Coughing and Spluttering 🙄

 Now it's mine and Dave's turn to be ill.  We tried holding things at bay with the Lemsip First Defence nasal spray but when a virus strikes it just needs to do its thing.  Covid tests have been done and it is just a heavy cold which has exacerbated the PoTS symptoms but all things considered we are managing quite well.  Sad to say though that we have missed church for the second week in a row but it just didn't seem right turning up to church spreading our germs, so we watched online this morning at 9:30 am and joined in with the live recording.  This weekend has included cosy fires, warming foods and lots of knitting 😊

I finished my knitted vest and I'm very pleased with the outcome.  I have just cast on for a pair of knitted slippers ❤️

We also had a diabetes incidence yesterday, we've not had one of those in a very very long time.  To provide cheer and a low carb option, I made crispy baked breakfast pizza for lunch yesterday and  it was thoroughly delicious.  

We also had to venture forth yesterday evening as we needed to pick up some medical supplies from our local pharmacy and to collect a few bits and bobs from Booths.  As a result of the late evening shopping we had spicy thai green soup on hand for today's lunch, followed by our usual pancake treat.  Tonight's tea was that ultimate comfort food meal, the butter chicken with rice only this time I served it with broccoli instead of peas.

Here's hoping this virus will soon shift x 

Random Photos On A Wednesday

 

Ben sporting a new Makita T Shirt that he won in a give away on Instagram.

Cutie pie Ottilie pretending to be a bear ❤️

Poppy cat snoozing on her blanket 😊

It's been a pretty low key kind of day.  We had a visit from Dave's old RMC boss and his wife.  When Dave finished work he kept in touch with the boss' wife who was also employed as an administrator for the company.  A few years later they retired back to Oxford but still continued with the yearly Christmas card and catch up letter.  An email last week stated they would be in the area and could they visit and naturally we said yes.  It was really lovely to see them but as usual quite fatiguing for me, so I was glad of my afternoon rest after lunch.

Tonight's tea was a very simple pasta meal - penne pasta and bolognese sauce which i cooked on a low heat on the hob in order to save energy.  The sauce reduced down beautifully and was very tasty.  Whilst tea was cooking I actually managed to tackle the ironing pile as it had been bugging me for over a week, what a relief to tick that job off my whiteboard list!  I hope your Wednesday has gone well x 

Kitchen Monday

 Pip had her blood test this morning and it was also our home delivery food shop day, so once we were home from the GP surgery I made a start on 'everything but the fridge' soup 😊. We've been pretty good at not having any food waste so the soup consisted of cauliflower, carrot, celery, onion and potatoes with vegetable stock.  I also used the pizza base recipe to make a garlicky flat bread which I then topped with feta cheese and melted under the grill.

I also made another batch of muffins only this time it was an apple, blueberry and almond mix:

After lunch I went for my usual lie down and Rosary prayers but just towards the end I nodded off.  I must admit I didn't feel too great when I awoke and I reckon it was either a delayed reaction to my Covid vaccine or my body is trying to fight a low grade version of Pip's virus.  I had a real craving for some comfort food and had seen this particular dish on 'Smitten Kitchen's' Instagram earlier in the day.  The recipe wasn't quite a one pan meal as I don't own a cast iron pan that works both on the hob and in the oven, but a lidded frying pan and roasting dish for the oven worked just as well.  The dish was a hit with everyone and I will definitely be making this again 😊

Butter Chicken and the recipe can be found HERE

Happy Monday xx 

A Quiet Weekend

 Pip started with a flu type virus on Friday.  I don't think it is Covid but we tested today and the result was negative, so will test again on Tuesday as sometimes it can take a few days for the virus to show up on tests.  As a result we've pretty much been homebound, save Dave and I going for our Covid jabs on Saturday morning, followed by purchasing sick day supplies, notably Ginger Beer and Salted Crisps 😊. Pip and I camped out in the designated sick bay last night, AKA the lounge as she wasn't feeling great but we both slept quite well all things considered.

Last night's tea was our go to meal, C-Section recovery stew which I have actually made for a C-Section post partum mum, but we have now dubbed it Covid/Flu Recovery Stew!  It contains carrots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, turmeric, ginger, chilli, lemon juice, vegetable stock, garlic, lentils and cashew nuts.  It is very nourishing and very warming.  This was followed with home made rice pudding ❤️

Recovery Stew

Rice pudding made with whole milk and butter.  I forgot to add the stevia and it was just fine without any sweetening, you can also add grated lemon rind to the mix too.

Today's lunch was home made pizza and salad followed by pancakes.  I didn't have enough eggs to make our usual batch of pancakes so the pizza was a last minute idea to bulk out the meal.  The dough was a breeze to make with the new mixer and consisted of just self raising flour and milk.  For one person the quantities are 85g of self raising flour, a pinch of salt and 50ml of milk.  I fried onions , peppers and a small amount of chorizo for the toppings. I rolled the dough onto greaseproof paper which made transferring to the oven an easy task, and I part cooked the dough for five minutes before adding the pesto sauce, toppings and a sprinkling of cheese.  The dough was then cooked for a further 8-10 minutes.

Hope you have had a blessed Sunday x 

 

Tiny Tasks On A Thursday

 I had a reflexology appointment this morning which necessitated a drive back to our old stomping ground in Lancaster.  Whilst I had my appointment Dave and Pip had a coffee and cake at The Courtyard Cafe in the grounds of St John's Hospice.  Before the pandemic a group of us used to meet in the hospice chapel for prayers every Monday - that used to be a five minute drive from our old home.

Once I'd collected them after my appointment we nipped to the local post office/convenience store to post a parcel for a friend and this necessitated driving past our old home.  It was a bit of a shock to be honest as the exterior was looking quite shabby and I did wonder whether the house had been sold on again or was now being rented out.  When we arrived at the Post Office an even bigger shock awaited as the old owners had also moved on and that too was looking very run down and disorganised, in fact the whole area had taken a turn for the worse 😕. It confirmed to us that moving on was the best thing for us as a family and don't get me wrong there are issues where we live, notably drug problems in the village but thankfully not in our immediate vicinity.

After lunch I had my usual afternoon rest and prayer time followed by some sitting down sorting in the kitchen.  The new kitchen appliance comes with various accoutrements and I needed to find homes for them all 😂. Thankfully with a bit of judicious pruning of unwanted items I succeeded and even the cutlery drawer had a good clean.

Thanks to meal planning tea was a very simple affair, baked salmon, baked potatoes and petite pois.  No more kitchen duty for me today, it's time for knitting and reading 😁

A New Kitchen Helper

 Our Vitamix blender finally went kaput over the weekend, but I cannot grumble as we bought it when Pip was just two and she'll be fifteen in December!  Over the years kitchen aid technology has advanced quite a bit and this time we opted for a multifunctional system.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking meals from scratch but especially now with the Long Covid and PoTS issues, things can be quite tricky despite using a perching stool and trying to factor in rest breaks.

This Bosch MUM creation mixes, whisks, grates and even blends - the liquidiser attachment connects on to the top of the machine.  As a result of this machine, carrots were grated to add to our lunch time salad and I managed to batch cook some raspberry, oat and polenta muffins, savoury chilli and onion muffins and a regular cornbread.  Whilst we were out (Dave had a neuro physio appointment 30 minutes away) the beef and vegetable chilli was cooking in the instant pot, and it was just a case of cooking the rice once we returned home 😊

Raspberry muffins at the back and savoury at the front.

Cornbread.

Raspberry muffins.

Dinner is served 😋

Monday Moments

 Ben was at the decking job in Great Ecclestone this morning and since it was a short visit it made sense for me to stop in the car, so I brought a mending job that was on my list:

The zip was no longer functioning in my grey Lands End coat so step one was to remove the existing one before replacing with the newer version.

After he had finished with his site inspection and organised phase two of the project it was time to head home, but as a thank you we stopped at Myerscough Plant World Cafe, and Ben bought me a latte.  Interestingly we sat in the exact same spot many moons ago (2011)when Sara was a student.  You can take a trip down memory lane if you like and see the blog post here

This afternoon has involved sewing said zipper into the coat.  It would have taken me a fraction of the time to use my machine but I wasn't feeling too great today (my body has not liked being upright 🤪) so I put my feet up on the sofa and have slowly hand stitched my way along the coat 😊

For tea we had another meal from last week's cookbook but gah is was difficult with the pastry!  Greek yogurt is used in a lot of their pastry style dishes as a cheaper alternative to butter and to speed up the whole process, but it did make the dough more difficult to roll out.  However it was worth it as the pasties were really tasty and there are enough for lunch tomorrow, so that's a win!

The filling is one medium sweet potato, one small courgette and one leek finely chopped, 80g of extra mature cheddar cheese, 70g cottage cheese, a dessertspoon of left over clotted cream and a drizzle of water to help combine.

The dough mix was 300g self raising flour, 2 teaspoons of onion salt and 180g greek yogurt.  Mix all the ingredients to form a dough, adding a little cold water if necessary to combine.

I rolled the dough into a rough circular shape, added the filling and then formed a pasty shape with each round of dough.  The pasty's were cooked in the oven at 200C for 15 minutes and then 180C for a further 15 minutes.  Since the vegetables are finely sliced the cooking action within the pasty mimics a steaming effect and so there is no need to sauté the veg before cooking.

Saturday Chores and Sunday Knitting

 Yesterday was quite a productive day 😊. I managed to sort the laundry and do a 'swish and swipe' of both bathrooms and since this task is done on a daily basis it did not take long at all.  Ben cleaned his bedroom and then vacuumed the top floor, landing and stairs.  Pip hung out the washing and mopped the upstairs bathroom floor.

Whilst the kids were busy with their chores I prepped the veg for the evening meal and set it to cook on a low heat and also made larger dough balls to see if they would work as a 'bun' alternative.  Once the buns were cooked we served them with sausages.  They were declared a winner by everyone else but I don't do well with a heavy carb meal, it makes the PoTS symptoms worse, so I gave half of mine for Dave and Pip to share. 

 I'm hoping I can tweak the recipe by adding either some ground almond or even polenta to make the dough less heavy.  I miss being able to eat regular gluten free bread because of the additives and yeast content and a lot of the non yeast bread mixes contain heaps of egg white which also contains histamine, so a big no at this end.

I had my usual planned rest and rosary prayers after lunch followed by a spot of knitting.  Soon it was time to head out the door for church and Ben was left in charge of overseeing the casserole and adding last minute fixings in time for our arrival home around 7pm.

Roasted veg and mozzarella topping served with corn on the cob, yummy!

Since Dave's birthday a few weeks ago we have begun a Sunday tradition of pancakes for lunch and since I prepared the batter last night before bed, they were pretty quick to make.  Considering I had done more than I usually would yesterday, I made sure to factor in minimal activity today.  This morning I read some of my book and this afternoon knitting was the order of the day:

No shawl this time, it is a sleeveless jumper in a soft grey.  Most of the pattern is in simple stocking stitch with an easy pattern detail across the upper part of the garment.

Hope your weekend has been all that you needed it to be ❤️

Home Grown Harvest

 I was given some free seeds from a permaculture friend and the winter squash was very successful.  I harvested this one a few days ago and decided to add it to our evening meal.  We had broccoli, squash and pasta carbonara with home made gluten free dough balls.  The meal was really lovely and the dough balls were a real hit but blimey there was a lot of 'plate spinning' when it came to the timings, and being upright for that length of time, even though I was sat on the perching stool was not great 🙄. So although I would not make that particular meal in its entirety again, the dough balls will definitely be in future meal combination ❤️

Thirty Five Years and A Book Surprise

 Dave and I celebrated 35 years of married life today but dang it neither of us could remember the exact time we said, 'I will' 😂. I've got a feeling it was late morning or over the lunch time period 😁. To celebrate we visited our favourite place which is a five minute drive down the road.  I had my usual 'safe foods' which was chicken goujons and fries and Dave had chicken caesar salad.  We both shared a plate of nachos and some gluten free onion rings.  He also enjoyed a mahoosive dessert of which I had some of the cream but my treat was an almond milk latte and very nice it was too.

Feet up cos yeah Pots doesn't stop 🤪

An anniversary silly selfie.

Pip had fun choosing the card and the lovely cyclamen plant in her lunch break at college.  That lovely lass has really blossomed since starting Myerscough.  She's had to deal with all sorts of issues but in turn has developed a shed load of resilience and resourcefulness.  We are really proud of her ❤️

The wonders of book loving blogging friends 😊. My lovely blogging friend Kezzie sent these brilliant reads and they arrived first thing this morning.  I love the Kate Shackleton mysteries but they are often hard to find at our local library.  Once Kezzie knew that I was a fellow fan, she offered me her collection ❤️. I think it's safe to say that these will be my next round of Long Covid recovery reading over the next few months - once I've finished my current war time trilogy 😂

Ten Month Post Covid Update

 I've noticed some glimmers this past month:

I'm now able to clean my teeth whilst standing.

The whiteboard is back in use. At the start of each week I brainstorm little tasks that I would like to accomplish over the course of the week, and in the main most of them get done.

Knitting and reading are still part of my covid recovery and self care.

To help improve my cognitive function I pick out one recipe book to work from and plan the week's menus from that source.

I'm working with an OT therapy practitioner from the Long Covid Clinic and together we have worked out tasks that are spread throughout the week.  I've also been really focused on implementing targeted rest times throughout the day: 10:30-11:00, 2:30-3:00 and 6:30-7:00.

I regularly take a targeted range of supplements (guided by a qualified nutritionist) but this past month I also added a daily supplement of 200mg Co-Enzyme Q10 and I do believe this has helped my energy levels.

I'm still dealing with MCAS, PoTS, and Long Covid issues which impact me on a daily basis but with pacing, resting and really listening to my own 'ecosystem,' I am making small, slow and sustainable increments which is encouraging to see 😊

Butterbean, roasted onion and lemon hummous served with vegetable sticks and tortilla chips.

Chilli and onion cornbread.

A Birthday Week and Other Random Bits and Bobs 😊

 Just over a week ago Dave celebrated 58 years around the sun.  We had a cake to celebrate on the day and then Mum H came to stay that following weekend:

Mum's visit involved a pancake breakfast, mega scrabble game won by Pip, a spot of garden time (the lawn has been mowed since then!) and a cafe treat at Booths, whereby Dave was treated to a free coffee and cake courtesy of the supermarket since it was his birthday:

The grandkids are growing up.  Mary loves being a big sister to Ottilie and both of them enjoyed two jaunts this summer; one to a caravan site in the North of the UK, followed by a week of fun in Spain.  It's hard to believe it but Mary starts secondary school next September!

Ollie love his new school which is much more suited to his temperament and is very hands on.  He loves baking day which also involves visiting the local corner shop to buy the ingredients 😊. He is doing really well and is very happy ❤️

Out for a walk in the local woods.

Baking day pizza with a yummy, healthy topping.

Reading still plays a part in my Long Covid Recovery, although I still struggle to remember what I have read and if any review is given that usually involves making notes as I go along! 

 August Reads

My favourite was 'All My Wild Mothers.'  The author shares her story of loss (of which there are many, the death of her sister in a canoeing accident, several miscarriages, her son diagnosed with type one diabetes at a very young age and nursing her mother with cancer right to the very end), grief and hopeful acts of resistance and resilience by planting an apothecary garden full of abundance.

My favourite passage involves her questioning the value of motherhood, from feeling frustrated by her own mother's resignation to domesticity as a young school girl to her own reflections as an older woman with a child of her own.  It is in the reflecting that she sees and values all those quiet acts of sacrifice and small acts of love made by her mother, often unnoticed and hidden from the world but valued beyond measure.

The Kindness Project was also a really lovely read but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was about!  See, if I don't take notes at the time, then whoosh, it's gone from my memory 😂 and no this isn't age or menopause related, I was mentally sharp before Covid hit 🤪

September Reads

A Still Life documents one young woman's journey in a life lived with disability and chronic illness that began in her youth.  Since her conditions are 'invisible' for many years she sadly encountered medical gaslighting which understandably caused much trauma.  In recent years her conditions have gathered a collection of names including PoTS, EDS and ME to name a few.  Despite the labels and their associated restrictions upon her life she determines to spend a year writing and documenting both the good and the bad. 

 As time goes on even in the bad moments glimmers of joy can be found if you look hard enough.  One such glimmer is a chance encounter on Twitter that begins as a sharing of thoughts and soon blossoms into a loving relationship - the only difficulty is that she lives in the UK and her beloved in Denmark! Thus begins a new way of being, daily face time calls at the end of each day and visits back and forth between each country. All in all an uplifting read, especially since most of my days are paced and measured courtesy of an occupational therapy programme.

I'm now ten months post covid today and I have some thoughts on where I am, so hopefully I'll be back soon to share what has been going on ❤️