Frazzled

There's just so much going on, and my brain is frazzled trying to keep up. Hubby's appointments, my appointments, and just so much paperwork - this lot needs this, that one needs that, we've been dropping forms off at the cancer center like nobody's business. It's emotionally tiring just trying to remember everything we need to do. Then there are the callbacks ... a message that they need some other paper or record, or whatever. UGH!

In himself, hubby is maybe 50% ok. His body aches, his heads aches, the meds make him dizzy and nauseated, it affects his responses and his attitude is shot, especially when dealing with people on the phone. I just wish I could wave a magic wand and make it all go away.

We both had medical appointments today. Hubby's white count is up again but not by as much as we might have expected, which means his treatment is working. His oncologisthas changed the dosage to try to help lessen the side effects.He'll see her again in amonth, to see how the next few weeks go.

I, having admitted to emotionally overeating since his treatment started, stood on the scale (expecting maybe a 5lbs gain) to be pleasantly surprised. I was 220lbs and had lost .8lb since my last visit. I said "thank you Lord" and stepped off much happier than I'd stepped on.

I'm just thankful that we both had fairly decent visits!

Spring starts tomorrow!

 I am soooo ready! This Winter has been colder than usual, more days than usual. Today, thankfully, the sun is out and we're in the 70s.

Yesterday, hubby set my planters up against trellis by the car port, so I planted peas and kiwi grapes in them. We already have some tomatoes planted down in the field, and I've got canteloupes and peppers starting in biodegradeable pots, so my "planting season" is underway.

Hubby picked up a plum tree at Tractor Supply, so that's now also down in the field, near the vitex cannibifolia (the butterfly/bee attracting tree). We have more potted gardenias to plant out , and hubby has sprinkled wildflower seeds down there as well. We hope to get our bees soon. For his birthday, I got him an assortment of beekeeping equipment, so we are almost ready. Meantime, we're trying to create a bee haven around the stream/pond area that he's been working on for awhile now.

We spent much of Summer gleaning rocks and stones from local building sites, as land was being cleared. They were only too happy to let us help ourselves, as they have to pay when they take them to landfills.

I'm hoping Spring will bring us more chances to get on and do everything. My great-grands love to mow, so that's a help. Now that they are older, they get into other things as well, so I can commandeer them sometimes.

I'm thankful for the warmer weather, most definitely!

So many appointments

 It seems that life has turned into a mad rush all of a sudden. Mark's had endless forms to fill out and phone calls to make, and then numerous appointments. His leukaemia getting worse has changed things and made this a whole new ball game. Frustrations too, as the medicine he has to take for a few days before starting the cancer one STILL hasn't arrived, and is coming locally, where the cancer one arrived last week and came from farther away. Pretty incompetent from my viewpoint, but who am I, anyway? I just worry about my hubby. He needs to get started on this so that when he goes back to his haemologist at the end of the month, she can see how he is doing with it, and she said the first few weeks may be quite rough ... so we really need him to get into it as soon as possible so that she has enough to evaluate him on. 

Yesterday we went out for lunch, and tried a newly opened restaurant over on Haywood Road, Wok & Spice. We loved it. Wonderful staff (I'm so picky, and they accommodated all my wishes with a smile and not even a raised eyebrow). The food? Excellent! We both had the Mongolian Combination lunch special ... and brought some home!

Definitely another new "favourite place". Apparently, at the end of the month they have another restaurant opening on Woodruff Road, Hocco, which will be Indian cuisine. We've already decided we'll be giving it a try.

This morning, I received the first illustration sketch for my book, "Mister McAfferty's Cat", and I'm so excited to be finally moving forward with it. I suggested a couple of very minor revisions. I wanted the cat to be fluffier as theirs was smooth-coated, and I wanted Mister McAfferty to look less stern.

Today looks like being a nice day so we may go out somewhere to enjoy the sunshine while we can. We haven't been to Paris Mountain in a while so that's something we're considering. We shall see.

Busy, Busy, Busy

 It has been a whirlwind since last Friday, that's for sure. So many things happening and just been one thing after another.

Saturday, my granddaughter helped hubby move the RV so that it's now alongside the carport. Makes the yard look less cluttered.Def seems like we have more room for vehicles to turn around on the drive and gravel.

Hubby has been using his tractor to clean up fallen tree limbs, old fencing from down the field, dead grapevines (horrible grapes, yukky ones, and the vines are very invasive, almost like a weed) and taking down old guttering. The truck is loaded up and tomorrow he and the boy (the four-legged #1 son Brunel) will be taking it all to the dump.

We've another load of things to take to Miracle Hill, and that will be the second trip tomorrow, along with returning library books.

Sadly, my illustrating "Mister McAfferty's Cat" has come to another halt. The lass who was going to be doing the illustrating has health issues, and fears the job is too big and that she won't be able to fulfil it. I've told her that's ok, and we've discussed her woking on a simpler project for me, illustrating a poem that's kind of cutesy and has less detailed illustrations.

Today we tried a new eatery - Cava - on Woodruff Rd, it's a Mediterranean and we had pitas ... oh wow, def a place we will return to BUT next time, I'll have to bring it home, cut it in half, and refrigerate half for the following day. The calorie and sodium content were way over my daily limit.

We also stopped by a car dealer to check out whether I could get in and out of a Kia Soul since I cannot get into my Ford Explorer very easily any more. I've down-sized over the recent decade as my height has shrunk. I had my Land Rover until I started having issues getting up and into him. The Explorer was lowe, so I've had a few years with that but now I'm having problems with that so need something lower and easy to sit in without needing to climb up to get into. So, we are going to start looking seriously for one in a month or two.

Tonight, Jel came over and she and Mark basically cleared a lot of what used to be the old AVON room, so's we can pop a mattress in there for when she and the kids want to spend the night. 2 bags of trash, one load for Miracle Hill and some more AVON supplies for one of my old AVON team-mates.I must admit, I honestly haven't missed selling since I gave up at the end of last year. It's been one less thing for me to stress over.

But that's how it's been. We've marched into March!

UGH Not good!

 Last night, one of my friend's daughters (who I'd known since the 90s) let me know that the edition of "Daisy May Explores The Heavens" arrived with some major printing errors. I was about to go to bed, so promised to deal with it this morning. What a palaver! 

I tried Amazon Customer Care, they were helpful but on seeing the images, said they couldn't do anything and gave me a phone number to call (my idea - being that I'd get further talking to a live person than messaging one). 

I called the number - recorded messages only. UGH! So I did as the recording said and filled out a form explaining what had happened, and again, attaching the images. 

Lo and behold, I just received an email from them stating they are unable to help and for me to contact Amazon Customer Care. 

I've emailed back and re-sent the pictures and said that I need it escalated to a supervisor who has access to the print section, and I explained my friend's daughter has put in a return and for a replacement, and I want the replacement to be correct, not another mix up like this.

These are definitely unlike anything in my manuscript. There is a flipbook of that here.

As you can see, this was not my error, by any means. I'm disappointed to be getting the runaround.

I take pleasing my readers/fans/customers very seriously, and I don't want them to have to deal with issues like this. It kind of mars the joy.

And mine.

I'll have to see how this progresses. I'm still waiting for a response.

The Things That I Remember

 Sometimes my mind just meanders off into the past, and I picture things from my yesterdays. It's amazing how something pops up, that I'd totally forgotten about, and that leads to others.

I grew up in London, until my early teens. In many ways, it has defined me. Obviously with my accent - and oddly, when I get mad and the cockney comes out. Sometimes words I haven't used in fifty or sixty years. Or viualizing something and realising, wow, I don't do that any more/see people doing that any more, and wondering, how did I lose that? When did it stop?

When I was born, England was 10 years post-war, but only 1 year post-rationing. There were still streets that had been bombed out during the Blitz, demolishing and rebuilding a city took time. Going from Leytonstone to Hackney on the bus, 1960-1966, we'd go past rows of Nissan huts and prefabs, temporary homes for those bombed out in it.

People were still frugal, very frugal. One of my favourite foods back then was bread and dripping, a staple in the East End. I loved it. The mere thought of it now turns my stomach. Dripping is the meat juices and fat left in the pan after cooking meat.

My nan didn't have a fridge. She'd make a big pot of rabbit stew, and I'd have that with bread (it's still a fave when I can get rabbit). The pot sat on the stove overnight and was boiled up the next day. There was no such thing as leftovers. Potatoes and cabbage were fried up in bacon grease as bubble and squeak, and many "teas" were jam sandwiches, baked beans on toast, egg on toast, or paste sandwiches. Amazing how one little pot of Shippam's could make sandwiches for 3 or 4 of us.

My other nan used to slice bread by holding the bread up against her chest, over her pinny, and cutting with the knife blade going towards her. I think my mum did that sometimes as well. I tried to do it the other day and just couldn't get the hang of it.

I loved school. I was at George Tomlinson from 1960-1966, infants and juniors. The headmistress in the infants was Mrs Edwards,

and she was a darling. All the kids wanted to hold her hand, and walk with her, during playtime. She was a smiling grandmotherly figure and much loved. In the Juniors, we had Mr Bradbury,

who was austere and caned the boys when they misbehaved. Miss Lynes, in the above pic, was my best teacher in the Juniors, I had her for 2 years. She was touted as very strict but was actually pretty awesome.

I used to go to the Methodist Church on the High Road on Sundays,

with a lady named Barbara Vann. Her parents owned a health food shop on Kirkdale Rd, and I met her at their home at 33 Lytton Rd, when I went there to take piano lessons.I was 7 or 8 at the time. At the church, Reverend Johnson was the vicar, and they had a Girl's Life Brigade (and Boy's Brigade) group there so I joined that. We used to march through the town, on parade as we called it back then, the first Sunday of every month. The Boy's Brigade Band would play and we'd be joined by other groups like the WI and veterans and such. The church also had us collecting money for the JMA (Juvenile Missionary Association) and I had a book and collected 1d or 2d after church, every Sunday, off willing donors.

This is where my thoughts meandered when I woke up in the middle of the night, and I thought, yeah, I need to write all that down.

Yesterday was a fun day

We accomplished a lot yesterday.  Hubby and my granddaughter, Jel, took our chicken pens apart and moved them to the other side of the yard, while I hosed the chicken huts with bleach water and washed out their waterers. It was very satisfying. My great-granddaughter, Samantha, had fun too. She rode in the bucket of the tractor a couple of times, and when it wasn't in use, she put the bucket up high and then clambered up to sit in it, up in the air.

My other granddaughter, Nicolette, swung by and she and I chatted and laughed for a while. It was all good.