Flu.
All the times through my life that I thought I had flu I was so so wrong. Boy, when you do get the real thing you know about it. Not wanting to let a little thing like flu get me down I, like the trooper I am, went to bed, for 36 hours. Luckily Fabia was here for Mum allowing me to be completely pathetic for a decent amount of time.
You will all be glad to know it would seem I will pull through and given time and care should make a full recovery.
Grans Designs.
As usual I have totally failed to keep a photographic record of the building work. Suffice to say everything is now complete except for a couple of minor snags. The bed and blind arrive next Thursday then its d-day, trying to get mum to actually move in. Sarah and I will try to orchestrate a two pronged attack over the weekend, see how it goes. Very hard to be sure if mum is looking forward to it or not, she seems to be dreading the actual moving of stuff. She has spent a long time laying out her room in a way that makes sense to her, so it must be quite a daunting thought to start from square one again. Hopefully we can negotiate a sensible amount of outfits/scarves/shoes etc. Once she is in and settled I am sure she will feel the benefit of the ensuite wetroom. and no more stairs.
Beer and Books
In a conscious effort to get out of the house and meet people I have started a book club to be held monthly in my local "The Cherry Tree". I managed to get it mentioned on the local radio and in the Local Newspaper so had a decent turn out for the first meeting, securing a pic of the group in said paper.
Also managed to get a discount on the book club books for members of the club from the local Waterstones. The first book, as you may be able to make out in the pic is the excellent "Home" by Bill Bryson.
Well so much for the new determination to press forward with the blog and website. Seems keeping Mum in the loop with the building work has become a full time job, From the moment she gets up till when she goes to sleep near enough.
Blinds.
After much deliberation and comparisons with other rooms in the house we decided on a roller blind for the window. Several hours poring over designs and patterns and one is chosen and ordered. Next day "curtains will look nice when they come" No mum we are having a blind. "Ooh no, Curtains I think" Grits teeth and runs for the bottle bank.
Beds
As space is at a premium we have spent a lot of time fine tuning the layout, bearing in mind when the person you are designing the room for has dementia nothing is simple, we have managed to come to a design that works. We have a pull cord for the light over the bed, and the sockets are in place to be either side of the headboard for radio bedside light etc. Mum has now decided the bed cannot go where we planned. No real reason, just it cant go there. Just have to press on and hope she will sleep in it when its all done.
Thursday we had a mammoth bed selection session. Luckily the guy in the local furniture barn was very helpful and understanding. It was unbelievably hard to persuade Mum to try double mattresses for comfort when she is getting a single bed. No amount of "if you find one you like we will order it in a single" would work. "Thats too big for my room" was the only answer. Eventually with much stamping of feet and huffing and puffing we managed to make a selection so thats ordered.
Floors
Flooring is down in the wetroom/toilet and it is starting to look pretty good, hopefully it will all be plumbed and working tomorrow. Just need mum to pick a mirror and thats finished.
Soups
In other matters, two new soups this week. Beetroot with goats cheese Croutons and Carrot and Jerusalem Artichoke. Beetroot loked amazing but was a little too sweet for my liking, needs something to sharpen it up a little. The carrot and Jerusalem artichoke though was much better.....
500g carrots peeled and diced
500g jerusalem artichokes peeled and diced
1ltr hot stock(I used home made chicken stock)
1 large onion finely chopped
2 sticks celery finely chopped
1 leek thinly sliced
1 red chilli deseeded and chopped(optional)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1. Gently fry the onion, celery and leeks in the olive oil for about ten minutes till softened, taking care not too burn them.
2. Add the chilli if using it and the carrots and artichokes stir it all around and sweat for a couple of minutes.
3. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil then simmer gently for at least half an hour.
4. Once everything is cooked through and the carrots and artichoke are nicely softened blitz it in small batches in the liquidizer.
5. Pour it back into the pan and bring back up to temperature. Add a little salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
6. Serve with a big dollop of creme fraiche and some chopped coriander.
Nearly a week since I last blogged.
I decided that as Mum was away and Sarah had the week off I would leave the blog for a week too. Make it like a proper week off! Bloody lovely its been too.
I did experiment with some curry recipes. As an experiment when I cook something I think is worthwhile sharing I will put the recipe online sarting with my Curry vegetable soup which has been a great success.
Building work is progressing at a steady pace. We can start decorating this week, the only hold up being the wardrobes really, my fault for dithering over getting them ordered but there you go.
Hopefully we will have some information about mums week away when Fabia gets round to writing about it(hint hint).
Because of this inclement weather we decided to do the Mother handover en route between Harborough and Kings Lynn at a diner near Peterborough. Unfortunately couldnt get the Jag out of the drive because of the snow so Sarahs Skoda it is. Pulled up to witness Mum demolishing a mountain of mash and 4 sausages, "lovely".
In the car on the way back expecting to get quizzed about the builders or the weather at home but first question is how is the car, followed by how is the dog, then how is Sarah. Not a word about the builders which has to be a good thing.
Into the drive, out of the car and a good check around the Jag.."lovely" Cant wait for the snow to shift to get a chance to take her out in it. Might get a cap to wear. Just a quick look round the new room then upstairs to unpack the random stuff she packed for the week away.
All in all I think the week has done us both the power of good.
Leave a comment if you think the recipe thing is a good idea and I may start a seperate blog about it, or I may just bore you with it here.
