A bed of roses

So, three days off means a shed load of stuff to get on top of when I get back. Yay... I'm not quite on top of EVERYTHING but I'm not far off.

Husband had his appointment with the rheumatology nurse and now has yet another medication! He only needs to take it once a week, though, so that's something.

I managed 1k this morning and am going to try for some more words this evening. Gotta strike while the iron's hot!

Really struggling to find something to write in here, though! Guess that's me done for tonight :D

Husband was much better today. Still not drinking enough fluids for his grumpy liver, though... I've threatened him with the GP on Tuesday if he doesn't drink more!

Couple of ISS sessions - one story, one side. Doing the side stuff is quite nice when I just want to fill an hour - story is more for when I have plenty of time. Having said that, none of the missions is really that long.

Did a bit more work on my Nano. I'm going for 'little and often' as the best way to get through it. After realising I was basing a character on a RL person I don't really like, I want to base one of them on someone I DO like. Haven't got any candidates so far, though :D

Watched a couple of episodes of 'Who do you think you are?'. Apparently, Paddy McGuiness' grandfather fought at the battle of Spion Kop! I always thought the name was adopted by Liverpool supporters because the British won the battle - but apparently not. I suppose that makes it a memorial rather than some sort of celebration, which is an idea I'm more comfortable with.

And, of course, an episode of Umbrella Academy. Aiden Gallagher absolutely brilliant, again. Is he ever not?

I also looked up my aunt's address on Google Maps. Feels a bit... stalkery... But it looks like she lives in a really nice place.

Time for bed, though.

But I got through it. Did some poking around in Power App/Project and also watched some webinars that gave me some ideas. Next week's looking pretty quiet, too, so I shall continue with the poking.

I made husband laugh by mimicking his youngest brother, earlier - in an affectionate way, of course. It's good to laugh together.

Still no baby... But today is not only the birthday of one of my sisters-in-law but, as far as I could work out, of our last cat. When I told daughter it was Boris' birthday she said, 'as in the cat?'. Well... yeah... how many Borises do you think I know?!

I'd quite like her to be born tomorrow. 16 is twice 8 and 16 + 8 = 24. I like number patterns :D

But eldest grandson passed all his A Levels, the first in the immediate family to do so. Daughter and I both did the first year but then gave up due to being pregnant. I did an access course - equivalent of 3 A Levels - later, and then uni. Daughter has learned through doing. Of course, uni is always there - both our kids could cope with a degree. But it would be part-time with work and stuff.

Grandson has been applying for apprenticeships but we don't know if he's been accepted on one. Fingers crossed...

And it sounds like Clearing went well for the uni. It's a lovely feeling when you can make someone an offer but so hard when you can't. But as most of my family prove, uni really isn't everything!

Just caught up with The Rookie. Monica is so deliciously bad - but she's in danger of tipping into caricature, I think. Lopez and Harper are total bad asses - really looking forward to them taking her down. And they're juggling small children and long-term relationships AND daily danger. I know it's fiction but real police officers are parents.

Foot doctor for husband tomorrow - and I need to book the dentist for a check up.

I've just watched American YTer Tyler Rumple react to a video made by the UK Parliament on how Parliament actually works - and learned some stuff myself! Or - gained clarity, at least. It all looks fab. Lots of 'checks and balances', lots of debate, lots of ways for the government to be held to account, and lots of ways for 'The Public' to get involved. Of course, the reality is much more murky, but I'm not really telling you anything you didn't know or couldn't guess! I enjoyed watching him be impressed by it, though.

Husband's CGM needed changing today and we went with his arm, which seemed to go a lot more smoothly.

At work we're reorganising the folder structure - again. TBH, it's better to go with folder names that relate to tasks for the full project rather than stages. Going through the half dozen or so Teams sites, I did realise there were some docs missing and some mis-named, so that's another job. 

Tomorrow, I need to remember to go to the Library and print off some copies of the academic calendar before heading to the office... And to ask my colleague if they can make this Thursday or next Tuesday...

Still musing over Ruth. At the moment I'm thinking the book is either a feminist manifesto or mired in the patriarchy - but perhaps it's 'both/and' rather than 'either/or'? Whilst Ruth did make her own decision about sticking with Naomi, she needed to marry Boaz in order to survive. It's the reality of life that very few choices are uncomplicated and unsullied.

Trying to process what happened in Southport. It feels an impossibility.

 It was raining when I set off for work this morning and my fancy-dan umbrella blew inside out twice! But the spokes didn't get all mangled, so that's something. I felt sorry for the people graduating today because they didn't have a nice sunny day like yesterday - but the rain did go off, so at least they weren't soaked.

But it's raining again now, and I have to put the bin out :(

LM was doing some LM work - specifically checking my objectives on our funky appraisal system. It's designed for capturing annual objectives and our progress towards them, and for recording our 1:1s, and quarterly and annual appraisals. I have time booked in my calendar to do a monthly update because there's nothing worst than getting to the end of the year and having ZERO idea how I've spent my time, except knowing I've been busy! Anyway, LM was full of praise for my approach and seemed to be making a mental note to manage not only their own objectives in a similar way, but to recommend to their other reports that they do it, too. I mean, it's all a choice, isn't it? There's no reward for doing it and no punishment for not - but I appreciate the appreciation.

After evening prayer, I watched an episode of Psych, which was all about a group of people living together - which I'd just been talking about with the group! Personally, the idea of living with other people sounds awful - I mean, I struggle with my husband and son! - but there's also something attractive about it. In particular, I have a community living in my head that want me to tell their story - it takes a village to raise a child, and ubuntu, and all that - I just don't know what the story is, yet.

This morning I edited another DS Harding story. I love him so much - and his sidekick DC Priti 'yes like the MP, no I don't vote Conservative' Patel. And now I want to write about THEM in November, not the group of fantasy characters... I may need to do double Nano... Or two 25k MSs because 100k sounds a LOT...

Also, between work, evening prayer, husband's poor sleep, and a take away for tea, I haven't done a great job of looking after him today. I will be better tomorrow <3

OK, going to be a stereotypical British person for a bit. There's this big yellow thing in the sky... and it's... warm outside? And there's an amber heat warning for mid-week. My little British mind is blown.

*giggles hysterically for a few minutes*

On my own with that, huh?

Husband called me downstairs this morning just as I was about to get into my editing - to give me breakfast. Poached eggs on toast. Very yummy.

Afterwards, I got back to the editing whilst he had a shower - he's getting much more confident with that - then made myself presentable and got down to some work. Today's story was a nonsense piece about lost cutlery in the work place. I remember being inspired by someone at work complaining there was only one teaspoon left in the drawer. Art imitating real life :D

This afternoon, husband had a rheumatology appointment out at Broadgreen and I was such an Old Person when it came to booking the taxi. It was 2.20pm and I wanted the taxi for 2.30pm. I opened the app and selected the destination, expecting the app to automatically select our home address, picked 'estate' for the car and pre-booked for 2.30pm. THEN I realised the app had picked a random address for pick up. *facepalm* Cancelled the booking and tried again. Got the right pick up - forgot to specify the car. *double facepalm* FINALLY got all the details right on the third try, by which time it was almost 2.30pm so I skipped the pre-booking.

The rheumatologist said it definitely isn't rheumatoid arthritis - yet. There's no swelling around the joints, so his aches and pains are osteoarthritis - basically wear and tear. But he is at risk, so they took some blood to do another test and prescribed Voltarol.

When we were leaving, I booked another taxi, selecting 'home' as the destination and the app selected our location as the pick up point *side eye*. A taxi from the same firm pulled up whilst we were waiting for them to allocate a driver. I thought, 'it would be just TOO good to be true that they get our fare, surely?'. But the Fates were smiling on us, today.

Got home and did a couple of tiny bits of work before calling it a night. I have Dave's continuing adventures with FFVII OG to look forward to at dinner time tomorrow.

Husband was feeling a bit nostalgic today and wanted to look through some old photos. Lovely to look back and see the kids when they were kids <3

Started series 5 of Psych. They showed some outtakes in the credits - hilarious.

It's one of those days where it seems like a VERY long time since I got up but the day hasn't dragged at all.

Started with a bath. When I got downstairs husband was having a nap, so I cleaned the bathroom. When that was done he was awake, so we had breakfast - filter coffee and crumpets with butter. <3

Quick clean of the living room in preparation for daughter and grandson #2. He takes sooo much energy, even when he's sitting still :D He's also learned to climb the stairs, so that's going to be fun going forward.

We still don't have a name for granddaughter. The two new ones daughter mentioned today were... well, I wouldn't have chosen them. One of them was my maternal grandmother's name, FCOL! Who was born in 1905! And she hadn't chosen it BECAUSE it was my grandmother's name because she thought that was something similar but different. Anyway, at this rate she'll only have her middle name, which is my name :D

And daughter has less idea of what to get grandson #1 for his 18th than we do >D

I played an hour of Tunic and hit a very nasty boss. Again, I'm playing on the easier setting. Again, the game's definition of 'easier' is different to mine. Again, I will give it another go, but really...

Then I watched Doctor Who on iPlayer. OMG!!! The best episode so far by a country MILE. And written by two women. Just sayin'... Sharp dialogue, LOL comedy, tears, ol' skool monster of the week, another glimpse of Susan Twist... Just wonderful. Won-der-ful!!! My only down (channelling Whoculture!), was The Kiss. Not because I'm homophobic (obvs) but because, for me, The Doctor and romance don't work. Whilst I liked that Rose got her 'own Doctor', if Rose and The Doctor had been 'a thing', I wouldn't have enjoyed it. Plus, he already has the TARDIS AND River. There's being polyamorous and there's being... whatever The Doctor is being :D

The thing with the psychic paper is bringing back memories, too. Was it something with River...? Don't know...

So, after DW, I went down and made tea for me and husband - ham with cauliflower cheese. Which was tasty and perfectly edible but the husband is one of those people who eat with their eyes and I hadn't drained the cauliflower enough and it put him off, so he didn't eat it. Then he made himself a sandwich so he could have his tablets and insulin and it was one of those occasions when I hit a nerve with the needle. I decided discretion was the better part of valour and made myself scarce to do the washing up and clean the kitchen.

And after THAT, I watched Mrs Harris goes to Paris, which was just delightful.

Husband came up to bed half-way through and we had a nice goodnight kiss and cuddle. His days of holding grudges and sulking for days on end are very much behind us - one of the positive results of the memory loss.

So, an event-filled day!

Next week, I will swap out my editing sessions for writing a talk on mustard seeds for St M's on 16 June. There's the version that says the kingdom of heaven starts small and grows to be enormous. And there's the version that says the mustard bush is a weed and the birds nesting in it are pests - and the kingdom is FOR the pests (the outcast, the lost and unwanted, the people on the edge). And is there a person in the world who has NEVER felt like that? Hmm... Something to run with there, I think...

Husband had an appointment at the Royal today. He refuses to get a taxi because it's only a half-hour walk. It was raining but he has an umbrella and I have my waterproof coat, so we thought we'd be fine. We weren't.

It's rained all day, which is good for the pond, and just the world in general. We need water, right?

The general election is expected to happen on 4 July. I'm sure there's a joke in there, but I can't find it :D Grandson #1 will be old enough to vote!!! He's going to be in Greece :O He can vote by post!!!

I'm meeting up with my favourite colleague tomorrow to chat about Doctor Who. I know they'll tell me not voting Labour is a wasted vote and/or a vote for the Tories. The way I feel about Labour, I see a vote for THEM is a vote for the Tories because they're almost indistinguishable at this point. What's the point in voting for more of the same, just with different coloured rosettes?! I am exercising my duty by voting with my conscience - otherwise, I betray all those who fought and died so that I can vote.

But seeing FC is always good times <3

I rounded the day off with a couple of episodes of Psych. Just enough brain required to keep track of the story but daft enough that it never requires really deep thought. I am seeing some of the twists before they happen, though.

Husband didn't feel up to the appointment and I can't say I was disappointed to have a day at home. I tried using the url in the letter to change the appointment, which just kept taking me to the main NHS page. Clicking on 'my appointment' simply told me what to expect, not how to change it. I checked the email we were sent, which had a link to the details of the appointment and said to 'ring this number to change it'. For the first 5 minutes, the number was just engaged. Then I got through to the muzak, which was interrupted occasionally by a woman's voice telling me I don't need an appointment for a chest x-ray, I can go to Aintree Hospital or Litherland Town Hall(!), followed by a man's voice telling me all the operators were busy. After a few minutes of that, he told me I was #4 in the queue and another minute later... #5... WTF?! Anyway, we eventually moved in the right direction in the queue and got through to someone - who then transferred us to Rheumatology *sigh* More muzak and then an almost incoherent young man grunted down the 'phone at me - first asking why I was calling and when I said I wanted to reschedule he mumbled something that could have been a comment or a question. After a short pause I asked him to repeat and my brain unscrambled the mumble into 'Why can't he attend?'. I answered and he said a new appointment would be sent out. If only I could have done it online!!!

I took advantage of a day at home with warm, sunny weather and washed husband's bedding and dried it on the line, so that was a good use of the day.

I also made progress with Zau. The purpose of the journey is clearly to teach Zau to embrace his role - I mean, Act One all but spelled it out! - but he's being obtuse, so we have to go through the whole thing. When my fingers and brain work together, it's a fun experience. Wall climbing in particular is very satisfying. When my fingers are too slow to respond - or my brain sends the wrong signal - it's a mess. But I'm keeping on keeping on. I've just looked up how long it should take to play the whole game - 8 hours for the main story, 9-10 for everything. It's taken me 5 hours to get to Act Two (of four) >D Yeah, we're going to be here a while...

And this evening, I watched the pilot for Psych, which I very much enjoyed. I particularly like Gus.

And that was my day.

Husband's podiatry appointment went well.

The weather was definitely milder today but the wind was still quite strong.

One of my colleagues has found a job elsewhere, so that's another round of recruitment. My new LM says I should be on the interview panel because I have to be able to work with the newbie. That could be an interesting conversation...

I'm also struggling to know what order to spin the plates in. There just seem to be Too Many - but I know if I can just focus on the most important, the others will fall into place. I have a relatively quiet week; I just need to take advantage of it and get some stuff boxed off before my blissful week off next week. Which somehow I had forgotten to mark in my calendar...

Today I discovered that Terry Pratchett was quite anti-LOTR and said a story about a walk to throw a ring into a volcano was silly. I was quite taken aback by this information because without LOTR, Pratchett has no career. I suppose it depends on what he's actually criticising - story pacing is quite valid because Tolkien was pretty bad at that. But Taking The Thing To The Place is a classic quest tale; I don't really think it's fair to criticise that.

Of course, Pratchett's writing is very intricate with several apparently separate plot lines that are gradually woven more and more tightly together to form a satisfyingly complex knot at the end. He also takes aspects of modern life and finds ways to send them up that are quite delightful, and shines a light on things like racism through mythical species. But saying 'your writing is different to mine and therefore wrong' is also invalid.

Anyway, it's taken a bit of shine off Pratchett for me - like finding out Jung had an affair with one of his female students and (allegedly) stole her ideas, changed my feelings about him. But there's still a lot to love. In particular, Jung's dream about my home town ('Liverpool is the pool of life!') means I'll always have a soft spot for him.

OK, time for bed - night DW!