Blimey its been a long time..... (sorry).

Hello there, i am still here - sorry for the distinct failure to blog lately. Its been a little crazy at my end.

I started my MSc in september and that has been keeping me busy even though my course is only one day a week the sheer volume of work from one day of solid lectures is crazy. I am at this level expected to do an additional 20 hours of reading around the subject via journal articles etc every week-this hasn't happened on a lot of weeks unfortunatly due to one thing or another.

So the course, i love it its a fab masters course and exactly what i needed in terms of keeping my brain ticking along rather than being fed up and stressed that i wasn't doing much with my days etc. The lecturers and support staff have been fabulous i cant fault them at all. I have been given so much support that its enabled me to get to where i am now - only a few days till my finals for the first semester modules - eek!

So. I ended up in hospital twice during semester one and the first admission was for 17 days meaning i missed two of my uni days and about 8 hours of lectures. I was lucky that the support team when i called to explain the situation sent a notetaker to the lectures for me to take notes on my behalf. I was back for a week and then ended up back in. Unfortunatly the second admission's discharge was hampered due to the unprecedented snow fall at the end of november/beginning of december! I finally got home after another 14 day admission. Again a notetaker took notes for me in my absence. The notetaker is now a regular thing for me if im there or not they will take notes for me which is great and much less pressure for me as i am still not 100%.

I had a mini module taught over 3 full days which im glad came just before the christmas holidays as it totally wiped me out. My group got the best porter prize which was fab as it was thrown together by the 4 of us in one day instead of several weeks mostly due to my being poorly in hospital :(

So the mini module went well, its still ongoing tho the teaching is finished there are a few bits of coursework we have to do some on our own others in our groups etc but this module is fairly straight forwards and has no exam - yippee!

I spoke to the course leader about my absence and catching up and asked to move a module to next year which was agreed as its just too much to catch up on-id missed the coursework deadline hadn't been to the lectures explaining the coursework and also had around 12 hours of lectures to catch up on and a big exam to revise for this module and also had coursework for the other module (not due in till end of jan) and the same catching up and revision for that module. It was not really possible to do it all.

The course leader is lovely and taught me during my first degree so she knows me fairly well. She moved the core module to next year. I had only a few options with what i could move to next year as my course as it is now wont be running next year due to nhs cut backs and the increase in tuition fees staff from nhs hospitals are just not being sent on the course as its too expensive for the nhs budget- the lack of applicant has meant i had to move the core module which will be running in some form next year as its a core module for several different MSc degrees.

Anyway after that ramble, i am currently revising for the one exam i have which is this coming monday. I haven't managed to get my dragon software accurate enough to use in my exam so i cant use the laptop during the exam unfortunatly. My only other option is to use a scribe so i have a session later today to meet her and to be taught what to instruct her to do how to use her etc. I also have a meeting with one of my lecturers to go through a lecture i missed whilst in hospital as its too complicated to fumble my way through-he's going through the 2-3 hour lecture in 30 mins lol!

I have been concentrating on trying to understand the lectures i missed first and getting my head around those before revising all the other ones. Thankfully the support team put a piece of software called read and write on their laptop for me to use whilst i am still waiting for my DSA funding. Most things i already have in some way as they have leant me dictaphone and laptop with various support packages on so its been fine so far. Next semester i will have a mentor aswell so that should be good too.
My support worker has been great to as i haven't been very well she has been fab as self propelling my wheelchair up some of the hills here between campus lectures would have been incredibly difficult without her assistance.
So thats whats been happening here really. Loving my course though i am a little snowed under at the minute. Exam is monday morning bright and early, i have rest breaks extra time and a scribe for that and will be in a room of my own so thats quite a lot less stressful for me. :-)

Once the exam is done i have two pieces of coursework to complete- one for the module i have the exam for and the other for the mini module-which is a rather difficult statistical analysis problem.

Will update again once this exam and coursework is out of the way and will try harder to keep my blog up to date. Im really sorry its been so long it has just been a little crazy here and time has literally flown by at incredibly fast pace!

Hope your all ok. Take care, chat soon
Lv rattles Xx

hospital dramas :(

hi all,

Again i must apologise for my recent lack of blogging however, as always i have excuses! So firstly im sorry i've been rubbish at this blogging malarkey lately and secondly i will explain....

So - since april i have had an infected venous leg ulcer among other bits of stuff too. But mostly the leg ulcer has been a pain. I tried to carry on regardless for a while and had two lovely days out with a couple of good friends. One trip to the big shopping centre near where i live and the other to the steel museum which was split into different zones and had everything from a fire tornado through to indoor rain which was cool! Spending time with my friends was fab and we all had a real giggle which is always great. I was however not very well really and had been on antibiotics from april with only about a week off them from then to now! Various different antibiotics were tried to get on top of the infection but being on antibiotics for such a sustained period of time was playing havoc with my adrenal insufficiency making me drowsy and weak and leaving my blood pressure really very low. I ended up getting admitted to my local hospital as i had a fever and was right at the start of an adrenal crisis. The drama began as soon as the doctors tried to take bloods and put a canula into one of my veins. This proved rather tricky and after the first doctor had had 6 attempts he got his registrar to try she tried a further 8 times before finally managing to get a very small paediatric canula into a small vein in my foot right on my ankle! Was very painful and didn't last very long.... Due to the infection i had i was unable to keep much down without throwing up even with my syringe driver of cyclizine (my antiemetic). Due mostly to vomiting so much i had not managed to keep my theophyline down for almost 5 days so my asthma started to kick off too, i ended up having magnesium and hydrocortisone through this canula and was put on more nebs and 15 litres a minute of oxygen! ICU were called down to see me but i was getting there once they then started a theophyline infusion to get my levels back to theraputic range! At the same time the canula was starting to get very sore and after a day and a half the nurse decided to remove it and recanulate me. This didn't work. After 5 people tried several times each they decided to give up and hope that i would be able to keep my meds down on stronger antibiotics! After another 3 days the infection got so bad i ended up in a full blown adrenal crisis so and they moved me to my usual ward from the surgical admissions unit. On this ward they instantly gave me an injection of steroids and continued to do so every 6 hours as per the adrenal suppression protocol which unfortunately had not been followed on the first ward which probably contributed to me getting so poorly so quickly! Anyway thats a different gripe which is going to be dealt with by my care coordinator who is rather cross with the surgical ward for how they dealt with me as when she came to visit me i could hardly stay awake and was quite fevery and had dangerously low blood pressure apparently. :(

So - on my usual ward where the staff all know me well they tend to know when im really poorly as i sleep the clock round till i feel better they just wake me for meds and i go back to sleep. The oncall consultant came to see me and wanted to start two lots of IV antibiotics again i had several doctors try several times to get a canula into me but they couldn't get a vein as all my veins were either too badly scared from previous admissions or collapsed because i was so poorly. In the end they decided that as it was only really for antibiotics if i tried to drink plenty of fluids then i could have the antibiotics intramuscularly... This didn't quite register with me at first but i soon tired of it. Two days and 8 injections after starting the antibiotics and sleeping around 20 hours each day as opposed to all day i refused to let them do the IM jabs i know it was stupid looking back at it but it was really painful and i had had enough of it all, i thought if i refused the jabs then they'd have to try and find a vein again for IV's which once the canula is in is a whole heap less painful!

They didn't. I was prescribed the kiddies syrup medicine to try but they left the IM injections written up for if i couldn't keep the syrup down. I couldn't even take the syrup. I tried. It was strawberry flavoured but very mild strawberry, the main flavour that came through was more of a rotten egg kinda taste which did actually make me sick. I ended up having to put up with the IM injections as just missing two doses had made the infection spread further up my leg and made my adrenal issues play up more! The nurses were good though as they knew it was painful as i was so bruised after just 3 days and 12 injections that they started giving me a good dose of oramorph before each injection and they also (most of them) injected the fluid very very slowly as the faster it was injected the more painful it was for longer and it bruised more too. Anyways, i was in for two weeks and had about 11 days of IM injections then i was put on oral meds and made to stay an extra day to make sure my adrenal issues were stable still and that the infection didn't seem to get worse again off the stronger dose of antibiotics! During the admission i saw the tissue viability nurse who decided i needed to have my leg all strapped up to my knee with special bandages to help improve blood flow and the healing of the ulcer, though towards the end of my admission i developed another ulcer on the same foot so i now have two nasty unhealing ulcers on the same leg. They are getting a bit better but they are also still quite infected. I finished my last dose of my discharge med antibiotics yesterday but the district nurses reckon i will need some more but are waiting till i see dermatology tomorrow about them. Its been a little mad to say the least!!

Hopefully things will heal a little quicker with these new dressings and bandages etc but i kind of have to just see how it all goes really. So, thats whats been happening healthwise bit of a rollercoaster ride.

I have some fab news though to end this post with! :-) i applied to go back to uni in september to do a part time masters degree as i wanted to do something productive with the time i cant work so that it'll look a bit better when i do try and get a job as i can say yes i have been unable to work due to ill health but i have done this masters degree whilst i have been trying to stabilise my health conditions! Thought it may just help me get a job once things are back on track. I applied to return to the uni i did my biomedical sciences degree at and whilst i was in hospital i was on the net on my laptop and recieved an email from the uni confirming that i have an unconditional offer to start in september. :-) i am thoroughly chuffed to pieces about it! Cant wait. I had to go down to uni today to have an assessment of need interview so that they can sort out my care and support needs for september as my disabled students allowance will not be sorted in time for my course starting so they need to try and get a temporary package in place prior to me getting the DSA funding and stuff. It was good really they have been incredibly helpful and very accomodating which is great as i was worried about a few things like how id manage getting between lectures etc, they have been good though and are sorting it out for me to be able to use my chair etc whilst im there and i will have a space to park the car outside the university (if im allowed to drive again by then)!

So that is where i am at at the moment. Things still grumbling along no better no worse but i did have some good news so it wasn't too much doom and gloom. I have a few exciting things coming up too. I have a good male friend staying over this weekend and in a couple of weeks a good mate is staying for the week so it'll be nice to have a bit of a social life again for a little while!! I also just had a birthday. Yesterday. I am feeling rather old though lol i cant kid myself im in my mid twenties anymore-i am definatly unquestionably in my late twenties which is disturbing but thats life, just another year closer to that dreaded 3-0! :( i spent this birthday with my family which was lovely i was spoiled rotten which was nice and i did feel very blessed my family are my rock at times and after having such a rubbish few months they made such an effort for everything to be perfect which was just lovely.

Anyways i am gonna leave it at that and try again to get some sleep been struggling a bit to sleep as its very very painful so thought id bring my blog up to speed with things. I hope that everyone is ok and staying well and enjoying the lovely weather! :-)

Take care and i promise to try harder to keep this blog up to date! (and sorry this post has become a bit long! Guess i had a lot to catch up with! Lol)

Loadsa lv Rattles Xxxx

Loooooong overdue update.....

Hi Everyone,

I apologise for the lack of communication recently. I have had a mixture of things going on here and have therefore been rubbish at keeping up with updating you all. (Sorry!)

I have decorated my nephews room finally (with a little help from the family) we have painted farm yard animals over all the walls in his playroom. I drew them all and spent each day sat on a chair brush on hand satisfying my artistic liscence lol!!! I enjoyed it loads though i was totally shattered afterwards. I have had a couple of weeks chillout time since resting and getting things back on a level again.

Healthwise i have been okish, things chestwise have been stable and reletavely uneventful. I have however had a few issues with some unresolving infections. I am now on more antibiotics with the prospect of requiring intravenous antibiotics if the infections dont resolve this time. The abcesses have required packing and several appointments with dermatologists at the local hospital which has been frustrating - we are still unsure as to what is causing them all but i am still plodding onwards with it all although my Addison's disease is not liking the antibiotics or the infections and has been a little problematic recently.

soooooo not really much to report except that things are plodding along - i am hoping to return to university in september. I want to start my masters course and have spoken to the disabled students services and the course tutor who all think that i should be ok given some support. I am really looking forwards to getting my teeth stuck into something!!! :)

I hope everyone is ok and i promise promise i will be a better blogger and update more often. Speak soon peeps,

Lotsa lv Rattles Xxxxx

well its just been chaotic here...

Hi everyone,

Firstly i hope that you are all well! It has been a bit of a saga here but such as life really hey?

I have had another chest admission it was grumbling on for ages prior to giving in and going in. I went in thinking i was relatively ok and was taken straight through to resus so ok maybe i wasn't so ok-thankfully it settled relatively quickly and i got home on wednesday. Thus beginning another drama.

Today i have been admitted to hospital seen the surgeons and discharged with two sets of hefty antibiotics and a cream antibiotic and have to see my practice nurse everyday for the next fortnight till i see the surgeons again in clinic! I am hoping that i wont need them to put me under the knife but it may be necessary depending on what happens in the next two weeks. Grr. I have a ridiculously poor family history with this issue and it did kinda frighten me. It took me from wednesday through to today to get this seen to as i was duely freaked out by it but the doctor when he saw me instantly had me admitted to see the surgeons. After going back to the local admissions ward and seeing some old nurses i know and recognise they managed to get some stuff sorted so that i could get home again this evening. They are ever so good on that ward and knew that me being in hospital whilst i felt well was not a good thing for me mentally it drives me round the bend!!

I now have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning to show my gp what has been happening and try and get the nurse to change my dressings each day! Either that or get the local district nurses involved though i feel i have more luck getting moon cheese than that lol. The district nurses round here cant be arsed they were supposed to change my subcut site for me each time and give me supplies but nope its like getting blood from a stone at times!! Will see how i get on tomorrow anyway!!

Im going to try and sleep again now- its difficult though as i am really sore and cannot get comfortable at all! :(

Ah well. Will update soon i promise. Take care everyone. Loadsa lv Rattles Xxxx

Rest, Relaxation and Recovery interrupted!

Hiya Everyone,

I promised i would try and keep up to date so i stuck by my word! I have not got much to report with regards to the health side of things - they are pretty much the same had oncall doctor out yesterday as still no better but apart from that its all the same and i dont want to repeat what was said the other day as that would be rather boring!

My evening after my last post was a long one not much sleep was had by myself due to being unwell and i had planned to have a restful relaxing day yesterday and to try and recover some energy and recharge a little bit after feeling so grotty. It did not turn out to be as restful as i had hoped however....

Whilst i had not been updating my blog most of you were sending me messages of encouragement and wondering if i was ok etc as i just stopped writing. I went someway into explaining a little of what had been happening in my post the other day, someone reading is not as nice as the majority of my readers. Leaving hurtful comments and just attempting to get me to stop writing my blog. I am getting rather weary with it all to be honest and am fed up with the stress its just not worth it. I hate waiting anxiously to see if this person is going to send another message or leave me alone its just unkind. I hate feeling like i have to prove myself to people. I am fed up with it.

I started blogging as a way to vent initially and then in order to help others in similar situations know there was someone else going through a similar thing. I have grown weary of the constant abuse now though. It is uncalled for and is totally unprovoked. :(

I did get chance to relax a little bit today with my dragon. We had a bit of R + R this evening whilst watching the Harry Potter film on the telly. He ate many rather huge crickets and fell asleep lying on my chest half under my duvet! Bless him! :-)

I am not sleeping too well at the moment so now my dragon is sleeping peacefully in his vivarium i am wide awake wondering who is sending these messages and feel i am probably never going to find out who they are. Why are they doing this too me? I dont know but i do know that all of it is making things so much worse from worrying.

Anyways i apologise for the moany ramble (again peeps) hopefully this idiot will leave me alone! I am going to try not to think of whoever this idiot is now and get some sleep.

Will scribble again when i can lotsa lv Rattles Xxxx

Long overdue update.

Hi everyone,

Firstly i apologise i haven't been a good blogger lately. Its been a rough few months both physically healthwise and emotionally with a few ill informed individuals who were trying to make my life difficult and upsetting. Hopefully this has now passed but after a lovely conversation with my good net buddy odette over the internet (thanks hon) i realised that it doesnt matter what these people think really. At the end of the day i started this blog not really bothered if anyone read it or not as it was more for me to have a place to air my frustrations and write about my experiences - both good and bad. I have been blessed with readers who check regularly to see if i have updated and i am very sorry that recently i have been bad at this. I guess i just needed a bit of time out away from hurtful comments. Im back and shall return normal service :-)

So. Whats new? Well, where do i start? I have been unable to drive again as i had another seizure. I have not had one in well over two years till this recent one and i have never had one whilst i have been well ever before they have always been whilst i have been poorly in hospital prior to this one. I was stopping at a good buddies house when it happened totally out of the blue whilst i was eating dinner and mid sentence talking to her. It has left me feeling rather frightened and confused. I dont know what has caused it dont know if it has something to do with whats been happening with my wierd pupils (been suffering with intermittent anisocoria for 12 months) or my brain cyst or both or neither and related to some of the medications i was taking. I am terrified of it happening whilst i am alone at home and just want some answers. Its taking a very very long time to get an appointment with neurology consultant tho!

More recently i have completed pulmonary rehab sessions and passed with flying colours :-) i was very very pleased with my post rehab walking test results which showed much much improvement on my pre rehab walking test. My physio will continue thro the active program offered by city councils in most citys and areas around the uk. Im looking forwards to the change but also slightly apprehensive as to the change.

In other news i had been relatively stable chest wise partly i think due to the physio. They've also been doing talks and things after each session on anything from managing medications to sputum production and chest clearance to pacing and relaxation. Its been fab.

Recently tho as in the last fortnight really i have been feeling rather run down. Sleeping loads and i mean loads. I have been struggling to stay awake longer than an hour a day some days. :( I started on an increased dose of pred again around 14 days ago in the hope it would make things better and initially it worked really really well and i did pick up, then recent stresses have made me even more run down and i also had a couple of tummy bugs which further knocked my system! The hypoadrenalism has not been too great through the bugs so i've been using a lot of I.M hydrocortisone injections most days requiring one or on the days i couldn't face an injection trying to keep 100mg of oral hydrocortisone down me! It has helped keep me away from adrenal crisis though which is always good! :-)

Last wednesday however, i started with a chesty cough and way more productive than i am normally (i dont usually have much sputum-sorry gross i know) i called the doctor and they gave me more pred and a pot for a sample to send one off-im still awaiting these results to see what bug it actually is growing in there so they can give me appropriate antibiotics! I was started on augmentin on wednesday this week as my temp has been really high and i have been feeling really unwell for over a week with progressively lower peak flow recordings the gp called yesterday to see how i was getting on and still wasn't overly pleased with things so i had an appointment with her today. She listened to my chest and the wheezing is very localised to an area on one side of my chest she said which figures it has been quite tender there when i have taken a full breath etc. I have had to increase my nebulisers to every 2 hours during the day/evening as required up'd the pred further and been instructed to take regular paracetamol as even with this my temp has still been slightly raised. Im really frustrated. I am fed up of feeling poorly and just wanna have a few well days again. I know i will be fine again soon im just feeling sorry for myself i guess! :( i miss my family too and i cant visit at the moment as i have no transport and stuff - im feeling really lost without my car :( anyways i have developed a rash in the last 24 hours which may or may not be a reaction to the antibiotics or it could just be due to the chest infection itself according to the doc and the pharmacist!

I have my orders for the weekend. I am not to let my peak flow drop as low as i have been letting it. Its not to go lower than 200 at all! I am to monitor the rash which i have and was told not to take the antibiotics anymore if it got worse which it has during the day today so i have missed this evenings dose and now will have to call the oncall doc tomorrow. I was told not to let my temp get higher than 38 with paracetamol and stuff. . . .

I am not sure what the oncall doc at my practice can do but may need to change antibiotics if it is a reaction to them i really dont know what it is tho its wierd its not itchy doesnt hurt and isn't raised but its almost got an eczema kind of appearance but it isn't eczema! Ah well.

Anyways i have bored you all enough with all of that rubbish. That is whats been happening physically anyways so its been fairly busy on that front.

On a social front i have not done much. I haven't been too mobile recently since my physio and bone doctors decided i needed to use crutches for now- i have no idea how long this will be for. I was told to use a stick 2 years or so ago and that went on longer than i wanted it to so i just hope this isn't a further progression as i really dont want to have to use crutches on a semi permenant basis!! But such as life i suppose. Sooooo due to not been able to physically walk too far and being unable to drive i have not been out much most of my socialising has been seeing my neighbour for a coffee when i have been up to it. I have had a few friends stay over tho which is always nice. Joey a friend from the blogging community came for the weekend whilst i was unwell to look after me bless her, and a couple of mates came to visit yesterday one staying over night which was lovely. I have been missing not going back to see my family as much as i did when i could drive! I am currently just waiting for my little brother to be ready for me to do my artistic stuff with my nephews bedroom and playroom which his mum has been giving me ideas of how she wants it to look etc. I have been drawing pictures and painting etc then picture messaging her to show her my progress :-) she so far has loved all my designs and i am looking forwards to getting down there when they're ready for me to start painting the walls and complete it. I cant wait to see it all finished! :-)

So i have loads of stuff coming up to look forwards to i just need to kick my stroppy lungs into touch again! Hopefully it wont take too long for that to happen and hopefully my brother and sister in law will have got the little ones room into a state ready for me to start my drawings soon!

Sorry for the rather long post but at least i have now brought things up to date again and you all kind of know where i am at. Oh also before i go thank you louise, joey and odette (and a couple of folks who will know who they are) for your support recently it would have been difficult to get back to it without you guys!

Hope everyone of you is well and enjoying the beautiful sunshine we are having at the moment. :-)

I will scribble again soon.
Lotsa lv rattles Xxxx

My little task.

Hi everyone

I hope that you are all well! I am doing ok at the moment the pulmonary rehab is going well when it isn't cancelled due to the snow (which has been happening rather a lot since Christmas!) I think that maybe this mornings session will again be cancelled as I just looked out to see a lot more snow than was there on Monday and they cancelled it on Monday!

I have other things which i can entertain myself with however. I have been going back to my folks almost every weekend since my dad's dad died a few weeks ago-it was around the same time that my mum's mum died two years ago. My grandma died on my mum and dad's wedding anniversary two years ago it was a really tough few weeks lately for all of us and was made even more difficult when my only remaining grandparent my mum's father was very unwell whilst my father, brother uncle, aunt and cousin were all in wales for my other grandads funeral. My brother and his wife are my grandads live in carers and so it was left to my sister in law and my mum and aunt there to look after him whilst my brother was away as my sister in law was working shifts and also caring for my little nephew aswell as my grandad. My grandad was gradually getting more poorly from christmas. He has not fully got over a really bad chest infection which has been affecting his bronchitis and also had a general further deterioration from his parkinson's disease and alzhiemers he is becoming much more forgetful and has suffered a further deterioration in his mobility-which whilst i was away in wales resulted in him having almost a dozen falls in just a few days. He ended up at the end of the weekend not being able to stand without two people as he wasn't weight bearing at all. This was not the worst of it though as my poor sister in law ended up having to help him with his toiletting too. The result of all of this was that at the falls appointment and assessment which was held on the monday of my other grandads funeral was that he would be admitted to an assessment and rehabilitation hospital at the other side of my hometown. A place called the Arc. It has a very good reputation and in comparison to the other two places available i feel he was lucky to get in there. He does however feel like he has been put in a home i think. The minimum term is two weeks up to a maximum of six weeks. I think he will be there the full six weeks if i am perfectly honest as he hasn't made as much progress as i thought he would at this stage unfortunatly. I told my mum i would be home every weekend till i knew my grandad was okish again. I dred anything happening to him with me here so far away. I will never forgive myself for not being there when my grandma died as i was working i will not do the same thing if anything happens to my grandad after all with no work commitments at the moment i have no excuse not to be there which is a very positive thing indeed. All i need to do is inform my carers that i am going away and give them the day i need them to recommence my care again although the pets still need looking in on if im away more than one night at a time so i have been going early on a saturday and coming back late on a sunday that way i can ensure that my pets are ok for that time on their own.

The first time i went to see my grandad he seemed very confused and a bit agitated and really wasn't at all good on his feet standing was difficult for him. Its important for him to gain some mobility and for a care package of sorts to be put in place whilst he is in the arc as my brother and his little family are moving into their new home whilst he is in there-it has been planned for a while for them to move out but my grandad i think has been in total denial that this move was really happening-however it is official now. They got the keys last monday and have already started the work on their new home which we are hoping will be completed in the next few weeks.

This weekend just gone i went back to my folks again although i stopped with my aunt again as my mum and dad are decorating their bedroom which has meant they were sleeping in the room i usually sleep in and all their stuff was in the other spare rooms! Its been chaos seriously! I had a lovely time the last fortnight at my aunts though. I dont really see her and my uncle much if i am only back overnight so it was good to get the chance to have a natter and stuff with them!

I went straight to my brother and sister in laws new home this weekend and helped them to strip wallpaper off the walls in my nephews bedroom and playroom. (their house is absolutly massive! It has five downstairs rooms 7 if you include the little toilet and utility room with the outhouses aswell there are 9 as they are all linked to the house. They also have 5 bedrooms!) it is a beautiful house though the decor is not so great lol! An elderly couple lived there for a very long time before selling it to my brother and family so it has got a lot of very elderly person looking decor including a shower in the back room downstairs-a rather odd feature which is not staying lol! Anyways i digress! I spent most of the day there helping out with one thing and another before we went to see a fire festival in the town centre which was fab. We saw all of it two years ago and it was amazing then so we were desperate to see it again all of us! We took my nephew along too and i think he enjoyed it too! :-) We all then had tea at my mums house before i had to go to my aunts as i hadn't actually seen her by that time. I had an early night knowing it was going to be an early start the following day! My god daughter jumped on me bright an early to wake me up and proceeded to drag the quilt off me to prevent me going back to sleep mmm she knows me soooo well lol. She then put the lights on so that i had to get up and danced around the room till i finally said 'ok i am up now!' i briefly saw her and her brother before my cousin took my aunt and co to a car boot which left me to quickly pack my stuff up load my car and get to my brothers house. I got there at about 10am which was rather early for me lol! I was rather cuffed with myself! I helped by babysitting for my nephew we watched his waybuloo dvd a lot of times and i think on the third play through of it even i was nodding off! I glanced down to see that the little mite was indeed asleep but he promptly woke up again just as i went to put him down in his cot! So it was back to entertaining him again though he is fairly easily amused! He is a very good baby! :-) My cousin came around to take my nephew out for a while so i went back to helping my sister in law with the decorating whilst my brother went to buy doors for the upstairs of their home-seriously busy weekend lol! We managed to strip the wall paper in three rooms and clear out all the timber that needed clearing from all the rooms-my brother demolished the bathroom knocked down the wall separating the bathroom and toilet so it was one big room and smashed all the tiles! A job well done i think! :-) i left their's earlier than i would have liked to as my friend informed me it was snowing really heavily back home-i went to see my grandad who seemed tired and again rather confused but on the whole seemed a little happier.. My aunt was there too so i said goodbye to them both at the same time before going to my mum's to have a cuppa with my mum and dad before i set off home again. Mum gave me a bag of goodies as she always does she is great like that :-) and then i came back home. My mission before i go back next weekend is to come up with two or three different farmyard themes for my nephews playroom. It is to have cows sheep ducks and chickens and pigs in it and they all have to be cartoony for my nephew. Im going to do a timmy time sheep thing i think on one of the walls but i still dont really know on the others yet. Have some ideas though. I have downloaded some pictures from on line search engines etc and i am going to get the sketch pad out later today and scribble some ideas down for my brother and sister in law to pick which one they want! I will then be drawing the designs on to the walls and helping them to paint them. We hope to have the playroom and his bedroom sorted in the next couple of weeks-plasterer permitting of course!

So i have myself a little project to do! I am really excited. If there is ever anything arty to do i am the one who gets asked i love it! I have done painting for my aunty in the past for her bath board with an underwater theme and her out house with a sunny theme and trees and i also painted my god daughters headboard for her bed with all her favorite disney characters when she was younger! I like that they all think i am good enough to do these things and feel that i can do it-it makes me more determined to do a really great job of it- and hopefully it will be a playroom/bedroom that his friends will be envious of once it is all completed! I cant wait!

Anyways it is almost time for my carer to be here now and i cant believe i still haven't slept! My arm is very sore after my second swine flu jab i dont feel as unwell as i did with the first one but my arm is really very very sore touching it or moving it even slightly is really rather painful! I am hoping that it doesnt hurt for too long this time as i really need some sleep lol! I am also hoping to get a couple of sketches done today and a few errands that i have been putting off for almost a year! Here goes.....

Hope you all have a fab day whatever you are doing! Take care and speak soon.

Will scribble again soon.
Lotsa lv rattles Xxxx