Sunday, July 26, 2020

A week of early waking up LOL!

Goodafternoon everybody!

Weather last week was on and off, you could say. Some days a bit or rain, or just cloudy, another day there was more sun, yesterday we had quite some rain(good for the garden), temperatures not exciting, around 18-20C.
Coming week it should go up again in temperature. Well, a few degrees would be nice.

It was a quiet week, although for me kind of filled, because I have Tommy(my friend's dog) to care for. Pffff, it isn;t easy to wake up early morning and after a cup of tea go out for the doggie walk around 8.00 a.m.( but, sometimes when I get back I take a little nap on the couch to catch up with missed sleep, hahaha) then I take him out around 1.00 -1.30 p.m., again after dinner around 6.40 p.m. and for a very short one, just on a little grass close to our house for the nightstuff, around 10.30 or so p.m.
That last one isn;t perhaps really necessary, I know my friend doesn;t do that often, but I think it is better for him, otherwise it is such a long time till next day.

He is no trouble at all in the house. Most of the time he is sleeping, LOL.
Every now and then he wakes up, and looks if we are still around.
The best time for him is coming home from his walk, because then he gets a little treat, like some small doggie cookies.
This morning however he gave me a little fright, when I let him out. Suddenly he limped, and didn;t want to walk. So I tried to look at the paw he suddenly didn't use, couldn;t see anything, but he wasn't happy me touching it. I tried however, to kind of "massage"him between the toes, to try to clean it. Then he walked again but not happily.
So I made it a short tour, at home tried to check it again, he let me, but not happily again. But after a while he walked again rather well in the house and when I walked him just before posting now, it all seemed okay again, He even ran again for a bit. Pffff, that was a relief. I will keep an eye on it still, to see if it really is okay.
At the moment he is lying near my chair, all happy again after his little treat.

With Jan it is about the same. It looks as if some days the leg is hurting a bit less, although he still needs one or sometimes two painkillers. So it isn;t yet getting lots better and it is almost 3 weeks ago now. So I think I will have to be firm and make an appointment for him at the doctor. I just think he needs to make a check and I like a bit of advice. It will however be a struggle to let Jan agree with it. In those cases he is sooo difficult! But I think it is the best thing to do now, have a chat with the doctor, by phone or better in the office. Will be difficult for Jan to get there, but with patience he should be able to walk that little distance with the walker.
I know he feels aweful by it, not being able to do a lot, not participating in the walks with the dog, doing some things in the garden, etc.
Nothing to do about it at the moment, it will take time. In about 3 weeks he has an appointment at the hospital with his doctor there, half year check and so. I have no idea yet how he will be able to get there. Could be by taxi or perhaps a friend could drive us, or may be he has to cancel the appointment and make a new one a bit later. We'll see in about two weeks how Jan is and feels.

We had another company last Monday for the windows. We are waiting for the offer, it could take a bit of time as the agent told us, because now there is the construction holiday time. Nothing to do about that. I however got quite a good feeling about the company. Now it all depends on the price for the work.

In between that there are of course the usual things to do, so all together I feel rather busy. Must admit that sometimes I skipp a housekeeping task to the next day, but I try to do at least one or two things a day. Today I only do the walks and of course make dinner, but that's about all. Tomorrow I think I will do a bit of ironing, and next day probably have to do some grocerie shopping. I don;t like to take the dog with me doing that(only sometimes when I just need one or two things, he knows to wait in front of a shop, but I don;t want him to sit there for a very long time), so I have extra walks to do.
The dog will be here still next week and may be one or two days extra, depending on the return of Heidi from holiday.
I think it will be a strange experience again when he will be gone. We are getting used to in having him around.

That's bout all for this week, not much exciting, although it feels for me as if I had a very busy week, with lots of things I did. Must be the change of day routine.
I wish you all a very good week, hopefully you all stay safe.



Sunday, July 19, 2020

We are doggie-stitting at the moment, LOL.

Goodafternoon everybody!

Not bad, our weather, yesterday it was real warm and sunny. Today cloudy, still not a bad temperature, we may get some rain or even thunderstorms this evening.

Update on Jan: He is doing a tiny whee bit better, but some walking moves still hurt badly, lucky it isn;t hrting when he sits or stands. Still I think the recovery is taking a long time. The rollator I bought for him already is worth every cent of it and payed itself back! Without it, it would have been almlst impossible for him to move around and I am not strong enough to hold him. I am already glad that he can go to the toilet and to the kitchen etc. it goes slow, but at least he can do some small things.
Nevertheless I think it will be wise to have a phonecall with the doctor, if only perhaps for some advice.

Tomorrow will not be a good day, because in the morning we will have another company visit for the windows.
We already had two offers, and the last one seems to be a good one.
Whichever we take, it will take a lot of money, that's for sure.

And we have my friend's dog now during their holiday. Tommy is a small dog and very quiet, just a sweet one. But it takes my time too, because I am the one who has to go walking with him 3 or 4 times a day.The last round is really near our house, and just possibility for him to do his necessary things before the night, hahaha.
But surely for two tours I want him to walk at least half an hour, he needs some exercise. Normally Jan and I would do each some of the rounds, but now it's has just to be me. I don;t really mind, it just breaks up the day a bit strangely, I will have to plan a bit different. Most difficult thing is the morning round, and why?
I am not just anymore to get up early morning!  I already have on and off kind of sleeping problems, so if I don;t sleep well during the night I might just have fallen asleep and two hours later it is time for Tommy's walk. But I will get used to it, I hope, because it doesn;t help  a lot going to bed somewhat earlier.
Oh well, I can try to take a nap every now and then.

So my days are kind of busy now, with Tommy to care for and also Jan, because I amd bringing him some things he wants, like something to drink, of at moments his medicins, or some fresh clothing. He can do some ofit himself and he tries to, but every now and then I just see it is difficult, so I get them. It all doesn;t seem t be much, but all together it fills the day apart from the ususal things I do.
It will get better, only not already next week.

Yes, I think I will finish this post now, I will relax a bit, and later on there is dinner to make and then after I washed the dishes the early evening walk with Tommy.
He is now lying beside me, g=flat on the floor, deep asleep, hahaa.

Wishing you all a real good week and stay safe!

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Oh, how wonderful if we could have a year without misfortune!

Goodafternoon everybody!

After some days of not really great weather it is getting better again.
We have sunshine, most of the time, not much wind, temps aren;t the highest, aroud 20C in our area. I would like more something like 23C, but okay, it looks friendly enough through the windows and we can open the garden doors.

I told you last week Jan wasn't feeling really perky that weekend. Nothing bad, just annoying. Till it came to Sunday night. He had to go to the WC and wanted a drink or so from the kitchen. And suddenly he fell backwards. Still lucky he didn;t fell flat on the back, mor on the side of his bump and hip. And he didn;t hurt his head on anything. But........ the times I sleep I do so very tight and don;t hear anything!
It seems he tried to call out for me, but I didn't hear it.
So with a lot of trouble he half crawled, half stumbled back to bed.
I only heard about it next early morning. It still was a good time to be able to call the doctor so I did right away. Jan couldn;t go to the doctor himself, impossible almost to walk. So the doctor came at around 12.30 p.m. and ordered an ambulance for Jan to bring him to hospital to make a photo from the hip and pelvis. Good news, there was no fracture or ripture.
Back home again with the ambulance(that took all together may be just an hour).
What now???? He had to go to the toilet and such things. Well, I found a temptorary solution(you might figure out for yourself) and next day I called around to find out if I could loan or so a rollator for him(I coud have gone for a wheelchair, but if anyway possible he had to move around a little bit, stay in move). Hmmm, difficult to get that for free, but for some payment it was possible, having it delivered the next day. It wasn't really the best option, so I went to a kind of thrift shop nearby, I knew they often had rollators and other things like that for a little money, I found one, that was looking still very good, sturdy, and I bought it for only € 25,00! Took it home right away, now at least Jan could try to walk a little bit. It still isn;t going really well, he can walk very slowly with it, still the movement of walking is difficult, turning is almost no option yet.
So tomorrow I will call the doctor again, to talk that through. May be Jan should have some physio therapy. Bad thing is, that almost no physio things are reimbursed by the health insurance. You will have to pay it yourself and it isn;t really cheap. Still, if necessary to get Jan on his feet again, walking without rollator and so, it has to be done. We'll see about it tomorrow after the conversation with the doctor. I hope Jan will be able to walk to the doctor's offcie, very , very close by, just the other side of the street.Hmmmm, i have no idea.

So I think we had our misfortune for this year more than enough. it will take for sure a while till he will be able to walk just by himself .

What else we had this week?
Oh yes we had another company over for our windows. It all depends on the offer the several companies will make and a bit also which company I feel more confident.

With all this going on I just forgot the birthday of my friend Heidi's husband!
I didn;t turn the page on the birthday calendar, so I noticed that last week and saw the name! Too late. Oh no, I felt sooooo very bad, right away I called her to admit my unthoughtfulness. I think this never happened to me before.
She could laugh about it, and said it was allright.
Still I felt very bad but it just happened. Hoepfully next year it will go better!

This morning something funny happened. I was siting in the living room watching some tv (Jan was still sleeping), garden doors were open, and uut of the corner of my eye I saw something moving on the right side of me. I looked and saw.................... a very curious grey-whote cat looking at me, ROFL.
I know the cat, it sometimes comes into our garden, it is from one of the neighbors around, very sweet cat by the way.
As I started to talk to the cat it quickly disappeared back into the garden and over a fence.
Gosh, it probably thought our house felt good for cats, or whatever, but it was funny. Of course I don;t want every cat of the neighborhood coming into our house, but ...... if can happen, as you see. At least it brough a smile to my face.

This Thursday we will have Tommy, Heidi;s little dog for about 2 1/2 weeks. Heidi and family will go on holiday and we will "dog-sit" on Tommy LOL.
It will be a bit busy time for me, cause with Jan out or working order, I will have to walk Tommy every day, at least 3 times, if possible may be four. Well, I'll just have to plan a day a bit different, most akward thing for me is that I have to get up rather early hahaha. I am not used to it anymore. But i will survive it and it is a really sweet and easy to handle dog, very greatefull for some extra attention. Yes, I always spoil him a bit.
Oh, whatever! It will keep me walking and busy and I will be okay.
Jan already feels himself very guilty he cannot help with it and that he can't do much anyway at the moment.
It is just what it is at the moment, we cannot change it a lot now, and we'll manage to cope with it.
Just hoping in a few weeks Jan will be a lot better again.

Good, that was the news from this week. More than enough, I think!
Wishing you all a very good week and safe one too!

Sunday, July 05, 2020

Roller coaster weather isn't good for us.

Goodafternoon everybody!

Yeah, we have kind of rollercoaster weather at the moment. One or two days it is gret weather, thatn sudden drop of temperature by 8 degrees, rainfalls(too much at a time), annd the most annoying for me is that there is soo strong wind. Even if it isn;t so bad outside, that wind makes it feel colder and isn't nice to walk in and it avoids you to sit in the garden. I like to sit in a chair and not blown out of it LOL.
So all by all, the weather could be somwhat better and it seems that next week it will not be a lot better, temperature will let us down with around 18-19C, there should be less wind later on, and may be some more sunshine.

And even if the temperature isn;t really bad, yesterday it was raining almost all day and then at a moment it felt not comfortable in the house so I even put on the central heating for a while. Just a degree or so The more, because Jan felt not really perky, he complained of not getting warm(therefore mostly the heating a bit) and very early evening he went to bed, whihc was the wise thing to do I guess. Probably catched a cold when he was sitting in the garden I think on Friday, it was still sunny but lots of wind and moments of cloudy weather too. Late this morning he came out bed for a moment to drink something and have his medicin and it was a bit better, but now he's back there again, hopefully he can sleep some more.
He didn't have a fever, so that is already a good thing, but we'll keep an eye on him!

Last Monday it was a day of using up all energy for the week I guess, LOL.
I went to the apothecary to fetch some of Jan's medicins, Also changed the bedlinen, then did get me more info about windows, and also made two appointments for that. Think I also did some vacuum cleaning, prepared dinner, well then I thought it was enough for one day.

The other days of the week I did something every day, specially housekeeping things( I am very bad at that), and Thursday we had an appointment with a company for the windows. It was with a company I knew from earlier working day, it isn;t far from our address. It was an elderly man that came, very quiet and friendly person. We spoke about the kind of windwos and I also asked him to look at the kitchen door and little window there. He will make me an offer with and without the doorstuff. He also called at the neighbor to look there( the neighbor first was at our house too). I am curious what the price or the work will be!
I also discovered that we will need a municipal permit to change the windows at the front(if you do that at the back of the house, normally it isn;t necessary). It shouldn;t be a problem to h=get the permission, but it will take money, of course, and some time to get it. Very annoying when you want to settle a date with the company for the work, because you first have to be sure of the approval of the council. Pfffff, why cannot things go the easy way? It already is something to find a good company to do a good job for not a too big amount of money, make the appointment for placing the windows and new frames.
There was one company I called, and when I asked about delivery/placing time they asnwered that it couldn;t be earlier than somewhere in December! Well, I at once drew a line through that company's name, because I want to have it done before october. It must be ready before Autumn, and not done middle of the winter!

So tomorrow I will try to call the desk for building approvements of the municipality, see how I can get the approvements as easy and as fast possible.

Oh, some really good news about Séeverine(my friend Heidi's daughter). She is doing a speech thereapiste study(I think it will take her 3 years) and she passed her first year without much trouble. I am very proud of her. It never is easy to go to a kind of university after highschool and start something completely new and the more now with the trouble of the Covid-19. But she made all the tests and so and she can have now a holiday time and start the second year in September.

So that was about all. Next week we will have the visit from another company for the windows and there is planned still another one. Well, I think that having three different offers we should be able to pick one out. Yes, I know, all I talk about now is new windows LOL, but I am happy we have the financial possibility now to have it done.
Wishing you all a safe and lovely week, till next Sunday.