More personal stuff

A few months ago now I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. My doc decided I needed a full check up as it was a couple of years since last comprehensive blood tests. My BP turned out to be ok, cholesterol high (but lower than before), and sugars came out over the line for diabetes. Liver and kidney function were fine. I have been overweight to lesser or greater degrees most of my life - even when running exercise classes! But it was more muscle than flab back then *sigh*

I have taken control of the diabetes by attending the education sessions offered at the hospital and taking on board the dietry advice given. I have modified my eating habits and got my portion sizes down considerably, along with healthier balanced meals. I have slowly but steadily been losing weight, around 1-2 lbs a week, apart from the weeks when I was away at festivals where I managed to eat out, or takeaways, and not put weight back on.

I weighed myself this morning (usually once or twice a week) and it's down again. Now lost 10-12 lbs (wobble on the scales and reading varies LOL) and that first stone off is in sight! I think the last time my weight was this level was about 10 years ago!

My medication seems to be working well on the diabetes and the tests show much better readings. My doc is keen to keep a close eye on me. Losing weight will be a big factor with the diabetes, and my cholesterol levels.
The dietry advice sheet from the hospital makes it a lot easier to visualise portions and balance of food types to get healthier eating.
My exercise levels are slowly increasing as Honey gets better at walking and can go further and a bit faster. More activity helps burn off the food quicker too.
My knees are still bad and are basically too far gone to feel much benefit from reduced weight. The co-codomol prescribed by my doc is not really working as well as I'd hoped. No more effective than taking Ibuprofen and paracetamol together. I tend to only take them, with food, when the pain is really bad, as I don't like excess stomach acid it can cause.

I actually made it round IKEA last week for the very first time, much to my surprise. It was pretty much a straight walk through with hardly any stopping to browse. I did have a brief sit down while I 'tested' some dining chairs LOL. I brought home the catalogue and will have a look at their online shopping. I don't have cash to flash at the moment so resisted the temptation to buy anything, but I did see some very neat, slimline units for storing shoes! I've wanted 'something' to go in my hall to reduce the shoe hazards round the house.
 I know having a unit will not make shoes go in there by themselves but it will encourage both Jen and myself to not leave assorted footwear around the place.
I have a wobbly trolley in my entrance hall that's become a clutter collector so that can go, along with it's clutter, to the tip ... ahem Municipal Re-cycling Centre... freeing a nice space slot just right for a shoe cupboard unit which will take less space.
I think I need furniture that has sloping tops so you can't put things down on it.

My lovely solid oak sideboard in the lounge has been swamped by 'stuff'. It started off being bare, with a lamp one end and a vase and matching ceramic balls at the other end. You could enjoy the beauty of the wood and the open space. Then the fish tank arrived *sigh* then the odd bit of post seemed to linger, then the books started appearing and added to what was now becoming a heap. Now it is a dumping site for more stuff! *runs away and screams*
It seems an unwritten rule in this house that shelves, worktops, and even sofas cannot be left empty and bare. *more sighs*
We are tackling the bedroom heaps of stuff at the moment and contributing vast quantitites to the recycling centre. But the movement process of it migrating, from upstairs to down, builds it up again downstairs before it gets transported to the tip or charity shop. So upstairs is looking a lot better but downstairs... *shakes head sadly*
Just keep attacking the heaps, Kath, and you WILL see daylight eventually!
I currently have a heap of camping gear in the kitchen waiting for some strong legs to stack it all in the garage for me *hint hint* The festival camping season is over now so it can be stored safely.



Just had my oldest sister on the phone - it will be action stations now as the annual visit is booked for October 17th. Jen will be happy! (NOT) Win has a lot of good points and a lot of bad history with my kids. She's never been married and never lived with kids so visits have always been 'strained' in past years. Jen's the only one left still at home now and dreads 'the visit' from Aunty Win, who is now 74.



Win in turquoise on right



Win is quick to criticize faults in others, many of which she has herself. She got so upset with our other sister coming to visit and tidying up for her, chucking out lots of stuff Win wanted to keep that Win banned her from coming round. They live in adjacent roads - 3 mins walk away. Win has a 4 bedroomed house all to herself but does not have a spare bedroom for visitors to stay in. Every room in her house has stuff stored in it. I dread the time when she passes away and we have the house to clear. She goes to car boot sales almost every week when they are on and always buys something to bring home. She has 'collected' thousands of cookery books, God knows why! She is allergic to so many ingredients she could never eat the dishes shown in the books.

I am learning to control my hoarding habits and actually throwing stuff out right left and centre. I have a pile of hard drives my lovely son Craig extracted from all the old PCs he took to the recycling. God knows what's on them! I will try to find a 'caddy' I can slot them into, to plug in to my current pc and retrieve any old photos off them. I don't think there is anything else I want on there.

Oh lord! time is racing on and all I've done is waffle on here. My stomach is saying it's lunch time. 1pm.

I hope you are fit, well and enjoying life. You only get one life so use it well. xxx

All festivalled out



Home for the weekend



Well...Shrewsbury Folk Festival is now a distant memory, even though it was only 3 weeks ago. I had a good journey up to Shrewsbury and Roz met me at the entrance to the festival site. I was all sorted out with my tent, airbed and bedding within an hour of arrival. The weather outlook for the weekend was a bit iffy - the dreaded showers! You might get lucky and they all miss you, or everyone could come over and dump on you. We were pretty lucky and the few that did manage to drop on us were either night time, while we were snug in our tents, or came during concerts while we were in marquees.



June Tabor with Oysterband



The concert line up for the festival was fantastic and it was really hard to choose who to see. Unfortunately concert times did conflict so I did have to make difficult choices.

The whole weekend was brilliant musically and socially. Met up with the Bosley's from the Bounty Hounds and other friends. Came home on the Tuesday in moderate traffic. Got a huge greeting from Honey.

Jen had taken Honey to the vet on the Friday for me as the sores on her leg needed re-dressing. She made it clear to the vet we were not happy with Honey's treatment as the poor standard of dressing had given Honey sores she need not have suffered. It also prolonged her treatment by 3 weeks. Having her leg bound up the way it was meant she was not putting her leg down to the ground as it made her walk on tip toe, pushing her claws back into her paw. No wonder she was not walking on it! She now has the dressings off and has finished all the anti-biotics and is finally starting to use her paw.

Having had it bound up for so long has caused the tendons to tighten and shorten so now I am having to walk her very slowly to get her to use the leg and massaging her leg and paw to gently stretch the tendons at the back. She is making progress but it is slow.



John, Pete, & Alan - an off duty moment

 This last weekend was Swanage Folk Festival - the one I help organise. It was a hectic time and I found it physically hard. The festival seemed to be successful and enjoyed by all. The concerts were well attended and loads of people frequented the field and patronised the bar! The festival bar ran dry of beer Sunday afternoon - a good sign! The new festival bar we had in the Mowlem theatre ran out of beer during the interval of the Saturday night concert! Right now the treasurer is counting the pennies and pounds collected over the weekend. I am hoping for a nice little profit. It won't be anything like last year's but I do hope it will be well in the black.



Jenny - superstar!



I have had the pleasure of the company of my daughter Jenny for three days. We have been de-cluttering and clearing out. Roughly 20 sacks of old clothes and general rubbish have found their way to the recycling centre. I had a shock as they have moved it! I gaily drove to where it used to be only to find big signs up redirecting dumpers. It has only moved down the road a bit but now we have to climb stairs to drop things into high containers :-( It might be better for their management of things but it's knackering when you have dodgy knees! Clothing into charity skips, wood here, cardboard there, electrical goods over there, metal on the end, etc etc - back and forth with various stuff, up and down the steps to the different skips. Jen's legs got a good work out. I am so grateful to her for her help clearing out.

Love you Jen!

I have been a bit lax with the food of late, takeaway type meals for 2 weekends, and pub meals at odd times in between. I have tried to eat healthily at home in between and the scales say I have not put any weight back on, but I do need to cut down a bit to get that weight coming off again. *sigh*

Tonight is our folk club with Les Barker. He is an amazing comic poet so there will be large doses of laughter tonight - always good for the body and mind. Loads of tickets sold but not quite a sell out.  Just how I like it!

I hope you are in good health and have a fantastic weekend. xxx