Author Archive: Robyn

Why I Really Hate Taveling by Air

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I am resigned to the pointless and ineffective security measures (really, the liquid thing is just stupid and it’s time to end it). I don’t mind the full body scan (had it for the first time at Manchester). I don’t even mind the over the top charges for things like seat selection and checking baggage. I just don’t check bags and take a random seat.

What I do mind are the things that make no real sense.

Example: On my trip home from Manchester I was on one of those smaller planes with the actual propellers. Not a puddle jumper; about one step up. I was sitting in the front row on what is the exit, so the flight attendant came over to ask me if I was okay with that (yes) and gave me a 2 second demo of how to open the door (cuz I’d really remember that if we were crashing or had crashed). Then she said to me:

“You need to either put your jumper on or put it in the overhead. I can’t have anything free in the cabin at take off.’ I raised an eyebrow at that, but put it on.

Why the raised eyebrow? Because the man across from me, also at the bulkhead, had a magazine open on his lap. He didn’t have to stow it for take off. Is a jumper more danger than a magazine?

And because the flight attendant then sat down and opened her little notebook of flight paperwork and filled it out during take off. So my jumper is a risk, but her hard backed notebook and pen aren’t?

It’s the total lack of logic, really, that makes me go O_o.

But I showed her. What she didn’t know was that my bottle of water was behind my back, hidden from her view, as I slouched in my seat.

Just a tiny bit of rebellion, but it felt good!

CAKE! DRINK! Tour 2011

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If you follow my Twitter Feed you’ll have seen me mention this a few times. What is it, you ask?

It’s the women I know from MN who are part of the thread known as Forty Towers. We are all over forty. Most of us have had babies after forty, but not all. We all do have children of some sort, however!

Every 6 months or so we get together. I missed the last one, in London, due to finances, but was at the first one in Manchester.

This one is also in Manchester and I didn’t think I’d be able to go.

Then Simon said ‘You just arranged this entire move, including finding us a house and movers. Go to Manchester.’

So tomorrow at 0615 my taxi arrives to take me to the airport and whisk me off to Manchester for the night.

There will be DRINK! and CAKE! and laughs and giggles and gossip and jokes and Christmas Markets and DRINK! and CAKE!

All over the UK 8 (I think it’s 8…) forty plus women are already giggling like school girls in excitement. Both to see each other (it’s been a hell of a year, all the way around) and to have a night off from kids and partners and work and guilt about DRINK! and CAKE!

So off to Manchester I head.

DRINK! CAKE!

The Strike Tomorrow…

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So tomorrow most of the UK will be on strike, including my husband. Usual reasons, pension contributions increase, less pay out at the end, retirement age being risen. The 1% not getting how the rest of the world lives. What’s pretty much going on worldwide at the moment as the haves once again punish the rest of us.

But how do I feel about it? Unhappy. For one thing, we can’t get Adam to daycare due to the Belfast Metro joining the strike without paying about an equal amount in taxi fares as we do for a day there. But we still have to pay daycare for the day. So there’s a day’s fees wasted.

For another, it’s nearly Christmas. What I really need is for Simon to lose a day’s pay.

Thirdly, *I’m* not on strike and I have meetings at my largest client’s tomorrow. Which means taxi fees. Yes, they go on my company’s accounts but it’s still cash gone from our accounts, again, right before Christmas.

Finally, I don’t think one day strikes do much. I just don’t. Yes, it’s a pain for all of us for one day. But a person can handle anything, if it’s only for a day.

We’re handling it by Simon and Adam having a fun day together and me going off in a taxi to my meetings.

But I am not happy about it. And really wish the haves would figure out what they are doing to the rest of the world.

Before this revolution gets very very bloody.

Thanksgiving 2011

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Since Simon does not have the Thursday of Thanksgiving off, obviously, as usual I am making us Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday. I had planned to invite Simon’s parents to join us but, alas, they are in India, so it’s just Simon, Adam and me this year.

The menu? Turkey, stuffing, gravy, roasted seasonal vegetable, mash potatoes, chocolate tarts for pudding.

I had originally ordered a whole frozen turkey to be delivered from Tesco with the rest of my shopping but, again alas, isn’t wasn’t actually in stock. I was going to make a whole turkey for just the 3 of us and then use the leftovers to make turkey soup, ready for the hoards descending at Christmas. I think I will make soup, but chicken soup, in the coming weeks, instead.

So I went to Marks and Spencer’s instead and got this:

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This is not the turkey I was hoping for.

So instead of a lovely large bird roasting, I threw a tin in the oven. *sigh*

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The cast of characters. Camera shy: swede.

My roast seasonal vegetables, however, are one of my specialities. And one that has never gone wrong.

 

As I am a cheapskate frugal I tend to order or buy the Tesco veg pack. It can be a bit of a crap shoot but it usually has at least a few carrots and some parsnips. Today mine had 4 carrots, a swede, 2 small onion, a leek and 2 parsnips. Not bad for about £1.99. I added two red onions.

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With sauce!

I then coat it with a combination of oil, balsamic vinegar and many herbs. Also know as vinaigrette dressing. 🙂

 

 

 

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You've all see raw potatoes, I'm sure.

I was also making mash and above you can see the potatoes in the pan.

 

A plate of food.

I will confess the stuffing was Paxo, the gravy was Bisto and the tarts, which I haven’t taken a picture of, were from the Christmas Market at City Hall.

Overall it was a delicious meal. I don’t really like Paxo stuffing, but it was okay.

Next big meal is, of course, Christmas. That will be 99% homemade, as I am not attempting a Christmas Pudding, but the rest I will  make with my own two hands.

For 5 adults. And 1 child. With one oven. And very little counter space.

Wish me luck!

So This is What Lack of Pain Feels Like…

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Last night as I was heading up to bed it occurred to me that my arms didn’t hurt. At all. I could lift them over my head easily. I kept swinging in them in amazement!

This morning they are sore again but not as sore as they have been recently. Simon and I were discussing why that might be.

The first may be medicine. I took Migraleave yesterday for my headache. It is a combination of paracetamol, Codeine and something for nausea. It’s entirely possible the codeine killed my fibro pain. Too bad you can’t take codeine long term.

The second may be a lessening of stress. You see, our previous landlord had not returned our deposit in over a month, on top of my largest client writing my cheque wrong so money was very very tight for awhile, while I waited for the cheque to be reissued and then clear the bank, and I was in the middle of investigating our rights in terms of the deposit.

I had actually written a letter threatening the landlord with Small Claims Court that would have gone out Thursday, except I was home ill. Karmatically, the cheque from the landlord landed on our doorstep Thursday. That would have been a red faced phone call if I had made it to the post office!

In any event, our money issues have lessened thanks to my cheque clearing, the deposit showing up and Simon getting his pay on Thursday. Then, in a true Nearly Christmas Miracle, I got a letter from Revenue and Customs to tell me they owed me nearly £500 from an overpayment in 2005! Of course, if I owed it to them there’d probably be 6 years of interest on it, but I’ll let it go and receive my payment gratefully!

So whether my pain lessening is medical or circumstance, I think I’ll just enjoy it.

And perhaps try a Migraleave next time my arms are really, really bad.

Either that or rob a bank! 😉

When Mummies Get Ill

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So this morning I woke up around 6am with a headache. I ran to the loo and confirmed that it was indeed snoring I could hear from Adam’s room and snuggled back into bed, hoping some more sleep would kill it.

At 630 Simon’s alarm went off. He grumbled himself out of bed, confirmed that, yes that was *still* snoring coming from Adam’s room and I told him I was going to stay where I was. I still had a headache.

At 7 I decided I needed some painkiller and maybe some food and headed downstairs. As I was making coffee sounds of wakefulness came from Adam’s room and so I left the coffee to brew and headed to get him.

Got him up and changed and went back downstairs to get him his bottle (Yes, he’s nearly 2 and a half and he still has milk from a bottle. Get over it.) and some juice and painkillers for me.

At 730 Simon headed off to work. At that point I had also had something to eat and was drinking some coffee. The headache wasn’t shifting, however.

At about 9, I started puking.

Nothing has stayed down all day. So I am home with my 2 and a half year old and pushing him out of the way or throwing him off my lap all day so I can run to the toilet, where he joins me to say ‘Oh no, mummy sick’. Very helpful.

So the TV has been on all day. Plans to run to the shops and the park cancelled. And I lose another day of sorting the house, which I do bits of when he naps on days he’s home.

He did actually nap this morning, for about an hour and half, during which time I lay on the other sofa and dozed a bit.

Now it’s 3pm and I’ve just puked again. Simon got a very kind colleague to cover his afternoon lecture and is on his way home, stopping to get the milk, juice and food for tea we need as I am not up to cooking.

Adam has been bringing books to me to read, watching TV, climbing the furniture and managing to entertain himself.

He’s eaten 2 bagels (whole, he doesn’t like them cut or toasted any more!), some cheese, juice, apple sauce, milk and pickles. I’ve eaten, but not kept down, cereal, coffee, juice, half a cup of sugary tea and about 20 Fox’s mints.

So mummy is ill. And we are surviving.

But I’ll be so glad when Simon walks through the door!

Today’s Shopping Trip Brought To You By The Letters T and B

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T for Tantrum.

B for Boots.

Yup. Right in the centre aisle of the large Boots at Belfast City Centre. Why? Because we needed to go right and he wanted to go left.

What did I do?

I picked him bodily up and strapped him into his pushchair. Which took three tries with the wiggling and jiggling and sliding out of the straps.

Was I embarrassed? Nope. Too busy dealing with it to worry what other people were doing. I was vaguely aware of people going past but beyond that? No clue. Nor did I care.

See, I will never understand when people post on places like MN about how embarrassed they are their child had a tantrum in public. Who has time to look at what others are doing while coping with a small person screaming for no reason?

Is it just me? Is it? Or is it just people like me don’t admit they really couldn’t care less what others think of them?

So…Yeah…NaNoWriMo…

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As predicted, I have failed. I think I wrote around 2,000 words and then just sort of…stopped.

To be completely honest, I forgot all about it, between hand injuries and sick babies and too much work people actually pay me to do.

I guess I am suppose to feel bad or like a failure or something. Sorry to disappoint. It was something to try, not something to circle my entire life around for the month. I don’t have that kind of free time or, really, ambition.

Good luck to all those going for it. 9 days to go.

Maybe I’ll try again next year.

Maybe I won’t.

So, As I Said, It’s Been a Long Week…

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This was due to me working over 13 hours for my main client, over an hour for another client as well as my usual ‘mother to a toddler’ type activities.

Now, I am well aware that plenty of women work 40+ hours plus their usual ‘mother to a child/ren’ type activities. But most, if not all, of them do not have my health problems.

And what not getting any rest Monday (worked, then headed to get my new varifocals

Emperio Armani EA9774 from Specsuperstore.com

My new glasses.

and do some errands) or Wednesday (lovely morning with a good friend from England, then worked starting at 2pm, getting home at about 10pm) led to was my being flat on my back all day Friday and most of today. I was in so much pain yesterday I was in tears at dinner and Simon had to do some of bedtime.

I then had a lie in today and then went back to bed for 3 more hours while Simon and Adam headed to the park and get some groceries. And then had lunch and a very hot bath and finally feel about 95% of well.

And this is why I no longer have a full time job and doubt I ever will again. Or at least not a full time job that is 8 hours in a row 5 days a week. I could see me working that many hours, but stretched out over 7 days, in fits and starts, so I have time to rest as well.

It does make me wonder how I would be if I had been working full time when my fibromayalgia started. Would I have had to quit my job? Probably.

So no matter how much I hurt sometimes and how tired I can be, being the mummy of a toddler, I have another reason to be grateful for my son. His birth gave me the strength to strike out, open Designed To A Tee and work for myself, as and when I can.

So, thanks Adam. You rock!