February Fun in Scottish Meanderings

Trying not to listen to the negative voice in my head telling me we're half way through March and I'm already not doing well with my once a month entries this year. I did another cut of Mirtazapine on Thursday night and was hit with a slew of symptoms and I only got 3 hours sleep last night so I know that voice is always louder when I feel grotty. But it's so destructive. Nikki was terribly sick most of Friday night and Saturday - she thought it was a Chinese carryout she had for tea but texted in the early hours of this morning to say Lilah had just been sick so maybe it's a stomach bug - so I went out to look after the kids and her on Saturday and she managed to catch up on some sleep. Once everyone was in bed I went off home around 10 but the next day I wasn't well and was very dizzy. I think it was probably the cut rather than being out there (I wasn't sick so it wasn't what she had) but Nikki was still very weak and needed shopping. She'd booked a click and collect at ASDA and was going to attempt that but I didn't want her driving so offered to do it - which was daft because I really wasn't well enough either. But I just wanted to be able to help her out you know?

Then I slipped on the stairs and fell down several of them and the dizziness was worse after that so I told her I couldn't drive and she said she couldn't see any way of cancelling at that point without losing her money so decided to try and go in. And all I could do was berate myself for being a crap Mum, not able to step up when needed. The whole of the day before was negated in my head.

I really need to change that.

Her childminding business which she started 2 weeks ago is going really well though and she's loving it - she said she can't believe she's getting paid for something she loves doing - so I'm really pleased. I just hope she gets organised with the paperwork because there's a lot of it and she's not the best at that sort of thing. She was buying a second hand car recently and I was with her (as I was the 'pseudo finance company'😁) and honestly I was so embarrassed. The dealer asked her for the name of her present finance company (a legit one).
No idea.
How much is left to pay?
No idea.
What time period did you take out the loan for?
No idea.

I was squirming in my seat! Not surprisingly the car dealer did us out of road tax - I hadn't realised until afterwards that he was making us pay for that when it should have been included in the price of the car. Then when we went to WeBuyAnyCar to get a deal on her old one they couldn't take it because she didn't have the V5 logbook so the car had to sit at my house for two weeks while she searched her garage in vain and had to order a new one at a cost of £25 and wait for it to come. Then when we attempted to take it over a second time she'd forgotten to take her driving licence! Third time was lucky I'm glad to say😊


The highlight of February was making it to my cousin Jane's 60th birthday party in Glasgow. As you may recall, the last trip to Glasgow in October with my friend Janice last year to see James Taylor was a disaster - I was unwell pretty much the whole time I was there and it was just awful so I was dreading this event but I happened to have a good day healthwise and it was brilliant! I slept well the night before to my shock so that set me up for the day and honestly - it was just like someone had hijacked my normal body and replaced it with the old me. I was actually crying in the car going down because I've missed that person sooooo much!😢

And it was lovely to see family I hadn't seen for a while. A bit of a shock to see Ian, my oldest brother, because his mobility is so compromised now but I was expecting that. I was so grateful to my niece, Marina, who drove from Inverness to Fort William to take him and Margaret over in the car and took them home again - they were going to take the train and I was so worried about him being able to negotiate getting on and off a train and going to the toilet & so on. So that was a real relief. I'm so glad he's got Margaret to look after him on a daily basis. Unfortunately he got Covid afterwards but although it was bad at the start and his balance went haywire again, it doesn't seem to have had the lasting effect this time - he was feeling better last week so hopefully he'll recover okay.


Jane is very sociable - there were over 150 people there! I would be lucky to amass 30 folk to a party nowadays if I had one and most of these would be family! She was on the go the whole night chatting to everyone and dancing the night away - that's her in the red dress doing a Gay Gordons on the floor.


And - such a good idea - there was a hot buffet with an absolutely delicious array of food and instead of dessert or a birthday cake (which would have had to be huge to cater for that many folk) she had a cake on every table with a cheese/fruit board - as you can see on ours there was an absolutely delicious carrot cake which we demolished forthwith - best one I've tasted yet! And then later on there were bacon rolls as well.

The girls all ready to be partied out! This is me, Lorna (my sister), my niece Jenny and my niece Marina.


And here's myself, Ian & Lorna - it's a shame Mike (my other brother) wasn't there as it's a while since we've had a photo taken of the 4 of us but he's kind of distanced himself from us now - doesn't want to be part of the weekly chat - Ian phones him every now and then but is getting confused so struggles to remember what Mike said on the phone. He did get an invite but we never heard anything - maybe it was too far to come - he lives in London.


It was a great night - I was even up dancing!

Jane manages Eddi Reader (Scottish singer - was in Fairport Convention many years ago) and Capercaillie (Scottish Celtic band) and Eddi sang one of Jane's favourites for her - Moon River - and then her and Karen Matheson sang a duet - another of Jane's favourites - I Walk Alone - so that was pretty special.
And Eddi made me feel better - I didn't have the capacity to go and buy an outfit - it was enough just to get there - and I was wishing I'd dressed up more but when I saw Eddi's wellies ......😂

Next day we met up with Jane and Susan (her sister), and her husband Richard - Lorna took photos but I'm still waiting for them so can't post them then I had a good run back. Unfortunately I didn't sleep the whole night of Friday night so felt a bit rough because of that but otherwise I was still ok. It was a tremendous boost for me and on days like today when I feel like crap, I remember it and think there'll be another day like that coming soon.

Next event is the family get together in Dundee in May so we'll see how that goes.


And of course no entry would be complete without an entry about the shed!!😁

I got it down to this.


And then when I contacted the landscaper last week he said 2 of his guys were asking him for overtime on Saturday morning so they could demolish it then. He's doing the base for the summerhouse but couldn't do it at that point but at least it got the shed down.

So the shed is no more!


Which doesn't mean everything that was in it is sorted out - I have about 6 boxes of stuff sitting in my spare bedroom to go through but I can't stand clutter so hopefully I can just chip away at it in the coming months and get it dealt with.


Lily's been getting Living and Growing classes recently and isn't enjoying them at all I don't think. Nikki was prepared for some awkward questions/chats but wasn't prepared for being told the boys in her class were talking about cum afterwards!! I said well that's karma for when you were getting them (although I'm quite sure she was a good bit older at that point) and told me about being disgusted at learning all about masturbation then turned to me and said "Do YOU do it?" I have no idea what I replied - I think I've blocked the memory of it from my brain!!

I mean - they're only 10 - it seems very young to be learning about such things and I'm just hoping it doesn't cause confusion or anything worse. Maybe I'm just getting old!😁