Tag: slice of life

What to do when the people around you aren't feeling well

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Katy's not doing well. Her throat is giving her grief and the antibiotics she's on are making her feel queezy. I think she's caught my cold. She's had a rough day. Make that a very rough day. This was supposed to be her first day back at work but when she managed to get in, they turned her around back home. She feels bad about all the time she's been off work. The good thing is that though her boss is scary, she also has a good head on her shoulders and realizes that the leave is justified, not frivolous.

As if that wasn't enough for today, we went to get the damage estimated on the car. It's not looking positive. Since the Rover plant went belly-up, the car value dropped like a stone and parts are getting scarce. That means that though the damage isn't *that* bad (mostly scratches all along the passenger side) and some bodywork, it comes up to about 1500 pounds worth of work and parts. Since the car is now worth only about a grand, that means it's probably going to be a write-off, even though the car is still mechanically and structurally sound. This sucks the big, pus-filled, boily ass. What's worse is that her driving confidence got a beating along with her car :(

We just had a little conversation, and I have to agree with her, she's due a hell of a lot of good karma in the next year cause this last one has been crappy. She's convinced she's jinxed. I'm trying hard to make her realize that if you get into that sort of frame of mind, you'll always focus on all the bad stuff and overlook the fact that some good stuff has happened as well. Still, I don't want to make light of the fact that the last year has been really, really tough on her.

Right now, she's not feeling well and I don't know how to make it better, except to ply her with tea (which makes everything better), ply her with hugs and generally try and give her a hand wherever I can.

Cause I love her.

And I'm worried about her.

So *hug*

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How scary is that?

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From listening to the conversation over the weekend, I've come to the conclusion that my parents and Katy's are WAY too similar. As in twins-separated-at-birth-by-gypsies similar :)

Oh, and apparently, Katy and I are turning into our parents as well. Katy gets me to come from the bedroom into the living room to give her her cup of tea that's standing about 2 feet away. My mom does the same to my dad. When she's leaving for work in the morning (and isn't always all that awake), I ask her: do you have your lunch? your keys? your pass? your phone? My dad does the same to my mom.

Now I ask you… how scary is that?

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The plan, take … three?

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The original plan was to go do a London bus tour, but that fell through when I realized that my mom and Katy didn't really want to deal with the crowds. Then we were supposed to go to the Zoo, but that fell through when Katy was feeling poorly this morning because of the antibiotics she's taking. So mom and I went walkies in Cambridge. I got some nice walking boots, and I almost bought myself a kilt. I'm still debating that issue. I'd like a kilt. I have no idea when I'd actually wear it, and I have zero scottish blood in me, but still, a kilt would rock…

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Weekend update

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Having a very slow weekend with my sweetie. Yesterday was our 1-year anniversary. Yup yup, it's been a year since I was late to pick her up at the airport and stressing all the way about it to [info]eniran. It's amazing how time flies.

Had a yummy meal last night. Katy made honey-mustard pig ribs, a nice salad and homemade lemon cake. Hmmm, pig! Tonight I'm making fajitas with homemade salsa and homemade quacamole.

 

We tried my homemade tomato ketchup I'd made last weekend. I'm happy to report that it kicks ass! I think my mom will approve, even though it's not the colour she's used to seeing :P

I've also discovered that I can't bake. It's my achilles heal. I tried to make cookies from a recipe I saw online today and they're… ok. Nothing to write home about.

That's about it really. It's the first slow weekend we've had in a hell of a long time and it's nice :)

I'm on leave for most of next week cause my mom is coming on Tuesday for a week. Yay!

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In which our hero foolishly agrees to move a piano

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I helped a coworker move a piano and man, those things are fucking heavy. I didn't hurt my back, which is good, but I'm still going to feel it tomorrow. Afterwards, we headed to a pub that said coworker knew in Cambs that had nice atmosphere and good beer. Unfortunately, he didn't really remember where it was and after getting turned around a few times, we ended up in what seemed like a good pub from the outside but turned out to be Cambridge's equivalient of the Peel Pub (as a side note, even the website is ghetto!!!). I mean, it would probably be great if I were a single 18-21 year old.

As it was, the music was too loud, there were too many people and the beer came in plastic cups. You get the picture. I wasn't into that scene when I was the right age for it… Katy called me while we were there. She's not doing so good and that bummed me out cause she's there and feeling like crap and I'm here and there's nothing I can do to make it better and I hate that feeling. I hope she feels better soon :(

All in all, this day was a write-off. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

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weekend update

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I've been told that I haven't updated in a while so I'll try and compensate in a big one.

Went to Leicester for the weekend to see the Katygirl. She's feeling less than stellar. Poo. She's going to be spending a few more days in Leic, which is a good idea cause her parents can keep an eye on her and that cough of hers, but is bad because I miss her. Between all my trips and her op, we haven't had lots of quality time in the last little while and that sucks ass big time. Blergh.

So, the weekend. I slept in the guest bedroom because I didn't want to smack into her in our sleep (which I've done in the past). The box room has a very small and less-than-comfortable bed. It didn't help that my feet hung off the edge and didn't have enough pillows. I didn't sleep well, and my back hurts. Minor annoyance.

I spent saturday trying to make salsa and my mom's tomato ketchup. The salsa is a bit too liquid, but really tasty. It was a learning experience. Next time, less vinegar (that Polish stuff is really potent!), and make sure that the tomatoes are really, really ripe. The ketchup… I'm less sure of. It tastes good, but doesn't look right. For one thing, it's really darker than my mom's. One reason, I think, is that I used red onions instead of white and I think that the color bled into the mix a bit. Also, I think that I used black mustard seed instead of yellow, which also might have contributed to the darker color. The proof will be in the tasting. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough room to bring them back to Cambridge with me so there's still in Leicester. It was a bit of a bummer though that 3 kg of tomatoes only makes 5 and a half jars of preserves. I was expecting more. Anyway, like I said, learning experience. The highlight of saturday was going shopping in the market. Lots of good food for cheap. Also, I got to wear my new cotton trader duds, which are really really comfy.

Today was supposed to be a slow day, but my back had decided that it really hadn't liked that bed and I couldn't get comfortable sitting down or standing up :( Dinner was yummy, and I took a train back to Cambridge. Hopefully, Katy will feel good enough to travel by mid-week.

Tomorrow, I move a piano. Joy.

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Crash and scratch

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My semi-annual clothing foray was done last night. I needed to get some tshirts as my stock of existing ones is getting threadbare. I scored a few nice ones from Next and some cool lounging pants from Debenhams, so I'm happy. I might have to exceptionally have a third semi-annual forway to get more tshirts though, but that's ok.

We went to see Crash last night. It's a good movie, but I only give it 8/10. There is room for improvement in one or two of the characters, but otherwise, it's a very thought-provoking movie and should be seen. It makes you think and makes you uncomfortable. I was disappointed that I could predict a few bits, which is usually never good in a drama. We went with Katy's workmates. Katy and I were there an hour and a half early (ok, we were shopping, but still) and still we managed to get into the movie 5 minutes late because we were waiting for some people who were faffing around. See me not being impressed.

The bad news from last night is that Katy gave her car an ouchie in the parking garage. Le poo.

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weekend update

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Haven't updated in a while, so here's a long rambly one.

Katy and I spent the weekend in Leicester. It was a fairly relaxed one. Ate too much, slept a lot, broke her beg (again). The usual.

We went to visit her gran on Friday and she looked… old. I hadn't seen her in a while and it really hit me. She's still a tough old bird, but that day, she looked tired and old… she couldn't suck tea up through a straw and her voice was gone. That was rough on Katy. I didn't go on Saturday because there wasn't enough room in the car so I'd offered to cook dinner, but apparently she was in better spirits. She has good days and bad days, and all she wants to do right now is go home. I can't say that I blame her because hospitals suck the big ass.

We made marinated gammon slices for lunch. The marinade was simple yet effective: lemon juice, lime juice, olice oil, salt, pepper, coriander, ginger and chilies. Really really nice, I'll have to remember that one.

I bought myself a new toy: an iPod shuffle. Since I'm going to be doing a lot of travelling in the next little while, I managed to justify the expense of it to myself – though it was an agonizing process. It's cute, it's uber-lightweight and the sound isn't bad. I can hold 120 songs and it has a 12 hour battery life. That should be more than enough for me :) I had the occasion to try it on Saturday when Katy met Rita for coffee at Starbucks. I offered to let them have their drinks alone so that they could have a decent chat. Besides, Katy was still feeling a bit blue, so I went off to buy her something red so that she could be purple. (That makes perfect sense to the both of us, don't worry about it). I found her a cute oriental box made out of red fabric at the Pier, so I scored a trifecta: it's red, it's from the Pier and it's a box – all good things :) I also managed to finish the last of the work I needed to do for the office. I'll post a link to the finished poster when it's done and printed out.

The curries were nice and spicy without being too hot. Katy's mom gave me a hand with the mix, and I now feel confident that I can make them by myself, even though I don't have half the spices I need to make them at home. I need to get some asafoedita, because it tastes nice and is a kick-ass word in its own right. I'd also made some guacamole, which went really well with the tangy salad Katy's mom made. I'm a happy bunny because I found a brand of ice cream I can eat here. I ♥ Walls. Magnums rule!

Sunday started out with pig. Hmmm, pig. And eggs. Hmmm, eggs. Then we lounged around while I went through the Argos catalog suggesting xmas gift ideas I could buy Katy's dad. He wants an 18'x20' shed. I offered him instead a make-up kit, a hair clipper or a winnie-the-pooh piglet bakckpack. All of those were shot down, though the piglet bag was a close call. I still need to figure out what I'm going to get them… Had a huuuuuuuuge sunday dinner – you gotta love a plate where veggies pile up and over everything. *drools* and then headed out to Cambridge.

That is all, we now resume our usual programming.

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