What to do with my time now?! --> New look blog!

Firstly, I hope you like the new look to my blog.. in a bid to do something more interesting with it, I gave it a bit of a revamp, new background and colour scheme etc. I'd love to be able to design it all myself from scratch and not use the standard templates etc, but I know my limits!! Also, I get distracted (and bored) very quickly so I stuck to just these changes for now so something actually got done!

So since the wedding and honeymoon, I've felt a little like I have no purpose... I had so much going on in the run up to the wedding.. with post op recovery, wedding planning, honeymoon planning and moving house.. now everything just feels kind of flat! I'm feeling SOOO much better health-wise that when I'm just sitting around the house 'taking it easy' I'm bored very quickly and feel I should be doing something more worthwhile.

Mid June I had a clinic which was also a bronch/biopsy day. Clinic went well and I was taken over to the ward to be prepped for the bronch. As normal it wasn't a guarantee thatit would proceed to biopsy, but I just kind of felt that this time, I was going to be staying over night. I had a selection of sweeties and tv/films on the hudl and was ready for a night in Pappy. I went down to the 'bronch room' and had to wait a little while for the previous person to finish up. There was an upset girl talking on the phone just to my side, and without trying to listen in, I found out she was a fellow CFer who had had a bad clinic and was facing the prospect of having an admission, which was obviously a surprise to her... once she was finished on the phone I just felt I had to try to console her, and we got talking. By the time I was called through for my bronch she'd stopped crying/swearing and I hope I reassured her a little. She at least took my mind off the upcoming bronch (I didn't feel nearly so anxious as I had done previously, but this distraction really helped!) All went well, and once I'd recovered back in my room I found out they had done the biopsy so I was staying for the next 24 hours for monitoring until the results came back. The following afternoon I got the news that the biopsy was all good, with no signs at present of rejection, and the infection that has been lingering in my right lung, is still present, but looking far better than the last time they went in. All in all, very encouraging and it led to them stopping 2 lots of nebs and then making a plan for reducing other meds bit by bit. Woop! During this time with the team, I asked about getting information about my donor... I kind of felt like I got put off somewhat on this occasion, so I thought I'd leave it and try again at the next clinic!!

The end of June I took mum out for an early  birthday treat... we went to Chantry Park in Ipswich for a 'boyband' fest. Mostly for Backstreet Boys, but there was also 5ive, Scouting For Girls, McBusted, Diversity and some young American group who were pretty shite and very forgettable! We had a super fantastic day. It started off a little on the damp side and we spent the first few hours trying to huddle under the umbrella and cover up with the blanket as much as possible... by mid afternoon (around the time that 5ive were finishing up their set) the sun started to break through... and by the time that Backstreet came on to do their 45 minutes or so all clouds had departed, the sun was out, and raincoats, jackets, brollies etc were all discarded and we could have fun in the sun with our boys! It was awesome to see them performing so close (we were in the gold circle, only a few rows of people back from the stage) and as a lot of people were there for McBusted, we had a lot more space to sing and dance during BSB as they took that time to go get food or drink etc. All in all a fabulous day... just made us want to go on the BSB Cruise even more :(

The following weekend Glen and I went to Northampton for his birthday flight simulator experience... his birthday is September, and this was LAST year's present because he was rubbish and hadn't got round to booking it, then it got cancelled and ended up being in July. The drive there was simple and pain free.. We arrived super early though so sat in the car eating our sandwiches and generally killing time. When it eventually got to a suitable time to turn up, we went in. The reception area was decked out like an airline lounge with the desk made to look like cabin furniture etc, cool if you're a sad plane geek like me! Glen got talked through his introduction about what was to happen, and they decided what 'routes' he would be flying. Then we were taken through to the simulator. It was really cool and made to look like an actual cockpit. I sat behind the 'captains' seat and was able to watch everything throughout. Although I was obviously interested in how Glen did with taking off, navigating and then landing, I couldn't help but be nosy and spent a lot of time looking out the 'windows' at the scenery and everything around... Yes I'm a sad plane geek! I admit it :)

Having got our new house finally ours, the next job came furnishing. So having ordered stuff we eventually got it delivered... Only to find that 2 of 3 units were either damaged or wrong (and this was just the bedroom, not counting the stuff for dining room!) Long story short, we are due to get the last item for our bedroom next Tuesday then hopefully we can finally have a proper bedroom! I have enjoyed the flat pack building... I find it like a more physical jigsaw which is cool! Although I do get annoyed when packs don't include something pivotal... If this wasn't the case we would have had our over-bed unit sorted at least!

Glen and Bella having cuddles

So, back to the not knowing what to do with my time/being bored... Since we move we've been debating whether we should get a new furry baby... After honeymoon I started frequenting doggy rescue websites (and even physically went to a couple) After visiting to get one dog called Stella (a mongrel) with Judy, we realised that going to a general rescue kennel wasn't the best way of dealing Judy with the prospect of a new friend... so we re-planned. I went with mum to pick up her greyhound from the kennels after her holiday and asked if I could look at their ones needing homes that matched our thoughts on what Judy might like. I met 2, a boy and a girl, but fell for this lovely little girl called Keeley. I took a picture and sent it to Glen, then we went home to think on it. The following weekend we took Judy (and Glen) to meet Keeley and hey presto, we decided to get her. I waited until the end of the following week to bring her home as I knew I'd be out a couple days that week and it wouldn't be fair to expect a new dog in a new place to behave all day being left. The following Friday, mum came with me and we picked up our new furry baby. We renamed her Bella as neither of us liked Keeley, and she didn't respond to it. She seems to be used to Bella now, but the recall is quite difficult to drum into her. We had a few teething problems, mostly her crying through the night, and Judy not liking having to share her house and humans! We're getting there slowly, and most importantly, we haven't had any fights between the girls and we're generally getting to sleep through the night now! I'm getting to take lots of lovely long walks with 2 beautiful girlies now... although Bella isn't used to such long ones and she struggles sometimes to keep up with Judy and I!