My day in great detail ...

Radiotherapy ~ Day 24 (9:05)

6.15 Wake up feeling tired, another night of broken sleep

7.00 Can't get back to sleep so I get up

7.05 take my medication with a glass of cold water - two months ago the thought of this upset me a lot, but I don't even think about it now, it's just part of my daily routine.

While Mr B. takes Inca out for her morning walk, I get her food ready. When she comes back she thinks the 'food fairies' have been .....

7.30 Time for my shower, I dry my hair and get dressed in my best jeans and a new stripy T-shirt which has a sparkly heart on the front. Mr. B. thinks it's very amusing. I take no notice and put it on anyway!

8.15 I have my breakfast of muesli and berries and fruit tea, watching the BBC news

8.45 Mr B. drives me to the hospital.

This is my 24th appointment at radiotherapy, my second to last.

 I've been doing this every week day since 28th July.

9.20 No delays today and I'm called in quite quickly. The session lasts about ten minutes and the actual beam of radiation only about 20 seconds in total. I discuss care of my skin with the radiographer and she gives me some new cream to rub in.

9.45 I leave the hospital, yet again feeling so greatful that my cancer has been 'well behaved'. If you are ever feeling sorry for yourself, one glance around an oncology waiting room will make you realise how lucky you are.

10.00 Arrive at M&S Food store in Heswall to purchase a picnic. It's a beautiful day and we are going to make the most of it. Mr. B. is going back to work tomorrow after the miserable wet summer holidays and wouldn't you know the sun is blazing!!! So, we're off to Wales to enjoy our last day out for a while.

By 12 noon we're eating our picnic at Betwys-y-coed sitting on the rocks above the river, in the warmest sunshine we've had all summer ... bliss! Mr. B. goes browsing in the outdoor shops - visiting expensive coats and sleeping bags, that he doesn't need, but likes to see that they are still there ... for 'one day'!

I buy these little chaps for our dragon project that we will do in school  after Christmas.

Next stop ... Harlech Castle

Now, we do like a good castle ... and this one proved to be a very good castle indeed. Mr. B. bought the guidebook and proceded to read it very carefully examining the entrance for the portcullis grooves and the arrow windows ... looking at every detail

He does this in every castle we ever visit ... he is an expert on castle gateways .. but then loses interest and we just wander around the rest of the site ... going up and down winding staircases and gazing through arched windows.

The views from the top of the towers are breathtaking ... and it takes your breath away climbing the stairs to reach the top!

We stroll around the little town, and find some lovely little antique/vintage shops to browse in, but nothing takes our fancy today and we head off to the beach.

... and yes, I was straight in for a paddle. The water was lovely and warm!

Next stop was Barmouth, quite a big, bustling town full of holiday makers soaking up the sun... with more good shops and a fantastic beach.

We've never been to this part of Wales before, and we were so impressed with the whole area ... the scenery is stunning, and the beaches are wonderful. We think we might come back to stay with the caravan in the future....

Time to set off home, and we drive across country past Lake Bala, through Ruthin and Mold and finally back onto the Wirral.

7.15 Home again, and we unpack the car. Inca gives us a huge welcome. She stayed  with our lovely young man today .. and missed out on a paddle in the sea.

We eat a quick meal of pasta and Mr B relaxes after all the driving he's done today.

I catch up on some texts from friends asking how my treatment is going and we make plans for a meal out very soon.

9.20 I'm at the laptop writing about my day .. and will be in bed by 10 pm at the latest.

It's been a lovely day!

Good food ...

Today we visited the Wirral Food and Drink Festival at

Claremont Farm in Bebington

The farm shop was full of lovely fresh produce

A pretty corner ...

The smell of freshly baked bread led to our first purchase ... a handsome olive baguette

closely followed by some wonderful paella

which we had for a picnic along with freshly squeezed orange .. delicious!

We were intrigued by this wooden cupboard ... and discovered it was for smoking kippers!

There were stalls selling all sorts of wonderful things....

Music, Morris dancers, blue skies and warm sunshine made for a carnival atmosphere...

We liked these little fellows best of all .... so cute!

Hope the sun was shining for you today, whatever you were doing!

Whatever takes my fancy....

Radiotherapy ~ Day 23 (9:05)

Earlier this week I showed you a glimpse of my little craft room .... and I had so many lovely comments about it I thought today I would show you a bit more.
It really is tiny, no bigger than 6'x7', hardly bigger than a cupboard but I am lucky enough to have this space all to myself ... and it is filled from floor to ceiling with all my stash.
I reclaimed the room from being a bit of a dumping ground laughingly called 'the study'
.... and redecorated it about 18 months ago. I stuck rigidly to a colour scheme of cream, red and
olive green. If something didn't fit that scheme it wasn't out on show!

We already had the computer desk and storage units in an 'L' shape, and I bought these white shelves very cheaply from IKEA ...  I store little flowers and ribbons in glass jars.... the small ones are spice jars from Ikea and the larger ones are recycled coffee jars.

I used K&Co papers to recover some old books and files,

and old boxes and tins were smartened up with a lick of paint.

Magazines are stored in wooden boxes again from Ikea.

An old cork noticeboard was painted and recovered to match the scheme, and IKEA hanging rails were

put up for extra storage.

Originally there was a place for everything ...

I love these red pails from Lakeland ... they were a set of three and I use them for storing inks and stamps.

Wasn't it lovely!
When it was first done I used to stand in the doorway just looking at it because I loved it so much.

Now... lots of your comments praised the tidiness of this room ... and it was ... tidy ... back then
... but I need to confess that ... today ... 18 months later ...
it looks like this:

It is full of so much 'stuff' ... I can't actually see what is in there!
Sorting this mess out is top of my list of things I need to do when I'm feeling ready to return to my real life (instead of the slow motion world I'm occupying right now).
Who knows ... maybe then I'll be inspired to start crafting again!

A Youtube Clip ...

Radiotherapy ~ Day 22 (9:05)

When Inca was a tiny puppy we had a new fence put up in the garden to keep her safe.

Shortly after, we saw this Youtube Clip .... and began to worry.

Our new fence was about the same height as the one in the film.

Should we have bought a much higher fence? Had we wasted our hard earned pennies?

Could labradors really jump that high?

                                             

As it turns out, we needn't have worried ...














Thankfully, almost three years later, our black lab has never been very atheletic!

A recipe

Radiotherapy ~ Day 21 (9:05)

Buttermilk Pancakes

I've chosen this simple recipe because it is easy to do, tastier than shop bought, quick enough to make for a weekend breakfast and never fails ... we never have any leftovers!

150g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

50g caster sugar

2 eggs

150ml buttermilk

25g butter, melted and cooled

sunflower oil for frying

icing sugar for dusting

Sift dry ingredients into bowl.

Whisk eggs, butter and buttermilk in another bowl, then pour into dry ingredients.

Whisk until you have a smooth batter.

Fold in your chosen flavouring ... see below.

Work in batches, drop large spoonfuls of batter onto oiled hot pan.

Cook on one side until bubbles appear on upper surface, flip over and cook on other side for another 1-2 minutes.

Keep pancakes warm in a low oven as you go.

Flavourings:

1 large mashed banana or

75g berries of your choice or

75g chocolate chips or

75g of dried fruit  (we like chopped cranberries)

Toppings:

creme fraiche / natural yoghurt

sliced strawberries / mango

maple syrup /honey

chopped nuts or pumpkin seeds

banana slices and toffeee sauce

(We just have jam or maple syrup)               from Rachel Allen's 'Home Cooking'

A website ...

Radiotherapy ~ Day 20 (9:05)

This one had me stumped for a while ...

I couldn't think of one particular website that I like to browse more than any other.

Then I remembered one that I use so often I have forgotten it's actually a website.

The BBC

I have this as my homepage ...

every time I log on I can see the news,
I can check the weather,
I can see what's on tonight
I can use BBC i-player if I've missed something unmissable
and quite often while I'm blogging
 I listen to the radio too.

This website is part of my life.

My Hobbies ...

Radiotherapy ~ Day 19 (13:05)  Clinic (13:35)

Where do I start with this one? How many hobbies can one person try? My house could give Hobbycraft a run for its money with the amount of stash I have squirrelled away over the years.

                                                                             (This is my craft room on a very tidy day)

In the early 80's and newly married I did a lot of knitting, (generally for myself in those days) and then later when my children were born they had lots of hand knitted goodies too.

Cross stitch, free embroidery and silk painting took over....

... each hobby needing new materials and trips to craft fairs in London or Manchester. It's all tucked away in hidden corners in my little craft room. I have boxes of glass paints in the garage ... so I've dabbled with that too.

For the past 5 years I've fallen in love with Scrapbooking and have books full of lovely memories for my family to keep.

I love planning new layouts and seeking out the right papers and embellishments..... inks and stamps ... ribbons and buttons ... stickers and letter sets ...  Sadly, since I started my Snappycards after-school club I haven't had as much time for the scrapbooking and the preparations for the cardmaking seem to take most of my spare time.

and now I've started to make a few cards myself.

One hobby that has stayed with me throughout all these years has been photography ... I love recording those special moments, but also, increasingly, the more ordinary things that make up our lives right now.

These days, I think blogging is my new addiction. To be honest, since I started blogging I have done very little scrapbooking at all.... it uses the same principles after all ... photos and journalling .... and it's saved me so much money because it's stash-less!!!! Less clutter in the house and more cash in my purse!
Mr B. is very pleased!