Saturday 27 March 2010

Cindy and Thelma


This is Thelma, she is approximately 4 months old but is diddy for her age (1.8kg). A real sweetie who now accepts cuddles and tummy tickling!



This is Cindy, she is approximately 1 year old and has a stumpy tail. She is lovely, always wants attention and loves a good stroke!

Cats Protection - Reading East, Wokingham and Bracknell always have cats that need a good home so go and have a look if you are in the area and thinking of getting a cat!

It's been a shock going back to looking after a kitten, and indoor cats. We have lots of wet food - which is messy - very pleased we moved onto dry food, and the litter. We are supplied with wood pellet non clumping litter by Cats Protection. I have to say I prefer clumping litter - we use World's Best for our tray - and I am struggling a little with how to use the wood pellet. On my third way of using it I think I have my preferred method. Put a thin layer of wood pellets (cm or so) on the bottom, remove waste and wood shavings as required and top up. Seem to use a lot less this way!

My other news is that my department have just been through a redundancy process. There are 30 of us at the Basingstoke site and 7 jobs needed to go. 1 person had just resigned and 1 person accepted a job in her secondment position so that meant 5 roles to go. We were told 2 weeks ago and had our first meetings. We have since been waiting for the result. Needless to say this period has been ever so slightly stressful and my MS hasn't settled down since it flared at the end of my cold - I am blaming that on the redundancy risk....... May or may not be a relapse, I will have to wait and see.

Anyway, the end of the story was that I am still in my job - relief. Unfortunately I was one of the last to be told (alphabetical by 1st name) and by the time I was called in I had pretty much decided I would be the 5th redundant role as 4 had already gone. It was a horrible feeling, yes the money would have been nice but having to get a new job, and quickly, scared me. I cried when I was told, which made my manager cry. I then pulled myself together before crying some more, and so on. I am assuming I was much more stressed about it than I thought I was..... Not the money side but the trying to find a job with MS in the background bit.... In the end I was told I could go home and did as I was not capable of doing any work and was spending my time trying not to cry. I felt really bad as there were people who lost their jobs (who had already gone on gardening leave) who hadn't been as emotional as me. I really don't know what happened..... Still, that bit is over now, just have the fall out next week and the rest of the changes to look forward to!

Monday 22 March 2010

The wagon / House guests

So my temporary grip on the wagon Thursday morning lasted until Thursday evening....... All in all this week has been a total loss in terms of eating - have layered Viennese Whirls and Chips up over the last few days.... Well, may as well do a proper job of it.......!! I have managed to stick to it today so far. I have had a half tin of tuna with some paracetamol as I have my usual Cambridge headache. It could also be the cheesecake I had Saturday and Sunday evenings..... You get the idea!

The other exciting news is that we have our first house guests - Thelma and Cindy. Thelma and Cindy are rescue cats from Cats Protection who need new homes as their owner moved and couldn't take them. Thelma and Cindy lived with 9 other cats and had already spent some time with another fosterer before coming to us.

Cindy is around 1 year old, is all black apart from little white socks and has a little tail. Thelma is around 4 months and is black and white - very like Whisky, our male cat. The reason we now have Thelma and Cindy is that Thelma needs a bit more TLC and socialising than her previous house mates. She is a real cutie and you can see that she really wants to play - she is just too scared to at the moment. We have only had her in the house since Sunday afternoon but she is already getting braver and also very vocal! Cindy can be timid but enjoys a good stroke and has already decided our bed is very comfortable! Cindy and Thelma seem to get on very well even though they aren't sisters and are keeping each other company during the day.

Photo's to follow at some point!

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Where has the wagon gone....?

It seems I have fallen off of the wagon...... I have just had enough of this diet at the moment. I have 'eaten' nothing but Cambridge Weight Plan meals for nearly 5 months, give or take the odd meal, and I have had enough. Bored, want to chose food again, want to eat crap again. So I have. I am feeling quite good at the moment, but I am sure I will be disappointed later.

B and I had a really nice dinner Saturday night for his birthday and since then, well I haven't eaten loads, but I have had a few biscuits and a can of coke zero. Today I went to Waitrose for stock cubes and bought a small Galaxy bar, packet of kettle chips and a blueberry muffin - all of which I have consumed - and I also have a couple of beers. Definitely off of the wagon! I am going to attempt to get back on it again tomorrow but with a tweek up to the SS+/810 calorie plans as I am loosing the will to stick to it so I can cope with slightly slower weight loss and slightly more food!!

So what else in my world. I had a cold last week, unusually it lasted Monday to Friday rather than going over a weekend. Since my cold got better my legs have become gradually more numb, it started in both of my lower legs and has moved upwards. My right leg is now worse and feels stiff, just without the stiff pain. My left leg is ok, just altered sensation (ok, more altered than usual) and it has now moved up to the left side of my torso as well. My bum etc is also a bit more numb than usual, as appears to be the way...... Alongside the increased numbness/change in sensation I am feeling more tired - I guess it is more than normal tiredness as I am feeling pretty rough in the mornings again.

I am just hoping it is because of my cold and is just an exacerbation rather than an actual relapse. It may all be sensory but it is still really f**&^%g annoying!!