(no title)

Taking Control

My Adventures and Tales No Responses »

Mar 082014

So I have been moaning lots lately.

How I have hated the house, not getting anything done, and just generally being in a right grump about everything.

It came to a head on Thursday I was so fed up. I was in a hideous mood and I could not get out of it.

I wasn’t enjoying time with the kids, I wasn’t happy doing things with Mr L I was just foul.

I hated everything and everyone.

Something had to change.

We have lived in this house for nearly seven years now, and when we moved we had lots of plans. Every year we do the garden and then it gets left over the winter and gets ruined, and we then go through the process of doing the garden again the next year. But nothing else in the house seems to get done.

Our house is all a bit the wrong way round, the biggest room is the loft, and downstairs has a massive hall, massive kitchen and a smaller lounge. We as a family with two boys and a very messy Mr L end up with a hideous mess in the lounge and all claustrophobic and its horrible.

We have always had plans to have downstairs open planned, and Thursday I had enough. Continue reading »

Writing / Crafting No Productivity

My Adventures and Tales No Responses »

Mar 042014

I seem to be in a rut, and all I seem to go on about is the fact that I seem to be in a rut.

Apart from my family, the pets and close friends, I have two things that I love.

Writing and Crafting.

They are really important things to me, if I had neither I seriously wouldn’t be able to function within a normal day.

I use crafting as my business and as a way to relax.

I use writing as a way to let of my steam and to expose my deepest, darkest fears and emotions.

I use both of them to keep me sane.

But currently they are both conflicting each other.

I have so many things I want to do with each, and to be honest nothing is happening with either.

And it is driving me mad!

I am determined to get a system that works, I am not sure what system but I need a productive one.

One that copes with being a Mummy, being a partner, planning a wedding, studying for my writing course and running a business. If you know of one then please do send it my way!

Palliative Care

Dog, Rabbit and Hamster Adventures No Responses »

Mar 012014

When we went to the vets for our meeting to discuss Tito’s care we were told we had two options.

Tablets or injections.

Now Tito is not a good tablet taker he spits them out if you hide them in food. If you squash them he somehow manages to eat around them, and if we try to throw them in the back of his mouth he froths and spits and looks like a dog with rabies.

Both Mr L and I instantly agreed that he needed injections rather than tablets.

Basically the medication is steroids, vitamin B and cortazone and will help Tito’s liver to function better and to increase his appetite. We decided this was the better option and booked him in for Thursday to have his first set of jabs.

We had him at home by the time of our meeting and he was still very groggy from the sedation. He had eaten in the morning, having a little scrambled egg but that was all he managed. We offered him tea and he refused. The vet had explained this was normal.

But it was and is still horrible to watch. We managed to get a tiny bit of sausage down him Tuesday evening. And decided we would leave him for the night. Our plan was that if he didn’t eat Wednesday morning I would bring his injection forward.

We woke up Wednesday and he was quiet I made a sausage and bacon sandwich for him, which he refused to eat, so I phoned the vets and brought his injection forward.

It was another vets appointment and another opportunity to ask the vet was normal and what we need to worry about. And to check once more that Tito isn’t in pain.

I got told repeatedly that he wasn’t in pain, the vet also thought he was looking brighter in himself. He gave him all his injections and explained a few things.

Sickness is normal, however if Tito eats and brings up everything he has just eaten we need to worry.

Having a bit of a bad tummy is normal (lucky we have no carpet)

Loss of appetite is normal, however not eating, and by not eating nothing passing his lips not even a small bit of cheese for 72 hours is when we need to worry.

As long as he is happy to see us and that doesnt change the vet advised not to rush into anything.

Well Tito came home and wolfed down his sausage and bacon sandwich. (We were told to give him what he wanted when he wanted it) and seemed a lot more perky. I didn’t try to feed him again on Wednesday as he ate a lot that morning and Mr L brought him some kebab meat home in the evening, as Tito has spent a lifetime trying to steal our kebabs. Which he wolfed down as well.

He had had a good day and the injections seemed to have made a difference.

Thursday morning was a different story. Tito had brought up a lot of his food. Not all of it but still a lot. We were a little worried. So it was another call to the vet (currently I am speaking to him more than my friends) he wasn’t worried but we discussed that because Tito’s stomach is so small that two main meals a day is not a good idea and drip feeding him every couple of hours is probably better. If he was still bringing up food on that way of feeding he wanted to see him again.

So the last couple of days we have been drip feeding. And we have discovered Tito is partial to a digestive biscuit, sausage, bacon and toast. He has been having a little bacon and toast in the morning, digestives mid morning, a couple of sausages at lunch time and a couple in the afternoon. We try him with a little scrambled egg in the evening and he seems to really be hungry just before bed.

It seems to be working. He is sick but its a bile sick which is his liver not working 100% but for the last few days he has managed to keep all food down.

We don’t know how long we have with him but he is excited about the food he is being given and he is still excited to see us and still wants his snuggles. So at the moment we are continuing our fight and taking each day at a time. Because thats all we can do.

The Big ‘C’

Dog, Rabbit and Hamster Adventures 2 Responses »

Feb 282014

I so haven’t wanted to write this post, as somehow writing it down means it is really happening.

It is really happening we are living it, but not putting it out to the whole world means I can some what hide from it.

But I can’t hide forever.

After doing so well moving to a raw diet, Tito stopped eating again. We decided enough was enough, he was either being a complete fussy wotsit or there was something wrong. But whatever it was once and for all we needed to find out.

Tuesday I took him to the vet, he listened he heard what I had to say and he agreed he thought he was being incredibly fussy.

Then he had a feel.

He then decided that he wanted to do some tests, and keep Tito in for a while, he was worried he may have a tumor on his liver, but he assured me that was the worst case scenario. Continue reading »

Seeing Through The Mist

My Adventures and Tales 4 Responses »

Feb 242014

So I like to be busy, but sometimes I just get too busy where I can’t ever see through the mist.

This last week has been a little like that, after my great productivity of sorting through the lounge and decluttering, I got stuck.

My biggest problem is I have so many ideas and sometimes, just sometimes, absolutely nothing gets done, as I can’t see through the ideas to become practical and productive. And to be honest it really stresses me out.

So Saturday I did what all work at home mothers do and went to twitter for advice. And advice I received, and lots of it. To write lists, to prioritize the important jobs from the small jobs and to work out where to go from there. It was all great advice and stuff that I could really get my teeth into. It was also things that I did know but I just seemed to have lost the motivation to do these things and it was driving me mad.

And then I got a great motivational idea, from Josie who told me to write three things down each day, something for work, something for fun, and something you have been putting off. It was a simple but sounded full proof idea, and it really caught my attention. Continue reading »

The Raw Food Diaries

Dog, Rabbit and Hamster Adventures No Responses »

Feb 222014

Tito has always been a wotsit when it comes to food. All those years ago when he first came to us as a tiny little ten week old, he has been a nightmare.

He was a poorly pup, and spent a lot of time in the vets, he used to refuse to eat biscuits and we would persevere with meat added and all sorts, but nothing seemed to satisfy him. In the end we dropped the biscuits and went to run of the mill wet food, along the lines of Chappie etc. He liked it but it never really suited him.

From the moment we brought Tito home we have had problems with him toileting in the house, he goes through periods where he is good and periods where he is really bad. Generally when I am pregnant I might add. But he does have phases of being ok and phases of being really bad.

When we got Buddy he was a Bakers dog, he had Bakers meat and Bakers biscuits and he was hyper, we quickly changed him from Bakers and moved him to just meat like Tito. This lasted a while and then when I fell pregnant with Boo, I really couldn’t stand the smell and it was expensive, so we moved gradually to a biscuit, and amazingly both dogs ate it. We gradually got rid of the meat and both dogs were happy and Tito’s toileting really seemed to improve.

A couple of months back Tito stopped eating. He was fine in himself but he just stopped eating.

He ate any of our food that we gave him, but eating his biscuits stopped. We fretted and we worried, and we talked at length to our vets, who agreed there seemed to be nothing wrong with him. So we started to add a little meat to his biscuits and suddenly he was eating them fine, however the toileting problems returned. Continue reading »

Money and Relationships

Uncategorized No Responses »

Feb 202014

We are a family that lives on a tight budget. Yes we both work but I don’t bring in a huge wage and we have to save for the treats and the finer things in life, and we have a budget that we have to live to.

We try to always stay on top of our bills, I am the person that does the budget one of the horrible jobs I do in the house, and I do pretty much know every bill that is paid each month to the precise penny and the date it is being taken out and I notice if something happens irregularly.

I am also the person that shops around for our bills, I start researching a good month or so before our bills our up for renewal and compare all the options before we decide what we were are doing for the next year.

So I was shocked how much money we save from just being in a relationship, rather than being single?

Be smart with your energy choices: switch now and get a great electricity deal.

This is a Sponsored Post.

I Thought…

Creative Writing Course No Responses »

Feb 192014

I didn’t think it would cause this much pain

I thought out of everyone you would understand

I thought you would be happy

I never thought it would turn out like this

I never thought I would be so sad

And I never thought you would act like you did

I would say sorry, but unfortunately there’s no one to listen

I have tried

I have said sorry

There’s nothing else that can be done

Nothing else that can be said

I just thought you would have been the one to understand

I thought you would have been happy

But I was so so wrong

And I didn’t think I would be this hurt!

Ten Weeks Old And Baby Massage

Boo's Adventures No Responses »

Feb 122014

Boo was ten weeks old yesterday.

I am not quite sure where the time has gone, it feels like he has been here forever but only arrived yesterday.

It has been a complete shock to the system and a complete joy.

Getting into a system with two children, two dogs, running the house and running a business from home is hard. I wont lie, it has been really hard to find a system and we still don’t have one at all. I am blindly going through the days, some are good some are bad, and that is as good as it gets right now.

Boo hasn’t been the easiest baby and I am sure if you read the blog, follow me on twitter or on Facebook you will know all about it. As it has been hard dealing with his colic and reflux. We are now on our third milk, which he seems ok with and he now seems to be sleeping for a few hours at a time (fingers crossed) but he is a stressy baby. He finds going to sleep hard and he does get into pain with his colic and reflux, so I decided that he would probably benefit from baby massage.

It is something that has been suggested to us by various people, and to be honest I will try anything to make his colic and reflux easier.

Yesterday was our first session, I thought that it maybe quite complicated, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was very simple and really logical, but it is nice t have the confirmation that doing it is ok. Boo also seemed to really enjoy it. He got a little unsettled when doing his arms, but apart from that he did really well.

He fell asleep for ages after, which was lovely and quite chilled for the rest of the afternoon.

We have a couple of weeks to practice the techniques we learnt yesterday and then we will go back for our second session and learn some further massage techniques.

I am going to teach Mr L what I learnt so that we can all have that special time with Boo, as it is a nice relaxing time as well and hopefully if we can both do it Boo will get some nice chilled time with both of us, rather than just one of us getting that time.

I can’t wait to see how the massage works for Boo over the next few weeks and to see if it helps his colic and reflux as well.

Getting Things Done

My Adventures and Tales 2 Responses »

Feb 102014

When we had Boo I decided that I wouldn’t take a massive break from the business, but would slow it down. The perks of having your own business and being your own boss.

But I am not great at just sitting and as I have been getting used to looking after two instead of one child my brain has been working overtime.

The list of things that I want done has grown and grown and to be honest I don’t do chilling. I have the odd day where I want to do nothing but generally I thrive on a bit of stress. And I thrive on having many things happening at once.

I have started Boo’s blanket, and am loving making it. But sitting in the lounge highlighted how unhappy I was in the house.

So we know have a list a mile long of things that need to be done. I am not attempting to complete them all this week but over the last few days I have made a start and gradually over the next few weeks these things will be finished.

All the things that are bugging me.

1) I am sorting the rubbish on my computer and backing it all up. I am starting on my pictures. They are totally unorganised and they drive me insane I have years of backlog and it is a task and a half. Last week I did the photos from this year so far. This week I will be tackling 2013 and working my way backwards until they are finished. I will have these sorted this year.

2) We are sorting the house, decluttering and cleaning and rearranging as we go. And this time we aren’t leaving jobs half done. This weekend we moved around the lounge and decluttered it completely. We now have spaces in the drawers and got rid of a bag full of rubbish from one room only. It wasn’t a major change basically we moved a sofa and pushed the TV back in the corner. But it has made a massive difference. There are a few things left to do. The furniture needs to be painted and I want to cover the cushions in a nicer fabric and better colour. Once those bits are done then the lounge will be finished and we can move onto the kitchen and the art room. Before moving upstairs.

It isn’t major changes and we are trying not to make it too expensive but it is changes that will make a difference and hopefully make the house feel a whole lot better.

We should get rid of the rubbish and get a bit organised so everything has a place and we aren’t surrounded by clutter.

While all this is happening I will still be working away on my new site and will be hoping to launch this in the next couple of months. But for now the ideas are being jotted in my book and the plans are being put into place.

This is going to be the year – those jobs – are finally done, I can not wait!

Older Entries