Home again and catching up

Haven't really done that much today to be honest. I tidied round the bedroom and started sorting out a few bits and pieces of clothes and suchlike. Also managed to get a couple of loads of washing done and the rest of my time was spent pootling about doing not a lot.

Got in about half six last night and just dumped the bags, so I had to go through them to get stuff I needed and shoved all the dirty in the wash. Tomorrow morning's plan is to get all the clean out of the living room, which is resembling a chinese laundry right now, and get it into some sort of semblance of order before my sis comes to visit. She's only dropping in for the day on her way to SOU, but it will be good to see her for however long. Got a lot to catch up with since we've not had a really good chat for a few months.

Gah... just realised it's halloween tomorrow and I have nothing in. I really ought to get some sweeties for the little bas... erm... darings that will come knocking on my door demanding "trick or treat"... So Americanised. I hate it. I still remember the days of actually doing stuff to get sweeties (that's SWEETIES folks, not candy. Wrong side of the pond here to get all American). Anyone else mourn the days when kids sang a wee song or something to get something, even if it was just an apple? I bet if I was giving out apples tomorrow, there would be disappointed faces. Bah humbug... Might lock myself in my sewing room with my music playing instead...

Ah well, suppose it might be good to make a start on shifting stuff out of the living room. It won't be tidying itself, although how cool would it be if it did? I mean seriously...

Ahhh, pipe dreams of a self-cleaning house... The person who invents one will be a millionaire in 5 seconds flat.

I fell off the planet...

Well, I'm back... Sort of. Currently I'm sat in Wales in my friend A's house, chilling out after another day playing housekeeper, cook and companion. Nearly ended up as referee, but decided that it would be a bad idea to get between A and her daughter's bloke.

I've been spending time here for various reasons, but the main one is playing rottweiler to A's shitty builders, solar heating engineers and anyone else that's trying to take advantage of a disabled pensioner who needs work done on her house. I also get to do a lot of cooking... More about that in a minute. It's absolutely peaceful here. At night you can stand out the back and all you can hear is the sound of the wind, the occasional shuffle of one of the sheep in the field and an owl if it's feeling talkative. Bliss.

And the cooking. Where to start? Well, A's mate D has a farm. He keeps sheep. He also has licence to slaughter the sheep and eat them. They're yummy by the way, especially the really cute one I was petting the other week there. She was absolutely scrummy with a bit of rosemary and red wine. Yeah, I know, I'm horrible, but seriously, where do you think your food comes from? I have loads more recipes I want to try, and D has a few more sheep that will be going at some point in the future. I see a great culinary partnership forming here...

Recently D had some bits of cow, so I was trying some burger recipes. They were yum too by the way. I was even there for the butchering of the meat, helping with the mincing, mixing and pressing of the burgers, packing up some of the huge gret big joints of meat that I just wanted to take home and cook. We got a couple of steaks and a joint for roasting. The steaks were HUGE. I kid you not. One rump filled a reasonable sized frying pan... The roast was lovely. It was a really nice piece of meat, juicy, tender and above all, fresh and not bought out of any supermarket. I watched it being hacked off the carcass. Smashing stuff. I'm going to be back the next time there's meat on offer, recipe book and pen in hand, ideas forming on what to cook next.

Home again soon though, and feeling more relaxed after a grand week away. Even my health problems have been a lot less annoying, although I still can't wait for the day I go into hospital to get them hopefully sorted properly. My mate M is about to have the full hysterectomy after having the ablation a couple of years back, so I know what to expect from the ablation. I'm hoping that I'll be able to come here while I'm in the middle of the injection cycle to keep out from under himself's feet. I know for a fact that there will probably be friction with the pair of us in the house while I'm all menopausal. There's a laugh I could well do without. At least here I can wander off up the field or nip off down the beach to work off any mood swings. Either that or D can put me in the dairy with the mincer and a huge pile of meat. That ain't half theraputic...

Lots to do next week. Really need to do some of my sewing to be honest, plus I could seriously do with having a sort out of stuff at home. Living here for a week, with A has made me realise that I have a lot of stuff and I really need to organise it. She has some lovely bits and pieces all over the place, but it's not cluttered. I might end up puting some stuff away, just so there's less stuff all over the place like it is at the moment. This house is really neat and tidy, and I'm a bit naffed of with living with too much stuff all over the place. Time for an organise.

I did mention before that I might go a bit Stepford, but hadn't actually done it. I think it's about time really...

So much to do and only a few weeks left till the hospital. I think I'd prefer to have a tidy house to shuffle around in after the op really, plus I need to be a bit ruthless with the junk that I've been collecting over the years. I think the garage might be getting a bit of a shock shortly...

Anyway... It's nearly bedtime. Shocking I know, but the fresh air really does me in here. Bed before midnight is definitely on the cards tonight. It helps that I'm almost constantly busy here too with one thing or another, helping move furniture, cooking, chasing after dog, fixing stuff and generally keeping A company. Might be back here soon. It's really nice being in the peace and quiet, although I've been missing out on the dancing. Mind you, I've not really been fit and well enough to dance, since the tablets the doc gave me worked for all of ten days before my little period problem decided to revisit with a vengeance and really go to town on me.

Nuts to it. I'm not going to let it beat me. I've had a couple of days where I've been really down about it, but I can't let it rule my life. Time to move on and just play the waiting game till I can get it all sorted with any luck. If it works, I'm going to rename the surgeon to God...

Now time to go fall off the planet again, at least for a couple of days while I get home and start my organising. Sleep beckons...

Update

Well, I haven't posted in a while, so what's been doing since then... Let me think...

Himself and I had a bit of a row following the last post (predictable, since I was still majorly frustrated after writing it) but the end result seems to have settled a lot of dust. I said some things, he said some things, we yelled at each other, nothing got really resolved (normal) but the air got cleared.

I finished work. The last week of getting up at half seven in the morning I was mildly euphoric, which spilled into the home life. A good thing, because I've been laughing and joking with himself lately rather than biting his head off. Well, that proves one thing: My work was a major factor in the whole disgruntled me thing. Now I'm an unemployed bum (please read "Self employed and considering a career in Stepford Wife" here) and so far enjoying it.

A couple of weekends ago we had the parents over. My parents that is... The ones that live miles away. Dad drove down (mum can't drive now, since she's half-blind) and they arrived four hours earlier than planned. I hadn't finished the mad rush tidy job, but meh... They didn't mind too much. The living room was at least tidy and they spent some time in the garden. On the Sunday, the three of us went to Southampton to meet up with my sis and we had lunch.

Not just lunch...

We had lunch on the QE2. Impressed? I was... The ship is gorgeous. I wished that I'd been going away on the next cruise. I still do. Trans-Atlantic to Quebec, then Halifax, Boston, New York, St. Johns, then back to Southampton. My parents are currently living it up on the other side of the Atlantic with my sister, living in luxury on board one of the last "proper" cruise liners left.

Anyway... I shall put my jealousy back in its box...

On Friday I had my hospital appointment with the gynae people. I'm sure I blogged that I was to be allowed a hysterectomy before one of the surgeon's lackeys threw my world into disarray with the mention of IVF, and basically caused a load of mess with my head and my relationship with himself. The surgeon said that I had never been offered it and that it would be dangerous and stupid to consider it. He needs a word with his team. Anyway... I'm not getting one of them. I'm getting Endometrial Ablation instead, which apparently should solve my problems. I say "should" but I know what my body can be like sometimes. Awkward thing that it is.

So... All sounding peachy so far? HA! Right. It's not that straightforward.

I have to have an injection a month before the op. Basically it will shut down my ovaries, which will mean I'll get menopausal symptoms. You know, hot flushes, night sweats, the whole nine yards, as well as the off hormonal outbursts.

We know it's coming. I'm going to do my best to keep it all in check, because otherwise I will end up taking it all out on himself, which isn't fair. However, we both know what's coming, so we might have a chance of getting through the worst of it without throwing things and yelling at each other. I'm going to try and take out my energy on housework instead of himself.

Talking of housework, I mentioned the Stepford Wife thing. I decided it would possibly be best if I didn't try to find another job straight away. It would be a bit unfair to prospective employers to take me on then have me off with hospital visits and so on, so I'm going to remain unemployed for the time being. Well, technically unemployed as I shall be concentrating on sewing. I have a dress to make for a friend as well as a dance dress to make for C's competition in March. Plenty of time for me to get practice in with new material and new techniques. I have the pattern and material already for both projects, so that's all sorted. I also bought a load of wool for knitting baby blankies, which is my staple for the evenings. I'm also going to be doing the Stepford thing...

Over the next few weeks I plan to gut, clean, tidy, rearrange and generally get this house into something approaching neat and homely. That might also include a lick of paint here and there, but I'm sure I can manage.

First thing to do is the kitchen. I started cleaning it, but got distracted by Season 2 DVD box set of House. I've finished that, so I can get the radio out, and get on with turning my kitchen into an ultra clean, neat, tidy, everything where it should be space. Now I have my shelves, that will be easier to accomplish. After that it will be a blitz on the bathroom, and then the living room. Dining room will follow that (which will help with the kitchen stuff because I want to move plates into the sideboard) and then the bedrooms. Well, one bedroom, one computer room and one sewing room.

So... Onward and upwards. I'm hoping that the sewing gig can take over as my source of income, as it's something I enjoy doing. I'm probably not going to make a huge amount of cash out of it, but it will hopefully keep me ticking over with enough there to have fun as well. Plus it means I can be home doing the housework, washing, cooking, cleaning and generally keeping the place in the state I am about to get it to.

Right... Time to go put on some scaggy cleaning clothes and get on with the kitchen. Wish me luck...