Finished

Well Monday, will start with the positives, O wasn't at college so volunteered to take M to her climbing session as I was at the hospital all day. They had a great time and O was allowed to climb too, might have to take them both again as they had a great time. As for me, I was well enough for the drug challenge, I got some answers to my allergic reaction but not all, will have to go back for more tests later in the year. Looks like I have developed an allergy to local anesthetic, which is going to complicate my life slightly, need more tests to see if I reacted to the steroids. The consultant is going to research to see if there any other types of local anesthetic on the market that I might be ok with but he was pretty sure there isn't. The team I had was lovely, which was good as I was there from 9am to 2pm, they start of with skin prick tests, then intradermal injections, which showed some reaction to steroid but at this stage local anesthetic was negative. So they moved on to injecting some local anesthetic, within a short time, my face felt tight and tingly, then neck itchy, followed shortly by nausea, generally feeling rough, so mega dose of antihistamine given, took a long while for all symptoms to go, slept for hours when I got home and still slept all night, woke Tuesday morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all, more antihistamines needed,  finally felt more human Wednesday evening but it took to the weekend to feel really back to myself, not looking forward to the next round of test! The waiting lists for appointments is 8 to 9 months, so will be a while! Mind you not sure hubby is looking forward to it either, he doesn't do hospitals and was bored stiff, L on the other time told me she had a great time, went for a walk, did some puzzles, drawing, Dad read to her and she listened to stories on her MP3 player, so my sorting out a bag of activities worked well for her, maybe I need to do the same for hubby! So all the children had a great time.

I've had hip back issues since a car accident 20 years ago, had physio at the time and later on saw an osteopath about 14 years ago the osteopath commented that my right hip had a lot of wear on it. The GP at the time dismissed this, I was too young and any pain was down to pregnancy and my job childcare, nothing else. Fast forward to a couple of years ago where a change of GP and hip pain getting worst. I was referred to physio, this time the physio picked up on an impingement and probably laberal tear. I had surgery to repair this and they discovered my hip was a bit a mess and that I had arthritis, bone on bone in the front region and general wear deterioration over the whole joint. So at the moment I am alternating between physio, dry needling/accupuncture and osteopath for management, as the car accident has left me with a bit of kink in my upper spine and now I am slightly of balance due to hip that area is causing some pain too. Throw in the fact I don't tolerate pain relief very well, or now looking at it a lot of modern medicines, I working my through alternatives In the past I have also tried the Alexander technique, taken omega 3, glucosamine etc but they don't seem to help now. Now trialing turmeric and apple cinder vinegar, discovered that the acv has the benefit of a good regular digestive system, so no longer suffering the common side affect of the cocodomol that I take for pain relief, which is a lot nicer and will save me some money too. I am someone that tries to be proactive and hate the times that I can't be, so any other suggestions gratefully received, thank you

On a crafting front, I have finally finished the throw I was making, central panel has tortured and killed my wrists but now its finished and laid it out on my bed to take photos, I was reminded of why I wanted to make it, it was worth it. The outside panels were easy on the wrists but the central panel is a huge amount of cabling.  L has already claimed it as hers.

So knowing I was coming to the end of the throw, I took L into the craft shop last week and left her happily pouring over the knitting pattern folders, while I looked at wool, she choose the pattern and wanted the mint green wool. Have since found out that a friend is expecting a baby girl, so a good excuse for some baby knitting, happy days.

L has been creating more scenes with the rainbow arches, this week they are houses and garages, as she had the railway and road pieces out to go with the.

We've been looking at stonehenge and how they might of transported all the blocks, L has done some drawings will try and get some photos to add to next weeks blog.  Other than that we have finished reading Cherry Tree Farm, L has loved this and has learnt lots about the different animals mentioned. I have taken to reading bedtime stories with a notebook to make notes of any animals she wants to research more. Then once she is settled in bed gives me a chance to search you tube for some nice videos for her to watch. I picked up this book Fairest Of All for M to read, I ended up reading it and rather enjoyed it, it the story of Snow Whites Step Mother, an interesting but light read, main theme is the damage parents can do to their children, the affects the comments they make can have on you throughout your life etc Hoping she will enjoy it as we also have Once Upon A Dream the story of what would of happens if Sleeping Beauty didn't wake up. M and I enjoyed watching Grimm and Once Upon a Time, we enjoy fairy tales and like the twists and turns so these books should suit us. Also reading Finnish Lessons covering the history of the Finnish education system, the changes made and future plans, only a couple of chapters in but so far good and interesting read.

After last month menu planning for the month went so well, decided to carry it on for February, seem to find I put even more effort into deciding on what food and it is saving me a lot of time too, somore time for other things. Lots of chance to bulk cook and freeze. Mondays there is left over meat form the roast and I cook a vegetarian meal, this then means I always have some veggie meals in the freezer as stand by for me etc.