Wednesday when I fetched MissyMousey from school, she was very pale. She seemed chipper enough. We went to the church for their home bakes. She was a bit tired then. I fetched F1-Lad, and he was feeling a bit tired, too. So we fetched him a piece of cake and took it home.
MissyMousey complained of being very tired and just wanted to mope around. I took her temperature and she had a fever: 101.7. I gave her Calpol and Calprofen. About 30 minutes later she was feeling better, but I explained that was just the medicine.
Hubby got home and complained of a cough.
Thursday MissyMousey still had a fever, but hubby felt really rotten and had a really bad cough. He decided to stay home. Well, that meant I could go to my stitching group after all! Hooray!!
In the evening MissyMousey no longer had a fever, but I warned her she might still stay home on Friday. Hubby had a fever.
This morning she had a much better color and wanted to go to school. As she had no fever, I let her go. Hubby still had a fever and is feeling pretty rotten. I'm sure he has the flu.
I went in to town to pick up some tiny, but beautifully decorated cakes for the teachers and assistants. The same woman had made hubby's birthday cake and done a really good job of it.
I had tried to phone my mil a couple of times. Although I could see her computer was online, there was no answer. She had told me some time ago that my fil was having his next procedure (he has been treated for bladder cancer for two years now) on the fifth, but that is tomorrow. This week I was thinking about that, and thought Saturday was a strange day. Well, someone got it a bit mixed up, because he had his procedure yesterday. He had a rough night and didn't feel well this morning. He was sick, and it looked like there was blood in it. The surgery sent a doctor out, and she thought he needed to go to the hospital. So, there he is. He's waiting for an endoscopy tomorrow to see if his stomach is bleeding and if they can do anything about it.
My fil had looked rather frail in July, so I am quite concerned for him.
Oh, when in town getting those cakes, I did a bit of shopping. I bought a necklace, earrings and bracelet to go with the dress I was going to wear to the dinner dance tomorrow night. I didn't buy a new dress, so thought some new jewelry would be nice. I spent £31 on stuff I didn't really need. I had an appointment to have my hair put up tomorrow afternoon. I've been wearing my high heels around the house to get my feet used to that, and wearing earrings, too. Well, after I got home, hubby said he isn't well enough to go out tomorrow night. I don't really mind, just wish he'd said so sooner! Well, I had a feeling, just looking at him. I can wear this jewelry with a knit dress I'd bought recently. And my hairdresser is happy to trim my hair instead, and even suggested I come in earlier. The earlier time suits me just fine.
- Mood:
worried
They always comment that getting up onto the MRI is difficult or inelegant, but that is nothing to trying to get down out of it after lying still in it for 45 minutes. For a breast scan you lie on you front, so getting off isn't easy. There is no room to roll over and it is a bit high to just fall off.
My hand didn't want to stop bleeding where they put the IV in, but eventually it did.
Just as I was about to go into the changing room, a woman called out to me. She introduced herself as the radiologist. I didn't catch her name, but she sounded Scandinavian to me. Anyhow, she asked me a few questions about the original tumor and previous mammograms, and the surgery. Then she said that she had had a quick look while the scans were being done, and she couldn't see anything. She will be taking a closer look later, but it looked good as it was being done. Yippeee!!
When I got MissyMousey from school, we went to M&S to buy some milk. I'd parked at Aldi's directly across the road from school. The car was right at the crossing lights, perfect for waiting out of the rain for F1-Lad to come out. The school is having a Christmas fayre next weekend, so they are asking for donations for the bottle stall. I thought since we still had time, we'd go in Aldi and buy a bottle or two of wine for the stall. I needed dish detergent, too. So, I got a couple of bottles of dish detergent, looked at Aldi's specials, then picked out three bottles of wine. I'm not sure if I'll keep one or two, and will donate whatever I don't keep. Anyhow, the queue was huge (they had just one till open). It curved away from me, and someone was standing by idly with a trolley in the way. MissyMousey and I backtracked and went up another aisle to reach the end of the queue. Just as we did so, a couple of people from the queue went to another till. Obviously the cashier had said the other till was going to open. I looked at the two queues, and decided to join the new one. Well, this woman from the original queue decided at this point that she wanted to be in front of me (with my five bottles in my arms). She said that there was a queue there. I said, yes, the queue was *there*. Not here. I did leave her room to push her way forward, but I wasn't going to be happy about her attitude. We ended up exchanging a few snide remarks, and she actually looked me in the eyes and tried to stare me down. She said something else about the queue, and I said she'd been in the queue *over there*, this queue was just forming, and she really needed to make up her mind if she were in that one or this one. She then turned her back on me and said, "Well, some people will be like that." I agreed with her, with a tone in my voice, making it clear I was applying it to her. If she'd said one more thing I'd have asked her why she thought she was superior to me. Man, what a £$^£*%.
It is now 4:00 PM and it is ***dark*** outside. Another three weeks and we'll have the shortest day. I can't wait!
I ordered Rumors, but also Lily Allen's latest CD. I hadn't thought much of her, but recently I had the radio on while cooking and really enjoyed this one song. Then the DJ said it was Lily Allen. So, now I've ordered that one, too.
The council are thinking of closing the playgroup my kids went to. It is a terrific playgroup, the staff are wonderful, it is well run, the kids love it, and it is very well thought-out. The problem is, it is fully funded by the council and the employees are council employees. The council think they would get the same service cheaper if they didn't run it themselves. So, now the council claims the playgroup has to decide whether to go independent or close altogether. They are doing this to both of the council-run playgroups in Westhill (Playgroup is an official pre-school, every three-year-old in the country has a right to it. The council MUST pay a certain amount per three-year-old child. The main goal is to teach children about the world around them, but also to teach social interaction. There is free play time, but also organized things, arts and crafts, and PE.). The claim is there is more than enough pre-school provision, stating there are eight providers in our town. Well, I reckon they are counting the private nursery, which has two locations. They only take kids for full days and are not proper playgroups. They do not educate children at all. They are daycare providers, nothing more. Rumor has it another independently run playgroup is having to close as they don't have the money to hire a proper teacher, which supposedly the council is now requiring. Also, if these two playgroups close, there will be no playgroup on the east side of Westhill. There wouldn't be one within walking distance of this entire side of Westhill. I certainly wouldn't walk to the next closest one, at the Scout Hut. Besides, that one is mornings only, so can only take a small number of children.
So, some of the parents are trying to become organized and fight for the playgroup. They've started a petition. They're in contact with our primary school parent council, which is how I'm getting information from them. Today they wanted parents and children to come to the playgroup to get a photo taken by the Evening Express. I went along to show support. I'll try to buy a paper this afternoon to see if we're in it.
I then went around to the MRI department and asked if my blood test results were ready and if I could make an appointment for that. The results were back and were OK. They offered me an appointment for Friday! Wow!
I then tried my luck at the Women's Day Clinic. Unfortunately I didn't get far. I was hoping to reschedule my appointment with them as I don't like the day nor the time they sent me. But, I'd have to wait until January if I rescheduled. I kept the appointment I have. I'll have to have someone lined up for MissyMousey if the appointment takes longer than they say it should or they are running late.
This evening the BBC's Reporting Scotland said that inspectors have slated Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for lack of cleanliness and lack of infection control. I'm not surprised, really. Just the toilets leave a lot to be desired, and it looks really worn down in many places.
I then went into Aberdeen and dropped off some things at a charity shop. It felt good to finally take care of that errand. I found a shop that will take second-hand cuddly toys, the Barnados shop does, so I then had MissyMousey sort out the cuddly toys she doesn't want anymore. I'll take them along the next time I go into Aberdeen. I stopped at the pet shop at Dobbies and the one at Countesswells Road, too. I'm looking for litter tray liners with drawstrings. They have become very difficult to find. If I can't find a source soon, I'll have to replace the litter tray without a lid for one with one. I tie a knot in the drawstring to make it difficult of the cats to pull it into the tray, but they still manage to do it. The lidded tray stops them from doing that. Walking back to the car from Countesswells Road, I saw a partial rainbow. Pretty sight.
The school tries to do something to raise donations. This year the student council decided dressing down would be too easy, so for a donation, the kids could dress up. They should find a costume relating to their class's project.
MissyMousey's class project is transport. She is mad about Dalmatian dogs and has a new Dalmatian costume. She was desparate to wear this costume, so we drew the connection to Dalmatian dogs having been on fire crews in the US back when the fire engines were horse-drawn.
F1-Lad's class is doing space. He has a Jedi costume, so I suggested that. No. I said he could go as a star. No. He has a sparkly, gold cowboy hat given to him at the company's summer picnic. I suggested he go as a space cowboy. No. He has a very strong sense of doing things how they are meant to be done. I think for him he is meant to wear uniform to school, so he will wear uniform to school. I even had a tiny brainwave and suggested he just say he was the new Dr Who, but he wouldn't even do that. Oh, well. I gave him a pound for a donation anyhow. Gotta love 'im. :)
Children in Need: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/
There were ones from Kinedi, Nu-Knees, Jan and Bill, Mom and Dad, Angela from Moms and Tots, the AWA board. I've decided as my house is too cluttered as it is, to not keep these cards. There is one I can't part with, though. It is a postcard sent along with some treats. It was from pennina.
RIP, my friend.
My BookCrossing friend, Pennina, has died. She was very kind to me and generous. She sent me some things when I was ill, and even sent me a book just totally out of the blue. She'd been unwell for a while, but her death was very sudden. I will miss her.
- Mood:
sad
We got up at 6:00 and caught a shuttle bus to the airport about 6:30. Strangely the restaurant doesn't open until 7:00, too late for us. You'd think an airport hotel would serve breakfast earlier. We got checked in ok. The plane was over-subscribed, so they were looking for people to fly the next day. We weren't interested.
The kids were well behaved during the entire journey and didn't need much help keeping themselves entertained. This was the first flight in a long time that I didn't find neverending (besides the one time I flew by myself to Bill and Amanda's wedding). Boy, now it pays off, having kids that are seasoned travellers.
MissyMousey's ears really hurt when we came down. It was difficult trying to get her to chew something and swallow. She couldn't pop her ears by closing her nose and mouth and blowing. She cried. :(
We got through immigration very quickly, but had to wait quite some time for the bags. We whizzed through customs and re-checking the bags and got to the other terminal. The next flight was on time. I had bought MissyMousey some Starburst chews, so she constantly told me her ears hurt. Hmmm, somehow not quite what I wanted. My ears refused to equalize. It didn't hurt, but was sure uncomfortable.
The guy at the Alamo desk had an odd accent. I was about to ask if he was from South Africa, when he volunteered that he's been in Louisville for 18 months, from Berlin. I'd never guessed he was German!
We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. It's OK, but the Tribeca has more room in the back. It was dry when we found the car and loaded it and headed through Louisville. Nobody bothered to tell us there was construction on both I-65 anf I-64. It wasn't too bad, though. As we approached the river, we good see very dark clouds to the west, where we were heading. We got across to Indiana and were heading up Floyds Knobs before it began to rain. That gave me plenty of time to find the lights and wiper controls. But when it began to rain, it bucketed! There were more road works at the Edwardsville interchange. It looks like they are completely renewing the ramps and widening the interstate. Glad I don't commute that way anymore!
We arrived at Mom and Dad's and it looked deserted. We sat in the car, but the rain didn't let up. I ran to the house and checked. Nobody home, which is very strange. The ground was very soft, it was so waterlogged. We headed to the hotel. We got settled in and decided to order in a pizza. They said 45-60minutes, but it was there in about 30. F1-Lad thought it was a very tasty pizza. I spoke to Mom on the phone. Sydney the dog had taken ill again and had gone back to the vet. The vet had said she could go home, so they'd gone to collect her. She had a seizure this morning, so Dad had to rush her back to the vet. He said he's paid more than $2000 on her with this latest tumor. Goodness!
This morning was more rain. We had breakfast at the hotel and saw some old, familiar faces. MissyMousey has the cold now, so we went to Target and bought her some cold medicine, and oher things. Mom works there, so a co-worker let her know we were in. She took a break and chatted with us for a bit. We went back to the house for a while. F1-Lad is fascinated with the farm cats. MissyMousey was all over Scotty Dog. Hubby was bored. We found some of the purchases we'd ordered and came back to the hotel. Hubby's taken the kids swimming to use up some energy. I have a very good excuse to have some time alone: I have to wear a compression sleeve for flying and have to keep it on for 24 hours after the flight ends. That isn't quite up. :)
Monday we had our first frost. Brrrrr.
Saturday was a beautiful but windy day. F1-lad had football and they won both matches. We ate lunch in Aberdeen, then saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at His Majesty's Theatre. Wonderful!!!!! I so enjoyed it (well, we all did). The International Market was on. We'd walked through on the way to the theatre, but didn't stop. Everyone was too full. We promised the children Poffertjes on the way out. Well, it was so windy they were all packing up. The man on the Dutch stall was apologetic, but he said the wind had made it too dangerous. The crepe stand was still open, so we each had a crepe instead.
The AWA in Aberdeen accept just about anybody as paying members. You do not have to be American, and quite a few members aren't. Heck, a couple of years ago it was changed so that you don't even have to be a woman. It would, however, probably take a pretty brave man to join up.
The AWA has a monthly meeting from September to May. November is usually a craft fair with funds raised going to that year's selected charity. December and May are luncheons. They also arrange other social events, like a Mardi Gras and a Thanksgiving dinner.
My stitching group is an official activity group of the AWA. We meet on Thursdays. We also do a Christmas luncheon, on a Thursday. Two years ago the venue for the AWA luncheon messed up and double booked and asked the AWA to move the luncheon to the Thursday. It was either that or cancel. They moved it, and it was our stitching lunch. I understood why they did it and didn't complain. Last year they scheduled it outright on the Thursday. I complained, politely. They had no idea why they had booked for a Thursday instead of the usual Wednesday. Carelessness, I suspect.
Also last year, they planned some autumn social event. They scheduled it for the first Friday evening of the local school holidays. I let that one slide. They did it again this year. You see, many of them have children at the International School, which only takes off one week in October, not two like the local schools. So they just assume EVERYONE with school kids has them at the overpriced and under-performing International School. Both Aberdeenshire Council and Aberdeen City Council have their school schedules online, so it would take maybe ten minutes to check those out before scheduling an event. This time the woman organizing it all tried to convince me I really wanted to come to the event. I drily commented that as my children go to the local schools and will be on holiday, I'll actually be in the US on that date. And I also said what a great shame it is that the AWA does not consider families with children in the local schools. [After all, we pay the full membership fees.] Did she know that the local school holidays are on the local authorities' websites? She took it on the chin. Also, they have failed to reschedule the October meeting so that it doesn't coincide with the local schools' October break.
Yesterday I got my October newsletter. They advertized the Thanksgiving dinner. They forgot to print the venue. I had seen a poster about it at the last monthly meeting and vaguely remember that it is in one of the two poshest places in Aberdeen. It is a straight turkey dinner with a vegetarian option. It does not sound at all special. Drinks are extra. The cost? Per adult £35, per child aged 12-5 £17.50. So, if your child is over 13, you pay £35. For our family of four with two children under the age of 12, that would be £105. I had thought about suggesting that we go this year and let the children stay up late (keeping in mind they will have school on the next day), but not for £105. These women are completely out of touch with reality. Especially when you consider that several of the American families actually have three and four children.
I used to enjoy going to the May luncheon, but this year I didn't go because of the cost. If I remember correctly, it was about £27.50. For a luncheon. And it wasn't even at a terribly posh place. I could have afforded the lunch, but out of principle decided not to go. It is just too much for lunch.
I am deliberately leaving this public. If someone in the AWA happens to read it, I hope they don't feel their toes stepped on. Maybe they'd use it as constructive criticism. I have had many a good time with the AWA and they treated me very kindly when I was unwell.
My friend's cousin works part-time at the vet. I'd posted about the wee fella on facebook, and my friend asked about him. See, her daughter's friend had lost her cat. Well, this fella I'd helped rescue on Friday wasn't that girl's cat.
Then Tuesday my friend sent me a message. Her cousin told her the owner had found the kitten-cat and claimed him. He's been scheduled in for the snip, in the hopes he will wander less.
I'm glad he's home safe and sound. He is so lovely.
My friend is friends with the boy's aunt. What a small town I live in. Anyhow, on Saturday they removed part of his skull to allow his brain to swell. That is the last my friend had heard. The entire family live here in our town, so there are a lot of very worried folks around here right now.
At the moment the official thought is that he did not look before crossing the road. The driver is currently deemed to not be at fault. She wasn't speeding and she hadn't been drinking. She is local, too. I would be devestated if it had been me.
Thinking of all these people and hoping he will be OK.
I am thinking about cancer a lot these days. First of all, it is two years ago I was anxiously awaiting my biopsy results. Also a friend of mine here in Aberdeen and two people I've "met" through the internet have all recently had operations for breast cancer. Today an old friend was back here visiting. I met her when I first moved to Aberdeen. Her husband has since retired, and they moved back to Canada. They are back visiting friends. So, talking with her and a bunch of other friends - including the one with breast cancer - has made me very, very aware of this today. Also, I received a request to take part in a study on the causes of breast cancer. And breast cancer awareness month is just around the corner.
I heard geese for the first time this season Tuesday evening, after dark. I heard some more yesterday. It's official: they're heading south and autumn is here.
I've finally finished MissyMousey's quilt! It has taken me ages! It has taken much longer than it should have, but I've been messing around instead of doing the hand-stitching for the binding.
Photos soon.
We got back to our places well before the airshow started. It was a bit breezy, but that was calming down. It was beautiful and sunny and warm. I realized that I had taken the tiny bottle of sun screen out of my handbag. We had another bottle in a kind of "first aid" kit I kept in the car over the summer, but that was in the car. Eventually hubby went and bought some. I do think I still got a bit too much, but it isn't really bothering me. I just look red.
Boo, hiss to the owner of the Peugoet with the registration Y723 SUS. That idiot left an Alsatian alone in the car. At an air show with very loud F16s MiG29s and such. On a bright, sunny day. They had to announce it several times, saying the dog was getting quite distressed. Eventually in a somewhat humerous way they said if the owner did not show up toot-sweet, the police and dog handlers were going to get the dog out. Using a special car-opening device called a crowbar. They made no further announcements, but the vengeful person inside me hopes that they did indeed break into that car. Just so the idiot has a financial cost to his (or her) stupidity.
We had a wonderful time. I think hubby's favorite was the Vulcan, which we actually got to see fly. It is the last air-worthy one left. I loved the Red Arrows. They always put on a fantastic show. We left shortly after they'd put on their performance, about 3 PM. Hubby was afraid MissyMousey was getting too much sun (she'd refused to wear her hat when we left the car), but I think I got more than she did. We made good time and even after stopping for a paper, we were home about 4:30.
It was busy, getting the kids fed, taking care of the cats, changing their boxes and emptying the rubbish bins. We both quickly had a shower and phoned in an order for Chinese. We watched the F1 qualifying while we ate.
Hubby wanted to put the children to bed, but I had intended to leave them up a bit. So, I took MissyMousey up and was just starting her story when our babysitters showed up. Our normal sitter couldn't come as she was invited to a wedding. Eventually we found the twins, whom we've known since F1-Lad was about ten months old. They live around the corner from us, and their mother was our childminder until MissyMousey was born. In fact, since MissyMousey came early, she's the one who looked after F1-Lad while we dashed to the hospital. Anyhow, the girls are only 13 or 14, but very sensible. Also, their mother was on standby, in case anything happened. We left them to finish putting the kids to bed.
Since the girls were sitting for us for the first time, and are relatively young, we just went to the theater, didn't include dinner. We made good time and were there fairly early. We saw Evita. It was the first time I'd seen it live, I've seen the film. Hubby's seen it two or three times, and I think it is one of his favorites. It was an excellent performance, and we enjoyed it very much.
The girls had got on well and thought we were over paying them. We were glad to have found someone trustworthy to look after the kids. Hubby walked them home. When he got back, he found another huge spider. He's removed at least four of them from the house. I joked with him that it is the same one coming back. It takes a lot for me to joke about spiders, especially large ones. He decided to take the spider a bit further from the house.
The Last Night of the Proms is on in the other room. They had a rip-roaring performance of Rule Brittania, and everyone just had a blast singing God Save the Queen.
Oh, they have spontaneously started singing Auld Lang Syne.
- Mood:
happy - Music:Last Night of the Proms
Wednesday night it started to rain, and kept on raining until sometime Thursday night. It rained really hard, not just a light rain. It seems Aberdeen got as much rain in those 24 hours as they usually get in the entire month of September. Some parts of the city were hit rather hard. Someone sent hubby a photo of an area near the airport, and it was about four and a half feet under water. He also said some streets in the city center were closed, including Esslemont, which he normally takes to work. The Press and Journal had a photo in Friday's paper of some of those large, round haybales floating down a street somewhere in Aberdeen.
Stuart did a pitch inspection when he went to pick up A after school. It was underwater already, despite being well above the school and the playground. He cancelled football practice for Thursday evening.
The rain caused Elgin to be evacuated. Fochabers suffered badly, too. Part of their bridge was washed away. Dundee had some floading, too.
Friday was supposed to be dry and rather nice in our part of Scotland. Hah. Everytime I went out, it rained. It wasn't raining when I got up, but that didn't last long. It rained when I took the kids to school, hard enough that they opened the door to the infant area. They did not open the door for F1-Lad's class, so I had to stand in the rain, waiting for him to go in. I asked him if I could leave, but he said, "no".
It rained until I finished my shopping in Tesco. I managed to get my hshopping home dry. The forecast at 1:45 said it was to remain dry, but at 2:30 it started to rain again, hard. I had planned on walking to school to fetch the kids. *sigh* I took the car and parked across the road at Aldi. I fetched MissyMousey in the rain. We bought some things in Aldi, and it was still raining. We got in the car to finish our wait. It stopped raining. Hooray! Two minutes before we needed to get out and fetch F1-Lad, it started to rain again. It wasn't too bad at first, but as we walked across the playground, it started dumping down hard, with a strong wind. We got quite wet. After we got home, it stopped again.
We spent a quiet day at home Saturday.
Saturday was the first two matches. They were at home and started at 9 AM. Hubby went early to help set up. Urg. I got up earlier to get F1-Lad fed and ready. They won their first two matches. Those were against Hamilton and Cornhill.
1 September: a bit more info. The kids won 6-1 and 4-0.
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