continue to loose weight. Last year I wanted to loose 2 stone before our holidays. I didn't achieve 2 stone but I still lost some. I'm down 2 dress sizes. My ultimate goal (not during this year) is to come off my diabetic medication. So far I've cut back on all the unhealthy carbs and having a small amount of the healthy ones. This has been hard over the holidays because we have more chocolate than ever before (should last us until Easter) and we didn't buy any of it.

Last year I had a goal of blogging more regularly but that didn't happen and won't happen for the time being (please keep popping by though) as helping dad with mum and working at lunch times (in school) and family life doesn't leave much time to spare. I will try to do at least one post per week.

Best wishes to you all and see you soon.

Carolx

  

Some Christmas Knits

My mums hands always feels cold and I remembered seeing old Steptoe (from the black and white comedy series Steptoe and Son - I hated that old man I though he was so creepy) wore fingerless gloves as does Auntie Wainwright from Last of the Summer Wine and it got me thinking and I gave it some more thought. I then trawled the internet for a pattern for fingerless gloves. I didn't want anything fancy or lacy just plain because all I wanted was the number of stitches as I could do the rest. I eventually found some and these are the fist ones I made in a really soft arran yarn, The colour is a mid blue but the light isn't good at the moment for taking picture. The background was a white table cloth. 

I've already given these to mum but they're too big but they will do for a couple more weeks because I've made another pair in double knitting and I'm just sewing up second pair. I think mum likes them because they only come off at bed time so extra ones are needed for the sake of washing.

This little cardigan is for my little nephew. His mum asked me to make it earlier this year but I was so busy with the twiddle muffs that I just didn't have time but said I would do it for Christmas.  The cardigan is the same arran as the gloves in the first picture.  The little dress is for my little niece and is done in double knitting (same lilac as the fringy gloves). If you click on the pictures they'll come up bigger so you can see the details more clearly. I'm in the middle of making a couple of little bags (will do a show and tell when they're finished) to put these in with another (bought) item. 

Time to start making tea and I don't know what we're having. Have to have a hunt in the freezer - plenty there.

Carolx

December Garden Surprises

I had a wonder around my small back garden this morning after hanging out the washing. It was cold, nearly frosty, but the sun was shining and it was lovely.

Come and see what I found

2 Alpine strawberries almost ready to eat. There was another hiding under a leaf ready to eat, not any more - delicious. I do love the delicate flavour of these but you do have to grow many for a dish full.

1 plum tomato that needs just a little more ripening. You can see the sun reflecting off the skin.

These are Nasturtiums. I pulled all the plants out early Autumn because I didn't want them to dropping too many seeds but because it's been so mild some seeds have sprouted.

Blueberries. These were very small so I left them for the bird but they're not interested - must be plenty of other food stuff about. I think I'll pick some over the weekend see what they're like.

This Fushia (not sure of the spelling} twig is from next door that grows right next to the fence and under it. Even so it's still flowering.

It feels really strange seeing these plants in December when they should all be asleep.

Does anyone else have plants in their garden that should be asleep but are not?

Carolx

Lets Party

Hello friends

First I need to welcome new follower John Grey. Nice to have you join us.

I'm joining Mum over at Simply Living in her virtual party today. Hope the rain stops soon.

I've brought a couple of guests that I found hanging around near the Blackpool Tower. Between you and me I think they missed the "Strictly Come Dancing " bus back to London last week.  Dame Shirley says she will provide the entertainment whilst Darcy said she would lead the dancing, Hope she's not got her score paddles with her.

I've brought a Victoria Sandwich with fresh cream, a few flaked almonds and blueberries. Will go nice with a nice cup of tea or even some Muscat wine.

 My lolly tree has been very popular in the past so I've made another. These are great especially if there are children or teens at a party. We went to a wedding in the summer and they had a sweet trolley with all kinds of sweets.
It's very easy to make this tree. I painted a clay pot with acrylic paint. I stuffed the inside with a piece of polystyrene. Next I uses a piece of thin rigid plastic tubing and pushed it into the polystyrene. Make sure it's standing straight. For the ball on top I used a brown oasis. I tried the green but it didn't work so good. Next I pushed in the lolly sticks. You can add many more if you like so that the oasis is hidden. To cover the polystyrene in the bottom of the pot I used candy covered sweets pierced with a cocktail stick and pushed them in. This also gives a bit more stability to the pot as it can be a bit top heavy.

I've borrowed a bouncy castle from my brother. The children can play during the day and use up all their energy and then whilst they're asleep under the table their parents can play on it in the evening. Oooooh so much fun to watch especially if too many cocktails have been consumed.

And as it's nearly Christmas I've borrowed L's white Santa hat. Oh my look at those rosy cheeks, looks like I've been on the pop already. Too early yet but maybe later.

 Hope everyone else is having fun. I'll pop by later. See you soon

Carolx

Armchair Shopping

Hello friends

I've not talked about my mum, on here much, because the the help I give both mum and dad is a daily thing like doing the washing and making dinner etc. and it dominates a lot of my time and thoughts as well as my my own family. However I've changed my mind because some of my followers have a direct connection with dementia or knows someone with dementia and as my mum is in the late stages of this dreadful disease I thought maybe some of our experiences might help others. There are many different types of dementia but I suspect that my mum's is Lewis Bodies which is linked to Parkinson's Disease but can only be fully diagnosed after an autopsy following death.

My mum has lost a lot of weight over this past year which is normal for dementia suffers but quite worrying for the carers. My mum has also lost the power of speech and is unable to communicate her feelings, wants or needs  so we don't know if or when she's hungry or full or just dislikes her food. Recently she's stopped chewing her food so all food has to be either very soft and mashed or puréed. When she pushes the plate/dish away is it because she is full or just doesn't like it? We don't know so we (me or dad) wait and try again and sometimes it works and she will take more food. Mum manages to feed herself her breakfast but we have to do lunch and tea between us.
Mum's Dr recently prescribed Complan as a food supplement as well as her meals in the hope that she'll gain a little bit of weight or a least gain some extra nutrients. She appears to be enjoying them.

Dad has had to learn to cook and made some lovely meals for them both. Now he makes a big pan of stew, mostly for mum, with lots of home grown veggies, mince (pork, turkey, lamb or beef) potatoes, sometimes lentils or beans and other bits and pieces. He then whizzes it in the blender.

After searching the internet for hint and tips we learnt some new tricks that might help mum with her food intake and nutrition. Adding milk powder to mash, soups and stews, puddings like yoghurt and custard, semolina and anything else it can be mixed with.

Sometimes it looks like mum has a problems with her swallowing reflex because she holds food in her mouth. Another tip we found on the internet was to alternated, every so often, hot food with cold. The cold could be a drink of fresh orange from the fridge or maybe a spoonful of ice cream/yoghurt/cold custard/puréed fruit. Apparently the difference between the hot (not too hot it burns of course) and cold stimulates the swallow reflex. It's also said that people with dementia develop a sweet tooth, my mum has, so there are suggestions of sweetening meals a little (sweet shepherds pie, yuk!) but if it gets them to take it. This is one we've not tried yet but not ruled out.

What's all this got to do with armchair shopping?
Well it's all down to the weight that mum's lost that most of her clothes are just way too big for her now. For many years mum has had catalogues and they're still arriving so dad has been looking through them and asked if I would help choose some stuff. I went round early on Friday morning before mum went to day care and had a look at some things and tried to involve her in choosing colours. I know the styles she likes so it was just a matter of choosing the colours. I told mum what I was doing and that I was spending dads money (she would have liked that) and I got her to choose the colour  she liked by taking her hand and guiding it. She chose 3 jumpers 2 cardigans and a skirt before her lift came. Friday was a good day and I'm pleased I was able to involve her in her shopping. With dad's agreement we chose some more items that are needed.  When the new clothes arrive dad said that he'll put the old ones in a suitcase just in case she does put some weight on although I don't think she will.

Dad still want's to keep mum at home and I will continue to help.

Carolx