The above picture is about how my eye feels at the moment, metal in it! There isn’t of course it just feels like it! I managed to develop a cold on the second day of my head down 45 minutes per hour which was, as you can imagine difficult. I was also supposed to lie on my right side in bed which I have not done for years having had both hips now replaced. I did have a go but woke up about 2.00am aching all over, so got up and went into the sewing room and did the head down business. I think I managed to do all the hours required over the five days but have a check up next week and hopefully he will be able to tell if it is all okay!
The one benefit of not being able to do anything for five days was I managed to get through eight audio books! Some were good, some were okay and one was dreadful! I will tell you all about it on Book Club Friday on March 13th! Perhaps I should be reading horror books as it is Friday the 13th!
The only other thing is I have not set foot outside for almost two weeks now and I am going a little stir crazy. I did not get any work done last week of course so have spent the first three days of this week catching up and on Friday I will be at Eldest’s catching up on his work as well. Tomorrow I have home jobs to do which did not get done last week either, so that is going to take longer than normal, especially with two dogs and a cat at home as well. I also have a basket of ironing to do and then there will be another load at the weekend.
The weather is getting a little better here and tomorrow it is supposed to be 17°C during the day which will be Spring like. These daffodils were from last year and they are in bud at the moment but not yet out. I am hoping that it continues to get better and over the Easter long weekend we will get chance to get into the garden and do some work.
I hope you are all having a good week. Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
So despite Phil saying we would have six more weeks of Winter (we are not in New York of course) it is rather Spring like here today with a top temperature of 15 and it is going to be hovering around the double digits for a few days, although they have said more rain as well!
You know when they say it never rains but it pours? Well Little Miss Coco is not well today and is off to the vets at 4.00pm! It sort of started yesterday with her being very needy, which although she is a cuddle bug she is never needy and then today she will not settle and is constantly panting although it is not that warm, so poor DH is having to take her to the Vet as well as looking after me and this stupid head down business! He will be glad he is back at work next week for a rest!
I will be released from my pillow prison on Sunday and life can go back to normal although I will still not be able to see properly for about another three weeks which is the length of time it takes for the gas which I have in my eye to dissipate! I am so looking forward to that.
I am getting through rather a lot of audio books though which is a good thing about all this and thank goodness I have my BookBeat account, it is about the only thing keeping me sane at the moment. I am trying to branch out a little bit from my usual love of Murder Mysteries to other types of books too, although I usually do come back to them in the end.
Last night was Drill Night for Eldest for his On-Call fire duties and they decided to do an exercise at his garage which he set up. All very exciting. We did not get o see it of course but it sounded like a good session, although he had to put everything back this morning!
I hope you are all doing well on this Wednesday, half way through the week and I iwill see you here tomorrow.
I do not like putting pictures of myself up too much, but thought you would like to see my audition for the new Pirates of the Caribean film!!!! I can honestly say after having both our Boys normally, a mastectomy and two hip replacements, this was by far the worst thing I have EVER had done! I will not go into the details as I do not want to gross people out but it hurt despite the area being numb! I am now into the second day of head down for 45 Minutes with 15 minutes grace per hour for the whole day. I have to sleep on my right side which is not easy and after five hours last night, I got up and went into the sewing room and spent the rest of the evening with my head down on the desk.
We had to go back to the Hospital this morning for a check and apparently it looks okay but with the gas in the eye we won’t know until it dissipates which takes up to four weeks so it is very blurred.
I am doing bits of work in between the head down situation but I cannot do any housework or even take a shower for two weeks!
In better news today has been warmer than the last forty days and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer too, then again at the end of the week we are going to have more rain again!
Have a great week, I will be keeping an eye on you (!!!!!) I am listening to quite a lot of books though, so one benefit!!!
As you know I am not big on watching the news, however I do read the headlines on The Daily Telegraph to just see what is happening. Most of the time it is so depressing however yesterday the headlines were a shock!
The foundations of Windsor Castle must be rocking after yesterday’s news headlines of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, an offence which if found guilty carries the sentence of life in prison! A lot of the news is just depressing but this is playing out like a soap opera. I am sure this is how our Parents and Grandparents felt when King Edward the VIII abdicated so that he could marry Wallis Simpson, a Constitutional crisis. I am sure all this is going to be a Netflix film when the dust settles!
I am going through another one of those periods where I am waking up anywhere between 2.00am and 4.00am! I do the same thing most days, eat more or less the same things so why one night I can sleep through without waking up and yet another period I am waking up at stupid o’clock is beyond me. However speaking to my friends I am not alone in this! Anyhoo I was awake at 2.00am today and I was wide awake so I got up and cleaned our home from top to bottom, before they all got up including the animals! It was quite peaceful really. I put an audio book on and I was off and do you know, it seemed a lot easier to clean at that time of day then during normal hours!!!! As you can tell from the picture above Coco did not even bother getting up when I left our room!!!
I have a few other home jobs to get done over the weekend and the washing & Ironing, although I have done one load already this week. I am trying to get up to date with everything before my eye op on Monday! One of our customers has had the same Op and he said he was fine although it was a nuisance doing the head down bit for the first five days but he is fine now! I will be really looking forward to a week on Monday!
Book Club Friday – Jayne and I had lunch on Tuesday and we have a new book to read for our Cosy Girl’s Book Club:
For those of you who follow me will know I have been reading Jane Bettany’s books and they are in the Cosy Mystery section of the bookshops. They really are very good. The characters are good and you learn a bit about them without getting bogged down and the stories do move through the book very well, with good conclusions. Very Agatha Christie based so if you like her books I am sure you will like these. I will let you know how we get on.
This is what I am also reading. Poppy Greer is getting married and has four of her old school friends as her Bridesmaids. Poppy gives all four of them a first class flight to a private Caribbean Island for a luxurious stay for her Hen Party, however the women underestimated their host and each other and secrets from their past surface and the trip of a lifetime becomes the hen do from hell!
I thought this sounded quite good. It is a paperback and only 340 pages long so I think it will be a quick read. I started it today whilst I was having my hair cut!
I hope you lovely lot have a fantastic weekend and are able to get some time to read and relax.
Today is Candlemas which was when Jesus was presented at Church and the purificiation of the Virgin Mary 40 days after having Baby Jesus, a tradition which lasted well into the Twentieth Century and fell into disuse at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s although some women do still go to Church after the birth of their children.
Candlemas is also the day that people would bring their candles for the year to be blessed at Church to light the dark nights and to show that Jesus is the Light of the World.
It is also Groundhog Day. The little so and so saw his shadow so anothr six weeks of Winter! I really would love an early Spring as I have a mountain of jobs to get done in the garden but hey ho it will be what it is!
The tradition for Groundhog Day actually began in Germany where the locals would watch the hedgehogs and other creatures to see how they were behaving and this might mean it would be an early Spring. February 2nd is the midpoint between the Winter solstice and Spring equinox and tradition says if there are clear skies and there will be more winter, however overcast meant an early Spring.
DH had a busy weekend at the swimming pool with the events and I was busy getting some quilting done which I will show you when it is done and gifted.
Today DH went away for the week for the business exhibition so it is just Coco and I with Youngest, Fiancée and Little Lady with Gordon & Blaze. The weather this week is due to be cold and raining again, although the sun did manage to break through the clouds for all of two seconds today! I am really hoping it is going to get better soon!
Wow last day of January already and it has been, to be quite honest, chaos as always! Getting myself ready for an eye op which did not happen (!), waiting for the safe arrival of our new Little Lady (she was late), getting back to work after a wonderful Christmas with our lovely family seemed harder this year and finally the weather. There has been quite a bit of rain but it has also been very cold, a lot colder than previous years, although we have avoided the very heavy snow. We have not done too much else, I always think of January as being a bit of a hibernation month after the fun of Christmas.
February is up next of course and as a little girl I always thought it was the longest month of the year, even though it can be three or two days shorter than all the rest! I think because it is the end of Winter and here in the Uk sometimes our weather in February can be worse. The swimming county championships have moved, AGAIN, and it is this weekend and next whereas normally it is the end of February so that has thrown me! I am definitely having my eye op done at the end of the month and will have to wait another four weeks until I am able to drive again!
Monday is Groundhog Day and will Phil see his shadow and we have six more weeks of Winter or not and we have an early Spring? I think he will see his shadow and we have six more weeks of winter!
February 17th is the start of the Chinese New Year and 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse. This animal only comes around in a 60 year cycle and brings with it intense energy, independent and rapid transformation! It also says that it will bring with it a year of passion, ambition and volatile fast paced atmosphere which apparently encourages bold actions and significant although sometimes distruptive change! The way things are going in the World at the moment I would say that the Fire Horse has already been making itself known!
Of course not forgetting February 14th Valentines Day! Do you bother celebrating for those in relationships? In September this year DH and I will have been together for forty years and my love for him has never changed from day one. However I am not bothered about Valentines Day! I have always felt it was one of those days for the card suppliers to try and make more money out of everyone, especially after the Christmas period. Also we, as a family, do not tend to go out for meals on these types of days as the one time we did the food was dreadful, the place was full of course and the whole evening was just not good. This year it is on a Saturday so if anything DH and I will perhaps have a takeaway and curl up on the sofa with a film!
I hope you lovely lot had a good January and avoiding all the negative news that is out there at the moment and February will be kind to you. My Op is due on the 23rd so I am trying to get as much as possible done before hand and afterwards I will be relying on my trusty Book Beat subscription to keep me from going stir crazy! Have a wonderful weekend.
Today is Blue Monday apparently but I have been trying to change my mind set about January as I always associate January with Monday mornings! You know the feeling how Mondays feel and I always think January is like that, especially after a wonderful Christmas. However……
I think I will be changing my view because possibly tomorrow I may be having a macular hole repaired in my left eye! You know how I said that I would be leaving all medical things in 2025 and 2026 was going to be a much better year? Well it’s not! Apparently this type of problem with the eyes is often inherited (!) but after the Op is actually worse this time as I have to spend 45 minutes of every hour for five days with my head on my forearm which enables the gas they put in your eye to press on the hole for it to hopefully close! The Op is done under local again so I will be awake for it all!!!!
The other thing you need to know about me and eyes is I don’t do them! Whenever there is a film on with something about eyes I have to shut mine. I have worn glasses since I was eighteen for reading as I would never be able to put contact lenses in!!! Grr. The other thing is that it might not close and they have to do it all again and I cannot drive again for four weeks! Also I am not able to do anything whilst I have my head down so I will be utilising my over the head earphones and listening to some books to try and keep me sane!!!!!
On to more possitve things DH and I managed to get our garage finished with the decluttering and also tidied all the boxes so we are now able to see everything and it has all been labled. We also tidied the rest of the garage too and yesterday we did our attic so that is now complete. A job which began this time last year. We have managed to get rid of quite a bit, things we did not need or use, most to the Charity shop and the rest to the refuse centre. I also went through all my clothes at the weekend and got rid of some jumpers that I was not wearing and a couple of blouses again for the Charity shop. My final sweep of our home will be done when I do the Spring Cleaning later in the year.
I did very well for meals last week though! Jayne and I went out for lunch on Tuesday. We always try and go close to home at this time of year on the basis that we do not know what the weather is going to do. We have had a bit of snow already but it did not last long fortunately. We were okay with the weather and the pub we went to, we have been to several times before and the food is always good. There were a lot of people who had the same idea as it was quite busy. Then on Friday evening we went out to dinner with the Head Coach from swimming and his Mom, who I go out for lunch with also. It was a really nice evening and dinner was great.
The rest of this week all depends upon whether I have my eye Op tomorrow or not. If not then it is a quiet week with work and home jobs and a quiet weekend again too, but I am sure I can find some other jobs to do. If the Op does not happen tomorrow hopefully it will be next Monday.
I hope you are having a good January so far and I will let you know how things go tomorrow.
Normally DH and I stay in on New Years! I am not one for crowds at the best of times so New Year is not for me and before The Boys were born we used to do Discos and of course were booked for New Year parties and we absolutely hated them! It was almost forced partying. It was never the same with the Christmas Parties, everyone wanted to be there and they were such fun but wherever we were booked for the New Year parties everyone always seemd like they wanted to be somewhere else! We also used to end up at a motorway service area for food at about 3.00am, as in those days (1986 onwards) there were no fast food places available!!!!
However, this New Year’s Eve we were invited to our very good friends, Anne & Chris, for dinner and to see the New Year in with them and four other friends, Val & Dave, Christine & Pete, we have known them all for over thirty seven years. In fact I can honestly say they are all family now as we have been with them and they with us through everything! Dinner was great, Anne did the main course, Val did the starters and Christine and I brought dessert. Now what you need to know is that when Anne & Chris first moved to Derbyshire they invited us all round for dinner to the huge house they were renting at the time. It was a small manor house! We all brought two bottles of wine each which made a total of twenty plus what Anne & Chris had. Well we got there at 7.00pm and this was in May and we left at 4.30am the next morning when the birds were singing! We talked and laughed and had the most wonderful evening which we all still remember.
On Christmas Eve we went over to see DH’s cousin in DH’s Home Village in Nottinghamshire and have lunch with her and also pick up the meat for the Christmas period. We also went to the Village Church to visit DH’s parents grave and his Aunt & Uncle too. This is the Church above and it is really pretty.
Between Christmas and New Year we, Partner & I, took Fiancée out for lunch as a little “baby shower” lunch. We had a lovely time in the Garden Room at The Cavendish Hotel in Baslow where Jayne and I went for our Christmas lunch. Whilst we were there, DH, The Boys and Little Man went to the car museum of course!
Little Man had a very busy day and was shattered by the time they got home!
Here are a few more pictures of our Christmas at Home.
Pictures of our Sitting Room with the Christmas decorations and the stair lights which are different this year as last year’s lights were chewed by Gordon! These are the new ones and we had to hang them on the outside to stop him chewing the wires!!!!
Because of my Hip Op this year I did not get to make our cake, so this was the bought one
Our Christmas Dining Table set for eight. We were all seated comfortably. Next year we will have one extra so may have to re-arrange things!!!
Present Opening with my wonderful Family.
Little Man and Grandad are best friends.
Sorry this has been a long post but I thought I would do a quick round up from the Festive Season. Over the weekend DH and I put all the deocrations away, which I absolutely hate, and yesterday I cleaned our home from top to bottom. Today I have a basket of ironing to do and then I am up to date with home jobs. I have kept up with our work and Eldest’s work and have a few bits to do later and tomorrow for Eldest.
I have also been doing the Membership Rnewal for the Swimming Club and that has been quite tortuous! It is the first year we have done the renewals electronically online and it has brought up quite a few issues which we have managed to resolve. Out of 155 Accounts, which are the parents, we only have 14 who have not responded! We are hoping to get them sorted by the end of the week and then I can get the renewals done by the end of the month. Sunday is our Open at The Arc in Matlock, Derbyshire and that is going to be a long day from 6.00am to about 8.00pm! I will be putting dinner in the slow cooker for when we get home.
We have had a sprinkling of snow here in Derbyshire, other parts of the country have had quite a bit. I think the reason we have not had much is down to it being -5°c, which is too cold for snow and absolutely freezing! It is the coldest it has been so far this Winter. Today looks like it could snow but I think it is too cold still. Hoping that it will not be snowy on Sunday for the Open as that will be fun getting there. In fact the first time we ran this event we had thick snow that day!!!
I have not forgotten about my Books of 2025 Review which I will try and get done for tomorrow and this Friday is the first Susie’s Friday Book Club Book and if you have looked on the 2026 page I am going to try and do two Books a month this year, but more on that tomorrow.
I do hope you lovely lot had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all a great 2026 and thank you for continuing this journey with me. Hopefully there will be more quilting in 2026 too!
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Our Garden this morning! More frost than snow I think and it is freezing!
Only two more sleeps to go! I cannot believe it is Christmas this week it has really appeared by magic this year for me!
Over the last few weeks I have felt, for all of you who watch “Stranger Things”, I have been in the Upside down! The days and weeks have flown by and although I have been getting things done from my usual To Do lists and ticking things off, they have never seemed to be reducing.
One of the Games at the Fun Gala involved inflateable Antlers and Inflateable Characters!
The Swimmers waiting for the Results!
DH finished work on Thursday last and Friday, Saturday and Sunday we were moving the final things for Youngest & Fiancée out of their rented home an dinto storage or to our home. It is all now done and the keys handed back which is great to get it all done before Christmas. Sunday afternoon and into the evening it was the Swimming Club Fun Christmas Gala and the swimmers had a great event and Sue and I did not have to do anyting so we got to watch all the action. Yesterday we had to take the rubbish to the tip from our home and Youngest’s home and DH helped Eldest with the last few jobs he needed to do before he finished for Christmas.
Today DH is out at the company we work with locally their Christmas dinner and I am doing the cleaning, again! I also have a basket of washing and iroining to do and generally get our home ready for Christmas Day, with the two dogs and the cat under my feet!
Our Stair Lights.
We have had to change the stair lights this year because of our new lodgers! Last year DH and I bought new artifical berries which go on wth green garland and the lights. Well Blaze and Coco decided to eat some of them. They did not swallow them just picked them off, gave them a chew and then left the bits everywhere. So we decided to just put the garland and lights on. Well Gordon decided it was a good idea to chew through the wires for the lights, which fortunately were not on at the time! The new set of lights are now on the outisde of the stairs as you can see!!! I always say Christmas is about adapting things!
The double issue of the magazine I have every week, Country Life. I just love the cover.
Tomorrow DH and I are out visiting family over in Nottingham and running some other errands and I will be getting everything preppred for Christmas Day where there will be eight for dinner and festivities. Boxing Day is a quiet and chill day and then Saturday Fiancée, Partner and I are going out for lunch as a little treat for Fiancée before the new arrival in January. DH, the Boys and Little Man are all going out and hopefully going on the steam train. Sunday is also another chill day. Next week will be DH and I getting back to the decluttering of our home and the garage as well as some other jobs which never get done in the normal work day.
New Year we have been invived out to some very good friends for dinner and to see the New Year in with them which will be lovely.
Little Man went with Mummy & Daddy to have breakfast with Santa all together this morning. Here he is seeing Santa although he does look a little worried! They said he had a lovely time though.
Here he is the other day with his cars.
I know I am behind with things, one of which was to do a review of the Year with our Book Club but I will get it done over the holidays. I did manage to achieve and surpass my Goodreads Reading Challenge this year, which along with my Aim of 2025 to read more I set the goal at 50 books! I managed since January to read 55! I am going to set next year’s Challenge at 100 and it will also be another of my 2026 Aims! Look out for the Book Review.
This is Eldest & Partners very good friend, Tractor Ben, who also helps at the garage. He, his father and their friend, dress their tractors up for Charity Drives in the Town of Ashbourne and then they have also done charity drives around Derbyshire as well. This picture is coutesy of Jim Bell who got a great picture of Ben’s tractor. Have a lovely Christmas Ben and we shall see you in the New Year.
Coco had all her beeding, towel and quilt washed in time for Santa Paws arriving and she just loves a fresh quilt cover! She was happy and snuggled in her basket next to my desk
A picture of Gordon and Coco on our stairs watching me coming up one step at a time!
I am doing well with my hip and now walking about at home without the crutch but still take it with me when I am out in case I have to walk long distances or navigate a lot of stairs. I will be able to, after Christmas, use our treadmill again which helped so much after I had my right hip done.
Our weather over the last few weeks has been dank. We have had quite a bit of fog too with the days not being bright at all and not getting light much, so we have had the lights on at home. A lot of people hate this time of year but I love it, because the lights are on and it is very cosy. We have, of course had the shortest day of the year now, so the nights will start to get a little lighter but I still like the dark cosy nights. Of course it means that I can spend more time reading which is always a bonus.
Anyway If I don’t get chance to post again this side of Christmas, I do hope you lovely and wonderful lot have a great Christmas and New Year. I would like to thank Sue & Suan for always leaving me a comment on my posts and to Judy who also comments and everyone else who follows me and reads my witterings, it makes it all worthwhile
Do you ever, in your life, think that the Universe has got it in for you? I know over the years at certain times I think it has had it in for me! Well yesterday was one of them! I had an eye appointment at the Hospital, yes the one I have just spent three days in with my hip. My Optician noticed that at the back of my eye the fluid which is normally attached is pulling away. This happens and normally it is not a problem except for me! It is not pulling away properly and is, in fact, creating a hole which if it carries on can cause my vision to be reduced by up to 60%.
The solution another operation! However the first five to seven days after it has been done I have to spend 45 minutes of every hour with my head resting on my arm so that I am at 45 degrees! Then it will be six to eight weeks befoe we know if it has been successful. If not they do it again! Apparently this can happen to anyone although it is more common in women than men and is often hereditary, thanks Mom & Dad! Of course because they both died when they were 55 I will never know if it was because of them or my Mom!
Only ME!
Of course the other complication is having just had my hip done that is going to delay having this done but I cannot delay too long because they don’t want it to get too bad! Also I have to lie on my side at night which is also not easy so another reason for the delay! I have to go back on January 2nd for another scan to see how it is, there is always the hope that it has managed to detach itself and the hole will repair itself but you can guarantee it will not and won’t so I am looking at an Op in March or April! Of course I will not be able to drive again for probably two months and I have to hope that it works the first time! I will also add this is all done under local again!
To say I am sick of hospitals is an understatement and now this after my hip. Of course I will worry myself to death over it until it happens so I am already not looking forward to 2026! I will let you know after the next scan how things go!
Susie xx
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