The answer for us is YES. We did in fact get a rescue kitten in January and she is a complete sweetheart, friendly, loves cuddling and continually sits on my lap or lays on me in bed!
I defy you not to fall in love with her!
Last week I had the opportunity to visit Battersea dog and Cats Home for a chat and a tour of their cattery. My OH was supposed to come with me but had to work last minute instead but he left me with a parting message………… DO NOT BRING ANYTHING HOME!! He knows me far too well.
So the event started off with a chat from a few peeps from Bob Martin who are now in partnership with Battersea Dog and Cats home and provide their cattery with all their cat litter……….. tons of it as you can imagine.
My Dad before he passed away in 2002 he had been a diabetic from the age of 12, living with the condition for around 44 years! I had never known anything other than watching the time, counting carbs, insulin injections and hypos on a very regular basis.
My OH always remembers the fact that he always felt sorry for him as he had to eat whether he was hungry or not and often saw him with a look of resignation on his face as he was handed his evening ‘supper’ before he had to go to bed. Not wanting to eat, not feeling hungry but having to force the food down as his body needed it.
My good friends son was also diagnosed a few years ago whilst still in primary school. I know it has been a HUGE re adjustment for all of them and a complete worry for both of the parents as no one in their family had a history of Diabetes. Everything was completely new to them.
Technology and research has definitely come a long way from when my Dad was diagnosed to my friends son being diagnosed. He has the privilege of great technology to help with blood sugars etc and hopefully making it more manageable for children. These sorts of advancements can only be made via research, research and more research……………all of which comes at a hefty and costly price, a lot of which comes from fundraising like all charities.
Diabetes UK encourages people to do just this. So my friend@michelleb66 has held an annual Diabetes coffee and cake fundraiser at her house since her son has been diagnosed and I am a firm believer in ‘every little counts’.
Don’t be fooled these are only a fraction of the cakes she had!!!
So I gave here a hand ( as chief tea and coffee maker) whilst she could welcome friends and family, run a raffle and encourage force people to eat as much yummy cake as possible and generally play the part of ‘Hostess with the Mostess’!!
Although to be honest I thought she was actually trying to feed the 5000, and ironically for a Diabetes charity we were selling sugar loaded cakes!! But lets face it we all love a sugary treat………….everything in moderation of course*cough*
table 1Don’t forget the raffle!Then the extras were added!
That aside she was very lucky to have a great turnout and not that the cakes were that expensive but she just had very generous people there – raising a total of £146.50!!!!
Her son, a 15yr old diabetic is an amazing budding chef and made some of the cupcakes and the melt in your mouth Lemon Drizzle cake that you can see on the right………………I can tell you it was the 1st empty plate!!
Yes it was that time of year that we love in this house of the good ol’ Sports Relief run. I must start by saying I have been chief photo taker for the past few years due to my M.E but that doesn’t stop me enjoying the day.
We set off to London on Sunday morning all ready to meet up with friends and do our bit for charity. The boys have raised some money together from friends and family, plus we registered for the run itself, and we purchased our 2012 Sport relief socks. So as a family we are happy that we have contributed enough to save a few children’s lives with the £5 vaccines.
Anyway, Sunday was a glorious day weather wise, and the atmosphere started on the train as most of the people travelling up there had some sort of Sport Relief attire!
Our motley crew of runners!
So I was plonked in a great viewing spot and adopted my new title of ‘bag lady’ along with the photo taking………..who says I can’t multitask!
They headed of to the start line with JLS in their race, an I started celeb spotting. Jon Culshaw, Dame Kelly Holmes, Richard Hammond and his family, the GB Netball team, David Tennant (*swoons*) oh and of course JLS!!
JLS and their bodyguard!
Now I must admit that these boys do nothing for me at all, although I’m sure they are very nice and all. However, when they came towards me ‘celeb fever’ took over and I found myself shouting to my family opposite to slow down so I could play paparazzi to JLS before snapping my family!!! LIKE I SAY I DO NOT KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME AT THAT POINT!!
My poor group trying to get my attention whilst I ignored them over celebs........SHAME ON ME!
So to make up for it I ditched celeb world and concentrated on snapping the family as they came past heading towards the finish line- it was the least I could do.
My eldest who came past firstMy youngest in a police outfit chasing his burgler buddies!The very proud clan with all their well earned medals
Now I would be lying through my teeth if I didn’t admit to being a little jealous of them. The atmosphere is fab for the spectators but it must be fantastic to be part of it yourself. So with that in mind I have decided that in the next Sport Relief in 2014 ( OH MY F**KING GOD MY ELDEST WILL BE ALMOST 16!!!!!- strike that thought) I should hire a wheelchair, ‘pimp my ride’ as they say and get a few of my fellow clan to pull or push me along!!!
That way I don’t have to do what I did on Sunday and cheat by ‘borrowing’ someone’s medal for my picture!!
Charity starts at home, a view held by my eldest son, who last year decided as part of his Community Challenge badge in his scout group decided to collect for a ‘home ‘ charity.
He chose the London’s Air Ambulance service or HEMS as it can be known.
London’s Air Ambulance is a registered charity which runs London’s only helicopter emergency medical service, providing life saving care to victims of serious injury throughout London – serving the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25.
Based at the Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, the service is unique in that it operates 24/7, with the helicopter running in daylight hours and rapid response cars taking over at night. The Team, which at all times includes a senior trauma doctor and a specially trained paramedic, attends an average of seven missions every 24 hours.
London’s Air Ambulance has an international reputation for clinical excellence and delivers pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world.
London’s Air Ambulance was the first air ambulance service in the UK:
with a doctor and paramedic team;
to deliver high standard pre-hospital anaesthesia;
to have a clinical governance programme;
to perform a thoracotomy (open heart surgery) at the roadside;
to perform thoracostomy (to drain collapsed lungs);
to use check lists to improve patient safety;
with air & land based response; and to provide 24 hour cover.
He put a letter out to the whole of the scout group asking for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts to bring in all their used postage stamps which he had a remarkable response to. In fact he collected over 19,000!! Yes we counted them all.
Proof of the stamps and the counting!!
Just one of the boxes!
But today we had arranged for him to visit them at the Royal London Hospital at their new offices to deliver the stamps in person. We met a fantastic lady called Christine Margetts who did a brilliant job showing us all around. We met the paramedics and doctor on duty today, the firemen who also work there, we were told how a call is generated and processed and what information they receive and how they determine which hospital the patient will need to go to.
But to top it all we had the rare opportunity to go up to the helipad to get a picture taken with the actual Air Ambulance in the background. My son was able to go on board before very excitingly watching the helicopter and it’s crew take off on a real life call!
Cold and windy 300ft up on the helipad!Sitting inside before the Air Ambulance was called out!
Off on a real life call!
It was brilliant to see them in action, how quickly they reacted and how professional they all were. This truly is a worthwhile service that relies heavily on donation and every little helps.
I was very proud of my eldest doing what was necessary, helping a worthwhile charity close to home, and counting (with me) all 19,000 stamps!!
