News from the sofa

Progress of sorts is happening, firstly the kitchen walls have been plastered and look so smooth and lovely. Amazing what a good plasterer can do with a bucket or six of plaster and a float, and an apprentice ...my son was roped in to mix the plaster, make brews and do the clearing up. The Everhot is doing a fine job of warming the kitchen and drying out the plaster...a splendid appliance indeed!
I had the stress (treadmill) test on Monday and did predictably badly, having to give up only seconds into stage two which was a slowish walk with a slight gradient! Apparently my heart beat and pulse did rise but my blood pressure didn't resulting in my feeling very dizzy. The Holter monitor was attached for 24 hours and has now been returned and I had the usual blood tests for next month's renal appointment. these surprisingly show that my renal function has improved by 1%, how crazy is that?
Now that the black sweater is finished I'm knitting a pair of black socks as a thank you present for a friend, still black but just stocking stitch and quite soothing to knit. The first sock is finished though not without having been hidden behind the cushions on quite a few occasions when the recipient walks in unannounced. The yarn is Lang Jawollsuperwash wool. It comes with a reel of reinforcement yarn neatly tucked into the ball, which on sock one I didn't find until way after the heel so I haven't used it. Any suggestions for retrospective strengthening of socks?

Apologies in advance, I'm feeling cross!

Some one has stolen my heart, and replaced it with a rusty creaky substitute and I dont't like it. The week began well on Monday with a short walk, and I mean short, after which I slept for an hour completely exhausted but the joy of going outside again was so good. On Tuesday I had an appointment at my doctors, I was taken door to door but still felt as though I'd done a marathon by the time I got home. Wednesday and Friday I did the short walk, Thursday it was pouring with rain so I stayed in. On Saturday I woke up with pains in my chest again and could hardly walk around the house without running out of breath, so frustrating. I went to bed early and slept for 14 hours so in theory today I should feel rested, HA! Almost fainted in the shower and had to sit on the bathroom floor for a while until I could stand up without keeling over. I've spent the day resting on the sofa with small brown dog by my side and I'm going quietly crazy. How can this be the same heart that I had over the summer when I walked miles with the dogs, cycled around, did decorating and gardening without a murmur. I want to go out for a walk,I want to sweep up the leaves in the garden and play with Nino as he barks at the ones that fall off the trees. I want to be at work, drive my car and ride my bike and I can't do any of those things. Tommorrow I have the stress test at the hospital on a treadmill and the day after I will be wearing a Holter monitor all day to record what happens to my heart as I move about. I have a cardiologist appointment in early December. I know, I know, I have to be patient and see what the tests show but patience has never been a virtue I have much of.
Rant over, time to stop whining and behave myself.I might just go and make myself a cup of hot blackcurrant juice,while enjoying the warmth of the Everhot!

Black is Black

Yarn: £ quite a bit
Time: almost a year of on and off knitting
Expression on my son's face when I show him the completed sweater: totally priceless

The Christmas sweater in its black ribbed cabled glory was meant for last Christmas, begun in the autumn of 2008 and I knitted madly till Christmas Eve, realised there was no way I'd finish it and knitted a bit more here and there throughout 2009. My need to rest after the hospital episode gave me a good chunk of "sofa time" so I began to do the final part, the front. Discovered that in the intervening months I'd lost the chart so had to guess at the cable pattern, messed it up and frogged it numerous times. Struggled with the amount of stitches on straight needles, frogged it yet again and began on a circular. Finally got the cable pattern worked out and began knitting a couple of rows a day, any more than that and I would have angina pains. The black yarn ran out(I lengthened the sleeves)...despair but the wonderful people at Scandinavian Yarns sent me some more and the postie delivered it with a grin and a cheery "It feels like wool today, love."
I knitted and knitted and finally this afternoon the front was done. Picked up the stitches for the neck, not that the pattern specified how many just to make life difficult, and knitted the neck this evening. It is cold and blustery outside, just the weather for a thick wool sweater.

Too close for comfort

Half term heaven was very nearly a prophetic title since I collapsed in town on Monday afternoon and had to be whisked away to the hospital again. The general consensus seems to be that my heart keeps slowing down to the extent that sometimes it misses a few beats.Knitting, brushing my hair and laughing also seem to cause problems which set off the heart monitor frequently while I was in hospital, on one occassion when N came to visit the monitor reacted so violently it was a close run thing whose heart would fail, mine from laughing or his with shock when the alarm sounded which of course just made me laugh even more. After a few days in hospital they let me out with the prospect of another battery of tests to see why it's happening, a little bottle of Nitrolingual to spray under my tongue if I get pains in my chest and instructions to ring 999 if it happens. All a bit too dramatic for my liking, especially the additional restrictions on driving, working, walking etc until the cardiologist thinks its safe.I'm confined to the sofa for a while but have to admit that just walking around the house to go to the kitchen or bathroom feels like a major achievement at the moment and sends me thankfully back to the sofa.
I got home on Thursday afternoon, in time to watch the plumber rip out the old cooker and see my son remove the old oven housing with a sledge hammer...he enjoyed that!
On Friday morning a big white van arrived containing my new (reconditioned) Everhot, having lost the racing green one I had contacted Everhot to ask if they ever got cookers returned in part exchange for the larger models. The initial answer was no but just a couple of days later I got a message to say that they had got a cream 60cm model with the wooden handles and if I was interested they would recondition it and fit it for me. I think it took almost a second to answer YES and I waited hopefully to see what it would be like. When it arrived it was wrapped in a padded cover and when that was removed I was amazed, the rope seals are all new and the surfaces have been polished so it looks brand new. By 11o'clock it was fitted and commissioned and the kitchen began to warm up. Oh the joy of having a warm kitchen at last! Because I spent most of last week in the hospital the cupboards and worktops in the kitchen haven't been sorted out so the Everhot stands like a little beacon in a sea of chaos. I'm not allowed to do much more than boil the kettle on it but it is a delight to use and will be producing meals and cakes as soon as I'm fit (in the meantime my son is learning to use it and proving to be an excellent cook).
To cheer me up my son has been suggesting some things I should do when I'm better one of which was to get a tattoo, suggestions have ranged from a knitted skull and crossed needles, a Royal Copenhagen logo, or a list of my medications tattoed down my back. Other possibilities include ride a motor-trike (oh yes please) or go and see the Northern Lights. He's offered to pay for the tattoo!

Half term heaven

October half term holiday, the lull before the storm of the Christmas half term. Half term holidays are a good time to begin the Christmas baking, fill the freezer up and generally prepare for winter. Today is a typically grey, chilly October day with odd periods of sunshine during one of which I managed a walk with Nino. He enjoyed pottering along snuffling at all the leaves.
It was good to come home and have a cup of tea and a slice of cake (more about the cake in a minute)the wind had turned very chilly and although I feel fine most of the time, exertion in cold wind does make me very tired. Nino headed straight for the sofa...it's hard to get a good seat when Polar Dog is stretched across it so he's making the most of the opportunities available to him as the Polar Dog will be coming to live with us on a permanent basis pretty soon I think!
The cake is a blast from the past, a recipe from my mum's 1960s Kenwood Chefette recipe book called Apple Spice Cake, perfect for this time of year.Although based on a Victoria Sponge cake recipe it contains a good helping of cocoa powder (Green and Blacks preferably) a Bramley Apple cooked to a puree and plump raisins as well as cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice.
It is not a quickly prepared cake but worth the fiddling about.
Ingredients
5 ounces SR flour
1 ounce good cocoa
4 ounces butter
4ounces caster sugar
1 large Bramley cooking apple
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice.
A handful of raisins
First core and slice the apple leaving the skin in place. Cook in a small amount of water until soft and fluffy. Liquidise (with your Kenwood Chefette liquidiser no doubt) or push pulp through a sieve and allow to cool.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl mixing well.
In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar until pale (using your Kenwood Chef hand mixer and beaters of course) add the eggs one at a time and mixing well. Add half the dry ingredients then the apple puree and raisins then the remaining dry ingredients. Grease and line an 8" tin, fill and bake in a medium oven Gas mark 4 for approximately 40 minutes. Leave to cool then turn out onto a cooling rack.
the original recipe had a chocolate fudge icing to go with it if I remember correctly
but we preferred just a dusting of icing sugar sprinkled on the top.
The Kenwood Chefette, and the recipe book have long gone but I had written the recipe down when I first left home and recently came across it. The Chefette was always an object of amazement at home as my mother didn't go in for gadgets at all and usually baked with a wooden spoon and a Mason Cash mixing bowl. When I was married I was given a Kenwood Chef mixer by my brother in law but never really took to it and just like Mum use a wooden spoon and a mixing bowl ...although I do have to confess a slight hankering for a KitchenAid mixer but suspect I wouldn't actually use that either.
It looks as though the kitchen plastering will finally be done next week and some other kitchen renovation started but more of that later in the week.

No regrets..

The racing green Everhot was relisted on ebay yesterday by the seller and has been sold to someone else, he needed it to be moved by tommorrow and without a van there was no hope of us doing so. Ah well I'm a tiny bit disappointed but not as much as I thought I might be. I'm back on the hunt again for a second hand Everhot. Maybe there is a pretty cream one just waiting somewhere...we'll see!
On a happier note, my CT and Doppler scans came back with no abnormalities. I have one more heart test still to have but I can resume driving as from next weekend! The enforced walking has been good for me but it will be lovely to be able to use the car for longer journeys again.

Drugs, money laundering, or a cooker?

Today was to be the day my son and the friend with the big van drove to pick up my new (second hand) cooker. Almost there the van developed a fault and within minutes was alight and burning hard. They jumped out and retreated to a safe distance and called the emergency services who came along and put what remained of the van out. The police arrived and at some point mention was made of the fortunate recovery of the money (to pay for the cooker) that had been in the glove compartment. Immediate police interest, why did they have said money, what for, who did it belong to etc. My son explained that he was on his way to pick up a cooker for his mum and had the cash with him to pay for it. Could I confirm that, well yes but he wasn't to tell me anything till the police spoke with me. So at just after 12 noon I was in the library when I got a call on my mobile phone, my son was not allowed to talk to me to explain anything despite telling the policeman about my TIAs and heart problems before a police officer began quizzing me about the money.The van had burnt out he said, I asked about my son and friend and was told not to worry about that just to explain why my son had an envelope full of £20 notes in his possession. The lowest point came when the policeman asked if I could identify the driver, he meant give him the driver's name...you can guess what I thought and the tears began to flow, and I have to admit using some quite unladylike language when he explained he just wanted his name, made worse by the fact that it then took me three goes to get it right because I was so upset. Calamity Mane was kind enough to drive me to pick them up from the motorway roundabout and I can honestly say I have never been happier to see them both very much alive, on the drive home I kept looking at the pair of them reassuring myself they really were okay.Thankfully both men are fine, but I have to say that Diesel would not be my choice of name for a fragrance having smelled the two of them! The van is a burnt out shell, the fire apparently spread from a slight smoky smell around the dash to flames engulfing the cab within minutes, they took photos on their mobiles from a safe distance up the banking and they are terrifying. The cooker remains in its original place of residence for the time being, the cooker money is now a sodden mass of singed wet paper (it was saved from total immolation by the metal glovebox and rescued by the firemen) but frankly if it had gone up in smoke I wouldn't have cared so long as they were safe, it is indeed only money.
Edited to add: The Co-op bank were very sweet about the money and accepted the soggy mess back and credited my account fully. The insurance company is sorting out the replacement value of the van and in the interim N is driving my Saab since I'm still unable to use it.