Shoot me now...

I don't believe it - ooh why does this sound like a Victor Meldrew (One Foot in the Grave) moment, hmm!!!

Well the third thing has happened - they say things happen in threes and this was a biggy. My 300gb external hard drive has died!! I don't know how as it was working last time I used it , one minute it was working happily and the next "dead".

As you can imagine I am not a happy bunny, especially as I had a lot of word documents and emails saved on there. I also had over 8gb of music which I had downloaded onto there.

But the most annoying thing is that I had over 2 years (2006 and 2007) worth of "The Gift of Stitching", which is really made me mad as I didn't burn them onto a cd at the end of each year. But I have just looked at their website and you can purchase a year's bundle of back issues for $18.00. So I shall have to buy the two years bundles - $36.00. And this time I will make sure I copy them onto a cd. So now I have to creep to D to see if he will let me borrow the CC, although I think he might be a bit hesitant especially as I have the laptop payment on there at the moment.. Oh well at least I can download the back issues as a whole bundle so that is something I suppose.

Is this it now - they say things happen in threes and this has certainly been the case recently.

I don't do things by half..

About a week or so ago I stupidly managed to damage all the nerves down the right side of my back.. And you will never guess how I did this? Well even I can't believe it - I got a pint of milk out the fridge and was putting it back and then voila! One gods awful scream later and I was in the most excruciating pain imaginable. I was in that much pain I had to get D to come home from work early and get my neigbour opposite to help me get dressed. I even thought I would have to go to A&E but after speaking to my lovely Dr and then D picking up some strong prescription painkillers I managed.

As you can imagine this laid me up for over a week and just as I was starting to get feeling back and able to do things, albeit in a limited way I go and get this bloody awful sickness and diarrhea bug that is going around the UK.

How I got it I have no idea but believe me I do not want it again. This is the same bug that D had back in end August/early September of last year. Now why I couldn't have got this then I don't know but nope I get it now. I haven't even been near anyone that has been ill so I have absolutely idea how I got it. But this has laid me up since Monday and I have managed to lose half a stone in weight since then.

Poor D has even had to cook his own dinner when he comes in from work at night, bless him he hasn't complained but it can't be any fun as he gets in from London at 7ish, then has to cook a full dinner for himself and then even has to walk the dogs at 9pm. Hopefully by next week he will be able to pass the cooking back over to me to do as per normal. Still saying that I haven't even felt like eating anything - I mean there are only so many Rich Tea biscuits one person can eat when that is all they can keep in. And I have lost count of how many glasses of water I have drunk,, and here's me who doesn't even like plain water..ugh!! That's how D knows I am not well as I am willingly drinking water.

I have just had a cup of tea with a smidgen of milk and right now I can feel my stomach starting to gripe. Oh well still not ready for tea just yet, or I should say milk/dairy products.

Fingers crossed that I am feeling better at the weekend as we are having dinner with D's parents and I'm not sure I could face sitting there with everyone else tucking into a lovely roast dinner and all I have is a couple of rich tea biscuits. :-(

Councils and British Weather..

Yep I know not a very exciting title but for the life of me I couldn't think of anything witty so stuck with the obvious..lol

Firstly can I say thank you to those that have left me personal comments to my previous post, they are truly appreciated.

And now on to the post.. Well first of all our stupid council couldn't organise a p** up in a brewery if they tried. They have been making noises for several months now about issuing everyone with separate recyling bins, and talking about a fortnightly rubbish collection. Well guess what they have finally got around to it. But it hasn't gone smoothly, nope this one has not been thought out very properly at all.

So anyway last week we have had our gorgeous (not) blue wheely bins delivered so we can happily recyle everything. We had instructions in it as to what we can and what we cannot recycle - blimey that is a military operation in itself. Now preparing dinner, washing up or even opening up a bag now takes twice as long as you mentally think "can I recycle it or is it binnable?" So off you trot to consult the sheet of paper that came around with the bins, that you have dutifuly pinned to the kitchen notice board, and then you have to wash the damn recyclable thing before you throw it away.

Anyway we thought that this weekend was going to be "blue bin" day as we have nicknamed it on our street, and this is also what it says on our lovely little calender sheet that the council have delivered with the bins. Oh no, it turns out that it isn't "blue bin" day. Nope according to the council we should have all had letters telling us that the official recycling day is in three weeks time.. Now where is this letter I can hear you asking, well gods knows. I am sure it is probably still sitting in some secretarys' intray waiting to be typed. Oh and the good bit is not everyone knows this little snippet..I only found out because I rang a friend up the road earlier and she told me. So I have been wandering around the road letting those that are at home know to put their green bin out. It should be interesting tomorrow morning, we will end up with a multi-coloured road of blue and green bins out by the side of the road.

And what is it with this blooming british weather we are having.? One day it is freezing cold, blowing a gale and hail stones the size of golf balls coming out of the sky, the next the winds are blowing and there is lightening and thunder and then the following day it is scorching hot with a blue sky.. Earlier today I was sitting indoors with a jumper and jeans on and all the doors and windows shut because it was blowing a gale and cold, and now this evening I have every window and door open, the fan on and the blinds down on the windows facing the back garden because it is scorching..Oh and the jumper and jeans have been discarded for a summer top and skirt.. I wouldn't mind but you can't really serve up stew and dumplings in a heatwave can you?..

Oh well that's life I suppose.. Oh how I wish we had seasons again not winter straight into summer like we are having nowadays. Ack that is making me sound old..lol

Sun is shining, birds are singing and I had a horrible meeting..

Sorry couldn't think of anything else to go in the title..

Have just come back with a good half hour's session with my psychiatrist - ugh!! Finally I have a permanent psychiatrist who I will be seeing on a regular basis so can build up my trust issues at long last.

The session was not very good I am afraid, there was quite a lot of talk of hospital admission which I was very anti. You are going to have to drag me back there kicking and screaming if he wants me to go back. We have come to a compromise - he has increased my medication again and has given me three months to see if my therapy comes through in that time. If it doesn't then he is going to have review the situation.

Basically the upshot of the session was that I am very close to where I was 13 years ago when I was admitted to the psychiatric ward for my own safety and health.

The bipolar has also reared it's ugly head again, which we thought we had got under control before, which is why he has doubled the dosage of that medication - he wants to get on top of the extreme low that I have hit.

I also got a good talking too for "putting on my mask" What else am I supposed to do, not everyone wants to see me when I am "down" so I hide it. Although it does give the impression that I am doing really well.

So basically I am not going to do anything today. Can't even ring D as he is off seeing a client in Stevenage for the day and is uncontactable. Typical when I need him he isn't around.. :-(

I shall probably go quiet on here and in my stitching communities while I am just adjusting to the increase in meds as well as just generally getting myself back together again, but normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Plus think of all that stitching I will be doing.. :-)

Ok now I have rambled on I am going to settle down with a cup of tea and try and watch a film on Channel 5 that has just come on.

Ack its 10.30am..(ish!)

And guess who hasn't had a shower or anything yet..oops

My car has to go for its annual MOT at noon and I am nowhere near ready yet. I wanted to go to the library, pick up a prescription for D and also go to Asda BEFORE I took the car into the garage. Think it will be a hurried visit to the library as I need some new books and I want to read while I am waiting for the car.

Talking of D..guess who left all their credit cards at home today..hehehe. Well actually it was my fault as I had been in his jacket checking the number on his credit card for the online postage I was ordering last night, and somehow or other the wallet they were in didn't go back into his jacket pocket, it slipped down into the wardroble. Ooops, so guess who wasn't popular when I get a call from D to say he had no cards to get any money out.. Plus he had already had a horrendous 3 hour journey into work due to a major accident on the M20 which caused chaos on all the surrounding roads..

And on another bit of news, I received my redwork exchange from the SBBEB board. All I will say is wow... I love it.. Thank you so much Barbara, and thank you for the little P.I.F. gift too. You know me so well..

Piccies to follow in another post, I must go and get showered and get to the library.

Not a lot to say..

Things have been a bit quiet here for me lately, mainly because I haven't really been doing a lot, well apart from sleeping and watching t.v.

Sorry if it's a bit dull at the moment in the life of Chez Bear's, normal service will resume shortly. I do have some receipes and piccies to post - I have tried a couple of new receipes out and they have turned out really well so I thought I would share them. I've also been finishing a couple of outstanding exchanges but unfortunately I cannot share them as they haven't been received yet, but as soon as they are I will share the pictures.

So until normal service is resumed I just want to say thank you to everyone that has left comments recently, they do mean so much to me.

Barbara (mainleystitching) I will pop a letter in the post to you later this week

Posting and Royal Mail..

OOOOh this is different, Royal Mail have an online prepay stamp service. You can set up an account and add how much you want to credit your account with, then when you want to send something either abroad on in the UK you just type in the weight and where it is going to etc, then the details of who to and it works out the exact amount and then prints off a label, or whatever you are using with the amount and a barcode on. Well all I can say is it is going to make my life a lot easier as I can do this and get D to post all my letters in London now instead of me going to the post office in the village and crossing my fingers that whatever I am posting doesn’t go astray.

Three cheers for Royal Mail is all I am saying now..

Something to pass the time..

48 Things You Could Care Less About, and a little insight into me..

1. FIRST NAME? Natalie
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope, but it was the one specification that my father made my mother name me his chosen name for me if I was a girl..
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? This morning
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It depends on how tired I am when I am writing, but otherwise yes I do.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Haslet
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yeppers..
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Only this blog
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Not blooming likely..
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Nut Shredded Wheat
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I used to be, but not since my breakdown. I am working on it though..
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Clottled cream vanilla
14. SHOE SIZE? 6
15. RED OR PINK? Definately pink
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My moods
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My best mate N
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I hope I will read this on the blogs I visit..
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Denim jeans, cream shirt and pink fluffy slippers
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Fried egg sandwich and a yoghurt
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The theme tune to Murder She Wrote on the t.v.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? A pinky purple
23. FAVORITE SMELL? My dog Bear's feet (dont ask!!)
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? The newsagents this morning when they phoned about my cross stitch magazine..
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Most definately..
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Malibu and coke
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Ewww' no sports for me..
29. EYE COLOR? Very dark brown
30. HAT SIZE? Haven't a clue
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope, can't wear them so have to stick to glasses.
32. FAVORITE FOOD? Bacon and onion suet pudding
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Steamed treacle sponge pudding
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Hopefully people who's blogs I read
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Have no idea..
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? A Dr Who book that I picked up at the library
41. WHAT���S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Its my sofa..
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Most Haunted Live and Secret Policeman's Ball
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Lambs, birds first thing in the morning, my cats purrs - too many to mention.
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Neither
45. THE FURTHEST YOU���VE BEEN FROM HOME? Utah
46. WHAT���S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I think I am a good listener..
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? England
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I stole this from Annette

powered by performancing firefox

To comment or not to comment, that is the question..

Just a quick post to apologise to those blogs I read - I am sorry I haven't commented on them. Its not that I don't want to comment or couldn't be bothered, no it's because I never really know what to put. Then when I do go to put something I always get distracted elsewhere.

I hereby promise to make a concerted effort from tomorrow (26.10) that I will try and comment on as many blogs as I read during the coming weeks.

I have been a bad blogger..

Ack, I have been a bad blogger the past few weeks. For some reason I haven't felt like putting anything down but hopefully that has all changed, especially as I have lots of pics to show from my holiday and exchanges. I've also got a couple new ones of Jet and Amy to put up as well as a couple of tales of their antics lately. So my next post will be the holiday pictures with a few bits written up about them, then I'll update with photos of exchanges I have received and sent and then life at Chez Bears.

Sad day for my town..

Have just heard from a friend of mine that the paper mill here is going to shut down for good in April. There are going to be a lot of people out of jobs here.. It will probably turn this place into even more of a ghost town.

I wonder what will happen to the place as its attached to the main railway and has a lot of history connected to it. I expect Asda will probably put a bid in for it, they have been dying to get into the main town and this is the perfect opportunity for them.

I feel sorry for my next door neighbour who has just come home from having 5 weeks in a london hospital after having a brain tumour removed. At the moment he is on sick leave from the mill, but it looks like he won't have a job to go back to when he returns eventually.

Sad day for my little town, especially as the paper mill dominates our town a heck of a lot.