Took the children up to London today to meet my mum and finally take her on the London Eye. We certainly picked a good day - the sky was clear and although it was a bit misty the view was fantastic. Also, I thik that Wednesday lunchtime in November has to be about the least touristy time of the year. There were only nine of us in the car including the children so it was a thoroughly pleasant "flight" (as the owners British Airways insist on calling the experience).

Went to wagamama for lunch and mum wisely avoided the chili beef ramen that had been her undoing last time we tried to go on the London Eye. Then back to Waterloo and home on our separate trains. Mum seemed very relaxed - she's still enjoying the fact that she doesn't have an invalid to go home to. Latest news is he's going to be in for another two weeks or so, so she's joyfully making hay at the moment.

Half way home I suddenly developed a blinding headache. Couldn't figure out what it was, then it suddenly hit me. I hadn't had a cup of coffee all day. Got home and rectified the problem immediately and the diagnosis was proved correct. Good grief, what kind of caffeine addict must I be?

Tomorrow I've got yet more unscheduled in-laws - mum in law this time. Why she can't travel with father-in-law is beyond me. Same deal, she told us when she was coming and I've had to reorganise my life and let down some good friends, to fit in with picking her up from the airport etc. Hopefully this is the last of it now - there are no more in-laws and this should take care of my family duties until well past Christmas.

However I have drawn the line at moving my little boy's second birthday party. MIL announced she was coming to see us at home on Saturday but she'll just have to come to the party instead. My husband can entertain her, while I concentrate on making sure my two have a fun party to remember with their friends and mine.

Nothing and no-one gets in the way of my childrens' happiness.

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Went to the doctor again yesterday as my throat infection had still not cleared after one dose of antibiotics.
 I had the youngest doctor in the practice - a lot younger than me, and she looked at me patronisingly and said "The reason it's not healing is its a virus that antibiotics are no good against. If you're a fan of antibiotics I suppose you can have some more but if you wait two or three weeks it'll clear up on it's own"
 Two or three WEEKS. Of coughing myself hoarse all night and not having the voice to yell at my children - no thanks! I took her antibiotic prescription and left in a huff.
 Now I know that doctors are constantly bombarded with people asking for antibiotics for their common colds. But I'm not someone who pops down the doctor's at every ittle sneeze. I know the difference between a cold (sore throat, runny nose, sneezes, whole family goes down with same) and a throat infection (no sore throat, no runny nose or sneezes, barking like a seal if I have any voice at all, and rest of family totally immune even after three weeks).
 I also know that the first antibiotic she gave me was the one commonly dished out to kids (and I expect it is prescribed to adults mainly as a placebo because I'm sure most adults have developed an immunity to it). So I'm not surprised it didn't work and I asked for something stronger this time.
 Twenty-four hours in and my voice is noticeably better, and I slept for most of the night without coughing. See, I told you I had an infection. Three weeks my a**e!
 I did get one piece of good advice from the mature lady at the pharmacy counter. If you've got a persistant throat infection then buy a new toothbrush and throw the other one away. Disinfect the new brush regularly until the infection clears. Now that does seem to make sense - why can't doctors dispense such wisdom?

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My name's corioboria and I'm addicted to blogging.
 I've had a truly lovely day with my mum - firstly watching my delighted and over-excited children playing with their beloved Grandma, then after they went to bed, having a lovely long quiet conversation with her - a very rare occurrence in the last few years because normally my stepdad has the telly on so loud you can't even think, and she's so tired from looking after him all day that she falls asleep as soon as she sits down, despite the noise.
 So a lovely day altogether, and good to see her in such good form and well rested. But I've been sitting there tonight with itchy fingers, waiting to send in my despatch. The internet hasn't quite reached this corner of the world yet so I can't look at all my friends and say hello, but at least with my trusty mobile I can partially feed my habit.
 What a poor sad creature I've become.

So hubby and father in law have departed to their grotty football game.

I look out of the window and see a fantastically huge low grey cloud fill the sky. As the lightning flashes and the rain comes lashing down, I can't help it but a sadistic little grin is spreading across my face............

I should have been in Brussels this weekend.

It's my husband's birthday next weekend and I had hatched a plot, with the assistance of my Dad and stepmum. They were going to come up and babysit the children for me and I was going to meet him from work tonight and whisk him off to Brussels for a romantic weekend on the Eurostar. Would have been perfect, just what the two of us need at the moment.

Then four weeks ago hubby's sister rings us. "I've arranged for dad to come over and stay for the weekend (from Ireland). These are his flight numbers, he'll arrive on Thursday, you can pick him up at the airport, then deliver him to me on Saturday and I'll take him back to the airport on Sunday". Just like that. Thankfully I hadn't bought our tickets, cos Brussels was out of the window.

I made a little grumble to my hubby. Actually its not convenient, I've planned something. "Oh It's OK" he said "You just go ahead with what you have planned and I'll look after Dad" . So I'll just go to Brussels on my own and celebrate your birthday, shall I? But I couldn't say that, because I still want to do this trip sometime and give him a complete surprise.

I've got nothing against my father-in -law. He's a lovely man, the children adore him and he's always welcome in my house. But some other members of the family I've married into drive me nuts. This is how they always communicate between themselves. Never mind checking if the other person is available before making plans of that sort of nature.

I can't say anything though. If I kick up any kind of a fuss, then the in-laws don't speak to us for months on end, and my husband goes into a funk and becomes unbearable.

The last time this happened it didn't really make much difference. But this time, they've really spoiled what was going to be fun. I can't rebook the weekend away till after Christmas due to lack of suitable babysitters. So I've had to find something else for hubby's birthday and it's all ruined.

And then it goes on, although I have to say that this bit just makes me laugh. My husband's sister has booked for my husband and father-in-law to go and watch a football match tomorrow prior to meeting her. Again she's just gone ahead and arranged this without asking either of their opinions beforehand (nor asking me if I mind being stuck with the children).

My hubby has absolutely no interest in football, and neither, I believe does my father-in-law. His sister isn't even coming herself - she booked it because she's studying herself and too busy to look after f-i-l. And hubby has also realised that they will have to do some fairly complex travel around London to get to the ground and will have to leave f-i-l's bag at a left luggage somewhere - the logistics are atrocious (ooh didn't think of that, said his sister!). It's likely to be cold, probably wet, and my husband is fuming at the whole thing, particularly as we could have dreamed up far more fun things for us all to do with the children if we had been given a say in the matter.

But will he raise this matter with his sister? No, of course not. If it was me, I'm sure I'd just refuse to go and tell her to consult me before organising any such daft things in future. But who am I?

I'm taking the children off to see mum, and staying out of the whole unhappy mess.

A very quick update, as we have guests.

Mum just phoned. My stepdad has been moved to an intensive rehabilitation ward. They have increased his medication and yesterday he was able to move his feet up and down while sitting in his chair.

They're going to try and get him up and walking next week. So he may be coming home after all. Mum is very pleased and so am I.

Thanks to anyone who prayed - looks like there could be some good in it.

You don't know how great it is to say that nothing much happened today, after the delights that the last two weeks or so have had in store for me.

But it does leave me somewhat with 'bloggers block'.

So I shall content myself with recounting a conversation between my daughter, A, (then just 3) and my friend's little boy, L, (just 4), which took place in the back of my friend's car, with the two of us in the front seat.

L: I'm very old. I'm older than you are!

A: (long pause) hmmm..... well I'm bigger than you are! (true)

L: (long pause) hmmm.... well my mum is very very very very old! at this point L's mum looks at me, eyebrows raised.

A: (pause again) hmmm.... well my mum is very very very very big!

At this point my friend and I fell about laughing and nearly crashed the car. Out of the mouths of babes!

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Just testing this mobile blogging feature from my mobile phone. If this works you may never hear the end of me cos I shall blog whenever I'm bored out & about, which is all the time.

Hi guys, its still me - in my new guise as pro member.

Two main reasons - firstly I'm really enjoying this blogging lark, so I thought I'd invest and see what fun I can have with a pro account.

Secondly, I went on Google last night to see how my (will be) business website looks. Because I gave my first blog the same title as my business (before I knew what I was really going to do here), if you search on Google for healthworx in the UK, you get countless entries of my personal life, which are deemed much more relevant to Google than my real business (I presume because lots of you visit me here, whilst nobody is going to my business site yet, because I haven't really launched it). Not exactly the image I'm trying to portray, and I expect quite awkward for the other companies in the UK who have similar names too (Apologies to the guys at Health Worx UK).

So I'm switching over to corioboria.blog.uk for the fun (and not so fun) stuff about my life, and I'll keep healthworx for the health and fitness stuff. And who knows what other stuff I may dream up to blog about now that I can.