Douglas was planned in for an endoscopy on Wednesday, but even with the sedation he still could not tolerate the tube, so they abandoned it. Poor Douglas felt quite rotten all that day and the next, but more human by Friday and managed to go back to work. Im glad to report hes back to his normal cheeful bushy bearded self now!
On Thursday I went to see some friends for an evening meal. We decided not to cook as KT did not finish work till 7, but I took all the ingredients for a Banoffee Pie with me for pudding.
Banoffee Pie
1 tin of sweetened condensed milk
1 hand of bananas
1 smallish pastry case
1 medium sized pot whipping cream
Some chocolate to grate on the top
Method
Start making this the day before you want to eat it.
Put the unopened tin of condensed milk into a pan of water. The pan must be big enough to cover the tin and a bit more. Bring to the boil and keep it simmering for about 3 hours. Its very important to keep an eye on the pan, and keep the water level topped up. If you don't do this, the tin could explode, so BE CAREFUL!
When the tin has had its 3 hours or so, leave it to cool. When the tin is cold to touch, slice enough bananas to cover and heap up nicely in your pastry base. Open the tin (contents will be semi solid) and spread (Well, I take small spoonfuls out and plop it on) over the waiting bananas.
Once the bananas have settled down happily under their duvet of sheer indulgence, make them even happier (hear your arteries scream) and cover the dish in cream, whipped to a soft peak.
Put the pie in the fridge, and grate a bit of chocolate on before you serve.
Warning : This is very filling.. cut a small slice to start with .. you can always come back for more!
******
We had a nice meal out, pie was enjoyed, and I got back about 11pm. zzzzz
******
Friday I went for on a Ghost Walk with my work colleages in town. It was interesting, but the guy really needs to sharpen up his stories and put more drama into them! I will feed this back to him via his website. (he asked us for any comments, so I will send them)
*****
Saturday, I abandoned my long suffering husband once more, and went down to Leicester. I met up with my friend Heather. I met on the game we both play (Runescape), and we decided to meet in real life. This is the third time we have met, and we get on very well!
We went shopping for a few things, then decided to go explore Hinckley, which turns out to be a rather nice little market town. I got some honey glazed cashew nuts, some sun dried tomatoes and some tie die hippy fabric for a top I plan to make.
I got back to find my dearest most wonderful husband had done all the clothes washing, tidyed the house and done the dishes!! I took him out for a scrummy Chinese meal as a thank you. Im a lucky girl to have such a lovely husband. Thanks should also go to his mum for training him! lol.
No visitors planned for today, Sunday, but there is a "green" fair going on very close, so shall go investigate that.
Sunday 25 May 2008
Camellia etc
Having had some time off the blog, I thought I would do a quick update for all you avid readers ;-)
W/e of 17th & 18th May, we went down to the local park with my younger brother, wife and their three kids on bikes. It was lovely to see them all having fun, and on the whole being happy. Little one, Carlo, was rather tired because the daylight had woken him up very early. He had a bit of a grump, but then cheered up later. Katy took the kids on to a party when we got back, but Thos stayed behind with my parents estate car (on loan I think). Read on to find why!
Years ago, my parents gave Douglas a beautiful Raspberry Ripple Camellia
it was quite happy in a large pot when we lived in Bristol, but as our present garden gets bathed in morning sunlight, its no longer suitable for the it. Little brother has a much larger garden with spots that are more suitable for our flower, so with much heaving and pushing we managed to get it into his car. My mum is keen to oversee the replanting. I wish our plant a long and happy life!
W/e of 17th & 18th May, we went down to the local park with my younger brother, wife and their three kids on bikes. It was lovely to see them all having fun, and on the whole being happy. Little one, Carlo, was rather tired because the daylight had woken him up very early. He had a bit of a grump, but then cheered up later. Katy took the kids on to a party when we got back, but Thos stayed behind with my parents estate car (on loan I think). Read on to find why!
Years ago, my parents gave Douglas a beautiful Raspberry Ripple Camellia
it was quite happy in a large pot when we lived in Bristol, but as our present garden gets bathed in morning sunlight, its no longer suitable for the it. Little brother has a much larger garden with spots that are more suitable for our flower, so with much heaving and pushing we managed to get it into his car. My mum is keen to oversee the replanting. I wish our plant a long and happy life!
Monday 12 May 2008
Back at work, recovering from busy weekend :-)
On Friday we stayed over at my brothers house to "sit" on the kids for the night - parents went out to some charity ball in aid of their kids school. As usual it was nice to see them, and apart from their reluctance to go to sleep, they were no trouble at all :-)
Saturday saw a lovely sunny day, which was just as well as we had invited Ds brother Simon, friends Sarah, Tom . They (having asked) brought along two friends who live near us. They arrived at about 5, and left about 10.30pm. We had a really good time, even the cats popped their heads round the door when we were all in the lounge!
We had a luxiourious lie in on Monday (well I got up at 5am, fed the cats, played a bit of runescape, put some bread on, then went back to bed at 6am) We got up about 10, I packed lunch for us both - Roast lamb sandwiches for D, pizza for me, and chopped carrots, traditional lemonade, and rice pringles to share with everyone.
We picked up my parents, then met up with Katy and the kids. Thomas was doing some private GP appointment things, so he didn't come. The destination was Renishaw Hall and Gardens, owned by the Sitwell family.
We had a picnic in the shade of some trees, the kids messed around, and at the end of the walk, some of us decided to dip our feet into the pond, because it was very hot weather!
The quality of the photos are not very good because I took them on my mobile, however, they give a taste of the day which is what i wanted them to convey.
I also got some plants, including another type of Iris for my collection.
We had, in the words of little Carlo (pictured) a "lovely sunny day"
:-)
Saturday saw a lovely sunny day, which was just as well as we had invited Ds brother Simon, friends Sarah, Tom . They (having asked) brought along two friends who live near us. They arrived at about 5, and left about 10.30pm. We had a really good time, even the cats popped their heads round the door when we were all in the lounge!
We had a luxiourious lie in on Monday (well I got up at 5am, fed the cats, played a bit of runescape, put some bread on, then went back to bed at 6am) We got up about 10, I packed lunch for us both - Roast lamb sandwiches for D, pizza for me, and chopped carrots, traditional lemonade, and rice pringles to share with everyone.
We picked up my parents, then met up with Katy and the kids. Thomas was doing some private GP appointment things, so he didn't come. The destination was Renishaw Hall and Gardens, owned by the Sitwell family.
We had a picnic in the shade of some trees, the kids messed around, and at the end of the walk, some of us decided to dip our feet into the pond, because it was very hot weather!
The quality of the photos are not very good because I took them on my mobile, however, they give a taste of the day which is what i wanted them to convey.
I also got some plants, including another type of Iris for my collection.
We had, in the words of little Carlo (pictured) a "lovely sunny day"
:-)
Tuesday 6 May 2008
Bank Holiday Weekend
Douglas, I’m glad to report is feeling better, so on Saturday we went, as planned to Litchfield to visit friends Pete and Lin, whom I met when I folk danced in Loughborough years ago.
We set of at about 9am, as we had some shopping and recycling to do. We also wanted to go to the place that serviced our car, as when we got it back the radio was on “Safe Mode” and didn’t work. At first the firm denied all knowledge of this, but it turned out that someone had left the key in the car overnight, and the battery ran out of juice!!
The guys at the firm will supply a new code for us, but in the meantime, we decided to take the opportunity to get a radio with a CD player in it! Of course, we then had to go back home to get some CDs. 10.30am by now…
Back on the road, stopped at Tesco to drop off some recycling and buy some wine for our hosts. By this time it was 11am! We sat navved it (slightly faster than we should) to Litchfield, arrived on the dot of 12, and had a delightful visit with Pete and Lin. A little later, Emma, Mike and their two young children (Also Loughborough friends) joined us, and we went for a walk in a local country park. Pete had very kindly hired a scooter for Douglas so he could come too!
We stayed over with our friends, then after a leisurely breakfast, we headed back, and had a peaceful Sunday.. didn’t do much, but that in itself was pleasant.
Monday
We had a busy Bank Holiday Monday! Douglas was desperate to see Iron Man at the cinema, and having looked at the two venues, I discovered that if we went to the 11am showing we could go for £4.40 instead of over £6.. so we rushed (Ok Douglas hobbled with crutches) into the car. The film as FANTASTIC!!!! Quite often I find myself dropping off to sleep at the cinema, but this film had my attention all the way through, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
We went back via Waitrose (DMIL stop drooling) Douglas managed to hobble round using the trolley as support. Back at home I put all the shopping away, and installed Douglas on our lawn, where he re potted his chilli plants, some of our tomatoes and sowed some onion and leek and purple sprouting broc seed (a bit late but hope they will produce some lovely fresh veg later in the year!)
I sowed some lettuce and spring onion seed in a border, watered them, and put a protective cloche on top. It was such a lovely day.. I wandered round and glanced at the rhubarb which, after all this wet weather has grown tremendously! I picked way more than I could eat, because it needed picking. Some of my neighbours, and some colleagues at work will have crumble to eat as a result!!
We had tea, Douglas had half a shop bought pie, I had Sweet and Sour veggie stir fry and rice. We watched Great British Menu, then Dr Who on replay TV.
I finished my evening by killing some weird and wonderful monsters on Runescape.. Im training up my Slayer as our Clan has a 2 week long competition going! The Slayer master assigns a certain number of random monsters, then you go out and kill them. Recently I have slain 137 Basilisks, Way too many Aberrant Spectres and a whole host of other strange mythical and imaginary creatures.
Wish me luck in my attempt to get somewhere within the top 10 places in the competition!
We set of at about 9am, as we had some shopping and recycling to do. We also wanted to go to the place that serviced our car, as when we got it back the radio was on “Safe Mode” and didn’t work. At first the firm denied all knowledge of this, but it turned out that someone had left the key in the car overnight, and the battery ran out of juice!!
The guys at the firm will supply a new code for us, but in the meantime, we decided to take the opportunity to get a radio with a CD player in it! Of course, we then had to go back home to get some CDs. 10.30am by now…
Back on the road, stopped at Tesco to drop off some recycling and buy some wine for our hosts. By this time it was 11am! We sat navved it (slightly faster than we should) to Litchfield, arrived on the dot of 12, and had a delightful visit with Pete and Lin. A little later, Emma, Mike and their two young children (Also Loughborough friends) joined us, and we went for a walk in a local country park. Pete had very kindly hired a scooter for Douglas so he could come too!
We stayed over with our friends, then after a leisurely breakfast, we headed back, and had a peaceful Sunday.. didn’t do much, but that in itself was pleasant.
Monday
We had a busy Bank Holiday Monday! Douglas was desperate to see Iron Man at the cinema, and having looked at the two venues, I discovered that if we went to the 11am showing we could go for £4.40 instead of over £6.. so we rushed (Ok Douglas hobbled with crutches) into the car. The film as FANTASTIC!!!! Quite often I find myself dropping off to sleep at the cinema, but this film had my attention all the way through, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
We went back via Waitrose (DMIL stop drooling) Douglas managed to hobble round using the trolley as support. Back at home I put all the shopping away, and installed Douglas on our lawn, where he re potted his chilli plants, some of our tomatoes and sowed some onion and leek and purple sprouting broc seed (a bit late but hope they will produce some lovely fresh veg later in the year!)
I sowed some lettuce and spring onion seed in a border, watered them, and put a protective cloche on top. It was such a lovely day.. I wandered round and glanced at the rhubarb which, after all this wet weather has grown tremendously! I picked way more than I could eat, because it needed picking. Some of my neighbours, and some colleagues at work will have crumble to eat as a result!!
We had tea, Douglas had half a shop bought pie, I had Sweet and Sour veggie stir fry and rice. We watched Great British Menu, then Dr Who on replay TV.
I finished my evening by killing some weird and wonderful monsters on Runescape.. Im training up my Slayer as our Clan has a 2 week long competition going! The Slayer master assigns a certain number of random monsters, then you go out and kill them. Recently I have slain 137 Basilisks, Way too many Aberrant Spectres and a whole host of other strange mythical and imaginary creatures.
Wish me luck in my attempt to get somewhere within the top 10 places in the competition!
Thursday 1 May 2008
Update on pain (and a good ending!)
Firstly, thank you all for your sympathy - its appreciated.
Im feeling a lot better now, almost no pain at all so thats good.
He was there from about 2.30pm yesterday, and was still waiting for the Dr to look at the blood results at 5pm. Finally at 6.30 we escaped. The Dr we saw didnt really have much to say about what was causing the pain and inflammation, but luckily Ds consultant walked past on his way home, stopped for a quick chat, and said it was almost undoubtedly a flare up of G
Sadly, and predictably, Douglas isnt so lucky. He spent all yesterday afternoon in the Renal Outpatients dept (I told him I would be very angry with him if he didnt call them for advice.. he did and they said come in.. so he did!)
Today... Douglas got a lift into hospital from my parents (very kind of them) so he was there at about 10am. As far as I know, writing this, at 3.45pm hes still there, waiting to see an unspecified 2nd Dr who is a specialist (mabye in gout??) I feel so sorry for the poor boy.. I only hope his pain has subsided.
6pm.
Douglas is home.. I collected him from a rather pointless day at outpatients - his foot looks and feels much better.. phew!! The Dr has given him Cortisone tablets, which he takes till he pukes or has the runs (nasty) so hes off till Thursday next.
We have had some garlic bread for tea, and all is well with the world. :-)
(Edited due to copying and pasting going a big wrong lol.. thanks to those who pointed it out)
Im feeling a lot better now, almost no pain at all so thats good.
He was there from about 2.30pm yesterday, and was still waiting for the Dr to look at the blood results at 5pm. Finally at 6.30 we escaped. The Dr we saw didnt really have much to say about what was causing the pain and inflammation, but luckily Ds consultant walked past on his way home, stopped for a quick chat, and said it was almost undoubtedly a flare up of G
Sadly, and predictably, Douglas isnt so lucky. He spent all yesterday afternoon in the Renal Outpatients dept (I told him I would be very angry with him if he didnt call them for advice.. he did and they said come in.. so he did!)
Today... Douglas got a lift into hospital from my parents (very kind of them) so he was there at about 10am. As far as I know, writing this, at 3.45pm hes still there, waiting to see an unspecified 2nd Dr who is a specialist (mabye in gout??) I feel so sorry for the poor boy.. I only hope his pain has subsided.
6pm.
Douglas is home.. I collected him from a rather pointless day at outpatients - his foot looks and feels much better.. phew!! The Dr has given him Cortisone tablets, which he takes till he pukes or has the runs (nasty) so hes off till Thursday next.
We have had some garlic bread for tea, and all is well with the world. :-)
(Edited due to copying and pasting going a big wrong lol.. thanks to those who pointed it out)
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