Hospitals

In the last few weeks i seem to have spent a considerable amount of time up our local hospital. Some may know that i have recently been going for treatment for panic attacks. This has been on a weekly basis. Added to this i have been spending an increasing time at A&E for my son and his lip. He has a Papiloma Granuloma on his lip and it keeps bursting.
It will bleed and over the last few weeks it as been hard to get it to stop. On the Jubilee weekend we we're at A&E for 3 hours while we got it treated, it had been bleeding for a total of 5 hours that day. Since then we have has intermittent bleeds but have been able to stop them.

Two nights ago it started and 7pm and by 8 it was pouring through the pads in seconds, so off we went up to Casualty. The wait was supposedly 5 hours long. They tried the same treatment as last time and this disintegrated within minutes. We then sat for another few hours until they came to check whether that had worked. Eventually we were seen by a Dr who called through to the on call Maxilofacial Dr for advice. my son was given a tablet and we were asked to go over to another Casualty to see the on call Dr.
It was almost 2am by this time. and we were all very tired. My poor son was struggling to stay awake and was really fed up. Typically we got to the other hospital and the bleeding had stopped.
We got sent home! Again with nothing done. We have more tablets and pads to stem the bleeding and advice if it should happen again.

We are now waiting for Monday when they finally removed said lump. Fingers crossed things will calm down after that. Then i will be posting more regularly again.

Book host and give away!

It doesn't take much to please me. I have just received an e-mail asking if i would review and consider hosting a book give away too.

This is so exciting. I have never done it before and am not sure i know how, but i will learn and love taking on new things. Some people my scoff at this and think- but its not hard. Well they haven't met me.  In my 1st job as a "big grown up" i was able to crash the computer i used more than anyone else in the office. It was a standing joke that if a new system needed testing- let me loose on it! This may give you a little understanding of what i am like with technology :-)

So back to the subject- i will when i know more details of how to work the give away be hosting it. To me the book sounds interesting so i will be reviewing it as well. In the meantime i have another book that arrived yesterday to review first. So in order of arrival, this will have to wait.

I feel quite honoured to have so many people asking me to review books for them. Is that because they have read my reviews so far? or am i being naive and they have just picked me from a long list of people who has said they are willing to read for review? either way it gives me pleasure, which i hope in turn gives others pleasure.

Why me?????

Yes its a Why me? Whinge today.

Two weeks ago i fell and sprained my ankle at my mums, basically my left ankle gave way and i crumpled. I've rested as much as i can, but having a son with a perpetually bleeding lip and 4 trips to different hospital depts on different days hasn't helped the resting.
The foot has got more painful and this afternoon it "cracked" while in the kitchen. So thinking on the safe side i called the out of hours dr who said go A+E for an x-ray. As it turns out i've just ripped the tendons.
It is just typical though, i know after you've had a sprain there is a weakness in the same area, but i seem to be having a great deal of bad luck right now with my health and my children's. I really am not impressed.
This week i am saying sod it to any work that needs doing round the house and i am doing as hospital said- resting with foot elevated all the time! In real terms that will be about 60% of the time as the other 40% will be sorting the children out with dinner and nagging them to help, while having to check that they have done as asked.
I will however be able to get a lot of my knitting done to finish off. So i guess i shouldn't whinge too much- i can't say i haven't had time to do lots of it.

Review of: The Lure of Shapsinay by Krista Holle

Synopsis: Ever since Kait Swanney could remember, the old crones of the village have been warning her to stay away from the selkies. They claim that like sirens of old, the seal men creep from the inky waters, shed their skins, and entice women to their deaths beneath the North Sea. But avoiding an encounter becomes impossible when Kait is spotted at the water’s edge, moments after the murder of a half-selkie infant.

Unexpectedly, Kait is awoken by a beautiful, selkie man seeking revenge. After she declares her innocence, the intruder darts into the night, but not before inadvertently bewitching her with an overpowering lure.

Kait obsesses over a reunion deep beneath the bay and risks her own life to be reunited with her selkie. But when she lands the dangerous lover, the chaos that follows leaves Kait little time to wonder—is it love setting her on fire or has she simply been lured?

Review: Legends of the Selkie vary form place to place but the general form is that they are seal in the water and human on land. They mate and return to the sea by morning, they do not return to the same lover, but can be trapped by hiding their seal skin.
I didn't have much knowledge of the legends other than the basics so i came to this book with completely open eyes, and have to say i for a light romantic read i enjoyed it so much i couldn't put it down. It was read in one sitting late into the night. The author has put a lot of emotion into the storyline and has taken care to think of it from both the womans side as a human and the mans side as the selkie.
Although i half expected some twist at the end of the story what came wasn't it so i was pleasantly surprised.
For a short story i would give this 5/5. Had it been longer then i think the storyline could have got a bit boring. Ending it where the writer did was a good choice.

Book Review: The Last Of The Rings – Book One of The Vampire Awakening By Celeste Walker

This is more of a short story book and is aimed at Teens to early adult. I have to say that i enjoyed it and found that i was sorry when it ended, i was drawn in to the characters as it is written form the Vampire perspective and in a different way. These vampires are living in the human world and feed on deer blood. Yes it gives a Twighlight feeling to it, but so far it is still unique to other books of this sort i have read.
My only criticism on it would be the sexual content of the book. Not the fact that it has any because that does add to the personal side of the story, but the graphicness of it. Personally for me it is too graphic, and i'm not sure i would want my teenager reading it. That said of course teenagers at school would probably talk as graphically anyway.
Overall i would like to read the next book and see how the story develops. There are many ways the Authos can take the story on from here, from the human/vampire approach to the vampire/ dark vampire side of life.

I would give this short story a 4/5 rating.

Diamond Jubilee part 2

It is now the day after the jaunt and although i am suffering a little, it is not as bad as i thought it would be.
The day started wonderfully, it was sunny but not too hot. I was ready in time and so were the children.
Mum messaged and said the buggy wasn't working! I didn't panic (an improvement for the psychologist to know), i simply sent back that i would walk. Lets face it i was down to one stick so how bad could it be? But mum being the sort of person she was didn't accept that and took herself off to the shop and had the man look at the battery of the buggy. She came and picked us all up, including a friend who's children were walking but she herself couldn't. We got to the museum, sorted what i needed to and left my capable team members with their tasks while we went to the bottom of galley hill to sort our tasks. Mum went off to collect the battery from the shop where the man had been looking at it.
Then the daunting situation hit me, would anyone turn up? One man came over and asked me if we were from the museum!! Yes i thought. We had a person joining us, he hadn't got any sponsors but he put money in the collection pot and waited with our small group for the start. We had everyone on the list there and mum was late! She got stuck in the shop.

Finally at 1.05 she returned but the buggy still wouldn't work- i was definitely walking.

We were off! The walk was fun, we attracted attention and the children shook their tins and shouted for money. All along the seafront you could hear "Bexhill museum!!!" loudly. Finally after lots of explaining they started shouting "Donations for Bexhill Museum" A bit further on we got them to include why we were walking when people donated.
Half way through we bumped into my dad and step-mum who had come down to support us. We couldn't stop, so after son had shot step-mum with his bow and arrows we carried on.
By the time we got to the De La Warr Pavilion the shouting from children had changed to "Save our Museum!" Suddenly it sounded as if we were in dire need and would be closing. It provided a great laugh for us, but needed to be changed for the public. This is not what we wanted them to hear.
My feet by this time were hurting and my arm from using my stick to hold my weight was aching badly, i had begun to trip over the stick and my feet. But we were nearing the end. The children were losing interest in asking people for donations and the weather was getting worse. Never the less our spirits were still high and we carried on.
At the Clock tower we were caught up by the classic bicycles and the Motor Heritage association people, we had been dodging each other all along the seafront. We reached the end at the same time and were in time to see the unveiling of a new plaque outside the museum. This plaque explains the Heritage that we have to British Motor Racing. (the 1st car race was held along the sea front from galley hill towards the De La Warr Pavilion)

Inside the Museum we all received a well deserved tea/coffee and cake or biscuit. Everyone had done really well, our donation tubs were almost half full. Our small group of walkers had spoken to people, made ourselves known and the children had all had a good walk.

The only disappointing thing about the whole day is that we only had one gentleman join us. It can't be for lack of advertising since the gentleman said he saw it in the paper. Its dis-heartening as it always feels like the same people putting in the effort and paying out their money. But if the Museum were to close plenty of people would be up in arms about it and demanding that it be saved and re-opened.

I have no photo's of the day as i was organising and couldn't manage camera and stick, but http://seamstress-waffle.blogspot.com will probably put some up at some point.

Diamond Jubilee Jaunt, part 1

Tomorrow is Bexhill Museum's Diamond Jubilee Jaunt. This is an event my team and i came up with as a fund raiser. All the walkers have to be sponsored and are encouraged to wear either red, white and blue or dress up in historical costume. On my last check we had 9 people registered to walk, all i can do is hope that people turn up on the day and join us.
We will be having collection buckets for the children to shake along the way, so i'm hoping we will pick up some extra money from the general unsuspecting public on the promenade.
I have arranged to borrow my Nana's buggy and have a few flags to decorate it with!!! I've been told i can go in from and lead the procession. It could be interesting with only a few people. I just hope that it doesn't rain or it won't be a very nice walk.

I will follow this up in the next few days with some pictures and a final result. fingers crossed for us now. x