Catching Up but Feeling Glum!

It seems ages since I wrote my last post. It is not intentional - it's just that life has gone into fifth gear and there don't seem to be enough minutes in the day. And I seem to be in the middle of the most enormous fit of the 'Glums'.

Those of you who know me will know that we have had our house up for sale now for a bit over a year. It has been very tough going. Mostly due to the fire next door (last January) and the resultant 'tin canopy' that caused our neighbours' house to resemble Ely Cathedral. 

It totally put people off wanting to view our house, and we had very few viewings until it came down last October. Then we were inundated. Sometimes two or three in a day. It has been quite exhausting keeping the house clean and tidy 24/7.

But no-one seemed to want to put in an offer. Until a week before Christmas, would you believe?! A young couple with horses. They adored the house and the land and stabling was just what they were looking for, and the eight minute drive to the station for early morning commuting to London was just what they required. 

And Christmas came in the middle of everything!

So since New Year we have been shuttling back and forth to our new house with boxes and cartons of belongings, plus pictures, small items of furniture, etc.

We have hired a large skip to throw over thirty years of rubbish into, and are feverishly making sorties into the loft in the barn, and outbuildings, to fight our way through years of hoarding.

It is a nightmare of the highest order! We haven't done more than scratch the surface so far!

Just sorting through our closets is so completely horrible that I feel at times that I am going to get sucked in and never find my way out ever again!

At the same time the paperwork is being passed to and fro between our lawyers and the purchasers' lawyers. It must soon be a paper mountain! And still it goes on. Sigh!

We hope to be moved by the end of February at the earliest and by Easter at the latest. So if you wonder at my seeming disinterest and lack of participation - now you know.

So what else?

Dan had good results from his latest PSA test. It had gone down slightly from the previous one, so we are very pleased, but his annual MRI scan is coming up at the London hospital and so that is on our minds, as his operation was only on one side and he was told that there were some very tiny cancers on the other side that they would continue to monitor. Hence the regular blood tests and the MRIs. 

My MIL continues to give us concern. Her walking ability has deteriorated, although she does her best to get around, and once she is in a car she is fine. But she has decided not to undergo the shoulder replacement operation. Maybe at 88 she is right, but as it is the main cause of the pain she is in, we are not sure. She is undergoing pain management, but the doctors are not able to give her any more painkillers than she is at present taking. So Dan and his sister have discussed the future and it is all a bit depressing for my MIL who has always been so independent. However, if her situation gets worse, and she cannot manage, she will move into a lovely little granny annexe at my SIL's and that seems to be the best solution. 

The rest of our family are fine and dandy, thank goodness. We had a lovely family Christmas, and then had friends here for New Year. Lots of work, but it took our minds off moving for a while, and we were able to laugh and joke together. 

We have had one of the mildest winters on record over here in the UK. Mild and wet. 

Too wet. The flooding has been pretty diabolical. The weather forecasters tell us that it is a taste of things to come. I feel so sorry for those poor folk up north who have been flooded out of their homes not once, but two or three times over the holiday period. Places that have never been flooded before, suddenly turned into scenes from Waterworld. It has been devastating. 

This was the centre of York!

This was a lane near us!

Now the weather is turning colder at last. We have had some frost and the mercury is dropping like a stone. Snow is forecast and we are watching to see whether we get just a few flakes, or a more significant amount. Just what we want for moving house....

My computer continues to be on the blink. I mostly use my iPad but find it tiring when writing more than the average email. This week we had a power outage that came completely out of the blue, and my computer was almost dead in its tracks. Luckily I managed to coax it back into life, but I was tearing my hair out, especially as I needed to save lots of stuff on USB drives.

Throughout all of this my friends in Blogland have been absolutely wonderful. They send me regular emails and jokes, sometimes on a daily basis. You have no idea how lovely it is to sit and gaze at beautiful pictures on calendars from different parts of the world. It gives me the travel bug with a vengeance, and makes my mouth water with wanderlust. Thank you so much, girls, those calendars are a plain delight! Especially when we have had to cancel our travel plans due to our prospective move. I am threatening that we will fly out and visit some of you when we are relocated. Be warned!

There is one gift I feel compelled to share with you, my friends.

This arrived over the holiday period, with dire warnings to open it in private. Little did we know our son was going to waltz in through the back door just as I had taken it out of its fancy wrapping paper! Sigh! Typical Ami!

Believe me, Dan tried it out at the earliest opportunity. I nearly threw myself off his lap! There is not much to choose between this and the dreaded paddle with holes in it. It looks and feels lightweight, but it is absolutely lethal! Our Rose paddle felt like sheer heaven after trying this little baby out!

Thank you very much for our lovely gifts - you know who you are! My bottom is not quite as sure!

Moving is stressful. I am sure our Katie will back me up on that one. (How is it going, Katie?) 

I am beginning to sense the re-arrival on the scene of 'Bitch Troll'. It's not a good thing to admit. Haven't seen her around for a very long time. In fact, I thought I had said goodbye to her for good. Not the case. Stress is once again taking its toll on my usual sunny nature, and Bitch Troll is doing her utmost to put an end to our peace and harmony. 

I don't understand how it happens. One minute I am fine, then my mood takes a dip and I become a different person. In a way, Dan acts as a catalyst. He is ALWAYS making suggestions. It just drives me up the wall. I hate being 'suggested' to when I am in a bad mood.

Suddenly I become irritated and snappy. I am not a meek person. My temperament is continental to say the least.

This, of course, fans the flames. Dan hates being answered back in an insolent and snarky tone. One thing leads to another...

You get the general gist of it? 

I just wish Dan was the kind of man who would hike me up to our room and flourish the paddle at me. That would cure me of insolence in a hurry! But he tends to cogitate before acting. However, all I can say is that a spanking of gargantuan proportions is brewing, and I will deserve every last swat and swipe of it. It will be totally necessary in order to return to some form of tranquillity.

The only time I feel anything like normal these days is when I am in the garden. It is the best medicine, apart from a good spanking, for lifting my mood. I have been madly pruning the roses. I still have loads to do.

Whilst I am doing that, Dan likes to sweep the leaves. We have several large trees round the garden and as a result of high winds the leaves are everywhere. Dan is very meticulous in his sweeping. He does a brilliant job by firstly sweeping into lines, and then into lots of heaps, before transferring them on to the compost heap. 

We have also been decorating a couple of bedrooms in our new house. I so wanted to do it myself, but Dan disagreed. He is not keen on me climbing ladders these days.  

I didn't mention that I had been balanced on a chair and leaning into the depths of the airing cupboard sorting out the bed linen. Ha! A chair isn't a ladder....

You can see the trouble he has with me.

So I think that brings you all up to date. I promise to do my best to visit Blogland more often. I do enjoy reading all your blogs. Therein lies the problem. Suddenly two or three hours have disappeared!

Please don't forget me!

And thank you so much, you new people who have written me such great emails! I love receiving them!

Any suggestions, of the spanking kind (or other) will be welcomed. We need to get back to this:

So long for now. xxxx