A Day in my Life

Thanks to Jenny over at Little Jenny Wren for hosting this once again. There should be a pretty little picture here from her site but it kept vanishing when I tried to post it, sorry. Hop on over and visit hers and you'll be able to see it - and see all the other Days people have posted about.

My day started far too early; Mog woke up at 3AM. I moved her around in her bed, put some music on quietly, and she settled until 4AM. I moved her around again, gave her some medicine, restarted her music, and then pottered about until I could hear she was asleep again. In all this I had my little shadow, Goway, who decided once the girls had gone to bed that he needed to see me at all times. He spent the afternoon happily ensconced in a cupboard, but come bedtime he cried whenever I went out of sight. So he spent the night curled at my feet, and got up to check on Mog with me each time.

The day proper started at 6.30. And properly properly when I dragged myself out of bed at 6.45 (aren't these details just thrilling to you all?). I staggeredslipped quietly into the kitchen and, as the kettle boiled, began to turn this
into a steak and kidney casserole for lunch. Yum. And practical; sling the lot into the oven and forget about it for the next four hours. We had a 'fridge full of milk and an oven already switched on for a few hours, so I threw together a nice rice pudding too. Complete with raisins and cinnamon.

By this time Comeback was making noises too, and insisting that there was a problem in the sunroom.
He was right, there was. A wall of stench hit me as I entered. One large puddle of vomit handily on the only rug in the room (why the rug? Lots of old towels for bedding, a litter tray, stacks of nice easy clean floor, and the cat vomits on the rug), and a litter tray in need of urgent attention. Both cats lined up staring at me willing to believe the other was responsible for the mess. Hmmm.

No photos (I did consider it, but realised that those non-carers amongst you might not actually appreciate them, aren't you grateful?), so instead enjoy the pleasingly scented lillies from our hallway which at least filtered the odour and prevented the rest of the neighbourhood complaining.
It is now a toss-up which is worse, stressed cat poo or antibiotic on a child's stomach poo. The jury's out.*

Mess cleaned up, litter tray and food bowls restocked, and the gratitude of the Woofcats was demonstrated by their sudden need to bat lumps of dried cat food across the floorloud purrs.

A knock at the door, and our carer was here.
She found Mog some smart clothes, made her obesiences to the Woofcats, and sorted her hair and teeth. I gave medicines, mixed Little Fish's breakfast up, and got myself ready for the day.

Little Fish did not wake up in a good mood.but cheered up after a bit of breakfast and the discovery that it was cold enough to wear a very pretty winter dress.

Three of us washed and dressed and more or less presentable, it was time to brave the fogto get to churchwhere it was my turn to help out with Little Fish's Sunday School class. The realisation that I was not leaving her helped chase away the last of Little Fish's blues, and by the time the service was over, she was much happier and more than ready to meet Grannie who had arrived early for her service in order to restock the church's several first aid kits.

A quick chat with several church friends, and time to race home to stir the casserole. The fog had lifted completely as we were in church, so a beautifully clear sunny morning as we came home. As I opened the door to the house the fog appeared to make a swift return, and instead of beautiful cooking scents the air was filled with an acrid stench. My poor creamy rice pudding! Thankfully the casserole was safe enough, beautifully tender in fact, so I sorted out the dumplings for that and then whipped up a pineapple upside down cake for pudding.

Grannie and Grandad arrived after their service, Grandad mended my strimmer (hurrah, my strimmer is fixed. Boo, I have no excuse not to finish strimming the garden tomorrow), and then we ate lunch. Here's the replacement pudding. See those brown drips on the top? That's steak and kidney casserole, that is. Not my finest hour as a cook. It tasted ok though!

We like Grannies. She made short work of thiswhilst I sorted the girls out ready for the afternoon.

This afternoon we went to "Fun in the Park", which I could describe in great detail but was essentially an afternoon devoted to just that! Candy Floss and children's old-fashioned fairground rides, a climbing tower, and dozens of stands from local organisations. An operatic group, a brass band, and a Scottish Dancing cluball giving exhibitions, a more modern dance clubalso went through their moves, and as we left more musical things were happening, watched by half the town and a few of our local policemenWe walked back through the Abbey Groundsand then through the town and home again.

Little Fish's good mood was running out by this time, not helped by a problem with her powerchair which kept slowing to a crawl, despite not being short of battery. Mog's feed pump kept up a shrill shriek informing us of an urgent need to be serviced, and we were gathering as much attention as the dancers as we finally left. Definitely time to go home!

Back home and more tears from Little Fish as Grannie and Grandad had to go back home. Cries of delight from the Woofcats leading to more tears from Little Fish. Instant supper (cheese, yoghurt, mashed banana) and bed for Little Fish; Mog and I stayed up to watch a bit of television before she too succumbed to the sleepies.

Now Mog's back up pump has just beeped to let me know it's empty, Little Fish's ventilator has begun the regular shuffle and wheeze which means she's dropped into a deep sleep and is letting it do every single bit of the whole breathing thing for her. I have come online to write this and check some other stuff, Goway appears to have stolen Comeback's bed in the sunroom, and Comeback is sitting botl upright on the settee glaring at me and insisting I go and speak to him about sharing. I should go and sort out the school bags ready for morning, but I am scared of waking the girls, so will get up early tomorrow morning and do it then instead.

The curtains are drawn, the kitchen is still radiating a gentle heat from its cookathon this morning, the house is a mess, and I am off to bed with a book,

One last photo from today - I just love how the tree has grown over the window like this,
a house we passed on our way home this afternoon. For a while I lived in a house with ivy growing over one of the windows and it gave such a beautiful green light to the room. And then the landlord's men came and chopped it all down, leaving naked brickwork, but it was pretty whilst it lasted.

Night,
Tia
*and pleading hard never to return.