No pain - no gain.....

....is what "they" say but from about last February I have had so much pain in my legs and there has been absolutely no gain!. Sometimes it was the left leg, other days it was the right leg and when at it´s worse it was both legs!! 

I have problems with my veins so sometimes they play up. But for the last while it has been the back of my right heel and up the back of my right leg that has been painful . It was like the tendon was not long enough, like it needed to be stretched. It was always worse in the morning or after sitting for a period of time.  Getting out of bed in the morning and walking to the bathroom just nearly killed me. 

Finally yesterday I got my act together and made an appointment to see the doctor. 

Now I don´t like going to doctors! Often, in my opinion, they don´t take enough time to investigate what the problem is and, in my opinion,  they are just  too quick to give pills! My opinion was proved right yesterday. (Bewared I feel a rant coming on!!! )  I sat 20 minutes in the waiting room yet was only about 8 minutes in at the doctor! I got my vital signs checked and all was well there. I went on to explain about my legs and feet. I was told I had a problem with my Achilles Tendon and then I was prescribed pain killers. For my vein problem I was told to go and see a Bandagists to get support socks made. 

I went on to tell about my hearing (everything is going down hill! - boy if I was a horse they would just take me out and shoot me!) anyway, I was told that I needed to make an appointment to see an ear, nose and throat doctor. The doctor suggested taking blood tests just to check everything was ok. I said "yes - ok, no problem." but  then was told that the blood couldn´t be taken there. I either had to go to the hospital or else come back any day in the week betweeen 8am and 8.30am. WHAT!!! I decided to forget about the blood.

So from the doctors I went to the chemist. Another 15 minutes wait there gave me time to think  How did my Achilles Tendon get damaged? What could I do to help it heal? What could I do to prevent it happening again? All these questions went through my mind. Why was I just given pain killers but nothing else was explained to me about the condition?!! I had loads of unanswered questions! Why didn´t these questions come while in with the doctor?!!!

So, last night I took the first pain killer just before going to bed. I woke up this morning and my oh my it was WONDERFUL!!! haha I had no pain! I had a tightness still at the back of my leg but there was no pain with it!

Today at work I had no pain - ALL DAY LONG!!! I am on my feet 6½ hours every day. I work 7½ hours a day but we get an hours break throughout the day. For the last 6 months I have longed for 2.30pm to come so I could finally go home and sit down. Usually by 2.30pm my legs feel like huge lumps of lead have been attached to them.

Today I felt different. For the first time in months I did not feel drained, I was so full of energy, my legs had no lead attached to them and there was no pain!

However I still have a problem. The tendon is still there. The tendon is still damaged. I just can´t feel the damage any longer.  Am I doing more damaged walking on it, or are the pain killers helping my leg relax so I can use it properly?  I really need to investigate this and find some answers. I don´t want to have to live on pain killers for the rest of my days!!

But for the time being I am sure going to enjoy the relief those pain killers are giving me!  

A cosy weekend.....

and a great weekend. 

Saturday morning found us at church. It was our turn to clean again. We clean the church every 10 weeks and those 10 weeks sure go by very quickly.  It was then home to give the house here a good clean over. Sometimes it seems like I do nothing else but clean! Kristian helped and then he spent the rest of his afternoon clearing out some more things from the garage. He also got some of the garden sorted out too. I spent the afternoon making soup, baking cakes and muffins.

Late afternoon I got ready for my evening out. I had been invited to my colleagues 50th birthday. We were about 20 girls gathered together at her house. The food was fantastic and we had such a great evening together.

Today, Sunday, we had Kristian´s family visiting. We had invited his mum, his brothers and his sisters (along with their families) to afternoon coffee and cake. Most of the family were able to make it, so we had a full house.

We had a lovely afternoon with them all. It was great to be able to show them our wee home.

First time....

Tonight was the first time I painted in my wee studio and it was wonderful!

 I got the heater going, the paints and canvas out and I was all set to sit and paint a picture to hang in the living room wall, behind the sofa. 

 I had so much fun but I am not sure that I like the painting. I like the colours but I am not happy with the forest background and my trees are not realistic looking. Kristian really likes it and wants to hang it up but I just  want to paint it all white and start over again. Unfortunately I don´t have anymore time to paint this weekend so maybe we will just hang it up until I get around to painting a new one.

Moving AGAIN!!!!

....this time for Sara!

A few months back Sara moved to Aarhus. She was renting a room from one of her friends that had bought an apartment. Things, however, didn´t work out with her friend so Sara had to find something else. It´s not cheap to rent in the city so she didn´t have a big choice of places to fit her budget. She needed something cheap and she found it.  Although it´s not ideal, it will do her for now.

We went to Aarhus to help her move. 

We left home late Friday afternoon and took the ferry over. It´s a bit of journey so we first arrived there at 9.30pm. It was great to see Sara again. She had bought sweets, crisps and cola zero especially for her old mum!! So we had a cosy evening together catching up and putting on a few kilos!

On Saturday Sara had to go to work so Kristian and I worked at moving all the stuff from the old place to the new. Then we headed into town to visit the shoe shop where Sara works. We saw her in action! She really is good with the customers, she really gives good service! Kristian and I then went to explore the town for a few hours until she was finished with work.

We also got to try out her coffee house, which is just below her shoe shop. I loved the decor.

Her shop closed at 4pm so by 4.30pm Sara had totally finished everything she needed to do and we headed out to Ikea. We had only 50 minutes to get what we needed before they closed. Talk about being stressed!!! 50 minutes in Ikea is no way long enough, although my Kristian and Sara´s Christian were very happy to hear that we only had that short time there.

Sunday we worked to get shelves up and Ikea furniture built. We got all the jobs done for her that she needed done. Now she can, over the next few days,  go and pack out everything.

We left at 6pm for the long journey home. We arrived home at 10.15pm exhausted but with a happy daughter that was so thankful for our help.

Double trouble

I think this weekend has meant double trouble for Kristian!  He has had two Lauras to cope with for most of the weekend - each one as crazy as the other!

The weekend did start relatively calmly. I had an appointment at the hairdressers straight after work. Then it was home to welcome my mother-in-law who was coming to see us for a quick visit. She was going out to eat up at our end of the woods (so to speak) and so she thought she would drop by for a quick coffee. She was also wanting to see what more we had done with the house. It was great seeing her, even though it was only for a short time. Andrew was allowed to drive her car down to the petrol station to give it a wash, something that put a smile on his face!

Friday evening I spent at the hospital with my old lady friend. They are still running scans and tests.

Saturday I was up early and on the move. I had a house to clean, a daughter to collect from a sleep over at church and a bit of shopping to do. It was then home to prepare Sunday school.

However, because neighbour Laura and I were forever running over to each other to talk about one thing or another, neither of us were getting much done, so we made a plan! 

We would meet up and work together that evening. She would work on all her teaching projects for next week and I would work on Sunday school.

So at 7.12pm we met up in our living room. We actually did some work and didn´t talk (at least not the whole time!). It was a bit like being back at school, working in the library, with a good friend across the way!

We really did achieve a lot.

Today after church I went to see my friend John´s art work. He is such a fantastic artist and he had a display at the local fitness centre. 

It was then home to work for a few hours on the house. Kristian and Andrew worked on the garage while Laura and I worked on cleaning the outside of the house. We both got cavity wall insulation put in at start of the week and the place was covered in dust from the drilling. So I scrubbed and she rinsed and we soon had the place sparkling clean!

Kristian and Andrew also did a great job on the garage!

Above - the garage before.

Above - the garage now. We still have a bit of clearing up to do, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

So after all our hard work we decided to eat dinner together. We ordered Pizza which Andrew treated us too! (When he heard what I planned for dinner he was not impressed! not one of his favourite dishes so he was willing to do anything to get out of eating it....off course it also meant he got to drive the car to go and get the pizza!)

We had a great time planning all the traditions that we are going to introduce out here. From Spring clean up parties to harvest celebrations to carol singing to toboganing, Now we can hardly wait for the snow! We did get a bit carried away with all the things we want to do. Bless Kristian, he just shakes his head and smiles. I really don´t think we have time to go to work with all the things we have planned! haha

Laura made a delicious cake for us all and we stuffed outselves with that and ice cream. All in all a rather perfect weekend!

Best antiques

I got a plaque for my kitchen which I just love. It says...."The best antiques are old friends"  

Well one of those rare, wonderful  antiques was here today. My friend Rhona. It was so great to hang out with her again. It has been so long since our last tea and strawberry cake date.  Now the strawberry cake season is over, so Rhona came by with a wonderful fresh cream bun for me and a whole chocolate cake for her!! (well, not totally true! The chocolate cake was for the whole family.)  My hubby was very happy to see it when he came home from work. Rhona had only had a little tiny slice!

The afternoon went by so fast! She got a tour of the place and then we sat and drank tea, ate cake and talked and talked and talked! The time went by too fast and before we knew it, it was nearly 6pm! I still feel like we didn´t get to talk about half the things! Another date is scheduled for December which really isn´t that far away!! Yikes that is scary!

Yesterday I was off to visit my old lady friend. She is in hospital so I spent last night up with her. Hopefully she will be getting home on Friday. 

Andrew has been driving none stop since he got his test. Tuesday evening he and Kristian went for a drive while I was at the hospital. We all arrived home at 9pm. Leah was out babysitting and at 9.30pm  she rang to say she needed picked up. I did not feel like going out again! Andrew got the job of going to get his little sister, and there was no objections at all! I really like having this extra driver in the house! 

Today he drove to work. He works 1 day a week at my school doing cleaning. Then he went and picked up his friend Thomas and drove to Copenhagen so they could buy something for his friends computer. He is loving his new freedom! Not so sure my purse is loving all the petrol he is using! haha

He did it.....

He passed his test!!

Andrew was doing his test today for the 2nd time and I was a nervous wreck. His test time was 9.25am and from 8am I had butterflies in my stomach. His friend failed his test a few days ago  and it was because of something minor so Andrew was sure he was not going to pass this time either. Last night going to bed he was a nervous wreck and Kristian said that when he was leaving this morning he was also a nervous wreck. (Kristian and I suffered along with him!)

So at 9.57am this morning my phone gave a little bleep to let me know I had a text. The text was from Andrew and it said "dumpede" which is Danish for "failed". My heart sank. I was so disappointed for him. Now he would have to do the test again and give out another 150 pounds!! 

Then at 9.58am (about 30 seconds after the first text)  I got another text which said "ikke" which is Danish for "not". That´s when it went up for me what he had wrote.... "Dumpede - ikke" = "Failed - NOT!"  In other words, he had passed! Wow I was a happy mother!

So as soon as I came home from work he took the car to go to school to collect his friend. He drove his friend home. Then it was home to pick up me,so we could go and pick up Leah from her friends. We had decided to go out and celebrate his victory with a McDonalds! (Kristian was at a go-kart meeting so he wasn´t able to join us.) Andrew drove us all around the place. I think I am going to like having another taxi driver in the house!

Mainly for dad....

....but if you are interested in seeing how we have decorated our new place then feel free to continue with this post.

 Above is my wee art studio, looking from our front door.

 Inside....I got it painted this afternoon and the furniture all arranged. 

 I think, through time,  I might paint the door to look like an old wooden door.

 Then to the house.....

 

Above is the hall way. This is what you see when you come through the front door. The mirror needs hung on the wall. One of those jobs that will probably take days to do!

 

 The dining room area....

 Above is a corner of the living room. I got the plaque on the wall as a gift. I love it.  I think it goes well beside my "old" clock.

 Our room....still needs pictures on the wall.

 Leah and Mia having a cosy time.

 Andrew´s room still needs pictures up and a few shelves put up, but he doesn´t care about such things!! As long as he has a bed and computer that is all he needs! 

 Above is the living room seen from the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

 Living room......

 I still need to get a big picture for above the sofa. I am thinking of painting a forest scene. I would also like a black metal candle holder for above the TV....think that would finish that area off.

Kristian´s play area! He still has his little corner where he can go and pretend to be the worlds fastest formula 1 driver! 


Close by there are beautiful places to go walks.

 Hope you enjoyed the visit:-)