Halloween Weekend Part 3 Extra photos!

These are general photos of the weekend.. each with a little caption below them!

Firstly, this is a photo of Billy with Amy behind him. I think Billy is saying
"What on earth is this monster doing in my bedroom?"
He looks quite alarmed! lol. He dosnt like kids much :-D


This is Martha and her friend Maddy looking Very scary!

Carlo borrowed my mask.. I think he looks great! His eyes look beady black. whohoooo!

Leo just after bobbing for apple peices! I wouldnt like to meet him on a dark night :-)

Halloweeen Weekend Part 2

We arranged with my brother Thomas to hijack his house and have a Halloween party there, with Loony, little Amy and his kids.

We went shopping in the morning and purchased sausage rolls, indian mini bites, crisps, dips, carrots, and a few other party goodies. Earlier that day I made apple crumble to take with us too.

Amy was going as a fairy.. you can see her getting into her lovely little costume here.

By abut 5pm, we were all in our costumes faces painted, raring to go, so we packed all of our goodies (annoyingly we forgot the apple crumbles) and went of to the other side of town.

Amy went as a fairy, Loonie painted her face green, and had a wonderful witches hat, I went in my blue evening dress with a green and brown face, I put my green cape on and my leaf mask when we went out! Douglas did his face with white paint, with blood smeared on (paint again) he had medical "greens" with blood spatters on that looked quite gorey!

We drove down Thomases driveway to be greeted by a very scary zombie in a dinner jacket and bow tie, weilding two blood covered axes!! When we got into the house, the same scary monster was seen trying to kill a pumpkin. I must say he was making a pretty good job of it! lol!

The Zombie (aka Thomas) and the scary fanged Martha Monster

Carlo the Killer (in my green mask!)




Leo the Lurch

Even my mum joined in, by borrowing Loonies hat! I think it suited her very well (No Mother, Im not saying you are a wicked witch.. as you must know by now, most witches are not wicked!! lol)

More photos coming soon!!

Halloween Weekend, Part 1

Our friend Leonie (aka Loonie) and her daughter (very nearly 3 now) came to stay for a long weeekend. Amy is sweet. Shes chatty and funny, and loves to try and do things for herself.

On Friday Douglas wasnt feeling very well during the day, but rallied round in the evening enough for a trip out to a buffet place near us called Flaming Dragon - mainly serving Chinese food, but with Brazillian roast and Teppan Yaki. The Brazillian bit just seems to be various meat done on a BBQ but the Teppan Yaki is great. There are dishes of raw ingredients.. meat, noodles and vegetables. You choose exactly what you want, and its cooked for you as you wait with soya sauce on etc.

We all had a good time.. as the photos below will tell you!

On Saturday, we went up to Walkley for a Give and Take Event that Sheffield Freegle were organising on a little patch of green land. The covenant on it says it shall remain undeveloped as long as there is at least one community event held on it each year, so Sheffield Freegle, Madame Zucchini (an entertainer who makes veg soup!) and a power company, with lots of energy saving info) all had stalls.

All of the volunteers had their photos taken with our trophy from the Sheffield Telegraph Environment Awards, which was great. I took a fishing rod I used to use as a hair scrunchie holder years ago, and took away a brand new lap/cushion tray which was great!

Having said our hellos and goodbyes, Douglas, Loonie, Amy and I headed up to Meadowhell as Loonie wanted some clothes for her little one.

Meadowhell was.. frankly hell. It was incredibly busy. We had borrowed a wheelchair for Loonie, as she has M.E. and gets tired walking very far, and a push chair for Amy.

Amy decided she would walk most of the way, whilst I pushed the pushchair that became a shopping and bag carrier. Douglas had the hard work pushing Loonie who is not thin by any manner of means. Towards the end, Ds job got harder as Amy sat on her mums lap.

We were all glad to get back home. I was exhausted, so fell into bed for a while, and Douglas collapsed on the settee for a bit. I think Loonie had a nap too!

We had a peaceful evening, chatting about plans for the next day. (Sunday blog coming soon)

Award Winners!

Last Wednesday evening, some of Sheffield Freegle went to a posh hotel in town to the Sheffield Telegraph Environment Award ceremony.

We were up for "best recycling group" . It was all very posh. We had a speech from the editor of the newspaper, then another by a "Look North" weatherman who presented each award along with someone from various businesses that sponsored the award.

We were sat at large round tables, and served a meal before the awards were given out. I had a (weird) terrine of mixed peppers to start with, then for mains the menu said some kind of vegetable thing in pastry and mushroom sauce. I had already said no mushrooms please ( I don't like them at all!). The waiters came out saying "special diet" with two plates of the most insipid risotto Ive ever seen! My friend, and one of the group owners, Eliese, cannot have much dairy, but like me, when she saw this plate of stodge, she decided to have the strudel thing.

The strudel thing was weird but edible.. it was vegetable cous cous wrapped in pasty sitting on top of mashed potato with a few sad looking vegetables next to it. We had a very strange apple "jus" aka gravy with it.

Desert wasn't much better.. it was a dark chocolate and orange lump on a slightly soggy biscuit. Eliese had melon, a much nicer plateful!

The awards started.. our category, best recycler, was very near the bottom of the list.. it was quite nerve wracking waiting!

Our turn came.. they introduced Heely City Farm, then Sheffield Freegle.. we sat on the edge of our seats.. and the winner was......... SHEFFIELD FREEGLE!!! WOOOOT!

The three owners went up to get the award, then Adam got interviewed afterwards. I will try and find the clip and put a link to it in due course.

After the awards had been given out, there were still lots of people milling around the hall, so Eliese (on the left in the picture below) and I went round giving everyone our promotional bookmarks out, inviting them to join our group ;-) very cheeky but many people seemed genuinely pleased with the idea, and promised to join!

Anna xx

From the left.. Eliese Freegle Finegan, Adam Recycle Renison, Tracy Recycle Renison.. and me!

Desmond week 2

It all seems quite a long time ago now, but I attended the second session of the Desmond course, which was mainly about food choices.

The main bit I remember (and was useful to me) was a practical activity involving moving a lot of different foods into three categories.. good, not so good and naughty. As expected, most of the nice things were in the naughty section, but the course does not ban any food.. just says be aware of them, eat less of them, and do some extra phyiscal activity to compensate for them!

I did learn a few tips, such as if you are frying food, a vegetable oil is better than olive (Olive oil is better in salads) , and that marge is better for you than butter, and foods rich in Omega 3 as it helps combat the affects of cholestrol in the body.

Here are a few pictures from the course.



So... what next?

Im trying to eat smaller portions, Im eating less chocolate, and trying to do a bit more physical activity, and taking my diabetic pills much more regularly as I know how they help me, even if I cant feel any changes.

I didnt find the 2nd week any thing like so interesting as the first, but then I know what I should and shouldnt be eating, and what has fat in it etc.

Overall, I think its a great course, and I wish Id gone on it much earlier, and I wish my GP Practice encouraged people to go on that, instead of trying to flog them £300 worth of hypnotism from a private practioner!! (Yes, one of my practice nurses really did this)

More soon from a most interesting week!

Anna xxx

Desmond

Whats this? A new man in my life? (nooo one is enough lol) A new neighbour?

No!! you are all wrong! DESMOND stands for...

Diabetes
Education
Self
Management
Ongoing and
Newly Diagnosed

So.. on Saturday morning I went to the first half of a DESMOND course, because about a year ago I was diagnosed as having Type 2 Diabetes. When I was first diagnosed, I was very shocked, and very upset. The nurse dumped a handful of leaflets into my arms, and a prescription for some tablets, and that was that.

I read some of the leaflets, but as Douglas was already diagnosed with diabetes, I didnt really read further, and that was the limit of my education until someone mentioned that there was a course I could go on (the someone was definatley NOT my practice nurse or GP!!)

I didnt think I would get much out of the course, but I thought I'd go along anyway just in case.

There were about 10 of us in the group, lead by a specialist Diabetes nurse, and a practice nurse with a special interest in the subject.

After a chat about how the course was organised, and that it wasnt in a lecture format.. more working with knowledge we had as a group, putting it in order, and learning bits to add to it.

Each person said who they were, how long they had been diagnosed, what there symptoms were etc, which in itself was very interesting. We also put down any burning questions we had, so they can be dealt with during the two mornings the course spanned over.

Firstly we looked at what Type 2 diabetes was, and a very simple model, explaining that they key that unlocks the "door" allowing insulin to be used in our bloodstream does not work very well, and sometimes the "lock" itself is rusty as well.

If you look very carefully, you can see a key and a lock sitting on or close to the pancreas where insulin is produced. The parts were magnetic, so they were placed on as each one was discussed.

Various symptoms that the group had discussed were explained which was very interesting, then towards the end we played the "Sugar" game (oops wait.. did I say game? its an exercise! lol)

The nurses put items on the table, and we as a group had to put sugar lumps near each product to say how many lumps of sugar each one had in it. Again this was a very simplified exercise, but eye opening.. Things that say "low fat" often have a higher sugar content to make them taste nice!

Next Saturday, we will be talking a lot more abut diet, and physical activity (known to many of us as exercise!). We will be setting ourselves an individual target.. one thing to help us manage our diabetes better!

Lucozade is LOADED with sugar, as is the carton of concentrated orange juice!

So.. week one of DESMOND done.. It was very interesting, well paced, dealt with worries and anxieties and I really enjoyed it!

Please come back next week for the next exciting episode of .......

Anna goes Desmonding :-D

The Family Spirit

On Sunday Douglas and I were invited over to my parents for lunch. The menu was roast chicken with all the trimmings (roast potatoes, parsnips, and veg) so I made some mini nut roasts as my chicken replacement.

I looked at my parents photos of their recent trip to Germany and France.. there are some really beautiful ones! My father defiantly has an artistic eye for pictures.

We had a really good meal. My younger brother and his 3 kids were also there, so it was a busy table full of Cosshams (and the honorary Cossham, Douglas) lol. It all went well, even Carlo, aged 6 who first of all announced that he wasn't hungry, managed to polish off a large portion, and then several extra chipolata sausages, followed by blackberry and apple crumble and ice cream!!

After lunch, my mum suggested a game of Monopoly, which we used to play quite frequently as kids, although my memory of playing was that the game took forever, and normally ended up with one or more kid in tears because they hadn't won!

Mum, Thomas, Carlo (assisting) and Leo

My mother tells me that when I was small I didn't have a competitive bone in my body, and that I was always happy when someone else won. Ok back to the main story :-)


My dad, Carlo and Martha had fun building (then destroying) marble shoots made out of the wooden bricks that have kept generations of Cosshams happy, whilst the rest of us rolled our dice and counted our money.

Slowly, my husband, my mother and my nephew were all bankrupted by either me, or my angelic baby brother, and left the game.

Douglas and my mum still solvent at this stage




My cards.. doing pretty well.

So then there were two. After managing to land then buy several properties that were owned by the bank, I had a whole row of properties with houses and hotels on. My brothers fate was sealed, and soon enough, he landed on one of my hotels, and that was that.

I will gloss over the near tantrum he had when he realised that he had been crushed by his most beloved, generous, kind but now horribly competitive older sister and just say that I went home with a very evil grin on my face, which strangely has come back again just now :-D

Ok.. there was a bit of a discrepancy over what happens when a player mortgages all his properties.. does the player whose rent needs to be paid got them, or do they just go back to the bank, so he might have had a teensey weensy point in his frustration, but the grin remains!!

Sweet Victory! Notice correlation between hotels and my properties :-D