Well, I’ve been at work for a couple of weeks now and I’m starting to make some progress. I have spent today networking all of the computers after we moved office along the corridor. So now I have my own desk!

The job is frustrating at the moment as I can’t really get ’stuck in’ until I’ve been to this national meeting next week. So I’m looking forward to that and then being able to get some real work done We’re also waiting for some news on some funding so I can get a computer! At the moment I’m working from an old laptop which is really slow, so a faster computer would be VERY useful!

I have also finally bought myself a new mobile phone! It’s a google Nexus One and it’s great! I have downloaded some programs from the Android market already and am still getting used to it. The hardest thing to get used to is the on screen keyboard. You can’t just type a text message without looking at the keys any more! But I’m still loving it It took a while to get the settings sorted to get MMS messages, but I got it sorted eventually. (even though the messages are really small still). So that was really exciting! I drove to Hounslow to pick it up after DHL tried to deliver when I was at work. So that was an adventure too!

I have managed to find a masseur who can do a G5 massage in Reading and I have booked myself in on Friday. Mrs Pillows spent ages looking online to find somewhere as I have been in so much pain this week. My new bra doesn’t fit which means I’m going to have to search really hard for a new one in a bigger size. That should be interesting! I’m hoping that a regular G5 massage will help things, but at £25 a time, it’s an expensive resolution to the problem..

I don’t think I really have any other news to update (hence the lack of an update recently). I am hoping to be able to properly blog from my phone once I’ve sorted out the software so there may be more updates!

I hope the new year is treating everyone well.

Well, Happy New Year folks! On New Years Day, Mrs Pillows and I had our own mini Christmas and opened presents, watched Christmas films and just spent the whole day together. Uninterrupted! It was fabulous! I got tickets to see the X FACTOR LIVE next month!! Whoopee!!

After New Years Day I started looking for a new bicycle. After a couple of days, I found the perfect bike in a small cycle shop in Amersham. The shop owners there were so helpful and lovely. THey fitted mudguards, panier holder thingies, put my humongous seat on and fitted a double stand. That afternoon I went cycling with the Mrs and we cycled 6miles! I’m also thinking of joining a ‘health club’. It’s basically getting a pass to use the leisure facilities in a local hotel. There’s a small pool and some gym equipment, but the best bit is that it’s really quiet and there are NO restrictions on when you can use it. It works out as £27.50 per month each if we get a joint membership, so that’s not really too bad. And I think I would actually use it - especially if we can go together. But I’ll have to see just how much my pay packet is before I decide on this.

Talking of a pay packet - I started my new job this week! I started on Tuesday and then had to work from home on Wednesday due to the snow! That was awkward. Flaking out on my second day. But the boss rang and said not to come in and to work from home, so I did! I had lots and lots to do anyway, so it was really good. I am only working 4 days a week and so I have a permanent 3day weekend! As well as my own role, I’ve been helping out with a few I.T. bits and I think they like me.. Maybe.. I hope they do anyway as I’m due to be there for the next 18months!

I went to the Doctor today to talk both about a couple of things. Firstly, I’m in a lot of pain in my back and shoulders because of my boobs. As I have been losing weight, they haven’t shrunk at all and so my cup size has gone up. I’ve gone from massive to humongous. I have ordered new bras as the new bra I got last week isn’t actually big enough. THe pain is nothing new, but I really really want to get it sorted out. I can’t have a breast reduction on the NHS as my bmi is still too high. (you have to have a BMI of 25 to qualify). So the doctor is going to write a letter to ’surgical supplies’ to see if there is anything they can do to help. Otherwise, I will just have to spend a fortune on massages - if I can find anywhere near here that has a G5 massage machine, that is. Normal hand massage is no good - I can’t even feel it!

I also asked for some help in controlling the facial hair that seems to be getting worse. I have tried plucking, bleaching, waxing, shaving and epilating. The doctor has started me on Metformin, which is a good result as it is meant to help with more than just the extra hair. It should also help with weight loss and, fingers crossed, my tiredness! So we will wait and see what effects it has on me, but I’m feeling positive.

There are so many exciting things happening at the moment. Life is so EXCITING! I have a new pink coat, new pink scarf and hat, a new bike, new bras, a new job, I’m losing weight and I’ve just ordered a brand new mobile phone online! But seriously, I have NEVER been this happy. There are so many little things in life that are so exciting. Everything is exciting! It’s brilliant and I love it. The smallest things make me happy, like walking through the crunchy snow, eating a good meal, feeling all cosy in my thermals or putting on new clothes. Life is good at the moment and I relish every day. I went sledging the other day on the common down the road. It was ACE. There were three of us and we had the WHOLE PLACE and a big hill all to ourselves. My snow vehicle of choice was a wheelie bin lid. Mrs Pillows had a skylight and Jef had a deflated Arsenal chair. I fell off, I fell over, I crashed, I screamed, I got covered in snow, I got a wet bum and I LOVED it! When we were exhausted, we all sat at the top of the hill and made noises just to listen to the echo around the estate. It was awesome!

So. Despite the pain, life is good. At the moment, I am very much looking forward to getting my new bras, having a lie in tomorrow and receiving my brand new mobile phone!

I hope the New Year is being just as good to all of you out there.

Peace

Well, Christmas went by with no apparent incident. The best bit was playing Rapidough with the whole family joining in - boys versus girls. The boys won one game and the girls won another. Even stevens We also had some games of Buzz on the playstation which got quite competitive! We all ate lots, watched some tv and watched my nephew open his presents when he got back from his dad’s.

Today I have been to see a friend. We met up in a local retail park which was absolutely packed! Took me about 15mins of driving around to find a parking spot. We chatted lots and drank lots of coffee and had a bit of a mooch around the shops for a bit.

Yesterday I took the doggies out for a nice afternoon walk. I didn’t know the way around the country park, and with the snow having fallen over all the paths I was relying on the dogs to show me the way out. They didn’t do too badly, but unfortunately there was a bridge out so we couldn’t get over the beck. We had to walk the long way round, then I had to wait to see someone else so I could follow them to the car park before the gates were locked up for the night! An interesting walk.. but the new harnesses I bought the dogs seem to fit really nicely. I might take them out again tomorrow too. Though I’ll drive there a different way next time as the road is pure ice. I actually slid some of the way down the hill and round a corner and was really scared I was going to crash into the beck!

Anyway. It’s nearly my bedtime so I’d better go. I’m really looking forward to getting back to Mrs Pillows in Slough this week. I’m seeing my sister tomorrow and then going to get a massage on Tuesday in Middlesbrough. So I’ll be leaving for home on Wednesday. Mrs Pillows and I will be having our own mini-xmas on New Years day which should be nice

Anyway. Merry Christmas everyone!

Well, I drove back up north for Christmas today. The journey was EPIC. I hit traffic just outside of Slough, then on the M40, then on the M25 and then on the M1. I hit standstill traffic, sleet, snow, rain and then my wipers and screen wash things froze up! The journey took 2 hours longer than it should have, but at least I got here safely

I have been forced to eat a butterfly cake already. Christmas has started! Tomorrow will be relaxing, going for an explore to see if anything’s changed and drinking tea!

Woo hoo!

I got my hair done yesterday. I really like the cut, and the hairdresser shaved a really nice design into my hair. And it’s.. yellow. Not blonde, not platinum. Not white. It’s YELLOW. I’m pretending that I MEANT for it to be that colour. It’s kinda gold with platinum tips. I suppose it’s kinda christmassy. but still. Yellow?

I do love to be different..

In other news, I’m currently nearly finished The Present. I’m about two thirds of the way through the final stage. Yay!! I am NEVER doing a present like this again. So much WORK!

It has also been snowing quite heavily in this area of the world. Our road is an ice rink and my poor car has been skidding and sliding around and hitting the kerb over the last 2 days. I stayed out of my car for 3 days, hoping it would thaw, but eventually I HAD to go out and had to brave the conditions. Then I got stuck in the awful traffic on the A4. It took me 2hours to do less than 3miles. I feel sorry for the poor souls who spent as long as 10hours in that jam. Luckily I made it home without weeing myself and had bought some snacks at Tescos, so I survived.

I am driving up north tomorrow for Christmas. I’m going to miss Mrs Pillows, but we are having our own Christmas on New Years Day. She is working all over Christmas and doesn’t have a day off until New Year. So that’s why we’re having our Christmas then. I was hoping to set off on my journey at around 10am tomorrow, but seeing as The Present is not finished yet, I may have to delay that as I imagine I won’t get to bed until 2.30am at the earliest. I have packed most of the stuff I need but I’m still stressed out about the drive. (as always)

Right.. the computer is yelling at me to leave it alone, so I’d better go and do something else useful. Maybe I should put together my ’snow survival pack’ for tomorrow.

Merry Christmas dudes and dudettes

Long time no update - again! The internet connection at home is SO slow, I don’t really bother going online at all from my computer. This means that I generally access the net from my mobile phone. It’s hard to blog on a mobile phone, so I end up not bothering for AGES. Thus a lack of updates.

I am happy to report that I have been offered a job! It is in the local area, is flexible working and is 32hours per week. But I’m getting almost the same amount of money I was getting in my previous job, just for 32hours instead of the 50ish I ended up doing there! Wicked! I ‘negotiated’ my salary. Which in reality means that I told my boss that I couldn’t really go below a certain amount due to needing business insurance on my car, wear and tear, etc etc. And they came back with a very good offer. So I took it! The only possible problem may be a reference from previous employer. Previous boss is happy to do it, but she opened the reference request whilst she was at head office. Her boss told her that all references need to be signed off by the regional director AND have input from HR. That would have taken until after Christmas and my new employers couldn’t send out a contract until after they received the references. So someone else did me another reference in the meantime.

One thing I was worried about was my sick record. So far, the new employer has not asked anything about any sick record, any disabilities or illnesses. My ‘reasonable adjustments’ have already been met by the normal working arrangements, so I don’t feel that I need to declare the depression. However, the asthma I will need to as I will have hospital appointments to attend. They don’t know about my time off sick in my previous job as they haven’t asked. They didn’t ask my referees either. Though my previous boss was going to put a line in my reference saying ‘blah blah blah, despite ill health’. I told her I hadn’t been asked about illness and so she offered to take those few words out. I don’t feel that I’m being dishonest. I don’t feel that it is relevant. My two long sick absences were in ‘blocks’. The first was pre-arranged with management to enable me to come off some medication and the second was due to the chest infection I had this summer. Why should I talk myself out of a job by baring my soul about it?

Anyway. Apart from a new job (which I start in the new year), I’ve not really been doing an awful lot. I got another chest infection, but this time I went to the Doctors immediately and demanded steroids and antibiotics. I was NOT going to go through THAT rigmorole again! Anyway, I recovered after a couple of weeks and am feeling much better now. It might have been flu, or it might have just been a bad cold, but I managed to attend my interview whilst ill and still got the job!

I am still coughing and have now had 2 appointments with the Consultant. I am supposed to be going for some ‘breathing tests’, but I haven’t had an appointment yet so we’ll see what they are when they come through. I have to go back in February and I’m REALLY hoping I’m better by then. I’ve already had this cough 6 MONTHS now and I’m getting really sick of it. I tried to do a conga tonight at a party and ended up in a coughing fit. SO annoying.

Well, it’s Christmas in less than a week and I’m still working on one of my presents to someone. It has been SUCH a trauma trying to get it done! I am currently up at 5 in the morning as some equipment I’m borrowing to make it has to be back to its owner tomorrow. I’m not convinced that the quality is going to be great, but I’m trying! I’m going up north for Christmas as Mrs Pillows is working. Looking forward to my Christmas dinner!

Right people. Time for me to go check on that equipment.. I’ll be taking my laptop up north so fingers crossed I can get to update a bit more whilst there

IF not, then Merry Christmas dudes!

Well hello again!

We now have a stable internet connection in the house, so I’m hoping to start updating this a little more often. (how often have I said that though??). I am still unemployed, but have applied for a job this week and have another application pack to fill out. Neither job is perfect (but how many jobs are?) - one is more money but further away and one is less money but really close and will probably allow me to carry on doing certain bits of volunteer work, which I want. So we’ll see what happens there. Fingers crossed!

In other news, I went for my hospital appointment last week. The Consultant said that my cough could be caused by one of three things - Asthma, Post Nasal Drip or Gastroesophegal reflux disorder (GERD). He has started me off on prescribed antacids for GERD and I have to see him again in 6 weeks to see if it has worked. I’m still coughing at the moment but it’s early days. I’m hoping this will sort it out.

While I am unemployed I have been looking to get myself into some voluntary work. Today I did my first bit working with the Slough Talking Newspapers service. It’s a very small team and I was sorting out the tapes and memory sticks returned and changing address labels around. It only took around an hour but it was good to be doing something. Tomorrow I am going to a meeting of the Casualties Union, which sounds VERY interesting. They’re going to let me try and do a small wound! The voluntary work I’m MOST excited about though is working with the Slough Refugee Support Service. I went to see the lady who manages it yesterday and she said she was happy to have me onboard! I can train as an advisor and they also want me to help them set up a mentoring service. Bonus! It sounds really exciting and will be good for my C.v. I have wanted to work with refugees and asylum seekers for YEARS now and it was one of the reasons for moving to Slough, so this is a really exciting opportunity for me. Whoopee!!

I’m getting to know the local area a bit now aswell. I can find my way without GPS to the centre of Slough, Tesco, Asda, local retail parks, the forest, the M4 and the M40. So I’m doing quite well I think! I did get a bit lost today as I was trying to return home via the back roads and I obviously don’t know them well enough yet! But it’s all an adventure

I do need a job though. I hate not having my own money. I have some savings, but this week Mrs Pillows has started to take responsibility for the bills. I’ve managed to pay my way until now with my last pay packet, but now that has run out I have to rely on her. I HATE not being able to pay my way. We have made an agreement that she will pay the bills and write them down on a spreadsheet and when I can, I will pay her back. She was happy just to pay them and not get any money back, but I would feel bad then. I much prefer the spreadsheet and ‘paying back’ method And it helps to stop any stress and arguments about money in the future.

Right. At the moment I can’t really think of anything else to update you on. I seriously need to go and start Christmas shopping though…

Just a quickie. A lot has happened since my last update, so I will try and summarize it here. I still don’t have access to the internet (I am at someone’s house doing this!), so regular updates won’t start until at LEAST next week.

1. I gave up my job
Whilst I was off sick, I re-evaluated my life and decided that I wanted to give up my job. There were other work-related issues that swayed my decision aswell. I won’t go into it here, but once I had made the decision, I felt so relieved I could tell straight away that it was the right decision. I gave my 4 weeks notice and left in early September.

2. I have moved to Slough.
(hence no internet!). WE moved in on 5th September and a lot of stuff is still not unpacked yet. Internet access should be installed next week. It has taken forever due to awful customer service and just bad bad management at Virgin Media. So we have decided to go to BT instead. I am starting to find my way around the area but I’m still quite a long way off being a ‘local’!

3. I have been on holiday to Greece!
Yes, we went to Lesvos for 2 weeks and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from being bitten alive by mosquitos and the fact that everyone seemed to smoke in your face, it was a great holiday. Reading books on the beach, swimming and snorkelling in the sea, eating out every day, siestas. Brilliant! We went on holiday only a few days after moving house.

4. I am still poorly.
I am much better than I was, but I am still coughing and still have bad asthma. I have been referred to see a consultant at the hospital (I have an appointment for the first week in November) so I hope I’ll be able to get it sorted out. I can’t laugh without coughing my guts up. I can’t bend down or do any strenuous exercise without coughing. So it’s a pain in the butt! It has been 3 and a half months now. SURELY it shouldn’t last this long??

So that, in a nutshell, is my update! I’m hoping to get back on here more regularly once I have internet at home. I’m still unemployed so I should have plenty of time!

Laters dudes!

I’m still poorly bad. I have now been to see a Doctor four times in 2 weeks. I still have a chest infection and have been signed off work for the next 2 weeks. (well, a week and a half now).

I’m still coughing really badly - so bad I’m constantly having to wear Tena Lady pants as I keep wetting myself, as well as coughing so hard that my eyes water and I vomit. Nice. This has been going on for almost 3 WEEKS now and I’m thoroughly fed up with it all. I have been put on more steroids and a different type of antibiotic as well as taking my asthma inhalers after every time I cough. And i can only manage to sleep about 2 hours before waking up coughing.

But anyway. I’m still alive!! (if exhausted and fed up). Mrs Pillows has been looking after me really really well. Poor thing has been doing all the cooking and most of the washing up and domestic chores, as well as looking after me, making me cups of tea and popping to the shops for odd bits of shopping. She has been an absolute star and I don’t know what I would have done without her! She is also the ‘assertive’ one in our relationship, so could do all the talking in the Doctor’s surgery to make sure I was eventually listened to!

So my days are currently consisting of sitting at home in the armchair, watching tv and snoozing, doing bits that I am able to and being a bit fed up of it all.

I had actually forgotten just how bad Asthma can be. It has been really really frightening not being able to breathe properly for the last few weeks. At one point I seriously thought I had whooping cough as I was struggling for breath that much!

Anyway. Fingers crossed that the new medication will make me all better. It’s Brighton Pride soon and it’s Mrs Pillows’ birthday a couple of days later, so I’m hoping I’m all better by then! I know that when I go back to work I’ll have a big load to catch up on too. Not looking forward to that!

Right. I’d better get myself away. I have secret birthday stuff to do….

I have SO much to update. It has been so long since I wrote that I cannot remember what I need to update you on! I stopped the daily tweets, as it seemed like cheating a bit, and would also drown out any other posts I was making. I vowed to write more often, but that didn’t happen, eh?

I’m still really busy at work, but have been off this week as I have a really nasty cough. My ribs ache, my head aches, my shoulders ache, my chest is sore and my throat is sore. I also coughed so hard yesterday that a bit of vomit came out of my nose I am thoroughly fed up of it all and have SO much to do at work, now is NOT a good time to be ill My boss is on holiday and it means that the project is having to pay someone else to cover duty while I’m off sick. Not good

Anyway. I didn’t get the previous job I went for. I managed to get some feedback from the interviewer which was all positive. And not really much use! He couldn’t tell me why they chose the other person over me and couldn’t tell me in which areas I was weaker. He just kept on saying ‘That’s why there are 3 people on the panel’. So I guess it wasn’t a unanimous decision from that. Anyway, it was the right decision, as I don’t think the job was right for me.

I watched Torchwood for the first time on Monday. I have never been a fan of Dr Who and have never before watched Torchwood, but I really liked it! I now have it on series link (but I’m still NOT going to be converted to Dr Who.)