Visitors

In order to cheer Traff up and give him a bit of a break from all the stresses of the week, James and Dan came to hang out today.

We walked into Old town and had Tapas at Los Gatos, which was awesome.

Then had a drink in the Vic, and then on to the Beehive for some darts.

Albie

Today I hung out with Albie. Usually she's very affectionate and loving so I get lots of kisses.
Sometimes her live is rather butey and violent.

I thought she was giving me kisses, but I realised she was cleaning my moustache when she moved on to my eyebrows next!

It was weird!

Bbq

Our difficult week

This week has been pretty awful. Traff's Grandfather has passed away suddenly.

His death has been really hard on all of us, especially because it is being treated as suspicious by  the police. Long and depressing story short, we are now waiting for the coroners court verdict before we can set a date for his funeral.

Traff has been backwards and forwards to Hatfield all week. It's been extremely odd.

Today we were both  home in the evening. We had a bbq and watched Marley sunning herself.

Giant watermelon

Today, I walked home from work via commercial road.
There is a cash & carry who have the best watermelon.
They come from Morocco... just incase you're buying... so much nicer than the spanish ones!

So, I carried this giant home and believe me, it weighed a ton.

Oxford university

Today we worked in Oxford at the Maths building.
The view from the top floor is amazing!
And they have a roof terrace.

We had lunch in the board room which is on the top floor and has some very impressive and distracting views.

We also had a drinks reception in our honour.
😁

Work taxi selfie!

Violin tuition

I recently advertised on one of the community face book groups to see if anyone would like some violin tuition.
£10 for 40 minutes.

I thought that was fair as I'm not able to do any of the grading certificates and I'm not affiliated with any of the music teaching societies.
I would be fair to say that I think now that this was a little to reasonable.
I was inundated with emails!

I have now taken on 4 students to start with- Susannah, Christine, Nancy and Amy.

I've really enjoyed teaching the violin. It's been quite liberating and it has been a really good encouragement for me to practice and plant more frequently- even if it's just to mark up music for my students!

I'm not sure Marley shares my enthusiasm for teaching people to play. She doesn't mind when I play and sometimes she sits and watches.
When people are starting out and their playing isn't very easy on the ears she climbs the stairs so that she's at their head height and shouts in their face!
It's hilarious.
There isn't really much I can do to stop her either!

I've been having a great time looking up gumtree bargains for people and ordering some new books to play from. I've made friends with the wonders of the music shop on commercial road and they'd been fantastic.
Next we will play disney.
For now, jigs and reels!

Vitamin B12.

So, I think I posted a bit about this in December but I'll update you with the full (isn) story now.

I had to have my yearly thyroid function blood test in December (I have Hypothyroidism and take levothyroxine- as mine is autoimmune where the body attacks it's own cells it was get worse and the medication levels will have to be adjusted. Eventually I won't produce my own thyroid hormones and will then be reliant on the levothryoxine).

The nurse rang me to to tell me that the levels were fine. I had queried this as I had been refused a course of antibiotics at the emergency care centre in about November because they had felt that my thyroid was not under control.
Then I received a letter asking me to repeat the blood test.
I rang them and they told me the red blood cell count was odd but that I was probably an anomaly.

I went back in January- on one of the days it snowed. I got the healthcare parctitioner- who is like a Nurse in training.
I warned her that because my thyroid is a mess I don't regulate my body temperature very well so she might struggle to find a vein.
She decided to just go for it and ended up stabbing the needle through both sides of the vein. I was sick, my arm went purple and I couldn't feel my fingers for almost an hour.
She panicked and aborted the blood test- as there was plenty of blood but none in the phial.
I went back to work feeling very sorry for myself and looking like I'd been in a weird fight.

I then received a phone call telling me that I urgently needed to reschedule the blood test. I explained what had happened and was told that on the last test my red blood cells were large and misshapen and that I was anaemic by blood count.

I managed to repeat the test finally in March and the results came back the same.

So, as my B12 levels are nonexistent I will have to have vitamin B12 injections at the hospital every week for 16 weeks.
This is very inconvenient.

The reason why I am deficient in vitamin B12 is because my thyroid level dropped off the chart. This has further damaged my intestine and bowel leading to deficiency in almost everything.
So, in addition to the B12 injections I will also have to have another set of biopsies done to check that I don't have any cancerous cells in my digestive tract.
This is done under a general anaesthetic and will require time off work, in addition to being painful and unpleasant.
I'm very angry about this because it was avoidable. All of this could have been avoided if the blood test levels had been monitored properly and kept at the same level as they were in Bedford.

It's no wonder I've been feeling to tired and looking so rubbish!

The doctor I saw for the blood test results upped my levothryroxine from 100 micrograms to 150 micrograms per day so that's something.
It takes ages to have an effect though so I'm still feeling pretty exhausted and gaining weight like theres no tomorrow!
(To clarify, Increasing the levothyroxine won't help to lose weight, but it should stop me gaining weight quite so quickly which will be a blessing- it'll help to speed up the processes in my body too which should make me feel better.)

Hopefully I'll have red blood cells that actually work and are the correct shape, enough red blood cells to carry out normal functions and enough hormones in my endocrine system to give my body a break soon enough!
No wonder I've been finding running so difficult!

I have to say though, one of the biggest symptoms for me with my Thyroid is insomnia (OK, and theres the bad skin, crazy periods, weird cramps, thinning hair, food allergies, vomiting, upset stomach, hyper pigmentation and hair, but not sleeping is the worst.) in the last week- so a week after upping my thyroid medication- I've started to sleep better.
I know I have because I don't look like an extra off the walking dead at the moment, and I've had dreams!
When you don't sleep properly for a while and then you finally do, all your dreams are completely mental.

Garden destruction

On Bank Holiday Monday, Traff had said he was planning to do some gardening.

I assumed he'd mow the lawn and sweep the patio.

by the time I'd boiled the kettle, still in my PJs he was diving up plants and moving them around all over the place!
We cut back all the big bushes by the patio and the garden looks so much bigger now!
It's awesome!
We also planted some Irises and a clematis at the foot of the dead tree too and we're hoping to encouraging it to grow up the side and make a bit of a feature.

We were both sunburnt and covered in scratches but it was certainly worth it in the end!

Gloucester

Coffee with Ray!
:)

The Painswick Rococo gardens

I joined the sports and social club through work- it's £2 per month.
In order to ensure that I get at least £24 of value back I've been booking up passes to places left right and centre!

I highly recommend this one- The Rococo gardens are beautiful and the maze is really good fun!
it isn't very big.
It would be a good idea to take a picnic and a blanket and just  make yourself at home on their lawn for the day.
They do have a very good tea room and they sell cold pressed apple juice made from the apples in their orchards.

It was really quiet when Tracey and I were there. we got there about 11:00am (It opened at 10:30am) and we didn't have to queue or fend people off for parking spaces.

The gardens also has a woodland walk, and in the woodland there is a very impressive play area.
We went on the see saw and on the giant tree swing.
The swing was awesome!

Roller derby

Severn Roller torrent had a freebie trial session last Saturday, so I decided to go and try it out.
I have said for the last year that I'll got and train with Wiltshire, but their thursday night training just isn't right for me.
I realised form all my running that I prefer to exercise in the morning. I do better and can focus much more effectively on what I am doing.
In the evenings I'm tired and I can't push myself so well.

This was one of those weekends where I didn't really get my forward planning right. Traff was in on Friday night (Thankfully) as I completely forgot that my mum was staying to go to the Ideal homes exhibition really early on Saturday morning.
Traff had the car for work and I was at the mercy of the trains after my theatre trip so I got home about 11:30, in bed by Midnight.
Up at 6:30am in order to be washed, dressed and have breakfast made to take my mum to the bus station for 8:00am and then I thought it was pointless to go home and went straight on to Roller derby training.

I arrived an hour and a half early.

I ended up just sat around in the car park!
Thankfully my aggressive leggings gave me away and someone took me in early with them to do some training before everyone else arrived.

I've paid for 4 more sessions with them. We'll see how it goes- but I won't be getting up so early next time!

Burke & Hare the musical @ the watermill

On the Friday night before the bank holiday weekend, Sophie, Abi and I went to see Burke and Hare at the Watermill theatre.

The theatre is right on the outskirts of Newbury, It's in a little village and it's really pretty. Theres a stream (No surprise really as it's called the watermill) and they keep weird ducks that look like turkeys.
They also have a very reasonable bar and a fancy restaurant.

We were lucky with the weather as we were able to sit outside before the performance and during the internal.

The theatre is very intimate.
This did not detract from the show- which was a work of complete and total genius!
I would definitely see it again- and I'll keep an eye out for other productions by the same group.

All in all, it was an ace way to start the bank holiday- excellent company and excellent entertainment in a beautiful setting.

Morris dancing

We're doing the culture badge at brownies.
This will be comprised of one week of Morris Dance and a fake may day celebration.

The chippenham morris men came and taught us to dance.
It was really fun but I was awful.

Thankfully they didn't teach the children any dances with sticks!

Sad about the rain

Bowood house & gardens

Tracey & I went to see the bluebells at bowood house today!
They were very impressive, but the wear sucked.
Every time we go there it rains!

Cycling adventures

Making maypole ribbons

Walking in the woods

Paddle boarding!

Etchings exhibition

We hid in chippenham museum to escape the heat.
So we had to pretend to be very interested in etchings.

This one is of Oxford.

No work Friday!

I took today off and I am so glad I did! It's beautiful!
I had planned to go for a run, maybe a skate and get some chores done... but then my parents invited me out for lunch...

They've found a garden centre which as, in it's cafe, a wood fired pizza oven. They only do pizza on Friday.
So we went.
And it was awesome.

We also got to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine!

It's finally sunny

Lake district day 2

It finally stopped raining!!

The lake district day 1

I'm attending STATSCALE in the lake district.
I've never been here before and it really is very beautiful.
It's just a shame that I won't have time to explore. It's also a shame it is rainy.

I did try to go paddle boarding though! Apparently, it's too cold. 😵

Avebury

Marley's boyfriend

Now, he may look rough around the edges, but this cat has some manners- for one he never actually comes into the house.

He just sits and waits for Marley to go out. and she sits and waits for him to appear and then she goes out, so it's pretty cute really.

The first sunny day of the year

Yay 16 degrees!
I have seen a few people in their shorts but I'm really not brave enough for any of that just yet!

I did have my breakfast outside and it was very chilled. It was warm enough not to need a jumper or a cardigan ad hat was plenty of novelty for me!
Marley spent my entire meal rolling around on the floor complaining that it is too hot.

I guess it probably is if you're covered in a thick layer of fur!
She's determined to lie outside and whinge.

It's quite funny really- Traff is in Spain at the moment- As soon as he leaves the country the forecast is gorgeous for a few days. I really hope that this is the start of spring proper and means we'll have a decent start to Summer.

It is definitely Spring. I know this because every cat in this county seems to be either in heat and looking for man or trying to out man each other.
Marley has been Spayed. So she can go out an play as usual. She has a boyfriend, I wonder if they're friends or if he's sticking around to see if she goes into heat. They just sit together on the kitchen roof, it's pretty cute really. She's really smitten. Yesterday she took him a hair elastic.

Yesterday evening another spurned lover got into the house and sprayed all over the window! Cat spray is really tricky to remove.. it is surprisingly greasy. So gross.
Hopefully she'll just play with her boyfriends outside from now on!
Cleaning that really ruined my binge watching of all the bake-off's ever- they're all on netflix!
yassss!

Australian Treasures!

Jenni's last stop on her way back to the UK was in Melbourne.
So I asked her nicely to pick up some Dangerfield items for me!

I am the proud owner of most of the "your biggest fan" range!
😁
Yasss

Swindon Adventures

Wiltshire Adventures!

Today we went to Stone Henge and Avebury.
😁

Face pack Thursday!

As a fancy treat, we're trying lush's 'don't look at me' face pack.
It's pleasing blue.

First BBQ of the year!

Make & cake

Fabric printing and corsages.
😁

Albie kisses!

Today I got a personal best!

Since taking up running by accident/under Tracey's duress in January I have actually improved.
This is my best yet distance and a pretty good pace!
😁

White horse hill