Category: Lifestyle

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Where’s YOUR Happy Place?

In collaboration with SACO

Would you believe that one in four of Scottish people given a choice, said their favourite happy place is a white sandy Hebridean beach?  It’s a thought provoking finding, and I suspect it has absolutely everything to do with those white sandy beaches.  I don’t think anyone could say no to a sandy beach.

The further research from SACO, found that visiting Loch Ness and walking in the Lake District were joint second place, while visiting the Roman Baths of Bath and enjoying fish and chips in Padstow harbour completed the top five happy spots for Scots.

It’s no surprise to me, that two thirds of the adults said some of their fondest memories of being a child were spent holidaying in Britain.  When I grew up, going abroad was just not an option for us.  Most of my kids holidays have been at home too, in caravans or latterly the motorhome before we sold it.  We still take holidays here in the UK, as the cost is what does it for us everytime.  I know that camping would be cheaper still, but something to do with the open air, hard ground and no en suite facilities tends to put me off…  As a tin tenter for years, we’ve taken our fair share of holidays at home, and we’ve all loved them.

We’ve stayed in Dornoch, Nairn, Cambridge, Devon, Montrose, Perth and many  more, always being part of the outdoor caravan site life.  At times it’s been luxury holiday site and at others, it’s just been us and a couple of other vans….  It was always different.  One of our favourite places to go, as a Scot, was up in Aviemore.  You can’t beat it for scenery and things to do if you’re an outdoorsey type.

Caravan Site John O’Groats – The Lone Van

In Aviemore, we’ve also stayed in their chalets, as there’s an enormous amount of good quality serviced apartments in Scotland.  One of the best we’ve had, was a one night to Edinburgh, where we got a last minute apartment on Princes Street itself, with all the mod cons and falling out onto the street.

I think I really do agree that if we could guarantee the weather, it’s unlikely we’d go abroad much.  We don’t go often as it is, but if we had great weather, it would be even less.  It’s the little things that stay in our memories.  I’m glad we managed to pass those along to our kids, and I hope they pass great experiences along to theirs.

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You just never know what you might see on your travels.  We got stuck behind this little posse one year….

I must admit, that having our dog, was influenced our UK based holidays for many years, as we didn’t want to put her into kennels, and it was nice to take her to new places, and create great family experiences for the kids and the animals in our lives.

How I miss this girl being in our lives…..

We don’t have to spend a fortune for kids to have a great time.  We’ve rolled down hill, skimmed stones, dug holes in sand during a cold winter day and more….  It’s all about doing……



Have a look at the infographic from SACO, for more information on their research.  Where’s YOUR happy place?

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The 4GEE Community Cinema Club

We got the chance to give this a try.  It was a bit of a no brainer, as it involved gadgets and movies, which are the two biggest hobbies of almost all the Scottish Mum family.  I think most of us have heard of EE these days, and they launched a new Community Cinema Club for 2017.

This year, EE brought a series of 4G powered film screenings to rural communities across the UK, in partnership with BAFTA.

The first event was on the side of Gimmer Crag, a sheer cliff face in the Lake District, which has only recently become connected by EE and the 4G network.

I’ve obviously got no head for heights, as just looking at this picture makes me feel dizzy.

As a Scot, whose relationship with 4G was very patchy until very recently, when even the possibility of 3G working, seemed to be a distant memory.  EE is continuing it’s 4G roll out, with each newly connected community being given a 4GEE Community Cinema Kit to keep, which includes a 4G WiFi device, a state-of-the-art connected projector, wireless speakers, and a movie streaming voucher to host al fresco movie nights with BAFTA-winning films during the year.

Many rural communities which have just come online with EE, are pretty remote, and miles away from a cinema, although EE intend to connect 95% of the UK landmass by 2020,.  It’s also a lovely idea, to help communities make their own cinema club, with a kit that can be used outside and indoors too.

While the bigger competition for a full kit like mine is over, there is still the option of winning a smaller on the go kit to watch movies on the move.  On the 25th August, 10 lucky winners will be in with the chance to win one of these, so keep an eye out on their Twitter for the news, and details of how to enter.

We’ve been doing some renovations inside, and rainy weather convinced us to give our kit a try on a dark damp night, by stitching the canvas screen onto the supports of the new wall that’s going up.  It made a perfect place to hang the screen.

We used our box as the stand for the movie, which worked a treat.  As it’s the first time we used it, it took a fair few minutes to get it up and running, but how fabulous was that when we had half a whole wall to watch a movie with……..

I realise just how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to test this kit out.   With the canvas screen, the speaker and the projector, it’s a pretty good full blown cinema experience.  Outside, I think we’d have to try and find some trees to tie the screen to, but it’s worth a try to give it a go.

We hadn’t charged up the gadgets before use, so we had to plug in, but everything operates by battery.  I think we’re going to enjoy this very much over the next few weeks, while we learn to get to know it a bit.  In the end, it was fairly simple, with the EE 4G being used to provide the data, which allowed us to watch the movie by streaming it through the projector box.

Even the cat was interested in the box………

EE, is part of the BT Group, which means it’s the the largest mobile communications company in the UK, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers.

EE pioneered the UK’s first superfast 4G mobile service in October 2012.

I have to admit, watching a film was the longest I’ve had our youngest in the room with us for about a year.  It must have been something about the size of the canvas screen, as we certainly did have the cinema experience.

Remember, make sure to keep in touch with EE on Twitter, to find out how to enter for the smaller on the move kit on the 25th.

We’re taking our kit outdoors next.  This will be interesting….

Thanks to EE for the opportunity to try the cinema kit.

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How to sleep through the night in the warm summer months.

I don’t usually share infographics, but this one is very relevant to me, as I often struggle to sleep in the summer months.

How To Beat The Heat & Sleep Through The Night In The Summer Months – An infographic by the team at SleepyPeople.com

To sleep well, a good mattress is always a great idea.  I know I tend not to change my mattress often enough, but one way to help prolong the life of our mattresses could be to add cooling toppers. Sleepedia’s list of cooling mattress toppers.  Find out more here.  (Collaborative Link)

 

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The Hay Fever Survival Guide

I don’t know about all of you, but I suffer from hay fever these days.  I was lucky enough to avoid it for most of my life, then one day, I started sneezing after an outside run, and it’s bothered me ever since.

Believe me, there’s nothing safe about repeated sneezing your way home in the car when you’re driving, so I had to find ways of dealing with it on a day-to-day basis.  Mine started as exercise induced, but now it’s just your regular old hay fever.

We’re at the point in the year, where I have felt a few extra sinus headaches, and a more than a few sneezes, and it’s only going to get worse.

What Is Hay Fever?

Unfortunately for some of us, it starts with an itchy, runny nose, lots of sneezing and water eyes to go along with it.  Mine comes on suddenly, then stubbornly refuses to go away.  It’s very common in the UK, and it affects our lives in more way than we tend to think about.  I know I struggle to sleep and don’t work so well when my hay fever is at its peak.

Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen.  It’s fairly simple, but there are different types, such pollen from grass, nettle rape seed, mould spores, hazel trees and more.  One, or a combination of these is what we’re allergic to.  Our bodies recognise that pollen as an alien threat and produces histamines which trigger sneezing, coughing, runny eyes etc, in a bid to get that pollen out of our bodies.  In effect, our bodies are doing us a favour, no matter how miserably we feel about it.

What Can We Do About It?

At first, my instinct was to try to ignore it, thinking I had just caught a cold.  When it didn’t tail off after a few days, I knew I had a longer issue to worry about.  Simple hacks to help ourselves can include.

  • Taking exercise earlier in the day and try to avoid evening jaunts outside, as pollen rises during the day, being higher in the evenings, before subsiding during the night.
  • Dry clothes and bedding indoors if you can, but if you have to hang them outside, take them in before evenings.
  • Consider using a saline nasal spray to wash out your nostrils after being outside.  Speak to your local pharmacist about it and anything else that might help.

See The Doc

I did end up having to see the doc.  I have chronic sinusitis, so having hay fever as well is just double summer misery.  I use a corticosteroid spray in the summer months, and I use an antihistamine all year round, to avoid the headaches.  Age seems to have something to do with it, as our immune systems start to need a little extra helping hand.   As with all allergies, you need to seek medical advice if any adverse symptoms begin to appear.

What Else?

I’m still unsure about alternative therapies, although may people swear by them.  I don’t know much about them, other than quercetin is said to help in a similar way to an anti inflammatory.  It’s worth checking out for yourself.  I’ve heard immunotherapy works in a similar way to a vaccine, where we’re given small doses, to help reduce symptoms

To find out more, visit the Allergy UK website, at allergyuk.org.

 

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Mindfulness is a new thing for me.

We’ve probably heard it called a multitude of other things, but learning to make time for ourselves is something we should all do, no matter what our budget or free time looks like.

It’s not the same, but as an example, I’ve lost count of the people who’ve asked me how I lost weight, but when I tell them I log all my food, they say they don’t have time for that, or they don’t have time to exercise.  What they’re really saying, is that they’re not prepared to do it, or they don’t want to, or they’re not yet ready to focus on themselves, or I somehow, magically, have many more hours in a day than they do.

Let’s talk about a stereotype of some women I met in the playground when my kids were younger.

I can’t help thinking they’re going to have a heart attack, due to being constantly on alert, always worrying about what people say about them, always worrying about whether their kids are clever enough, pretty enough, top of the class, a genius in whatever, or whether their husbands are making enough money or not.

They’re STRESSED…..  With a great stonking S…….   Not only do they have to contend with the playground mums these days, they also have to content with the mythical perfection that exists in family life on Facebook or Twitter, or Pinterest, or Instagram, or whatever their choice of social media, where the pressure to conform is massive.  Their phones beep every few seconds, and they’re always being at the other end of demand from someone or other…    And when it comes to appearance, many are doing the latest Botox, or fillers, or Microblading their brows to perfection, but what about their minds????

Mindfulness is a new term to me, and one that I might mention frequently from now on.   Looking after our mental health is a place where we tend not to go these days, as time is always just that few seconds ahead of us, and we struggle to catch up.

For relaxing treatments, a move to treating the mind, in order to relax the body, isn’t a new thing, but it has tended to be ignored.  A move to more holistic approaches to treatment is always going to relax the mind, body and soul.

Aromatherapy, Hot Stone Massage, Facials, Hot Stones, Reiki, Reflexology and much much more, are all examples of therapies where we can sit back, and let our minds wander, especially if we’ve turned our mobile phones OFF for the duration.  I’ve come late in life to the benefits of holistic treatments, but I’m finding the therapy, where we have time to concentrate on our breathing, sit quietly, and actually relax, allowing our minds to rest, is something I’ve been missing all my life.

Sleeping is a no brainer, and a big issue for many of us, whether it’s falling asleep, or simply staying asleep.  I find that my hayfever makes that worse from Spring to Autumn, but on the whole, whenever I’ve taken time out for me, I’ve found my sleep has improved enormously, especially if there are aromatherapy oils or a well delivered massage involved.

Do some research and find something that works for you.  You won’t regret it.

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Having Wide Feet Isn’t Fair…….

Brought to you, in collaboration with Simply Be.

I think the name of this says it all.  I’m one of those people with boats for feet.  Really, when I was around the age of 10, I’d hit a size 7 in shoes, and was just touching five foot tall.  By the time I was 11, I’d gone into 7.5 and have fluctuated between 7 – 8 over the years, depending on the styles, manufacturers and widths on offer.

In an upmarket shoe shop, they once measured me as having a C width….  I don’t know about their tape measures, but standard shop shoes tend to be around a C to D width, and I’ve hardly ever been able to get anything with a heel on in a D width, unless the manufacturer has been very generous indeed.  Perhaps it’s my high instep that throws the width I need off, but I’ve always had to consider good width shoes.

I remember years ago, buying a pair of Sole Diva boots.  They were ankle boots, in black suede wedge, and a good height, at around 3 or so inches high.  They were like pillows on my feet, and I loved them.  Over the years, I’ve tried to find another pair that are similar, but never come up smelling of roses for this.  Simply Be asked me to take a look at their ranges for the new season, and the first thing I headed to was the shoe department, for obvious reasons.

I’ve not looked at these for a while, so it was nice to see regular shoes in EEE widths, as well as regular.  I’ve tended to live in trainers and fitflops over the last year, but that has to stop as I go into a new business venture for the future.  I do need footwear that will be a little smarter going forward.

I quite like the look of these silver mules.  in E width for £35.

These look quite comfy for standing about all day in, and cool enough to go with jeans on black trousers.

I’m very much a jeans with sandals girl in summer, and jeans and boots girl in winter.  Perhaps I shouldn’t say girl, given my age, but you know what I mean.  I also think it’s important for brands to design for women, not just for very skinny, boyish figures, which is why I’m not surprised that there are several online shops now that have good clothes, in a range of sizing.  For jeans, at the moment, I seem to very between brands, ranting from size 8 to size 12, depending on who makes them.

The one thing I’ve learned over the years, from being all sizes of clothes, is that if a size 10-12 model on the larger clothing ranges doesn’t look good in something, then it’ll look ten times worse on me.  I go for things I like the shape of, and try them.

These jeans have a great shape, and at £28, for a shape I like, is good value.  I tend to pay for shape rather than brand with jeans, which I think many of us middleaged people do.

Brought to you, in collaboration with Simply Be. Opinions are my own, and not reflective of Simply Be.

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The Spring Beach Clean – ps, it’s not what you think….

Every so often, as bloggers, we’re asked to share initiatives that are actually beneficial for all of us.  This is one of those initiatives, that I think we all need reminding of from time to time.

The #binit4beaches campaign team contacted me, and asked me to do a post, which I’m delighted to do.  They are a group of environmental campaigns and businesses, working together to reduce the pollution in the UK’s rivers and seas.

They say.

Did you know that there are approximately 200,000 sewer blockages throughout the UK every year, of which up to 75% are caused by fat, oil and grease poured down the sink? These blockages can cause sewage to overflow into local rivers and to the sea, places we all want to be able to enjoy safely with our friends and family.

What They Asked Bloggers

We were asked to become WATER AMBASSADORS, by informing all of you who read us, about the simple things we can do to help at home.

Remember that when you’re washing up, after making any of my recipes, DON’T pour oils and grease down the sink.

Instead wait for the oil or grease to cool and either wipe with kitchen roll into the bin or create a fat trap in an old jar to throw away later, either way; make sure these products go in the BIN, not the SINK!  I’m actually really good for doing this now, but a few years back, I’d have just turned on the hot tap, and let it swish down the plughole, never thinking where it would all end up.  Clean pipes, mean a higher chance of clean beaches.

Oils and grease can cause sewer blockages, which can overflow into homes, rivers and finally to the sea.  And we all want our beaches to be places we enjoy safely, especially if we have children and dogs with us.

This Easter make the change and #binit4beaches.”

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Update & The Twiddle Mitt for Dementia

Those of you following my blog, know my mother has dementia and has been in hospital for a while now. With the wrong medicine initially, and the trauma, her hearing and sight are now fairly badly impaired, although at a medium distance, she can still make things out, but not close up, even with glasses.  They missed her retina scan at the hospital, and I’m hopeful they actually take her to the rescheduled appointment this week as I’m working, but apart from that, she gets to rest a lot more and is generally much happier.

She’s had a rough time, but she came home for a visit today.  A few days ago, they told my husband they’d changed her care package to help me with her, apparently, from something different to what I was told, but nobody has told me what that is yet, and at the home visit today, they told me there’s no care……

She didn’t seem to recognise terribly much, and it’s clear the OT etc had no understanding of how little she could do before she went into hospital.  She’s seen as a significant risk of falls, which really isn’t any different to before, but with her dementia more advanced, her confusion is very sad.

The poor thing was frozen in her wheelchair when they got her here.  The OT who came with her looked a bit taken aback when I asked why she didn’t have her coat or any socks on, on a cold breezy day.

Social media, however, is amazing.  People regularly message me and ask how she is and one of my Twitter friends sent me a gorgeous twiddle mitt for her.  She’ll get more use of it at home than in hospital, where they don’t give it to her, and she only gets it if I’m in, but it’s a fabulous thing.  I’d never heard of them before.  With lots of stitched in little bits, and a wooden toggle inside, it’s great for warming hands and fiddling with.  The lovely purple mitt that I was sent, has tinsel wrapped around it, and a couple of little bells, and some fancy stitching.  It’s simple, and lovely at the same time.

I’d never heard of them before, but I’ve since seen them on e-bay, as I’ve been looking, and some hospitals have been asking for them to give to patients.  It was one of my Twitter friends who was knitting twiddle mitts for her local hospital, who knows about my mum, and very kindly sent me one.  The kindness of strangers is often overwhelming.

The blanket she has on her in this pic, is one I made when I was 15 – several decades ago…..  She used to recognise it as something from home, but I’ve taken it home and given her a thicker one, as at the moment, she doesn’t seem to recognise much from her old life, and is always cold, so the thicker blanket it is.  She’s getting thinner and thinner by the week, as she hardly eats anything, although she seems brighter than she has for a while.

Thanks to everyone who reads me, and sorry for the sporadic posts these last few months.  I am still here and pottering away with a few different things.  I hope to let you all know more soon.

x

 

 

 

 

 

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Pear and Apricot Stilton Stuffed Pork Loin

I was lucky enough to be asked to provide a pork recipe for Quality Meat Scotland.  As part of that lovely challenge, I got my meat from John Davidson, a local butcher to me, who provides great quality, and devised this lovely dish, which photographed a treat.

The carrots prepared like this are absolutely amazing  To find out how to make it for yourself, head on over to the website to find the recipe.

http://www.speciallyselectedpork.co.uk/recipe/pear-apricot-stilton-stuffed-pork-loin/ 

See it for yourself, as well as lots of other recipes from bloggers like myself.

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To Breakfast or Not!

Now here’s a thing.  My time has been all up in the air recently, and the first thing that always suffers in my life is that thing called “breakfast.”  It’s that alien word that has spent most of my life being sent to Coventry, as it’s one thing I’ve very rarely had time for in my life.  For the past couple of years, I’ve tried to add some sort of brekkie in the morning, but true to type, as things get more busy, breakfast for me, goes out the window.

Now I hear from all sorts of people that breakfast is a must, it’s a metabolism kick-starter, or it stops us being hungry, which by the way, is one of the most silly things I’ve heard.  For one, eating breakfast actually makes me hungry later in the day, but no breakfast = no hunger at all for me.  Do I want food, yes, but am I hungry – no.

I now also know the difference between hunger and wanting to eat now.  That has been alien to me my whole life.  I’ve gone day, and I mean days, at some points in my life, eating only an apple or two a day, but didn’t actually experience hunger as such.  Some food cravings yes, but no physical discomfort.  For me, it was all a mental thing.

Perhaps my metabolism has been out of whack my whole life, and yes, I can lose weight now my diabetes and badly behaved thyroid are behaving themselves, but sometimes, I do actually feel some discomfort when my body needs food nowadays. Note that I didn’t say “wants food,” but rather “needs food.”

The fact I now know what this feels like, and have never, ever felt it before, tells me that my thyroid has probably not worked properly, for the whole of my adult life.

This being said, I only feel that kind of hunger in a day, where I’ve kickstarted eating already.  If I haven’t eaten, the discomfort of needing food just doesn’t come quickly at all, but if I eat a bite or two, a couple of hours later, I need some food.

I’ve come to my own conclusions over the last couple of years.

Not Eating Breakfast Doesn’t Stop Weight Loss

To all those naysayers, who are adamant that breakfast is the holy grail of weight loss, with a calorie deficit, you are most certainly completely wrong.  Timing of food isn’t that important in my view, as long as we eat balanced meals throughout the day.  I’m sure my body doesn’t care if its first meal is 7am, 10am or lunchtime?  I prefer to begin my eating day from at least 10am, and lunchtime onwards if possible.  I eat fewer calories over a day that way.

It’s all about doing what works for us.  For some of you, breakfast could be the biggest meal of your day, and you eat little in the evenings.  I like to do things the other way around.  I eat little during the day, and most of my calories are consumed from evening meal onwards.

I’m not hungry in the morning, so I don’t want to eat when I don’t need to.  I do, however, finally know, at my age, what people mean when they say the world is only three meals away from anarchy, ie empty bellies for the masses will cause devastation for the world.  I really didn’t know what that type of hunger felt like for my first few decades of life.

Arguments For Breakfast

Kick-start the day, and get in vitamins and minerals.

I can’t argue with this one.   Eating can kick-start the day, and it does give us vitamins and minerals for the day.  I just prefer to have them later 🙂

Stops mid morning snacking.

Um, not if you’re anything like me.  I eat breakfast, and a couple of hours later, I’m ravenous.  I eat more calories in a day when I eat breakfast.

Cereal is a good breakfast.

Have we all actually read the sides of cereal packets?  Honestly, I think a chocolate bar would be healthier than some cereal brands.  It pays to read the nutritional labels to know what you’re getting, or what your kids are eating.  Many are full of sugar and have very little fibre.   Take a look at Ricicles and Frosties, or Coco Pops and decide for yourselves.  It’s easy to get the kids to eat them, but I doubt they should be a daily thing for anyone.

Bacon and Eggs are a good breakfast.

Once upon a time, I’d have said I disagree with this, but in comparison to cereal, then yes, it’s a great breakfast when bacon is grilled and eggs are poached.

To Breakfast or Not?

As much as the people who’ve tried to convince me over the years are concerned, I’m still ignoring most of you,  unless I’m going for a run, or need to concentrate for a long period of time, where I’ll have something to eat earlier than usual.  What we eat in a day has more effect that the time we eat it, so sorry to all of those who keep pressing breakfast on me, as it’s just never going to be a 365 days of the year thing.

And just in case you do like breakfast, here’s a recipe for Mango Frozen Yoghurt.

 

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Where I’ve Been – Hospital and Dementia

Apologies to everyone who expects regular posts from me.  It’s been a bit of a whirlwind week or two, starting with my mother falling and breaking her hip.  As a hospital patient, she hasn’t had the best time, and I find how they’re treated quite cruel, but I’m just the person who looks after her 24/7, and I suspect they think I’m being a bit of a pest now, but I can’t just watch her so miserable.

She coped with the wait to go to hospital pretty well, and the operation also went well, with her smiling broadly at the offer of a piece of chocolate once she was out of recovery.  It went downhill from there.

Her blood sugar began to rise and rise.  They use finger prickers for great big burly blokes with calloused hands on everyone, and all her fingers are black and blue.  They even used her index fingers, which is a big no no, as they are so sensitive.  My brother fell out with them one day, and the next day, they transferred her to the rehabilitation ward.  That went as badly as everything else was going.  She was hallucinating, delirious, hadn’t eaten for nearly 4 days, and had no clue what was going on.  The dementia along with the operation knocked her for six.

She was dropped off in the rehab ward in the afternoon, and when I got there at 7pm, there she was, miserable, hallucinagenic, in a chair that there is no way to rest her head on.  Absolutely shit done. Apologies for swearing, but hospital have given me a lot of reasons to swear this last week.  I cleared her suitcase from the bed, where it was still sitting from when she’d arrived.  She hadn’t been helped to eat, despite not being able to see at that point, as well as hallucinating, and nobody noticed.

This was her a few years ago.  She’s a shadow of her former self now, having lost a lot of weight in the last week.

My brother was called up for her not having any clothes, but because she was in that chair, I’d popped her clothes into a drawer, as she was blocking the wardrobe, just to clear space so she could lie down for a while.  They didn’t bother to check there.  Then they popped her on a toilet and left her alone for 20 minutes, while he paced outside the ward and they eventually went back.  If he hadn’t been there checking his watch, I suspect she’d have been there for longer.

I thought that once we’d pointed out she couldn’t see, that she’d have an easier time.  I was kidding myself.  Daily, she’s been plonked in that cruel chair, made to sit there for hours, bolt upright, with nothing to do, and by the time they try and do physiotherapy with her, she’s exhausted and in no way able to cope..  Every time I go in, she’s done.  Heavy eyes, miserable, exhausted, ill, vomiting and more, yet there she is, sitting miserably in that chair, not understanding why she’s there, or why everyone is being so horrible to her and making her sit upright for so many hours at a time.

We had to go in twice a day to make sure she had something to eat and drink.  By day 5, she became very aggressive, and despite me telling them there was something wrong with her blood sugar, it took a week for them to realise she’d been on the wrong insulin since she came in.  Misprescribed.

It took another day for them to watch her try to eat, which isn’t easy when you suddenly can’t see, and they finally agreed to feed her.   She’d kept knocking over all her water and food you see, and probably was annoying when she did that, but she was having to feel for things, and the dementia meant she couldn’t tell them what was wrong.  She’ll never be able to tell them what’s wrong.

Today, I went in to help with physio, and I felt like crying for her when I went in.  There she was, head bobbing on that awful chair, obviously after sitting there for hours on end, not moving at all.  I got two steps from her when she started to heave.  A bowl full of bile later, at 11.30 am, eyes hooded and miserable, I asked them to put her to bed.  They didn’t want to.  Lunch was coming soon.  Really, lunch, after her just vomiting……

Then they told me that if I wanted her put to bed, they wouldn’t feed her, as they didn’t agree with eating in bed, even with the back straight up.  I told the male nurse that she was miserable, and just to look at her.  He said she looked fine to him.  Honestly, if that is fine, I’d hate to see how close to death someone has to be, to look ill.  I told him what they were doing to her was cruel.  She doesn’t sit up for 15 hours a day, in a straight back chair that forces her head forward at home, so why should she be made to do that in hospital.  It’s not as if sitting in that chair is helping her to be mobile, as she’s not moving when she’s in it, at all.  She gets far  more movement having repeated stints of up and down from bed to chair, so she can rest in between.  I suspect it’s got more to do with not having to change the bed when she wets it.

Ten minutes after putting her to bed, she needed the toilet.  I told the lady at reception, and got told that dinner had started and she’d have to wait thirty minutes.  Really?  Thirty minutes for a sick woman, recovering from a broken hip op, vomiting every day regularly, eating hardly anything, massively suffering from dementia, still hallucinating and still struggling to control her hands.  No way can she listen to having to wait.  Disgusted, I told them to enjoy the wet bed in thirty minutes and went back to her.   Tears were flowing down her face when I told her they’d have to get the machine again.  They came a few minutes later.

True to their word, they didn’t come to feed her at 12, so I did it, even though she still felt nauseous, then I cleaned her filthy nails, shaved her chin, and brushed her teeth and tongue, which were disgusting.  A rehab ward is no place for a sick woman, that’s for sure.  If they let her relax in the morning after she gets dressed, she’d be in a better place to do rehab, then rest again, but that blasted chair needs to be scrapped from use for actual sick patients.  It’s damned cruelty what they do.  She’s still not seeing, and I had to really press it with the doctor as her sight was pretty good the day before she went there, and now it’s pretty bad.  They’ve messed with her anti-depressants and she’s heading downhill, and there’s no need for that to happen at all.

They simply don’t have the time for her.   She doesn’t make any fuss.  She can’t physically make any fuss.  I’m pestering them to take her to the toilet, my brother has fallen out with a couple of the staff now, and she’s the only one in her ward who is immobile.  The rest are all physically able and can make their needs known.  She can’t.

I’m absolutely disgusted with that chair more than anything else.  Far more than the days they ignored her hallucinations and inability to see.

So there you have it.  This week, on top of the kids, work, and having to go to hospital to check she’s had a rest, my time has been swallowed up, and then some.  Hopefully service will resume as normal in a little while.  I just wish she’d become a bit more vocal and be able to press that buzzer for help, but it’s never going to happen.

To end with, don’t get me wrong, there are some lovely people there, but they have a schedule to stick to, and she’s not fitting into it.  She’s lived with me for so long, it’s like having my child in hospital, so yes, I’m becoming annoying to them, but I had a fabulous mum, and she deserves someone fighting in her corner to make her as comfortable as possible while she’s going through tough patches.  I suspect I could get her on her feet again if she was properly rested before physio started, but they’re not prepared to do that.   That torture chair must be on their tick tick list.  I don’t know how this will end, but based on hospital care, it’s harder going for her than it should be.

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Single Pot Cheddar Cheeseburger Casserole That Will Blow Your Mind

Guest Recipe by Chidinma of Fruitful Kitchen.

Who doesn’t like burgers?

I think there are very few people out there who truly don’t enjoy one. But today, as I was getting ready to go out and buy a burger, I realised how unhealthy that is. I thought of making my own burger, which isn’t hard, but then I wasn’t in the mood to go and get the ingredients.

In comes the one pot cheeseburger casserole! Sounds weird, right? Well, it’s actually delicious and fairly easy to make. I came across this idea because I already had ground beef, cheese, veggies and pasta…why not make something out of these?

Don’t worry, even if it sounds complicated, making this casserole only requires a few steps, some easy-to-find ingredients, and it can be done in one single pot at a time, just make sure you have a sturdy and big pot.

Let’s get cooking this crazy but yummy take on a cheeseburger!

One Pot Beef Burger Casserole With Cheese

Servings: 6/ Prep time: 10 minutes/ Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ lb ground beef
  • 1 diced yellow onion
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz tomato sauce
  • 2 cups chicken or beef broth
  • ⅓ cup ketchup
  • ½ tbsp mustard
  • 1lb rotini pasta (or any small pasta such as mini penne, mini fusilli, or conchiglie)
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ cup water
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Step-by-step Directions

  1. Pick a large pot and add olive oil, let it warm over medium heat. While your pot is warming up, chop your onion into small squares.
  2. Place onion and let it cook until golden or transparent. Once it looks cooked enough, add ground beef and increase the heat a little bit.
  3. Let the meat cook until browned, for about 3-5 minutes. Make sure you mix the beef and onions as it cooks, add the minced garlic and mix again. Finally add salt and pepper to meat as it cooks.
  4. When meat looks brown, stir in diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Mix together for about 1 minute. After, add ketchup, broth, mustard, pasta and water and stir well so everything mixes together.
  5. Cover your pot, turn down the heat to low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, or until your pasta looks tender.
  6. Remove from heat and sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top. Cover again for about 3 minutes, or until your cheese melts sufficiently.
  7. Serve with your favorite toppings, such as lettuce, fresh tomato or even pickles. Enjoy!

Ready to Try This Deconstructed Burger?

I know it seems bizarre at first, but I promise you, once you have tried this casserole, you will be in love. This is the perfect recipe for cold weather, or for a group of friends. Try accompanying it with some baked potatoes, or oven-roasted potatoes if you have a large group of friends coming over to try this dish.

If you are vegetarian, maybe use some mashed chickpeas, or lentils, instead of beef. And if you want gluten free, skip the pasta and use rice pasta, or simply use diced potatoes instead.

When making this recipe, you can add different veggies, I picked these because they are usually the ones that go with burgers, but you can change them up for something more Italian, like olive oils, or something more Mexican, like corn and hot sauce. Give it a try, but always allow your meat to cook first before adding your veggies and sauces.

What do you think? Does this seem like a good, easy recipe to make perhaps this weekend? Let me know what you think and if you have tried it!

Author Bio: Chidinma is the founder of Fruitful Kitchen, a blog that shares delicious recipes and lifestyle tips. Most of her recipes help women with fertility issues, especially fibroids, PCOS, and Endometriosis. Sometimes, however, you will find other interesting recipes, as well as cooking tips and tricks there.