An update for February 2020

Jack has arrived!

Our boy was born on the 29th of December and I’ve been in a whirlwind of baby ever since.

Right now, I’m holding him with one hand and trying to type with the other. Motherhood will make you learn to improvise all sorts of things, I’ve noticed. (Eating with one hand. Sleeping with your hand in a cot. Having your husband hold the baby while you go to anywhere other than the bed because, otherwise, the baby cries when you set him down. Etc.)

Aside from trying to keep the baby’s weight up, which is ironic since my whole pregnancy was devoted to worrying about what a big baby he was, I have been trying to get out and about and stay active. This photo was taken during our first walk at the park.

Now, since I am pretty much stuck to the house and can’t really do much more than watch TV while I feed the boy, I have plans on how to keep myself sane during my maternity leave.

First: exercise. The easiest thing to do now, aside from sitting in bed all day, is to walk with the baby in the pram. I try to find places to take him during the week while Mister P. is at work, so that the day differentiates to the night.

Second: writing. Now, this is tricky because I can only type one handed at the moment (Jack hates the baby bouncer I have in the computer room, otherwise, I’d let him sit in there for a few minutes and give myself typing time.) So, its going to have to be me taking the laptop to a café and letting him sit in the pram.

I’ve decided to start with the basics, such as the blog (ta dah!) and maybe start some Medium stories. I was planning on writing something in draft form for Wattpad but I’ve also discovered Substack and Scribophile. (Has anyone used either?)

Third: bullet journal. This may not seem important on one’s list of to-dos but I dearly miss it. I’ve tried to grab snippets of time when I can use both hands for a quick weekly spread, or a list of TV shows to watch (because that’s pretty much all I do these days). But without the zen-like ability to quietly sit at my desk while I find the perfect washi tape, or look at tutorials on YouTube for making great Valentine’s Day doodles, it’s just not as fulfilling as it could be. Still, I’m grateful for whatever time I can use for organization and preparedness.

Fourth: reading. Well, this one does have options that I’m pleased about. I have the Kindle app on my phone, so I don’t have to go digging around for my Kindle or the book at the side of my bed. The trouble is, I’m only going to read a page at a time before I either get distracted by the baby or I start to nod off. Still, plenty of time to read for a few minutes when I’m said somewhere with the pram.

And those are my main objectives for the next bunch of months. Nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary. I suppose they’re resolutions of sorts but all of them take the back seat when it comes to being a mother and focusing my attention on Baby Jack.

But with that said, I hope everyone had a fab Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A rainy Sunday for packing and doggie sitting

So, it's Sunday and a lot has been going on lately.

First off, we having an official moving date scheduled so hopefully everything will be sorted by the time and we can get out of the flat and into our new house – the future Pick Manor!

For those of you from the United Kingdom, you’ll know what an absolute pain it is to move. You’re never sure if anyone will really, really buy your property, so even if they say they’re buying the place, they could potentially pull of of the sale at any time. We’ve looked at a handful of houses where the owners have said, “Well, it was sold and we spent two months packing and finding a new place, then the buyer changed their mind or didn’t get the funding.” That’s why I didn’t let myself get too excited about any of this until they had an actual date set. I’m still going to wonder if things will fall through because we have an appointment next week to sign contracts. (Pray for us, ya’ll.)

Aside from the two weeks to get our act together, our goldendoodle girl, Daisy, has become an official teenager. She’s now 11 months old and gone into season. Now we spend most of our days keeping her in the computer room (where I sit now, typing this up for you) while we keep her company. She’s peed on the bedroom carpet and the mattress, which I’m still trying to get clean. (Try baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and dishwashing liquid if anyone is reading this.) If we don’t sit with her, she barks and barks and barks. Apparently, according to the internets, she’s feeling vulnerable and needs us to be around to reassure her. Also, she’ll pee more often (no kidding) and she’s marking her places that are hers which is our bedroom, mainly.

I guess we’re her humans and she’s protecting us? Who knows what’s going on in her doggy brain, but I’ve told her that she’s not getting a boyfriend, so she can forget going to the park or doggie daycare for a while. I just hope this is over by moving day time. (Again, send the prayers and good vibes!)

Today we’ve been packing and my job is to tackle the closet where all of my precious clothes are kept. (This is all while I’m trying to scrub out pee smells here and there in the bedroom.) It’s been raining a lot and with the heat, it’s still humid, so our plan is to hit the gym and try to keep up the training. How I’ll ever get marathon ready, I don’t know. Heck, I’ll walk if I need to. Screw it.

Also, I’m now loving Will Smith’s Vlog (I’m totally motivated to create a vlog now. Don’t care how cliché it is!) and OITNB Season Six. My current books are Stephen King’s The Green Mile, Holly Bourne’s Are We all Lemming and Snowflakes, and R.L. Stine’s You May Now Kill the Bride (Return to Fear Street #1) because holy crap did I love love love these books in high school!

Speaking of which, on kind of a melancholy note, it really makes me sad to enter into autumnal new school season and not be able to feel the excitement of wearing a new tartan skirt and tights, and have the feel of Fall being new and full of opportunities. I was looking at clothes in the MetroCentre yesterday and feeling down about how there’s never going to be a reason for me to want or need to dress up like I used to. I know at any age you can wear what you want and feel as good as you allow yourself, but, honestly, does anyone care if you look cute after age 40?

Anyway, I’m sure that once I get this weight off and I’m feeling healthier, I’ll be way more inclined to attempt at looking nice. And with that said, I’m off to the gym in the pouring rain.

Have a great week, everyone!

Things that won’t happen in 2018

New Year's Resolutions. I usually do them, but this year, I'm not so sure I should bother.

Last year I put something like I was going to do well at my job, eat better, exercise more, write my books, read my books, and be a genuinely 100% perfect individual. It didn’t happen, or actually it happened in moments, so maybe I did okay in the end, but if I were to write the same tired goals down, I’d just be wasting time and kidding myself.

So here’s what’s not going to happen in 2018:

I’m not going to finish a book. I know that because as has been for the last two years, I do not have time. My job is an on-the-go kind of job so I don’t sit and ponder my next scene as much as I used to. I’m also around people all the time, so I can’t focus on anything creative. I only really feel myself and focused on creative tasks when I’m home for a few days (like Christmas and New Year’s Day). Sure, I can write a few paragraphs here and there, but it doesn’t amount to anything. I could write short stories, but I gave that up a long time ago. I could piece the stories together, sure, but that would take planning and organization which, again, takes time that I don’t have.

I won’t read more. This is from the same exact reasons as the writing, although I do have time set aside for reading, I usually spend it staring off into space on the bus, or looking at my phone. I still buy books and I still like to promote them on my blog but I only recently updated my Currently Reading list on Goodreads, and it’s sort of a lie. I’m reading It, got two from Santa. I bought a couple on the £.99 Kindle sale before Christmas too.

The eating more healthy is a tricky one because that’s a big priority for me, so tell you what, I’ll really try to accomplish this one. As much as the non-writing makes me so disconnected from myself, not taking care of myself is rotten. I can’t dress up. I can’t feel good. I haven’t been able to go to Weight Watchers in ages because inevitably something happens after work on Wednesdays and I never get there. Now we have the dog, so I can’t go straight to a meeting on my half day because I have to go home and check on her. Every other Wednesday maybe or just bite the bullet and go to the super packed evening meetings (even though there is limited parking at our gym even in the afternoon on weekdays). But, whatever, if I don’t let the work schedule drain me of all motivation to do anything other than eat Greggs for lunch, then fine, I’ll do it.

Exercise. Okay, this is maybe do-able. Again, with the dog, I’ll have to be outside more and walking with her. I get up early with her anyway, so I have time to get outside and maybe make a breakfast that isn’t instant. Also, Steve and I have decided to do the Great North Run this year because everyone else loses weight from running, so this may be the only way I’m going to get motivated to do the same. We jogged a bit in October but once the dog came around and the cold set in, we stopped and adjusted our schedules around her. As she gets older, hopefully the time needed to take a run will be available.

Live in the same flat. We put ours up on the market yesterday. Now, since England has funny rules about house purchases, you won’t be “taken seriously” by a seller of a house until you have “money in the bank” with your property already sold. Doesn’t matter if you have been guaranteed a mortgage based on your income and amount your current mortgage is. Even if you’re going to sell, you have to do it first, end up without a place to live, so we may have to live in rented accommodation for a while, until we can find a new place to live. Apparently this is their “property chain” that’s totally common and no one questions it. Also, if you make an offer on a house, you’re not legally obligated to go through with the sale. You can put in offers for all sorts of houses and decide on one. Most places we’ve looked at so far (although they tell you not to bother since no one thinks anyone actually has money to buy anything) told us that their house was sold, but two months down the line the buys pulled out of the sale. This is normal, I take it, and no doubt will be stuff we’ll have to deal with with the sale of our place. But hopefully this year, we will get it sold and move into a house in the same area. (Or America??)

Just be a foreign resident of England. I applied for my UK citizenship last October. I’ve had my fingerprints done and all the fines paid, so I’m just waiting for a letter to say I can go to a swearing in ceremony in town. Exciting!

Now, I’d say I’d expect a family to turn up and to get a certificate in Computer Science, but those are things I’d really like to have happen and I don’t know if I’m going to get there by December. Hopefully though, I can have all those little hopes and dreams reached so I can have new ones for next year. (Or at least go back to the tried and true ones for 2019).

Anyway, hope everyone has a Happy New Year and hope 2018 treats you well.

Being busy and being productive

Busy. We're all busy. We feel guilty if we're not busy, but we have to pace ourselves.

Now that I'm working full time, I've decided that I do want it all - work and writing. But I work late hours and only get one day at a time off (usually). So I have to give myself time to do all the other things I want to do when I can and in whatever increments I can handle at the time.

I read on the bus during my commute. I've tried writing on the bumpy bus, and it's more bother than it's worth with the typos.

Steve and I have given up on going to the grocery store on Sundays. We want to sleep in, eat breakfast, drink tea and coffee, and chill out. Since stores close at 4PM here on Sunday (even "24 Hour" stores aren't legally allowed to be open late) we simply don't have time to get the shopping done.

I've figured out that if I do the laundry right when I get home on Saturday night, I have a better chance of dry socks and work clothes by Monday morning. Before, I was trying to do that and shop and have family time all on Sunday. It just isn't feasible.

So, I've adjusted my schedule. I tackle what I can each day.

We're so worried about word count, but I really need to take the time to edit too . Now I know that the editing is the hardest, most time consuming process and I just can't think about submitting to a publisher or Smashwords before I do some editing and rewriting bit by bit, when I can.

I have a list of things to do every night when I get home: eat dinner, take a shower, talk to my parents, visit with Steve, pack Steve’s lunch, and get into bed by 11PM at the latest. It doesn’t look like much as a short list, but everything needs time and with only 4-5 hours each night to get everything done, there’s a lot of other things I’d like to do, but I just can’t.

I started to believe that busy was productive, and the opposite of lazy. The "no excuses" opinion of the masses is that we should have time to do everything , every day. If I have errands, I can't go to the gym. If I go to the gym, I can't get errands or shopping done, plus get writing and editing done. There just aren't that many hours in a day. Plus, if you run yourself ragged, you never have time to recuperate from the rushing around you do the rest of the week.

So, take your time, do what you can, do your best, and don't let the world pressure you into being on half empty all the time.

Catch up before summer break

Things I’ve done lately:

• Watched the director’s cut of Alien at the Tyneside.
• Kept up with World Cup semi-finals.
• Watched Kasabian, Metallica, Jack White, and Dolly Parton at Glastonbury. (Lana Del Ray was so boring live.)
• Baked cupcakes for 4th of July (even though I’m in England.)
• Taken down and put up displays in the classroom (cutting and pasting are not my forte.)
• Read Never Let Me Go, and started Age of Miracles.
• Started my gym membership again.
• Went to the North East Retro Gaming event (lots and lots of pinball and old arcade games to play.)
• Watched some more of Breaking Bad and finished Fargo.
• Had two of my ten objectives for my Teaching Assistant course signed off.
• Ben Folds. (Planning on seeing him Friday – Steve’s choice. He’s trying to show me why I should be a fan. All I know is ((awful)) Brick and You Don’t Know Me.)

Things I’ll do over break:

• Write. (Enough said.)
• Read. (Ditto.)
• Edit. (I have a project that I’m putting off a 2nd draft because I just hate the story and don’t think it’s worth bothering.)
• Maybe go to London on a day trip. (Super excited about this one.)
• Try to go to Maths and English classes somewhere other than where I was going (my TA instructor agreed that I had every right to be angry about how stupidly those tutor sessions were being handled.)
• Get my hair done.
• Go to the nurse to ask her about my stupid knee.
• Exercise. (Swimming is on the agenda.)

Sports and charities

I’ve been bothered by this for a while, and I know I’m not alone in being confused by it, so I’m going to write a post and get it over with.

I’m not into sports. That’s nothing new. I kind of understand how it’s entertaining, but I don’t understand the obsession we have with it. It almost seems like Gladiator times, or The Hunger Games, to enjoy watching people risk injuring themselves and compete like that on television. It seems like the same thing over and over, but I understand being loyal and supportive of your city, or country.

However, I don’t understand why we have to associate sports with charitable donations. This included marathons as well as Sports Relief. I understand that people want to raise money and awareness. And I totally understand those who have been severely ill or injured and have been able to recover and be active again as well as help others with the same health issues. But why do we, as the public, only give to charity because someone will put themselves through pain and agony to do a race for a day or a week? Why doesn’t it have to be about sports?

I know when we had the London Olympics, people were all up in arms about how much money was spent on the events. Granted, I like the Olympics because it brings countries together in unified peace for a least a couple of weeks. So, why do we require people who aren’t professional athletes to do the same things in order for us to consider being charitable?

And the celebrities. This is what I really don’t understand. Celebrities are rich with rich friends. Do they really need to go through horrendous pain and almost kill themselves over a race so they can get people to donate money to help people in need? Are we that shallow of a community? Do we really need to see a television personality suffer, risk their life, put stress on their marriage and family, before we’ll give a dime to help other? Are we really that stingy that we need someone to physically prove themselves to us before we’ll drop a few coins in a donation bucket?

Personally, the charities that I give to are the ones where I am told, “Your money will go to do this specific good work for this specific group of people. Here are some good works we’ve already done for others. We have proof and video and testimony.” That makes me want to be involved. I don’t need to have someone convince me by running across the country. I don’t think anyone else should either.

Why do we need one person to entertain us with their “physical challenge?” I don’t even understand why that’s important. Benefits of exercise have to be continual. Why do we need to prove to ourselves that our bodies can be broken and twisted to make us feel alive? I’ve sprained my ankle jogging – that really sucked. But these people are in horrible pain and still run because they have to entertain us.

Because a celebrity survived a gruelling race that they chose to do on their own – is that the only thing that makes them strong, commendable, and an inspiration to others? Why do we feel we should we make idols of athletes and celebrities? They do what they do because they enjoy it and they’re good at it, just as we all should do, but it doesn’t have to be about sports.

People exercise every day. They do the Insanity workouts, and lift weights, and run all over the place to lose weight, gain muscle tone, and improve their health. It’s an on-going process that has to be kept up all the time. Some of them enjoy it, and they’d do it every day. Some people donate to charities on a regular basis already. This is why I don’t get why we force these two concepts together. Why do we need to see people physically labor for charities? Why do people feel they’ll let us down if they don’t almost break their bodies and their spirits? It really seem sort of sadistic to me.

“Will you help me help someone else?”

“I don’t know, what will you do to entertain me?”

“Um, I can run across the country and almost permanently damage my body.”

“Will it be on television?”

“Of course.”

“Okay then. Here’s £5.”

For those who do marathons to raise money for charities, I commend you. You’re doing something you believe in and if it’s helping people, great. I just don’t understand why people won’t help you, or others, when you’re not running, biking, or swimming.

#AugustBreak2013 Day 16

Only got half of my word count down today. I’m at the point where I know stuff needs to get going, but I don’t want to rush anything. I think I’m going to have to re-plot the rest of it. At least I know how I want the thing to end, so I have a main goal.

I didn’t go swimming today. I was this afternoon before my chiropractor appointment, but that stupid nauseated feeling from not having enough food thing started up. While I was doing Weight Watchers last year, I slept in on Sunday and hadn’t eaten for 12 hours. I ended up collapsing in the shower; dizzy and trying to throw up. I had a bite of banana and it went away immediately. Scary stuff. I went to the doctor and had my blood tested but everything was fine. When you search online about being nauseated from not eating, it’s usually hypo glycaemia, but I don’t have that.

On Saturday I had porridge and a banana and ended up feeling sick to my stomach a few hours later. Today the same thing happened and, again, the moment I have food, it goes away and I’m fine again. When we did our grocery shopping tonight I made sure to get plenty of fruit and sandwich makings. When I first had the stupid acid reflux problems about five years ago, it helped to have a bunch of smaller meals. I think I’m going to have to go that route again.

Tomorrow we’re going to have a nice leisurely day and maybe head to the pool together again. I’ll have to get my word count and plot organization all fixed up too.

#AugustBreak2013 Day 8

After hanging out this morning, I finally made myself go to the pool after lunch. As I’ve said before, the highway around here is blocked off on a lot of exits for road work, so I have to time my trips just right so I don’t get stuck in too much traffic.

I really didn’t feel like going to the pool today because it becomes really boring. Back and forth. Back and forth. No music. No audiobook. Back and forth.

However, today the pool was kind of busy and me and an elderly gentleman were trying to make our way back and forth around the kids who were swimming in the big lap pool. (There’s a medium sized pool for the little kids and their parents too.) In the big pool there were some teenaged kids who were pretty respectful of other people’s space, and I was able to get around them all right. However, this one couple and their middle school aged son just didn’t get it.

Usually I try to stay in the pool for 30 minutes. In that whole time, the couple (in their 30s, so they should have known better), kept splashing each other and floating and playing back and forth horizontally in the pool, across four lanes. Now, most people see where someone is trying to make a lane for themselves to swim in, but these people just didn’t care or understand. Two other elderly people came in to swim as well, and in that 20 minutes that we were all there, that couple with the kid apologized to each of us for getting in our way.

That didn’t stop them though. You’d go past them, and they’d just float, splash, wander right back through the lanes. At one point an elderly lady (who was going a heck of a lot faster than I was, bless her) ran smack into the mother. The father just grabbed a hold of the mother and stayed there, so the poor old dear had to try and squeeze past them. Even if they had just stayed in a general area, we could have all stayed away from them, but they did this through a quarter or the pool, so we couldn’t dodge them every time.

Anyway, I quit early, and stopped at the Angel of the North to take my self portrait (I don’t like the term “selfie”), per the theme for today. Ironically or not, the ice cream man, Mr. Whippy, drove off after I’d taken my picture and was thinking of getting a 99 ice cream cone. Blast!

I did, however, go on to Starbucks for my light triple caramel frappuccino. I tried out my AlphaSmart 3000, which was good, but I’ve discovered I’m very use to UK keyboards now, so I keep trying to add quotation marks by hitting Shift-2. I only wrote 560 some words today too but, alas, I did something, so I won’t beat myself up about it too much.

Tonight I finally tried to get rid of my bee situation. I found yet another unwelcomed intruder in the bathroom today as I was brushing my teeth (how are they getting in here?!) and I purchased some wasp, fly, ant spray at Homebase while I was out. I tried to shoot them from outside, but this isn’t that long, stream type stuff. I waited until it got dark and I didn’t see them hanging around outside the window. I discovered that they’ve built their little home in the window sill, so when I hear them moving around in there, they’re like right there in the window. *shudder*

I sprayed the little gap in the PVC frame and one little bugger got in and soon died from my wrath of spray. A second one was in there buzzing around (again, in the windowsill) but he finally stopped. No idea if I got any more of them, if I just made them mad, or if I convinced any of them to go away, but we’ll see tomorrow morning when twenty of them are dancing outside my computer room. *double shudder*

Finally, tonight I watched The Men Who Made Us Thin. It was all about how diets started as a business and they aren’t scientific or medically concocted with the consumer’s well being in mind. I always heard that diets were bad because you end up gaining more than you start off with, but I never knew the extent of it. Apparently, the weight-to-age-to-height charts that they first started using were just arbitrarily made up by some guy at MetLife who wanted to sell insurance, but doctors started using it as a guideline. Also, the University of Minnesota did a study in the 40s where they made men eat a 1500 calorie diet for six months and they went mad. Like chopped off their own fingers, tried to escape to eat grass, and tried to harm their roommates, because they were starving. Keep in mind that "The FDA recommends that women should consume 1500 to 2000 calories a day depending on whether they need to lose weight or maintain weight." Also, my beloved Weight Watchers confirmed that consumer failure is the reason they continue to stay in business. Consumers blame themselves, not the diet. Bottom line. Focus on health, not on weight.

And my link for today: Lauren Oliver Writes at Home (And On the Move). Before I Fall was written primarily on her Blackberry. I would type on my mobile if I had the patience. The article is great; she says she likes to just sit at home and write. Cafés mean getting dressed and going outside. Yup. Productivity and solitary confinement definitely go hand in hand.

A Case of the Mondays on 22 Apr 2013

I’m going to start a new label for my posts on Monday, just to keep myself focused on starting the week right. It’s so easy to slack off when you don’t have anything planned, or the written proof of that plan.

The following are my aims for this week:

• Monday and Friday – driving lessons
• Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday – available to do any supply teaching work that comes up. (The teaching agency told me they’d been quite busy, so chances are they’ll call me. Problem is they call in the morning when I have no clue what bus and where exactly I’m to be by 8:30. (Hence my need for the driving lessons.)
• Wednesday night – I could go to one of the meetings through Northumbria University to look into EYPS training. Since I am not doing very well at full time teaching work as is, maybe having some training in England will help. However, Early Years includes nursery schools and changing nappies (diapers); something I’ve not done before when I was training to read, write, compare, catalogue, and shelve books all day.
• Sometime during the week I’m going to have to go swimming, go to the gym, get some writing done at the cafe and such various other tasks that are standard for each week of my life.
• I will end up playing Sims 3 as usual too which I see as a stress relief mechanism rather than a time wasting activity.

Happy Monday!

Taking care of a bad back

In the past month, Steve and I have both been suffering from back trouble. I threw mine out in March when I was working at a Primary School (trying to put things in very short cupboards and sitting in very short chairs is a good way to do that.) But last Thursday, Steve had a whopper of an attack.

Steve had stayed home the week before last with body aches, plus the back feeling as if it was going to flare up. He rested and then went back to work without much trouble (taking the taxi to work, taking it easy, etc.) Thursday afternoon came around, and I was scheduled to go to the chiropractor at lunchtime. Steve called me up and said he’d hosed his back up really badly and I was going to have to come and rescue him.

I dashed down the hill, got some money and a taxi and headed to his workplace. When we got there his co-worker was helping him just get out of the building, so I knew he was bad off. When we tried to get him into the taxi, Steve couldn’t even sit, so I made the executive decision to call the ambulance. I figured if the cops want me to call 999 if a drunken man is shouting at me in a bus station, then calling them to come and rescue someone who is totally immobile isn’t out of order. I knew he was going to have to see a doctor, and I knew how bad off he had been before when he threw his back out last Spring, so I made my first emergency call in England.

After the dispatcher asked Steve a bunch of questions, his ride arrived. Two nice gentlemen in green uniforms helped him into the ambulance and gave him laughing gas to “keep his mind off the pain.” Then we proceeded to take our first ever British ambulance ride through Newcastle. I even joked that Steve knew how to show a lady a good time and it wasn’t even the weekend.

We arrived at the hospital, and the paramedic told Steve to take a couple of good hits off the laughing gas pipe before trying to get back down the ambulance steps and into a wheelchair. After I got us checked in, we waited in the A&E waiting room for a good while. The paramedic told us that for bad backs, the hospital usually just gives you a bunch of pain killers, but in his condition it was just fine by us, if he wasn’t having to sit at home in agony.

We waited for a total of 3 hours, and I had to eventually get Steve up onto one of the hospital beds while we waited in one of the rooms for the doctor to come by. Since I’ve been going to the chiropractor, I know a handful of tricks that alleviate some of the pain – lying instead of sitting is one of them. When the doctor finally came in, he wanted to see how well Steve could move around, and even had him get out of that bed by himself, which was agony for me to see and not be able to help him.

The doctor was so nice though, and he told us that a chiropractor was fine if we wanted to go, but to always find one who was officially licensed because anyone can call themselves a chiropractor without any credentials (I should have looked into that career before I started taking out loans for my college education.) Anyway, the doctor was sympathetic and said that muscle relaxants work really well but they don’t like to give them out because kids in Bigg Market love to take those as a party drug. (Something I never understood – wouldn’t you just want to sleep instead of go clubbing?)

Once Steve was up, he couldn’t sit again, and the doctor said he was going to give him some painkillers and suggested he get himself moving again, even if he starts taking up biking to get himself moving. He was in horrible pain after getting out of that bed on his own, but a nurse finally showed up with a little cup full of pills that I had to help him take because without holding on to his back, it would spasm. His whole body was contorted as well from the muscle contractions, so I knew he was worse off than he’d ever been. But after he took his medicine, we took a walk past Newcastle University and back into town. 30 minutes later, Steve was ready to stop at Starbucks and Krispy Kreme before heading back home (standing up on the bus worked well.)

Since then we’ve been hanging out here at home. I went to my rescheduled chiropractor appointment (he had credentials, by the way) and did more of my preventative measures so I don’t get myself in a bad situation as well. (Two of us being immobilized is just not going to work.) Now that both of us have had bad backs, we’re going to take the necessary steps to prevent the same problems in the future. Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

• Lying is better than sitting. Lie back on a couch when watching TV.
• Use cold packs at 10 minute intervals.
• Take ibuprofen and/or paracetamol with codeine (I can’t take codeine because it gives me terrible stomach aches.) Some doctors won’t give muscle relaxants but even if they give you one to take the initial edge off, it’s worth seeing a GP (or even the doctor in A&E as was in our case.)
• Don’t lift, carry, or bend over. Leaning forward in a chair is probably what caused the problem in the first place.
• Sit back in your chair. Use a pillow behind your back, and even use a foot rest if if helps when you’re at a desk.
• Bend with your legs. Put your hands on your thighs when getting back up.
• Moving helps the muscles. Swimming strengthens the back. Biking is good as well (get a Dutch style city bike first.)
• Don’t be a hero. If you can’t move quick enough to grab something, or can’t get up, that’s fine. Crawl if you need to. Ask for help.
• Don’t try to do anything too strenuous too soon. Slow and steady wins the race. You can easily hurt yourself all over again by getting in and out of the tub, or getting up too quickly out of a chair.
• Do back exercises that stretch your gluteus. Lying down means the gravity is going through your belly-button, not down your spine like some yoga moves that have your twisting in a sitting position (I have a friend in Florida who injured herself that way.)
• If you see a chiropractor, make sure they have credentials as some chiropractors are just there to take your money.
• Beds get blamed for the problem, but mostly the stiffness in the morning is from being stationary for 8 hours.

I hope no one has to deal with what we have, but if you do, I hope some of these things we’ve learned can help you. In these kinds of situations, being ignorant like we were, is not bliss.

So this is middle age?

I couldn’t think of a better title for this post, and I don’t even think this post will be very long. My back has gotten worse now that I’ve been home for over a week with pain. I went for a walk around town on Saturday, and I’ve taken my driving lessons, but somewhere along the line, I did something to make it worse. Steve thinks maybe I rushed the healing process too much (as I like to do with everything – I’m so impatient!) I was thinking that my one hour of practicing my parking and reverse around the corner manoeuvres in the car on Monday caused me to do a lot more twisting and turning than my poor back was ready for.

Anyway, I’m sitting here in the bed where I’m sort of comfortable. It takes me an age to get up though. I can’t sit anywhere for long, which is really irritating. I at least worked on my WIP more than usual yesterday, but the minute that I moved slightly in my little, yellow IKEA chair, I felt that familiar twinge of tightness in my back all over again.

I actually finished reading The Future of Us though, so maybe I can get into another book while I’m sitting around here helpless. I would blog more and write my review of the book, but, again, doing anything for long just ain’t happening.

I guess I’ve graduated to middle age, although I know plenty of people at all ages who hose up their back like this. Now I understand how awful this junk is and I don’t wish it on anyone.

On a bright note, I got a knock on the door from the Postman this morning. I didn’t even bother trying to get up because he would have been long gone by the time I got downstairs anyway. He left me a note saying I can pick up a letter that required my signature. I wonder if this is my Indefinite Leave to Remain biometric ID card I’ve been waiting for. I hope so.

Empty spaces

I decided not to go to the gym today. Instead, I kept my sniffly, coughy, stuffy self on the couch with some Lemsip. Steve is still not feeling well and we’re both totally tired of all this junk.

This means I’ve not gone to the gym. The Couch to 5K will have to wait until next week to pick the routine up again. I’m glad I did one day of it, just to see how it worked. I’ve heard conflicting advice that you should go to the gym when you’re sick. The most compelling argument I read to not go if that other gym goers don’t want germs. I still swear I’ve been sick in the past because I didn’t use the anti-bacterial wipes on the equipment before and after use. Plus, if it’s at all possible to get ill all over again from the flu germs, I don’t want to risk getting them.

Today will be devoted to working on my second Cupcake Witches novel. Plus, I have to phone Parcelforce and complain about the horrible state of the box we received from the US this week. I’ll also have to print out my Leave to Remain application form and get that all filled out. We have all of our necessary papers ready to bring along (plus some smashing ID pictures from the photo booth at Sainsbury’s while we were both in the midst of the flu wrath.) I’m also supposed to be receiving a delivery from Paperchase where I decided to buy some sale notebooks. As much as I want to give up on keeping paper journals, I always get new ones from time to time. The new year seemed like a good reason to have a new one.

The first week

Today I spent the morning on the couch, trying to get this stupid sinus headache/earache stuffiness to go away. I was awakened by the pleasant surprise of my Tassimo delivery, courtesy of my £20 voucher that I received in the box with the new machine. I think I’m set for quite a while. I also came home to a delivery of a Christmas gift that included a ton of Dunking Donuts coffee. My parents had sent me some Barnie’s Santa’s White Christmas coffee as well, so yeah, totally stocked up for months.

My biggest accomplishment today was going to the salon. I decided to ditch the highlights and go for an all-over natural dark brown. I only had my hair dyed at home (and I messed it up really bad on my own, I tell you.) so this was a treat. It was pricier than usual but now I only have to do the root touch ups to keep the tell-tale signs of age from creeping back on my scalp.

I bought Steve some more supplies since he’s still feeling badly. I hope we both get over this stupid flu soon. I’m tired of feeling like an invalid and I know he is too.

I was thinking tonight that after mentioning the blog post regarding how many blogs writers actually need, I’m going to go back to having my author website forwarded to the blog. I may cross post later on, but for now, I’ll just stick to this since my updates are all here.

Tomorrow I plan on going back to the gym for my second jog/walk of Couch to 5K. Wish me luck!

Starting the new year

Today I walked in with Steve, who went back to work at the office again. It was such a dreary morning, and we woke up at 7AM so that whenever I do go back to work, my 6AM wake up call won’t be as hard to get adjusted to. The morning was just rainy, grey and dreary. I commented that everyone is always excited for the new year but when it comes down to it, it’s depressingly the same. Steve agreed and was bored by the idea of sitting in a quiet office as the rain came down all day.

I decided to start my Couch to 5K podcasts from the NHS. I liked them because the podcast host didn’t count down my 60 second jog and 90 second walk. She just prompted me for each stage and the time went by really quickly. Before, I was trying to do the walk to jog method on my own and staring at that clock on the treadmill makes you want to hurl yourself (and the treadmill) through the gym window.

It also helped that I now have my Nook Simple Touch so I was able to download Along for the Ride from the library and read that during my walking sessions. (I finally got this achieved after spending all yesterday afternoon fighting to get my PC to recognize the Nook until I finally de-registered it and registered it again fresh before it would work.) I also took the new netbook to the library cafe and took some notes on what projects to work on. After knowing how many millions of indie authors there are out there (and how many talented writers who aren’t published yet), I feel so blah going into the effort again. But, hey, I have to keep doing it.

When I got home I played some Skyrim, took my nap to ward off the stupid cough and sinus headache/earache crap that I’m still plagued with. Steve came home with a Christmas box that my parents had sent that was to be delivered on the 24th of Dec but since no one was at reception in his office, it was apparently put into a very wet depot until today. Every article of clothing we received in the presents had to be washed to get the mildew out of them. The magazines and mail was ruined and even the wrapping paper was damp. I’ll be phoning Parcel Force tomorrow to tell them uncalled their treatment of our mail has been.

Steve was ready to move to the US after today. Once we get my driver’s license and Leave to Remain we can do that whenever we want. Of course there are those pesky US Government loops to hop through. Yay.

Tomorrow it’s off to get my hair done (no highlights this time, just all over dark.) And I got my author update that Ali’s Pretty Little Lies is available now. Wee!

Adios 2012

All right. Last post of 2012. I finished a book, taught for six weeks, got the flu, passed my Life in the UK test, lost *some* weight, and got more accustomed to living here.

So, as I posted the last time, I'm not feeling the whole New Year's resolutions thing. I know what I'd like to get done but I'm not going to devote the year to it - that will make anything last for less than the month of January.

I want to work on a second writing project that I don't plan on talking about much. I expect to be on Twitter less and I don't think I'll be using Instagram anymore (I stopped using it when I was working & didn't miss it.) I do have a few paper notebooks coming for me to write anything that I don't want in the blog. I also have a netbook so I can write when I'm out.

But this is just adjusting the way of life and dealing with situations. There aren't any big goals because what I want to get done will get done...eventually. The next project, my driving test, another job, the blog, books read, etc. That will all just work its way out. Even if I started jogging again - in some way, it will happen.

Ten Things I've Never Done

Paris, France by garycycles6

I found this idea from Suzie Tullet’s blog but it took me forever to think up a full list.

It took a lot of thinking to come up with some good items for this list. I think I've at least tried most things people like.

1. I've never been on TV or the radio. I know people who were on TV because of minor acting gigs or been interviewed by the news. I know people who have called in or been guests for radio shows. I have never done either.

2. I've never gone skydiving or bungee jumping. Never will. I am not an adrenaline junkie. My sister-in-law loves skydiving even though her parachute didn't open, she broke both her legs and, well, could have died. On the same token, I’ve never flown a plane. I’ve never driven a motorcycle either (I’ve tried a scooter but not a Vespa.) I often thought maybe I’d enjoy learning to fly but now that I know how hard it is to drive in the United Kingdom, maybe not.

3. I've never seen The Sound of Music. I’ve never seen all of Grease either. I don't like musicals. When I first saw A Nightmare Before Christmas, I left the theatre because there was so much singing. I have been to musicals at our local theatre when I was a part of it but once, during a production of Carousel, I fell asleep. I’ve seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Chorus Line when it used to be on Encore a lot – they weren’t too bad. I've learned to appreciate the music in Disney movies. However, I would never go to see Les Miz or Phantom of the Opera live. I was forced to see the trailer for the star-studded musical movie version of Les Miz – I don’t care how much money they put into that or how amazing the fact that they’re singing live will be, I’d never see it. (Now, the non-singing movie with Claire Danes was fine.) I just get really uncomfortable and embarrassed when I see the singing stuff. I tried to watch Glee once and turned it off the minute the singing started. It's just not my thing.

4. I’ve never met anyone famous. Since I’ve lived in the UK I’ve seen The Queen with Prince Philip and recently I saw Kate Middleton with my own eyes, but I’ve never met a member of the Royal Family. My in-laws have met Daniel Craig and John Lennon’s family and there’s even some ancestral ties to George Washington but not me. I’m not related to anyone famous, nor have I ever shook a famous person’s hand. I’ve never been backstage at a show or even spoken to a new, up-and-coming band even though The Strokes use to hang out in the club I frequented in Orlando.

5. I’ve never had a professional pedicure. I’ve had my nails done a handful (get it?) of times in my life but I, honestly, could have done better in some instances. I liked the little hand dryers they have though but I know you can buy those to use at home. I know some women get their mani-pedis as often as they buy Starbucks coffee (and even have their little girls coming along) but I’ve never bothered. Getting the fancy spa treatments, yes, I loved doing that once a month or so when I was working.

6. I’ve never gone to a spinning class. Exercise for me is a solitary event. I read my book while on the bike or the elliptical, use the weight/tension LifeFitness machines, then head to the cafe. I use to run on the treadmill a bit, then I finally twisted my ankle. Being unable to walk is not worth it to me. (Though I’m all for having my husband, the ex-marathon runner, train me to jog.) I like my Wii and the Kinect. I’ve been to yoga class by myself and with my friends before. I’ve taken dance and gymnastics classes a lot as a kid and into my high school years. But, nope, no spinning, no Zumba, no Pilates classes for me.

7. I’ve never been on a big rollercoaster. I’ve been on Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Thunder Mountain and Test Track but I refuse to go on anything like the Manta or The Hulk. Again, I’m not an adrenaline junkie, I don’t need to go upside down and falling to my death to have a good time. I can’t stand that feeling on my stomach which, Steve tells me, not everyone gets. The butterflies, or queasy, or whatever you call it is awful. I’ve learned just to scream my head off if I go on a Disney ride.

8. I’ve never been to Europe. I mean, I live in England but I’m talking continental Europe. Steve tells me that I’d love France, Germany, and Italy. I also want to see Ireland. When we came back from Florida in September, we flew over Dublin – looked amazing. I’ve been to Mexico, England, Scotland and the US. I’ve not even seen Canada.

9. I’ve never gone snorkelling or scuba diving. I’m not opposed to trying it, I’ve just not had the opportunity. I’ve fished a lot as a kid, and I’ve gone skiing in my life (I was terrible at it) so trying new things in an ocean isn’t beyond my scope of reason. I’ve tried to surf before in high school but I was terrible at that as well. I’m a good swimming so I’d probably enjoy the snorkelling – especially if I had an underwater camera and the reassurance that no sharks would try to nibble on me while I was swimming around.

10. I’ve never published a book…yet.

The Tuesday Seven

Coffee break

1. I’ve now finished my second Pretty Little Liars books and numbers three and four are on their way via Amazon. (I still got them out of the library today anyway so I don’t have to wait.) As much as I think I read too slowly, I still got tired eye syndrome again and I had to give myself a break today from reading anything else. (Granted, the tired eye symptoms showed up while I was on my way home from my last interview so stress may be the cause as well. But I don’t feel stressed so who knows?)
2. The oven had to be fixed yesterday. Last Thursday I went to make our standard fish and chips (yes, we have fish and chips night) but it wouldn’t heat up. After investigating online (because neither of us have a clue how appliances work) I figured out that it was a simple procedure to have an element replaced. Luckily we have the convenience of manufacturers sending out technicians who can get stuff fixed in five minutes and I was up and running. Our next order of business will have to be the toilet – it’s been making that awful pipe vibrating sound whenever we flush it. (I guess it’s a water hammer?)
3. You may have noticed that the Olympics are underway. I’ve been watching them non-stop since the Opening Ceremony on Friday night (Ah, the bit with The Queen and James Bond – so good!) I am really impressed by the BBC’s coverage of the games. We have 24 live HD channels so Saturday morning, bright and early, I sat down to channel surf until 10PM. I did that Sunday and Monday too while Steve was on his business trip (He got to go to Italy. I tried to have him convince the boss that I should go as the company tourist: drink cappuccino, buy leather handbags for the other wives, take photos for the webpage, etc. but they didn’t really go for that. He also got delayed in the Paris airport – oh the duty free shopping I could have done in those few hours!) Anyway, the Olympics -- I did, admittedly, nod off on the couch during some of the handball and hockey matches. Not that they’re not interesting, it’s just a lot to take in one sitting. Especially someone like me who generally doesn’t like sports.
4. But we’re going to the game on Aug 4th which will be fun and exciting. I heard that Newcastle was super busy in City Centre with all the Olympics and food festival going on at the same time.
5. Yes, we missed the Newcastle Eat Festival this year. Very sad. We at least tried the Total Recall pizza at Papa Johns while our oven was broken. It was so, so good.
6. I’ve had my break from driving but I get back behind the wheel on Thursday. Last lesson, my instructor asked when I was going to finally take my Theory Test so I’m going to have to set that up. I’ve read that Highway Code book a bunch but I’ll have to do some practice tests too. I’m excited to get my license but I’m just not feeling like I want to rush any of it. (Maybe I am stressed?) At least once I get the Theory Test done, I can hang on to it for a long time until I take my Road Test.
7. I still think I may want to get another iPhone next year. There are plenty of things I’d like to get but being jobless just sucks the excitement out of shopping all together – there’s no money to buy anything and there’s no place to wear/use said thing anyway. Maybe this is my penance for going into debt when I was working. Now I live in jeans, corduroys, sneakers, and t-shirts. Bleck.

Interviews and Olympics

Olympics display @ the library

Here I am, back at my desk, on an overcast Thursday morning. I’m home for once this week since I’d been running around each day for some reason or another. Actually, I’ve been running around a lot so last night I firmly decided that I was staying put today. I miss being on my regular schedule. I haven’t gotten nearly as much work done as I’ve wanted to but thankfully yesterday I snapped out of my rut.

I think the break I took was all right if I had done something else to be productive. Granted, I’ve been job-searching, going to the gym, and learning to drive, but for my state of mind I think it clutters it too much. I’m not very good with distractions so when I go out in the morning to do anything other than read at the gym, cafe and/or park before coming home at lunchtime, I get focused on everything else that’s going on. By the time I get home from an adventure in the car or on public transport, I get back feeling like my mind is still out there in the big, wide world.

Not that being outside is a bad thing either. I’m sure it helps. Just as Anais Nin said, “My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.” It’s good to be out and about but being here is really good too. I need both from time to time. I have to go outside and see people and get ideas for when I am at my desk. Not that most of what I see is all that impactful but it’s nice to breathe the fresh air (which is why I keep my window open) and yes, the exercise is good too, I suppose.

Anyway, so yesterday I went to an interview. While the people there were nice, I was glad they didn’t offer me the job. I’d love to work, of course, but there were some glaring errors in the whole situation. First, the invitation letter they sent me had incorrect dates on it. I had to call and verify when I was supposed to show up. Then, the email address I was supposed to use to notify the school that I was coming to the interview didn’t work at all. When I tried to call the school, they were all on vacation, so no one was there to answer the phone. When I showed up for the interview (a bus/metro/bus commute) I met the Headteacher, the Literacy Teacher and the Head of English. The school had 900+ students, was being renovated and the position required a school librarian to totally re-do the whole library after the start of next school year. Then, they actually said, “The school librarian position doesn’t require anyone full-time so the new employee would also assist the English Department in lesson plans and teaching small groups.” Okay, so that essentially is a school media specialist job, except we’re supposed to assist all departments. Plus the pay was lower than even a teacher’s assistant. For all of that work, they offered £13/$20 thousand a year. I was floored. How can someone be a librarian for a huge school like that, and be responsible for what one department expects of them too? Who would you report too? What duties would be the most critical? They were even already using that library for classes too so it seemed like a big mess.

After they explained this, I thought, “Yeah, this is not a job I would settle for.” Even if they had offered it to me, I would have kept looking. After noon, they called me to tell me they’d chosen someone else who had experience building up libraries so they had more creative ideas than I did. They gave me feedback, saying I didn’t answer the questions directly, which I knew I hadn’t because they were vague questions I hadn’t been asked for: “How do you see using the library for extra-curricular activities?” To me, extra-curricular activities are sports and clubs. So I gave them ideas for journalism, drama, book clubs, etc. I have no idea what else they were looking for there.

But the minute I knew I didn’t get the job, I was pumped to go back to work here. I sat at my desk, and got 1000 words out. A big accomplishment from my blah, unmotivated non-wordage lately. Every time I get a rejection call or letter, I wonder if God is saying, “I keep trying to tell you, you need to sit at that desk. That’s your job now!” At any rate, I’m totally over it with these interviews. I know I’m doing better than the 55-60 people who applied and didn’t get shortlisted for interviews but when there’s always an issue of experience, I’m just not going to get anything in U.K. schools.

Now I have the Olympics and my computer to concentrate on. I’ve gotten hooked on my Pretty Little Liars books and TV show that I recorded ages ago on the V+ box too. I am perfectly fine with sticking around the house for  a while and just feeling like myself again.

Just keep swimming

Last night we were watching a special about David Bowie on BBC1. Today the grocery truck came by, as usual, and now we’re waiting to get out exchange IKEA couch. After all the pain we went through to put it together and wondering why the lovely red cover didn't fit right (we had to cut it to get it on the back cushions), we found out that IKEA gave us the wrong sofa. Not only is it the wrong sofa, but it's a £400 more expensive couch. Good job, IKEA! Of course this means Steve’s downstairs taking apart the old couch so he can put the new one back together again when they arrive “sometime this afternoon.”

I was bummed about my not getting that last, awesome library job. I still am, honestly. But after I felt sorry for myself for a while, slowly I got back into the swing of things. I signed up with another teacher recruiter and have two more appointments next week. While getting a day wage isn't ideal, it will keep me busy. Yes having some money is better than none. Having experience in the school is great (too bad all Headmasters don't seem to understand the transition from English teacher to school librarian -- seems natural and positive to me.)

Aside from my busy schedule of registering for as many agencies as possible, I still have my driving lessons. The lesson I had right after I heard I had the insane interview to do, I had such a hard time getting into my driving after a two week break. I hated it, wanted to cry and tell the instructor that I quit. I told Steve I wanted to quit too but he convinced me to go through my five pre-paid lessons at least. Last Tuesday, after wanting to just hide in the living room and pretend I didn't remember my lesson, I faced the music and got in the car. It was fine.

I think having a lesson once a week and first thing in the morning really helped. Granted I didn't do great but I improved. Even the instructor said at one point, "Now that's how you make a bloody turn!" Making a turn requires early assessment and preparation, especially on hills. I have to use my brain to drive now and not go around on auto pilot like I did for all those years in America with the automatic.

This means, I plan on keeping up with my lessons even though it's going to take me a while. Every British person I talk to tells me it takes three or four times before they pass their driving test -- and they're use to these roads! Even the highway, or the motorway as we call it here, is different. I mean, you're merging in and out from the left. Naturally I want to look over my right shoulder instead of the left so it gets kind of disorienting. Luckily the guy whose lane I swerved into let me go in front of him. It reminded me of the freeway scene in Clueless -- not as bad but I thought about freaking out like that.

I had this brilliant idea that I would try out Weebly for a mobile blog while I’m out and can’t set up a proper entry. After seeing the whole thing up I discovered that the badges didn’t work unless I created one via Twitter or Flickr myself, the mobile theme didn’t automatically detect, and there was no support to update posts via email. All kinds of fail. Since I have Missus P. On the Move anyway, I can update mini-posts here and there through email if I want to. I would do it for my this blog but I’m kind of fussy about things being all uniform and consistent.

Lastly, I found a place to swim! When I was in Florida, I swam about every day. I only do freestyle but I love exercising that way. The bike and the elliptical (cross trainer) gets boring so finally being able to get a lane at a pool makes me ecstatic. Plus, the place I went to has a smaller pool for the kids so the rest of us can be in our Zen-like state as we swim back and forth. Too bad the pool can get busy but it's better than the one near our house -- that place is too small for the amount of people coming in each day.

Oh yeah, and I caught up on my book reviews!

Getting stuff done

As much as I like to get work done, there are just things that are more important. The DIY project at Chez Pick has been going on all weekend. Steve has been home for four days and we've used the time to get things done.

First, the couch was successfully built. It took five hours and a lot of anger before he finally got that thing put together. Not only did the couch not have Velcro on the frame, rendering the extra couch cover we bought useless. Then the cover for the cushions was too small (there's no way you can smash a leather cushion with a wood back into a pillow case). But the kicker was that the chaise lounge had no instructions in the box. We tried to call IKEA but they were closed. During lunch break (Steve needed one by then) he found the instructions online -- for the American store. There were differences that he had to figure out on his own. Thanks, IKEA!

Anyway, the couch is lovely and Steve did a great job. The chaise is big enough for us to both sit on and watch TV. (The cat fits too.) We got to relax Saturday and Sunday with movies and hanging out in our cosy living room.

Today we painted the bedroom. There was blue wallpaper that had been painted a dark red (the seller's choice) and we had to get that changed. While we could have taken the paper down, we just painted over it to give it a quick make-over. (I've posted the before and after pics on Flickr.)

Now that this weekend's family time devoted to making this place more homey is complete, tomorrow will be back to work for us both. I neglected my walking a lot this weekend too (not that the cleaning and painting doesn't count as exercise) so I'll out and about tomorrow. Then it will be time to get myself back at the desk.

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