Sunday Snippets - 30th April 2017

It’s been a better week thankfully, as the antibiotics seemed to help and I’m now recovering from the infection. I’ve still got a nasty cough and a bit of a sore throat, but I feel better than I was, which is the main thing. I’ve been working hard on my university assignments, and managed to get one submitted this week. I’ve still got quite a bit to get done over the next couple of weeks, and am feeling rather stressed out, but I’m doing my best to do as much as I can physically managed. I can’t quite believe I’ve only got two weeks left of my second year at Uni. Where is the time going?!

I got up ridiculously late last Sunday morning (like 11am – whoops!), which I really hadn’t planned. I was just hoping that sleeping was helping me to get better. I sorted out my medication for the week ahead and then started doing some blogging. David and Emma came round so I chatted to them for a while. Once they’d left, I had my Fortisip and finished my blogging. For the rest of the afternoon I watched some TV and spent a while working on my dissertation proposal. This book by Emma Hatcher, who created ‘She Can’t Eat What?!’ arrived in the post (I know, post on a Sunday!) and I’m really excited to look through it. I’ve really struggled to find any decent recipe books for the low FODMAP diet (I’m on a similar diet but a bit more strict, although I’m pretty crap at sticking to it sometimes!) so it will be good to see what’s inside. Richard and Lisa came over for dinner, so it was nice to chat to them.

I spent Monday morning editing some photos and then writing and uploading a blog post, which was nice because all I’ve managed recently is my Sunday posts. I also had a flick through my Uni handbooks to check exactly what I need to hand in over the next few weeks. My afternoon was mostly spent working on my dissertation proposal. I was finally starting to feel like the end was in sight, which was good considering it was due in on Friday! This little chap kept me company for most of the afternoon – he’s such a cutie (even if he does climb all over me). When I got bored of doing that, I filmed myself opening some post because my voice was finally coming back!

I had to be up fairly early on Tuesday morning, as I’d decided to try going into Uni. My Mum drove me over and we met up with my support worker, who took me up to the classroom. Our lecturer went through some guidance on what to write for our reflective commentary, which we have to submit with our long form piece. It didn’t last as long as I thought it would, so I spent some time on my dissertation proposal. I was almost finished!! I then met up with my mentor to check in on how things were going. My Dad came to pick me up and we drove over to The University of Surrey in Guildford. We went to the canteen first to have a bit of lunch, and then headed down to the archives. The lady there showed us some letters that E.H.Shepard and his wife wrote to each other during the war and we chatted to her a lot about old letters in general too, so hopefully that will help with my article. This fish on a bicycle is outside the archives and it made me smile. I’m not sure what this statue represents, but I found a saying “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” which I rather like!

I was up early on Wednesday for my counseling session, which was helpful. I can’t see her again now until June because I’ve got a News Week at Uni and am then going into Stanmore for three weeks. My Mum picked me up and brought me home. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I had so much to do. I spent the morning editing a video and uploading it to my YouTube channel. I then watched a bit of TV with my Dad (Paul O’Grady in India, which was lovely). After a bit of a break, I finished writing my dissertation proposal and submitted it, which felt so good! I then did quite a lot of work towards my narrative article. At the moment I have no idea how I’m going to get it done on time. I felt really sick by the time the evening came round, and was struggling a lot with acid reflux. But I found Alfie on the little sofa in our back room – he was spread out over the whole sofa fast asleep and looked so cute (but I managed to wake him up trying to get a picture!)

I had to be up super early on Thursday morning so my Dad could take me over to Frimley Park Hospital. I had an appointment with my physio and she did some more acupuncture with me. When we got home I rested for a while and watched This Morning. My Mum then took me down to the hairdressers, where I had a treatment and hair cut. I came home, watched some lunchtime TV and wrote my cards for May, including this cute hedgehog one. After lunch, I popped to Waitrose with my Mum to get some ingredients for dinner. I did a bit more Uni work on my laptop when we got home, and then dozed a bit because I felt so tired. My Dad helped me cook some dinner, as I had a recipe idea I wanted to try out.

This is the dinner I made with my Dad – I’m rather impressed if I do say so myself! It’s based on a halloumi burger that I had at Bill’s and because I love it so much I wanted to try and recreate it at home. There are a couple of little changes I would make if I cooked it again, but overall it was really tasty.

I was up early again on Friday morning, so I could go back over to Frimley Park Hospital. This time it was to see my Urologist. He was running about half an hour late, which wasn’t too bad in the scheme of things. I told him how I’ve been since I had the Botox and, because it hasn’t really made much difference, he’s going to refer me to a specialist in London to discuss the possibility of having a bladder nerve stimulation device implanted in my spine. I came home feeling absolutely exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa for ages. I didn’t wake up until about 2pm – oops! Once I’d woken up a bit, I had my Fortisip and watched some TV. My afternoon was spent doing work toward my university narrative article. Bekkah brought her goddaughter, Trinity, over so I got to have a baby cuddle with her, which was nice. In the evening, my Dad and I went to the Beefeater for dinner, as I was kindly invited to review it on my blog. There will be a full post up soon, but here’s a sneak peek of the seriously yummy lemon gin and tonic trifle I had.

My Saturday didn’t get off to a great start, as I was so exhausted when I woke up. My Mum and I went to Festival Place shopping centre in Basingstoke for their fashion event. We watched the first catwalk and then chatted to a lady from Clarins who tried out some make-up on me. We then headed off to Primark - I was looking for some exercise leggings and a rucksack to take to Stanmore, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. We also popped into Boots and Superdrug, so I could have a look at the make-up. I treated my Mum to lunch at Café Giardino, which was very nice. We then watched another catwalk and chatted to some girls from The Body Shop, so I now want to buy everything in the shop! After looking round a few more shops we made our way home. I had such a bad headache and felt so tired, but really wanted to see my friend Sarah. So I popped across the road to see her and baby Charlie. We played with Charlie for a bit and then I helped Sarah get him ready for bed, while we had a good chat.

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What have you been up to this week? I always enjoy hearing about your news and adventures!

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