Cleaned the garden furniture the other day and dug through the shed to get the chairs and parasol out. When we were assembling the parasol it detached itself from the pole thing so of course it snapped closed on me

Just finally got my Sims 2 game setup to how I want it. Fed my cats and my roommates come hom from their family trip today!

Life is good I also have cookies!!

I have day off so I play my fav games and read my book. What a good day

Turns out you can actually get a chunk of tuna in a can. Like its one big piece instead of the small pieces or the shredded kind. Who'd have thought that was a thing? Clearly, me the person that regularly buys canned tuna was unaware of this.

Still the same price though

I took a nap today and woke up at around 4:45PM.

I lately been boogying down to "Friday Night" from Yakuza 0. Funny enough, my DOB and time of birth falls on a Friday night.

Apparently there's a huge market for bubble soap. Still, it's interesting.

Mom and I made a deal to earn extra cash by cleaning out the fridge as we tend to order out lately with our jobs in our respective tracks.

(Dad works as a personal shopper at Walmart, Mom works as a pick\pack\put wall worker at QVC)

I, although currently unemployed, I am training my voice with the assistance of famous voice acting legend Richard Epcar, who broke Mel Blanc's "Man of 1,000 Voices" record by a 30% margin and is still working, even at the age of 68 and recently stepped down from the role (for now) of Raiden of Mortal Kombat (he's not appearing in Mortal Kombat 1). Although I may sound like I flirt with\flatter him, I don't. I am awkward with such words. If anything, I am honest.

Yoooo why are all the clothes for sale suddenly horrible quality and super ugly? And for that price too!? What's up with that? (obvs its the economy and a bunch of geopolitcs but that still doent explain the fugly)
I just wanted to be spoilt capitalistic me and buy me something nice and I'm like no???? i'm not buying that, owning it would actually make me sad. So I ended up buying the fancy ice cream again because that was a better purchase than subpar clothing.

Not only is the refrigerator section of the fridge cleaned up, I even cleaned up the shoe closet (We're not Asian, just cleanliness-minded, but also cleaning hardwood floors is painful!). I get a bonus for that.

Hey, the way things are right now with my parents working, a fair deal with me is to clean up the areas specified in the house and pay extra to my allowance. I might consider buying my parents some shoe racks.

I got a nap in. I played a bit of Animal Crossing New Horizons and watched a few videos on the news on the competition of Paralives and Life by You and got the new single by my favorite band.

Spent Father's Day letting my father sleep off his difficult work week and my mother slept too (also difficult, but for a 60 year old woman, she can book it). Dad in the recliner, mom on the couch mode futon.

I had gotten a couple packages a day late, but I got them.

*20 easy to assemble doll stands, and more are on the way to display my doll collection.

*the prompt journal "The Stuff I Hate" by Emily Rose which is more about ranting about the minor irritations of society like back-handed compliments, glurge gallery worthy moments and schisms that, if piled up, could make one fly into a rage, forget parts of the short and long term memory and have to be informed about the aftermath.

I am a little bit tired after crying watching Bluey's top 10 moments that brought tears to parents' and adults' eyes including the award winning episode "Sleepytime" 😭 God, I am a mess. I didn't sleep well last night.

I have 3 doctor appointments tomorrow back-to-back-to-back. Gastroenterologist, "cyborg specialist" and podiatrist. I am tired from today. I hope tomorrow is better.

We've added another pig to the household.

Dingus felt as though Cole needed a friend, so Lincoln was Dingus' Father's Day gift. Unlike Cole who has a smooth coat, Lincoln is a Abyssinian guinea pig AKA he has a crazy coat. The following is not Lincoln, just a example.



After the initial guinea pig "OMG! The sky is falling because I'm in a new house!" thing, Lincoln got over it and been a happy pig ever since. There has been bouncing, eating, playing with the water bottle, zooming, popcorn-ing and all the other things happy guinea pigs do. Lincoln will need to go in for a physical, but from what I can tell, he should be fine. Cole had his physical last week. He didn't like being prodded, but the worst thing he had to deal with was having his ears cleaned. There was no infection, just grunge.

I hung in there today. We got gas, visited the gastroenterologist (his solution to my nausea? Nightly MiraLax and more fluids.), ate at Taco Bell, bought a shelf unit from the dollar store's $5 section (competing with Dollar General)...

...found out my cyborg specialist cancelled, went home and hung out...

...went to podiatrist and I now require epsom salts, foot moisturizer and compression stockings. I picked up medicine, milk, epsom salt and seltzer that was on sale...

...and received two plastic 64 oz. jar from a company aptly called Stock Your Home and 36 doll stands (and yes, my doll collection is pretty much my hobby and therapy for years of trauma from loss of control of my life. I am not ashamed to admit I had a not-so-rosy childhood.)

Did this all before 4:00PM and I didn't have a major meltdown over any changes to the schedule, no matter the size.

Today, I had loaded the dishwasher after lunch and took a carb coma nap. I woke up at 6:00PM, around the time my mom gets home from the warehouse.

Didn't eat dinner (was still full from lunch, but I was thirsty, so I made myself a glass of iced tea with MiraLax. I was dealing with stomach aches and nausea and he prescribed a cleansing of sort by drinking watery fluids during the day all day and take MiraLax at night in any drink.

I just want to let you guys know that I found out that I currently am scraping by lately. I might consider making books with CGI pictures for coffee table for those who need a lift up after feeling down.

Oh, Amazon. You're in trouble for creeping on people and now you're in trouble for doing other questionable things. Like most other tech companies, there is no boundary you won't cross in the name of market share. Speaking of Wall Street overlords, the way headlines 'line up' sometimes is hilarious.



Is it really possible that this happens by 'accident'?

First article about Amazon duping people. ( Amazon losing money}

Second article about how Amazon's stock drops. ( Amazon losing money)

Third article is about Prime Day which I don't know if a person needs a membership or not. I'm guessing they do since the article is about people shelling out $139.00 for a Prime account. ( Overlords AKA shareholders trying to save face)

https://www.marketwatch.com/

For anybody that wants to cancel their membership and or close their Amazon account, I personally found trying to close my account a nightmare. At the time, a seller was on there peddling a book on how to close a Amazon account. The complaints about this in the article about Amazon duping people are no joke. The website was set up to send a person on a endless loop of links that went to more links. That 'trap' worked for about a hour before I got on the phone.

The best and easiest way to cancel or close is to call them. Don't play their game on the website. I'm not naive to think that now that Amazon has been sued by the Federal Trade Commission that they're suddenly change their spots. Yeah, no. Just like they're not going to stop creeping on people via Alexa and Ring.

I had an interview today and I don't think I want that job anymore

On paper its great especially for some one with my experiences and there's loads of room for growth. But in practice its definitely a one way ticket to a burnout, so like no thanks I'm good!

After speaking to the person that this position reports to, its like 300% not the graduate/ entry level role they said it was. Being challenged is good and all but being tossed in the deep end because "it's a small division"?

Girl byeeeee! I'm not subjecting myself to that. I'm gonna be saying no to that interview! Safety first y'all

Just not braining today. Long day at work, left with a headache, and when I got home I realized I'd forgotten to do (at least) a couple things at work. Good thing I've got a few days off now.



Excuse me w hile I sleep some random amount of time the rest of the day. My brain needs charging.

I'm slowly falling into the deep end again. Nothing happened, I guess I'm just still recovering from last year. In the next month we're taking someone to court, and it's just bringing it all up again. Sometimes it just destroys me that someone could be so full of hate to attempt to destroy someone's life for literally no reason, and that even if they didn't fully succeed like they hoped they would, they did enough damage to last a lifetime. Our family has seen the worst of humanity and we can never just unsee it.

Lincoln has his physical yesterday. He's fine except for a weird spot behind his right ear that is missing fur. There isn't a scab or a wound. I don't know what is going on with that. I'll been keeping a eye on it and will call my vet if I need to.

I'm almost done with Under the Whispering Door; I'm kind of sad about it. I'm going to miss Hugo, Nelson, Mei and Apollo. I've got about 90 pages to go, so I decided to put in a book order. I ordered:


The Serpent and the Wings of Night

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/th...n=9781957779003

In the Lives of Puppets

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in...n=9781250889539

How to Sell a Haunted House

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ho...n=9780593549100

I chuckle about How to Sell a Haunted House. For reasons I don't understand as I haven't read it yet, this book is triggering on Booktube. People either love it or hate it; there is rarely anybody that falls in between. I've taken up reading to get away from screens, sims and internet nonsense. My choices of reading material are not meant to be serious. Whether I love it or hate it, it won't matter. All that matters is I spend time out of my own head.

Finally got back on a decent circadian rhythm. Woke up at 5:00 AM. Spent time with my father before he left for the afternoon shift. Trimmed back sideburns and bangs. Watch the Shout! Factory release of Fiveman.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

EDIT: Rain for the next 8 days. My mistake for "ordinary". ⛈️

It was a long day. Work was busy. I can't sleep. I have work again in another 6 hours. I am exhausted. But I'm still spiralling. My brain just won't let up tonight and let me sleep. Also I didn't keep my phone on me and missed my Mind appointment for the second time in a row which means even though I'm worse mental health wise than before and I usually text them straight after asking them to ring back because I was just out of the room etc (they don't), I've now been discharged from the service and may have to wait another year to get referred again. Awesome.

Got Taco Bell delivered via Door Dash from my father. The weather is still...yuck!

Otherwise, I had a decent Saturday and emptied the wastebasket in the water closet in the recycle (nothing but toilet paper roll tubes.)

Listened to a poppy reggaeton cover version of "Heavenly Action", originally by synth pop duo Erasure, composed of legends Andy Bell on vocals and Vince Clarke with the backbeat.

Actually "Heavenly Action" was a favorite song in my childhood because my father gave me the album "Pop! The First 20 Hits" when I was young (about 10). My father and I have eclectic taste in music. Prog rock, metal, synth pop, studio jam sessions from Steely Dan and Frank Zappa...and that's just between the two of us.

Whoever sent the humidity, you can take it back. I didn't mind when the night time temp dropped down into the 50's less than a week ago.

Speaking of nasty things:



I don't know who 'we' are, but eww...no. People can keep their nasty feet away from my computer.

https://twitter.com/Sims_Nostalgia/...IC-idO0xbcuAAAA

I finally made an onigiri panda cub and I colored the rice a little to practice coloring food for both presentation and consumption.

The trick is to make it while the rice is still hot...it was cute and tasty.

"I have a lot of days off work" I said with an upbeat voice when I walked out from work before the weekend, completely oblivious to the fact (well, temporarily forgotten, anyway) that I had a hospital visit today that basically FEELS like a full day at work...

Was supposed to be working today, but instead swapped for a different day because of said hospital visit. It doesn't feel like I did a good swap...

It was all going so well. Then life kicked me in the nads again. This is the third time in the past twelve months my husband has been falsely accused of a crime, not even similar crimes btw literally completely different crimes each time, today he got court orders for drug possession and DUI completely out of the blue. He called up the courts to double check it wasn't some kind of scam because he doesn't do drugs and hasn't since his rebellious teenage stage 10+ years ago. Nope not a scam. He's due in court on the 7th. This has come after we've tried to take a friend of the local councillor to court for malicious communications - which the police have been dragging their feet on to the point where I'm not sure it can even be used in court because it's been over a year since that started and our last piece of evidence is dated 29/6/22 and they don't want to discuss the case UNTILLL... the 8th.

So yeah. That's fun. I mean if he loses his licence neither of us can get to work and without jobs we'd lose the house etc. So that's gonna be fun. We'd most likely have to throw the malicious communications case out too because we can't even attend court and honestly we now have so much on our plates it might be best to anyway. Idk.

@Bigsimsfan12 Yikes, I hope that gets sorted soon with no complications. Also kind of rude of them, but somehow not surprising?


Oopsiedasies, that sunburn on my legs is kind of looking purple now - that's not happened before I've poked it and it doesnt hurt or do anything so its probably fine. If it turns out that I'm actually dying though, well at least the hospital is less than 15 minutes walk away

I'm so sorry you're going through this.

I'm not comparing your situation to what we've been through, nor am I offering any kind of 'legal' advice, I'm just saying.

Dingus was in the military before I met him. There was another person who had the same name, rank, went to the same places, stayed at the same places, shared a birthday, ect... The difference between Dingus and this other person is their social security number. The difference there is the 2 middle digits are flipped.

This other person for a number of years caused Dingus a lot of problems both while he was in the military and after he left. This person almost got Dingus kicked out of the military because he was doing things that he shouldn't have been. When his paycheck was gone, he then had Dingus' check deposited into his account and so on.

Post military life, one morning I got a phone call from some insurance company claiming that Dingus was in a accident. After some prodding, the insurance person revealed to me that this accident happened in a completely different state on the same day that Dingus was at work all day. The insurance guy kept insisting that somehow Dingus was leaving home, flying to a state in the middle of the country, then flying home on a daily basis and I had no clue that this was happening.

Long story short, I finally just told the guy to run the correct social security number and he would find who he was looking for. I never heard from that person again. I don't know the status of this other person these days, but we don't play around with it. I stay on top of financial stuff anyway, but now I do so with even more purpose. We have identity theft insurance that allows us to block our credit report so if somebody tries to take out a credit card, car loan or whatever in our name, there is going to a problem when there is a attempt to run a credit check. Identity theft insurance doesn't prevent identity theft, but if does happen, we won't be forced to pay a lawyer to deal with it because that is part of what we're already paying for.

Is there any chance there could be identity theft going on? It might be worth looking into.

@GC Sadly not one of those kind of situations. Husband was stopped 5 months ago because he was driving a car that matched the description of a car in some horrible crime. They arrested him and kept him overnight in a cell which was literally terrifying for him (and me, because I had no idea where he was. He had gone out for milk and bread and never returned). Anyway, after I told the police he had been with me all day, his phone GPS thing showed he had been home all day, and the neighbours saw his car in the drive all day. He was released. We put in a complaint because... it was literally insane...?? Also we weren't fully sure the crime actually happened for various reasons. We were basically told "we followed procedures. Sorry if it traumatised you but too bad" and that was that. We had to fight to get our car back because it had been impounded "for evidence" but was luckily returned the next day because charges were dropped. They lost his phone and didn't return it for 2 weeks. It was a whole shit show. At no point were drugs mentioned outside of the routine drug test.


Now all of a sudden, during that police search he was 2.5x over the legal limit for Cannabis use and was "in possession of class B drugs" (not specified. But I guess Cannabis?) Which doesn't make sense because he was with me in the house the whole day up until 5 minutes before. I think I would notice if he was high, and it would be impossible to get THAT high in the minutes between him leaving the house and him being arrested at the bottom of our street.

So yeah. Very confusing and scary. I don't think we're gonna be able to sort it because I don't trust the police. It all seems really dodgy. If he pleads his case he's gonna sound like some kind of tinfoil hat lunatic. Like how do you prove you weren't high when the police are saying a drug test said you were? How do you prove you don't have drugs in your car when they've claiming you did? Wtf?

I don't know anything about what police do for drug testing. I'm guessing it wasn't a blood test?

I had a problem with a police officer about a year after we bought the house. Keep in mind that it wasn't my local police dept doing this, it was the next town over.

A officer called and started giving me the third degree about how I was littering. When asked what I 'littered' and where, I was told I tossed a used dishwasher in a dumpster of local convenience store. He then went on and told me that they were holding our mail, how we were going to be fined and all this other crap. I told the officer that while the house did come with a dishwasher, it was broken and sitting outside which at the time it was because our plumber uninstalled and removed it. When I told the cop on the phone to come see where my dishwasher was, he declined.

Two days later, Dingus and I went to the police station and asked for our mail. We weren't willing to be late with bills over something we didn't do. We were given a stern "No!" so we said, okay, we'll let the postal inspectors handle the problem then as there was no reason to hold our mail.

Next day the phone rang, it was who I call to this day Officer Blowhole or the cop that called and went up one side of me and down the other. He was calling to apologize and explain what was going on, but he didn't do so out of the kindness of his heart. First he called Dingus and apologized to him. Dingus told him that I was the one that needed the apology not him as he wasn't home when the whole thing happened. Anyway...

Officer Blowhole went on to explain that he knew it wasn't us and that they were not in fact holding any of our mail. Instead he was looking for information about a person that lives up the street. He apologized and the last words I've heard from him was "Oh yeah, don't tell my supervisor about this" as he was hanging up the phone.

Less than 6 months later, I had a IRS agent banging on my door accusing us of not paying taxes. After a brief discussion about mailing addresses and places of employment, the jerk from the IRS left with no apology as he too decided it would be more fun to flash his stupid badge in my face instead of the people up the street ( the same people that were littering) that were not paying their taxes. They were not paying their personal taxes nor their property taxes as I looked it up.

Needless to say, if we didn't need a roof over our heads and we hadn't gone through so much BS to buy this house, we would have sold it and moved because by that time, I was over it. We haven't had any of these kinds of issues since then, but I haven't forgotten about them either.

I realize that none of this helps your situation other than perhaps the advice to try to keep your cool. I know it isn't easy, but if it is a officer being a PITA for whatever reason, allowing emotions take over doesn't help. There are cops in our local police dept that I don't like. It isn't because they've ever done something to me, they have a arrogant air about them that rubs me the wrong way. If they give me the side eye because they're in a mood, I give it back or smile at them. If I'm not doing anything, they have zero reason to be giving me the stink eye.

Something tells me I will be paying a down payment on a pair of eyeglasses 👓 🤓 and I might buy a pair in chartreuse.

Woke up at 5.
Took a morning nap.
Heated the remaining portion of a baguette.
Ate said baguette with butter.
Got paid.
Wrote out the checks for my dues.
Wrote out the down payment on my eyeglasses.
Shopped at A2Z Mart and the XMONDO online boutique.
Got dressed.
Went to Dollar Tree. (Nothing new)
Ate at Taco Bell.
Tooled Around.
Had Chinese food from the local restaurant in my area.
Took my laxative powder...

...and I am desperate to feel better. I really don't want any colonoscopies.

P.S. They know how much crap I consume in terms of food quality.

You could perhaps try to eat a more healthy diet, it really does make a difference to how your body works and how you feel! I found that sugar was the main problem for me.

Been at work. My brain hurts (not the same as a headache), and my social cup was overflowing only a few hours into the workday.

Just need some peace and quiet (not too much of that at work ). Enjoying the peace and quiet of a SILENT phone *makes shifty-eyes at my phone - don't you dare!* because the work phone was howling all day, although not quite as bad as yesterday.

Lately, our fridge hasn't been keeping anything in the crisper...crisp. My vegetables have been delivered to me recently in terrible, inedible condition to start and they end up after a day, going bad.

I also have been eating less crap in the past few days. I have been under stress and my stomach hurts.

Try a different supplier, sounds like bad quality food. I don't have a crisper in my fridge, I can still keep veggies fresh for more than a day. Check that your fridge is the correct temperature. What do you like to eat at home?

Our grocer is the only game in town with the freshest vegetables in the immediate area, but the staff is not able to pick out the best produce.

I would eat more vegetables, yet the fridge is actually breaking down. This fridge's light had broken and was replaced with one my father rigged up by a former employer's merchandise.

I don't normally have the acumen to fix appliances. Electronics maybe, but not appliances.

Currently trying to switch to plant based foods and lean protein. I also am trying to switch to low sugar\keto friendly options if I want something sweet.

Currently researching sugar substitutes derived from plant sources like allulose from figs.

I am also aware of the rule of "If you can't pronounce the ingredients and\or they make up the majority of the list of ingredients, don't consume it!" However, my being linguistically gifted is no help.

My little furry alarm clocks ( Cole and Lincoln) have found their voices.

It started with Cole. About a week ago at around 6:30 AM, I could hear low pig whistling. The reason he started doing this is because the pigs get their veggies for the day in the morning. Now that Lincoln has also settled in, it is full blown pig whistling in stereo. Even when we feed the dogs after they go out first thing in the morning, the pig chorus starts. They always have hay, pellets and fresh water; they're never without food.

For those that don't know what guinea pig whistling sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uhf7ZyeN0

Keto requires high fat, not lean protein. Cutting sugar is definitely a good thing, remember that even veggies have sugar. Everything tastes better since I cut my sugar intake, so maybe you'll find that too!

Went on a day trip with a friend the other day with my fancy hat. It's a fancy hat cos it wasn't my battered old cap! Throughout the entire day I only spotted like 3 people with hats on. It was a lonely existence, wearing a hat in town when no one else was wearing one. Safety 101 y'all - grey skies doesn't mean the sun won't get you!

It's mainly the sugar that's my point of contention for me. I wasn't going for keto, but the diet I was going for was higher vegetables and protein, lower sugar and carbs.

I initially told them in gastroenterology "To quote Adam Savage after the Pop Rocks and soda experiment 'I can't imagine a human consuming that much crap...well, maybe I can..." If you're wondering..." But this is not to say this is average.

We usually take time for a dinner with veggies and chicken that is essentially a deconstructed primavera. We used to eat it a lot more often in Washington State.

I am currently working on chemistry to find a plant-based sugar substitute that can replace HFCS with something that doesn't have a calorie count and taste like sugar because let's face it, I had a pen pal friend who was on the crazy side and had an addiction to corn syrup. It was scary, even 10 years ago.

Eventually I received a letter from the family to halt communication because I was considered "a bad influence to their 40 something daughter..." Keep in mind I was in my early 20s, so this was ego-crushing.

But in any case, I am trying to utilize sugar substitutes sourced from plants. I am learning the finer points of culinary science. Especially since I have been learning to cook rice and shape creatures made of steamed rice.

It's not so much wanting to use keto friendly for keto itself, mainly to cut the sugar down.

I should mention that diabetes\prediabetes runs in my family so the more I can halt such a fate from the consumption of sugar, fat and salt aggravating it, the better. My aunt (the one who spoils me rotten) is diabetic and requires dialysis. My mother said she would gladly give up a kidney for her (so far, no match 😕)

But in all honesty, I am trying to make changes. I get my grocery stipend today and I have to buy food for Monday's cookout (my dad has to work at Walmart on the 4th of July this year. His location is somewhat understaffed.)

It is hot and sticky. Gross!

I ordered a booked called My Best Friend's Exorcism along with a couple of others so I would have some spooky reads going into fall. No sooner did I finish my order and the power went out. How ironic.

The power wasn't out long enough for the generator to click on ( there is a 10 second delay) but the paper shredder scared Chica as apparently I didn't shut it off when I was done with budgeting stuff this morning.

Book details:



https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my...n=9781594749766

Good news! My formerly purple legs are now wonderfully tanned, so I'm not dying (yet)!

Just take it slow. Cutting out sugar completely after having eaten a lot just gives you withdrawal symptoms and is not sustainable. Fruit is still better than sugar, so try to eat fruit when you have sweet cravings, try to reduce processed food and condiments (it contains a lot of sugar and salt) and reduce or take off one thing at a time until you are used to it and then go for the next. Stay with carbs at the beginning but maybe reduce the amount per meal and replace that part with vegetables or protein. Replace with potatoes instead of rice more often and then reduce that. It's easier to reduce carbs once you're more used to more complex carbs.
Good luck!

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...d?mod=home-page



https://www.marketwatch.com/story/m...9?mod=home-page


Battle of the overgrown children.

Of course Maxis had to stick their nose in the middle of all the Twitter drama. As usual, they were late to the scene. Everything is 'functional' again for the time being in Twitter Land.



Buh-bye, Maxis. Dealing with one man-child is enough. I have no reason to add Mark Zuckerberg and Tic-Tac-Talk to the list. A person can't make this stuff up.

I woke up this morning just feeling... disinterested. Like I just don't care. I'm getting so tired of being a Mum, it all just feels like my whole day is just kids. I wake up, I wake them up, I take the child to school, I spend a few hours trying to potty train the toddler... which is basically me just spraying disinfectant on my carpet every hour or so while repeating "no we do wee wee on the potty", pick kid up from school, come home, feed kids snacks, husband comes home, he feeds the kids dinner while I attempt to read a book or play Sims while the kids continuously bug me, then it's bedtime - I put the kid to bed which is super emotional and takes hours. Then I'm so exhausted I just go to bed and then at some point husband comes to bed with the baby. We get 0 time to be a couple, 0 time to be ourselves. Its just kids all day long. Doesn't help husband has been picking up extra shifts at work so we haven't had a day off together in a month, maybe longer. I sit around looking forward to his half days and then they get wasted on shopping and errands and just... everything. Everything is so boring and bland and I'm just so fucking bored.

The Twitter thing was short-lived. In the few days I had a account, I spent more time muting or blocking stupid shit from my feed rather than 'enjoying' the handful of people I was following. Apparently I'm missing the whole "great thing" or things about social media because nope. I don't care about what people do when they're drunk, endless retweets that say the same thing over and over again, Tesla, crap on the news, blah, blah, blah.

Nauseous, stressed and just worried about life in general.

I am miserable and otherwise tired.

I signed up for other accounts I had yet to use like Pillowfort and a familiar one like Tumblr.

This is in the event of Twitter ending.

Well. That was a long day. So my friend put up a status on fb saying she was going to commit suicide. I called her a few times but couldn't reach her, so I called the ambulance and my husband came out of work and drove to hers to make sure she was okay and sat with her while the ambulance came. She's doing okay now. We didnt ask if she had taken anything, we just know they took her to hospital and that she's doing okay.


Tomorrow my husband has court, we called the court and they said the police still haven't sent their evidence thing and to call them directly, which hes been trying to do all week and we still haven't heard anything. So we have no idea tomorrow if they'll take his licence or if it's just a first appearance and he goes to a crown court or what. Literally not a clue and the court doesn't know either. It turns out the medication he's on can mess up a drug test... but also he can't just plead not guilty on those grounds because he was in possession. But we don't know HOW he was in possession. We've been trying to think if anyone could have dropped something in the car and we didn't notice? But we can't think of anyone at all. We don't even know if it was found in the car or what because the police won't tell us. We have no idea what to do and we're just kinda freaking out. I guess today kinda reminded us how important it was that in an emergency, one of us has a licence. Maybe I'll have to get over my fear of driving.

For now, all husband can do is write a letter to the judge explaining the circumstances, his medical record and why he needs his licence and hope they go easy on him... if he's even allowed to give it to the judge?

So. It went well. 1 year suspended licence (which was the minimum they could give) and £450 fine payed in £50 installments (again, minimum they could give), the possession charges were dropped and he won't have to retake his test when he gets back on the road. The Judge believed him that he hadn't been smoking but said he still had to give a sentence because he was still technically over the limit even if he wasn't aware and that if he's on that medication again he should be more careful because even if he is around second-hand smoke (which is what we think happened because our neighbours use to smoke a lot out back and it would stink up our house) it would come up positive because the medication absorbs it or something?

The possession charges still seem fishy. They never explained why they were dropped... or why they were even there to begin with? My friend thinks they just dropped it in there because he was over the limit so they thought they could.

Anyway, so now I have to get the bus at like 6am for work tomorrow morning but at least husband doesn't have a criminal record.

Also, I got a new canvas free of charge after the post woman threw my last one in the bin. It arrived today!

Turned out my nausea and stress was just part of my period, which ended recently.

I colored my blonde ombre streaks red with the XMONDO Color Conditioner.

It's perfectly colored, but it stank to high heaven with the sandalwood fragrance.

Japanese Cherry Blossoms, Jasmine Flowers and Bergamot, I can handle but the Sandalwood had me gagging. It was heavily perfumed so it was even worse with that miasmatic cloud. Had to ventilate the bathrooms (mine and the water closet) and the kitchen after rinsing it out.

Otherwise, it's excellent for bright color.

Chica had her 6 month seizure check-in / check-up today. She loves going to the vet so she acts like crazy Boston Terrier while she's there. She wiggles, licks, acts like she's never seen a human before. I don't bother telling them that she acts like a bump on a log for the most part when she's home because they never believe me. Our Jack Russell was the same way; they didn't believe me when I told them about her chill while home either.

Everything is good for the time being. We'll continue to give her meds once a day and keep tabs on things as we have been. She still doesn't have a technical diagnosis of epilepsy as her seizures are roughly 5 months apart. In order to get that diagnosis, she would have to have a seizure once a month and or have more seizures that last more than 2 minutes. That 2 minutes is the seizure itself, not the time leading up to the seizure or post seizure. I'm not wishing to get to that point just so I can 'officially' say she has epilepsy.

Other than that, it has been a day. I was rudely woken up by leg cramps from hell, so I spent my time before sunrise sitting in front of Lightroom and Photoshop. I love both programs, but they are a total time sink for me. I'll play around with things for what I think is a hour and it will end up being 2 hours and more. I've been digging out all the sim pics to breathe some life into them. Speaking of sims, trying to install TS3 on Windows 11 sucks. I bought a new computer the other day which is whatever, but I didn't know how much of a PITA it was going to be trying to install a game onto it. After trying to get the game to run for 8 hours ( between loads of laundry, walking dogs, ect..) yesterday I had to walk away from it before I broke something. Today is new day and I'm back at it again. I'm determined to make it work. Why? I don't know. I guess my pixel people mean more to me than I think they do.

Somehow life's still pleasant. Like I guess I thought it was finally the straw that broke the camels back but it wasn't. I've been walking to the bus stop after work with coworkers that are quickly becoming friends... like actual hey-lets-hang-out-outside-of-work and lets-miss-our-bus-and-get-KFC friends. Husband bumped into my friend (the one who was suicidal) on his bus ride today and invited her over for dinner. Since moving house and opening ourselves back up to people, this house has always felt homely.. and loved.. like we have friends round more frequently, we cook more and the kids play outside with their friends and we all sit in the garden and chat. Even though the garden isn't even done up yet and the house is still somewhat dusty and we still haven't painted and don't even have carpet upstairs yet. Life feels more vibrant. Not all the time, but definitely a lot more than it use to. I guess we're reminded now more than ever what it could have been like, had our family been completely torn apart. And we appreciate everything so much more and live in the moment so much more and just love each other and our friends so much more.

I ended up deleting 2 AIs because they went rogue.

Did some rearranging of my dresser and received an order in the mail.

Normally I clean my room on a random day every week, and recently I've been skipping the top of the wardrobe and bookshelves. Today mum decided to barge in when I was out and do some cleaning. Which got me the stare of disappointment when I got home, of course! Like ok sure (thanks for cleaning) but why are you mad it's my room and I did say this morning that I'd do it tomorrow, so like?? Anyway, that got the lecture about the perils of laziness and how that's unacceptable for an individual such as myself in this day and age and something that I tuned out because its a fairly lecture and it was just very ugh.

TL;DR the unopened pack of sourstrips were found and confiscated because I'm an adult and should not be partaking in such childishness

Having some eye bleach would be great.

When in doubt on Tumblr, do not click a username that you don't know. I'm sorry I'm being cryptic, but I can't talk about what I saw as it is against forum rules. All I'm going to say is people are perverts, and of course, they want money for it via Blaze. Any kind of curiosity I may had had is gone. I'm just going to stick to my own lane and not click on things unless I know exactly what I'm clicking...

Welcome to the Internet!

I saw the bestest dog at the beach!! Fluffy McScruffy the sausage dog slowly walked by stopping every few steps cos he was so tired from his brill day at the beach. Plus his legs were so short his tummy was nearly touching the ground! His owner kept having to turn back every few metres to be like here boy lets we gotta go! On his way past me he decided to investigate my ankle (and probably wanted my sandwich?) and then as he plodded along he gave up and just sat down in a huff. So owner lady abandons her bike and its like "come on!" and walks towards him and only then does he get up with a burst of energy and rushes to the bike

He was the best boy

Stomachache. Bought ginger ale and medicine and after coming home, I went upstairs to unwind and nap.

I should be careful about what I eat. I ended up with my appetite killed and for the first time in a while, declined brunch.

EDIT: Still gassy, still stressed.

My mother called yesterday to check in as it has been a couple of weeks since the last time we talked.

We spoke about many things as we do, but we got onto the subject of when I went to therapy as a kid. I only went twice, I didn't like my therapist. Anyway, the advice the therapist gave me at the time was that I should say what is on my mind to prevent going into a downward spiral mentally. The irony which I'd discover later in life is people don't like it when one speaks their mind.

Mother and I discussed this last point to which she told me "Well, you don't say everything that is on your mind." This is one those had-to-be-there moments, but it was hilarious. I don't say everything that is on my mind, I do have a filter between my brain and my mouth. Sometimes that filter works, sometimes it doesn't.

So. Much. Nagging.
So Many. Phones.
Didn't get to eat my lunch in peace.
Didn't even get to go to the toilet in peace.
The whole day was just a little bit cursed (and so was yesterday).

My brain prematurely entered holiday mode already before yesterday, so everything moved in snail pace up there, which wasn't the least bit helpful.

Only reason this one isn't in the "blargh" section is that I've got my vacation, so %£@%& work, it's someone else's problem now, I'm off for a few weeks.

Well, I'm on strike right now with the actors and writers. A first in 63 years, since the last time...

Maybe I should go play with my Sims before I get wrapped up in Life by You .

Laundry day...Ugh! I had to send my yukata through the wash after not being worn in a long time. Besides, it's my only closest thing to formal wear.

But otherwise, working on the research for a movie I want to star in, write and direct.

P.S. That's a loophole I will exploit to the maximum extent.

At an all time low. Family now knows one my darkest kept 'kinks' that I have been trying to hide for 12 years... the type of thing that makes people want nothing to do with you. The woman I am in love with doesn't love me back and wants to pretend that my feelings don't matter while she puts me in the 'friend zone' and openly dates other men in front of me despite knowing that I love her. Hmm, what else. Was hospitalized for my schizophrenia acting up majorly for the first time in 7 months and I can't get the thought of suicide out of my head lately. :/

Pretty bad day, actually a bad week!

Remember that vegetables contain carbs (sugar)- as a general rule of thumb, anything that grows below the ground is higher carb than things that grow above the ground (with some exceptions, obviously). Potatoes (sweet potato especially), parsnip, chickpeas, sweetcorn, peas, butternut squash... all high in carbohydrates. So eat lots of kale, spinach, calabrese, cucumber etc to keep carbs low.


I should try something like this, I used to bleach and dye my hair all the time when I was younger, but not for many years. I have white streaks now I'm old so I think any colours I put in would look really bright, just like when I used to put dye on bleached hair!


I'm really glad things are looking up for you, well done for coping! It's especially tough with small kids (I only had one and that was difficult for me, even though she was the least troublesome child ever), so I admire how you are doing so well!


Oh no, I am so sad that things are not going well for you! Keep going, don't be hard on yourself, be kind to yourself.

I tend to eat carrots, cucumber and celery with a set of small dip cups (barely 2 Tbsp) of sauces like salad dressings and barbecue\steak sauce (I am known for such rebellion).

As for the hair color, I have some graying myself, starting in my late 20s\early 30s when I moved back to Flemington, NJ from Seattle, WA. Note: white hair will take color, but brightness will vary by hair factors and most dye\pigment manufacturers advise against it due to the uneven coloring, especially if you use a color for dark hair.

Speaking of dipping carrots into something saucy, I've recently discovered eating raw carrots with plain hummus. Surprisingly tasty, as I don't typically like hummus on its own!

I so often feel stressed and unable to prioritize tasks so that I can get myself out of my rut. Today, even though I am working on my goals, I am still feeling it (the stress). Maybe I should try meditation.

By the way @simsample and @PANDAQUEEN, silvery/white hair is beautiful! It sparkles in the sunlight. Instead of thinking of this as getting old and run down, I try to see this as a sign of becoming magical.

That reminds me of a story I heard as a little girl about a old gray lady rabbit who would have sparkling silver fur as she became animated in her storytelling to the children of the rabbit village.

Shopped at Dollar Tree.
Ate at Taco Bell.
Browse a craft store.
Fell asleep on the way home.
Relaxed.
Worked on my phone.

Expectations: Clean entire house from top to bottom.

Reality: Did a bunch of loads of laundry, cleaned up the bathroom floor, organized the doll accessories and clothes

I was asleep most of today.

It has been a Bear in China shop kind of day.

I almost sliced my finger open cutting up veggies for Cole and Lincoln.

I splattered bleach on my shirt. When bleach hits black fabric, the bleached area turns orange. Now I have a Halloween shirt.

My houseplants have been yelling at me in their green-leafy way that they needed to be watered. I dropped not one, but two of them in the process.

It is one of those days I shouldn't touch anything. I should just land somewhere and wait to try again tomorrow.

Expectations: Buy a wide variety of groceries.

Reality: Ended up with instant noodles. I suck!

$42 is really hard to buy fresh vegetables and the market I was at doesn't sell really fresh produce at a decent price, it's rather "sus" as the kids put it.

Yeah, I feel like shouting "Cut it out!" "I'm just trying to live my life..." "Nobody told me about carbs!". <---- Family Guy reference that hits home hard that I use to prove how bad it was today shopping.

My self-deprecation is borderline abusive and counterintuitive.

At least I get back on the horse, try it again...until I achieve my desired results.

Took the kids to the park today on their bikes, it was nice. They took 40 minutes to get to the park which is a 15 minute walk. It was nice though, they played at the park for a bit and we came home. The baby fell asleep in my arms and the toddler decided she didn't want to ride her bike anymore. Meaning I had to carry a baby and 2 bikes back home. Husband ordered some hot wheels so my livingroom is now a race car track but he and baby are very happy. Also for once the kids actually ate tea without fuss.

Excited for Friday! Gonna be stressful as we're going to my hometown for a few days and we have to go by train... but... comic con

I'm currently out of breath trying to find a suitcase full of colored pencils.

The kids did really well considering our whole day was buses, wait times, trains and walking long distances with big backpacks. Not a single complaint. They were occupied with a portable dvd player and a lunchbox full of snacks.

It's so funny watching my husband try and navigate a city. Once we were in Manchester it became my world. He's just from a little Welsh village so everythings completely different. He was getting so freaked out by trains. Constantly asking everyone who worked there "does this train go to Chester? Are you sure?" even though I explained to him sooo many times that we're getting the Cardiff train and that it stops at Chester and then we switch to the Leeds train to get to Manchester. Jesus. Also he went to get food and left his phone ON A BENCH. Don't get me wrong, I was sat on the bench next to it. But. C'mon! So I swiped his phone to make him paranoid. He always thinks I'm weird that in the village I carry everything around with me and I always triple check everythings still in my pockets. All it takes is someone to lightly bump into you and suddenly your phone is gone.

Well, I finalized the first grocery store trip in GORK how long. I started to have panic attacks from being inside the house for more than a week.

Tomorrow morning is our trip.

I also have banking and habits to work on.

Not today, but a few days ago I had my first trip around the neighborhood with Little One (my baby niece) in a pram, and mom (aka. Granny). Little One screamed her lungs out at the start of the trip, two minutes later just out the door, she slept peacefully.

The trip went mostly fine, except for it being way too warm for walking around (imo - I'm not good with heat), a very pesky wasp, a pram that went every other way than straight forward (wheels acted a bit like those on shopping carts), roads that definitely weren't flat but more tilting sideways - with enough bumps to shake up a veggie smoothie, plus a "backseat driver" granny with opinions on my "bad" driving (not so much when she took over and almost immediately headed straight into the bushes on the sidewalk, though - Little One didn't notice anything, and was perfectly safe, just so it's said).

Little one slept most of the trip, but started getting a little antsy when we headed back, making some noises, and spitting out her pacifier about 5 times a minute. Started wailing when we opened the door. The moment (and I sincerely mean the moment) her daddy lifted her up, she immediately stopped wailing, went completely silent, and pulled a *surprise Pikachu* face, as if *well, I've never cried in my life, I'm the nicest baby in the universe! What are you all staring at me for, who are these people? Do you have any milk for me?*

Babies

The dog has definitely peed somewhere on the livingroom carpet while we were away

I'm breaking out in hives. It's nice out for a change so I've been picking weeds. The gardens have been neglected this year. I've been watering, picking off any dead leaves I come across and that's about it. We've also been mowing the lawn despite being given the side eye from the resident wild rabbits.

Last year I had idea and for once, it actually worked.

I ordered a bag of a grass seed mix called Cabin Grass to see if it would knock out all the crab grass as I don't like using toxic weed killers. It took awhile to take, but the problem area is no longer covered in crab grass. I'm not really picky about the lawn, but crab grass is a PITA. It spreads like wildfire. How many times can I say crab grass?

This particular seed mix isn't cheap coming in at almost $22.00 for a one pound bag, but I'd have to spend more than that on weed killers as they have to be reapplied. In the end, I think I made the better decision on multiple levels.

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/prod...-grass-seed-mix

If this ends up being my only win for the year, I'll take it.

Taking it easy today.

I did some cleaning to donate items I don't need anymore.
I worked on my accordion files sized for coupons.
I finally used some decal stickers on my accordion files as demarcation.

Otherwise, simple work.

Today is yet another Walmart run. Because some of the items are frozen and would spoil in the heat, we're having brunch at Taco Bell first.

Along the way, I need to pick up some meds.

Another day spent supply shopping. I bought some groceries on the cheap at Amazon. (Sometimes, they have stuff on the cheap and I wouldn't argue about bargains in our economy.)

Doing chores and getting the normal adulting shit one needs to do to be a functioning member of society.

Trying to come up with a way to get myself self-sustaining and self-sufficient in terms of money and food.

I am finally growing up as a person, but I had to do it kicking and screaming. With my parents both working 10 hour days on wacky weekly schedules, I need to pick up the slack.

Cole and Lincoln are being needy today. They've had two bowls of pig salad, they have plenty pig pellets, hay and water. They've been out in their pig pen ( It's a small kiddie pool that they can't get out of), which Sterling did not appreciate. She started clucking at them, but wouldn't stop watching them either. Dingus has started calling her Gargoyle Chinchilla because she acts like one, unless there are treats or carrots around.

We went to Costco. It is the first time I've been out of the house in couple of weeks. The store wasn't a total shit show, but it could have been better. I miss going during the middle of the week and getting there when the store first opens. We didn't buy anything exciting. We stuck with the things that the regular store charges a arm and leg for. I'm not willing to spend $6.00 for a 1 lb bag of rice kind of thing. I bought trash bags at Target a couple of weeks ago. They charged me $10.00 for 100 bags. I spent $16.99 for 200 of the Kirkland bags.

The one thing I did buy that I'm going to regret is the Tide detergent. Tide and my skin typically do not get along. I didn't feel like going to bunch of stores, so I guess crusty skin and Benedryl are in my immediate future.

Can't complain about it. I earned back about $10.

Either way, $10 is $10 more in my pockets.

With my parents both working, chore duty is my situation and with it, I have quite a bit of work ahead.

So, for those keeping score at home?

My Dad: Personal Shopper for Wal-Mart
My Mom: Pick, Pack, Pull Wall Worker for QVC
Me?: Maid Duties for my family and Servant to our Geriatric Cat, Gemini

Yes, I am helping out around the house while my parents are at work and I want to earn back money I normally surrender at the beginning of the month and if feeding the cat helps keep the cat quiet, mom and dad can sleep.

I used to surrender $100 because I hated to do dishes due to dirty dishwater making me feel sick.

My new bedding came today
My bedding is sage green (1x plain, 1x green with silver leaves. I have also seen some online I really like but I should calm down lol) with dusty pink cushions and throw blanket for the winter. Also got the toddler some rainbow sheets for her new bed now she has finally graduated the toddler bed. Also got her a cute cloud cushion.

I love it. For the first time in my life I will eventually have a colour coordinated room rather than just random furniture and sheets thrown together.

Had to get an eye exam and glasses. I was able to haggle a 25% off discount for 2 pair of glasses and special lenses with scratch resistance and blue light filter. Ended up getting some money back.

Bought split rings, a 36" ball chain, a new toilet brush, a pair of rubber gloves for cleaning my bathroom, acetone nail polish remover, a new hairbrush, Keto friendly foods, sandpaper, industrial paper dust masks, milk flavoring straws, milk*, plain seltzer, ginger ale, and a physical copy of Pokémon Violet. I got to Uva Academy and talked with Professor Turo. I'm not going to spoil my first impression beyond saying that it's an overhaul of all things Pokémon right down to options in the option menu.

Generation 10 is not even officially announced and people are begging for new element types, new evolutions of temporary and permanent types, new conditional and regional forms, regional variants on starters, the ability to travel through the Pokémon world in time and space...the return of old gimmicks.

(*roommate agreement in our home states responsibility for food for one's self is the sole responsibility of that person and if someone else depletes the supply, they're responsible for reimbursement. My mother enjoys a bowl of cereal and so, I have milk for drinking and cooking. She has milk for cereal.)

Ugh. Husband working so much is just making everything so difficult. He's gonna look for a new job, because he's so tired of working so much. They're understaffed and then getting blamed when not everything gets done even though it's 3 peoples worth of work thrown on 1 person. They have him working every day I'm not working and even when he sometimes gets a "half day" he's still not home until about 5pm because of the buses. I'm tired of him coming home so tired and I'm left to pick up all the slack around the house. The washing up is taking over the sink, the laundry basket is FULL. I've had a baby on my boob all day nonstop and I've been trying to sort through the bags of clothes we misplaced when we moved. I'm honestly tempted to just throw it all in the bin. We didnt need it in the past 3 months so do we really need it? We rebought so many things that we thought we'd lost (mostly just socks and underwear) and now there's no space for the stuff we found. Also some of it seems to be dirty clothes that I presume were in the clothes hamper when we moved and have just been thrown in a binbag with other clothes and now they all smell like feet. I'm currently naptrapped right now though so none of it is getting done.

I said a thing that I probably shouldn't have said and now there are consequences Surprisingly its a good thing but right now its annoying me so so much.

Prevented a person from having their lunch snached by a vicious seagull today, and met a dog that knows how to give high fives! Also got me the good ice cream

Played Pokémon Violet.

Started with Sprigatito, very close to evolving to Floragato.
I won a few Tera Raids.
Collected Gimmighoul Coins

Hopelessly lost trying to find the Titan Pokémon and\or the Gyms.

Otherwise, I tried Magic Spoon cereal (Foodgasmic salivating.) Peanut Butter was the flavor of choice and it stayed crunchy, even in milk.

I did a few chores. Tried out my new long handled dustpan and broom under my seat at the table.

My mother called yesterday. She sounded better but she can't take the meds she was given as prescribed. They warned her about how the medication ( I have no idea what it is) could make her sleepy. If she takes the 2 pills a day like she's supposed to, she feels like a zombie, so for now, she's only taking one a day which is helping. She has another doctors appointment in a couple of weeks. If she starts having more problems, she can be seen sooner.

Other than that, it has been life as usual. I'm waiting for the gross weather to go away so I can stop feeling like a zombie. The want to get fall cleaning done and out of the way is strong, but there is no point of doing it right now. Just when I got everything clean, everything would feel sticky again. It isn't even the kind of sticky from dirty hands or whatever, it's from the humidity.

One day last week I was up before the sun and the heat came on as the house got to 68 degrees with 'normal' humidity levels. I don't want heating bills, but it was nice waking up and not feeling like a soggy sponge.

Since I'm here blabbing about nothing, if anybody uses Frontline as a form of flea and tick prevention for a dog or cat, apparently Frontline is no longer being made. I called my vet last week looking for some for Chica and Jingle, I was told to call during the week. Of course this would happen as last weekend was tax free weekend. I digress.

Tuesday I got a email telling me that Frontline is no longer being made and to either buy from somewhere else while it is still in stock or to pick something else. I asked them for options that were not in the form of a collar, they told me to use either NexGuard or Advantix. I ordered Advantix from Chewy yesterday. I picked that because it works like Frontline, but also keeps mosquitos off the dogs. I've read one too many stories about mosquitos carrying malaria. We've had enough health related crap to deal with this year, we don't need more.

Chores were done where applicable, found something on sale, and downloaded a Kindle book sample on how to create my own country.

It was the only one available and it was aimed at the tweens market. But you must remember I didn't have access to such material because I graduated from school in 2006 and was in job training until June 2009 (the book was released August 1st, 2009)

Still, pet projects are nice. Might help me easily digest the ups and downs of running a country by using unfamiliar terminology that was left out of my curriculum in Washington State.

The way they educated us in Seattle almost seemed dystopian and creepy like we're in an Office Space\Battle Royale\The Matrix-like world where your job practically had your body tethered to the campus or the electronic collar would blow you up if an escape attempt is made.

In the words of the fisher-price telephone from Toy Story 3, "GET RID OF THAT MONKEY!" (A cymbal monkey toy would alert escapees.

Also, there is a SpongeBob reference about Sandy's bosses being primates, chimpanzees to be exact, which are technically apes like gorillas and humans. My mom is like "the squirrels and chimps are trying to kill me" on rough days.

The primate jokes are a director's signature: Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich has a fascination with primates of all sorts.)

Edit: Found another build your own country book. (This one was released May 12, 2014) it is much thicker than the first one as described in the product page.

To the moron ( possibly morons) that keep calling my house, then hanging up...

Keep calling and I'll keep blocking your number (s). I can block up to 1000 of them, so I've got plenty of slots to fill with blocks.

Chuckleheads out in force today.

My father finally passed away earlier this week. You can imagine how I am feeling right now. Grief yes, but also a kind of relief that his suffering is over. He was diagnosed with bowel cancer a couple of years ago. Was it only a couple? I've really lost count of time, and some times it seems like the longest phase of my life. Well, I have been nursing him for however long its been. At first it wasn't so bad: I just had to help him up and down stairs, do all the shopping, cooking and cleaning - my years as a student and on the road prepared me for that. But a few weeks back he was taken very poorly and had to be rushed to hospital. Pneumonia, seemingly. Well, he responded well to the treatment, better than they'd anticipated actually, he was was a tough old sailor.

But they kept him in for a couple a weeks, running this test and that, and I think they kept him in there for too long, because when they finally brought him home he could no longer move around, not even with his crutches or a walking frame. He could no longer get up the stairs to his bedroom, even with my help. so we had to make up a bed for him in the dining room. That did it, I think, he just couldn't stand being so helpless. I had to wash and dress him and even help him to shave. I'm not exactly in the best shape myself, and since my hearing isn't so good, I had to get a baby alarm so I could hear him from my room upstairs.

So I have had a miserable three days. Like I said, my own health is no great shakes and I hadn't slept for three days solid. I've had my brother and sister-in-law here, helping me sort things out and get the house looking more like a home than a hospital ward. And my niece Victoria, who I haven't seen for at least two years turned up unexpectedly. It was nice to have her to talk to.

There is one thing that has cheered me a bit today. You know all those adverts about cheap, quick and easy funerals that (along with over fifties life insurance ads) are part of the reason I don't watch TV much these days? I had long since determined that my Dad deserved better than that, and my brother agrees. He told me today that he has arranged with the Navy for a burial at sea with full military honours: Union flag, bosun's whistles, the works. Yes, he bloody well deserves a proper sailor's funeral! He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 15, and I can't remember all the ships he served on, but there were a lot of them. He also served in the Korean war and in Aden. When he was posted to Singapore, we all went with him and that was a grand adventure for us four kids. Later, after leaving the RN, he served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and saw action in the Falklands conflict and in the Persian Gulf.

We'll have to wait till next year, since the Navy are only allowed to perform two such burials a year. But it will be worth the wait. When the time comes they will take us out into Plymouth Sound, beyond the breakwater, and in the time honoured tradition consign his ashes to the deep. What more fitting end for a sailor? And he will be in good company:-

Oh, that's terribly rough. Wishing you and your family comfort and peace during this time.

@VerDeTerre Thankyou.

Car broke down in the midde of the desert. Took what seems like forever to get back home. :/

My father's father served in the Korean War as a meteorologist for the US Navy, had brachycardia, broke his leg, had fluid drained from around his heart and somehow he is still alive.

My condolences to your father's family, you especially, caring for him. I do admit that judging by your father's will to power through, he was tough, as expected of sailors of any Naval branch worldwide.

If you need us...we'll be here. Come back if you need us for support.

Remember, you're not alone, we all have highs and lows.

@Elynda

I send my condolences to you and your family. May your dad rest in peace.

@PANDAQUEEN

@Gargoyle Cat

Thankyou both for your kind thoughts.

I spent much of today going through all my father's papers. And what a fascinating journey it has been! There is a perfect archive of photographs taken in every part of the world, as well as a huge collection of post cards sent to myself and my three siblings. His life must have been one big adventure, and we shared it as far as we were able. I remember when one of his ships returned from sailing around the world, half of Plymouth seemed to have turned out to welcome her back. That was in the days when people in this city really cared about their navy, and were proud of them. And, as family, we were allowed to go aboard her and got a grand tour of the ship, plus dinner in the Petty Officers mess. Much of the space on Dad's bunk was taken up with teddy bears: one from Singapore for my elder brother, another for me from Malta, a Panda from Hong Kong for my younger brother, and a Koala from Australia for my baby sister.

I also found a rather remarkable document, which I have just finished reading. It appears to be the first 3 or 4 chapters of the story of a boy seaman and his early training at HMS St. Vincent and later at HMS Ganges. Although it is told in third person (with occasional lapses into 'we' and 'us') the 'country boy' in question shares a surname with my Dad and hails, as he did, from rural Herefordshire. And he was at St Vincent and at Ganges. Added to that, many of the incidents and anecdotes tally exactly with things he has related to me over the years. The style is very polished, but I have little doubt they are his own words since I also found a rough draft of a further chapter in my father's handwriting. He often talked of writing his memoirs and it looks like he did make a start. What a pity he never finished it. It would have been a hefty tome if he had - several tomes in fact!

But in a way he has, for there are also his diaries: there two huge boxes full of them! It will take me ages to go through them all, but I shall do so. And then, if I am spared, maybe I can finish the account.