Feelin`Good About me

It`s been really warm here today, a bit cloudy at times but as long as it`s warm I don`t mind one bit.  Kerry and I took Roman to the little park nearby, there are only a few swings and a small seesaw that are suitable for little ones but he enjoyed it all the same.  I think the other two ladies there with their children thought Kerry and I were quite mad as we played on the seesaw as if we were children ourselves, no matter though because we made Roman laugh at our antics!

            

Now to a more serious topic, at least from my point of view.  Yesterday`s outing to Teddies with Roman was a very big event for me because I woke up in the morning with an anxiety attack and was going to tell Kerry that I couldn`t take Roman.  I have been having them for years but have been fine for the last few years with nothing more than a few nerves here and there.  Yesterday morning was horrible though,  my stomach was churning and my head was `fuzzy`, my hands were trembling and it threatened to overwhelm me.  But then I thought, NO, I can`t let him down and it`s all about Roman and not me!  I gave myself a very stern talking to and focused on the job in hand.  My family have no idea that I get these attacks, Jim has seen me years ago when I collapsed once because I couldn`t breathe, but he doesn`t know I still have them even though not as bad as that time. I was extra careful while I was driving because I was carrying a very precious cargo.  The point I`m trying to make here is that my coping mechanism worked really well for me.  I ordered myself to be calm because of Roman and for once I listened.  Now I know what to do in future, if and when anxiety strikes.  This is another way that Roman has changed my life for the better.  Thank you my darling Little Man!

              

I`ve been watching more tennis from Wimbledon today, I watched Tim Henham lose to a brilliant Roger Federer in three straight sets and this morning I saw Amelie Mauresmo beat Ivana Abramovitch, 6-0 6-0.  I hope the weather stays good for the rest of the tournament.  Tonight there`s no football and poor Jim doesn`t know what to do with himself ( What a shame...lol!)   Now he knows what I`ve felt like these last few weeks, not being able to watch TV at all.  He bought me a book today, it`s called Marley and Me and it`s by John Grogan. It had a brilliant write up in the Sunday paper and is selling like hot cakes.  It`s a true story about a labrador called of course, Marley.  The author is an American so I`m sure it has been published first in the States if any of you are interested.  Under the title are the words that sum up what the book is all about, they are : life and love with the world`s worst dog.  That says it all for me, I`m going to start reading it tonight and I`ll let you know how I`m getting on with it.

              

I`m going to say Goodbye now and get on with reading all the journals.  I did manage to read and comment on most of them last night, despite thinking I wouldn`t have the time.  I hope you`ve all had a really good day, take care and enjoy your football-less evening. :o)

 

Life in the Twilight Zone with Pulled Muscles!

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all having a lovely day, especially if like me you`ve been watching Wimbledon.  I saw Tim Henman beat Robin Soderling  ( Yes, he DID win!) and the first set of Andy Murray`s match.  Hopefully I`ll have more time tomorrow to sit and watch it undisturbed by husband, daughter and beloved Little Man, as Kerry is on rest from work.  Slava arrived home last night after a long journey home.  He flew into Amsterdam, Schipol and then boarded a plane for London,Heathrow.  He looks really well, and he`s really happy to be back home with his family.  His `holiday` is well and truly over now as he returned to work this morning, even though he could have had a few more days off.  Roman was thrilled to see his Daddy when he woke up this morning and was following him everywhere!

Roman by the river last friday afternoon.

This morning I took Roman to Teddies Musical Club all by myself.  Kerry asked me if I would because she had to take Slava to work and she didn`t want him to miss out, of course I agreed, it would be a breeze...hmm!  We left here at about 9.30 and after a 20 min run we arried outside the hall where Teddies is held, it`s the same place Kerry and Slava held their wedding reception and it`s a really nice place.  The lady at the door remembered Roman but didn`t seem at all surprised to see him with his Nanna, in fact I wasn`t the only one there by any means.  I was however, the only one who wholeheartedly participated in all the games and dancing.  We sang Old Macdonald, Donkey Riding, A slightly altered version of Boney M`s Brown Girl in the Ring and many other jolly ditties.  If it had only been singing all would have been well, but no, dancing was required and so was bouncing baby on one`s knee and swinging him around and lifting him in the air, not just once either but many, many times.  Roman absolutely loved it and so did I at the time.  No wonder I was the only grandparent who did all this, they`ve obviously been there and done it and know the consequences of their actions:  pulled muscles, aching back and sheer exhaustion.  I`ll have to start working out if I want to take him again, I must get fitter if I`m to stand the pace...lol!  As for Roman, he fell alseep in the car seat coming home...how dare he do that to me!

Eating a bowl of chopped grapes, banana and strawberry...yummy Nanna!

On Monday night I was woken up by a really loud noise,  I flew out of bed and landed flat on my face, jumped up again and ran to the window and there, almost within touching distance (well not quite, a slight exaggeration there) was a flippin` Police helicopter, 2.40 am it was, I`ve a good mind to complain...lol!  It was flying really low and the noise was horrendous, what is it about me and the Police just lately?  I`m starting to get a guilty conscience.   Whatever I`m supposed to have done, I hope it`s something glamourous like diamond smuggling for instance...lol!

Me and my lovely Mummy!

This afternoon I took Jake on a snooping expedition.....I mean a walk!  Well I did snoop a bit, I wanted to see where the fire that caused all the commotion had been.  Now I did tell you that there were all sorts of rumours going round, well how about this one.....I couldn`t find any sign of a fire at any of the houses in the street where it was reported to have occured, so I walked around the surrounding roads and there wasn`t a trace of anything resembling one....it just gets curiouser and curiouser.....it`s getting more like the Twilight Zone everyday around here!  Even when we were walking home Jake turned into a bloodhound.  We we just walking along, there was no human or animal to be seen when he put his nose to the ground and sniffed away for the next 100 yards, I`m surprised he didn`t rub the skin off the end of his nose.  What`s going on??

Waaheyyy!

I`ve got Nanna`s handbag and I want all her cash!

The new telephones arrived yesterday evening and now they`re fully charged Jim is sorting out all the features on them.  It doesn`t have an ordinary ring tone on it, in fact it has some downright awful ones, but we chose one that won`t frighten the life out of us each someone calls.  On Saturday we are going to the cinema to see the new Pirates of The Carribean with the divine Johnny Depp, I enjoyed the first film and I`m sure I`ll like this one just as much.  Jim however isn`t too keen but he said he might as well see it....hmm, that means there has to be some blokey film due to be shown that I`ll have to watch too.  I do hope it`s not going to be the new Superman...ugh!  Well, I`ll have to go and read some journals, looking up I see that I have 62 left to read...surely not, they can`t all be journals, hopefully some will be from my graphics group or I`ll not catch up tonight!  I hope you`ve all had a lovely day, enjoy your evening and take care.  Bye Bye for now. :o)

 

Sunday Stuff

Hello everyone, 

Before I begin I`d like to wish England well in their match against Ecuador, it`s just started and they have to do well today or they`re on the plane home, so c`mon boys, get out there and play your socks off!

                                 

 

I found a snippet in the paper about the fire.  All it says is there was a fire in XXXX Drive and the nursery school opposite was evacuated...hmmm, there has to be more to it than that with the Police presence and the road closures.  It seemed more like military operation.  Watch this space for more news.  Do you remember the `crime house` and the updates I gave you?  I told you about the house being raided and the three brand new cars from their drive being confiscated, well, for some reason one of the cars is back at the house.  It was driven by one of the daughters from the house and not by the two men who were arrested, again watch this space!

  Click here: Peterhof

 

I scanned this postcard of Peterhof, the favourite palace of Peter the Great of Russia.  If you have a moment it is an interesting site to visit.  It is really beautiful and I`d love to go there one day.

A wedding coach and horses just before turning into the church opposite my house yesterday afternoon.

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The sky at 4.20 this morning.  I couldn`t sleep so I took this photo from the spare bedroom window.

I was going to put more into this entry but Kerry has arrived early with Roman so I must away .  Take care every one and have a great Sunday. :o)

 

 

 Tag made by Nancy. 

 

 

What`s Going On Here Then?

Hi everyone,

It`s been a beautiful day today here in my little corner of J-Land.  It was raining first thing but it soon cleared away leaving the rest of the day sunny and very warm.  I didn`t post yesterday as I just didn`t have the time or energy.  I was out all my morning in town with Kerry, then in the afternoon we went into Windsor and took Roman to the river to feed the ducks.  He wasn`t in the slightest bit interested in our feathered friends and preferred to gnaw on a small crust of the bread we were throwing.  After that we sat on the grass watching the cabin cruisers go by wishing that we could join them onboard oin such a lovely afternoon, instead we had to make do with an ice cream each which we ate with relish.  There`s not much wrong with the world when you are sitting by the river watching it go by.

         

 

We found out yesterday morning that there had been an explosion nearby the night before, we knew something was going on as several fire engines passed our house in a real hurry on Thursday evening, and there had been a Police helicopter hovering overhead for over an hour ( and very annoying it was too!)  I didn`t really take too much notice at the time because living so close to a large hospital we hear sirens and see the flashing lights of the ambulances all the time and we are used to them.  Fire engines included because of the drills that are carried out several times a week.  Anyway, on Friday morning we were at the hairdresser`s to get Roman`s hair cut, ( hairdresser`s always being an excellent source of local information).  The problem was said one of the stylists, that everyone who came in had a different tale to tell. I will give you a few examples.

      

   Two separate houses caught fire, in two separate roads....yes, really!

  One house caught fire and it had gas cylinders in the house that exploded/were likely to explode.  The whole street was evacuated and they were housed overnight in the local primary school.

 A house across the road from the local primary school blew up (?)   Gas cannisters again.  The children from the school were evacuated until it was safe to go back again.

Whatever really happened was enough to close off the main road through the estate overnight and cause a heavy Police presence through till Friday lunchtime.  I will read all about it in next weeks local paper and you will be duly informed of the facts.  As far as I`m aware nobody was injured.  On the Friday morning before Kerry and I left the house, there was a knock on the door from one of the men who have come to re-surface our road to ask me to keep my car parked off the road. It was then that I noticed a Police wagon parked right outside my house.......Oh heck, I`ll have to ask him to move so I can drive my car out.  I had images of my tapping on the window asking him to move along please...lol!  Kerry had to put Roman`s car seat in the back of my little Clio, not a job for the feint-hearted I can tell you.  It only has two doors and is a very small car, I had to cover Roman`s ears so he didn`t hear his Mummy muttering the odd Anglo Saxon word or two...lol!  All the while the policeman were looking right at us and it started to be just a bit unnerving.  People were driving past and giving us very funny looks...I`ll bet they thought we`d been raided!  Don`t worry we got rid of the stuff yesterday....lolol!  Luckily for me I didn`t have to move them on, because a couple of plain-clothes bobbies  turned up and jumped in the back of the van and they drove away.  I think it was to do with the fire incident, unless of course we ARE under surveillence...lol!

            

 

Today has been so busy what with the amount of housework I`ve done, I always do quite a bit on a Saturday but for some reason I decided to do  more than usual...goodness knows why, nothing ever really gets dirty with just the two of us but I suppose I`m a bit houseproud and I feel it has to be done regardless.  I must be mad, I`ve now got a huge pile of ironing that must be done tomorrow...that is unless Jan (Jeadie) is free, she absolutely loves ironing.......  Erm...you do don`t you Jan....???   lolol!  Anyway,  must dash, emails to open and journals to read!  I hope you`ve all enjoyed your Saturday, have a lovely evening and I hope to be back here tomorrow after an England win over Ecuador in the World Cup quarter-finals.  Bye  Bye for now. :o)

 

 

Thursday Blues

 

Hello everyone,

At last I have time to make a proper entry.  I`ve been a bit busy the last couple of days but I`ve made here it in the end.  Poor Kerry has had an awful day today.  She had an appointment to take her car for an Insurance assessment and they told her that it would most likely be written off by the company.  Her car is only five years old and despite having a fully comp. insurance they SAY it will cost more to repair than the market value.  The assessor told her that the suspension had gone and had probably been about to go just before the accident and that was why the company wouldn`t pay her claim.  Jim was furious as he didn`t think there was anything wrong with the suspension so he asked our friend S, who is our mechanic, to check it out.  He drove it and said there was nothing wrong whatsoever with it and that is was perfectly roadworthy.  Jim then went back to the garage and told them that he`d had the car seen by another mechanic, this was when the assessor had a change of heart.  He said he wasn`t certain it was the suspension but even so the new door panels would cost more than the market value of the car...hmm, he didn`t say THAT to Kerry!  Anyway, she will have to buy another car, something she could have done without at the moment and she is not a happy bunny I can tell you, and who would blame her?  What annoys me is that we pay so much for our car insurance and it somehow doesn`t seem worth it if they won`t cover someone who had an accident doing 5 miles per hour in a car park.  I always thought insurance was there to keep us on the road, it seems more like the other way round!

         

Jim and I have been out in the garden working this afternoon.  I dug up a clump of chives and planted them in a large terracotta pot.  My little herb garden is now non-existant with them all in pots having outgrown the little plot outside the back door, I`ve moved them all to the bottom of the garden by Jim`s tool shed because I don`t have the room at this end anymore.  I`ll miss the aroma of mint, chives and thyme, mixed with lavender that would drift into the kitchen.  I`ll just have to plant something else with a nice scent, a fragrant climbing rose for instance?  I`m still working on Jim with a view to him buying one for me...lol!

         

I`ve had Roman here since just after 3 this afternoon, he hasn`t had a sleep all day and was yawning in between smiles. Eventually he just crashed out on the floor and I had to wake him up to get him ready for bed, I`m sure if I hadn`t woken him he would have slept there all night!   He has been sleeping even longer than usual since he`s been crawling, I suppose it must wear him out with all the exertion.  It`s hard work being a baby....lol!  I took this photo of him while he was lying there, I just couldn`t resist it. :o)

I spent a couple of hours clearing out my signature files.  I got rid of the ones I don`t use anymore and I deleted them all from my FTP space, leaving lots of little red crosses at the end of my entries so I suppose I`ll just have to go back and delete them....huh, no chance,  they go back over two years and somehow I don`t think I`ve got the stamina for that...lol!  Tomorrow I`lll be clearing out my pictures, not just from the files but from Kodak Easyshare too, that should free up some space when I`m finished.

           

Today Jim has ordered us some digital phones, it has three handsets and an answerphone, something I wouldn`t be without.  I hope I can work out how to use them, they do everything except make a cup of tea, mind you,  for all I know they do exactly that. Gone are the days when all you do is pick up the phone and say `Hello`, Oh no, that would be too easy, this one has buttons for this and buttons for that. I wouldn`t mind betting that if I get a call, it`ll take me so long to find the `answer` button the caller will have given up...lol!

           

I`ll have to go now as I haven`t finished reading the journals by any means, actually I`ve read and commented on two and I`m not going to tell you how many I have left, let`s just say I`m going to be busy!  I hope you`ve all had a lovely day.  Enjoy your evening and Bye Bye for now. :o)