Keep on keeping on

Odds and ends today as my blog seems to have turned into a book blog over the last few posts and I don't want to bore anyone who doesn't read. But thank you for the comments on Angela Thirkell yesterday. I'm cross that I'm late finding her as the books not re-printed by VMC are so expensive on Amazon, but there again maybe I needed to be "of a certain age" to enjoy her subtle wit, I can't imagine I would have enjoyed them so much while in my 20s.

So many of my favourite blogs have stopped recently. Everyone has so much happening in their lives that they have no time to blog. I'm beginning to feel that my life is lacking as I still have plenty of time to write as we are still B***** waiting for a solicitor to sort the paperwork! I guess it's all a matter of deciding which things you like doing best, in my case reading, writing and some crafting, and limiting to the minimum things that don't seem so important (obsessive cleaning, faffing and shopping)
 (Our solicitor phoned, there is still a delay, She's been sent paperwork but still no proper details of the bit of land that Mrs F bought about 10 years after buying the house. I'm so fed up with writing about this cock-up I'll NOT mention the house move again until it actually happens!).

Walked round the Portman Road carboot sale on Sunday morning. It's the only one that carries on all year round but what a load of tatty junk, where on earth does it all come from? Most looked as if it had been fished out of someone's rubbish bin. Felt like singing "What A Load Of  Rubbish" which is probably what the crowd at the football ground on the other side of the road have been singing all season................I.T.F.C are not doing well at the moment!
The only thing I saw of any interest was a huge collection of Home Farmer magazines but the woman was wanting £1 for 3 - silly money for a car boot sale. I'd probably had several of them in the past anyway so left them where they were. We came home for coffee and kept our money for another day.

  Over the weekend we saw two out of three children and just our grandson, now 8 months old - a very happy little chap, who will soon be crawling

 Our youngest was poorly so wasn't able to come out, but we will see Florence later this week as we are looking after her while youngest has an appointment. Actually it will just be me going over to Leiston as
 Colin has gone down with a horrible cold and clogged up sore throat. The chemo he had all last year knocked out his immune system and he now seems to pick up everything that goes round and gets it much worse than other people.I shall cart him off to the doctor I think, as he may need antibiotics.

Regarding the courgette and  lettuce shortage that made the news a week or so ago, I noticed that Morrisons had a sign on their Iceberg lettuces..... " limited to 2 per customer". My thought was who on earth would want to buy one let alone 3 of these nasty tasteless version of a lettuce!

We seem to have got through the grey days of January, I'd better find some weather sayings for February.

Back Soon
Sue

A couple of quiet days

While the world and his wife is rushing around buying up trolleys full of food. Me and him have had a couple of quietish days.
On Monday we went over to Leiston to babysit Florence while our youngest went to the dentist. Florence was very interested to see us and wide awake and happy for an hour then grumpy when she got tired. Luckily her Mum came home then and we passed her back!
Back home to start the last of the hamper presents.Need to get them finished to deliver before Christmas. I spent half an hour searching for coloured cellophane bags that I knew were somewhere, just not where I thought. Found them at last and then the mini Dundee cakes wouldn't fit in them anyway. Resorted to cling film in absence of small tins which last year I was able to find at car boot sales. Still have a dilemma on how to pack the other things I'm making. The small kilner jars would have been OK but they are full of marmalade. Jam jars don't have a wide enough opening. I hope I can find something in one of the charity shops. I don't really want to buy anything new but might have to venture somewhere - like The Range or Dunelm- early tomorrow morning.

We had a phone call from our solicitor on Monday afternoon, or rather from her assistant. Solicitor is away now until JANUARY 16th..... nearly 4 weeks good grief and the stand in locum has pulled out at the last moment. So we can't complete the purchase until after then........how annoying is that. I had originally wanted to go with a big company in town but that was the company our seller is with so we couldn't. Harumph is all I can say!

Had a letter from the County Council  about Col's pension and he can definitely take it at 60 which is March. We will get a lump sum and then an annual sum. We can choose between a big lump sum and higher annual rate or a huge lump sum and lower annual rate. Given that Non Hodgkin's Lyphoma is treatable but never curable I think it had better be the latter choice. Not something that we ever thought we would need to think about but needs must. (Terrible grammar there!)

This morning we met with the MacMillan Cancer Benefits person  to see if Col is entitled to any more money after the end of December. We thought his benefits would end then but it seems that as he is in the support group they will continue until he retires in March.

I need to wander down to Aldi later for milk and then fruit from the greengrocers and that will be that until I wander down there again on Saturday.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

I think we are allowed to swear..............

..........................but there would be no point.

We could jump up and down, stamp our feet and yell that it isn't fair...........but there would be no point in that either.
Why?

Because, Col's mantle-cell lymphoma hasn't gone , instead it's coming back. The results of the bone marrow sample taken a couple of weeks ago were not clear of it, the CT scan showed the spleen is enlarged.
We should have known really from the fact that the platelet count wasn't rising.

So after the shock we are straight onto plan B. A new, specially applied for and very expensive (another heart-felt thanks for having an NHS!) medication, new as in it's only been available for 2 years, but has shown good results. Then another stem cell transplant, this time from a donor and luckily one of Col's siblings is a match. This treatment will be based mainly at Addenbrookes in Cambridge so I envisage lots more traveling, but not quite in the way we had planned.  :-/

The tablets start immediately, and  have a mile long list of side effects so we have no idea how he will be feeling in a few days or even a few weeks time. Next week we meet with the specialist nurse for more information about time scales as we were almost too shocked to take in all that the doctor told us yesterday afternoon.

On a much more cheerful subject, this morning we've been over to see our beautiful granddaughter Florence, 7 weeks old today. Our youngest told us the best time to come to see her awake and we managed to make her smile several times. It will be lovely to see both grandchildren together at our son's wedding next month.

Back soon
Sue

Visiting our Grandson

We popped down to Surrey for the weekend to see our eldest, son in law and of course baby Jacob, 6 months old now - how did that happen?

Poor little man, red eyes and snuffly nose - a horrible cold

Our visit coincided with him having a grotty cough and cold, poor little fella, he's not keen on having his nose wiped that's for sure. I'm puzzling how we used to give Calpol on a spoon to poorly small people as now there is a clever syringe and even that's not easy when baby spits it all out!

We walked through the woodland to the village because there was a Christmas bazaar happening and I found this little cross stitch kit  for 50p on the Scout stall and won biscuits and buns on the WI tombola. My favourite sort of tombola - when every number wins a prize!

We ate the buns with a cuppa when we got back to H's house and I gave our neighbour the biscuits as a thank you for feeding the cat.

The car gave a strange hiccup followed by a puff of black exhaust smoke on the M25 not far into our journey home and I had awful visions of being broken down on the side of a motorway, but luckily there were no other symptoms and we got back without anything else happening.

Thanks for lots of comments and Hello to another new follower

Back Shortly
Sue

Still trying not to spend too much

Another viewing on Friday,  "sorry too small".........again....
Another viewing Tuesday morning will probably be the same

We had visitors on Saturday so there was a bit of extra spending for food. But what I bought will also feed us for a couple more days too, so that's OK

We took our friends over to see where the cottage is, just to make it a bit easier for them to find - it's not easily found! I rang to tell the lady who owns it that we would be walking by just to show our friends where the house was and she said she wouldn't be there but we could peer in the windows, which felt much to nosy to actually do.
So we just walked by and got all excited again about getting there as soon as we can.

Sunday was a grey dismal sort of day, we thought about walking to the library but didn't bother to go out at all. I got the tapestry glasses case finished by lining the back of the stitching with a piece of felt, then stitched myself a new scissor-keeper and made one small Christmas card from a free kit that I've had for ages. We also watched Andy Murray  play in the final to become top tennis player at the end of year - brilliant.

Got a bit worried this morning when our youngest said she would call in to see us after taking Florence for an ultra-sound, but it seems all breech babies have a scan to check for hip problems. She's  six weeks now and growing but is still a titch, just about got a small smile.

Hope everyone is surviving the varying weather in other parts of the country........ windy weather that caused so much damage in Somerset, Devon and Dorset, floods and snow up north, we've missed most of it so far.

Welcome to some new followers and thank you for comments

Milk, Fruit and veg plus some other things for meals with visitors and store-cupboard items £17.50
running total now £527 ish and still several days left until the end of the month - bother.

Back shortly
Sue

The ins and outs of life at Number 9

Monday IN and OUT was just for a walk, coming back via Aldi.

Tuesday morning OUT to visit A and Florence. Because A is having to take antibiotics she has gone onto formula milk which Florence isn't keen on. She never did get the hang of breast feeding as she always fell asleep after 2 minutes! Florence that is not A! Although A is well known for falling asleep on a 5 minute car journey! I had big cuddles with Florence while A and grandad Col took the dog OUT for a walk.

And IN again for lunch.

Tuesday afternoon OUT to hospital where Col had the 100-days-after-stem-cell-transplant bone marrow sampling - Ouch - he had gas and air. This is how they test if there is any mantle cell lymphoma or what percentage is left. Blood test too, platelets are the same as last week - bother, but at least not down.

And IN again for dinner.

The XL moon was IN and OUT behind clouds but I zoomed IN and caught this. I think a day too late for the full moon.

Wednesday was IN and OUT....................of the car.
On the way to Colin's sisters we called IN at the Needham Market Wednesday boot sale .........4 books for Col £1- very unusual for him to find anything

 and 3 packets of biscuits £1 . We've returned the wheelchair to sister and hope it will be many years before we need it again - if ever.
Then we stop/started up the A140 - volume of traffic? accident?roadworks? we shall never know as we turned off via Mendlesham to call IN on my sister. Coffee with them and then to Col's Dads to pick up some money from Col's brother as I bought my own Christmas present, wrapped it up and delivered it there so all Andrew needs to do is write on the label! He thinks it's an excellent way to do his Christmas shopping! (BTW the present I bought myself was a small tapestry frame and tapestry of poppies to do - both from the Sense charity shop. But don't tell me as it's a secret!!)

And IN again via Asda for diesel still £1.10/L there but £1.17/L everywhere else.

Found half the washing had come off the line and dragged on the ground so it had to go IN the washing machine again before it could go back OUT on the line.

I didn't go OUT anymore because tennis was on TV but Col went OUT for a walk, although the Andy Murray match was very looooooonnnnnggggg so I could have gone OUT because the score was still only 2 : 2 in the first set when Col got IN again.

Thursday
OUT this morning for Col to be measured for his wedding waistcoat.......only 3 weeks now - exciting.
Then IN to town for a bit of shopping and mainly to get Col a new battery for his watch. £14!!!!! In a No spend month! But no choice really. Spent £6 of my Grape Tree vouchers for some savoury bits for us for Christmas as the hampers are sorted. Two more  Christmas gifts also sorted.
Col is OUT again later to hospital for a full body CT scan, not sure why really but we presume to check the chemo hasn't affected any vital organs or maybe to look for possible blood clots.
I don't need to go with him so I can stay IN. Good! all this IN and OUT is making me dizzy!




 Aldi, Asda and greengrocers- fruit, veg, eggs,bread, store cupboard stuff £11
Christmas gifts £10
Diesel £34
Col's books £1
Watch battery £14 (much too much , what happened to wind up watches?)

The  Annoyingly Not so low/no spend November £439.50 + £70 = £509.50ish
Back Soon
Sue

That Was (Most of) The Week That Was

 The thing about living in town in an all mains gas/electric bungalow is that for the first time since 1979  we have no alternative self reliant heating or cooking.
Anyway, with dire warnings of a cold winter and possible problems with electricity supply (something to do with no spare capacity from power stations), I suggested we go and get the gas ring from the beach hut. Now we have the gas cooker out in the caravan and the gas ring indoors, I don't feel so vulnerable, but I will be so glad to get back to the country where we will have a wood-burner and hopefully, eventually, a propane-gas range cooker.

There had been some high tides in Felixstowe near the hut,by the looks of the stones washed up onto the prom and a strange phenomenon............. loads of oyster shells washed into the corners by each wooden groyne.

The weather on Wednesday was awful - rain all day. We didn't get out for a walk at all. I just made a card for the wedding next month, read and then started writing my Penny Pinching News letter which is due to go to friends for January 1st . A very lazy day.

 It was Col's blood test on Thursday morning (platelets are up a bit again thank heavens) and then in the afternoon we got out for a 2½ walk - up to Asda and back and no sitting down halfway. Definitely the furthest he has walked since he started feeling poorly a year ago.

Today he is off out for Brunch with ex work colleagues and I haven't got much that has to be done so will get on with finishing the tapestry glasses case or reading.

I've actually abandoned quite a few books recently, yesterday  the new Ann Cleeves, Shetland series - Cold Earth. I've been spoiled by the TV series and the books are completely different. "The 12.30 From Croydon"  is another of the British Library Crime Classics but the story is told from the point of view of the murderer -hate that! "Antidote to venom" was another the same. A friend had told me about a crime series set in Canada by Louise Penny but I couldn't get into the first of these "Still Life" so that went back unread. I wanted to read "A Woman's Place" by Ruth Adam but had several other books at home I preferred first so it went back but it's still on the shelves at Broomhill so I may borrow it again.

 This is the latest photo of our grandson Jacob which daughter has sent, now 5 months old this is his first time on a (rather too big for him) swing. What a difference from the poorly little fella back in July. Can't wait to get down to Surrey soon to see him properly.

Thank you for comments, I shall mention nothing about the country across the pond and just say welcome to another follower.


Spending up-date in Low/No Spend November
Milk, veg and other bits from Aldi, bread and bits from Asda and fruit from the greengrocers £16.50
That book 50p
Pack of 4 gas cartridge thingys for the beach hut gas ring. £8
Boiler repairs £80 Aaaaaagh!  ( That's rather spoiled the low spend plan)

£299 +£105 = £404

Back when something exciting/interesting/noteworthy happens
Sue

And Another Week Bites The Dust

Before I start I must say hello to lots of new followers, once it was possible to click on names and find if people had a blog or not but that's one of the things Blogger have changed - very annoying, so if you have a blog please leave a comment with the name of the blog.
And must say thank you for all the comments on the last post. It's certainly true about "Bungalow Legs" as after just 7 months here I now find stairs quite hard work. We haven't completely dismissed the hospital gym as it will certainly be a good idea for later although fitness in the past has always been maintained by working - gardening, wood cutting etc. Back at the smallholding I did half a mile of walking round the field everyday just to let the chickens out and collect the eggs!

Anyway, what have we been up to......................................

Monday - Off to hospital with Colin  for his regular blood test and then an appointment with the Doctor. Platelets have gone up again  *Happy Dance* and the doctor said he could drop several of the tablets he's been taking  since he came out of hospital.

Tuesday - a.m. I went to see a physio to get some more exercises to help hips and back. Very nice young fella wiggled my legs about and said my hips were not too bad and my back fairly flexible, then showed me 3 more exercises to try to improve even more.
I reckon the test is - can you put your knickers on while standing up? 

We had a viewing of the bungalow in the afternoon and our For Sale sign has gone up. We told our lovely neighbour Ann that we were moving so it didn't come as a shock to her but I bet it's surprised some of the other neighbours. It takes about 5 minutes to show people round this small bungalow whereas last year it took at least an hour to show folk around the smallholding.
 Then we took library books back and went for a walk in Broomhill Park behind the library ( From the web : Broomhill Park is a semi-natural woodland park between Sherrington Road and Valley Road in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. In older times it was called Broom Hill. The park contains many fine historic oaks and an abundance of Scots Pines).  If it wasn't for the traffic noise it would feel like a wood in the country.

Wednesday - Out to Leiston to visit our beautiful granddaughter, (and our daughter of course!) now two weeks and one day old.

 We got to see her awake this time and while Col went to visit one of old neighbours, me and A took Florence and the dog for a walk around the park. 

 Feedback from yesterdays viewing " it didn't have a wow factor"! Colin asked me what on earth they meant so I said it would mean completely gutting the kitchen and replacing with glossy doored cupboards and granite worktops and ceramic tiled floor. Replacing the new carpets we had laid for warmth with wood flooring and all the light fittings with new ones. My settee covered with a patchwork throw would have to go and the comfy armchair - it's always leather sofas in modern homes.The pine dresser that isn't really a dresser and the pine chest that the TV stands on would also be changed to something modern and metal and as for the little round table by my chair which is really a homemade sewing box table from the 1930s, that definitely wouldn't be seen in a Wow Factor home! All the doors throughout the place would need new ones as they are old hollow sapele ones. The double glazing is out dated and would have to be replaced, then a conservatory added out the back with big bi-fold doors. The garden would be decked and grass banished and as for the old fashioned flower border - that would have to go.I showed him  THIS which has come on the market in Ipswich (but not in such a Good area as ours she says sniffily!)- just the sort of place I would hate! And certainly not what we could afford to do here before selling. So we shall just have to wait and hope.


Thursday morning and back to the cottage to meet the lady selling it and have another look round. We're just hoping she doesn't suddenly change her mind as she doesn't really want to move but has been widowed now for 6 years and is probably in her late 70s and finding the driving to the village and back for everything is starting to be too much. The cottage is exactly what we want and we would happily move in as soon as the solicitors can sort it but the lady has a lot of things to shift so we don't want to rush her and it will be January before she'll be ready so we will have to be patient.
One problem is that there will be no cooker/oven there as the lady is taking hers with her. There is a perfect place to put a range and I would like to go back to LPG (heating is oil boiler - no natural gas)but we may have to manage with microwave and caravan cooker until we can sort something out. Although somewhere stored in one of the trailers is a double burner camping stove.

Thursday afternoon and another bungalow viewing - the third - third time lucky?

Friday 
No, not third time lucky " too small" ( yes we know that!)

And now it's nearly 5pm and we are just back from the other side of Ipswich after attending my uncle's funeral (my mum's eldest sister's husband) he was 94 and my Auntie is still a fairly fit 92. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary 2 years ago. That's a long time together. We caught up with two of my cousins "we're running out of Aunts and Uncles" I said "but gaining grandchildren".

We have another viewing tomorrow and there's a Jumble sale round the corner at the Scout Hut. Might pop to a Book sale too and perhaps a car boot - Sound's like the perfect weekend! 

Back after the weekend
Sue

Sunday to Thursday

Thank you for so many comments about our move back to the country. We can't wait.
 I've done the maths several times to check we can afford it and yes ...........just. Things will be pretty tight until we sell the bungalow. Unfortunately there are several properties for sale in Ipswich for much the same price at the moment and if it doesn't sell quickly we will be living on Fresh Air until Col can get his County Council pension in March. (Someone asked if we could rent it out instead of selling but I think the rental income would only be about £650 - £700 a month, then agency fees to come off so not really enough to live on).
I'm looking on it as a challenge to live on a very low budget for the rest of the year, although Christmas may have to be postponed until we sell!


 On Sunday we popped over to visit our new granddaughter, 5 days old - still haven't seen her awake.

 Florence refused to breast feed once they got home so A is expressing. She's determined to try and avoid the high cost of formula milk. She was also planning to use the re-usable nappies but Florence is too tiny for them so it was lucky I found a few more newborn disposables  at a car boot sale.

Monday - Our son reached the grand old age of 35 today. Doesn't seem five minutes since he was Florence's size, although come to think of it he was never as small and grew into the 6 foot something he is now by the time he was 15.
We went down to the beach hut as the weather promised a decent day with an offshore wind, but they were wrong and by 2pm it was really chilly and started to rain. It was very quiet down there, only dog walkers and joggers. Col sat behind our windbreak while I kept inside out of the wind. I've now brought home the things that will get damp over winter

 We treated ourselves to a whippy ice cream - with flake of course - the last of the season before the kiosk closes.
 Over the weekend I sorted through more books and delivered another box full to be collected to go off to Ziffit.com - another £24 worth. Most of my books they don't want and some of the ones they will accept are ones I want to keep so I haven't emptied many boxes so far.

Tuesday - More book sorting, it's getting quite addictive. I found £27 worth and boxed up. That's a total of nearly £80 of income which is handy amount. Will I regret selling some of them later - probably but not many and anyway we really need the cash.

I did 10 minutes more garden clearing but my back started complaining so I soon stopped, I'm just so out of condition.

Wednesday -
Made the Baby Jacob page in my new scrapbook. I didn't look on-line to get ideas, nor did I rush out to buy any more bits and pieces, just used what I had, this is how it ended up

After lunch we had to take our ID and filled in forms into town for our solicitor.


 Thursday - I went with Col to hospital for his regular weekly blood test and Great Joy his platelets are starting to climb, from very, very, very,VERY low to just very, very,very low. Perhaps that's the start of an improvement. He also had to have a monthly lung thing where they give him an antibiotic by inhalation. He hopes they'll stop it soon as it gives him terrible indigestion.
The weather was cold and miserable today so I decided it was time to start making soup for daily lunches. First soup of the Autumn was Leek and Potato as leeks are one of the Aldi cheap vegetables at the moment. We have salad and something for lunch through spring and summer so by soup season I've always forgotten how delicious and warming it is.
After lunch off to the Estate Agents to take ID  and to find out one or two more details about the cottage.

I have the dentists tomorrow for a filling ..............

Back Soon
Sue

Book Review etc

First the book review...........


I've finished reading Trio by Sue Gee, an author who I hadn't read before so must have come across details of this one on a blog.
 I don't really enjoy sobbing my way through a book so probably ought to have abandoned this after the first few pages as it begins with the traumatic death of a young married woman from  TB.

Set in Northumberland the story starts in late 1936 with Steven Coulter, a young enthusiastic history teacher and his wife living in a remote moorland cottage. He has been caring for his sick wife Margaret and teaching at the boys school  in town but comes home one snowy day to find her dead.
Months later Frank Embleton, head of history at the school reaches through Stevens grief to invite him to a concert given by his sister, Diana, a cellist and two friends - the trio of the title. Frank, Diana, Margot the pianist and Phillip a college trained violinist, have been friends since childhood and have been giving concerts for many years in the local area. Steven has no musical knowledge at all but finds in Margot someone who is also lonely - her mother died when Margot was a child and she has lived with her father in the "Big House" ever since.
They are both shy and from completely different backgrounds but eventually  music brings them together. War is creeping ever nearer and each person in the group also has a back story which affects them now. This part of the book finishes in early 1939.
Then suddenly it's 2015 and the rest of the story is told by Geoff who is Steven and Margot's now elderly son whose  beloved wife Becky has just died. This last part of the book moves back and forward so that the missing 66 years are gradually explained.

Beautifully written account of grief and love, but in a way almost too sad to enjoy.


Thank you for all the comments on the last post.
Do doctors/people really think that overweight people don't know they ought to lose weight? Of course we B***** well do and I have several times since I was 16 and weighed and 9 a half stone and was told I was overweight by "friends" .
Unfortunately knowing  and doing are two different things.

Things then got worse as Colin had to go back into hospital on Friday evening as he started shivering and running a high temperature and low BP. So once again he is on antibiotics.They soon had him on a drip..... saline then platelets and blood. It's not unusual for patients who've had lots of chemo and stem cell transplant to have to go back in but this Cancer thing is just NOT fun.


Just adding in this latest photo of Jacob to cheer me up!

But lost the original post with your comments - Whoops - Sorry




Back soon-ish. Sue

Small visitor takes over house

Steriliser and bottle making machine in the kitchen, baby clothing on the line, baby and daughter stuff in the bedroom, bouncer chair, play mat and toys in the living room, baby bath in the bathroom.

Yes, Jacob is here.

 How much better our grandson looks now he has had the operation for pyloric stenosis and is putting on weight. He is a very smiley baby except when a camera is pointed at him!

Then grandad made funny faces at him and we managed to catch the smile. Hope this picture works as it's off facebook,( because silly grandad deleted it from the camera before I had the chance to put it on here. If it doesn't we shall have to try again later.)

Back Soon
Sue

The Toy Cupboard is Full

I think I have enough toys in the cupboard to keep small visitors busy. These recent car boot finds will be the last I'll buy for now. First picture from a couple of weeks ago.

Wooden clock and shape lift out puzzles and toy phone, nursery rhyme book and another Little Grey Rabbit book. The baby brush and comb set ready for the October baby and a book for me to add to my WWII collection (what a good thing I typed out the list of all my WWII books so I knew I hadn't got this one). Total spend £5.20p

 Next photo from Needham Market's Huge boot sale on Bank Holiday Saturday

 Wooden bricks and opposites puzzle £1 each. Very old wooden puzzle 50p, bag of pavement chalks 50p (these are very popular with children at other beach huts for drawing on the prom!). The Clean and Green pack on the right are a large pack of table mats that can be coloured in, looked like fun for the future. For myself I found some card blanks, a kit and several pieces of Aida for cross stitch for a total  of £1.60 and 20p for the Wilko make-your-own Christmas gift tags- which is something I usually do anyway using last years Christmas cards - the lady had loads of these packs and I was curious to see what they were. I might make them or they could be put away for the future. 2 old crime books were 25p each and finally if you see a new pair of socks for 50p with your daughters name on then you have to get them even if she is 36!

So having decided NO MORE TOYS for the toy cupboard (obviously books are not toys!), I called in briefly at  a car boot on the way to Crowfield church. A regular Sunday one that I've not been to for years, but it seemed to be dealer type sellers with lots of tat, won't go again.
However I still parted with £1.70p (last of the big spenders!). A piece of Christmas fabric for 20p, 5 new  Hairy Maclary books at 10p each.

I treated the cat to a new bowl for 50p as one of hers is a bit chipped. And finally the brand new boxed set of book and Kipper toy. The box inside is like a little bed where Kipper can sleep with his own blanket. This will make a lovely Christmas present for a small person so not for the toy cupboard but into the Christmas cupboard instead and only 50p, didn't need to haggle on that one! The joy of boot-sales is that there are still a few people who just want to clear stuff out, and of course I looked on Amazon to see the proper price and there were none available because they were first sold in 2005 (where had someone kept this for 11 years?) So looked on eBay where the only one for sale was from the States for £60!!

Hopefully by the time our grandchildren are old enough to need trikes and bigger toys we will have moved to somewhere bigger. I saw a Playmobil (or Fisher Price not sure which) Noah's ark and animals for £5 but decided there was just nowhere to keep it. Still looking out for Duplo (large Lego) with no luck. We have some ordinary Lego stowed away, but the Duplo we had was given away a long time ago. I'm glad we kept a small box of Brio wooden railway, I hope to be able to pick up more bits for it when Jacob and Dot-the-bump are a few years older.

We Think, crossing everything possible, that Colin is finally on the right track. The only problem now is getting his platelet levels (they're the part of the blood that make clots form) to climb as they are not building up as they ought. This has happened after each chemo session all the way through. He is still absolutely exhausted but the doctors are happy with progress.

Many thanks for all your good wishes for him and also welcome to Nagini and Kate who are new followers.

Back very soon
Sue

Not a fun week

Our little grandson at 11 weeks old had to have an operation to correct a narrowing between stomach and intestines. We thought things were not right when they stayed a few weeks ago and H has been back to the doctor with Jacob several times in the last few weeks and finally got referred straight to their local hospital for tests. They then had to wait for nearly 2 days for a bed  at a bigger hospital.
 Apparently quite a common problem for babies, mainly boys, and is quickly sorted. But another thing to worry about and being a distance away makes things worse.
And how do you tell an 11 week old that he is nil-by-mouth!
He should be able to go home in a day or two and fingers crossed that will be the end of it and he will start to feed and put on weight properly.

Meanwhile Colin is still not feeling any better, he has been on constant drips of saline, blood , antibiotics or platelets, one after the other or two at a time.

I'm just trying to keep on an even keel and not fall off the tightrope - mixed metaphors there but you know what I mean!


I think I will be glad to see the end of August
Back Soon
Sue

It maybe a while...............

......................before our grandchildren are tall enough for something we bought today.

For several weeks we've been seeing this big poster on the way to hospital

So this morning we popped round to have a look
Wow, talk about community effort. In just 2 roads every 3rd or 4th house was joining in with this fundraiser, selling their unwanted stuff and also raising money for the local Hospice.
It was crowded with people and cars, (hope a fire engine or ambulance didn't need to get through!)

We came home with 2 things, although I could have filled a whole cupboard with children's toys of all sorts.... but managed to resist.

The first thing we bought was this wooden height measuring thingy for £3.50, it screws to the wall....... yes I know Jacob is only 6 weeks old but now we will be ready for him (and the one due October) growing!  I can just picture future grandchildren rushing in to see if they've grown since last time they visited.

Underneath is the other thing I bought -  a king-size quilted throw. I got one off ebay several months ago and have had it over the settee but it's a hand made one and  now needs repairs and cleaning, and we have no proper covers on the settee underneath as they "died" a long time ago! Now I can mend and organise the cleaning. The 'new' one is very huge and very heavy and the colours are right too, I could have bought a new one from a dozen places for much the same as I paid here - £40 - but prefer not to buy from shops if I can avoid it, this way the money goes into the community and not into some big company.

Here is the latest photo of Jacob our eldest has put on facebook!......... I can't see any resemblance at all!






Poor little fella!

And finally, can anyone tell me who had a recipe on their blog,( possibly on a link to an old post) for marrow/lemon curd. I've tried googling but can only find recipes without eggs and I'm sure the one I saw on a blog had eggs in for a better flavour and set.

Thanks for comments last time

Back very soon
Sue
( edited in to say that some people are unable to see photo of Jacob copied here from facebook in which our daughter has compared him to a photo of Yoda from Star Wars!, which is why I said poor little fella )

Baby cuddles - no apologies for cuteness overload!

 

Nanna Sue meets baby Jacob and has lots of cuddles!

Although he's 3 weeks old he should only really be one week old so is still so tiny.


Grandad Col had so many cuddles - even when baby Jacob was fast asleep!

Col's sister kindly fetched their Dad to bring him over for a 4 generation photo shoot. 85 years meets 3 weeks with the new mum and proud grandad.

 

Our pregnant youngest caught train and bus to visit us to see her new nephew 

Our son squeezed in a  visit very early Sunday morning as he's been working all weekend

And we all spent the weekend watching  the small wonder that is our first Grandson.

I think our daughter and son-in-law were very brave bringing our teeny grandson to see us because of us not being able to go there but everything went well.

No doubt he will have grown a bit next time we see him.

Back Soon
Sue

Just had to share this

Welcome to the world Jacob Rhys, you are gorgeous.


Back Soon
Sue
PS Thank you everyone for the lovely comments yesterday

Here is the Good News From a Small Suffolk Bungalow

We are Grandparents! Whoop whoop!
Our eldest had a little boy at 11.30 this morning. Mum, Dad and baby are all well. No name yet. He is a tiny baby 6lb 2 oz and 3 weeks early because they were a bit worried about H's health. Very exciting, hope we get some photos soon. We will get down to Surrey to see them  as soon as Col is well enough.

 Col was called in Monday night to grab a bed ready for the 6th chemo cycle to start on Tuesday morning, but it didn't because his platelet level was too low. The doctor decided that while they were waiting to see if the next blood test was better they would do a bone marrow sample to see how things are progressing. Col asked for gas and air as pain relief because it's a very painful procedure. The results of the bone marrow are good, there is no sign of Lymphoma now. His next blood test was OK and they finally got going with the chemo on Thursday morning. All being well he will be home on Saturday evening. We had a chat with the cancer nurse specialist who has explained the next stages of treatment (stem cell therapy and a different chemo) to consolidate everything that's been done and put the NHL into remission for as long as possible. We knew right from the start that it would be probably be a year until he was well again - and that still seems to be the time scale. The biggest risk with everything isn't the treatment but the chances of serious infection while he has no immune system. So it will be limited visiting for the weeks he has to spend in hospital during the summer.

Our son has been offered a permanent job as a Project Officer with Suffolk Archaeology CIC (once Suffolk County Council Archaeology Dept). He has been working for 8thEast for 2 and a half years but their funding runs out in the Autumn.  8thEast and Suffolk Archaeology have consulted and negotiated and found a way for him to work part time for both so he can see out the Airfields project. Such good news. He has managed to work in his chosen profession since finishing uni in 2004 - something very few archaeology graduates do.

Our youngest had her 20 week scan today and all is well with her bump.

And finally we got a letter from Department Work and Pensions giving him more benefit money per week back dated to April (from £73 to £109 - handy, no idea why).


So good news all round. I am a happy Nanna Sue!

Back soon
Sue

In which I manage to get to a car boot sale..........

......................At last!
It's been a long wait to get to my first boot sale of the year, what with moving and the weather but I was up with the lark to go to the once-a-month-out-of-the-football-season boot sale at Melton near Woodbridge.
It was packed with sellers and buyers, more than I've ever seen there before.

 This was my haul. I've set myself some rules for buying for the future grandchildren -
1. Things must be less than £1 and
2. They must fit on the shelf of the new wardrobe.

My favourite buys? The two Victory wooden jigsaw puzzles -£1 each and 4 Ladybird picture books for 25p each. Can't resist Christmas cards at 50p for the pack. Love the lift out animal puzzle too.

Mighty Movers is a brand new book/pack of 6 pictures of Big machines and some of those picture cubes that make the pictures in the book. The Alison Uttley is really for me (after reading her books of country essays I thought I'd collect a few of the childrens stories) and the wool for my sister to knit more baby cardi's.

I know some of these things will have to stay in the cupboard for a few years but Be Prepared is my motto!

I forgot to include in the picture another book, " From Store to War" by Linda McCullough-Thew. (over £3 on Amazon -but  50p from the boot sale) This is the biography  of a woman who joined the ATS during the war and mentions that it is a sequel to an earlier book  "The Pit Village and the Store" which has now been added to my Amazon wish list.

It was very strange to tour a boot sale and not look at the plants but my enthusiasm for growing our own food seems to have vanished with our move here. I guess after 37 years it was bound to wane, perhaps when Col is better and we can make some veg beds I shall get my growing mojo back.

The other day I forgot to say thank you to VC  for   the encouraging words about her sister and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Back in a tick
Sue

Nana Sue (to be) went.....................

.......................to a jumble sale.

She walked down the road and round the corner and paid 20p to get into the Scout hall.
Then she spent £6 and came home with all these treasures

And Grandad Colin (to be) said "where the heck are we going to put them? we've only got a teeny bungalow".
But it was OK because most will be given away to the two mums (to be). Except for that brilliant Fisher Price bouncer chair, with a kicky/fiddly play thing attached and that lovely wooden caterpillar and the books which will have to stay here for small visitors (and the one grown up chick lit book).

 What bargains!

Back Soon
Sue

PS. The beach hut was a bit more than £6! but a lot less than Southwold or the South Coast and I can't think of a better way for us to spend time while Col is getting better. The sound of the sea is very restorative I reckon and what a brilliant place it will be for our future grandchildren.

Home alone, good TV and other stuff

I am still home alone (unless you count Polly the cat- and she's not very talkative) because Col is still stuck on the oncology ward. They gave him antibiotics and then a different sort, they've given him platelets but the levels are only creeping up slowly. He might come out tomorrow, I hope so. Then he should be due for the 5th chemo cycle next week but this may be delayed. The doctors have explained about stem cell treatment which he will have after the 6th chemo session, it requires 4 WEEKS in hospital, most of it in a single room to avoid infection. Oh my goodness, he will be institutionalised!!  not to mention bored stiff.

This is the photo of Col that our son posted on his Facebook page the other day when he took a giant Haddock sandwich into hospital for Cols teatime treat. M and R had popped down to Felixstowe and Col had put in a request for decent food. I'm not sure this counts as Good but he needs all the calories he can get at the moment and there's no chance of that with hospital food.

Now to the good TV programmes - We watched most of The Farming Life which finished last week. It was a series of 12 programmes describing a year on 5 farms in various parts of Scotland. The hard work in harsh conditions was something I wouldn't want to do that's for sure. I enjoyed seeing some of the farmers showing their animals at auctions and agricultural shows which I never wanted to do when we kept goats and sheep (not that we ever had anything worth showing anyway!).
On Sunday evenings I've been watching Paul O'Grady getting involved in the work of the Salvation Army. I'm not keen on him but I am interested in what the sally army do. An aunt and uncle were uniformed members all the way through their lives and my cousins  and their families are now. My Gran went to a Salvation Army over 60s group when she was alive and her funeral was at the Stowmarket Citidal.
On Monday Night there was a fascinating programme about The Vikings and their journeys across the world all those years ago.

And all the other stuff - a  larder fridge has been ordered, I shall ring up one of the charities that collect, and donate the old fridge to them along with an armchair from the shed. I know I ought to be selling them on ebay but at the moment I just can't be doing with the hassle.
On Tuesday I had time to go on a tour of the Ipswich charity shops to look for some baby clothes for the 2 bumps, but there were so few around. Some charities don't have any at all but there is a jumble sale at the local Scout group on the 21st and luckily they are not from us and I must try to get to some boot sales.
 As her OH is working away in Manchester this week our youngest asked me to go with her for the first scan of her bump this afternoon. Mini bump was turning somersaults! We were both glad to see only one baby (my dad was a twin so you never know) and the heartbeat was fine so that's good news.
When did ultrasound scanning start? I can't remember if I had scans for any of our three in 1980, 81 or 87? Anyone know?

Back in a while
Sue