This week I have been thankful for....

Okay, this is long overdue (again!) but I have been reminded this week of a promise I failed to keep about a month ago now to do another one of these, so here we go, my reasons to be thankful at the moment :).






1.  I have been studying again since early October and am pleased to report that the first assignments for both courses have been received back and passed :).  Course A is awaiting marks for assignment 2, and Course B has assignment 2 due later this month, but so far so good, the balance between study, work and play seems to be going okay, and while I may stress a little around May time doing the end of module assessments, I think this year is going to be okay.




2.  On Saturday I got to go and have a lovely meal at my dear Godparents house, which we had been trying to arrange and do for many months!  A lovely spread was put on and everyone was full at the end, finishing with an amazing lemon cheesecake.  So as well as being the voice of reason and sanity in my sometime chaotic life, my godmother is also an amazing cooks-nearly-everything-from-scratch chef :) - we will have to plan and not leave it so long next time, and I need some cooking lessons!


3.  The life of being self-employed and locuming has generally been going pretty well, I have been getting enough work, luckily I am flexible and apart from when I had left an assignment to the last day last week (oops) I can drop things and work at pretty short notice, which I'm sure my locum booker is appreciative of!  I am starting to register with a few agencies and get some work assigned from other companies, not just Day Lewis, and I have been enjoying re-visiting branches where I have worked before and catching up with staff in Day Lewis land (you know who you are :) ).


4.  Sunday morning was actually dry which has been a rarity lately, so I was able to walk to church, which was good, as I wanted the fresh air and the exercise!




5.  Sometime in mid-November I managed to enjoy a lovely toffee which was on the table at a training day I had booked myself on.  Shortly after enjoying said toffee, I had an "oh s**t" moment, when I realised something wasn't quite right with my bottom teeth.  Further investigation and exploration established that the naughty toffee had been the nail in the coffin for my poor retaining wire which has been behind my teeth since the braces came off when I was 16.  So firstly I am very thankful to a friend who comes to my monthly meals and her daughter for supplying me with some dental wax to protect the sharp metal from shredding the inside of my mouth, and secondly I am very happy that the wire got re-bonded this week (I just won't say how much I had to pay the thieving dentist - orthodontics at the general it is next time, I don't care Mr Orthodontist if "my dentist could have done that" when they charge me ridiculous amounts to do it!).


6.  I am thankful for Black Friday.  I am thankful that there were T.V. reports showing the chaos at many stores, and how people were behaving.  I am thankful that 25 people "liked" my status on Facebook when I referred to what I am about to explain.


Now I know not everyone is Christian.  I know Christmas means different things to different people.  I know some people like a bit of shopping, and a bargain, and some will always have more money than others to go out and hit the shops, and that's fine.  What I do not like is when it gets so bad that people push and shove other people, fight over goods, and the police have to be called to keep the peace.  When commercialism brings out the worst in human behaviour.


I am thankful that my faith has taught me, and I try to constantly remind myself, that the riches of this world and merely transient.  That you can't take them with you.  That when you have one thing, there's always the next thing, the next thing and the next thing.  You can't fill emptiness with "things".   And I am thankful in a way for how bad Black Friday got here this year, in that if just a few people see the news and think "how stupid is this", and it makes them re-evaluate and take pause, then that is good.


7.  Part of locuming at this time of year, especially when I am visiting branches where I have previously worked and know the staff, is that there are several Christmas meals being planned.  I am, I'm afraid, now booked into a grand total of four altogether!  And I can't wait :).  I think I've managed not to order the same thing to eat twice, and the organisers have it all written down so I know what I've asked for (the old memory's not that reliable in my old(er) age ;) ).


8.  I had a lovely day out in Winchester today with my Mum.  We met up with some relatives on her side of the family, wandered around Christmas market by the Cathedral (where there was a nativity scene and "what are you waiting for" stall handing out packs with Alpha course leaflets and Luke's Gospel - go Churches Together in Winchester!) and we had a nice lunch and a bit of shopping - fab gentle day out!


9.  The Christmas shopping is now nearly done, which has been long in ordering, planning, looking and thinking so it feels good to now be ready to wrap it all and distribute everything to the intended recipients!


10.  Being that it is now December, the Christmas tree is going up soon, hopefully this weekend, and I have two lovely school friends who have offered, in what is becoming an annual tradition, to help!  Hopefully photo of nice decorated pretty tree with wrapped presents underneath to come in the next edition!


Thank you for reading, please comment, and feel free to be thankful for whatever is good in your life - it is a brilliant task to do!

Ten Things of Thankful - resurrected

Once upon a time, several months ago now, I would write on this blog quite a bit.  There was a blog-hop once a week I would do, the Ten Things of Thankful.  Then some stuff happened and for various reasons I can't link up with the blog-hop any more.  My lovely dispenser said to me on Saturday how much she used to like reading them though, and since I stopped doing them she's not the only one, I've had other people say the same too.  So I thought, why not, I think it's time to get back blogging and especially do this exercise of thankfulness, even if I can't link up.  So time for some good things in the world since last I was here.


1.  I have been lucky enough to find a lovely new church since Easter and am starting to get to know people there which is lovely, and hopefully after the summer holidays I will be able to settle into a cell group.  Despite leaving my old church I am lucky enough to have good friendships I am keeping from my time there, and only the other week I received a card from the vicar there who has been so supportive and helpful.


2.  I have decided that I am going to continue and complete my OU degree in languages which I started a while ago now, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to do that, and that hopefully when I've finished it I may be able to find a new career path.


3.  I'm thankful that I'm able to work as a locum pharmacist to pay the bills while I study, and that I've found an accountant and have other locums I know on hand to help and advise.  I've managed to get 4 days' work booked for my first week so far, so it's looking good!


4.  I've found and been seeing a lovely counsellor, and she's been brilliant and really helpful at listening to me and helping me sort myself out!


5.  I am thankful for reading.  I have started trying to read more regularly lately, especially before going to sleep, and it is brilliant escapism and great to get lost in another world (in the series I'm reading at the moment, the world of vampires).


6.  Somehow this past week I was out to dinner four nights in a row!  Now this is very unusual for me, I'm not normally quite such a social butterfly, but while I have appreciated having the last two days off with the bank holiday to rest, it was lovely to get out when I had the chance, once with my Mensa group, once with my Dad and Stepmum, once with my work colleagues to celebrate the wedding of the CEO's son, and finally to the house of my Mum's friend.


7.  Last weekend I got to go to London on the Saturday to meet up with my Turner Syndrome sisters and in typical butterfly fashion we went to see the butterfly exhibition at the Natural History Museum.  There were so many beautiful butterflies which I'd never seen before, and I got lots of lovely photos.  Luckily I found a good deal on the train that South West Trains were doing for the summer too :).


8.  I got a day's overtime last week, which is all good and adds up seeing as I'm going to be self-employed soon!


9.  Today is our late summer bank holiday in the U.K. and I am happy to say I have spent yesterday and today doing pretty much nothing productive - make the most of resting while you can!


10.  Okay today has pretty much rained and rained and rained, in typical British bank holiday style, but we have been lucky and actually had a summer with pretty decent weather from June til about now, so I'm glad we've had sunshine and I've been able to get out into the garden when time's allowed.


So there we have some little rays of light, and I hope dear readers to carry on bringing you this on a weekly basis now I've started again, more next weekend.

Twisted Mixtape - Busted!

So the theme for Twisted Mixtape Tuesday over at Jen's today is "songs that would have landed me in jail".  Ha ha, this is going to be funny, only because I never got so much as a detention at school, I was the perfect pupil, and ever since then have still been law-abiding and an upstanding citizen, but it's good to let your imagination run away with you anyway isn't it?

1.  Robin Thicke - Blurred lines

Yes the crime here would be rape.  If a woman says no, IT MEANS NO!  Hate the lyrics of this song, but it's just too damn catchy!


2.  Afroman - Because I got high

Yeah, I think if I was high enough to do most of this stuff, I would be totally arrested!


3.    Nelly - Hot in here

Okay Nelly, so if I took off all my clothes in a public place, I'm pretty sure I'd get done for indecent exposure!


4.   Eric Clapton - I shot the sheriff

Yep, murder would definitely land you in jail, whether by shooting or any other method!

5.  Oasis - Cigarettes and alcohol

Now the cigarettes aren't illegal, unless you're indoors in the U.K., but the alcohol can cause drunk and disorderly, and "doing the white line"??

Okay, now you've read mine please comment and get yourself over to Jen's and make your own list.

Ten things of thankful #17

So it's the weekend again (where is the time going??) and it's time for ten things of thankful.  So here's what's been good in the Emmaverse this week:

1.  Mouse evictions
On arrival back from holiday in Cornwall last weekend, I found the cat chasing (what I thought was) the mouse from the other day around the kitchen.  And when it jumped into the litter tray, I took my chance, confiscated litter tray, and encouraged mouse to jump out of front door.  And very smug, happy, righteous I felt after that - ha ha, mouse is gone!

Alas, later that evening, I dropped something by my bedside table.  On kneeling down to have a good look for thing-I-had-dropped, what should be on the floor under the bed?  Another mouse - DEAD!   UUUUUUUURRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!  Well, both live and dead one are gone now, and hopefully there are no more I haven't seen!  I've tried to explain to the cat that it's not Christmas yet, and I really don't need presents, but she doesn't seem to get it!

2.  Dress for conference/Christmas meal
I have found a lovely dress to wear to my work conference gala dinner next weekend, and our work Christmas do (only one person is going to see me at both, and she really won't care!)

Do you think it can make me look like the model too???

3.  Crafting afternoon
Seeing as it's the middle of November and I've only made 5 Christmas cards so far, I am having a much needed crafting afternoon at a friend's house this afternoon, which I'm hoping will be very productive!

4.  My friend is going to have me for a visit
I am having a weekend up with my friend in early December, which will be a lovely much-needed pre-Christmas get away and escape-from-it-all, we're gonna phone tonight to catch up and make plans!

5.  Perfume cabinet
My lovely shop assistant/dispenser extraordinaire excelled herself yesterday, this was number 1:

Those men on Christmas Eve who haven't bought their wife a present - we're sorted!

 

6. Consultation room
And this was number 2:

 

 Boy had that consultation room been due a tidy up and clean!  Between us, she cleaned, I sorted and binned and re-organised my cupboards, and now it's brill :)

7.  Hatties
 I went to a great gig with Mother last night, and Godparents.  I've seen this band three of four times now, and they're great.  We stayed til about 11, by which time it was a bit hot up the front being so crowded, and the mother had retreated to a back room to sit down (what's the point being there mother, see this is why I don't invite you to thinks, don't moan next time!!).  But it was really good, and what I needed, a good night out.

8.  Cornish sticker
Following my trip last weekend, the most excellent shop in Falmouth which has all things Cornish provided me with this, and now my car is officially Cornish, see I'm no emmet!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmet_%28Cornish%29

9.  IACGMOOH
Otherwise known as I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here
Now, if you're stateside and you don't have this, you need to look it up!  The current season starts again tonight, and we're in for 2-3 weeks of hilarity!

The general premise is dump some celebrities (I use the word loosely here, there's normally a few I don't know who they are!) in the jungle of the Australian outback, and let them survive somehow, do daily challenges, and suffer hunger on basic rations when people fail the tasks.  There's normally a few whiny pathetic ones, a few who wind everyone else up, and a few who are really funny and just get on with it!  So we will see this years selection tonight!  All the while commented on with hilarious effect by the fabulous Ant and Dec (cheeky Geordie presenting duo).

10.  The mother is still asleep in the spare room after last night's gig, so I can get ready in peace and sneak off to church - she WILL be taken home later!

Questions customers ask - the honest replies!

Anyone who works in a pharmacy will have heard some or all of these.  In bold are the standard polite answers we have to give, in italics, what I would LOVE to be able to say!

1.  It's only a box of tablets.
Yes it is, let me just get them for you right away!
Yes, and there are 10 people "just wanting a box of tablets" in front of you.  Did you want the CORRECT ones?

2.  I'll be back in 5 minutes, okay?
Yes, absolutely, that's fine.
Well, actually it's going to take a bit longer than that because you have ten items, and there's three in front of you, and by the way, yes I do have a tannoy in Waitrose so I can let you know in there that it's ready!

3. (on asking to speak to the pharmacist specifically).  Please can I order my prescription?
Yes of course, which items did you need?
You do know my dispensers and counter assistants are perfectly capable of taking your order, and I have like a billion and one other things to do?

4.  (Usually men this one I'm afraid).  I don't need to go to the doctor about this do I, it will be fine next week won't it?
Well, maybe try this for a few days, but if it doesn't help, you must see your G.P.
You raving looney, you should have gone to the doctor like last week already, why don't you take care of yourself?

5.  I should've put my request in last week but I didn't, can you give me some tablets until my prescription comes back?
Let me talk to the doctor and look at your record and I'll see what I can do, we can sort something out.
Well because YOU'RE disorganised it's suddenly MY problem?  You do know the doctors are open so I shouldn't really supply you, but you're not going to go round there and bug them are you, you're here bugging me!

6.  Can you deliver that after 2pm but before 4pm, I've got to go to the nurse in the morning, and then my daughter's taking me out for tea.
I'll let the driver know and I'm sure she'll do her best to do that!
So you want a delivery service but you're never in?  You're going out twice, but on neither occasion can you come here to get your medication, you just want to use our complimentary service because you're lazy.  Our driver works all day, and now she has to deliver everyone else's prescriptions around the specific time you HAVE to have yours!

7.    Can I get a 1ml pack please?*
Yes of course, how many did you need?
I really wish you wouldn't and somehow we could get you not to use at all, I feel sorry for you and would love to know what in your life got you in this state.
* pack of needles together with accompanying paraphanaelia for injecting, normally for heroin addicts to use

8. Can you be quick with that yeah, I've got a taxi waiting outside.
Yes, we'll do that straight away for you.
Really?  a) I wish I could afford to get taxis everywhere.  b) That is NOT a reason to put you to the front of the queue!  c) Where's the problem with sending that one away and getting another one when you are finished your business?

9.  Oh, you can't sell me that/give me my prescription because the pharmacist is on lunch?
Yes, I'm really sorry but while she's not here it's against the law, there are some other pharmacies along the street, or she will be back at ____.
Yes, I'm sorry the pharmacist is human and not a robot, and has to have a rest and eat in the middle of the day, as is her human right!

10.  Why haven't you given me these tablets on my prescription?  I need them, I've run out!
I'm really sorry, that's your re-order form, not the prescription we dispense off, let me ring the doctor and see what the problem is.
Yes, even if we ordered them correctly, the doctors probably had a stupid moment and left them off your actual prescription.  Just because something is not as you expect, does not mean it's our fault!  9/10 times we are doing what the doctor said and it's nothing to do with us at all!

Ten Things of Thankful #16

So, it's the weekend, it's time for TTOT from the Emmaverse!

1.  New duvet set
I love it :).  And it's got my favourite things, butterflies, obviously!

2.  Safe journey down
I am down in Cornwall for the weekend, and despite a bit of rain to start the journey Saturday morning, the weather wasn't that bad, the roads were clear, and I got here safely and in good time.


3.  Falmouth - shopping
I popped over to Falmouth yesterday afternoon to go to a few favourite shops.  I managed to get some Cornish tartan ribbon for my Dad's birthday and Christmas cards, and a few sweets in an amazing sweet shop, and I surprised myself at being enormously restrained in the bag and accessories shop - I came out with NOTHING!


4.  Nan's church
I got to worship at the church where my Nan used to attend this morning, and it was lovely to get back there.


5.  Stavros
I had wanted to try out the Mexican restaurant here in Newquay tonight, but alas despite their website saying they should be open they were in darkness.  So I knew where to go - a little Greek-Cypriot restaurant I've been to before!  I had a lovely moussaka, and randomly there was Bob Marley playing - lovely evening!


6.  Lovely sunny morning and the sea

7.  Phone
I am thankful for the phone, and friends who pick it up and know exactly when you need to talk - I'm just sad you can't get or give hugs down the phone :(.


8.  Eden Project
I have to be back home tomorrow night for a training session (boo!) but on my way out of Cornwall I think I have decided I will visit the Eden Project.  For those who haven't heard of it, this is it:

9.  Pasties!
The traditional Cornish pasty!  If I don't eat one tomorrow, one will be coming back with me (along with rations for the rest of my family too - I need to pick up 5!)

10.  Funny film to pass time
I got to spend a bit of time on this rainy afternoon watching a film I'd asked for for my birthday back in July - and I wasn't disappointed!  Quartet is brilliant, but with a cast of Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon (aka Dumbledore don't you know), Maggie Smith (oh yeah, she was McGonagall in HP too wasn't she) and Billy Connelly, it was gonna always be fab, wasn't it?

Okay, so there we have it, see you next week.

Please comment, and get yourself over to Considerings and make your own list!

Twisted Mix Tape - School days!

Well this week at Jen's she's let us do our own thing and have a free-for-all, so I've gone old school, literally, and done songs about school days for a bit of nostalgia!

1. Busted – What I go to school for

I loved Busted, this was hilarious, they were so cheeky!


2.  Dan Sampson – Teenage life

This was our Eurovision entry one year, we still didn't win (very rarely do) but I thought it was quite clever and catchy!


3.  Undertones - Teenage kicks

All about that youthful yearning for that excitement!

4.  Doris Day - Teacher’s pet

 I love a bit of Doris Day, and here she is singing about a little crush she has on a teacher!


5.  Sam Cooke - What a wonderful world this would be

And finally we have Sam Cooke hoping that even though he's not the cleverest, most able student, the girl he's after will still give him a second look.

Please comment, and get yourself over to Jen's and make your own Mix Tape!