Just tired

Yesterday my Dad was seeing the cardiologist again because he needed an ECG and a heart echography. I called them when they were back and according to them, after studying the results, the doctor hesitated a bit but then said that he would like to do a coronagraphy on my dad . It means introducing a hose through an artery (femoral or radial), then guiding it through the arterial network up to the aorta . . . you get the picture. It allows checking the status of the arteries, if they are blocked or close to be.

Dad will be entering the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, for the intervention on Wednesday morning ( we will be there already ) and he should be released on Saturday. He will be in hospital the whole time we will visit, but I made him feel better by saying that we will visit him everyday and it will be good company for my mum in the evenings so she isn't alone. So they were both feeling finer about our visit.

What makes me feel not fine at all is that I believe that if the doctor wants to see the status of the arteries less than a week before Xmas, it's because he fears there might be a problem ( or he would have done that in January ) and if there is a problem or suspected problem, they would then have to do something immediately after finding out, that would mean a total anesthesia and installing another stunt. That's what was done to my Dad some 10-12 years ago, they discovered a blockage and a couple of days later they installed a stunt.

Honestly I don't want to think about that and all the stress it would cause during Christmas time, but whatever will happen, we will deal with it.

I know I am going a bit ahead but that's the way I am, I can't help looking ahead and unfortunately what I thought about makes absolute sense.

Just have to hope that they won't find anything and it would be a false alert. Fingers crossed.

Dennis arrived half an hour after I had phoned my parents so it was a great comfort to have him with me.

We all went to the park this morning.

It wasn't cold at all, but the ground was squashy mushy wet, very unpleasant and the girls cam back dirty like anything. well Bubbles, becasue Rhea had dirty legs and a dirty coat.

Do you remember the guy from the other day? I think he was on duty again today, lol.

I packed Sophie's present, it's massive, as long as the bed. In the small one are the balls. I think even the parcels look just lovely.

Project 365+1 - Day 350 : Blanket

I immediately thought about Rhea's puppy blanket that we used when we picked her up. It is still synonym of comfort to her, but then I went for something a bit more seasonal. Some parts of our drive had a blanket of moss, now it has a blanket of leaves on top.

Take care everybody, xxx
  

A lot stressed

A quick post today. Last night i went to bed at 1am but at least I had managed a couple of things.

The tree is up

( although you can see I didn't vacuum clean yet. I bought that tree when I arrived in Germany in 1989, so although it's an artificial one, he starts loosing its needles due to old age, lol.

Decorations come from a bit everywhere I lived and also some we made with the kids over the years.

The unavoidable photo in a bauble ( yep, still in my PJs )

We are all ready ( even the doggies ) with our stockings. Talking about Xmas cards, you know how I love Brussels Sprouts, look what my friend made for me :

I also finished the pennants for Sophie. It took me much much longer than I anticipated, with all the cutting and stamping and threading the ribbons through the holes . . .  but I think she will like it

It's a windy pouring down day so no park for now, that's for sure. Dennis just landed and although he won't be here befor2 and a half or 3 hours, I still have a mountain of things to do.



Project 365+1 - Day 349 : Health

Excellent for my money plant.

Take care everybody, xxx
  

Bit stressed

A dull morning today and again soooo cold.

I still didn't find time to dress the Xmas tree, what I will have no other choice than finding today as Dennis is back tomorrow early and on Saturday we celebrate Sophie's 16th birthday. I still need to finish the decorations I am planning ( I am making some pennants ) and her card is only 3/4 ready and I still didn't wrap her present either. She wanted a Lacrosse Stick. If you never heard of it ( I hadn't ) it looks like a hockey stick with a bag at the end to catch the ball. It's big in the States.

Life is just flying too fast and always even faster at the end of the year. I had a very important phone meeting yesterday with this app thing company. It all went well but I guess I am so tired I have difficulties to really enjoy the moment.  I eventually got Xmas presents for everybody now ( even the girls ) but still haven't wrapped. Do you know what my best excuse is for not having wrapped presents : Not having wrapping paper.
I am sure you have used that one already !

So after popping to the supermarket to fill the fridge (and buy wrapping paper ) and then dressing the Xmas tree, doing the pennants and the card, wrapping all presents,
I hope I can breathe for a second this afternoon. Then it will be running this week-end, then soon off to France, then Kids back for Xmas, then having my Father in Law, then New Year, and all ready to start 2013, LOL. Oh and our anniversary in between, but it's not an important number : 11.


Project 365+1 - Day 348 : Edible

According to my silly Bubbles, this is :

Take care everybody, xxx
  

12-12-12

Did you notice that today is the 12th of December 2012 ?

It brings a lot of luck in Chinese traditions. Two years ago we took a photo of us and the girls on the 10th of October 2010 in front of a clock at exactly 10:10. May be pushing it a bit but hey, you never know in case it really brings luck.

You might have heard about Eric Berne. He invented Transactional Analysis with the famous theory that in each of us there is a " parent, adult and child " way of expressing ourselves and most relationships chaos happen when you communicate with another person by not using the same level. For example, if you talk as a child and your partner talks as an adult, your chances of understanding each other are close to zero.

When I got up this morning it was freezing above my wildest nightmare -3 degrees with wind. I fed the girls and then you should have been here , because although I was alone, there was a hell of a discussion.

My child was saying : No, no and no. I don't care, it feels like the North Pole and I won't go out today.

My parent was : bla bla bla. You can say what you want, you and I perfectly know that you are going to out out anyway because the girls do need their walk.

And then there was my adult trying to get between them both : Can you both just stop it and be reasonable for a second . . .

Anyway, I did go out in the end, but it was brutal !

My auntie gave me a call as she received her birthday present, so now I can show you :

There are some pegs in the back so you can use it for photos or reminders. She said she really liked it because of the colors I used, so I was pretty pleased.

I forgot to take a picture of her card though, :-( , I used some " me to you bear " stamps.



Project 365+1 - Day 347 : Obligation

It was a tough one indeed. I thought that being mid of December, it was an obligation in itself to face such cold temperatures.

I initially thought it was snow, but it is " only " ice.

Take care everybody, xxx
  

Deep and deeper

I am one of these people who can count on two hands ( normally one is even enough ) the number of good night sleeps they had per decade. Well mind you, last night was one of them. I still could have slept longer than 11 hours, lol but it was a real deep sleep, exactly what I needed to claim back some energy.

Thank you all for your kind comments yesterday. Sometimes there are things we know but need to hear. I also had a long conversation with my French Auntie in Toulon and all that certainly contributed to me sleeping well. xxx

It was extremely cold this morning and when I looked at my car I even did think for a second about using it.

The skies were very clear

but everything was frozen everywhere and we had to cross the bridge very carefully. Even the girls were sliding, it was pretty funny.

A strange effect photo taken right into the sun

A couple of weeks ago I did all what I could to get 2 free tickets to see Life of Pi in 3D and I eventually got them. I invited a friend to come with me tonight but I realized during the morning that although I really wanted to see the movie, I wanted much more to stay comfortably at home and have another early night, so I called her to tell she was now owner of 2 tickets. She will pass by in a sec to pick up the tickets and will go with her mum who is delighted. Everybody happy, everybody wins.




Project 365+1 - Day 346 : Look up

I had to check that one too.

Look up : 1.: to cheer up <look up—things are not all bad>. 2. : to improve in prospects or conditions <business is looking up>. 3.: To employ one's sight, especially in a given direction or on a given object

Funnily enough, although I only could take one picture,  I had one event for each definition today:

For number 2, I got green light from a company who asked me to make an app for them. Although I am really scared, it's pretty exciting.

For number 3, this is my photo

As of number 1, Dennis told me he had a surprise and he was taking an earlier flight on Friday. I thought he was taking the previous one and I was already ecstatic, but no, it's even better, he will take the morning one. Yeah !!!

Take care everybody, xxx
  

End of year

Last night we went to bed at 9 something. A terrible pain in my head woke me up at 1am. It wasn't a headache, it was a knife sharp pain. I didn't want to get up and look for meds as it would have woken up Dennis so I waited until the alarm rang at 3. I then took some stuff and went back to bed after he left but it just became worse.

I had a viral meningitis a couple of years ago and I was in such pain that I thought I was going to die. Dennis was there, thanks God because it lasted 3 days. They treated me and I recovered but it was still very debilitating and frightening. My GP had told me it's very common to have some relapses now and then. I had a couple and I think today was another one. I am OK now, but between 3:30 am and 5 I was just sweating and shivering, I was sick as soon as I got up, it was like having an earthquake in my head each time I moved it. I took tablets again, I kept my phone close to me and just tried relaxing and not moving. It became a bit better this afternoon, I took the girls out and now at almost 5pm, the pain and sickness are more or less gone gone, though I still have this impression to have been ran over by a double-deck bus.

One thing is sure I won't be sorry when this year finishes. I don't know what the next one will bring  but at least I can hope it will be different.

I also got some annoying news to say the least about my parents when I called their GP.  My Dad is been treated for anxiety, this I knew and that's why I called their GP. My Dad is the opposite of an anxious person (differently to my mum) so I wanted to ask their GP who knows them since 35 years if he didn't think that my mum was stressing him. He agreed with me, but he also said that because they live together and don't see many people, they kind of make each other anxious as in a vicious circle if you know what I mean.

It's also true that he has a heart problem, it's also true they don't seem keen to install a pacemaker and it's also true he just turned 89, may be he realizes what he didn't realize before? So it made me feel half guilty and half despaired because 1. I can't move back to France and 2. Dennis was advising we could employ somebody to look after them with the money we don't have and I was trying to explain to him that they never would accept, as long as they are autonomous and it only would bring more stress to their lives.

Even when I was little, mum always said, family is my husband and my kids. It doesn't mean they don't see other family, but not very often. She only wants to rely on her husband and her kids and honestly I feel it's a bit harsh because I do all what I can but there are lots of things I can't do. She doesn't ask me to do more, don't misunderstand me, but if it doesn't come from me or my brother, she needs a lot of persuasion to accept any help. I feel it's a bit unfair although it makes me hell guilty to say that.

For example, I know that for Xmas day they will be invited to celebrate with all my dad's family in Marseille. It would make me feel so much better if I knew they are together with the family but I know they won't go as Mum like each year will find an excuse and when I will ask " why not going", my mum will say : "we are doing really well just together your Dad and I."
We can't say to the kids " well you stay with your mum, your Dad and I will travel to France for Xmas".  The only thing I could do would be to fly down alone to spend Xmas with them. On another side, I don't want to be away from my family for Xmas. So, it's difficult for me to manage guilt.

After talking about it, Dennis and I decided to fly down just before Xmas and spend a couple of days with them. I told them and mum said not to come because we must be so tired by all this traveling business and it costs a lot of money. Yes we are tired and no we can't really afford it, but what can I do ? So I told them we bought the tickets and we are coming. It really pleased them and you could see like they suddenly had more energy, but that certainly won't resolve the problem in the long term. It's difficult to help somebody who doesn't want to be helped or only wants to be helped under their own terms. I can't afford flying to visit them once a month, so I really don't know what is going to happen next. That's also probably causing me a lot of stress.

Sorry to go all over that, it's all what I have in mind since I talked to their GP.



Project 365+1 - 345 : Tree

The plan was to finish installing the Xmas tree today but I felt so poorly that I didn't do it and it looks exactly as hit did yesterday with lights but naked. Actually I didn't do much today.

I took this photo in the park. The beautiful autumnal colors are gone as the trees have lost their leaves

Take care everybody, xxx
  

Awful mood

Guys, sorry, I don't have a good mood today.  I was taken out of bed by Rhea who was calling because Bubbles who was sick. Not her fault, it was 9 am and she was hungry but I was so tired I didn't wake up .

I then went to the park with both while Dennis was still sleeping. It's a dull day and that doesn't help for mood.



Project 365+1 - Day 344 : Lights

We installed a bit of the Xmas tree, not enough to take a photo for today as it looked just naked, so I took a picture of another small one we also have in the living room.

In less than 4 hours we will be in bed for another early start, I don't think I will comment on your blogs tonight, I will do that tomorrow .

Take care everybody, xxx

What a night . . .

Dennis was supposed to come back last night and at 8pm he called me to tell it was snowing heavily and his flight was delayed. I always keep an eye on both airports, Swiss and UK, so I had a look at the status of the flight that was supposed to fly to him in order to bring him back.

Well, it was delayed too, but it was so much delayed that at the time Dennis was supposed to fly from Switzerland, the outgoing flight hadn't even left England yet and I though that with our luck, his flight was going to be cancelled.

Eventually the flight left England and reached Switzerland and Dennis took off with more than 2 hours delay. He landed in Gatwick at 00:20 and reached home at almost 3 am. I got up at 8:30 to feed the girls while Dennis tried to recover a bit and my first impression was " We are much too old for this kind of nonsense.  "
Thankfully, next week will be the last one 'til the end of the year.

We went to the park pretty late, it was a gorgeous day, not too cold.

Talking about planes and gorgeous day, how beautiful is that ?

Then after a while it turned into this :

 

Nothing much to report, kind of brain dead. We took the Xmas tree down from the loft and will install it tomorrow.

Project 365+1 - Day 343 : Mundane

When I got this word, I explained to Dennis what kind of photo I was going to take and he said " No, no, no. Mundane doesn't mean that". He told me what it means but I had to check because I wouldn't believe him.

Mundane : common, ordinary, banal, unimaginative.

I couldn't believe it because the French equivalent " Mondain " means exactly the
opposite : related to high Society, posh

Another very false friend !!!

So this is my photo for today 

Take care everybody, xxx

  

. . . your fishing line ?

I worked late again last night so didn't get up before 8:30. It was freezing cold and as previous days, I decided we would go out late morning. It was very windy too.

Something happened but I'll tell you in 365+1.

Today Miss Little Devil was allowed to go off lead and she really enjoyed that although she realized that with stitches you can't run that much and that quick so she had to make some small stops now and then. She still has her coat and will keep it until the stitches are off as I don't fancy getting mud on them.

For whatever reason, having Rhea off lead also makes Bubbles happier, like everything is back to normal.

Last but not least, a big LOL at me. That's what I was discussing with Helen the other day. I don't have a model to do my rainbow Jumper so I calculated how many stitches. . . and just started knitting in front of the TV without thinking. All was fine until I finished the front and needed to calculate how to stop it. Didn't have time to do that so I started the back, until I finished it and faced the same problem, so I started one sleeve but had to stop too as I need to calculate how many stitches I need to increase and I ran out of needle so I need to free some before I can continue. So this is where I am so far.

Hopefully I find time this week-end to do some measurements so I can continue.

Oh and Dennis comes back tonight. Yeah !!!



Project 365+1 - Day 342 : Comfort

I need to make a confession Suzie, I am not sure if we had comfort or not before. It does ring a bell, but I can't remember the photo I would have taken.

So Suzie 1, Anne 0.

You know what? Life is fabulous. You get up in the morning not knowing what will happen to you, whom you will meet, if your day will be fun or a pain. So many people want to know their future, I think it's a fun spoiler.

Anyway, when I saw the word, I was in 2 minds about what to take. Then we went to the park and this happened.

An old chap I vaguely know asked me something when I met him. It was finishing by something like " fishing line ".

Fishing line ? ? ? ?  

So I asked him to repeat and he said :

- Did you forget your fishing line ?

I must have looked really puzzled as he added :

- Are you walking back to your igloo ?

I was starting seriously doubting his sanity when I eventually understood. So I said :

- Do I look so terrible?

And he said : - No, you just look like you forgot your fishing line.

So I told him the least he could do now would be to take a picture. But in fact he messed it up so I had to take it myself. Not my fault if it is so cruelly bitter cold !

It surely fits today's word so that's what I will use.

Take care everybody, xxx
  

I will follow you everywhere but . . .

You know, you are young ( or not ),  you fall in love head over heels and you say to your soon to be over half : " I would follow you until the end of the world ".

When I met Dennis, I was living in Germany and getting ready to move to Zurich and he was living in the UK. When things started getting serious, we then had several choices, he comes to Munich, we both go to Zurich or I move to England. England didn't ravish at all because of the rain, but he had 2 small kids at the time, so it was the most sensible thing to do and I moved.

I must be  either unromantic or very practical, it's a fact I told him I was coming but that was the Northest part of the world I would ever follow him to.

I remembered this morning as we went to the park because it was so cold I could have cried and I got convinced that if I had to move to where the polar bears live, I certainly wouldn't survive more than a couple of hours, if ever.

I have been working so much recently that I even started falling being on the photography project. I was able to take this one this morning about different focus points

and also this one

Then there was a project of adding things digitally to a photo and I made this one. It looks terrible because I didn't spend enough time on it, but at least I understood the principle to do it better another time.

We went to the Vet and Bubbles will stop her meds, she then will have a blood test in 2 weeks. She was pretty happy when she realized she doesn't stay there, poor thing !


Project 365+1 - Day 341 : Curly

When I got ready to go to the Vet this morning, I had a bad surprise. Not only I couldn't get the ice out of my windscreen, but my doors were completely stuck. So before I poor warm water all over the car, I decided to have some fun and engrave today's word !

Take care everybody, xxx
  

Nothing like having good friends

Well I used to like you all a lot, I think I like you even more after yesterday's comments on the fact my " couple " was full of dust.

Your comments went from : " Remember the dust is a protective layer " ( Helen )
to  : " Don't take the dust off, it will only return "  ( Jen ), through  : " A little dust never did anyone any harm. " ( Viv ).

Ohhhhhh, I liked these. You are such truly supportive friends !

This morning was biting cold, we only went out at 11 am but still I hated it. I don't know if I am getting older this year ( what kind of nonsense I can talk . . .  ) or if it is really colder, but I found it close to unbearable, so we had a round and then I closed the house door with no wish to go out again.

I am very busy working and also with Rhea on lead, I didn't manage any photo of the park today.


 
Project 365+1 - Day 340 : Corner

This is one of the ceiling corners in my kitchen. I managed to cut it so you can't see the spider webs, I didn't want to have you feeling you have to be supportive on that one too, LOL.

Take care everybody and keep warm, xxx
  

Good news

The weather this morning was back to autumnal style, even a bit better as the skies were kind of blue and it wasn't raining.

Like yesterday I went out with both girls together. Rhea is still on lead due to her stitches, you would think it would help me to take pictures? Well no, because she keeps on pulling and making most of my photos blur.

I brought her to the Vet beginning of the afternoon. They had the cysts analysis results and they were lipomas indeed so I was over the moon. She needs to stay on lead during walks until this week-end, after that it will be easier for me.




Project 365+1 - Day 339 : Couple

With Dennis away and most of dog walkers coming without their spouse, I wasn't sure how I would manage today's word but then I got an idea.

This photo will surely look very familiar to Kathi. You know that we got married in Penzance so we spent our honeymoon around there too and we visited a little village called the Mousehole ( have a look HERE  it is absolutely charming ). It was close to Christmas time and it was marvelous.

If I remember correctly it's where you grew up Kathi ? There is a small shop where they make by hand adorable mice in all costumes possible.

Of course, we went for the married couple.

Do you remember that for a word a while ago I showed a painting in the conservatory that's not centered because it keeps turning and I need a ladder to reposition it each time?

Well the story of the mice is much worse. You surely can see, they are absolutely covered with dust. The problem is, they are on a shelf 1.80m high and since we put them there, we bought another furniture and put the TV on it. In other words, even with a ladder, I can't access them without risking to break my neck and the TV. So I guess only the day we move ( or change the TV ) they will get a good needed clean, LOL.

Take care everybody, xxx
  

Unlucky

Yesterday we all went to play table tennis and I used the mirror to get a group photo.

David was then dropped at the train station to go back to Bath and we will see him again in 2 weeks for Sophie's Birthday as he will be in holidays for the Xmas season.

We got up at 3 this morning and Dennis left on time, all fine. Then I went back to bed and when I got up at 8, I managed to twist my neck again. Probably wasn't well repaired from last time, but I am not too happy as you can imagine.

Weather wasn't too cold but very wet

I went out with both girls at the same time as I didn't feel like going out twice.

I saw these 2 dogs who made me think about you Lynne, because of the pink coat,  LOL, so here you are :

I think it's a bit on the extreme for a doggy coat, don't you ?




Project 365+1 - Day 338 : Curved revisited

Our poor Suzie will be happy when this year ends together with our project 365+1.

Today I chose my Mac mouse, very much curved.

Take care everybody, xxx

Sleepy

Last night we were really tired and went to bed so early, but even, when the alarm went off at 8am, it was like the middle of the night.

We had breakfast and then Dennis went to pick up the kids when I was going to the park.

Today is again very cold. Believe it or not, this was my windscreen.

Today's photo class assignment was to take a shot from an outside walk, obviously my favorite topic, so I took plenty.

My Bubbles

David and Sophie arrived short after we were back. Last time David was here was around mid of September so when they saw him, the girls went absolutely bonkers.

He brought with him his first Uni report on the sculpture his group developed and they got a good/excellent rating, so he was very proud. This is a photo of his group with their sculpture ( you can recognize him on the top left ).

You will get more photos of the kids but only tomorrow. Tonight we drop Sophie off and drop David at the train station to go back to Bath, then we need to go to bed early due to the 3am start tomorrow. Life is going to be tough until mid of December as we only start the 2nd week of 3 consecutive away weeks.




Project 365+1 - Day 337 : Random but asymmetrical

I had a bit of a struggle with this one, but eventually came up with my shower brush.

Take care everybody, xxx

Hubby back.

Dennis came back home last night at 1am and although he had snow in Zurich, he thought it was really cold here.

The park this morning was of an acceptable temperature compared to the previous days and the sky looked really funny.

All the water paddles are now ice paddles

It reminded me when I lived in Munich and I used to ice-skate on the nearby lake with my friends.

I started a 12 days photography class that was recommended by Rinda. Some of you must know her as she was part of the LSNED 2012 class. Her blog is very interesting and full of inspiration and reflection topics, day after day. You can have a look HERE.

The class actually starts today, but yesterday we had to do not only a self portrait but a festive one. Double Eeek. That's what I came up with ( I LOVE my cricut Xmas hat ).

We did a bit of shopping today but quickly came back in. A warm house is so much nicer.



Project 365+1 - Day 336 : Around the home

I didn't know exactly how to interpret " around the home ", so I physically walked around until I find something nice to take a photo of.

I had found the perfect thing, something I made for my auntie's 70th birthday in a couple of weeks, but the problem is she is reading my blog, so there was no way she sees it in advance . . . ( You can bet that tonight I will get an email telling me I am so cruel, LOL )

I eventually chose this. It was done is 2003, at the time we only had Rhea and the kids were little.

Sophie and David both will be with us tomorrow as David came down from Bath for the week-end.

Take care everybody, xxx