Shall I do the Good News or the Bad News first?

I'll get the bad news out of the way.

My neighbour died last Friday morning. I'm relieved for her families sake that it was relatively quick, when my Grandparents were ill it dragged on for months/years and it took its toll on even the toughest members of the family. It's still hard to deal with though. There are quite a lot of questions about her care that need answering, I hope things are sorted out quickly so that her family can move forward with their lives.

Now for the Good News.

The circle of life continues.
I'm pregnant!
I've never really kept track of my dates, but as we have been trying for a couple of months I've been good and written them down. Of course once I'd written them down I instantly forgot them.
I've been feeling a little queasy, but I've been upset, and I do tend to feel queasy when I'm stressed or upset. I've also had a sore stomach and boobs, but that's normal PMT for me.
On Saturday night I had a tough night at work. I didn't get much sleep, but did have a lot of time to think. I was getting cheesed off with these ongoing period pains, then something clicked in my brain. I did a bit of googling, and realised that instead of PMT it could be a sign of pregnancy. When I got home Sunday morning I dug out my bit of paper and realised I was 11 days late. *gulp*
Porl was still asleep when I got home, and I'd had no sleep so I went straight to bed. I woke up at about midday, told Porl my suspicions, then dissapeared off to Sheffield for the night as it was my Dads birthday, leaving Porl to pace the house and drink lots of rum. I broke the news to my family later in the afternoon, then on Monday I did a pregnancy test which my sister-in-law had which confirmed everything.

So that's the good news. I've been to see the doctor today, he didn't even bother doing another test, but gave me lots more information to read, and worked out that "Blob" (which is what is currently looks like) should be due about 11th July.

Apologies for the "Woe is Me" post, but things aren't so great around here. My neighbour who was in hospital the other week is seriously ill. She's back home now, with all her family around her and she's not expected to live much longer. We were told last week she had about 6 months to live, but the next day we were told it was actually a matter of days.

I think it's rare now to be so close to your neighbours, especially for someone of my generation, even more so as she's nearly 50 years older than me. But when we moved here 2 years ago we knew no one and very little about the area. I've got to know her well, chatting over the garden fence, she's become a great friend. She's taught me about the local area, treated me with plants for my garden, and left-over pasties from the cafe where she worked. In return I did some of the tougher jobs in her garden, sorted out her bins for her every week (the slope down from our house is dangerous even on a dry day) and gave her some company. Her family keep thanking me for everything I've done for her, but I think she's been a far better friend to me really.

I didn't see any of my Grandparents in the last couple of weeks before they died. Partly because I lived so far away and it was hard to get time off work, but also because as I'm the youngest of all the Grandchildren I was kept sheltered from it all (even though I was in my 20's when 3 of them died.) Seeing my neighbour as ill as she is has been harder to deal with than I realised, especially as we were chatting over the fence as normal 3 weeks ago.

I keep finding jobs to do round the back of the house in the hope one of her relatives will be outside because if I'm honest I'm too scared to go round and find out the latest.

I'm fed up with hearing bad news.
I thought I'd cried enough over the past few months.
I want the bad things to stop. Now.

Can I have the happy things back please?

A rare meme which took my fancy, from Craftapalooza


1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?

If you are incapable of resuming work: see Incapacity Benefit.

The only book on my desk at the moment is "Directory for Disabled People" which I bought for work (for 10p) but brought home when I suspected my boss was about to bin it.

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching?
A small version of my parents Wedding Album. It was my Nan-nans copy. Mum brought it round for me today.

3. What's the last program you watched on tv?
News 24 this morning before putting the radio on.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
5pm, not bad, 4:54pm

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?
Music from my PC, Pulp-A little Soul

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?
About an hour ago doing the gardening (hopefully last grass cutting until spring)

7. What are you wearing?
Jeans which have paint on and holes in, a purple vest top, a blue fleecey jumper, a black zip up jumper (it was really cold outside, I had a coat on too) and orange, yellow and grey stripey socks.

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?
Nope, I've slept really deeply for the past few nights, a pleasant change.

9. When was the last time you laughed?
Today when my parents were saying goodbye.

10. What's on the walls, in the room you're in right now?
My framed Mil-looney-um Tazos, a Da Vinci sketch and a 3D picture of a country kitchen. Very mish mash.

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?
A surprising amount of ghosts and ghoulies when I drove home the other night.

12. What do you think about this meme?
It's good.

13. What's the last film you saw?
Haven't the foggiest, I think I watched "About a Boy" on TV about 3 weeks ago.

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?
Pay of quite a lot of mortgages for people, and buy myself a lovely big house in the middle of nowhere... maybe on some remote island, but with a helicopter for getting back to see family & friends.

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know.
I think how I am in work and how I am around my friends and at home is very very different. At home and with friends I'm very laid back and disorganised. I think my normal friends would be quite surprised if they spent a day with me in work, and that applied to all the jobs I've done in the past few years, not just my current job.

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be?
I'd make people realise that if they want a decent world to live on in a few years time we've got to sort out our environmental issues.

17. Do you like dancing?
Ooh yes.

18. George Bush?
Please God No!

19. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy?
At the moment, Matilda (but she would be called Tilly-Mint) and Seth

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Yes, depending on the country, there's a lot of countries I would hate to live in. I'm really happy living in this country though, I just want to move to one of our many little islands :)

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?
Too many assumptions there.

22. Who should do this meme?
Anyone who cares to.