A Week Of #Pet Chaos, #Crafting, And Organizing + Medical Mutterings + A #Sale Reminder And #AmWriting

Somehow I have a lot to post about, even though it's mostly been a pretty quiet week, with only day to day chores, food shopping, and other such tasks to fill most days, which there really isn't anything to say about, since they were uneventful.  Not that I'm complaining... Uneventful is generally a good thing, especially when it comes to things like doing housework, getting food, making sure bills are paid, etc.

     

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Even the weather has been pretty quiet - or, it had been until Wednesday.  Most of the week it's been quite chilly (not incredibly cold, but there's definitely still a nip in the air) but with the sun trying to shine. Until Wednesday, when the rain decided to return, followed by some very strong gusts of wind. 

    

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Of course, there was the incident - technically last week, but I didn't mention it last Friday, since I'd already scheduled that post before it happened, so I'm counting it in this week's events - where Artemis' heat lamp bulb went before we'd had a chance to go get a replacement ready for when it would need changing, which meant an emergency trip out to fetch a new one fast - especially since the chilly weather meant her vivarium temperature was dropping steadily, which is a bad thing, especially for a tortoise as young as Artemis.

  

We'd have had the spare ready, only Kelly couldn't remember the wattage when he did last month's petshop run, and I forgot to ask Dad to pick one up when he took Wayne to get supplies for Gizmo a couple of weeks later (Gizmo is Wayne's Leopard Gecko... He also has a Staffie x Wippet named Maya).

 

This time I actually brought an extra spare bulb when I brought the replacement, and I think I will make a point of keeping a spare bulb on hand from now on.  Hopefully then we can avoid a repeat of that incident.

     

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While I was out, Logan was getting upset and under foot (this is normal for him... Logan really hates me leaving him, even if it's only for a short time) and Kelly managed to fall over him.

 

Logan is fine.  Kelly has a cut and some bruising on one leg, but is otherwise fine.  The shoe rack Kelly landed on... Yeah, that's now kindling (I'm only slightly exaggerating).  Needless to say, we had to buy a new shoe rack.  But at least Logan is fine, and Kelly is mostly fine, though it's going to be a while longer before the cut on his leg is fully healed.

     

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 On the subject of medical stuff: we're now finally registered with the local doctor.  Why it was so much hastle, especially considering we've been registered with them in the past, I have no idea.  But it was. 

 

For some reason - and nobody seems to understand why, apart from them, including the doctor I was with in Hastings - they decided I had to get hold of my NHS number for them if I wanted to get registered.  Having literally never needed it, I wasn't even aware I had one (I knew about the hospital X number, which you never need to look up yourself, since the hospital can find it using your name and date of birth, but this is a different one).  What followed was a lot of messing about, ending in me quite literally spending three hours solid trying to get to speak to someone at my old surgery so I could ask them for it.  Then another half an hour trying to get hold of the new surgery to give it to them.  Loads of fun... Not! 

 

At least we're registered now.  Got a letter confirming it and everything. 

 

Now, since I actually have a doctor again - the same one I had before moving away from the area, if you're interested in knowing that random fact - maybe I can get my inhalers refilled before the spares I luckily had on hand from when I was given new ones before the old ones needed to be thrown away (when they kept giving me inhaler refills every time I needed something else, such as my iron tablets, even though I hadn't asked for them and didn't yet need them) run out.  But, of course, they can't make things simple, can they? I have to show them the inhalers or proof I have them prescribed to me first, and even then I can't have them refilled until after I talk to their asthma nurse, who I can't talk to until March 24th.  So, I booked a telephone appointment with the asthma nurse for the morning of March 24th.  It's April I'm going to need new ones by, so in theory this will give me plenty of time to get new ones before my last set runs out.  Let's hope it works that way in practice too.

     

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I got an invitation to book my Covid vaccination... In Hastings. 

 

I guess they never got the memo I moved. 

 

When I called the new doctor to tell them about it, I discovered I'm also on the list and due to be contacted in the near future for the county I'm in.  So, apparently I've ended up on both areas' lists. 

 

I asked them what to do about a concern I have regarding whether or not I should have it.  It's got nothing to do with the stuff you hear about the jabs, or being against them or anything, since I don't believe the rubbish about them, and I think they're a very good thing.  My concern is that I react badly to flu jabs - badly enough that it was agreed I'd be best not having them in future - and since flu-like symptoms are a common side-effect of this one, I worry about how ill I'm going to end up after it.  I get that there are benifits to having it, but I need to weigh the risks to myself here, and given my issue with flu jabs I'm incredibly reluctant to have the shot, despite the benifits.  Anyway, they said those doing the vaccinations would be able to answer the question of whether it's a good or bad idea for me to have the shot better, so I should book the shot, and ask them about it when I show up (before I let them actually stick the needle in me).  So, I guess that's what I'll do, since it's either that or just refuse to get the shot.  Initially that was my plan - I'm terrified of getting this shot, because how I react to flu jabs has me more than a little concerned having the Covid Vaccination will result  in me ending up ill enough to end upin hospital - so I was going to refuse the Covid vaccination, like I do the flu jab every year.  But I figure I should at least discuss it with them properly.  So, when I'm contacted by the right county, I will.

 

Oh, and both my parents are scheduled to have their first shots this month (Mam tomorrow, and Dad a week later).

    

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In other news: both my craft boxes for March are here.

 

This month it's a macrame feathery wall hanging kit for the Cosy Craft Club one, and a natural soapmaking kit for the Makerly Crafts one - just in case you're interested in knowing what they were.

     

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One of these days - I hope soon - I'll start working on the kits properly, and you'll get to see the finished products.  I definitely intend spending at least some time each week working on a larger variety of craft projects once the craft room is organized and I can do so, and those kits are among the things I want to work on.

  

Plus, Nan has a bunch of half finished projects among her craft stuff.  Once we've got everything organized, we're thinking we'll finish them for her.  Then we can frame or make use of them, depending on what the items are.  We think she'd like that, and it seems a shame to leave them unfinished.

 

Between those projects to finish for Nan, my craft kits, a selection of brand new craft kits Nan had among her stuff (which have been added to my kit collection) and some projects I've been thinking about myself in general, I'm definitely going to have plenty of projects to keep me busy.

  

In the meantime, I'm still working on sloly making that crochet scarf, and knitting the toy I'm making because I plan to gift it to someone.  The latter of which I would have finished by now, but I had less of the purple cotton yarn left after making my tea cosy than I thought, spacifically want it to all be in that colour, so had to wait for more to show up so I could finish it.  The extra yarn should be here by the time this goes live, so I might have that ready to show you next week though.  The person it's for doesn't read my blog, so I can go ahead and show you even before she has it.

     

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Speaking of the craft room, and Nan's supplies: Dad brought more of Nan's craft stuff over, so - between those things and the stuff I hadn't gotten to before, all of which needed to be sorted through and organized - I've been continuing to work on organizing the craft room.  Thankfully some of Nan's supplies came with a set of those drawers on wheels, and I brought another set of them to go with the ones I already had, so that's helping with finding places for the smaller and lighter items, which then ckeeps the shelves available for the larger or heavier items, as well as my collection of kits waiting to be done (which take up a few shelves by themselves, despite being in small boxes). 

  

We've also been working in the computer room, since we got the rest of the shelves for in there.  We're going to need to properly organize the books later - and not just the boxes of audiobooks Dad also gave me from Nan's stuff - since we're concentrating more on getting them on the shelves that are for them than making sure they're in the right order at the moment.  On the one hand, organizing them properly as we put them on the shelves would save some time later.  On the other hand, I'd love to stop falling over boxes.  So, we decided when it came to the books we'd just focus on getting them on their shelves, only making sure each book is shelved in the correct area for now, and go back and organize them properly later.  Well, apart from a spacific large set of graphic novels Kelly has, which he had to organize, because the spines form an image when they're in the right order, and it bothered him that the image didn't look right, so he insisted on taking the time to put those in the right order... All 152 of them (at least, I think that's how many are in the collection).  I don't mind though, since they needed to be organized sooner or later anyhow, and it's one less thing to do later.

 

Books are the one exception to my proper organization of the craft room right now too, since all craft related books and magazines are going in there, but I'm not worrying about organizing those properly right now, just putting them on the shelves.  The rest of the craft stuff, however - what was originally mine, and what I've inherited from Nan - is being properly organized as I unpack it.

      

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Speaking of books: don't forget there's still time to grab some eBook bargains in the Smashwords Read An EBook Week sale.  If you missed hearing about it, check out my post from Sunday for details. 

     

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     Oh, and I have one more thing to share:

 

Though I didn't end up entering the Carrot Ranch Rodeo writing contest last month - which you may remember me posting about just before it started - since I wasn't feeling inspired and didn't manage to write anything I could submit for it, I did write and enter a poem for the Eros Open Mic contest I found out about from someone else.  And, guess what? Turns out I won.  YAY! 

 

I got some badge thingys I can display on my blog and website, bragging rights, and a year's free subscription to their Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores magazine.  Here are my badges: