Tag Archives: shopping

Thoughtful friends

I have some very thoughtful friends.

Clair is one of them.

Even when she goes shopping she has my best interest at heart. She saw a bargain that was right up my street and she let me know.

Not alone the perfect bargain, but at two for the price of one…

AND

With 33% off the price, how could I refuse?

Perfect Man

I might have the answer to my warm cold toes… 😉 😉

I am a lady in waiting…

 

No. I am not pregnant, or sitting at the window waiting for my ‘Date’ to arrive. I am actually keeping myself busy preparing for vitrectomy eye surgery at the end of the month.

Once I make a decision to go ahead with a particular surgery, I then work out what I need to make the recovery period as easy as possible. Six years ago, I was booked in for hip surgery (can you believe it was that long ago?) and prepared myself for every eventuality. It was worth it. I was totally on my own pins and independent after six weeks. All due thanks to Elly, George and a few friends.

Nurse Hitler Elly will don her matron’s cap once more and move back in with me to nag me back to normality care and help me through the awkward few days while posturing – head down for 55 minutes in every hour. Hopefully the posturing will not last more than a week, but I accept it might be longer. I have been told that “The vitrectomy patient’s daily routine will be much more manageable with the help of friends and family members”. Do I need to hide my camera?

Bathing should be fun. Would I find it easier to take a bath rather than a shower while keeping my head down? Next week, I’ll move the soap, shampoo and any other bathroom necessities to a low spot where they will be easily reachable. How soon can I wash my hair? I hate unwashed hair, but they (whoever ‘They’ are) say that if you leave hair long enough unwashed, the natural oils do the cleaning for you. I am not anxious to try that one for size!

My usual trousers with buttons and zips are not recommended or any clothing that needs to be pulled over my head. The jumpers and tops can all be washed and put away for the duration.

I have been shopping. I now possess a couple of pairs of trousers with elasticated waist bands and a couple of button through cardigans. I already had two button up shirts and I purchased a couple of night shirts, if I am cold, then my pyjama bottoms will pull on easily. Hell, I’ll have a great excuse for hanging about in a bath robe OR to join the world of the ONSIES!

All day facing floorward, might not help my back, I wonder if I pretend to be Buffy and go around on all fours, will it help or just confuse Elly? I have no wish to be fed dry doggie food or to lick my fluids out of a bowl. Woof! Woof!

I am told that swallowing will be easier if bending more from the waist than from the neck. All drinking should be done through a straw. Do they make straws suitable for hot drinks? If so, I have not found them yet…. I need to do some more research. If I drink more than two sips of cold water, my body goes cold from the inside and I stop. Give me boiled water and I will drink it by the bucket full. What a picture: me drinking with a bendy straw from a bucket!

The sleeping schedule has been tried. Sleeping face down will take a little getting used to. I have a V shaped pillow and I already made a start to get my body used to that idea. I managed one hours sleep face down on Wednesday. I hoped to increase by an hour each night and maybe by the time I go to surgery, my body will be comfortable with sleeping face down. Thursday night I managed to remain face downward all night but my back played merry hell most of Friday. Friday night was a total wash-out and I never slept at all. As Fagin sang: I think I need to think it out again! Mind you Elly tells me she has gone ahead and rented a Face Down Sleep Support. It is due to arrive a couple of days before I go to the hospital, so I’ll have a chance to practise with it.

I have a long low coffee table that will be useful for setting my food tray, drinks, tissues et cetera on. The leaflet given to me suggests ‘The patient may prefer softer foods which are easier to swallow’. That reminds me of a guy who had his jaw wired following an accident. He was a fan of McDonald’s – I am not. He bought his Big Mac and a Coke and brought them home, put everything in the blender and had his meal through a straw!

The actual operation will take place in day surgery under a local anaesthetic. Just like my previous cataract surgery on both my eyes, I will be wheeled into theatre in day clothes and the whole procedure will last about an hour while I am awake. It is most lightly that I will stay over-night in the hospital. I suppose that will depend on how things go on the day.

Now what more do I need… Plenty of tissues, straws and more meals for the freezer and a few wee treats for matron.

Nearly ready.

No. I am not lost!

Contrary to speculation, I have not evaporated from the face of the earth (yet), or run away with a soldier, I am just having fun. Fun. FUN!

Sunday: I was dumped, but it became a Pink day.* 

Monday: Buffy learned how to use my sewing machine, then it was time for a long rest in preparation for the busy stuff….

Tuesday: A little retail therapy, finding little gems of shops, all noted for further investigation.

Wednesday: It was Ladies Day – Lunching, driving, talking, walking, visiting and even more eating, all interspersed with great big helpings of laughter, hugs and doggy licks. Three dogs in total.

Thursday: Today it will be the turn of not one but two Grannymar Toyboys! There is no point in doing things by halves. No. I will not tell you what we plan to do. It might be a looooooooong day!

Friday: Goodness knows what I’ll get up to tomorrow! 😉 😉

Saturday: I’ll try very hard not to get thrown off a Bridge!

It might well be next week before I have time to sit down, draw breath and catch up with all my blog reading and commenting.

Here is a little of the Pink to keep you going.

 

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All the bicycles (over 1,000) brought to the recycling centre over several months, were gathered, cleaned up and painted pink. There is another tree like the one above, adorning a roundabout/rotary elsewhere in the Borough and umpteen placed on streets, outside or inside shops to celebrate the Giro d’Italia‘s first visit to Northern Ireland.

Years ago, before recycling became the norm and a’ money for rubbish’ income for all city and borough councils, we took our rubbish, non bin-able, to the local dump. Renamed, upgraded and money making, they are busy working hubs providing employment and cutting down on lazy dumping across the countryside.

 

I may never go out again!

Elly took me shopping when she was here at the weekend. We did a grocery run on Saturday and my fridge, freezer and store cupboards are now full to the gills & ready to face a siege. I love to pick my own food, so have not given in to shopping on-line. I still need to meet people face to face and talk. On-line shopping will be fine when I become a complete recluse!

One non food item I had on the list was slippers/indoor shoes. We took off after lunch yesterday and I found these:

 

My new slippers

My new slippers

Sketchers GOwalk™

They are so comfortable, each shoe in my size weighs 3.6 ounces. It is like walking on a layer of marshmallow or a soft sponge pavement!

The only pair in my size, yesterday were grey. Pity they did not have the Raspberry.

Looking online today I realised I need to save my pennies before next winter…..

WOMEN’S SKECHERS GOWALK – TOASTY

Colours: Chocolate, Black or Chestnut.

Don’t tell Elly…… I almost forgot to take them off when I went to bed last night! 😉

My cozy toes

My cozy toes

Did you miss me?

a) I was cleaning my shoes.

cleaning my shoes

cleaning my shoes

b) Drinking coffee

flat coffee

flat coffee

I do not like like those flat thick cups, so popular today. I do realise that coffee should be made with water off the boil, but in a flat cup, the contents go cold very fast.

c) Thinking of my other Granny…..

The flat cups remind me of the ‘goes-under’ that Granny Kildysart brought with her when she came to stay. It went under the bed, in case….! At least the ‘goes-under’ was made of china and had cabbage roses on the side. Granny Kildysart was daddy’s mother and she was a very serious lady. Maybe having eleven children and living as a widow for thirty three years took the smile off her face.

d) Then I went shopping.

I didn’t get what I went for.

I cannot show you what I did buy. Why? Because I eat it! 😆

Now I am off to my scratcher. night night!

Where has all the Traffic Gone?

My story today took place about 10 days before Elly started Nursery School. The new intake for the year started in small groups adding three or four children each week. The teachers worked according to the alphabet and since our surname belonged in the second half, it was October before her exciting first day.

 

Elly always found waiting difficult; she liked to be in the forefront of all the action. I am not sure that she has changed much over the years! I was running out of ideas to keep her distracted and knowing that my trips out shopping would have to fit in around her schedule for a couple of months, I decided to have one last morning in town. Since Jack, Elly’s dad was working in the Belfast area that day he offered to drop us off and then we could make our own way home when we had finished.

 

As we were getting out of the car Jack pushed something into my hand and told us to have a good lunch before going home. The note he gave me was well more than the bus fare, lunch and a few books at Cranes Bookshop!

 

Despite the regular frisking and checking of our bags as we entered each shop, we had fun looking at all the new autumn fashions and found a few items to add to our wardrobes. We picked and bought a tie for ‘Dad’ before heading to see Miss Crane. Being a normal Business/school day Miss Crane had plenty of time for Elly. An hour passed quickly as we browsed, checked out suggestions and finally selected three or four books to add to the growing library in Elly’s bedroom.

 

Adding this latest purchase to our ever increasing shopping bags we went in search of a good lunch. The garden Restaurant on the upper level of the Fountain Centre was our choice. Don’t go looking for it now, because it’s no longer there. We had a very enjoyable lunch and feeling satisfied with our morning we decided to catch the next bus home.

 

We reached the High Street bus stop in good time and sat on the wall at the ground level car park to await the arrival of our bus. It was a nice bright day and Elly enjoyed watching the world all around her. Busses came and went, cars passed and people sauntered or walked briskly to keep appointments. From the sky above we heard the drone of hovering helicopters, a sound we were very used to in this part of the world.

 

After a while I noticed the traffic was very light, no busses were arriving and then the cars disappeared completely. A few minutes later we heard the blare of sirens and Police and Army vehicles roared past. Things quietened and then after a pause with sirens blaring some of the vehicles returned from whence they came. It was a real indication of a bomb scare. This went on several times and we heard a few explosions. I had no idea if the explosions were controlled or from abandoned vehicles. None of this bothered Elly as she watched all that was happening around us. Never once did she ask why the bus did not come.

 

It was still early days for me in the North of Ireland, mobile phones were unheard of, and I only knew of two routes from Belfast to our home town. One of these was the motorway, not a possibility for walking home and the other was through some highly charged areas. There was also the fact that I had no idea of what to do if we were re directed at any point from this strife torn part of Belfast. My strong southern brogue was more a hindrance than a help so I decided that staying put was the safest option. The bus would come at some stage, so we sat on.

 

After a couple of hours I realised that Jack would be aware of what was going on and begin to worry about us. All drivers in those days stayed tuned to local radio for the latest traffic problems and delays. I saw a phone Kiosk on the corner of the street and checking I had sufficient coins I decided to call Jack’s office to see if he was there, alas he was not so I left a message for him saying we were safe and staying at the bus stop in High Street.

 

Ten or fifteen minutes later the traffic started to move and busses were allowed to leave the bus station once again. Our bus arrived and we boarded gladly. The traffic was very slow and the journey involved many changes to the normal route. We travelled on roads that day I had never seen before or since. The main part of the journey took us up the Crumlin Road, past Ballysillan to the Upper Hightown Road. Up on that high ground I had the most wonderful view of Belfast way below us glowing peacefully in the late afternoon sunshine. It was hard to credit the chaos that we had left behind us and it was almost worth the long delays just to get that view.

 

It was 5.30p.m as we arrived at our local bus station and alighted into the arms of a much relieved Jack. He had called his office and was given my message within five minutes of my call and he tried to reach us in High Street. A bus was drawing away from the stop when he turned into the street and he was unable because of the traffic to overtake us. He decided to make his own way home and wait at the bus station for us.

 

Safely home and preparing our meal I contented myself with no more visits to Belfast for the foreseeable future.