Getting back to normal !!!!

Normal WTF is that? For me, normal the past 7 months has been illness, dying and death. I need to get some light into my life again.

I want to stop worrying and have fun. I feel as if I've aged 10 years in the last 2. I know I shouldn't complain, there are others far worse off than me, but sometimes you can't help it. Enough is enough though. I don't expect to stop grieving overnight, but I need to do something to lift my family and myself out of this depressing place.

Now that suddenly my brother and I are the oldest generation I feel as if I need to grow up or something. It's quite weird. I feel that I have to slough off this old me and re-invent myself. Quite how I'm going to do it I'm not sure, but I must do something!

I miss my Dad

Lost my Dad on Friday, not quite sure if it's hit me yet. I was with him at the end holding his hand, strangely it gives me comfort that I was watching over him as he passed. Is that bizarre?

This week has been full of organising things for the funeral with my brother but maybe after that it will sink in.

No.50 - Go to the cinema once a week.

As part of my 101 challenge we were to go to the cinema, once a week, taking advantage of our monthly subscription to the cinema. We no longer have these subscriptions, having stopped them last year in an effort to save money.
But thanks to Lovefilm we are now seeing new movies at home. (OK it's not when they are brand new but it's cheaper than our cinema passes) So I will continue to list new movies watched, only they will be viewed in the "cinema" in our front room.

With that in mind here is the new movies watched in the last 2 months:

Monsters Vs Aliens - A good family romp - enjoyed this.

Observe and Report - Trash, had enjoyed Mall Cop thought this might be good too - Wrong! -Like Jack Black's Year One - painful to watch, and with far too much profanity just for the sake of it. Even my son (who normally loves this type of crap) found it dull and a waste of time.

Angels & Demons - Loved this, great plot, great acting especially Ewan McGreggor. I haven't seen Da Vinci Code but will definitely give it a look in now.

Bandslam - A coming of age type thing - liked this, was funny and quirky loved Lisa Kudrow's character, and the music was good too. Was blubbing at one point though, so you may need a hankie in your pocket when you watch it.

Just a sharp scratch..........

Napkin had to have blood tests, she has been very lethargic and her eating patterns are funny.
Now I know Napkin's is 18 but she's never had a blood test before and she wanted me with her.

She has her blood taken ("it was bloody sore" she says) and we go to leave the building. Suddenly Nurse appears "sorry but I need to take more blood". "Why" I ask. "Oh there is more than one test to be done" (Why didn't she read the chit in the first place) but never mind these things happen, so off Napkin goes to give more blood.

Well, good grief 4 holes later (3 of which are in the back of her hand) Nurse has finally gotten her blood and poor Napkin's arm is numb. To make matters worse whilst Nurse is chatting away to Napkin it transpires that they have an acquaintance in common. Nurse then proceeds to talk about a surgery this person has had that, as far as Napkin is aware nobody (including Napkin) knew anything about. Confidentiality!!!!!!

OK it wasn't a sex change op or anything weird but that's besides the point.

On-Line Grocery Shopping Part 1

So, as I said no car has meant moving into uncharted territory for me. I have a mistrust of on-line grocery shopping but I was willing to ignore my inner voices (no I don't need treatment for them) and give it a go.

First up Tesco. When we lived in Montrose, Tesco was our main supermarket so we shopped there a lot and generally I was very happy with their products and prices. My nearest big store here is across the other side of town but they deliver in my area so in for a penny.... as they say.

Found their site quite easy to use, found the special offers easily and selected my shopping. Bought a large amount of yogurts and the like and opted for the green delivery (no bags except for chemical products like bleach etc) so I was doing my bit.

Prompt delivery right at the beginning of chosen time slot. Driver nice but needed a hand to carry the shopping up the path as it was coming in trays and I had to empty them quickly so he could take them away again. (this was my chosen delivery option, but it was an awful messing about)

Driver hands me my sheet "only one substitute" he says but, as I have just emptied all the trays on to my sideboard in the front hall, I have noticed that there are a few things that I didn't remember ordering.

So off he goes and I now have to transport my shopping, armfuls at a time through to my kitchen (now to be fair he would have brought the trays to my kitchen for me, but the dogs were already hyper having been charging round the living room chasing each other, and I didn't think Tesco would take kindly to having one of their drivers slobbered all over!)

Consults my delivery sheet - all present and correct, off to a good start. Checks it against my computer order - 7 substitutes!!! I know it's petty but if I want a certain flavour or brand I expect to get it. Then when I went to put away my shopping I noticed that my yogurts (all 20 of them) went out of date within 2 days!! Now my lot love yogurt (except Babes fussy sod) but even we can't eat it that quickly, after all it was supposed to be a weeks supply.

You would think that the picker would look at the list and think "there's a lot of yogurts on this list better check for long dates" Am I expecting too much? I thought the whole point of shopping on-line was to make life easier. I am disappointed and thinking I should have listened to my inner voices!

Mr Tesco you will not be getting my on-line grocery shopping again, too many substitutes without notification and very poor product picking.
Chaotic Kerri Score 5/10

Happy 2010 everyone. I wish you a happy and healthy one.

Sorry I've been missing but my Aunt who was diagnosed with cancer died on the 7th December, and my Dad has been in and out of hospital like a bloody yo-yo. So haven't really been on line at all. I'm away to spend some time catching up on what every ones been up to so will post more later.

Have missed you guys though, hope everyone is well and not too badly affected by this bloody snow. Even the kids are pissed off with it now. And I hate to think what my fuel bill will be for this quarter.

We are now also car less since our old banger failed it's MOT. What a time to be without a car honestly. Have had to resort to online grocery shopping - that's a post on its own.

On the plus side now that all the festive shenanigans are past we can try and get back to normality - I so miss normal!

Ever wondered.......

Why the sun lightens our hair but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why you don't see the headline "psychic wins lottery"?
Why "abbreviated" is such a long word?
Why it is that Doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavour but washing up liquid is made with real lemons?
Why the man who invests all your money is called a "broker"?
Why the time of day with the slowest traffic is called the rush hour?
Why there isn't mouse flavoured cat food?
Why Noah didn't swat those two mosquitoes?
Why sheep don't shrink when it rains?
Why they are called apartments when they are all stuck together?
You know that indestructible black box used in planes - why isn't the whole plane made of that?
If flying is so safe why do they call the airport terminal?
If con is the opposite of pro, is congress the opposite of progress?

An American friend sent me these ever wondered? questions in an email so thought I'd share them. Hope they made you laugh too.

Laugh - I nearly wet myself.........

Has anybody else seen Miranda on the Beeb. If you haven't give it a look in, it's hysterical. Comedienne Miranda Hart calls it a semi autobiographical portrayal of her life. The social ineptitude of this woman is beyond words. Well done Miranda on a brilliant piece of comedy.

She desperately wants to get it on with an old friend she's fancied for years but all attempts to create a "moment" between them are thwarted, usually by her. Last night saw her stuck in a plastic child's chair, running and falling flat on her face, trying to learn to Tango (and pouncing on some poor unsuspecting customer in her shop) and being mortally embarrassed by her Mum who is trying to find her a husband in the personal ads, and keeps trying to show her photos from her nudist holiday.

I'm not doing it justice so please have a look in.

Another thing that had me in stitches last night was Kim Woodburn's challenge on "I'm a celebrity get me out of here". She was sealed in a perspex box and put under water where they dropped yabbies and cockroaches on her along with golden balls she had to open and retrieve stars from.

Her conversation all the time she was in the box , telling the nasty critters "oh you stink you nasty beggars" and "if you bite me again I'll bite you back" had my sides aching with laughter. I think she's a real character anyway, and love the way she interacts with the others. Whether it's all a put on who knows but it's certainly entertaining. Good on you Kim, not bad for a 67 year old.

Don't know if I'll continue to watch the series now Jordan's arrived, I'm afraid I find her insufferable. I would have thought given her son Harvey's recent health scares she had more need to be staying out of the lime light for a while and focusing on him, but then again maybe in reality she's not the attention seeking hussy she appears to be.

Dropping like flies!

As I have previously posted my Aunt is unwell, so right now I'm visiting her nearly everyday: fetching her shopping, sorting her medication, and keeping her company.

Now my Dad seems to be getting ill. He's had the doc out several times having developed a rattle in his lungs, however now he seems to be having problems with his sugar levels too. Having had diabetes for years he is very good at monitoring his sugar levels and keeping them quite regular, but these last few days he's been all over the place. He awoke the other night feeling all funny so checked his levels and he was way down at 2.5. I'm getting quite concerned about it.

My Mother in law went in to hospital today to have her knee replaced so she is going to be needing a little extra help for a while, and my father in law has been having funny fainting fits.

My Babes is in a lot of pain again having got more protruding discs, although this time it's in his neck, and is waiting to hear back about an operation date.

To top it all Mouse has a dreadful head cold and is snuffling about the place.

I promise I am not putting anything in the water but they're dropping like flies all around me. So be warned, I may be hazardous to your health!!!!!

Human Behaviour

I was standing at the bus stop the other day, and just a couple of yards away a water main cover had been oozing mud (granted, due to all the rain recently it looked more like oil) on the pavement. There wasn't heaps of it but it was a small shallow puddle.

Anyway, as I stood there. watching the people walking by I was amazed by how many people looked at the puddle and then looked upwards as if this black slick was a deposit from a huge bird or somehow some giant tap was dripping on the pavement.

Why do we do that? Is it that we are so taken aback by the sudden appearance of something out of the norm that we suspect divine or alien interference of some kind? Do we suspect someone has thrown it out of a window, or that someone is hanging out the window watching us to see our reaction?

I also found it fascinating the lengths people would go to, to avoid standing in the puddle - most didn't just step over it, but stepped to the sides as far as they could get away from it - was this in case it should suddenly leap from the ground and attack them?

In the 10 mins I stood waiting only one couple walked through it and they were so deep in conversation they didn't notice until it was too late, but even they looked at the puddle then looked skywards!

What bizzarre things we are!