snowmash's cybergarden - spring edition

[madmouse]

hello

Oh v well done getting through your first day back, madmouse. Hope you're doing OK on the new doses apart from being so tired. How fabulous to have found a mouseling-friendly playground. Many more happy hours to be spent there, perhaps!

Love that we're all coming out as jigsaw fans here! I shall have to get one of these puzzle mats too - they do sound useful.

Congrats to hob for getting dreaded task done. Hope your evening was great once it was out of the way.

Sleep well all, if we can in this heat.

Oh joy madmouse , fate had a something lovely in store for you all after your draining work stint . Lovely for upward to hear whilst having tiresome few days . Am sure you'll take some good piccies of mousling trying out the play equipment . Hope you'll be able to build up gradually to doing more , both at work & leisure .

You are very brave to try again shodatin after previous concerted efforts & I hope you achieve the breakthrough you hope for . Please be very kind to yourself whilst trying < frets >

Relate to having difficulty with weight loss when lacking ability to exercise , must be very frustrating for you . Food is my achilles heel so will have a fair margin to cut down when become gradually less mobile - many sympathies for you and upward who've restricted calories already & have little room for manoeuvre . The only real weapon is variety I reckon , but that's awkward too when people with mobility needs have less energy to plan meals & often less money for access exciting food . Thank goodness for internet shopping ( though not vaguely universal yet )

Lovely evening TIANC , thank you so much , & hope you had same . Hope you're able to enjoy a good wekend .

Sory if post sounds gloomy- don't feel that way ! We're all cheering you on , upward

TIANC I'm not on any medication anymore now - hope my counselling starts soon x

So lovely that this thread is still here even though I don't post a lot.

It's good that lots of people like jigsaws/find them useful. I recently bought myself this one as a distraction bizarre bookshop lots of the titles are plays on real book titles.

I'm impressed by anyone trying to lose weight, it certainly takes time, patience and effort.

I'm glad you got into work, madmouse It's great you found a decent playground too.

I am feeling zonked/horrible, and don't really want to increase meds again today. Not much choice though, as the pharmacy gave me exact doses.

Hello upward, and best wishes for increasing the drug dosage. I do know how difficult it can be sometimes, but am hoping this goes well for you and that any problems are very temporary. I might have another attempt at increasing my own, thanks to your example, even though I gave up on this a few weeks ago when suffering from a fall and really sorry for self.
By the way, I really appreciated the support from lovely people on this thread when it happened, so I'm very pleased it's still here too, madmouse.
I do like the sound of your new jigsaw upward and really hope it will help.

Just to say that the weekend's Skyping started a bit early today, but brother and I eventually managed to include sister (Cape Town) with all three managing to actually see each other at same time! None of us managed to find instructions for this, and only one of us could be called "computer literate", but it was worth a cheer when accomplished. Parents would have been so pleased. Next time we all have necessary time together, I'll suggest adding niece in Australia (but it does seem very ambitious for our small, scattered family

Before I forget altogether, congratulations to hob for managing the difficult task, a few days ago now. It's worth remembering how much one can suffer in the lead-up to dreaded action, and how good it feels when accomplished. I do hope your DH appreciated how brave you were (and sorry I forgot to mention this, as it actually made an impression when I read your news.)

Hope everyone's having an enjoyable evening, and at right temperature.

Thanks shodatin. I don't like the continual sedation, but beggars can't be choosers. A proper fall is difficult for anyone, i hope you're getting over the shock :(

I hope everyone has a pleasant night :)

Arrgh madmouse, sorry, you've just come off stuff, haven't you? Sorry, brain the size of a pea. Good luck with the counselling when it comes.

Can I join you in feeling zonked and horrible, Upward? We can be fed up together.

Sorry, having grumpy day and shouldn't post any more, except to say I'm so impressed at shodatin's three-way Skype and at hob for being bang on the nail about food strategies.

Hope everyone else has had as good a day as possible. Sleep well all.

TIANC , you can definitely join me. Sorry you're feeling rough. I'd never heard of 3 way skype either.

Here's some fresh , here's hoping for good days!

Morning all, and I do hope upward and TIANC are soon feeling better.
Am feeling myself, because I forgot to take my own extra tablet on Sat evening - all the Skype excitement probably. (We had warnings that if A was added to conversation then B would be put on hold;eventually got a choice for sharing, then conference, which did work, but need to figure how to start from here next time).
Hope everyone has a good day actually. Both heavy rain and a friend's husband to fix gate are due here today, so am hoping only one arrives & soon.

Bad luck shodatin. It's easy to do though (I missed some of mine yesterday am). Did the rain and gate happen separately?

Hello upward, and thanks for (undeserved) sympathy. Do you keep a journal for medicines, or are you usually able to remember? Gate repair didn't happen (I guess man saw rainclouds) and there was actually only a tiny shower, so it was just the usual Sunday with a bit of socialising, although I was pleased I could get out and do a bit of picking, inc. second courgette harvest: - Gardener 2, slimy creatures 0 this time.
There are still some interesting clouds around, so I guess it's wet not far away.
Sister told me they had snow on Table Mountain last week, and panic at the exhibition because of lorries stuck in snow with necessary equipment, food etc, never happened before so very stressful of course.
Have you made a start on the new jigsaw yet? Hope the tablets are useful.

< clinks with TIANC > You are very brave to take the increased dose when it makes you feel awful , upward - really hope your body adjusts very soon , & sorry ou've temporarly been foiled in your plans to renew attempts at dosage increase , shodatin .

Thank you for your link , upward - if anything were to tempt me to infuriate myself with a jigsaw it would be that one , love it . Might get it for a relative's Christmas pressie in fact , thank you .

Fabulous you all managed to see each other like that , shodatin , & thank you for explaining how it's done . Have never quite been able to face using a webcam , but would love to try it in that type of situation . Hope your DB is relatively OK at the moment ? and your DSis?
Hope friend's dh arrived in time to dodge torrent .
(THank you so much for support re: scary tasks , & I must reassure you that dh is inded very supportive with it all ... he could have pressurised me for years now about my terrified inaction , but instead totally understood & helped me improve my confidence )

Very fed up for your feeling horrible yesterday , TIANC , and hope it won't prove very demoralising . Are you up to any skype or email socialising ?
< sends family of young wrens over to sit on TIANC's windowsill and Her Feline Majesty to curl up at her feet >

"Happy weekend" wishes to kizzie , madmouse , pixie & butterpie.

I usually remember meds, shodatin Mmm, courgettes and garlic fried together are nice, 'specially tasty home grown ones. I'm sorry the gate didn't work out today.

How are you today, TIANC ?

The back gate's an ongoing project, upward, and I keep thinking it's fixed, so nothing unusual in lack of improvement today. I used an almost fat-free recipe for courgettes this time; a French friend taught me to grate them and use as a quiche filling, or in a dish without the pastry, good with any salad (and easy).

Hope you're feeling a bit better today, and poor TIANC, who was also having a difficult time, and that madmouse has had a decent rest. It's a long time since we heard from pixie and butterpie - best wishes to all for the new week.

Hob, you're lucky to have such good support at home, and thanks for your enquiry about DB, who is still improving slowly with CBT and plans to visit again soon . One of the ward nurses, (bumped into in town), told him how much they'd appreciated my concern while he was so ill, which has helped to improve our relationship, but it's never a very quick recovery of course.

Sorry , must be extra slow - minded today as managed to miss your post of just before 6 , shodatin . Sorry you waited in vain for gate to be fixed , & hope I think we got your forecast torrent here instead - phew, less watering . Another fan of courgettes with garlic here , gorgeous .

Lorries stuck in snow up there ?! Very surprising & hope people still enjoyed exhibition < intrigued >

Hope you sleep well tonight upward, & that in a few days or two these miserable sideeffects will be just a memory .

Hope you've had a better day TIANC , & can take comfort from shodatin's victory against the Slugs of Doom

Hob, there was snow on mountain (rare) and snow on roads, as I understand it, I don't think the lorries were on the mountain, in fact the exhibition was in Durban as I remember, so they would have been badly lost if up there....

Just noticed the time, so better say a goodnight to all (and stop thinking of lost lorries.) Sleep well.

Thank you, Upward, better today overall (bit wobbly in the middle). Hope your day also bearable. Any warning how long your zonked period might be?

Well cheered by shodatin's vegetable victory! Have been eyeing my swelling green things hopefully... And salivating at this idea of garlic and courgettes.

And thank you for the cyberwrens and lending me Her Magnificence, hob! I've been alternately at that and grumping all afternoon!

shodatin how annoying for you about your gate. But glad you got a bit of socialising - and what lovely encouraging news about your brother.

I am about snow on Table Mountain! Not surprised a route to Durban was affected in that case, as the Drakensbergs often get a little snow.

Hope everyone has had as good a day as possible. Night all, and sleep well.

Morning all, a very dull and drizzly day here, with no proper rain for a long time, again.
Glad you had a better day, TIANC*, as you were doing so well for so long. Is is a question of getting enough rest, or is there anything else you can do to improve day-to-day living? And thanks for sorting S.A snow for me; I'm usually only half-listening to DSis on this subject as it's usually sunny of course.

The gate is a perennial problem, even getting rid of it would be difficult with bent and over-painted nails, so it's not too upsetting that it's still unfixed.

I'm glad it was a little more bearable TIANC I hope it continues. Thanks everyone for the good thoughts around meds, I forgot to aak how long it would take to adjust to them.

Has been drizzly here too - but occasional blue sky in between.

Thanks for asking, Upward and shodatin. It's more a case of what I don't do that will improve the day-to-day - but of course that means long-term stuff doesn't get done.

Think I just have to resign myself to big crash-outs in the middle of each day for a while. Unfortunately, because I've been so well recently DP and I had ambitiously (and expensively) planned a family history research trip next week, so this could be Very Annoying Indeed.

Oh well. Tis my own stupid fault for overdoing things and thinking I was getting away with it. [never-learns emoticon]

Thinking of you , upward , "keeping on keeping on " as TIANC puts it . Hope it's a matter of a couple of days before you feel more or less OK .

Absolutely wretched news that the visit is in doubt , TIANC - just the sort of thing dh & I try to plan & really dread having to cancel , especially with financial considerations to triple the misery . Really hoping for a minor miracle

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Her Magnificence is transmitting feline positive vibes to you as she naps . She's really taken to you after you let her tour your garden yesterday then sleep on your feet for hours ( & she is not one to trust strangers )

oh lordy lord , I wasn't envisaging lorries wending their way up to the very summit of Table Mountain but I certainly had no clear idea of the areas .. anyhow , your info about the actual events & area has been very enjoyable < off to consult maps >

Did another thing today I've been putting off for about 2 years - & I felt little fear !! I swear the healing vibes my friend has been "channelling" & sending me
are working , alongwith the loveliness of you lot . < routes some TIANC's & upward's way - suitable for all faiths or none > Got to face someone grumpy tomorrow , though , ugh .

In a lather here about still not being in fit state for letting agents'inspection next Monday so may give you some respite from rambles < has brevity chip inserted in brain >
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Very glad your DB is making progress & doing CBT , shodatin.

Congratulations hob, for being brave again. There's nothing like actually doing something and managing it well to give one confidence, and I'm so pleased for you. For the grumpy one tomorrow, have you thought about "looking beyond", as there may be good reasons why this person is unhappy?
(You probably do this more often than I do, so please forgive advice).

Apologies too for vague S.African geography; should probably have looked at the atlas myself as all I know about Durban is the coastal position...

Glad to pass on news about DB, as it's been years since we had such a good relationship, mainly because of depression, that terrible illness.

I do hope you can manage to get enough rest TIANC, and take it easy with your trip in mind. I remember the urge to get things done to a house, there seems to be an endless list, but you do deserve a holiday and postponing jobs for a month or so will make sense in the long run. Hope you feel better soon, and upward too, who is doing so well with recovery.