2015-05-31T21:42:16+01:00

Episode 354: Love-Hate Challenge

May 31, 2015/Judy E Martin/25 Comments

Rob over at the V-Pub has nominated me to take part in this challenge. Please go and check out his blog if you haven’t already; he has lots of things to tickle your fancy, both naughty and nice!

In this challenge, I have to list ten things that I love and then ten things that I hate. Then, I’ll nominate 10 bloggers to do the same. Here goes:

Things I love:

I love to laugh.
Seeing the sunshine, that always makes me feel happy.
Hearing my daughter’s laugh (she has a cute little screechy giggle)
Enjoying a BBQ with friends and family
Blogging of course 🙂
Learning new things. Knowledge is a wonderful thing that I can’t get enough of!
Flowers, especially scented roses and sweet peas…..beautiful.
Swimming, especially in the sea
Getting lost in a really good book
Music especially from 60s, 70s and my favourite the 80s!

Things I hate:

Bad manners. There really is no excuse for this.
Trying to lose weight…where on earth is my willpower?
Heights, I really am hopeless with heights and can’t even look at things on tv if it shows a view from on top of a high building or something
Cruelty of any kind whether to animals or humans!
Scammers. Those that prey on the elderly and the vulnerable.
Brussel sprouts and broad beans….YUCK!
Daddy-long-legs, wasps and other creatures!
Scraping ice off the car in the winter!
Being woken up when I have fallen asleep on the settee!
Shouty people.

Here are my 10 nominees for the Challenge should they wish to join in (there is of course, no obligation)

Fourth Generation Farm Girl

My Travels with Depression

Homemade Naturally

The Indecisive Eejit

Diary of a Dublin Housewife

Episode 276: Teamwork!

April 8, 2015/Judy E Martin/17 Comments

Me and Mr Grump make a pretty good team. This morning when he went off to work, I mentioned what I fancied for dinner tonight, and as he is based smack bang between two mini supermarkets I thought he might like to pop in and get the ingredients. He told me he didn’t, and that I have got the car, and could go myself!

Now this is true, but there is no harm in trying my luck even if it didn’t work this time. Off me and Miss Hap trot to the local supermarket and, as was expected, she was ‘helping’ me choose what shopping we needed.

Now I didn’t think popcorn, Pepperami and feta cheese were what I had in mind for dinner (oh, what a stomach-churning mixture)! She had talked me into a feta salad for her lunch which I agreed, and after picking my mum up a couple of things she needed (and a couple of things she didn’t, courtesy of Miss Hap) we went to visit mum.

It was when I got home and was unpacking the bags that I realised I was missing something. I had bought the aubergine and courgettes that we were going to have roasted but had forgotten the belly pork that we were going to have it with!

I thought I had better ring up Mr Grump so he could pick it up before he came home, but it went straight to voicemail. Bugger! Oh well, we will have to have something else instead I thought.

Not even five minutes later Mr Grump’s van pulls up right outside the kitchen window, he gets out with a few carrier bags which he dumps in the kitchen then shot off again! He had obviously thought I wasn’t go to get any shopping and had done it himself!

He loves grocery shopping (God knows why) and had bought far more stuff than I did! Some of it we actually needed as well! Funnily enough though, although he bought the pork, he didn’t get the veg!

Between us we have got it sussed!

Episode 258 : Five Photos, Five Stories – Day 5: My Sister’s Sun Lounge

March 28, 2015/Judy E Martin/4 Comments

I recently received the following invitation from Author SB Mazing

I’m about to invite you to join in a challenge I recently accepted. Five Photos, Five Stories. I thought this challenge could present you with the opportunity of viewing blogging from a different angle, to do something different, anything that suits you for that matter. It’s entirely up to you. …

The Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge rules require you to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph – it’s entirely up to you.

This photo is of my sister’s sun lounge and was taken around Christmas time. As you can see, it has been decorated with lots of little twigs and sparkling lights. There were also home-made stockings hanging up and an advent calendar. Festive bunting is draped around the room, as well as different coloured and scented candles, It looks beautiful at night especially.

I love this room at my sister and brother-in-law’s house. It is light and airy, and whatever the occasion, is decorated accordingly! At Easter, I know there will be different bunting hanging as well as lots of easter flowers and eggs that have been made,

There is a massive dining table in there are well which fills nearly the whole length of the room. It is always beautifully decorated to suit the festivities and the guests always have a named place setting with a special token or picture that represents them.

They are wonderful hosts and make so much effort to make everyone feel welcome. With my sister being a superb chef and brother-in-law a wonderful musician, there is always great food and great music at theirs as well as a lovely environment!

I would like to invite Mary-Anne from Breathing life

Then each day, nominate another blogger to carry on this challenge.

Accepting the challenge is entirely up to the person nominated, it is not a command. And actually everyone can join in. So feel free to if you like the idea.

Episode 244: It Takes All Sorts…..

March 23, 2015/Judy E Martin/18 Comments

Isn’t it funny how we all have our little ‘ways’. or foibles that are part of our make-up but other people might find a little odd or unusual….

One of my old ladies had got quite long hair, but it is really thin, She has these 3 hair combs which she likes to put her hair up with every morning, The problem is, I am rubbish with hair! Not only that, trying to get these combs to stay in is a nightmare as they just slide out. You have to be really careful as well as you can’t try to dig them in as there is only really scalp with a small smattering of hair, so it is going to hurt. She is no longer able to do it herself either, and is understandably fussy about how it is done!

Miss Hap loves the bright lights, literally! She cannot go into a room day or night without turning on the light. We can tell where she had been due to the house looking like ‘Blackpool Illuminations!’ It does drive us mad at times, especially when it is broad daylight outside.

Now my mum wears ‘pop socks.’ For those that are unfamiliar with them, they are knee-high tights with a big band around the top to keep them up (which has a kind of tourniquet effect). Not the most attractive of hosiery but much favoured by the older lady due to their comfort and ease of getting on and off. The problem is, they do not flatter. Anyone. Especially if the outfit they are wearing is above the knee. The expanse of pudgy, flesh between pop sock and bottom of hem resembles uncooked dough.She loves them though and that is that!

Mr Grump has a bit of an odd habit (in my opinion anyway). He has a set time to ‘go to the toilet’ (poo) every morning, I mean, it is like clockwork. Well it would be except for one thing. it takes him half an hour to go! It is just so weird to me that he gets up, goes out with the dog for a walk then goes! It’s not as if the walk kick-starts things into action, so to speak, as it takes half a bloody hour! Is this a man thing?

So what about me? Well I couldn’t really think of anything (or more honestly, I had trouble choosing just one thing) so I chose the fact that I like to eat my meat last when having a meal. I also do not like any gravy or sauce on my meat (It is fine on potatoes or veg). I do try to remember when going out to eat, not to do that, but I find I don’t enjoy my food as much. Strange I know.

Do you have any funny little ways or habits?

Episode 227: School Dinners: Making The Right Choice.

March 17, 2015/Judy E Martin/16 Comments

When Miss Hap started secondary school in September, we decided that she would have school dinners rather than packed lunches. I was really surprised when I learned that her thumb had to be scanned as the technology used to determine how much money was available for meals would be determined by her thumb print linking to the account I paid the money into for her meals.

This is such a far cry from when I was at school. At primary school I think parent gave the money direct to the school as I don’t remember giving anything in, At break time in the morning, all of the kids had a free quarter of a pint bottle of milk. This was not always cold, and I do remember it used to taste a little ‘tangy’ at times, but we drank it!

Funnily enough, we ate and drank everything given to us as there really was no choice! for our lunch (or dinner) as we called it, we had a hot meal which usually consisted of meat, two veg and potato of some kind, followed by a pudding.

It was all dished (or slopped) out by a large, surly dinner lady you did not dare argue with, You then sat at your table and pretty much ate all you could. You would get told off for not eating your greens and very often told to eat it whether you wanted to or not. Occasionally there were even ‘seconds’ where you could go up for another dollop of food if you felt brave!

In secondary school. I used to have a packed lunch that I had eaten way before lunch time and usually before break! I had a couple of jam, paste or sandwich spread sandwiches and that was it! No crisps, yogurt, fruit or drinks for us! Ooh no, there was a water fountain at school if we wanted a drink.

Now, school dinners are so much more sophisticated. They have a varied and extensive menu, almost like you would see in a restaurant. They can pick and choose what they want to eat and there is no-one standing over them telling t hem to ‘eat their greens’. Presumably, children are considered to be more educated on healthy eating than we were.

It’s funny though. I was never overweight as a child despite eating everything that was put in front of me, but nowadays we have a huge obesity problem in children!

Episode 217: Dining Delights!

March 12, 2015/Judy E Martin/20 Comments

As many of you know, I do love my food and going out to eat is something that I enjoy, especially when a load of the family come as well (there are rather a lot of us so we take up quite a bit of room.

Anyway, last summer for Mum’s birthday we went to a lovely local pub which is renowned for steak served on ‘hot stones’. It is quite a nice concept as the steak is served to you at the table on this stone, and you can decide when it is cooked to your liking. The only problem is, being the only ‘Philistine’ who likes their steak well-done, mine took ages to cook!

Mr Grump thought he was doing me a favour by cutting it into smaller pieces so it would cook faster, but this just enraged me as I now looked like a toddler who had to have their food cut up for them! Anyway, I did enjoy the meal (even though my chips had gone cold)!

Anyway, to get to the point, it has become the latest thing now for ‘trendy’ pubs and restaurants to serve up food on a variety of objects not normally associated with fine dining. For example, would you like your bread served in a flat cap? (I know I wouldn’t. I would hate it if I found a hair in it)! What about having brie balls from a training shoe?(Pooh! Talk about cheesy feet)!

The Swiss prefer their bread from a slipper apparently (gives a whole new meaning to crusty heels)! Broken bathroom tiles are ideal to serve butter from apparently and who doesn’t love a mushroom croquette laid on a piece of tree bark!

Even writing this my stomach is churning unpleasantly! It would be good for my weight loss regime at least I suppose if nothing else, as I do not fancy cheesy balls, especially ones served from what looks like a sweaty trainer!

I am not the only one who is not keen on this new eating experience, as there is a Twitter group @wewantplates that are also flummoxed by the idea of eating from whatever is handy at the time!

What do you think, plates or planks of wood etc?

Episode 204: Patience With Patients!

March 7, 2015/Judy E Martin/20 Comments

One of the things us nursing staff get told a lot by some of the relatives is that,

‘you have the patience of a Saint, I could never do your job’. It is strange how much our patience varies depending on who we are dealing with and what the situation is…..

On Thursday and Friday I was working in my normal Bay, and one lady in particular was pretty ‘vocal’ . Now she is 97 years old and extremely deaf (the hearing aid she wears has a flat battery I think) so she talks at FULL BLAST. Now she had been a moved to my bay from a side room as she did not like to be on her own.

I was checking that each patient was eating their breakfast when I noticed she hadn’t even got any. So I asked her why not. After repeating the question several times increasing the volume until she could hear me she replied

” I DON’T LIKE ANY OF THAT MUCK YOU SERVE HERE, IT’S ALL A LOAD OF RUBBISH!”

Fair enough , but she had to eat something so I asked if she liked bacon which she did, Great, good start. “Sausage?”

“NO I DON’T BLOODY LIKE SAUSAGES!” Fine. “Eggs?”

“I ONLY LIKE FRIED EGGS, NOT ANY OTHER KIND”. I assured her that I would get her some bacon and fried eggs and trotted off to phone the kitchen.

Now there were two of us in the Bay and only five patients at this point as one of the beds was closed and we were not able to take any new ones in. Luckily most of the other ladies were either feeding themselves or being helped by the other nurse.

I placed my order with the kitchen and in due course one of the staff appeared carrying a tray. I was disappointed to see that there was scrambled egg with the bacon that I had ordered even though I had specifically asked for a fried egg. I tried my luck with my patient anyway!

“WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT? I TOLD YOU I DON’T LIKE THAT SORT OF EGG. WHY DON’T YOU LISTEN?”

I tried to explain about the kitchen sending up the wrong egg and I would change it but no, she was not having it. I tried offering a bacon sandwich, Nope. She was not having it and I was severely berated for my incompetence for good measure as well.

Annoyed with the kitchen I phoned the help desk again (yes we can’t phone direct, everything is through the helpdesk). I explained what had happened and they told me that as the meals were pre-prepared it may not have been possible to have a fried egg due to their not being enough staff to make one.

Fuming, I was muttering to myself about how I could go down there myself and cook the bloody egg. How hard is it to cook a fried egg for Christ’s sake?! It’s not as if it takes long.

Anyway, my patient was mad now, and refused to eat anything. I knew this was not going to bode well at wash time – and it didn’t! She had come in with no toiletries so I had put some of our soap in her washbowl and brought some disposable wipes over to wash her with.

“YOU ARE NOT COMING NEAR ME WITH THOSE! WHERE IS MY SOAP AND FLANNEL?”

I explained that they were at home and that I would have to use our stuff for now. She was not happy but did finally agree to let me help her, and also get her dressed in her own clothes that someone had just brought in for her.

“WHERE IS MY VEST”?

“It is just here”

“GET OUT OF MY BLOODY WAY , I WILL DO IT”

“Ok. here it is”

“TIGHTEN MY SHOE”. NO NOT LIKE THAT, WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?. THAT STRAP IS NOT LEVEL.”

“Sorry, let me try again”

“NOOOOOO, I SAID TIGHTER!”

This went on for a bit until I got it right. She did have a sandwich an hour after the failed breakfast attempt, but when a visitor came, she told them she had ‘nothing to eat, and her hair wasn’t brushed’ (actually it was because I did that wrong and suffered her wrath for it). She also told the visitor how much worse she felt since coming into hospital because of the appalling way we looked after her!

Now I know that by the end of a very long two days (I have amalgamated them into one so you get the gist) my patience was wearing a bit thin, but it is my job to look after my patients, and actually as gruff and crabby as she was, we did actually get her to laugh, and I got a lovely hug from her!

Now if Miss Hap had tried any of that kind of talk with me, things would have been very different!

Photo credit Steph Kerr.

Episode 191: Cheesed Off!

March 2, 2015/Judy E Martin/31 Comments

Now as some of you may know, I rather like my food. and one of my absolute favourite foods is cheese. Now I was pretty upset last week when I was told that I can only have 3 portions of dairy daily, and that I should only ever have a matchbox sized piece of cheese as a portion! Now that to me, is a bite, not a portion , but I am trying to heed the advice as I know that it is for my benefit.

Anyway, in our family of cheese lovers,(apart from Mr Grump who hates it), it is very often customary for us to break out the cheeseboard after a meal, or it comes out if we are having a buffet or something. Either way, it is a prominent feature.

Now most of us like to have something to go with our cheese, and crackers are usually the perfect accompaniment (along with a glass of wine for some). You can buy those boxes of different crackers that are perfect for the occasion.

Even on the ward where I work, we have the option of cheese and biscuits for our patients as many of them enjoy this as a snack, or again, after their meal.

You might wonder where all this is going. Well, a woman and her step-mother went for a meal in a hotel, and the step-mum fancied some cheese and biscuits. Nothing unusual here, in fact quite a reasonable request.

Someone, unfortunately took her request literally! What turned up was a bowl (yes a bowl) of different types of cheeses (so far so good I suppose), mixed in with an assortment of biscuits! Not crackers that you would normally associate with cheese, but (by the looks of it) a random selection from a box of ‘Family Circle’ biscuits!

Now I am not sure whether I would like to try the Custard Cream and cheddar combo, or perhaps the Jammie Dodger and red Leicester, or for a special treat the Bourbon and brie! Every one’s a winner in my book!

Episode 180: Fitness Not Fatness

February 25, 2015/Judy E Martin/8 Comments

Having been diagnosed with diabetes Type 2, I am trying to change my lifestyle habits in order to try to keep my blood sugars down, thus avoiding having to take medication, for as long as I possibly can.

This means, not only eating healthier meals with smaller portion sizes, but taking more physical exercise. The days that I am at work I know that I am constantly running around, but I need to do much more exercise for the rest of the time.

There is one exercise class though that I really wish I could go to, but it is too far away unfortunately! It is a kind of aerobics class called ‘Jungle Body’ but the reason I would love to go is because it is run by a woman who weighs 18 1/2 stone, This is roughly 117.4kg and 260 pounds!

Now I think this woman is an inspiration. She has already lost 5 stone herself (31 kg and 70 pounds) and has totally altered her unhealthy lifestyle. She is now 6 dress sizes smaller, and a lot fitter.

She is right in thinking that women would prefer to go to her classes as she is not judgemental of them, plus they are not intimidated by her, as they possibly would be if she were slim and svelte.

As I have an extra day off today, I decided to be proactive and plan my meals out, so that I know I have the right foods available and don’t raid the fridge! That was all well and good, but we needed to go food shopping first! No bloody car means trudging 40 mins to the Supermarket. Great, a bit of exercise to boot.

Mr Grump came with me, armed with his backpack to lug the shopping home with, and off we trotted.We have done this walk a few times recently due to having no car, but it was starting to get a bit boring now! My trainers were rubbing my toe, and I was hungry as we walked through the industrial estate (which houses all the restaurants and takeaways), due to only having a few tablespoons of sugar-free muesli for breakfast!

Anyway, we had to get rather a lot of stuff, so the backpack was bursting, plus we (by that I mean Mr Grump), had 2 more heavy carrier bags, and I had one to take as well. Poor Mr Grump was grimacing all the way home. He resembled a snail with his huge backpack on his back and his skinny little body underneath all the weight. Bless him. Of course by the time we got back home, I had worked up one hell of an appetite!

I have a feeling that these lifestyle changes are going to take a bit of getting used to. However, I am inspired by that fitness instructor; her dedication is paying off, so there is no reason why I can’t do it as well.

Episode 178: Dressed To Express

February 24, 2015/Judy E Martin/10 Comments

Well today was the ‘Team Building’ day that I had mentioned in my previous post here. I had put on my ‘Minnie Mouse’ dress, grabbed my object that I was going to talk about (my knitted monkey), and managed to cadge a lift (due to broken down car) with two of my colleagues.

It is a beautiful, sunny day again today so the dress was not as inappropriate as I thought. We managed to get a parking space as well, but because of the time it was quite a long way off so we had a bit of a trek to get to the room on time. Of course, being as I am, I needed to get a coffee so the others went up and I joined the massive queue at the cafe.

This led to me bursting in a little late, but it wasn’t a problem luckily. Anyway we set some ground rules before we started one of which was ‘no eating’. Great, I had brought a couple of sandwiches and a satsuma to keep the hunger pangs at bay, but never mind! The session was really good as it happens. It was great to see some of the people in their own clothes outside of work! We all get on pretty well anyway, so it was quite good fun.

I was pleased that I was not the only dozy one amongst us, as one of our group barged in about an hour into the session having gone to the wrong hospital, in the wrong town (city actually). Bless her she got caught in the rush hour traffic but did eventually turn up.

At one part of the session we all had to talk individually about something, Just as thee boss was going to start, ‘Hey Jude’ blasted out from my handbag! Shit, I had forgotten to turn my phone on silent, which was very unusual as people normally moan that i never hear my phone!

Anyway, we eventually trotted back to the car (by now I was carrying my coat as it was so hot). I came home and decided that I would get changed as I felt a bit ‘trussed up’ (no, I have not been watching ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’) , I took my cardigan off and realised that one of the straps was missing off my dress, nowhere to be found. Gutted.

Pic of the whole dress (strap included)!

Rhyme and No Reason!

Blogger, author and rhymester who likes to find the humour in life.

Tag: food

Episode 354: Love-Hate Challenge

Episode 276: Teamwork!

Episode 258 : Five Photos, Five Stories – Day 5: My Sister’s Sun Lounge

Episode 244: It Takes All Sorts…..

Episode 227: School Dinners: Making The Right Choice.

Episode 217: Dining Delights!

Episode 204: Patience With Patients!

Episode 191: Cheesed Off!

Episode 180: Fitness Not Fatness

Episode 178: Dressed To Express

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Blogger, author and rhymester who likes to find the humour in life.

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