Christmas 2010

Another great Christmas!  I was very restrained and although woke at 7am, I did wait until 7.30am before waking mum and dad.  I think that's pretty good :-)   I opened my stocking, got up and festooned Seb in his Christmas scarf and took stockings in for mum and dad.  We then started on the mammoth Christmas present opening ceremony :-)

I must have been a very good girl all year because Santa was especially good to me (again!)  Mum and dad had me lots of fab clothes, including a lovely wee retro black and white dress - which I will wear at a party this week.  I also LOVED the furry bag and ear muff set, which match my very furry boot slippers.  I am like a giant fur ball :-)   Andrew was getting me a new laptop which I am writing this on now - it is soooooooooo much faster than my old one, which was about to give up the ghost.  He also got me a panda hat...best present ever!

We had a lovely Christmas dinner, with a new starter this year of haggis in filo parcels.  Very nice!  I had made crackers for the table with little gifts for everyone, which I was rather pleased with if I do say so myself.  We then just chilled out for the rest of the evening and watched a really cheesy Christmas movie.  All in all everyone had a great day :-)

It's been a hard day...

Yesterday we headed down to Anne and John's, where I am at the moment.  The roads were clear coming down but it did snow last night - fingers crossed we get no more before heading back.  We are now just relaxing and unwinding before the next set of festivities at New Year!

Over the Christmas season, please do keep in your thoughts my donor and her family, as well as all those otherdonor  families, who have given this wonderful gift.  

One More Sleep

It's one more sleep 'til Christmas..tra la la la la, tra la la! I came back home to mum and dads last night after work, so that's me officially on holiday now. Woo!

I can't believe Christmas has come around so quickly and we are fast approaching the end of another year. Another fantastic year :-) I do love Christmas (would you ever guess?) because it's just a great time for family and everyone gathering together. I find it difficult at work in the lead up to Christmas as many patients get very depressed about it - feeling it's a time for missing people, for feeling lonely and for forced joviality. I would say I have had my fair share of loss and pain, and likewise, I do find it an especially poignant time of year. However I also see it as a time for remembering happy memories of those we have lost, of celebration and enjoying time with my family. I think it is about being in the moment and not dwelling on the past - we have some fantastic memories and stories of Christmas' past which we enjoy sharing at this time of year, but likewise, we are creating new memories to share in future years. I'm just so happy I am still here to celebrate Christmas and to look forward to another new year. Bring it on!

Great Report 

I made it down to Newcastle on Monday night - although I cheated slightly by getting dad to come and drive me!  I was a bit nervous with the recent weather but wanted to get down for my check up before Christmas.  They were very pleased with me (again) and my lung function was 105% which is pretty much the same as last time.  He was a bit concerned about the fact I grew that fungus a few months back but agreed it was probably spores I inhaled, because if there was active infection in the lungs I would have been very unwell.  Since I was looking so well it's still going to be another 6 months before I have to head back :-)

I was shattered by the end of this week as I was at work all Monday, then down to Newcastle in the evening, then up at 6am for the 7am clinic and back home by tea time - but back to work full day Wednesday and Thursday.   Yesterday myself and Victoria had an organ donor stall at the Students Loan Company, as this is where she works.  Kirsty helped her do one in the city centre office on Thursday and I helped at an other office yesterday.  It wasn't really busy but we did speak to a few people and hand out leaflets - I always think that if even one person stops to think about it, we have done some good.  After all it might be that one person that will really matter.  Afterwards I dropped Victoria home and as she lives in the city centre I decided to take a chance on getting parked so I could pick up the rest of my presents.  I did this very impressive reverse park with about 2 inches between the car in front and behind - this is what Christmas shopping does to me.  It's mind over matter ;-)  I managed to get the few items pretty quickly so that's me all done.  I did most of my shopping online weeks ago but things only starting arriving this week because of the weather.  Today I wrapped, and wrapped and wrapped!!!   Mum and dad popped through so I have sent them away with lots of bags of presents for under the tree at home :-)

Despite trying to avoid too much DIY in the run up to Christmas, Andrew has been building these wardrobes.  He had built most of the carcasses last Sunday and dad was helping him today - the problem is not building the furniture, it's the fact the walls and floor are not straight and they need to be secured along the whole wall.  That's the character of older houses I guess.  He has moved onto putting rails up though, so if we even get that far it would be great - need somewhere to put all my new Christmas clothes (eh mum?!)

Last weekend we went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Citizens theatre - it was fantastic.  It's a really small independent theatre so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I have been there before but not seeing their main show.  I really enjoyed it though and it was a nice alternative to a Christmas pantomime.  I also would really like to see Harry Potter and the new Narnia film but haven't had a chance yet.  I always associate Narnia with Christmas and also with Frances Ann.  She had a box set of all the films and actually knew most of them (especially the lion the witch and the wardrobe) off by heart when we was about 7.  She would talk along with the film!  She then went through a spell of telling us each morning that she had been to Narnia during the night - very active imagination ;-)

Well this week is quite busy, but hopefully rather festive too.  I am working Monday, Wednesday and then covering all day Thursday (we all had to take a day around Christmas) - then home :-)  On Wednesday we have a Christmas quiz at lunch time and then I have my work night out (the 2nd one!) 

7 more sleeps.....!!

Snow snow snow..

It's been a tough week with the snow and trying to get to work!  Monday was complete madness and one of those days you wish you hadn't bothered getting up :-)  I got the train into work and by lunch time there were reports trickling in of mayhem on the roads, with all buses off, gridlocked cars and problems with the trains.  I decided to phone all my afternoon clinic patients and we had a wee phone consultation instead of just cancelling their appointment altogether, then headed off to try and get a train.  By this time all the trains to my town had stopped running and there were no taxi's at all - the traffic was just standstill along the main road.   I decided to just get a train as far as I could, which was about 4 miles from my house.  The first mishap was falling getting onto the train, which was rather embarrassing and caused a pretty impressive bruise on my shin.  I had initially planned to phone a taxi from that station but it turned out most of the taxi's weren't out because of the roads, and it was a 2 hour wait!  I decided just to walk - it took about 1 hr 40 mins because of the snow and ice but I was so impressed that my lungs had no difficulty at all!  My joints however were in agony, and I also went over on my ankle about a mile from home, but the sheer brilliance of the fact I could do it was amazing.  I would never had dreamt of it before :-) 

It's been a bit of a nightmare all week with trains running late and being cancelled, but there is a thaw starting today so fingers crossed the roads will clear a bit, although rumours of more snow next week.  It does all look rather Christmassy and I have my tree and decorations up.  I have this really cool advent house this year - you open a wee door every day and there is another figure to add to the Christmas house (thanks Anne and John!)  I am such a big kid.

My friend Fi gave me this decoration, so it was nice to stop and think of her when I was decorating the tree.  She loved Christmas too :-)

Seb is still enjoying the snow, but really not so keen on the slush.  I am still making him wear his wee coat when he goes out to keep him a bit cleaner - this is what he thinks of it!

This is after a walk when he sits in the kitchen waiting on his treat - bit intense!

It was my Christmas night out at work yesterday, which was really good.  There was the minor blip of the fire alarm going off during coffee and us all having to stand outside the hotel in the freezing cold!  They started handing out those foil blankets but thank fully we weren't outside that long.  It was a good night and I managed to do quite a bit of dancing despite having gone over on my ankle earlier in the week - I had it all strapped up with tubi grip for the purpose of dancing.  Not the most sensible I know, but can't really go to night out and not dance!   I have another night with all the doctors next week but am unfortunately covering the resource centre the next day so better be sensible and not too late.  I also have appointment at transplant clinic on Tuesday but will decide nearer the time if it's safe enough to drive down.   

I will leave you with a picture of Andrew trying to work from home and Seb 'helping'

Apologies for the interruption to service..

I didn't realise it had been quite that long since I blogged - as you can tell, have generally been keeping up the pace, but think I will now slow down for the Christmas season :-)

Between dad coming through for a few days and me and Andrew painting all last weekend, we have finished painting the hall and bedroom now, phew!  The hall is pretty much finished and the bedroom is waiting on the new wardrobe from Ikea - can't seem to get hold of the delivery people in Edinburgh so think the weather must be affecting them.  We are not even thinking about the spare rooms (which now need painted because ceilings also plastered, and the living room walls can just wait too!)    I have decided to set up the Christmas tree in the extension and will just live in there for the time being :-)

I finished my PBL last week so have a break now from university work.  It was a lovely group and I really enjoyed the 10 weeks but am glad I have a little more time just now - especially when the snow started and it would have been a nightmare to get there!  I am getting the train to work just now, which is a bit of a hit or a miss.  I ended up sharing a taxi home with three random people from the train station last week when my train home was cancelled - would have cost me £20 otherwise so was rather handy ;-)  I thought it might be a quiet week at work due to the weather but my patients seem very dedicated - they all turned up for clinic appointments all week.  Good effort, and just as well I managed to get in too.  I did however have to cancel my transplant clinic appointment last week as there is no way we could have made it down and mum wouldn't even be able to get out of her driveway, never mind get through here!  It's rearranged for 14th December now so fingers crossed the weather is better by then as it would be good to get checked out before Christmas.

Seb had been enjoying the snow and even more than the snow, he has been enjoying lying on the Yeti rug afterwards.  This is a little rug I bought for the extension and it was actually called Yeti.  Seb thinks it is a giant bed for him and it is so cute because he just disappears into it.  He has also been chancing his arm at getting on the sofa so you have to keep a close eye - he is allowed on the footstool beside the sofa but at every opportunity he tries to casually sneak over..

Paws make it over to the sofa...

I said 'don't you dare' and he lies down as if hadn't been planning to go anywhere...

Still trying to keep up the pretence..

Seb looks longingly at the snow!

Myself and Victoria were helping Kirsty with a photo shoot last week.  Kirsty has just started a business called  
The Cupcakes (who are available for parties, hen nights, weddings etc) and they were planning to do a calendar for charity, so Kirsty was styling people and taking pictures with a vintage theme (although the calendar will not be going ahead until next year as it was too late to get good prices).   Anyway, when I looked at the pictures afterwards I was really pleased with them, but most of all, I couldn't believe how much I looked like my mum when she was young.  It is rather uncanny...

Mum in the late 60s

The chaos continues..

I keep thinking I am slowing down and then it doesn't quite happen!   Last week disappeared in a blur.  The initial plan had been for dad to help Andrew lay some flooring in the new bit of hall created when we built extension, but then the plasterer phoned to say he was coming on Monday so the bedroom had to be cleared instead!   Apart from moving all the furniture, we also had to empty the entire contents of our fitted sliding wardrobes and rip them out.   We have been planning to change the doors because they are really heavy mirrored doors which were there when we moved in - and are balancing rather dangerously on their runners.  So in order to plaster the ceiling we needed to take these out, because there is artex inside the cupboard!!  Dad is rather good at demolition so we got through that fairly quickly.  We got some temporary clothes rails to hang things on because it will probably be a couple of weeks before we can build a new wardrobe (on order from Ikea at the moment).   Dad also fitted spotlights in the hallway Andrew started painting the living room ceiling - and I did important things like filling nail holes in the skirting boards.  Very demanding ;-)

Spare room filled with contents of wardrobes!

On Monday we were up, stripped the bed and left everything ready.  Came home and the plasterer had started in the hallway, which had taken ages because the ceilings are so high (since we took down the false ceiling!)   So we made the bed again, then stripped it again on Tuesday morning.   Came home and he had finished the hall and 'prepared' the bedroom to come on Wednesday morning. By prepare he meant he had dismantled the bed, turned it on its side and covered the room in dust sheets.   I wasn't quite sure where he thought we had been sleeping. So I decided to try and move the 4 clothes rails in the spare room by myself, so that we could use those beds.   It was eventful as I tried to wheel/carry these clothes rails, which kept coming apart mid transit.  Of course Seb was very helpful in standing in front of me at every opportunity.  I managed though and cleared a small space to sleep in.  He finished today so need to go make the bed again :-)   I must say though that if anyone is looking for a plasterer I would thoroughly recommend - he worked all day from 8am-6pm and was so clean and tidy!!   So now we just need to paint it.  All 60 square metres ;-)

Downstairs hall all plastered

My roller on the left, Andrew's on the right...

I managed to go to work in between, although it is rather inconvenient at the moment ;-)  There is only 3 PBL sessions left and I have actually opted out of the next block for Dec/Jan as I decided to be sensible and try to slow down a bit and give myself some breathing space.  I don't want to make myself unwell, although I will probably just get bored or start doing DIY instead!

On the positive side, the extension is looking great.  The new sofa arrived and looks really good - Seb had tried a few times to jump on it but is getting the message.  He can't be left in there during the day though or he just gets up on the sofa or table or whatever else he can reach.  Today Andrew was working from home and left the study for less than a minute on two occasions and Seb, who had been pretending to be sleeping in his basket, was up on the computer chair both times, trying to look casual!  I think there is a battle of pecking order going on there and Seb is definitely winning.  Anyway, will leave you with some pics of the extension as promised last week.

Kitchen area

Doorway was original back door into kitchen - now goes into a hallway with rest of original kitchen (on right through doorway) as utility room

Gives you an idea of pitched roof with skylights - I need to paint some BIG canvases!   Token dog in photo.

Opposite end - seating area.  Note TV on wall already - priorities!

Shower room - was originally huge larder off kitchen and when we moved in had been made into a utility area.  Never thought we would fit a shower in there!   Andrew has never had a shower placed high enough for him to fit below before :-)

That's all folks...

Keeping up the pace..

I haven't quite slowed down from last weekend yet and am kind of frightened to stop in case I can't get going again! It was back to the grindstone at work and did prove to be a fairly busy week. On Thursday evening I was speaking at a church group about living with CF and organ donation - it was a bit of a rush as I had to head straight from work, but it was a nice evening and hopefully has been useful in spreading the word and raising awareness of both CF and transplant.

The weekend was spent trying to make some progress with the house. The builders are more or less finished now and were working through a snagging list last week. We are waiting on the hallway to be plastered but the guy is really busy at the moment so might be a few weeks away. The extension is nearly finished though - just waiting on a sofa and some final touches and it will be done :-) A mountain of painting to be done though and I was crawling around doing skirting boards all yesterday - used an entire pack of baby wipes cleaning all the paint I kept dripping everywhere though ;-) And yes, I did get it in my hair. Again.

Poor wee Seb hasn't been enjoying the fire works. On Friday night he really got scared and eventually disappeared under our bed and wouldn't come back out. He stayed there the entire night and only came out at 8am when I offered him a piece of sausage. He was better on the Saturday though and did quite a lot of strutting and woofing at each bang instead of hiding.

Tomorrow I am at a training day in Edinburgh regarding the mental health act - so am currently at mums so I don't have to leave hideously early to get there in time! It sounds like it will be quite a full on day, so of course I will need to stop for dinner on my way back :-) Seb ended up coming with me anyway (likes to go everywhere with his mummy!) and is currently curled up in a big chair, which according to dad, he is now allowed to sit on. Seb really is getting ideas about his station.

Pictures of extension to come, once I am at home, but I will leave you with my favourite picture from the ball last week. Amazing that the three of us are here because of someone giving that wonderful gift - Kirsty's first anniversary is this week, so give a thought to her donor, as well as raising a glass to Kirsty.

Oh What a Night...

The Ball was a huge success!!! The total (so far) is just over £12,100!!

It was rather manic getting all the prizes, programmes, table decorations etc down to Oran Mor in time but we did it - we franticly set up, put things on tables, tied butterflies round candelabras and in the middle of it all Kirsty managed to find time to do my hair. Priories and all that ;-)

Now it is no longer secret I can tell you about the evening's format! The tables were lit by beautiful candelabras, creating a lovely atmosphere for a Masquerade Ball. Each guest received a flower seed packet - with the message to be planted in memory of our donors. Of course organ donation and LLTGL leaflets were on all tables! The evening started with guests arriving around 7ish with amazing masks and beautiful dresses. Victoria had made a fab seating plan for all the tables. The meal was fantastic although funnily enough I did not feel very hungry! When coffee was served Team Glasgow got up to welcome everyone and I was nominated to speak - you know how I like to be on a stage :-) We also tried to give a little background to our stories and why we were here tonight. Our hosts, comedians, Jay Lafferty and Scott Agnew then came on to introduce the acts. We had two fantastic classical singers, who sung throughout the slide show we produce - with pictures of people waiting on transplant, post transplant, those who have lost their life waiting and organ donors. We had a slight technical hitch due to my laptop decided to ignore the fact a projector was attached, but Andrew got it working in time for the 2nd song. We then had another singer Mhari, who was amazing and did quite a few songs from musicals. Some tables were then moved to make way for our masked ballet dancers! These were girls from the Theatre School Victoria works at, called Confidance. They were fantastic! It was then time for the band, who were also fantastic and there was plenty dancing to lead us up to a break just after 11pm to draw the raffle, announce silent auction winners and do some loud auction prizes. Also going on all night was an amazing tombola -I think there were nearly 300 prizes and we made the odds of winning pretty good so most things were won :-) This was a big hit and we were so lucky to have some volunteers from Santander helping us out - we couldn't have done it without them. Also on offer were professional photographs to buy (printed on the night) and a special cocktail at the bar, £1 of each purchase being donated to our final total.

Another hi light of the night was Kirsty singing 'My Hero' by the Foo Fighters, in memory of her donor.  It was an emotional performance and everyone thought it was amazing.  The night flew in but everyone seemed to be having a great time and there was a wonderful atmosphere in the room. It was such a celebration of us still being here, still standing and looking to the future - and hoping we can help others also get this opportunity.  I will leave you with a few photos to give a taste of the evening..

The Ball Room

Ballet Dancers

Me talking away..

 My mask..

Kirsty singing

Where to start?

I last blogged when I was heading off to the advocate weekend and I don't think I have stopped to draw a breath since.  I will give you the high lights of the last 10 days :-)

The advocate weekend was fab and very useful all round.  Myself, Kirsty and Victoria (as the three Scottish advocates) headed down to London on the Friday evening.  The train journey wasn't too bad but it was a late night with us just arriving at the hotel around 11pm.  The next day was a full day of meetings with the LLTGL team, looking at the advocates role, where the charity is going and where funding is being allocated etc.  It was useful to chat over all this and also good to get to know the other trustees a little better.   It was a busy day and we managed to find time for a mini photo shoot, to capture us wearing the new t-shirt with the slogan "think about it, talk about it, do something about it".  We had a lot of fun doing this and got some great pictures.  In the evening we all grabbed a pizza and headed back to the hotel for a while.  I was pretty much ready to go to bed when Kirsty announced we were going out.  I somehow agreed to this and we ended up having a really good night with lots of dancing and posing :-)  The Sunday involved information about the Speakers Project which LLTGL will be running.  We covered the basics about how to deliver a speech in three minutes while still including all the necessary information - I may attempt this at the ball.  I find it really hard to stop after 3 minutes!  We then headed back up to Glasgow on the Sunday afternoon and were all absolutely shattered.

Hard at work...

Matt (Vice-chair), Kirsty,Victoria, Louise (advocates),Emily (Chair), Me, Holly (trustee)

Team Glasgow  - would you trust them?!

Straight back to work on Monday and quite a busy week.  I still have a PBL group so had that on Tuesday and managed to squeeze a bone scan in before I got to work at 9.20am on the Wednesday - pretty good going.  On Thursday we headed up to Aberdeen straight from work as it was my dear friend Fi's funeral on Friday.  We stayed with my friend Andrew (thank you!) so that we weren't driving there and back in one day.  The service was beautiful and very fitting for Fi.  She had her burial at a woodland site called Clovery Woods,  which was stunning.   So many lovely tributes were made and there was a warm gathering afterwards and I am really glad I was able to join everyone.

The weekend was also rather hectic with some rushing about doing house DIY type things on Saturday and then a family party in the evening.  Sunday was my nightmare trying to print booklets but not succeeding day.  I am printing a wee programme for each table at the ball, with some information on the evenings proceedings, prizes, sponsors etc.  I had planned to print everything on dads printer so set aside Sunday for this task.  Then the worst happened - the printer wouldn't work!  After several hours I gave up and decided to head home, only to discover the power steering on my car had gone and it was impossible to drive! So dad had to drive me home and I then started trying to print on my own printer - but because it doesn't do borderless printing it was impossible to centre the pages correctly.  My friend had a go on her printer and had the same issue.  After weighing up a number of options I ended up going to Asda at 9pm last night and buying a printer.  Probably a bit excessive but we were planning to get a new wireless printer because we both use laptops - although I didn't really plan on buying it this week.  Ah well - it looks very pretty and seems to be up to the job.  I have one booklet completed to show the girls this afternoon then full on production will commence!

Me and my Dad

Me and Mum lead the way with The Slosh

The ball planning is getting to that rather manic phase when all the last minute things have to be done and pulled together.  We have a final meeting with the venue today and then its full steam ahead until Friday.  I cannot believe it's only 3 sleeps away!  It will be a fantastic night although I think all three of us will collapse in a heap afterwards.   For anyone who cannot come, please consider giving a small donation via the Just Giving link on the right - every penny counts towards our final total.

Finally, in the middle of all the above, the extension continues.  It is more or less complete with just a snagging list to work through.  The main issue at the moment is getting the radiators in (hopefully tomorrow) as it is freezing in there at the moment.  The shower room is also complete and just needs painted.  In fact a lot of things need painted!!  We are also plastering the hall but this will have to wait a few weeks now as the guy is really busy.  All in all, things are coming together though and hopefully we will be feeling more back to normal soon.   I will post some more up to date photos soon but this was taken last week..

Total Chaos

It was just chaos before but now it's total chaos!  The plasterers were doing the ceilings in living room and dining room yesterday, which meant we had to clear both these rooms - I had to get mum and dad to come and help!  Then we have spent the last two nights moving everything back downstairs so they can do two rooms upstairs.  I feel like I moved house ten times in the last week...

I also got my dates mixed up and am actually going to London tomorrow for the advocate weekend - I thought it was next weekend.  I had train tickets for next weekend and everything!  I have sorted it now but don't feel very organised at the moment and have PBL in the morning - I am off to bed now though so I can think more clearly tomorrow.

I have also had some very sad news this week about a dear friend of mine, Fi.  She lived near Aberdeen - her husband came and took my tree down for me at one point and I went up to visit last year and was planning to visit before the end of this year.  She also had CF but suffered severe liver problems due to this, however her loss was very sudden following a diagnosis of liver cancer only a few weeks ago and was unexpected.  She was 36.  I still can't quite believe this has happened and it hasn't quite sunk in.  Please keep her family - her husband and her mum, dad and sister - in your thoughts and prayers at this time.  I sent her a message to look out for Frances Ann - they will get on so well.  Exact same sense of humour!

OKLAHOMA TICKETS

I have 3 tickets for Oklahoma on Friday 29th October at Edinburgh Playhouse (seats in Circle, near front).  I can't go because it's the same night as the ball!  I'm going a different day though :-)  If anyone is interested in them can you send me email or leave message (weejaqAThotmailDOTcom)

Chaos

That's my life just now - total chaos!  It has been ages since I managed to update so here are the highlights:

Cambridge

Myself and Andrew headed down to Cambridge last week because I was attending a Transplant Psychiatry  Interest Group - it was a group of psychiatrists (mostly Liaison) who are involved with transplant patients and also transplant surgeons and physicians.  The format was several presentations throughout the day and then a lot of discussion about what the transplant teams need from psychiatrists and how ideas for putting this in motion can be developed.  Particularly interesting was a talk on altruistic kidney donation - where people donate a kidney to an unknown person.   The transplant doctor from Papworth gave a talk about lung transplant and I piped up to get my tuppence worth in at this point.  They were discussing support for patients with regards what to expect after transplant and I was bringing up the topic of peer support and how within the CF community there are strong links allowing patients to contact other people who have had transplants.  I personally found talking to people who had been through transplant a really helpful experience.

On the Saturday we did manage to go into Cambridge and wander around - seeing the Colleges, going punting and wandering down the little cobbled streets.  It was a lovely sunny day and it was nice to just be away from everything :-)  We headed back on Sunday and straight back into chaos to find the plumber was there working all day!

Extension

Update on the extension is that they are battering away and working very hard.  The electrician was here at the weekend and the plumber didn't leave until 9pm the other night.   It is however at a really horrible stage, where the extension is not usable yet but our current kitchen was ripped out last week.  The new utility room and shower room are just shells at the moment so the entire contents of my utility room and kitchen are in the dining room - along with a new toilet, sink etc.  Everyday I come home there is a thick layer of dust everywhere so I have just given up dusting now as it just settles again!    We have been eating microwaves since our return but the novelty is fast wearing off!  Yesterday I spent the day at Lucie's in order to escape the mess and very cheekily took my washing with me :-)  Hopefully things will be looking a lot better within next week or so, but I do know it will all be worth it in the end.

Dining room at moment..

New Kitchen - you can see why can't use it yet

Old Kitchen - gone and partition wall up to make hallway and utility area

Hallway on a good day :-)

Work

Very busy just now and not great fun at the moment.  Myself and the other staff grade are having to do extra cover at the moment which is really stretching me time wise but hopefully it wont be too long.  I also start another half day tomorrow at another resource centre because they have not filled a post yet and patients need to be seen!  Not sure how this will go but hopefully I will enjoy it and not find the extra half day too tiring.  The PBL is going well and I have a really nice group, which helps!  I am facilitating the next block until the end of November as well, but to be honest, it is better to be out the house as much as possible at the moment.

Ball

Most tickets have been sold although I have about 4 still available due to a few people pulling out so if anyone interested let me know as we are stopping ticket sales this weekend as final numbers are needed by the venue.   I have been making lists of all the last minute tasks we need to organise and there is always loads more that you think!  I am sure it is going to be a great night though and hopefully it will go very smoothly :-)

Seb

He was apparently very good for his Uncle Bob and Aunty Nan when we were in Cambridge.  I think that is because he has a wee blanket on the sofa especially for him!  He has been really good with the builders though and I think he might actually like having people around the house all day.  He is sneaking into the extension at every opportunity to look out the patio doors - he just can't believe his luck that we have full glass doors like giant windows at his level.  He thinks they are just for him :-)

Seb tolerates me wrapping him up in my scarf

This was just the cutest photo!  Dad was picking all the apples from their apple tree a few weeks ago and Seb insisted on lying at bottom of the ladder.   I just love his face here...a kind of "what am I mean to do with these?!" expression.