Happy 7th Wedding Anniversary!

It was our 7th wedding anniversary on Saturday :-)  7 years seems a long time although we have been together for over 12 years this new year.  I thought it would be fun to post some pictures through the years, especially since it has been quite a journey!

2000

Just before we got together, New Year in Edinburgh (andrew doing the 'arm hover' haha!)

2001 

Me looking a bit skinny - I think Andrew had to take me home that night as I wasn't well - first of many times having to do that!

2002 

My graduation
Andrew kept me sane through the exams - Frances Ann had been very ill in the lead up to my finals and I needed someone to keep me on the right track!

2003

Central Park, New York - day we got engaged!

2004

Our Wedding!

2005

At my cousins wedding
Missing Frances Ann at a big family event, but lucky to have Andrew there with me

2006

At a friends wedding.  I am starting to get quite unwell by this time and was placed on transplant list in May of this year. 

2007

London - when I was short listed for CF achiever award

I was really not well that weekend but amazing what plenty of make up can do :-)

2008

Just before my transplant call - and only couple weeks after the false alarm, where they started  surgery.   Looking surprisingly well (courtesy of steroids) but feeling rather rough!!  Andrew had to carry my massive oxygen concentrator into the hotel because I wanted to stay all weekend haha.  He also carried my wee cylinders about for me :-)

2008 (few weeks later)

First walk along the corridor post transplant!!  An amazing moment!

(ignore the mental hair and dodgy tracksuit!)

2009

Able to enjoy a good party and I think Andrew looks more relaxed!

2010

starting to lose the steroid look and enjoying another party!

2011

Sorrento - up a hill!!  Finally getting to go on holidays and enjoy them :-)

....and now to look forward to many more years!!

London

I had a lovely weekend in London. We headed down on the Friday and took Victoria's laptop so we could watch films on the train journey. We went to the cinema that night and headed into London on the Saturday. I did get Victoria lost looking for the underground near her cousins house, and after all the walking and asking people, we ended up getting a bus anyway. She now knows never to rely on me for directions haha. We managed to get some last minute tickets for Shrek the musical for the Saturday night and just spent some time during the day wandering and sitting in the sun.  Some random tourist asked if he could take a picture of Victoria's hair - we weren't sure if it was the style (it was pinned in a curl at back) or because it's red!   Shrek was really good, although Wicked is still my favourite! On Sunday we were getting the train at lunch time so chilled with Victoria's cousin, his wife and wee boy, Joseph. It was a pretty relaxed weekend and nice to get away :-)

I arrived back to find Andrew had been very busy with DIY and had finished the floor in the spare room and decided to lift and start laying the new flooring in our room. It is starting to look really good - just some last minute sorting of skirting boards, and we should be fine to put furniture back into spare room. I was thinking we were nearly finished and could just stop painting and sorting for a while - but there seems to be some loose plaster in the hallway ceiling, where we had artex skimmed last year. I have a horrible feeling they are going to suggest re-plastering the whole area, which is rather messy. Will just have to wait and see as the builder is coming to look at it soon, and to also look at patio area again.


Work has been busy as they are still trying to find someone to replace the other staff grade, who has moved onto a new job. I know it will eventually get sorted but it's annoying at the moment, as I am really the only person around for the crisis team at the moment. I think I am also a bit stressed about our Halloween Party. I start to worry about enough people coming, selling tickets, having enough help, making enough money etc...I know I just have to learn to go with the flow but my mind does tend to race ahead. The early bird tickets are only until the end of this month so get your tickets now before price goes up :-)

Tickets Here

The house that Jac built..

Another busy couple of weeks, so not much time for blogging!  We are having a last push on finishing off all the painting and decorating in the house, so over the past couple of weekends we have been trying to decorate the two spare rooms, which we had been leaving until last.  We have painted walls, ceilings, skirting boards, lifted and removed old laminate flooring and now laying new laminate.  One bedroom is finished and the floor is half down on the second one.  We are both exhausted!  My knees are covered in bruises and I am slightly hobbling after I tripped over a pile of laminate flooring yesterday and went clattering down, paint pot flying and brush in hand.  Luckily the pot of paint I practically threw at the wall in my effort not to fall over was the right colour for the wall, so that was handy :-)  I have managed not to fall off any ladders yet and am becoming rather adept at removing skirting boards, and filling nail holes, sanding skirting boards and all sorts.  My dad taught me well.   I was really offended at the weekend when in B+Q this assistant asked me if I was lost because I was in the joinery section on my own - he said "whenever I see a woman up here it's because she is lost!"  I politely told him I was not lost and knew exactly what I was looking for thank you :-)

The garden has improved massively since I last blogged  - the tree is finally all removed with roots dug out and the hole filled.  Apparently there was another set of deep roots under the earth so it took the guys a full day of digging.  The shed was then delivered and built last week and looks great, although it's massive.  Andrew said he couldn't downsize and got the nearest to what we had, but I am not sure I believe him.  You could easily live in there ;-)   I couldn't believe how quickly they built it though.  I offered the guys a cup of tea and by the time I take it out the shed was nearly built!  The greenhouse was built at the weekend and Andrew dug all the vegetable beds out, so the garden looks a lot tidier.   We need to build up the rockery where the tree was but there is no rush to get this done.   We are almost back to where we were in May before this happened!  Hopefully we will manage to get our patio finished this year after all.

shed - greenhouse is now built next to this

Seb has been very sad at the loss of his shed, however I am sure he will find something else to amuse himself with soon enough.   Today he managed to more or less smash through the fence trying to reach dad, who was painting the side of the extension from the neighbours garden.   There has been a little hole in the fence panel that Seb has been gradually making bigger by picking off bits of wood with his paws.  I kid you not.   He went a bit mental today though because he could see dad on the other side of the hedge, so now there is a large hole.  I was going to replace that bit of fence anyway...

Seb wonders where his tree has gone..

Seb lying on the floor of the old shed...somewhat mournfully

This weekend myself and Victoria had planned to visit Lu, as it's her birthday and transplant anniversary.  However poor Lu was admitted to hospital in Newcastle after her appointment last week so won't be home in time.  She is having some treatment so keep your fingers crossed it is effective.   Me and Victoria are going to go down to London anyway as we have our train tickets already and we are staying with Victoria's cousin so we don't have cost of accommodation.  I am looking forward to a lovely weekend that doesn't involve painting or flooring!!

Inspired Chic

I have mentioned Lu before in my blog - she had her transplant after me but it hasn't been plain sailing and she has had multiple complications.  Despite her ongoing health problems, Lu makes and sells arts and crafts on Folksy.  She has just started a facebook page for her craft work, so please check it out - and once you are in the page give it a 'like' and be in with a chance to win a wee prize :-)

Also check her crafty blog Inspired Chic and her Folksy Shop.

Time Flies

Where is the time going?  I could have sworn it was only a week since I last blogged...

Last weekend we went to Jennifers 30th birthday drinks in Edinburgh, which was a great night.  We were waiting on the live band to come for ages so eventually me, Claire and Fiona (Claire's sister in law) got up to dance, despite the fact no one else was.  Sometimes it just has to be done.  On Sunday we had dinner and mum and dads because Anne and John were up visiting, so that was nice to have plenty time for a catch up.

There has been significant progress on the tree since I last blogged.   The men turned up to start cutting it up on Tuesday and were there all day but still had to come back on Wednesday to finish off,  The root stump still has to be ground down but we knew that was going to be done separately anyway.   It means we have been able to open the hut door at least and we now need to start taking everything down.  Andrew has spent most of today taking the greenhouse apart and trying to clear the site.  We then have to empty the hut and take that down before they new shed and greenhouse are delivered.  Maybe we will be finished by Christmas...

Seb has not been very happy about the tree being removed.  The first day he saw them through the patio doors and was most unimpressed!  He spent all afternoon moping around with his tail down, and sighing loudly every 5 minutes.   When I put his dinner out he put his paw into the bowl and mixed it around, before pulling half of it onto the floor, then lying in the middle of the mess looking depressed.  It was a kind of  "I am so depressed I can't even eat."

When I eventually let him out he realised that the branch going up to the shed was still there at this stage, so he was right up there climbing out to the end of the sawn off branches.  He was rejuvenated and celebrated by coming back in and polishing off the dinner he couldn't eat 10 minutes earlier..

We had a nice afternoon today having afternoon tea at Devonshire Gardens (very posh!)  Dad had won the voucher at our Masquerade Ball last year and gave it to me to use.  We got those tiny sandwiches and lots of cakes, which we made a very good effort at polishing off :-)

Halloween Party in Glasgow - we have secured Qudos at Queen Margaret Union - for those not in the know, this is one of the main Glasgow university unions just off University Avenue.   We have a fab DJ and are putting together some Halloween extras....

All proceeds for The Butterfly Trust.

There is a student discount as it's in the union, but you do not have to be a student to go - although you do need to be 18 or over!  It is fancy dress - theme is 'Dead Famous' but any fancy dress will be acceptable :-)  Unfortunately people with CF cannot attend due to cross infection issues, unless you are post transplant.   We have to follow the guidelines set by our CF unit and the CF Trust.

I know that October seems a long way off, but if you get tickets now they are cheaper than standard tickets.   Also we need to sell some tickets now in order to pay for room hire etc :-)  

Please circulate this link amongst anyone you think might be interested - we need a good turn out to make this work.   Invite as many people as you like and have a fab fun night!

Online payment system set up so you can BUY EARLY BIRD TICKETS HERE
 

Wedding

It was my friend Stephanie (who I have known since I was 5!) wedding last weekend.  It was a lovely day and they got some nice sunshine for the photos.  Stephanie looked fab in her dress with her long red hair, and her bridesmaids were in a dark hot pink.   It was at Broomhall Castle in Menstrie, which was a really nice location.  The castle/house itself had a few nice lounge rooms we could sit in while photographs were being taken and there were nice grounds to wander in.   In the evening there was some ceilidh dancing followed by a disco.  I managed to do most of the dances, including a very long strip the willow.  My friend Claire was commenting on how she still can't believe I can do these dances now.  I used to panic at getting dragged up for ceilidh dances as I would get so out of breath but now it's just my legs that can hardly keep up!  By the time the disco came round I eventually gave in and the red shoes had to come off so I could spin around in a safer manner.  Myself, Claire and Gillian had some great fun dancing to our own unique style :-) 

Gillian, me, Steph, Lyndsay and Claire

Me and Gill (the toy belongs to Lyndsay's wee girl Aiyla)

Standing on my tip toes trying to make the arch high enough!!

I am standing on one leg and Gillian is....well I'm not sure what Gillian is doing actually..

Me and Claire take our dancing very seriously you know

Clearly some important girl chat..

Wedding Party - Bridesmaids (Kristina, stef's sister is the middle one) and three best men

Donor Desk

National Transplant has now ended and I think I managed to do a few things at least.  I emailed every person in the building at work with some chat about organ donation and ways to sign up.  I went to a pub quiz last Monday and we called the team Live Life Then Give Life :-)  Finally we had the organ donor desk at St Enoch on Friday.  We put in a good shift from 9am-5pm but I think it was worth it!  Gregg and Kirsty's wee cousin Caitlin also helped out which was fantastic.  We had 43 people sign up on the spot and give us the forms back to post and we also gave away many leaflets.  LLTGL had made rail card holders (or oyster card holders if you are in London!) as a give away, which had information about organ donation as an insert.  These went down well and at least its the sort of thing someone might read later and won't just throw in the bin.   Overall the response was positive and we chatted to some interesting people.  We met a lady who runs a student magazine who is going to get in touch, which would be an good contact to have.  One of the donor family coordinators came down for a couple of hours, so that was helpful and another good contact to have made.    To save me uploading pictures from the day visit the Team Glasgow blog where Victoria has already uploaded them :-)

The Evening Times came down to the event and took some pictures and there was an article in Saturdays paper. Victoria has a readable copy scanned on her blog.

To end the week I will leave you with the link to SIGN UP  - although I am sure most of my readers are already on board.

p.s I will be back soon with pics from my weekend at Stef's wedding...

Can anyone help The Butterfly Trust on Saturday 9th?

The Butterfly Trust are planning a collection at Braehead shopping centre in Glasgow this Saturday.  Unfortunately several people have had to pull out at short notice and the event will be cancelled if they can't get any volunteers.   If anyone can spare an hour or two on Saturday please get in touch and I will pass on your details!

Busy Bee

It's been quite a busy few weeks hence lack of blogging - always a good sign now!

This is National Transplant Week so I have been trying to help organise some things for that. NHSBT and LLTGL have been working together this year and the theme for the week is around waiting - how people hate to wait and how this compares to those waiting years for the chance of life. Myself, Victoria and Kirsty will be running an organ donor desk this Friday (8th July) at St Enoch shopping centre in Glasgow. NHSBT have been trying to arrange entertainers for locations across the country, with the idea that people can tweet on the day, asking the entertainers to come and amuse them while they wait. In practice I think this might be more difficult that it seems! We are still trying to pull things together and might have some dancers interested for the day. Regardless, us three girls will be there though trying to create some awareness :-) If you are in Glasgow on Friday, pop in - we will be there all day!

On the subject of awareness we are also trying to get online payment sorted for our Halloween Party in aid of The Butterfly Trust. Early bird tickets will be on sale soon, and I will post details once the payment site is live.

I have had a few social things on too, hence my lack of blogging. We were at my friend Jamie's BBQ a couple of weeks ago, which was a great day and despite some rain everyone still seemed to enjoy themselves. This weekend myself, Andrew and Victoria popped through to a fundraiser that a fellow transplant recipient, Gerard, was organising, in aid of LLTGL and the Freeman Hospital. It was a great night with a great atmosphere and I hope they managed to raise a few pennies. We were also at an engagement party on Sunday which was a lovely afternoon, especially due to the fact the sun came out for the day so everyone could sit in the garden.

Me, Gerard, Victoria

Seb has continued his garden adventures and will be very sad to see this tree go. The insurance have agreed to payment so it should be removed within the next 2-3 weeks. Seb will really not know what to do without his climbing frame! Last weekend a neighbour from a few doors down came to the door to ask "You do know your dog is on your shed roof?" to which I replied "yes, he quite likes to go up there" The guy looked a bit bemused and really quite unsure how to respond haha. He just said "oh well, as long as you know he is up there!" It is really quite embarrassing. Another embarrassing Seb incident occurred at the park yesterday. Seb tends to trail behind by at least 100 yards if not more, and when I turned round to see where he was, there he was JOGGING TO HEEL beside some random lady out for a run. She seemed very amused and I reassured her that he wouldn't last very long jogging - she said she wouldn't either. Laughs all round :-)

I will leave you with the cutest picture of a Hedgehog in the garden - we can't get the lawn mower out of the shed, because of the tree, so the garden is currently like a nature reserve. We have foxes, squirrels, a little mouse, LOTS of birds and fledglings and now a hedgehog :-)

p.s I will be back with a National Transplant Week blog within the next few days!

Hilarity at Transplant Clinic 

I was down in Newcastle for my 6 month check up yesterday and couldn't really have asked for better results.  Blood pressure, oxygen levels, kidney function were top notch, weight was stable and apparently my x-ray (if it weren't for the metal clips) looks like a 'normal' persons x-ray.  It's not like me to want to be normal, but in this case it's great news.  Best of all was my lung function - for the first time in my entire life I hit the 3litre mark which gives me a lung function of 109%!!  Imagine three of those litre coke bottles and compare this to one tiny coke can, which is what I had pre transplant.  Wow!

The day itself was really long and drawn out, as we were 2nd last to be seen by the doctor.  We arrived just after 7am and left clinic at 12.30.  Yawn.  Mum however kept me amused all morning, although not deliberately.  I will not repeat some of her classic moments which are too embarrassing to even put in writing but believe me, there were many - including pressing the 'help' button at the car park instead of the 'take ticket' one.  At one point we were in the waiting room (imagine a room the size of a box room with seats around the walls) and mum was asking me something she had already asked me last week.  She then said I should do some memory tests on her.  So in the waiting room (where everyone else is silent and reading magazines) I was timing her for one minute on my phone to name as many animals as she could in one minute.  For starters most 'normal' people categorise them into groups eg, pets, farm animals, jungle animals when listing them.  Mum of course had her own system of trying to do them alphabetically.  So she starts.."alligator, antelope, bison, bear, buffoon, cow..." at which point I was like "whoa, wait a minute.  Buffoon?  What's a buffoon?"   "A stupid man" she says.  So then of course mum shreaks VERY loudly as she erupts into one of her manic laughing fits, which I couldn't help but join in.   I am not sure if it is more amusing she just made up an animal and didn't appear to notice, or that her brain apparently categorises stupid men along side large animals.    I know that I am turning into mum, especially when on route to the canteen she said "I dare you to start skipping" and I duly complied.  Despite the fact two people were walking immediately behind us.  Life is too short.

Other news in is that I am going to be Maid of Honour at my cousin Sarah's wedding!  I am delighted :-)  No dates are set yet but it is likely to be next spring.  Let the planning commence!

It was Fathers day on Sunday so I will leave you with a cute picture from when I was very small.  This is Claire on the left, dad then me.  I would also like to note that dad got three Fathers day cards - one from me, one from Corey to his Scottish dad and one from Sarah.  My card was the best though ;-)

Long time no blog!

No particular reason I haven't blogged so no excuses either.   We are still living with the giant tree in the garden as waiting on written quotes for removing this, so we can send these to insurance company.  It is a slow process but Seb is very happy about the tree still being there and has now become extremely adept at climbing the tree and running around on the hut roof.  It is getting a bit embarrassing to be honest because I suspect neighbours along the entire street can see him up there on a daily basis!  The birds are also loving the tree and we had some super cute baby goldfinches a few days ago.  I am worried that birds are building nests in it though - there is a wee dunnock collecting all Seb's fluff from outside the back door (where we shook the rug!) today, so a nest is in production somewhere - hopefully in the hedge.  We have also had a fox coming right up to the front of the garden because it thinks it is hidden in the tree - I think Seb is picking up the scent because he is barking even more (!) than usual outside!

Goldfinch - they were shaking their wee behinds!

I have had a nice couple of weekends - last week we had a wee impromptu BBQ at Kirsty's on the one day we had nice weather, and I was at my friend Stephanie's hen night on the Saturday.  I have known Stephanie since we were 5 - so that's 27 years.  That makes me feel rather old :-) 

This weekend was much quieter and I spent quite a bit of time making cards and invites (for Anne's birthday) and experimenting with jam jars and glass paints.  My friend Lu had been making tea light holders from jam jars to use outside so I thought I would try painting one with glass paints.  It was a partial success but the paints are really old so think they were bit sticky and lumpy.  I am also rubbish at putting the squeezy lead stuff on because my hands shake too much.  It is kind of cute though..

Finally I will leave you with some pics of Seb today :-)