Offer accepted!

It’s been a hell of a day. I had to go back to hospital this morning because about 4 weeks ago I had a sore neck and throat and having this lump in my neck (see previous entries), I’ve been advised to let the hospital know about any changes. I set off for my appointment feeling a little gloomy but thankfully, it’s good news – there have been no changes, and my last biopsy has confirmed the lump was benign (I have to have a biopsy every six months so the fun isn’t over yet.)

The doc thinks I had a throat infection and actually my symptoms were nothing to do with Larry the lump...

Then I got home and received a phone call from the estate agents representing the property we’ve put in an offer for. The couple who are selling have not only found a house they want, but they’ve put in an offer and it’s been accepted so they were prepared to drop the price of their house to ensure they could move quickly. We had to increase our offer but it was a fair compromise. I quickly called my partner and we decided we would accept the new price and I called them straight back. The agent is putting a ‘sale agreed’ letter in the post to us today and we have to phone back with all our mortgage info tomorrow. We are on the first step of buying our first ever house, how cool is that! (I was shaking like a leaf for about twenty minutes afterwards!)

Then I saw a really interesting job and thought, I’ll go for that! That was until my eye reached the bottom of the page and saw that the closing date was today. I called personnel and spoke to a really nice woman who said I could have until 5.30pm to submit my application and I did it with about 10 minutes to spare...

So you’ll perhaps understand when I say I am absolutely buggered!

Forgot to say...

I am much better after my biopsy last week. It seems it takes me a week (for some reason) to get over it. Clearly I'm just a very sensitive flower!

Not arsed

I couldn’t be arsed to blog yesterday, sorry. I’m devilishly tired at the moment and we think it’s because of the biopsy. The lump is in the thyroid and of course the thyroid controls energy levels. I was in bed again by 8pm last night and apart from strange dreams, didn’t really stir until my alarm at 7am. And I still could do with a nap! It will pass, it did last time, but it’s a pain for the first couple of days…

We have sorted out the adoption of Bess. We’re just waiting for some paperwork to arrive which we’ll sign and send back. Because she gets very stressed when she goes back to Battersea, we’re actually going to pick her up from her fosterer. We can’t wait! We’re doing it next Thursday.

It’s my partners stagette do this weekend! The two people who have organised it have done a great job – and its top secret so she doesn’t know what’s happening! Everyone is coming to the house first so I guess I will be playing barmaid before they all head off to wherever it is they’re going. I’m really pleased for her I think she’s going to have a fantastic time…

I’m trying to do some work but not really managing at the moment. I don’t want to do nothing in my last month – quite the opposite – but feeling as tired as I do I’m having trouble even responding to emails! Maybe I’ll achieve more from home tomorrow. At least I can have a lay-in and then an afternoon nap if necessary :0)

I’ve got to take the car over to the garage tomorrow to check that no damage was caused when the car went into the back of us on Friday. I’m hoping that everything is OK. I don’t want to find out that there is a ‘hidden’ problem and the car is off the road.

Right, I need to drag myself back to some work. It’s like pushing a large rock up a big hill at the moment!

Dolly 2

In four days I’ve been made redundant, had a car crash, gone to Cardiff, seen Dolly Parton, been to Battersea to get another dog and had a biopsy. Oh, and we went to Asda. S’all go!

I picked up my friend J on Friday afternoon so we could drive to the concert in Cardiff and while stationary at lights a car went into the back of us. I went postal. I got out the car and yelled what the fuck have you done?! Not helpful but as I’m sure you can appreciate, I was a little vexed. Anyway, we pulled over and remarkably and I do mean remarkably, there appeared to not be a scratch on Maddy (our car!), the boot closed fine and subsequently when we left, she drove fine. Not a scratch. Thank god I didn’t have my handbrake on and was first in line to pull off when the lights changed; so when the car impacted we rolled forward and then I applied my brake. However, I am going to have the car checked over for any damage my inexperienced eye cannot detect. I have since had a sore upper back and neck and a headache as well, but here’s the thing – I am a bit stressed at the moment so I don’t know whether these symptoms are as a result of the accident or as a result of a tension headache because I did have a headache before the accident and my shoulders do get very sore as a result.

Anyway, the rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived safe and sound. The hotel was lovely! Very posh. We had a deluxe twin room and spent a few minutes freshening up before heading out. We ended up at the Kings Cross (ironic really) a gay pub where we ate and had the first of many drinks! Cardiff was crawling with Dollyites and there was a rash of pink Stetsons and tour t-shirts. The concert was at the International Arena and after food we headed over feeling very excited!

The concert was amazing. Absolutely amazing. It was without exception, the best concert I have ever been to and it felt a privilege to be in the audience. She did monologues between songs and was incredibly funny and warm and she had us in the palm of her hand.

Her voice was stunning. She has lost no power with age – in fact her voice is as supple and strong as it has ever been. She did some old favourites like 9 to 5 and Jolene and also material from her new album Backwoods Barbie. She also did an acappella version of Little Sparrow and I cried because truly it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. When she tours again, we’ll be there. I resent the ever increasing ticket prices of concerts and it really puts me off, but I don’t care what she charges next time, my partner and I will definitely go. To think I grew up listening and loving her music and for some reason assumed I’d never be lucky enough to see her live. Just goes to show you!

After the concert we headed back to the bar and got very merry and then headed back to the hotel bar and got merrier still! Other than some idiot smoking where s/he shouldn’t and setting off the fire alarms, we slept very well that night.

I got home Saturday afternoon feeling happy and tired and went to a bar-b-q in the evening but by 9.30 I was practically asleep so we headed back home.

We had discussed getting another dog and then by serendipity, we found Bess. Bess is between 5 and 7 and a Staffie/Mastiff mix. She had been kept in a small concrete yard and been used as a breeding machine. She was got rid of and rescued by Battersea and now lives with a fosterer (who is a fantastic woman) because she became very depressed in kennels. We all met for the first time yesterday and fell in love! She’s a quiet and very gentle lady that would just like a home to call her own and lots of love. We’re setting up a play date at Epping Forest next week so Bess and Pluto can meet and then hopefully we’ll go forward with the adoption. The family is growing!

Finally, this morning, I had to have another biopsy on the lump in my neck. (You can’t actually see it just in case you feel compelled to stare… although as I think I’ve said before it would make a change from people staring at my breasts…)

I find the whole thing painful and stressful and unfortunately we discovered this morning, that the lump has grown. I will get the test results in a couple of weeks but in the meantime I have to meet a surgeon in case it needs to be removed. Bit of a bummer but nothing I can do.

So for once I don’t feel pathetic when I say, I’d just like a day in bed please!

(The pictures perhaps don’t need explaining but one is of Bess and one is of Dolly! I didn’t know how to use my partner’s camera and so took lousy pics at the concert, but this one is at least recognisable.)

Fight the power!

I fought the law and won! At the end of last summer I got a parking ticket in Brighton. The reason given was because I had apparently not displayed a visitor’s permit – even though I had. Anyway, months later they have finally dealt with my appeal and cancelled the ticket! Yeeaaahhhhhhhhhhh people power!!

It’s my partner’s birthday today and I made her a cup of tea in bed and brought her her presents and I think she’s gone to work happy. I’m making dinner tonight – and doing the washing up! We’re going for birthday drinks tomorrow as well.

We have another reason to be happy; our wedding rings arrived yesterday. They’re so lovely! The jeweller included a little note wishing us all the best and hoping that they see us again sometime! Now that’s great customer service…

It hasn’t all been wedding rings and cups of tea in bed this week; I had to have a biopsy on Monday. I have a lump in my neck which is probably one of those thyroid nodule thingies but it’s quite large. (And no you can’t see it, so no point staring at my neck the next time you see me. Mind you, it would make a change from my breasts so knock yourself out.) It was a very stressful and painful experience. Not painful at the time, but painful afterwards. I have some internal bruising in my neck which makes it difficult to yawn, sneeze or cough, which is an arse because I enjoy yawning. It’s like a mini workout for my head.

It’s our chief exec’s last day tomorrow and luckily I’m working from home because I think it will be a very sad day indeed. He didn’t want presents but we had a whip round anyway and have raised several hundred pound which we’re donating to his favourite charity, cancer research.

This weekend, my partner is hopefully going shopping to spend her birthday money! And on Sunday I’m taking a friend to see Wasps take on Sale Sharks at Adams Park. And hopefully, England will stuff Italy!