Beards, boxes and bombshells

It’s been a memorable Christmas. 

It was the first Christmas in thirty-odd years that my three sisters and I have spent together. Amazingly there were no fights or fallings out, even though large quantities of alcohol were taken (mostly by me).  A good time was had by all (as far as I can remember).  My cockles were thoroughly warmed.

But let us remember the true spirit of the season.  Soppy family stuff has its place but, let’s face it, what really counts is the presents.  Here are some of the highlights:

The other-half received a fetching beardie hat:

Coming to a park bench near you

The cat received a new box:

What you looking at?

But perhaps I was the luckiest of all.  Look what I got, gift-wrapped of course:

My cup runneth over (but at least I can scrub it clean)

The scourers were a present from the other-half.  He will be sleeping in the shed for the foreseeable future.

Next stop New Year's Eve.  Have a good one everybody.  After that I will be back on the herceptin and taking up Clean Living.  Stand by for some very boring posts.

Christmas preparations

I had a sudden rush of blood to the head and washed the grimy sofa covers in time for Christmas.  Cyril (the three-legged monster cat) has just let me know what he thinks of my hard work.



I suppose it would've been worse if he had four legs

  
Anyone want a cat?

Other than sweating over a hot washing machine I've been out and about doing Christmassy things including, of course, drinking mulled wine (I see it as my Christmas duty).

We've had builders and a structural engineer round today working out how our kitchen can be transformed from a hovel to a place of grandeur.  I've never had building work done before so I'm feeling very grown up.  Work should start at the end of January, so I'll have something new to whinge about then.

In the meantime here's something that made me laugh,but then I'm a simple soul.

Spot the difference

My hair is growing slowly, slowly, everso-bloody-slowly and so far it's remaining unruly.  Sigh.  I told the other-half that I thought that I looked like a certain sporting celebrity.  Much to my dismay (but not surpise) he agreed.  So here you are:

Bradley Wiggins (picture from here)

Me, smirking in a sinister fashion

But the other-half isn't really in a position to laugh, as he too looks like someone famous.  He's been grinding his teeth in his sleep and so the dentist has supplied him with a mouth guard to wear at night.  Here he is sporting his new look.

Picture from here

And here is the celebrity he looks like, the Were Rabbit from Wallace and Grommit.

Peas in a pod.





I've had a top-up of herceptin today and all went well.  I've got a heart test on Monday (to make sure the herceptin isn't doing any damage) and then I've no more hospital appointments until after Christmas.  So, I've started feeling festive.  Today we put up our Christmas Twig (we're channeling Scrooge and not doing a tree this year).  Cyril is showing an interest.  Which is a relief as the poor little blighter has been off colour for a few days and had a trip to the vets this morning for antibiotics and something unmentionable with a thermometer.  Hopefully he's on the mend now.  I'm having to starve him for 24 hours too.  This could be a long night.

Feed me now or the twig gets it.

Woozy woes

Oooh I want to get off (picture from here)

Rhubarb.  I’m not 100% today, so I missed the last knitting lesson in the course.  I keep feeling slightly woozy woo and unsteady.  I’ll check this out with the medical bods (seeing surgeon and also getting a herceptin top-up soon), but it seems to be a fairly common side-effect of Tamoxifen.  So hopefully, there’s nothing to worry about other than the risk of stumbling about in the street and disgracing myself in public.  Although it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done that (and it wasn’t Tamoxifen that was to blame either).

I’d been pretty smug about the lack of side-effects from Tamoxifen which was stupidly cocky seeing as I’ve only been taking it for a couple of months.  Another possible side effect (oh joy of joys for my family and friends) is mood swings.  That might account for my recent knitting-related temper tantrum when I ended up completely unraveling a nearly completed hat due to a couple of dropped stitches and unexplainable holes.  Oh well I suppose at least missing knitting class today meant that I didn’t have to confess my hissy fit to teacher.

In other news Cyril (the three-legged monster cat) is still exploring the neighbourhood.  This means he’ll have to wear a collar and address tag.  I spent some time selecting a collar.  I quite liked the diamante studded ones but I didn’t want his cat pals calling him a sissy, so I selected something a little more butch (red with gold stars and moons).  I hope it passes muster with his gang as they are definitely a bit of a rum sort.  Suffice it to say I’ve had to treat Cyril for fleas.  Oh the shame.