So pleased with the new look husband, Carol; long may it last.  Paul is not very well today; he put in a repeat request for his inhalers a week ago and the doctor has still not passed it through to the pharmacy.  I was a bit worried for him yesterday as his last inhaler had to be due to run out (it did today); I bought one from one of the internet websites for delivery this morning.  It is a good job I did as the prescription had still not been given to the pharmacy when we rang them today.  It is getting ridiculous and I feel sorry for the nice local pharmacist who seems to always have a  shop full of unhappy patients and spends most of her time trying to get through to the doctor's surgery on the phone (been there done that).  I told Paul he needs to transfer to another surgery - someone will die if this goes on much longer.

Sue - how are  you coping.  Silly question really.  How are you occupying your time?  Is your latest cat settling in now?  Julie, how are things going at home?  I hope you don't mind me asking here as I realise you probably message directly with Carol.  Love to Gloria and anyone else passing through. 

I will be watching Strictly too; the hour goes back tonight and I have to remember to deal with the central heating/hot water controls.   I need to go out and do some shopping but will take Muffin for his walk first.  Annie

Hi ANNIE,  I am lucky with my pharmacy as when you have breathing problems so e times a four weekly supply isn't enough.  So trying to tell reception this is hard work.  I was upset one day in the attached pharmacy and as they knew what I was going through they told me to just order them when I wanted and they would sort it out with the GP.  (I hope Paul is a little better today.   Julie hasn't messaged me as I assume she is pretty much tied up with Neil being home.  It's now the hard work starts for her and Neil.  We've just popped to get some bird food and all the Christmas decorations are up and very little bird food.  It drives me absolutely bonkers this pushing it down our throats from the beginning of October , as a Christian I find the commercial aspect pretty disgusting.   Even my friend Mary wanted me to go to the Metro Centre on Thursday gone, to buy her special Christmas cards,  like they would sell out!  The end of November is my earliest purchases.  I'll write my Stay Strong later today as my fingers are frozen,  it's definitely the frozen North today.   Love Carol xx 

Hello Ladies,

Carol, Chemo has a lot to answer to. it might treat cancer, but does so much more to those that have it. 
Dementia is hard on everyone, can only imagine how hard it is for Keith and his family.  The only blessing with it is that June probably doesn't realise.  The card offering help to Keith is lovely of you to do.  I don't know John McCirrick, should he still be working at 78 for a start. he needs to step into some of our shoes   and just see how good he has it.  I love Norman's comment about wearing the mask he already has.  They seem to get Christmas cards, paper, and decorations out earlier each year.  I was looking at Christmas paper just the other day, I was tempted to buy some but I have enough already to last me years, I don't need any, it doesn't matter how pretty I think it is.  But every year I say I am going to start earlier, and never do, but this year I plan to.

Annie, I don't know what particular inhalers Paul is on, but some here you don't need a script for, and can just walk into the pharmacy and buy some, they are dearer to buy without a script but it's handy to be able to do that.  Most of the time I'm coping reasonly well.  Yesterday though I went toa friend of my daughters wedding ceremony, and was reduced to tears, it toook me back to Dean's wedding and her father walking her down the aisle.  I've actually been quite busy,  Babysitting my grandson quite a bit, friends are still dropping a lot.  A girlfriend came and stayed Friday night, we went out for tea and had a couple of glasses of wine, then another girlfriend popped in when she finished work at 11.30pm.  It was a good evening.  We have had Mr. Higgins since January but even though he was bought for me he decided he liked Neil's company over mine, but this last week he has got quite chummy with me, which I am pleased about.  He is a beatiful boy but quite a character, and often has me laughing at his antics.  I bought a couple of Queen's Tears (bromeliad plants) and two pots to put them in..But am wondering if they will survive long enough for me to plant, he has chewed leaves, tipped them over, he has taken a fancy to them.  At least they aren't toxic to cats. 
Take care,  Love to all.  Sue xx

So last night I turned the clocks back at 10.3pm and said to hubby I was having an early night (because now it showed 9.30pm! )  I'm reading Madeleine by Kate McGann and wanted to finish it.  This woman has obviously been to Hell and back but seeing the photos of the distance between where they ate and the apartment was, I still find it hard to accept two Doctors would leave three children aged 3 and under on their own.  So I snuggle down about 11.30 and am woken by hubby cursing under his breath on the stair lift.  I get out of bed and he's stuck half way up the stairs!   It's a good job I'm fit and not fat, if you'd seen the contortions I had to do to get under and over the chair aged nearly 70 you'd have been amazed!!  So much for your early night he says as we get him moving again.  We've done very little today as we have a lot going on next week.  I've ordered a spiders Web and twenty spiders (not real ones!) For Halloween and some slime green jelly to make.  I know it's only 8.45 but it's really 9.45pm and I'm getting tired, soo I'm turning my I pad off and chilling out til bedtime.  Xx

Hello all!

Carol, that was a Peter Kay moment with the stair lift!  I did smile at the comment about the Halloween mask,  Dave looks so thin he might scare any children that come trick or treating!  You have to laugh or....He is getting better though, albeit very slowly.  10 days now till the next scan.  I think he might be in hospital over Christmas but who knows.

Matilda and I made gingerbread men last week.  She did all (most...) of the decoration afterwards, giving grandad the one with the ️face...as it looked like him. He took it well but I didn't let on it was me did that one!

It might seem strange, but I'm quite enjoying this time when I can look after him, be in control of the house and appreciate the home we've created over the years, instead of always being on the go and planning for the future. Living for the present is good.  The weather helps.  It's been gorgeous today, sunny and cold. Normally we would have have been out walking in the hills somewhere but it's ok being here.

Well, John McCririck, what a complete a@@@, any man that nicknames his wife 'the booby' gets no sympathy from me.  

So lovely to hear from you all.  Take care everyone, we re lifelines for each other.

Much love,

Julie xx

Our day did not start well, the stair lift wouldn't work so hubby had to come down on his bottom , got stuck between the seat and the wall and the arm of the chair fell down and hit him on the head,  I did laugh as he looked quite traumatised!  The boiler has thrown a wobbly so I'm now waiting for a "slot" for someone to come out and the stair lift guy is coming '"after tea".  Obviously this is all very convenient as the family land tomorrow.   It will be like the old days when you had to shake the ice off your toothbrush before you could use it.  I remember how cold it was and you had chilblains because you only wore white socks and stiff cold wellies.  The trouble is the little ones are not used to suffering,  however Faye is very careful with her heating, so really it will be like being at her house!  So apart from that everything is ready, Ella has a bed fit for a Princess and we have lots of warm blankets. Auntie Sue rang and is bringing two carved pumpkins with her, Luke and Hannah are carving them, that's so lovely.   As we have a gas fire in the front room we can all snuggle in here and stay warm.  So if I haven't frozen to death before tomorrow I'll post if I get time.  Love to you all. Xx

Hi Julie, I know what what you mean about feeling happy caring for them.  Norman had chemo through the summer and spent many hours on a sheepskin rug in a chair in the conservatory and I used to creep around making sure he was OK and listen to him breathing!   We women are wicked and do funny things to keep us sane.  I remember early in our marriage him rabbiting on about his Mum's homemade Christmas pudding.  As we both worked full time I bought a Mrs Peaks one and he commented all the way through eating it that it was nowhere near as NICE as his Mum's.   I was so mad next Christmas I hid his Mum's pudding and served him a shop bought one, he thought it was the homemade one and smacked his lips whilst eating it, I sat there smugly not letting on that I had swapped them,  he still doesn't know to this day, but I do!  You've got to get that  man of yours fattened up, lots of good food and fortifying drinks.  So take care and keep us updated.  Love Carol xx 

When we were kids there was a coal fire in the living room and that was it!   The house did own a one bar electric fire but use was frowned upon as it cost money!  If we wanted to go out in the evening we had to wash in a freezing cold bathroom and get dressed in a freezing cold bedroom. It used to make me laugh when I was a  housing manager.  When I first started putting central heating in the all properties in the late 1980s - people used to shout at me that their kids would die if they didn't have central heating (we did in fact prioritise anybody with illnesses exacerbated by the cold).  Did it ever occur to them to wonder how the generations before us lived long enough to breed! 

Sue, it is a salbutamol inhaler that we were trying to get from the doctors.  He has another inhaler also - most strange-looking thing that he uses every morning which  makes a noise like a trumpet - it contains long lists of various drugs that are unknown to me; and he has a machine for nebulisers.  Doctors have still not passed through his prescription.  Pleased to hear that you are keeping busy and I had to laugh about the cat.  Muffin gave me a terrible fright yesterday.  He is hyperactive which is why he was in Battersea Dogs Home in the first place; nobody could cope with him.  Once I sorted his diet out he calmed down - a bit.  He still goes crazy sometimes though.  Yesterday he got out the front door when a gust of wind caught it.  Usually he just wanders down to a neighbour's garden and I catch up with him but this time he ran off down the pavement towards a slightly busier road (we live in a crescent so it has little traffic).  I was terrified and could not keep up with him.  Fortunately two ladies saw him running out of our street and tried to corner him.  Between the three of us I got him onto a lead; actually I think he realised he had cut off more than he could chew when he saw cars going by.  He has never done that before and I was crying as I ran after him, terrified in case he ran into the road.  He won't get off a lead now until all doors are locked.   Fireworks don't bother him funnily enough so fireworks day should be okay.

When I first moved here kids came round for trick or treat (didn't exist when we were young) but nobody has been round for many years now.  Everyone is too nervous about strangers I imagine. 

Julie, very glad to hear that things are going okay at home.  Does Dave manage to eat much?

Love to all.  Annie

Annie, your house sounds like ours used to be.  The first time we had central heating was when Faye was one year old.   Crikey it was so cold in the houses then, socks and dressing gowns in in bed and hair dried by the coal fire.  Scrape the ice off the inside windows and the new generation think they have it bad!   Poor you with Muffin, what a scare for you.  At least Muffin didn't come to any harm and like you say it's a lesson learned.  So the stair lift guy is now in the morning and I've had no call from the heating engineer!!  Love Carol.xx