Goodbye Honey

It is with a heavy heart I report the loss of my darling Honey on Friday 14th November 2014.

She became ill with rapidly increasing pain in just a few hours and ending her suffering was urgent. It was peaceful at the end. I held her until she left us.

Honey has been my companion and shadow for over seven years and brought me a lot of laughter and love, and a few tears.

I have many happy memories of her, from sleeping on her bed in the middle of the lounge, to her running free on the beach and at the park.

    

 

You will always live in my heart sweet Honey. xxx

Where did 2014 go?

I know it's been some time since I posted but it came as a shock to find it was last January!
Nine months have passed with not a lot to show for it apart from a paler shade of silver in my hair!
Being 65 hasn't been too upsetting - it's now downhill to 70 :D
My greyhound Honey is aging fast now and showing signs of arthritis in her back right knee. I have got her a magnetic collar and it has perked her up a bit and helped her move more freely, but I think the time has come for some medication to help ease the joints.
Honey was very happy to go and stay with my friend Karen while I went away for a few folk festival weekends and I know Karen loved having her to stay.

I managed a week away in April with my friend Linda - another week on the Isle of Wight in the lovely cottage we stayed at before. The dogs loved it there too. They ran all over the field out the back of the cottage. Nice peaceful evenings when they were tired :)

I managed a few Folk Festivals over the summer, with Wimborne, Folk on the Quay in Poole, Cropredy, Shrewsbury and Swanage.

Folk on the Quay, Poole

Cropredy

Shrewsbury

Wimborne FF

I recently managed to meet up with my sisters for a nice pub lunch. We're all getting older! But it was a nice meal and my lovely son, James came with us too/

A New Year - a new me?

OK I know it's late but at least it's still January. A new me? Well, I'm not one for resolutions. The last one I made is the only one I've kept. I resolved never to make New Year Resolutions again!
I am making valiant attempts to be more active and get my body back to some semblance of it's former glory *cough*. My weight has been up and down a pound on and off for weeks, basically staying the same for the last 3 months. I must get my mind back into Slimming World mode and make those pounds fade away. I have heard in so many places how bad wheat products are for us. Never mind that 'wholegrain is healthy' stuff they throw at us. Basically wheat products, particularly bread, help make/keep us fat and age us. So why does a slice of hot buttered toast taste so darn good? I try to limit myself to one slice of bread a day, but that is hard. Not just the standby sliced loaf, but rolls, croissants, wraps, pittas, etc. all come loaded with taste, but bad elements that raise sugar levels in diabetes, cause fat to be deposited and retained, affect the elasticity of the skin, and more. If you don't believe me just stop eating bread and bread type products for a week and eat normally otherwise. I bet you'd lose about 2 lbs in a week. It sounds easy doesn't it? Just think though, no more egg on toast, limited cereals, no sandwiches, what do you have for a packed lunch? Most crispbreads are also ruled out. No biscuits, sweet or savoury. No pastry. No cakes.... It starts getting tough. There are other carbohydrate sources, which you do need in a healthy balanced eating plan. Just kick the bread.

This is the healthy eating 'plate'. Follow its guidelines and you will probably lose a bit of weight and feel better in yourself. It is a guide to how meals should be balanced out for good health. Keep the purple high fat/high sugar section to an absolute minimum and watch what kind of carbohydrates (yellow bit) you eat.
Portion sizes also come into play. Just eating slightly less will help a lot. My tip? Use a smaller plate! I have some small dinner plates designed for breakfast/starters. Bigger than a bread plate but about an inch smaller than a traditional dinner plate. The meal that looks 'lost' on a big plate suddenly looks a lot, or serve up in a small bowl (a good tip for pasta dishes, curries etc).
OK stop preaching, Kathy. Just follow your own advice, woman, and get those pounds moving again.

The exercise plan is going well. I now have floor exercises added to my programme and I can do those at home too. There is just one dodgy exercise I can't really do as I can't kneel any more. But I am working on those abs!
I am becoming a mistress of putting on a brave/happy face. I know this time of year is bad for depressives and I am trying to not feel 'down' but I do. I've had some happy times of late and have my birthday tomorrow so I should be feeling 'up' and alive. Maybe it's the damp and lack of sunshine, but I am in a 'curl up in a duvet and shut the world out' state of mind. Or else it's facing being 65 tomorrow! I do NOT feel like celebrating. Even Honey can sense how I feel because she barely left my side yesterday, lying by my feet or standing over me when I sat down, demanding cuddles.
Maybe it's time to count my blessings? There are many people out there in a much worse state than me, and suffering terrible circumstances, lack of money, flooded homes, terminal illness, pain, disabilities, but that doesn't really help.  I know the mood WILL lift. Just not yet today.
I have the joys of a visit to the dental hygienist today.
Thursday I have my 6 month post op check up. It's only been 11 1/2 months LOL. There's the appointment time in bold printing, and underneath a little message saying come an hour earlier to get an x-ray done before the appointment time. I wonder how many people don't read that bit?  At least it should all be done and dusted well before the now daily clog up in the Bournemouth Hospital car parks come the rush hour. Traffic lights controlling the exit of vehicles off the site reduce the flow and cause utter chaos as the access roads fill up. My daughter's office overlooks the hospital entrance/exit and can see the red brake lights queueing up all round the car parks.
Poole Hospital car park has similar problems with lack of spaces and long queues waiting to get into the multi-story building. Getting out is not so much of a problem. I dread afternoon appointments for clinics as it's visiting time too and the whole world is trying to park in there. Mornings are tolerable.

I have now got some of my bad mood out of my system by typing all this. I don't care if no-one reads it. Maybe it will help you overcome your own winter Monday morning blues by realising you're not the only one suffering or maybe I've just made it worse! Time for another coffee I think! Good job I don't have any biscuits in the house - I think it would have been a half-packet morning!
Still, tomorrow is another day.
Thank goodness.