Surf Chick 100: January 2012

Monday, 30 January 2012

New Year, New DIY

We have many jobs that need doing around the house, but all of them cost too much for us to afford at the moment.

The easy fix is to do a job that is 5 years overdue, and that will only cost us a couple of rolls of wallpaper, as we already have undercoat and gloss. It is also a job that, once done, will make the largest impact on the downstairs.

Our hallway, stairs and landing.

Since moving in, nearly 5 years ago, we have not touched the hallway, and the gloss work, and plasterboard show it! It’s certainly not the most welcoming of entrances.

We chose a super fresco wallpaper, that is quite thick, so that it will cover some very bad plaster work and hide some areas that once held coat hooks. (We relocated them to the down stair loo!)

Last weekend we did all of the undercoating and glossing on the wood work, leading all up the stairs and across the landing and back down again. (The disadvantage of open plan hall and stairway is the fact you can’t just stop at the bottom of the stairs as the paintwork shows the colour difference !)

This weekend we have spent painting the ceiling, and papering the walls.

Some of the twists and turns were a challenge, but I think that it was worth it.

The alcove that once held a scruffy bookcase and the coats now holds a little occasional table and some lovely pictures.

Before is the above picture and below is the new improved version.

I’m really please with the warm cosy feel to it now. Well worth feeling knackered when we had to get up for work today!

Jo Anne

Sick and Tired…

OK, so it’s Christmas Eve, and the postman has delivered an urgent letter. I am now scared and upset, and have no way of checking out where to go from here.

I shall begin at the beginning……

Back at the beginning of November I picked up a pretty nasty bout of flu, and have just not been able to shake it off. My chest has been tight and my breathing shallow and painful.

On the 20th December, After 2 separate lots of antibiotics, I called the local surgery and asked for more, and this time they wanted me in so they could check my chest and do a lung function check with the puffa thingy.

I failed all miserably, and was told they wanted me to have a chest x-ray.

Off I trotted to the little cottage hospital round the corner, where I did the necessary, and was told to call my surgery on Friday 23rd December for my results.

I called on Friday afternoon, after work, and was told, by the receptionist no less, that I had a shadow on my chest x-ray and they wanted me to have another x-ray! I was to call back after Christmas…….

Panic set in, but after sitting down and talking rationally with my friends and hubby, we decided it was nothing to worry about.

Then, Saturday 24th December,( the point at which I started this post) when the surgery is closed until after Christmas, I received an urgent letter from my GP asking me in for an appointment on the 3rd January to discuss my X-Ray results and the course of action planned.

Needless to say both Paul and I were distraught. I was convinced I had the Big C, and had him check the mortgage policy for our cover!

Following a really crappy Christmas and New Year emotion wise, I dutifully turned up for my appointment on the 3rd, with Paul in tow for moral support.

The GP was was horrified that the receptionist had even told me anything, and that no-one has spoken to me on the phone to put my mind at rest. No it is not anything like what we were thinking. I have a fatty sack growing around my heart, and they need to keep a check on it.

In the meantime, I am on steroid tablets to try and relieve the symptoms of chest pain and tightness.

I have another x-ray in a couple of weeks, and my course of steroids has just been extended once more.

Is it me, or are all GP receptionists, bloody know it all’s who can’t wait to inflict as much emotional damage as possible in one single telephone call? They did not train for 7 years plus to make a diagnosis or read an x-ray, so why do they feel the need to think they can give a verdict on something they know nothing about!

Anyway, rant over. I'm hopefully on the mend, and will update again when I have my next x-ray results (hopefully given to me by a GP and not an over eager secretary)

Jo Anne