Life in the strange lane.

I am still waiting for the results of my LP, MRI and what seemed like 8000 blood tests that were all done at Addenbrookes on 17th march.
I usually see a neuro at my more local hospital,so I rang there again today to see what was going on.
The neurology department haven't even bothered turning off their answerphone today!
So I took things into my own hands,I rang Addenbrookes where the tests were done,they sent the test results to my local hospital on 12th April and cannot give me the results over the phone,but the really lovely lady I spoke to is going to fax the results to my GP ,I am then seeing a doctor on Friday.........not my usual GP she is on maternity leave(I am doomed,my life is never simple)
Now you may think I am kicking up a lot of fuss,but things don't seem to move along unless I kick them :-)
The reason behind all this is my beautiful  grandson,I just want to be sure I don't have a leukodystrophy that could kick in and affect him badly.I am sure you have all heard of Lorenzo's oil and therefore adrenoleukodystrophy.
As it stands I still think I have MS albeit an unusual presentation or I have conversion/functional/software disorder.
I swear I have probably read more neurology books,papers and ideas than some neurologists have.
Things are moving along on daughter off to Australia area too,I now have her two moggies in residence and they are being fairly good,although Claude, the small village idiot version of a cat, just cannot work out a catflap so, is having to have a litter tray for now,much to my disgust.
Sarah is doing her rounds of goodbyes and doesn't yet know we are springing a big get together on her on Sunday ahead of her leaving the following weekend.
I am to become redundant as of 21st of this month,I rang the social who tell me I can apply after the 16th.
It is quite frightening to think that if my health doesn't improve I may never be offered work again.
Sid my oldest ex battery hen is really showing signs of slowing down now,I expect she won't quite make the second anniversary of her release on the 16th May.

I am a slacker.

I really do mean to blog more often,honest guv.
Trouble is I rarely feel up to the brain effort involved.
So here we go on a massive catch up.
Daughter Sarah whose new baby died last year has now broken up with her partner and has decided she needs a break and time away,we have all encouraged her to such an extent that she is selling up and going to Australia on a working visa for a year.It will be absolutely the thing for her.Unfortunately guess who gets to foster her two cats for a year? yup as of the 22nd of April I will have my one evil moggy and her two in residence.
I went for my day on the the neurology ward at Addenbrookes hospital,they obviously have a different meaning for the word day .......I was there by 7.30 having an MRI before 8am and had had my lumbar puncture and 17 blood tests and was on my way home by 10.30 am.Why the letter said anything about a doctor  I don't know ,I didn't even see a passing neurologist,I did however see the nurse practitioner who told me I was walking badly(I thought I was having a good day)took my bloods,she seemed very nice except she managed to avoid telling me what my blood tests were for no matter how often I asked,I found this quite belittling to be honest.Still the reading matter was entertaining in the waiting room.Yes this is a photo of the available selection !I won't get any test results for at least another week,I am just dreading the thought I may have something hereditary that I may have passed to the kids and grandkids.

A week or so ago I had an incident with my bicycle,the chain snapped,got caught in the wheel and the bike immediately threw me in a hedge,I looked around and saw no one was looking(phew) then spent ten minutes trying to disentangle disobedient legs from the bike,the poor thing is so worn out that replacing the chain makes no sense as the gears and brakes etc are all shot,it is going to be cheaper to buy a new one.This incident got me in quite a tizzy though as I cannot walk far enough to get to work I have a borrowed friends daughters bike(bicycle Chinese whispers there) for the minute.
I have just found out I am losing my job at the end of May(not related to neurological issues) The boss has said that as I will probably only get a weeks redundancy pay would it be worth her getting rid of me ostensibly for health reasons,I am not very brave and told her today that I would prefer the legitimate route and will fight it out with the benefits system when the time comes.
Bruce my tiny light Sussex bantam hen sadly died yesterday,she went to sleep and didn't wake up,she had a good life though,almost fourteen years of free roaming and meal-worms,if only all hennies could have it that easy.
Today it was brought home to me just how badly I walk,there was something of a head wind as I was cycling home from work,so I got off and started walking,doing my usual and using the bike as somewhat of a walking aide.A chap stopped his car and came up to me and said"are you alright dear? do you need me to push the bicycle anywhere for you" I thanked him for his kindness and explained that I didn't need any help.
The funny thing is I can walk perfectly normally if I am walking backwards,just shows that it is the wiring not the legs that are broken.



Pictures stolen from here http://www.berryreview.com/2008/04/25/new-blackberry-line-running-late/
and here http://www.partydelights.co.uk/themes/australia-day-decorations.aspx

Mouse jerky,normal brain and life as usual.

I know, I know I haven't blogged in ages,still here it is,so make the most of it.
So in reverse order(except my brain bit),Sarah my middling daughter was 25 yesterday,it has been a very difficult year for her,first losing her baby boy then her relationship broke up,let's hope this year is better for her.
Although I am an avowed atheist I have always celebrated christmas as it helps distract from the terrible dark days of midwinter and how down that time of year can leave you,this years plan was that Sarah,Sammy and James and baby Rory would come for lunch and that Becky,Ray ,Poppy and new baby Willow would just visit for a while in the morning and then go home for a little family fun,except as usual plans went awry,Becky and co arrived and Becky was almost asleep,Willow had had her up since 1am..........so being a wonderful mummy I said oh stay for lunch here,we always have plenty.So stay they did,we had the dining table strategically placed so that one person could perch on the arm of the sofa and someone else sat on an upturned bin.
Between the whole herd of us we only drank one bottle of bubbly,two breast feeding mummies,two drivers and me who is wibbly wobbly enough without too much booze,but we had a whale of a time,auntie Sarah had brought Poppy a set of 'musical' instruments,watch the video,musical isn't the word I would use but still it was fun.

 

I finally heard from the hospital on the 11th of this month,they sent me a letter which said

"Dear Mrs That_Woman,

I am writing with the results of your recent MRI head scan.The scan was normal with no evidence of inflammation affecting the brain.I would like to see you again in clinic where we can discuss this further and decide if you need any further investigations.

I hope my letter finds you well

with kind regards

yours sincerely

Dr Useless Neurologist."

I will give her "finds you well" useless ruddy woman.

She doesn't say when I have an appointment or even hint at how long one will take.Although my new favourite GP may have snuck into the pooter system and informed me my appointment will be in bloody June .

I am slowly getting better thanks to previously mentioned super-GP who gave me a course of steroids which seem to have helped.The neurologist though has done absolutely nothing to alleviate my symptoms and only the most basic tests (two MRIs and some electrical tests).No drugs to relieve the spasticity which made me unable to walk unaided more than a few yards at one stage,suffering appalling spasms/cramps,vertigo, pain ridden and temperamental.

I feel a campaign coming on,having chatted to other people with undiagnosed neurological problems it seems patient care doesn't really exist in the field of neurology.Grubby is going to help me draft a 'just what do neurologists do' type letter to hand to her at my next appointment.

I have booked an eye test as I am having some real eye problems at the moment,they may well see something neuro going on too.It has taken me all day to write this as I can only watch the screen for a few minutes at a time.

Now we get to the mouse jerky,don't read this if you are eating.

A few weeks ago I could smell the unmistakeable scent of deceased mouse,I searched high and low while cursing the idiot cat who brings them in and releases them,I couldn't find a body and the smell disappeared,so I naturally assumed the mouse was under the floorboards becoming mummified.Oh no,the cat has been scratching incessantly at the join between landing and bedroom carpets,so I got out the old tape to do a bodge job and what do I find,a dead, very dry, very flat piece of mouse jerky.

The hens have all grown fine new feathery frocks except fanny the wonder hen,but she doesn't deserve a new frock anyway,I couldn't find her at door shutting time the other week so went on a frantic search of the garden,looked under hedges and in nooks and crannies,it was dark when I gave up,somewhat tearfully I must confess,I fell over in the mud straight onto my backside,I heard a cackle,it was only the wonder hen sitting up a tree snickering at me..........

I had my brain-scan on the 24th of last month the good news is they found a brain,the bad news is no results yet,it amazes me just how long it takes to send some data(scan) from one room in the hospital to another and then how long it takes for someone to look at the results let alone tell me what is wrong with me,but hey they haven't killed me off yet.I just hobble and wobble on alternate days,well that is how it feels to me.
I have lost one of my girls to what the local gamekeeper thinks was a marauding mink, another bruised herself very severely trying to get away from it,so she has been living in a cardboard box full of warm comfy straw being spoon-fed delicious luxury maggots.She is now fully recovered and back out with her friends,sleeping in a secure and predator proof greenhouse.
The cat thinks the cold spell is great,he spends all his time catching hypothermic mice and leaving bits of them lying around for me to step on.........
So really this has been a post to say life is much the same as always.

Gratuitous gorgeous grand-kids picture follows.

Too much codeine

I have some co-codamol here for shoulder pain whilst I await a response from the local physiodirect bods....
Too much codeine makes one slur and giggle like a tipsy teenager,it does not sit well on my near fifty year old shoulders,in fact tablets having worn off I am now quite embarrassed ,sorry friend Grubby for the strange phone persona..............

I rang the hospital today(several times) as per the recommendation of my GP and lots of friends who think I am  cracking up,I finally got through to my rheumatologist's secretary,she will get back to me,they seem not to have had the results from my MRI which was performed two weeks ago and about a hundred yards from the rheumatology department.
The henny pennies are currently leaving feathers everywhere,I hope they are all feeling silly in their near nakedness a full moult is not a good look.I am however running about the garden gathering the prettier feathers for washing and assembling into a chicken making kit for my fabulous (ignore the false date on the photo,I must nag Sam into setting her camera up properly)granddaughter,seems she hasn't worked out how to make playdough feathers,so I figured the real things and a pritt stick would work wonders.

Oh and here is a gratuitous photo of the increasingly handsome Rory-James.

The saga(you couldn't make it up)

My life has become a saga/disaster movie/horror story.
The bosses are away again,camping for a week,so all I have to do is clean the house feed the kitties and do the itty bit of washing up and laundry they left behind...
They went Saturday,Sunday the dishwasher broke down,Monday the burglar alarm had a hissy fit and the panel kept beeping at me until I sussed that it was because a trip switch had gone..Tuesday I found that the washing machine breaking had tripped the switch,as well as the cats had somehow caught and murdered a kingfisher it must already have been sick or hurt those cats would be hard pushed to catch a cold,wednesday I discovered that kingfisher is obviously too rich,there was cat sh*t everywhere around the ruddy house.

So yesterday I decided after work to do some repairs to the chicken house,I had to take some of the old rotten wood off and replace it with fresh and also use new non rusty nails and screws.......
all goes according to plan until I step back to admire my handiwork,feel feathers on the back of my leg,step backwards over the chooks behind me straight onto a rusty nail.......
I remove the nail and attached plank from my foot and I squeeze the wound and give it a damned good scrub and think no more of it apart from a slight bruised feeling.
I went to bed,fell asleep and woke up an hour later in excruciating pain.........
Went to the docs this morning for antibiotics(it is obviously festering and the doc asked what I expected having injected myself with chicken poop) the doc gave me co amoxiclav then sent me round to the nurse for a top up on the old tetanus vaccine only for the nurse to find that there isn't a complete vaccination record for me as a child so she gives me a booster jab........I am back from the hospital having had Human tetanus immunoglobulin injected into the same arm as the ruddy vaccine, I can barely walk for swollen painful festering foot and my arm hurts.
 I said to Grubby today that if I told someone all this they would think I must be making it up,can I soon have some better luck please? 

T. rex,Tits and assorted other troublesome thoughts.

I was replacing a badly punctured tyre on the push-bike today when I noticed the chickens gathered around it,they looked like a load of dinosaurs gathered round a carcass.T.rex/chook picture from here.

Talking of things that are or should be extinct,I see some more Lords have been pretending to be Brits(pretending is correct me thinks,cos true Brits pay British taxes ) I fancy a version of the old French revolution,at the very least a few heads should roll.

Oh good grief.........

Sarah seems to be settling down a little,one can't expect her to get over this for a long while yet.
I have a sweet little field mouse currently living in the sitting room(thanks Lucifer cat) I am feeding it until I catch it,rather than have it die somewhere inaccessible and stink the place out,I awoke to a neat pool of blood and half a different mouse on the hall floor(that ruddy cat is a zombie,he only eats mouse brains),Fanny the wonder hen has settled in fabulously well,she is bottom of the pecking order but not too badly bullied and she runs to me to be picked up for extra sneaky treats so she is happy.
I have been seeing my doc lately for some vague but annoying symptoms,dizziness,ringing in the lugholes,swollen feet  and serious tiredness,blood tests due Monday, well the latest symptom really does take some beating.......
see after the jump

Damn it

Just as I thought she was better my Hoppy went to sleep last night and didn't wake up this morning.

Quiet life.

Most people assume I live a quiet life.,rarely leaving the village,haven't had a holiday since 93,very rare nights out at the pub,let me tell you,if I could find the time for a quiet life I would.
Instead I am sitting writing this on notepaper in bed yesterday,in fact by the time I have typed this up it will be several yesterdays ago.So what has been happening ?Sam and Sarah have been on the phone complaining of swollen ankles,Sarah had a bruise appear on her leg so big and black that she was sent for blood tests just to make sure her platelets hadn't gone on strike,two days later she got a little insect bite which blew her foot up so badly she needed antibiotics..........Bex hasn't been moaning which is quite worrying in itself.

There was a big battery hen rescue last week by LHR,sadly the trailer carrying the newly freed hens was in an accident on the A14 lots of hens killed and injured.So having lost Cleopatra queen of the bantams to old age recently, I have now taken on Fanny the wonder hen !

Having survived cage and crash she really is a wonder hen.
My soppy hen Hoppy has been really ill with bubbly sounding breathing,she was so bad that on at least two occasions I thought she was a goner,but antibiotics and a bit of pampering and she lives on,she won't last forever,she is a sickly weak thing,but boy does she cling to life with some gusto.The hens that survived the crash were hosed down by the fire-brigade (gratuitous men in uniform pic here) as they were almost roasting alive at the roadside,they were then moved to their temporary accommodation by a fleet of volunteer drivers and parked in a nice warm straw filled barn,where their wet feathers gave all the water to the straw,which they all promptly laid eggs in,so I spent quite a while one afternoon washing, drying and dating 9 dozen plus eggs by hand whilst Hoppy sat on a rug next to me watching and munching the odd grape( I did tell you these hens were pets didn't I)
Now I am about to start painting the sitting room,a nice shade of magnolia,at least if I want to change the scheme in there it will only take dyeing cushion covers and throws.........Tomorrow I have to remove the triffid like nettles from the garden,do some more painting and dye my hair,oh and put a little old lady to bed in the village,bless her she was a 100 on Tuesday she got card from the queen and one from Ian Duncan Smith of all people,I have no idea why he needed to send her a card but hey ho it is only our money.
If this is a quiet life can I now try a busy one ?
PS.I wrote this two yesterdays ago.
PPS. I got the all clear from the hospital on the old throat thing,seems the voice changes are from giving up smoking.

I want a ciggie.

Am I a silly cow or what,I got Grubby to do some drilling for me last week,he went to move a nearby coat and I said no don't worry any dust will brush off.....Well it didn't so I foolishly put a full length waxed duster coat(Don't tell anyone but I have a cowboy hat too) through the machine on a cold wash thinking it would be OK.....I have just ordered a can of Barbour Thornproof Wax Dressing  .Do you know what a long winded stinky job re-waxing a coat is?
I had a jolly good chuckle today,maybe I am just not sporty enough,but can someone explain to me why whole troupes of people are strolling round the village in hiking boots with ski poles in their hands ? I live in East Anglia,you know the flatlands,g-d help us if some of them are actually practising for skiing,I am a big girl and some of those women dwarfed me.....I know, I know, they were Nordic walking,but it looks dead comical in 20c and in an area where a molehill is almost a mountain.
Well,we have a government,it wasn't an option on my ballot paper,but I will wait and see what 'toffs united' think they can do to heal the countries woes.
Oh and all the fuss over eyefattalelteyet that Icelandic volcano did you realise it is 30 years and a day since Mount St.Helens went up,my Dad has some ash from it.....goodness knows how, he has never been outside the UK.
I was wandering round the V and A website when I came across a fantastic quilt,go take a look Canals,coal and cotton.
Oh on the cityscape subject(well vaguely) did you know that the London underground is the habitat of a unique bitey mosquito ?
Sarah had a copy of the letter from the hospital about her scan, if you click on the piccy it should be readable,who would have thought a VSD(hole in the heart) could be a good thing.....so fingers crossed.

I haven't heard anything yet about my appointment for dodgy throat stuff but I am not too worried,I suspect at worst a polyp and they take a very long time to develop into nasty things.
Sadly Cleo the cross dressing hen has gone to the great dust bath in the sky,but she was twelve,a damnably impressive age for a bantam .

Chicken Run.

I got home from work Friday to be told by my neighbour that one of the ex batts had escaped and they had recaptured her for me .They don't know who is who amongst the girls,so I have no idea either.The weird thing is that the chooky was found wandering around out the front of my house,but short of being able to fly to a height of about 16 feet or going against all chicken instinct and walking away from home ground and the flock,through various gardens and gates etc none of the girls could have got there.........no-one was injured or even short of a few feathers,none of them seem at all nervous,in fact I even checked to make sure I hadn't gained an extra 'orange' chooky,as my neighbours son described her.
I am picking up a couple of rolls of wire  and will give the garden some extra chookie-proofing,but to be honest this has completely baffled me,if one of the banties had flown over a fence I wouldn't be surprised,but even they can't get round to the front.

 So,having done some detective work(well asked around the neighbours) it seems either Whiskas or Sid clambered up a short bit of hedge into the neighbours garden,had a trot around ,then toddled off through another neighbours garden wandered through their gate and walked back home to my front door where she was captured by my kind neighbour and returned to the garden with a stern lecture,
So today I have put up some chicken wire and confined them properly,I have also clipped their gorgeous new wing feathers
Hopefully the little tikes will be safe now,if a tad unhappy as the greenhouse is now out of bounds.

The no smoking chronicles(part two)subtitled 'get me a shrink'

In truth I don't feel quite so frantic today,probably because I have kept myself more than a little busy.Another lady cancelled work today,so it is a good job I don't need ciggie money any more. So today I treated my house as if it were one of the big houses where I work.........I am such an untidy slapper,it has taken hours, but it was well worth it,almost the entire house is gleaming,it is just a shame I can't wash the curtains until we have some better weather.
Now only Grubby will understand the huge significance of this,but today I emptied my desk and scrubbed it,no more tea and ciggie ash spills,no more piles of obsolete software,stacks of papers have been put away or filed in the recycling bin.Tonight I am sewing buttons on the cardi I have made for the impending Grandson,removing my nicotine patch(I am determined to get some proper sleep tonight) then I am going to bathe and visit the land of nod for as long as possible.
I had a shock at lunchtime,I have had calls from both pregnant daughters asking how I was and if I was coping ok with the lack of smokes,I tell you wonders will never cease.
The rescue chickens have been somewhat disgusted,I have put a little fence up so they can't wait outside the back door to terrorise the poor old cat,they are doing well and need less pampering than they once did,two of them lay each day so I have a nice protein supply.A really rewarding bunch of pets.

Back to normal moaning.

A little explanation for yesterdays post.I was very down as I had been unable to save my friends hennie when she became ill sunday,I also felt quite guilty as she had asked me several times to look at her and each time she had appeared perfectly fine to me.Still I am not a vet and I did my best for her.So instead of hennie blogging I just had a pathetic day or two.
Yup I have had my self pitying whine and now I am ready to resume my normal moaning..........You lucky readers.

I now have a really good reason not to diet,it seems my enlarged rear end is healthy !
I am busily crocheting a cardi from the book the kids got me for Christmas along with what we call a clever or IQ blankie,it is hexagons in various red,white and black combinations,our Sam has decided they are the most stimulating colours for her baby,I am also making two of these in yellow and green rounds in the way this cardi is done and a rabbit soft toy for Sarah.Talking of crochet,I made a scary toilet roll cover dress for Poppy

when she was born,just to wind my least frills possible daughter up,imagine my delight when Poppy last visited to discover that it was her fave dolls dress and can Nanny make her some smaller knickers,it seems dolls have smaller bums than babies..........
Holy shit,what must the aliens think of us,we have sent into space over one hundred thousand separate postings from craigslist.org.We have sent a doritos ad and the sound of squelching fannies I kid you not !

Ooh look what I found here..a superb example of a loo roll cover if ever I saw one.

Sigh........

Firstly,that tip of the day..........
If you put hair colour on, then put marmalade on, then realise halfway through everything that..........
a) the water won't be hot in time to rinse your hair
b) your hair and the marmalade will be done at the same time
you are in trouble,so turn boiling fruit off,stoke up fire to heat water as well as turning immersion heater on,then give your hair its quickest rinse ever,turn marmalade back on whilst trying to wrap hair in a towel.
At least I am not the only one who makes things like this see here.

More seriously,we are having a family panic,we have all been worried about youngest and her spotting during pregnancy whilst we thought middling daughter was muddling along just fine.
Middle daughter Sarah went for her 12 week scan Wednesday it threw up some anomalies so they immediately did a nuchal translucency scan,which suggested there was a very high chance of baby having a chromosomal anomaly like Down's syndrome or trisomy 18,well they sent her for a cvs test the next day,which is pretty horrid and carries a risk of miscarriage,she got the results today,her 25th birthday,no extra or missing chromosomes so that rules out all the more common problems,she now has to wait three weeks to find out if there are any translocation errors,insertion or deletion errors in the babies genes,but it looks a lot more promising than it did two days ago.And if all is okay we will know whether we need pink or blue too.
I thought I would make her a yummy cake,an old fashioned butter cream and jam filled birthday cake(her fave).I went to the shop in the village for eggs as my girls have been off lay for weeks,they only had cheap evil eggs,not only will I not buy them, but daughter would rather have a scone than eat anything battery,I went to see my friend who has pet hens but she had already given her spare eggs away.Then last night as I was tucking my girls in for the night what did I find,three perfect eggs in the nest box..........It may be a good omen.

So much for a shiny new year.

My heating is fixed,yay!!
I popped into the village yesterday morning and while buying some wildbird seed I overheard a conversation,part of which went
"well the coal merchant says they can deliver,but the driver says we will be lucky to get some as in his opinion the yard is just about empty"
So I fly,well cycle,

round the village,no-one has coal in,I start ringing farm shops in neighbouring villages,find one with coal in and ring my friend so we can drive out and get some,The drive out was 'interesting' the roads have been gritted,but obviously a lesser amount of grit has been used,so slippy,slippy.After getting home I popped round to a lady I work for,she was out for the day and her lovely Labrador needed letting out for a run and to do his business,oh and to munch on the spilled seed under the bird table.Then home again and I cleaned out the chicken house and filled it with extra bedding,sawdust for the floor and shredded newspaper(I figured that is how tramps insulate themselves) and straw in the nest boxes,a couple of the ex-batts and one of the elderly bantams sleeps in a box rather than on a perch .Then I cleaned the finches cage out.........
A nice lady I know who does hen rescue came round to kindly donate some wheat as treats for the hennies,a lady farmer in the village gives her loads of wheat,seems she is of the old school and thinks that is what chickens eat,I am sure some do,but all the rescued hennies have organic chicken pellets and all sorts of luxurious treats,you really would be surprised at what lovely pets chooks make,ex-batts particularly so,they like a nice cuddle and to eat from your hand etc.
This weather is getting me down now,it was/is very beautiful,but I have spent so much on coal now that I have probably spent the equivalent of up to the end of February's fuel money.The temperature is quite balmy at the moment,the fridge thermometer I have put outside just to torture myself reads exactly 0c,you never know we may actually get above freezing for the first time this week,it isn't doing the aches and pains much good being so cold.
Talking of aches and pains..............I am bloody furious,the doctor rang Friday to apologise,it seems that I haven't yet been referred to the bone doc at the hospital,why you may well ask,considering I thought the referral went out at the end of November,it seems that the receptionist was supposed to contact me with some"administrative questions" then send the letter off,
so I said to the doctor "okay what answers do you need ?"
she replied "I will just put you through to her now"
Guess what the questions were..........which hospital do I prefer and are there any dates I can't do.....so I have waited six effing weeks already and am back at the start of things.

Sod's Law.

My house is cold at the best of times,Grubby will confirm having seen condensation on my kitchen floor,thanks to an extremely humid day and a floor so cold I would swear I was built over an old Indian burial ground a la all the best horror stories.Well obviously it isn't that warm here at the moment(minus 8c last night).So today is the day my heating has broken,the riddler thingy has snapped in the open position,this means the fire is constantly drawing to much air and burning like crazy,which would be fine,but I have been told by the housing association that it has to be cold before they will fix it,so this evening will be spent in bed with two quilts and a sleeping bag.
I phoned the docs surgery today to see when my bone doc appointment is likely to be,only to be told by the receptionist that my doctor will ring and let me know..........The chicky-doodles however are in fine fettle,all big and round and finally fully feathered,I have discovered that Goonie the new hen is like Sid and will munch a mouse if given half a chance it is just a shame that those two hennies won't fit between the bedroom floorboards and the downstairs ceiling,I can hear the little buggers scuttling........

Rush,rush,rush

Well I have been a busy bunny.........since we last chatted I have :
Had most of my hair cut off,made three fugly hens for a chicken keeper friend and taken orders for two more from another ex-batt keeper,proceeds to a hen rescue charity,

I have made two baby cardis with matching hats,made a start on two five pointed star blankies,been to work dog knows how many times,defrosted the hen's drinking water endlessly and laughed at their gingerness in the snow,had the kids to dinner and watched them devour a joint that would have fed me for at least a week and changed the sheets a lot thanks to a mucky footed moggy.........
I have also listened to youngest when she got all worried about some spotting,I explained just how common it is in early pregnancy and don't panic,if this one doesn't work at least she knows now that she can get pregnant.I have listened to next one up as she vomits with morning sickness on speaker phone and I have listened to oldest daughter moan because she isn't pregnant again....I am thinking of having my ears surgically sealed up.

It's been a while.

Over a week, that is how long it has been since I last updated you on my exciting life.
Where to begin is the problem.........
I had a birthday between then and now,I am a third of a gross or four dozens..  

No you can't come in.

The new rescue hen is happily settled as part of the flock,
I haven't yet heard from the hospital about an appointment so no news about the aches and pains yet,I still think it is psoriatic rather than rheumatoid.The new jobs seem to be going well from my perspective,although it was way easier when all my hours were worked in one place,it is getting cold and wet cycling between the jobs that is the pain.
It is very early days, but as none of you know the offspring, I can share the news,my middle daughter has just thrown out her good for nothing partner only to discover she is seven weeks pregnant(oops),and my youngest daughter who has been trying for three years is five weeks pregnant,so fingers crossed I will be two grandchildren up next summer.Of course that means crocheting two of everything.
And my parents delivered the legendary Christmas hamper (I wish),I have to blog about it somewhere every year.My parents are definitely not foodies,my hamper consists of..........
six jellies,two cans of squirty cream fake cream,a tin of biccies,a packet of teabags,a jar of coffee,a multi-pack of ready salted crisps,a tin of pears and two of sliced peaches,three types of pasta,two bags long grain rice,a jar of sweet and sour sauce,a jar of chilli sauce,three tins of tuna, a bag of bread flour and a box of quality street.........my poor parents think pasta,chilli and sweet and sour are exotic fare,they mean well but please next year can I have a tenner in co-op vouchers..........

Life only gets better.Meet Goonie.

I have managed to secure myself more work by way of networking and an add in the post office.....woohoo.
I am also celebrating being very naughty,I have a new rescue hen,before I got her I was going to call her Mildred,but she has an old healed injury to one eye and doesn't see so well out of it.So being not quite one-eyed Willy her name is Goonie........my kids and I loved that film,in fact when I wore the old video tape out, my youngest got it for me on DVD...for mother's day.

http://www.henrehomers.net 
http://www.free-at-last.org.uk/
http://www.bhwt.org.uk 
http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/default.aspx