Oh dear, today has been a right old muddle, which all started yesterday when I found out that the Podiatrist was coming at 2.00pm, not 3.30 or 4.00pm, and the chances were very good that I wouldn’t be home from my hairdressing appointment at a quarter to one! Figuring that an appointment at the hairdresser’s was far more vital than a visit from the Podiatrist, I did try to ring said Podiatrist to re-schedule, but luckily for me, all I got was their answering machine, and I left them a message… Why it turned out to be lucky for me was because when I got up this morning my left foot was so [censored] painful that I could barely walk on it, at which point I decided that maybe a visit from the Podiatrist was more vital to my well-being than having my hair done – so at 9 o’clock I rang the hairdresser and re-scheduled for next Friday, at 12.30pm. Then I sat and fidgeted until I heard from the Podiatrist’s secretary, and I explained that yesterday I wasn’t sure I’d be home at 2.00pm, but now it turned out that I would be home after all, and yes, I’d be very glad to see the lovely Joanne at 2.00pm! So, finally that was all sorted out. However, I still had to have my Warfarin blood test done! It was supposed to have been done on Wednesday, so it really couldn’t be put off any longer! The thing with these Warfarin tests is that they have to be done at a Dorevitch “collection” centre, and in Doncaster, before we moved, it was just a simple matter of trotting across the road, as there was a “collection” centre in the Tower – and it was nearly always deserted! I think we’ve only had to “wait our turn” there once, in all the years we went there (and we still do go there, if my Warfarin test is due on a day that I’m going to the hairdresser!) Anyway, since we’ve moved, we’ve sampled quite a few of the collection centres in the area, and unfortunately, so far they’re all either so busy that you’d have time to write “War and Peace” while you were waiting, or the nurse (? I presume they’re nurses? I certainly hope they are, anyway!) – how can I put this politely? Er… let’s just say that they don’t speak very much English… and the nurse today (?) seemed to think that the number “seven” was the next number after “two” (so… whatever happened to three, four, five, and six, I wonder!) which didn’t exactly fill us with confidence in her medical skills!

But I’m getting a trifle ahead of myself – because my foot was so damned sore when I got up this morning, I didn’t have my usual 1.5 kilometer walk on the treadmill. I always seem to develop a fairly thick callous on that particular joint (the so-called “bunion joint” on my left foot) and quite often I somehow manage to split the skin underneath the callous, which bleeds. This makes a bruise underneath the callous, and it all gets extremely painful! Usually a band-aid is enough to cushion it, but not this morning! All of this kerfuffle upset our plans for the day to the point where just about everything ground shudderingly to a halt. We muddled through breakfast, we mooched around Azeroth for a bit, Julian went off to have his shower, and… we got a rather later start than we’d planned! Because I couldn’t walk very far, or for very long, Julian took me up for my blood test, then dropped me off at home, while he went off to do the shopping. Amongst this shopping were several prescriptions, so before we left the house I had admonished him not to forget the scripts. Next, I see him walking down the hall carrying a zipped-up orange insulated carry-bag. I presumed that he’d put the scripts in the bag, so as not to lose them. I had my blood test, and he drove me home again. I took of my hurty shoes, and proceeded down to the kitchen to make myself a much-needed cup of coffee. And what was the first thing I laid eyes on as I walked into the kitchen? The bundle of scripts, all neatly packed away in a zip-lock bag so that they wouldn’t get separated! I called Julian on his mobile: “Sweetheart,” I said “You’ve left something behind!” “What!”, said Julian, somewhat testily “The bloody scripts!” I snapped back, equally as testily. He came back for them, and off he went again. It was already late, and I was a-feared that he wouldn’t be back before the Podiatrist arrived at 2.00pm, but he got here with about ten minutes to spare – neither of us had had any lunch, I might add, and there wasn’t time to have any before Joanne arrived – so we had a very late lunch! And guess what we’re having for dinner tonight?! Roast Beef! (one can only laugh! We seemed to bounce from one misadventure to the next! 🙂 )

So you can see why I said at the beginning of this blog that today had been a right old muddle! 🙂

I asked Joanne about my foot – she said it was quite bruised under the callous, but should be alright to walk on – she’s carved off most of the callous with a scalpel, which means that the worst of the pressure is now off the bruise – so I will get back on the treadmill tomorrow, but I’ll make sure that I’ve cushioned it with a few of those large “fabric” band-aids.

Food stuffz: last night we had a reprise of the Persian Spiced Lamb Pilaf, which was, as I suspected it would be, even better than it had been the night before since all the spices had had a chance to blend and permeate everything properly. There’s even another meal of it left! (it’s an extremely economical meal!) which we’ve frozen for “ron” (later on) So that’s one meal with very delicious mashed potatoes, and two meals with rice, so far this week, and we’re having roast beef for dinner tonight, probably with roast potatoes and possibly roast pumpkin, with some sort of green vegetable – and I wouldn’t be overly surprised if there was half a tomato on the plate too! We had a very late lunch – I had two Ryvita crispbreads with Philly light, sliced ham-off-the-bone, low-fat cheddar cheese, and sliced tomato… and still I go on to…

…Weigh-in this morning. Losing weight! After all those carbohydrates this week, I get on the scales this morning to find… I’ve gone down another five points! From 63.5kg to 63.0kg! I am aghast! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I could sink so low! Er… I meant never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I could lose so much weight! First, I modestly thought “I’ll try to get down to 70 kilograms” Then I got more ambitious and thought “I wonder if I can get down to 65 kilograms?! Wouldn’t that be something!” So I did – I got down to 65 kilograms, where I ended my Optifast diet… and the weight just seemed to keep on shedding! I got down into the 64 kilogram zone, and shot right back up again after Christmas, and I thought my little day-dream was well and truly over. But all that excess weight just came off again, and now I’m down to 63.0 kilograms? It just doesn’t seem real! Maybe I am dreaming, and I’ll wake up tomorrow, still slopping around at 134.7 kilograms, and this will have been just a lovely dream…but I sure as hell hope not! 🙂

I’m not sure what’s happening tomorrow – hopefully we’ll be able to get back to unpacking the boxes in the Library, because I’d really like to get that room cleared out and ready for whatever sort of bookcases we decide to put in there. We have so very many books! Even if we quite literally (or do I actually mean figuratively?) line the entire room with bookcases – above the two windows, under the two windows – floor to ceiling bookcases on all the walls – I still doubt that we’d have room for all of our books – in fact, I know we won’t! I’m thinking that we have three “spare” bedrooms – one has been designated the “Commodore 64 Room”, but there’s no reason why it can’t have as much bookcase coverage as possible! Then there’s my treadmill room – once again, we could completely line it with bookcases! And the third (or perhaps it should be considered “the first”, as it’s up at the front of the house!) bedroom – it will be the actual “spare room”, with a proper bed in it, in case anyone ever has to stay the night. I’d like to see that room pretty much lined with bookcases too! (anyone would think we liked books, or something! 😉 ) Then we just might have enough room for all of our books! However, first – and most importantly – we have to get all of the boxes unpacked – because we have absolutely no idea of how much room we’re going to need for everything until that’s done – and I’m not just talking about books here!

My Warfarin blood test results have just come in! Hallelujah, and all that jazz! My INR has gone up to 3.0! (it’s supposed to be high, remember, and that’s about as high as I’d want it to go!) I stay on the same dosage, and my next test is on January 15th.

So anyway, the above ramble about bookcases is our current project, which means unpacking boxes – hopefully tomorrow, though we’ll be off on our usual Azeroth or Telara romp on Sunday! And really, that’s about it from me again this evening! Stay tuned for more fun and adventures chez nous! Have I really just been dreaming? Will I wake up tomorrow to find myself still at 134.7 kg? (ghod! I hope not!) Did we unpack boxes? How was the roast beef? All this and more, will be revealed to you all tomorrow night! Until then, however, please try to bee good, don’t forget that discipline is your friend, not your enemy, and always remember to look after yourselves, to drive carefully, and to keep cool – or warm – depending on the weather… but above all, remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂