The times they are a-changing

Well it must be at least three weeks since I've written anything -talk about an occasional series! (Actually, I've just checked and it's more like four weeks.) Since then, I have applied for two jobs outside work and am considering an internal vacancy. Just waiting to see if I've got an interview for either of the external ones - the internal is currently at the investigation stage. I'm doing the investigating and have a meeting set up in a few days' time with the manager to find out more before I get to the application stage.

Only three weeks to Christmas and we've hardly bought any presents yet. D and I have decided to buy ourselves a joint present of a new camera this year and possibly a photo printer as well. Just have to find something for the offsprings and partners. In case any of them are reading this blog, I won't go into detail; suffice to say that I bought something on Monday for P & C jointly and just need to buy them each a little something individually. I have an idea for K & M and also for H. As H is still living at home (ie with us) it looks like Santa will be calling on her again this year so I need to liaise with him over that. I've got my person's Secret Santa present for Christmas Day and I just need to get the one for the office lunch.

I'm still checking Doctor Crippen's blog on an irregular basis but it looks as if he's given it up for good. There are always a few more comments (up to 103 last time I looked) mainly asking him whether he is all right. Previously, he has taken a rest from time to time but always posted in advance that he would be away for a few weeks or whatever. It does seem odd that he didn't even sign off. I suppose the muse just left him, but I would have thought that he might have read the comments and would realise that his readers are worried about his extended silence.

It's getting late and past my bedtime so I guess this had better be goodnight from me - and goodnight from him (not that he gets any input into this blog).

Back at work and other stuff

Well I've been back at work for two weeks now and everything is gradually getting better. I think I was missed as the work situation had got into quite a state of backlog (not sure if that's grammatically correct,but hopefully you will understand). The levels are now pretty much back to normal - I can't take all the credit for the improvement as I wasn't the only one off sick so staff levels were fairly low over the time I was away; and we have had a full team the last two weeks. While I was away we got a new manager but by the time I went back, he had already resigned so the post is vacant again and there is no way I am going to apply for it. While the extra money would be useful, I really don't want the extra responsibility - being the assistant is enough responsibility for me!

We went shopping for the week's groceries tonight and the supermarket had partridges - I had never seen them there before and have never cooked them, but there were just three (and there are three of us so it must have been destiny) and they were reduced to clear to 99p each. I wouldn't even have considered them at the full price of £4.50 each but when I could buy three for less than the price of one I really couldn't turn them down. I have been Googling recipes and it seems the best advice is to roast them with bacon rashers over them and either a wedge of onion or lemon inside plus a sprig of thyme. I think I will go with the lemon option as I'm not keen on onions.

My foot is slowly improving and I am using the rigid boot less. I have another X ray in two weeks' time to check progress so hopefully I won't need to go back to the hospital again after that. Just another trip to my GP re the HRT decision. I have decided on the basis of evidence to try HRT for 6 months and see whether it makes any difference to the tiredness and joint pains; if it does, then I will take it for five years and then re-evaluate on the basis of whatever is currently recommended at that point. You just can't rely on medical opinion any more - one minute wine is good for you, then it isn't, then it is; now it seems that it is OK to be a bit overweight. Obviously not clinically obese, but probably just a bit cuddly. I'm happy with that - I think cuddly is good, especially as I am about a stone over my 'ideal' weight (BMI of 25).

HRT for me?

The transfusion people refused my offer - told me to come back when I get the results of all my tests. Apart from the bone scan, my GP had also sent me for blood tests on just about everything you could think of; partly as a result of my optician saying he thought I might have a thyroid problem and partly as a follow-up to the fracture.

Got the results of the bloods yesterday and everything is normal (eye 'problem' probably just due to tiredness), except that my FSH is through the roof, which apparently indicates that I may be a candidate for osteoporosis (bearing in mind that I am a 'lady of a certain age' as the French so politely put it). My Doctor spent 20 minutes explaining the pros and cons of HRT and other therapies. He is going to get the hospital to let him know the results of the bone scan in case it shows evidence of osteoporosis, to save me having to have other tests and told me that doing nothing is not an option - I have to decide whether to change my lifestyle (diet, more exercise and calcium supplements) or try HRT. He will accept my decision whichever way I choose.

I spent all evening on Google looking up osteoporosis, HRT, diet and exercise regimes and am better informed but still uncertain. If anyone is reading this who has had to make a similar choice, I would appreciate some feedback.

There will be 14 of us here on Christmas Day, so we have decided to keep presents within our main family groups and then have a Secret Santa for everyone. I have made the gift tags and now just have to envelope them up and write names on them at random. The 14 is made up of immediate and extended family plus son-in-law's parents. I love entertaining, so am really looking forward to it all. Each family group is going to bring a contribution to the meal, so it looks as if all I will have to do is cook the turkey and its trimmings. The only problem is going to be the size of our table - it really only seats 12 in comfort, so we may have to improvise. Chairs are OK as we have plenty in bedrooms and even in the loft.

I'm a bit of a squirrel and hate throwing away anything that might be useful, so our loft is somewhat overloaded. Camping gear, Christmas decorations, an old TV and two old computer monitors, boxes of children's toys - Lego, Beanie babies and other stuffed animals, books, magazines, school and university textbooks (mine as well as the children's) and even clothes that our adult children have left behind, not to mention the aforesaid chairs and two single beds. Actually one of the beds will be coming down to go into the spare room which currently only has one in it, although the second one was there originally when our daughters shared the room. The second daughter wanted the extra space so the bed went into the loft when her sister moved out. Now that second daughter has taken over her brother's room, that means her original room is now a spare - for the first time in 26 years we have a spare bedroom!!! Actually it's just over a year since our son got married, but the room has been a bit of a dumping ground in the interval.

We have bought some emulsion paint to re-decorate the spare room and want to get it done before Christmas in case son and daughter-in-law want to stay over and anyway it will look a lot better in a calming light sage green than it currently does in hot pink and mauve.

Wednesday

It was good to see Dr Crippen back and on form. His Crippen Diaries this week certainly provoked a lot of discussion (60+ comments so far and two of them mine).

Dinner tonight is going to be my take on Sheftalia. I saw a recipe for it/them on TV a few weeks ago and tried it out on the family. We all decided there was too much garlic in the recipe for our taste so I will reduce it a bit. I also added some shredded lettuce to the Greek Salad but the hummus was perfect (and so easy that I have decided never to buy the commercially prepared stuff again). If you don't know what Sheftalia are, they are pork meat balls, made from minced pork with garlic and onion served with a sauce containing chopped red onion, olives and chillies mixed with the pan juices, then served with Greek salad (chopped feta cheese, olives, diced cucumber, quartered tomatoes and red onion dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some herbs) also a good dollop of hummus on the side. That's it, no potatoes or rice to cook and minimal washing up - my sort of meal, especially after a day at work. Not that I'm back yet; I have been signed off for another two weeks and I am getting quite bored with my foot not healing. Roll on the result of the bone scan on Friday.

Today I have an appointment to give blood - though I don't know whether they will take it due to my having been injected with a 'noxious' substance last week. The radiographer assured me that the half-life of Teknesium 90 is only 6 hours but the blood transfusion people are, understandably, a bit careful if you have had your skin broken recently, especially by a hyperdermic. Our local hospital doesn't seem to have hit the news over the numbers of patients contracting MRSA or c.diff so maybe it will be OK.

Bone Scan (ughh)

The foot is getting better, thanks for asking. I have an appointment for a bone scan at the end of the week and then I have to see the consultant for a follow-up appiontment next week, then hopefully back to work. I've been looking up bone scans on Dr Google and there seems to be some difference between sites. Some say that it is perfectly safe and some say that there is some risk attached. Some say the radiation is little more than a normal x-ray and some (well most actually) say that the radiation is about 200 times an x-ray. I tend to accept the 200 times because that was the figure quoted by my doctor last year when he decided NOT to send me for one over my back pain. He just booked me for a normal x-ray of the lumbar region and then, if necessary, would have requested the bone scan - as the x-ray gave him all the information he needed, we stopped there.

Cutting off a bit short tonight as we are going to our niece's Confirmation service in about an hour and we still have to eat. Oh the joys of being a housewife/cook etc!!!

I'm back!

A comment from someone who read my comment on another blog has encouraged me to start writing again. I've had quite a heavy year - work has been really stressful and there hasn't been much spare time to do my own thing. What has happened since last year? Well, the company I work for was taken over last year by a larger player and everyone was dreading/hoping for redundancy (depending on their age and length of service). I have been lucky (?) and still have a job, although I am now working in a different aspect of the business. So many things have changed and some NOT for the better. The head office is now quite some distance away and deals with so many people that trying to get a problem sorted out can take hours or even days - clients also had to get familiar with the new system and a lot of them were unhappy and took their stresses out on the staff. On the bright side, things do seem to have settled down over the last few months and everyone is a lot more relaxed now.

I am currently recovering from a broken foot and signed off work for a few weeks, so I have collated all my recipes from supermarket recipe cards and scrappy bits of paper and set up a file for them on my laptop. I am also up to date with viewing recorded TV programmes and am finding the time to read the paper all the way through every day and do the crosswords (well, the quick one anyway - I'm not so hot on the cryptic one) and the Sodoku and the Code Words. I wonder how I ever found the time to go to work; I'll miss it all when I do go back.

Son and daughter-in-law have settled down to married life - it will be their first anniversary in a couple of weeks' time - it's amazing how fast time goes and the older you get the faster it seems to go. Our older daughter is still happy in her job and her boyfriend is now training to become a teacher. Our younger daughter completed her UCAS application (to study Law) and made her first choice and insurance choice. All that remained was for her to acheive the required grades for her first choice(AAB); unfortunately she only managed ABB but was fairly happy with her insurance choice until there was a mix-up over her accommodation which left her in a catered hall - where the only meal actually provided seemed to be breakfast and, as it was nominally a catered hall, there was very little in the way of kitchen facilities. So she has decided to take a year out and try and earn some money to have in reserve for next year. She has been offered a deferred place (with a first choice of accomodation this time!) and thinks that she will accept it - if not she will have to go through the application process all over again. So we are not in an empty nest yet, but at least we are finally out of the school run (after 23 years) and no more books or uniforms or school trips to pay for. (And especially no more fees.)

Till next time and I'll try not to leave it so long!!