Trying to heal (AE&D + PTMI)

I remember someone on another blog - I don't remember who at the moment - wondering about how much gunk is in the human head. I believe said person thought it was way more than it should be and couldn't believe that the human head could hold so much gunk. At this moment I couldn't agree more!

The eye area is trying to heal properly from the surgery... Probably starting to disolve the stitches and all that... And the result is that the area is all gunky and gross. Especially when I first get up after a solid couple of hours sleep. When I've been sleeping I wake to find the eye's been producing this gunky stuff so much that it's actually stuck in the closed position because of it. So I've got to clean it up before I can open it.

I think part of it is due to the fact it's doing what all parts of the body do when they have something in them they don't recognise and trying to fight the so-called invader... Except it's not all that easy for it to fight the implant thing that's been put in there "to help with cosmetic results" (or something like that). So while it's attempting to tell this implant thing that it's intruding, it's also attempting to do as the stitches have been trying to persuade it to do since the op and heal around the implant. The poor thing's probably confused!

But does it have to be so gunky and gross with it? I mean, how much gunk can be available to come out of there anyway? Which brings us back to the question asked by the other blogger about how much gunk the human head can produce.

And I think I've entered a bit of a vicious circle with it... Because it's being all gunky I need to clean it and mess with it. BUT I think part of the gunkyness is caused by the fact I'm fiddling around near it. But I have to because I need to keep it clean... Do you see where I'm going with this? LOL!

It's been a bit swollen and puffy from time to time (especially soon after I get up). I've been doing what they said to do and holding a cold cloth on it for a bit too cool it down... Which does sort out the swelling... Shame it doesn't sort out the gunkyness. LOL!

There is one good thing though... I'm not needing pain killers any more (though I do have some on hand "just in case"). It's a bit uncomfortable when I've had to take the shell thingy out to clean and have to put it back in (the taking out is fine, the putting in is the uncomfortable bit). But not painful. So that's a good start. :)

Tori

Random question: bedtime drink

What's your favourite drink to have before you go to bed? Or don't you have a favourite bedtime drink?

Tori

Toys

As it turns out one of the things my Mam got me seems to be a form of "tinker toy"... Though we call it "K'Nex" (it's the newer, plastic version). Carl (my brother) had some when we were younger (he had Meccano too). I just didn't know it was the same thing... They've really got to start using the same names for stuff everywhere. *Sigh*

She also got me a slinky... Can't go wrong with a slinky... Especially one that's purple. LOL!

She got one of those puzzle balls to see if it was possible to do it without being able to see the picture. Unfortunately it wasn't. But it was fun trying, and Mam had fun doing it while she was watching "Full House"... LOL!

I've found a couple of things while browsing online that I'm going to get at some point. But I figured I'd wait a while and spend some time playing with these things for a bit first. Don't want to get everything at once and then be bored again in a few months and have nothing new to buy... Besides, my birthday and Christmas are just around the corner. ;)

Tori

Where to start... (LBE & FD)

I've got a lot to say - not that that's unusual, lol - and I'm not 100% sure where to start. I think the best thing to do would be to start from when I did my last "proper" post and discuss things in the order they come up. Yep, that makes the most sense! So... Wednesday... Mam and Dad came for dinner, and Mam made a lovely toad in the hole (sausage, onion and tomatoes cooked in a batter) with roast potatoes, peas and carrots. There was some left so we've put it in the freezer for Kelly and I to have some time in the near future. Despite the fact it was a bit drizzly, Mam and I took Kero for a walk before dinner. It wasn't raining all that much, besides all of us - especially Kero and I - needed to get out and do a bit of exercise. It was a nice little walk. Would have been better without the dampness, but we do live in Wales after all. LOL! During our walk - and while Mam made dinner - Mam and I were talking about finding me things to do. The thing is, a lot of what I was doing a year or so ago (and had been doing all or most of my life) needs eyesight... Computer games, drawing, photography, cross stitch... You get the idea. So now that I can't do those things I'm finding that I'm getting VERY bored. Yes, OK, there are still things I can do that I did before. Like reading, listening to music, watching movies... Etc... But between the weather and my as yet not fully regained confidence the walking thing isn't very easy right now, which means that I'm feeling as though I'm spending all my time either in front of the TV screen or in front of the laptop... With the occasional break to read or listen to a book. The result of this boredom is that I've started boredom eating. I'd gotten out of the habit of it when I was so engrossed in playing World Of Warcraft, but in this last year I've gotten back in to the habit of it and as a result have put back on all the weight I'd managed to get off. :( Anyway... Mam and I were trying to come up with ideas. The best one we could think of was to find things to keep my hands busy. After all, if my hands are busy doing something then I can't pick up the snack food. ;) So yesterday (Thursday) my Mam and Dad got me some new "toys" to keep my hands busy. My Dad got me some Meccano and some Magnetix. The Meccano you'll probably all be familiar with... It's that toy where you get different shaped bits of metal with holes in and some screws and stuff so you can build things. The Magnetix is a new-ish thing... It consists of plastic rods with magnets in them and little ball bearings, and the idea is that you use the magnetic rods and those little balls to build stuff. They brought them in early evening yesterday and it was around midnight when I realised what the time was and thought maybe it was time to pack up and go to bed. LOL! My Mam got me some bits too, but she wont let me have them until when she comes tomorrow. :( She did let me have the new cup she'd gotten me though. It's got butterflies on it. It's one of those tactile ones that I've taken to using. They're plastic (so less likely to break when dropped... Though they do crack after a lot of contact with the floor from a great height) and the pictures and/or writing on them is tactile so I then know which cup I've got and that it's definately my cup. I've now got 8 of them. Two of which are replacement for my "Princess" one and the one with my name on it... Those two cups are how I know that getting dropped too many times cracks the cups. *Blushes* Anyway... Back to Wednesday... After dinner my Mam finished reading "Pongwiffy And The Spellovision Song Contest" by "Kaye Umansky" to me. I love the Pongwiffy books! This one and one other I hadn't heard/read before. They were in my "need to read" pile before I gave my Mam my print books. Anyway... The Pongwiffy books are about a filthy, smelly witch called "Pongwiffy" and all the things she gets up to. They're all cute, funny childrens' stories that can amuse children and adults alike with some of the things said and done in them. And this book was no exception! It was while we were reading Pongwiffy that the moth incedent I posted about yesterday happened. I didn't really do much on Thursday... In fact, I don't really remember any of what I did before Mam and Dad came with my pressies. LOL! I think I was just fiddling on the laptop or something. *Shrugs* Oh, yeah... There was the yummy Chinese food we had (though if I'd known my Mam and Dad were popping in I'd have waited and had them grab it from my favourite place). I had sweet and sour chicken, chicken fried rice and a couple of spring rolls. Took me most of the evening to eat it all. LOL! Anyway... Today (Friday) has flown by! I'm hoping I manage to keep myself as occupied - at least most days - as I was today, because with everything I was doing I haven't been snacking. :) First of all, due to the fact I was up until a later time than I have been lately (I mean, I was on here doing my random question post at about 12:45 am ish) I never got up until around 10:00 am (lately I've been up by 7:00 am). And when I got up I had to sort out some washing. By the time I'd done that (and gotten some dishes that didn't get done last night washed) Kelly had gone in to town and been gone for a bit. I knew he was bringing me a baguette home so I didn't see the point in having anything and figured I'd wait for my baguette. While he was in town he'd grabbed a magazine he likes to get, and it has some free Warhammer figures with it this issue. He got a couple of copies because it works out cheaper for the figures that way (and they're ones he wants) and since he doesn't want his orcs he said he was giving them to Dad. But I decided I wanted an orc. Don't ask me why, but I did. So, he gave me one. I put it together this afternoon... Kelly's going to paint it for me, then we'll put it on the shelves with my ornaments. Dad can have the rest of the orcs though... LOL! While I was putting my orc together my mind wandered - as it often does - and for some reason came to rest on hobbits. I don't know if it was the fact I was putting together a fantasy game model, or if it was the mention earlier in the day about my Dad's comment that I remind him of his hobbit on the Lord Of The Rings game they play (short, barefoot and no objections to living in a dark hole in the ground). Or maybe a combination of these things? But whatever the reason, my mind settled on the subject of hobbits. It was then that inspiration hit me! I remembered that there is a Lord Of The Rings game like the Warhammer game and that you can have a hobbit army. So I decided I wanted a hobbit. Just one little hobbit to put together, have painted and call my own. But when we went on the Games Workshop web site I ran in to a problem... There are so many hobbits to choose from... How do I pick just one little hobbit? Especially when they come in packs of two or more... LOL! After some consideration I decided that I most liked the pack with one hobbit on foot and another on a horse. Yep, that sounded like the perfect hobbit pack! And yet... The other hobbits sound so cool too... So I was back to square one! Until, that is, I decided that the only way to deal with my problem was to just get the lot. LOL! So I'm going to have a hobbit army. I doubt I'll ever use them to play the game. But they'll be fun to collect and put together anyway. LOL! And with my little hobbits to put together and all the new things we're buying to keep my hands busy, hopefully we'll keep me away from the snacks long enough to get some weight off me. ;) We're trying to make sure that the things we find me to do are on-going things... Things where there will be new bits to collect, or where you can do so many different things with them that by the time you've done them all you can go back and start again without thinking "I've already done this... This is boring!" And if both of those things are covered - like with Lego, Meccano, etc - then so much the better. We've found some ideas... But if anyone has any others then feel free to make suggestions. If I don't like them I just wont use them... But I will definately appreciate your effort. :) ***~*** I think that covers everything worth mentioning... And even if it doesn't, this post is long enough now, I think. LOL! Enjoy whatever's left of your day. :) Tori

Random Question: Boredom buster

Sometimes you get bored of the same old routine and need a break from the same old activities. When these situations arise you need to have something to do rather than sitting there twiddling your thumbs. So... What do you do in these situations? What's your boredom busting solution?

Tori

The moth murder (AE&D... PTMI)

There's a moth - at least, I think it's the same one - that has been coming in most evenings. It has even been known to be flapping about in here during the day (isn't that unusual moth behaviour? I thought they were only around in the evenings and night times). We almost got a photo of it the other day when it settled itself on Kero's nose. Definately a "shouldabeenakodakmoment" there!

Anyway...

I guess Kero decided the moth was here to play with him. He was playing with it yesterday. The moth would flap around near him, and he'd pretend to snap at it.

That's when it happened... I think he got carried away with excitement or something. Either that or the moth didn't fly the direction he thought it would. But whatever the reason it ended up in his mouth.

He spat it right out with a noise that sounded very much like the word "yuck!" But after being in his mouth it's mobility was somewhat lacking. After it happened the second time the poor moth flapped no more!

Kero was devistated! He nudged at it. He pawed at it... He even tried picking it up... Nothing worked.

One thing did happen though... The moth ended up in pieces from the nudging and being pawed at. So there were bits of moth all over the floor! Yuck!

Kero spent most of yesterday evening sulking about it. Bless him!

I'm not sure if it was because he was sulking or if the moth being in his mouth gave him a bit of an upset stomach, but he was off his food yesterday evening too. I don't think he was sick or anything (if he was he made it outside) but he didn't eat anything, which is unusual in the evenings since it's usually then that he wants his food.

I doubt this has taught him that moths are neither toys nor snacks though. LOL!

And - as far as I'm aware - no new moths came to visit last night... So it's quite possible that it was - as I suspected - the same moth coming to visit each time.

Tori

Blog rating system, book review and stuff (FD)

As you may have noticed, I put a "blog rating system" up on the top of the sidebar. The idea came from one of Intense_Guy's blog posts a little while ago (maybe a month ago or something like that?) I liked the idea so have adopted it. I hope he doesn't mind. :)

***~***

In an effort to keep yesterday's post just about meeting up with Sam and Carl - which I thought would be best considering we were linking it to the guild's site - I neglected to mention that I "finally" got a chance to read more than a couple of lines of my book in one sitting, so was able to finish reading "Quidditch Through The Ages"... At last! As I mentioned before, it isn't a long book... Kelly was able to read the print version in an hour (if that). It's just that I kept getting interupted or realising I needed to do other things first, then getting side-tracked and doing something else (like checking blogs or something) instead. But yesterday - after we got home - I was actually able to sit down with my book and read it in piece. Partly due to the fact Kero wore himself out doing laps around the living room to show how pleased he was to have me home, and partly due to the fact that Wayne - who had Kero for the day for us - had washed up the breakfast dishes (which I hadn't done before we left) and anything he had made dirty, meaning there wasn't anything that needed doing (and no dinner needed cooking due to the food at the buffet and the leftovers we brought home).

Anyway...

"Quidditch Through The Ages" by Kennilworthy Whisp is a book that most Harry Potter fans will at least recognise the title of. It is meant as a copy of the book that is in the library at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry, where Albus Dumbledore was able to persuade a reluctant Madam Pince (the librarian) to allow a copy to be made available to Muggles in support of the charity Comic Relief. For the benifit of those not familiar with the Harry Potter books... "Quidditch Through The Ages" contains the history of the popular broomstick sport of quidditch. It's an interesting book to read... A must for all quidditch fans. :)

***~***

Before Kelly and I went out yesterday, I thought I'd check a couple of blogs. As it turned out, the one I checked first was Intense_Guy's blog. I never got to any others after that. I'd have had time, but I spent so long sitting there trying (and failing) to find the words to thank him for all the effort he's putting in to his posts in order to let me experience them properly, and to tell him how greatful I am for his efforts... And how happy it made me to read that post... That I didn't even get a chance to comment on his blog before I had to turn off the laptop and get ready to go.

I still never managed to say what I really wanted to say... Even when I did finally comment last night.

It means a lot to me that people are trying so hard to include me. I hope Iggy - and everyone else - realises that, though I appreciate it and am greatful for it, I don't expect it. Nor do I want anyone to feel they "have to" do something like that for me.

That was a wonderful start to the day though... Thank you, Iggy. *hugs* :)

***~***

I got my new headphones today. Well, actually, Kelly got them for me, but let's not be picky. LOL! So now I don't have to put up with the poor quality of the laptop's own speakers (laptops aren't built with speech software in mind - neither are other computers come to think of it - so you really do need a pair of headphones or some tidy speakers to plug in to them).

***~***

Yesterday was a bank holiday... We get a lot of those. But that means that today "Crumbs" (the place where I have my very tasty tuna, sweetcorn, cheese and onion baguettes from) is closed! It's always closed the day after a bank holiday for some strange reason. Unfortunately, shopping day is usually either Monday or Tuesday (mostly Tuesday, but there are occasions when it's done Monday instead). So no baguette for me today. *Cries*

Kelly did bring me a couple of very tasty corned beef pasties home with him. But it's not the same! Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the pasties... But I absolutely LOVE those baguettes!

***~***

I just realised what the date was today... August 26th... That means it's LadyStyx and "Ranger"'s wedding anniversary... So, "happy anniversary!" :)

OK... I think that's enough of my nonsense for now. ;)

Enjoy whatever's left of your day. :)

Tori

The alliance united (FD)

I've called this blog "The alliance united" for the simple reason that... Well... That's what it is. You see, the people we met up with are people from a guild on World Of Warcraft called "Balance Of Judgement" which is allied with "Y Ddraegau" (the guild I created and left in my Dad's hands when I could no longer play the game). And, of course, their two kids... Kai (5 & 1/2) and Seren (7)

As those of you who read my post yesterday will be aware, we had planned to have a picnic today. Unfortunately the wonderful Welsh weather (AKA rain) decided otherwise. So, the planned picnic turned in to a buffet at my parents' place.

It was a good thing in a way, because even my Mam wasn't entirely sure how exactly she was going to find enough containers to transport all the sandwiches, chicken pieces, scotch eggs, Welsh cakes, biscuits, crisps, etc that she'd made to the picnic site. LOL!

Anyway...

It was wonderful to meet up with them after so long (they've been questing and doing runs with my parents and Kelly on a regular basis for a good year or more now). I personally hadn't actually spoken to them directly before, though I had heard them (Sam anyway) over TeamSpeak, and had said, "hi," on occasion via Kelly. But it was very nice to get to meet them, and speak to them... They seem like very nice people... Hope they thought the same about us. :)

We had a great afternoon... It went by too fast though. :(

Despite the change of plans I decided to take my camera anyway and asked them if we could get a couple of photos before they left. They agreed, so... Here they are. :)

These first two pics are of Sam, Carl and the kids... Kai (on Carl's shoulders) and Seren.



And here's a couple with Kelly, my parents (Karen and Doug) and myself included in them...



The last photo was taken with the camera put on timer so that Dad (who took the photos) could be in it too. This was the first time we'd attempted to use the timer function on my camera, so none of us were sure when (or if) it was going to work... LOL!

So... There you have it... We aren't sure why we'd been foolish enough to believe that we would be lucky enough to get a sunny day for a picnic, but a good day was had by all (at least, as far as I'm aware) despite the rain that is so common in Wales. :)

Even Seren and Kai (who had hoped to go to the beach) seemed to enjoy themselves... Especially once they discovered that there was a games machine in the house, and that they were allowed to use it. ;)

Tori

P.S. Sam and Carl... I know this is being linked on to the B.O.J. site, so sorry if you didn't want your real names mentioned on there, but my speech programme has issues with trying to say unusual names... Besides, I can't spell your character names. LOL!

The weekend (LBE & FD)

First of all...

It was Kelly's cousin Holly's birthday yesterday, and since I didn't post and say, "happy birthday," yesterday, I thought I'd do it today. Hope it was a good birthday, Holly. :)

***~***

Most days have been wet and cold with little or no sign of sunshine lately. But today (Sunday) was dry, warmish and kinda sunny... Well, until about 12:30 pm anyway. But that was long enough for Kelly to decide that today was a good day for all of us (meaning Kelly, Kero and I) to go for a nice, long walk together. We don't often all go... And since my op it's been Kelly who's taken Kero for walks on his own (despite Kero being my dog). That meant Kero didn't have very long walks, since he will only go a short distance from home if he knows I'm not joining them on the walk. But we agreed that it was about time I started going with them again.

It was a lovely walk. Kero and I definately enjoyed it anyway... Especially Kero. LOL! I can't speak for Kelly, but I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it too.

We did take the camera with us with the intention of getting a few photos to post on here (Kelly was going to take a few photos for me). Unfortunately I had forgotten to charge the camera's batteries after our trip to Norwich. And the other set weren't charged either. Oops! Oh, well... Maybe next time we'll have better luck?

Anyway...

I've learned recently just how much help light perseption can be, and how much you miss it when you no longer have it. This issue has put me back a few steps with certain things I had learned to do before my op. One of these was walking without holding someone's arm. It's difficult to learn to place your trust in a stick. At first it wasn't too bad because the light perseption allowed me to know there was "something" there. But when I lost that, I lost a great deal of my confidence. I never realised before how useful that ability was. Nor - to be honest - that I had it.

Today was the first day since the op that I allowed myself to place my trust in the cane and walk unaided.

Now that I have overcome majority of the emotional hurdles I needed to overcome, I knew it was time to work on overcoming the physical ones. And since the place where we walk Kero is a safe path where there is no danger of straying accidentally in to a road (there's road access, but you'd know if you were going on to the road even without seeing) it seemed like a perfect oppertunity to begin.

***~***

Another thing I'd been putting off was cooking. The only meals I've cooked in the past year have either been microwavable meals (TV dinner type meals that you just stick in the microwave for a certain amount of time then eat them) or with someone's help. The closest to solo cooking I'd come (excluding microwave meals) was when Carl came to visit at the end of May and we made hot dogs and noodles and baked some cakes. I say that's the closest because - although Carl was checking on everything after each step - I was the one performing each step. But still I had help.

So yesterday (Saturday) I decided I'd let that go on for long enough. And I cooked dinner by myself for the first time in about a year. OK, it was nothing fancy - just fish fingers, chips and beans - but it involved using the oven rather than just shoving stuff in the microwave, and it was done without anyone looking over my shoulder so to speak.

***~***

Speaking of Carl...

Carl and Rachel are back from their honeymoon (which I'm told they really enjoyed). We got a postcard from them telling us about some of the animals they'd seen before they actually went on the safari. Like the baboon who tried to steal Carl's breakfast then his pint. LOL! And the lizard that licked him. I'm sure it said something tried to eat his watch too...

Sounds like they were having fun. LOL!

***~***

OK... Back to today...

My Mam came down to cook some scotch eggs. The easiest way to cook them involves using a chipper (deep fat fryer) and they don't have one, but we do. So Mam and Dad came to visit for a couple of hours so Mam could borrow my chipper to make the scotch eggs.

They are very good! I know because I managed to persuade her to let me have a couple. LOL! I much rather have homemade scotch eggs rather than shop brought ones, and since Mam's never made them before (she's always had someone else do it for her) I haven't had a good scotch egg in quite some time!

Anyway...

She needed to make them for tomorrow. We're going on a picnic tomorrow. Actually, it's more than just a picnic. We're going to meet some people. But I'll tell you about that tomorrow when it's over.

I'm charging my camera's batteries (both sets, lol) so I "might" have some photos to share from it too... Providing I can get a volunteer photographer. LOL! ;)

***~***

I watched "Ella Enchanted" on Friday. I don't think I'd ever seen it all the way through before. Anyway, it's about a girl called "Ella" who was given the gift of obedience by a fairy when she was a baby, and has had to do as she was told ever since, regardless of whether she wants to or not. Apart from being annoying it never caused a real problem, until her step-sister found out about it. That's when the trouble started. Now Ella's on a quest to find the fairy who gave her the gift and get her to take it back. I thought it was a pretty good movie... Quite funny in parts too!

***~***

My headphones aren't working properly... I'm thinking maybe almost a year of being used pretty much every day has made it's mark on them. LOL! Anyway, I keep losing sound in one ear piece, and they keep making a bit of a buzzing sound from time to time. The sound quality in the other ear piece isn't exactly great any more either.

I've unplugged them at the moment and am using the laptop's own speakers, but they aren't the greatest. Besides, I prefer to use Jaws through the headphones so I can concentrate on what it's saying without other noises interupting it. Not to mention the fact I started using headphones in the first place because it was annoying having certain people asking "what did it say?" or "did it say what I think it said?"

So I guess I need a new pair of headphones ASAP!

***~***

I haven't gotten much reading done, since it seems like every time I pick up a book to start reading I get interupted either by the phone (home phone or mobile) or by something else.

It also doesn't help that Kero has decided that two things have to happen when I pick up a book.

1). He has to investigate the book (I think he's trying to figure out the raised dots on it... LOL!)

2). He has to go outside for a pee, but - even if the door is wide open - needs a human escort... And guess who he wants. Yep... ME! Kelly could even be out there doing something, but he still wants his Mami. Still, it's nice to be wanted, I suppose. LOL!

***~***

For anyone interested...

Remember the PJs I got the other day? Well the bottoms (despite being labeled as the same size) aren't the same size as each other. I tried on the hippo ones and assumed all would fit because the hippos did. Nop! The other three pairs were too small. Luckily though, Mam had had a simular thing happen only with them being too big for her. And, even more luckily, I wear a slightly bigger size than my Mam. So we did a swap.

I've now put the hippo bottoms to go with my Westie top, because Mam had a pair of green bottoms that we both agreed would be even better than the hippos to go with the frog top. The other tops were: A pink one with clouds and words like "sweet" "cute" etc all over it, and a white one with cupcakes (or is it one cupcake? I don't remember) on it. As it turned out Mam had a pair of pink bottoms with hearts all over them and a pair of white bottoms with a bit of pink around the waist, both of which were too big for her but fit me. I'm sure you can figure out which tops we put them with.

***~***

OK... On that note... I think that's enough from me for one day. So... Enjoy whatever's left of your day. :)

Tori

Random question: Energy level

Everyone is different. Some people are most active/energetic in the mornings. Others are more active/energetic in the evenings. Still others - like my Mam - just seem to have a high energy level all the time.

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but I was just wondering... At what time of day do you find you have the highest energy level? Or are you one of those people who is energetic all the time?

Tori

"Smile and the world smiles with you; Cry and you cry alone!"

I've heard that quote many, many times over the years. At one point I actually had it atatched to my e-mail signature for every e-mail account I owned (which was a lot at the time... Something like 8, I think). But it's only over the past year or so that I really learned what it meant. And all because of events that started about 18 months ago.

I've tried several times to write this post. But it's a difficult one to write. I wanted to tell you all how I suffered in silence - not even wanting to admit the truth to myself - for about 7 months before I was forced to admit the truth. And how it was a couple more months after that that I was finally forced to admit to the rest of the world that the day the doctors had told me would come "one day" was finally here.

I wanted to explain the pain (physical and emotional) that I have felt. The fear, the frustration, the anger and the lonelyness that caused tears to flow so often. And I wanted to tell those that have been there for me through all of it how greatful I am. But I couldn't find the right words.

That quote I've used as the title for this post was the key to me finding the words. But only now that I understand the true meaning of it can those words flow freely. Only now when I've learned what it means by "cry and you cry alone" can I truly understand it and move on to the next chapter of my life.

Tori

"In a universe so full of wonders, human beings have managed to invent boredom!"

"Death" said that near the end of "The Hogfather" and I always think of it whenever I'm feeling bored and fed up. He has a point. There are so many things to investigate and learn about in our world... And yet human beings still manage to become bored!

I'm not really sure what the point of that was... It just sort of popped in! I don't know why, because I'm not bored or anything... Guess I was just having one of those "random thought" moments that make my Mam and Kelly say, "Uh-oh!" LOL!

Anyway...

The reason for actually starting this post was to tell you that I've posted some new poems on my poetry page if you want to go take a look at them. I'm afraid most of them aren't exactly cheerful, but they're there all the same. And - as always - any and all comments are appreciated. :)

Tori

Happy Anniversary to...

We just wanted to do a quick note to say, "Happy Wedding Anniversary," to AliceKay and her hubby, Terri. :)

I hope the two of you have many more happy years together. *Hugs*

Tori, Kelly & Kero

Random Question: 1 Item

If you were being forced to give up everything you owned, but were told you could pick ONE item to save. What would that item be?

Before you decide, bear in mind that necessities like food, clothing, etc aren't included in this. Those things would still be provided regardless of your choice of item. I'm asking about personal items (a favourite book, a special piece of jewelry, a treasured photograph, that sort of thing).

Tori

Random Question: Your picnic basket

If you were going on a picnic and had to pack a basket of your favourite picnic foods to take with you, what would your picnic basket contain? Don't forget the drinks! :)

Tori

Tuesday in Swansea

The weather's still pretty lousy... Typical Welsh weather for the most part though. That storm carried on pretty much all night (not sure if it came to more than heavy rain and really strong winds though). I'm kinda glad today wasn't as bad though because I was out for the day... Well, most of the day anyway.

I went to Swansea with Mam and her friend Kelly. I usually avoid going shopping (especially clothes shopping) but I needed some new PJs... Partly thanks to ripping the leg of my best pair beyond repair when I hurt my knee last week... So I had no choice. Still... It was a nice day out, and the weather stayed reasonable (it rained, but mostly just when we were in shops or in the car).

I got a new pair of Dalmation print PJ bottoms to go with the top that I'd ripped the bottoms from, which has Westies on it (OK... They're Scotty dogs, not proper Westies, but still...) and I also got three other pairs of PJs. Two of them I don't remember what's on them... They're just "girly" PJs Mam picked out with "pretty" tops and plain pink bottoms (I think she said the bottoms are pink anyway). I did know what they had on them when we were in the shop, but I don't remember now. The other set I think AliceKay would like. At least, she'd like the top part. It has a big picture of a frog on the front and lots of little froggy pictures all over it (the big frog is tactile). The bottoms have hippos on them because they didn't have froggy bottoms and I thought frogs and hippos sounded like a fun combination. In case you haven't figured out by that last sentence, I buy the tops and bottoms seporate and just match them up. I do this because I find the PJ tops that come with the bottoms too short in the body, so I buy just the bottoms then buy some of those t-shirt style nighties - the ones that are quite short so people often wear something with them anyway - to use as tops. There... Now you can sleep tonight knowing about my PJs, which I'm sure you were bursting to know about... LMAO!

Anyway...

While I was in Swansea I went in to Waterstones to ask about a book (actually... three books, but it's all one set) that I'm trying to get on audio book. I heard the second one read on BBC 7 (a radio station I get through my DAB digital radio that reads out audio books) and enjoyed it, so I'm trying to find it on audio book for myself. So far I'm not having much luck. :(

The trilogy is by "Michael Molloy"... I don't remember the actual trilogy name, but the books are: "The Witch Trade", "The Time Witches" and "The Wild West Witches" (in that order). So if you happen to spot them on audio cassette or CD (CD preferably, but cassette would be OK) then I'd appreciate it if you could let me know where you spotted it so I can get it. Thanks! :)

***~***

After I got home I watched "Stuck On You" and "Shark Tale"... I know I've posted on my blog about them before at some point. So - since I'm tired - I'm going to just say I think they're good movies and leave it at that. If you want to know about them but can't find info about them in my old posts then ask me in the comments or look them up.

Tori

Monday's movie reviews

I didn't have anything I needed to do - or anywhere I needed to go - today, so I decided to watch a few movies and make a start on reading "Quidditch Through The Ages" (which I will tell you about after I've read it).

So... On to the movies!

The first one was "Daddy Day Care"... I'm sure I've posted about it on here before. Besides, you probably all know it... You know? The one where Eddie Murphy plays a dad who starts up his own day care service with his friend after he gets fired because there aren't any good alternatives to the posh, expensive preschool his son had just started going to. Anyway... It's a really funny movie. Or, I think it is.

Then I watched "Liar Liar"... Another funny movie! Again I'm sure I've posted about it before, but - just in case - I'll tell you that it stars Jim Carrey as a lawyer and dead-beat dad who's son makes a birthday wish that his dad couldn't tell a single lie for one whole day. And his wish comes true.

I also watched "The Water Horse" today. For those who don't know what it's about, here's what it says on the back of the DVD (copied from LadyStyx's comment on a post written a couple of weeks back):

"When a lonely young boy named Angus discovers a large, mysterious egg along the shores of Loch Ness, no one is prepared for what lies within. He soon discovers that the strange, mischeivious hatchling inside is none other than the Water Horse, the loch's most mysterious and fabled creature. But with the Water Horse growing ten times its size every day, Angus finds it increasingly hard to keep his new friend a secret."

It was a really good movie. Kelly was watching it with me and said he found the ending sort of sad. I see where he's coming from, but wouldn't say that myself. It was a bit of a tear-jerker for people who get very emotional when watching movies like "Free Willy" or "E.T." though. I don't mean the whole movie. I'm talking about the endings. Hope I'm making sense here. LOL!

***~***

You should hear the wind we have right now... Sounds like there's a pack of wolves howling at our door trying to get in. Not that I'd blame them with the way it's raining out there!

Tori

My Weekend + 2 book reviews (Warning: FD)

I finished listening to "The Day Of The Storm" by "Rosamunde Pilcher" on Friday. It was about a young woman who has never known any of her family other than her mother (who she hasn't heard from in some time). Then she gets a letter saying her mother is ill and to come to her. When doing this she finds out - for the first time - about her mother's family, and decides to go in search of them. And in doing so she finds more than she was looking for. It was a good story... Although the ending was sort of predictable. Well, part of it was anyway. Still, anyone who enjoys a story with a bit of a romantic feel to it without getting too mushy, would thoroughly enjoy the book.

***~***

My Mam was here for the weekend. We were going to watch "The Water Horse" but I think she wants to finish watching the Full House DVDs first really, so I told her to do that and said I would just watch the movie through the week some time. So that's what she did. I've seen all of the Full House DVDs now, but luckily I enjoy them so much that I didn't mind watching them again with Mam.

Yesterday (Saturday) we had a peppered steak thing in a roll for lunch, and we had a bit of ginger cake and some "weight Watchers" carrot cake to pick at through the afternoon too (didn't last long though, lol!) Then we had some duck spring rolls and curly fries for dinner. Needless to say, we enjoyed the lot of it! :)

We had a house full for dinner again today. Mam cooked a roast chicken dinner for me, Dad, Nan, Wayne and Kelly (Kero and Willow got some chicken too). Mam herself had some kind of low fat steaklet thing with vegetables though. I think she was feeling guilty about the cakes and stuff yesterday and wanted to make up for it. ;)

They all went home pretty much straight after dinner, so I spent most of this afternoon finishing up reading the book I've been refering to as "the vet book" and catching up on posts on people's blogs.

The book is actually called "James Herriot's Yorkshire Stories" and is written by "James Herriot" himself. It contains several short stories about things that happened to James (AKA "Jim") during his time as a vet in Yorkshire, and is - in my opinion - a very good read... Especially for people who enjoy reading about animals and vetenary work. Although... It may be a little too graphic for some in parts of some stories when he's examining some of the animals. Anyway... There is a TV series (or was) that goes along with it. I don't remember if the book or the TV series was made first though. I never really watched the TV series... No real reason why, I just didn't... So I can't say how good that was, but the book was good.

It's actually taken me almost 10 years to read that book. Not literally to read it... Just to get around to sitting down and reading the whole thing. You see it was brought for me for Christmas almost 10 years ago by Maggie (a "support assistant" from school) and for one reason or another I never finished reading it. I started it loads of times, but then it would get packed away to move and I'd forget I was reading it and start reading something else. Or I'd decide I felt more like reading something else so put it away with the intension of getting it back out to read when I was done with the book I'd put it away because of, only I'd forget I'd planned on reading it and read something else afterwards instead (if that makes sense). But I've finally read it! YAY ME! LOL! :)

Anyway...

Enjoy whatever's left of your day... And... I hope you and your family and/or friends are happy and healthy. :)

Tori

Random question: Movie snacks

We all know how it works... You settle down to watch a movie and you just "have to" have those favourite snacks of yours to hand. So, come on then... What are your favourite things to snack on (and drink, if you want to include that) while you watch a movie?

Tori

Books, movies and this & that (LBE & FD)

Note to Potter fans: You might want to go take a look at the latest post on Kelly's blog. It contains news about the next Harry Potter movie, which you will probably want to read.



On the subject of movies... I watched a couple yesterday.



One was "Cheaper By The Dozen" the other was "Junior." For those who don't know, "Cheaper By The Dozen" is about a couple who has 12 kids (aged between 22 and about 4 or 5 years old) and what happens when they try to reach for their other dreams while "trying" to keep all those kids in order. And "Junior" is that movie about when Arnold Schwarzenegger gets pregnant. I've seen both movies loads of times, but they are two of the movies I could watch over, and over, and over again. Especially "Junior" which is my very favourite Arnie movie (closely followed by "Kindergarten Cop"). Why exactly I didn't already have a copy is beyond me. I assume I must have thought I had it so not got it. But we checked when I was offered a copy, and I didn't have it for some reason... I realised when putting away my recently aquired movies that I don't have "Kindergarten Cop" either... *Looks Shocked* Will have to fix that in the near future.



***~***



I haven't done as much reading as I'd have liked to have been doing. I've read a little more of that vet book, and listened to half of that other Rosamunde Pilcher book I had from my Nan, and my Mam is reading a Pongwiffy book to me. But I haven't finished a book since finishing "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" so don't have any book reviews for you this week. I've spent so much time watching movies and doing other stuff that I haven't done much reading.



Anyway...



Almost all of the books I had on order FINALLY arived this morning. So I now have a tidy sized stack of books to read. There are a few still to arrive; a couple of Christmasy books, a book of poetry, a recipe book and a couple of short stories. But the bulk of the books I had on order have arrived now.



I've abandoned the idea of having the books I haven't read yet beside my bed like I used to though. That idea just doesn't work too well with braille books. Braille books are a fair bit bigger than print books (the smaller ones are usually A4 sized in height, and most are slightly taller and wider). So I've decided it will be better to leave the books on their shelves and only have the one I'm reading beside my bed. Otherwise I'm going to have this big pile of books beside my bed and I wont be able to get to my bedside cupboard... Or even my bed! Besides, it keeps them safer, since it's not a good idea to have weight put on braille books, so I don't want to risk them getting stepped on by either myself or Kero.



***~***



I haven't done any more work on that story about "The Adventures Of Zararose" either. No real reason for this. I guess I just haven't felt like working on it lately. I figure I'll get to it soon though, I'm sure.



And, on the subject of writing...



I haven't been working on putting those poems together either. Again, no real reason why I haven't gotten to them. I guess I just haven't been in the right frame of mind to work on writing poetry (or stories) lately.



***~***



We had Mam and Dad over for dinner Wednesday. Mam made a vegetarian lasagne with roast potatoes and peas, which was really nice... Though I have to admit I prefer her ordinary lasagne. And she made Welsh cakes. They turned out pretty good, but she made the mixture a little dryer than she should have and cooked them a little longer than necessary. But considering how long it's been since she last made them I think she did a great job.



We had Wayne over for dinner too, because he came back from being away with the cadets on Wednesday and was due to be dropped off at the bus station near us around dinner time. So rather than him catching a bus home with his bags when Mam and Dad were here anyway we thought it made more sense to have him come to us and be included for dinner.



I felt kinda sorry for him though. By the time he got to us Mam and I were engrossed in alternating between sorting the food and reading Pongwiffy. And Dad and Kelly were watching an Anime DVD (I think it was a series... "Blood Trinity" I think). This left Wayne wandering from one room to the other not sure who to join in with. Kero didn't mind though, because he decided the best option was to go and take Kero out for a walk... Or was it Kero who walked him? I'm not too sure... They both seem to have enjoyed it though. LOL!



***~***



My knee seems to be healing nicely. It's still a little sore,, and apparently has a nasty looking bruise on it... Not to mention the cuts. But other than that it's fine. The swelling has almost completely gone down, and I can now use it normally without - as I put it to Kelly - sounding like I was raised by a group of sailors... If you know what I mean. LOL!



I've decided I'm going to get a fire guard to put around the fireplace since - believe it or not - banging my knee (or anything else) on the fire guard will do a lot less damage than banging it on the fireplace again would. The fireplace is VERY hard, and there are nails near the bottom of it where we've tacked the wire for the phone and internet hub so it doesn't get tripped over (those nails are what caused the actual cuts). Besides, I wouldn't want to be doing something like that when the fire is lit, because - with how close to the fire I ended up - it would have been much worse if the fire had been lit. So we're going to get a fire guard... Better safe than sorry, after all!



***~***



The weather hasn't been too good lately. I think the UK has missed out on having Summer this year. Every time we've thought it might have arrived the rain has come back. Mind you, I don't think it's been much better in most other places, has it? Bet it's nice in Africa though... *Wishing - for the umpteenth time - I could have gone on Safari with Carl and Rachel*



Rain has been the main type of weather. Rain, rain, and more rain! We've had the odd bit of sun, but not much of it. And we've had some awesome storms (mostly at night though... Which I'm sure Mam is pleased about). Not sure what the temperature has been, but that's not important really anyway.



OK, I think that covers everything. So... I'm going to go eat some shortbread and drink this cup of tea Kelly's just made me... And maybe I'll do some reading too...



Hope everyone who's not been doing too well is doing better now. *HUGS and get well wishes to all who need them*



Enjoy the rest of your day. :)



Tori

The dog and the frog (Warning: AE&D)

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but kept forgetting.

You might want to avoid eating or drinking while reading this post.

Anyway...

Please bear in mind that this is second hand information to me. I wasn't far away when it happened, but I was far enough away not to have been aware of the goings on in the garden until Kelly told me afterwards.

So...

Kelly and Kero were out in the garden one evening a couple of weeks back. Kero seemed really interested in something, so Kelly went and had a look to see what it was. It turned out to be a frog (at least, we're pretty sure it was a frog rather than a toad because of the colouring and the jumping ability).

Anyway, Kero was sniffing at this frog when it jumped up in to the air... Making Kero jump back about a foot or so. Kelly thought Kero would avoid the frog after that. But... No! He rushed back to it, startling the frog and making it jump again.

This went on for some time... The frog jumped, so Kero jumped. Kero pounced, so the frog jumped again... And so on.

After a while though Kelly wanted Kero in so we could all go to bed.

It took a while to persuade Kero to leave his new froggy friend. But when - eventually - he gave in and listened, he decided he had to stop to do one thing before coming inside.

"And what was that one thing?" I hear you ask.

Pee on the frog's head.

LOL!

Poor frog probably never saw that coming.

And since then, almost every evening -(especially damp evenings) Kero's gone out and looked for his froggy friend.

He finds him (or another one just like him) quite often too. And when he does... He plays with him again for a while, then pees on him before going back inside.

LOL!

Tori