Frump to Fab 2024

FreetodoasIlike

@helensbiggestfan Absolutely fascinating information about the brain. Funnily enough, I’ve been having LOTS of dreams about my mum lately. As I mentioned, she is in a care home and I dread visiting because I always come away afterwards so upset. I had another one this morning. I woke up around 7.00 a.m. and then fell back into a deep sleep. I was visiting my mum, and I was dressing her (stupid long dress that she had buttoned incorrectly - and she never wears dresses). She was mobile and quite alert. Then, I was in a room with a group of people and I was talking to other visitors, one told me her name was “Trixie” - (was catching up on two episodes of ‘Call the Midwife’ last night, where the blond rather posh midwife is called Trixie, so that must have been on my mind!) Then a  band started to play, there were professional dancers, and we all started to dance to sing, including my mum! The next minute, my mum and I were at my home. Only it wasn’t my home. I thought it was, but it was actually the house my mum lived in 60 years ago before she went into her sheltered accommodation flat. She was mobile, and then she wasn’t. When she tried to stand, she couldn’t, and told me she wanted to go “home” i.e the Care Home. When the disabled taxi arrived, we didn’t have a wheelchair, and the taxi driver and I had to carry her. Then another taxi arrived with a hoover that I borrowed and needed to return to the home. A hoover!!!! Why would I have a hoover belonging to the home??? And why was it in a taxi?

I interpret this as my subconscious telling me that I made the right decision and the care home IS her home now. In some of her more lucid moments, she tells me she going to “make a cup of tea”, “go to the communal laundry” - all of which she used to do when she lived in her flat. When the care home told me of her hospital appointment (next Wednesday) she said she will “put this on her calendar”. She sometimes asks when I’m taking her shopping to the supermarket or when she is coming to my house for tea. All these things upset me, but I realise that I just have to placate her, as she often forgets these things shortly afterwards.

Anyway, no more self-analysis for now. It seems my brain is going overboard in my dreams and I need to just accept she is in the right place and I made the correct decision. I need to accept the situation and just carry on with my own life, and hopefully I won’t dream as much. I once dreamt a very nice dream where I had a dog - such a lovely white terrier -  and was so upset when I woke to find I hadn’t and it was a dream. It’s not a subconscious desire, because I have NO intention, as much as I like them, of getting a dog! 

@helensbiggestfan You’re doing so well with your caffeine withdrawal and mini at home spa sounds delightful. I hope you find your air fryer useful. I too have a small one (there are only two of us) and tonight we’re having salmon fillets with veg. and salad, The salmon is lovely in the air fryer. We will also have cheese croquette potatoes - yummy! I do, on the whole, eat quite sensibly, but alas I haven’t lost any weight.  Need more exercise and less wine. Was watching an episode of the 1970’s supermarket last night. So much fun. It was about the start of ready meals and freezer food and how dinner parties (with prawn cocktail, Black Forest gateau were all the rage and the height of sophistication!) Remember Abigail’s party anyone? Rusty Lee, as the 1970’s cook, was SO hilarious - just love her infectious laugh. I remember my mum thinking boil in the bag fish with sauce, crispy pancakes, chicken Kiev, artic roll, etc. were all the rage! Blue Nun and Black Tower wine - wow how they lived it up! I remember drinking such wines - Liebfraumilch was my favourite - couldn’t stand it now! Much too sweet. Come to think about it, you can still get artic roll now - was and still is quite yummy (if you like that sort of thing!).

Sorry for the long and boring post - I type fast! (My 1970’s secretarial training on a manual typewriter). There WERE electric typewriters but we were only allowed to use them for audio typing. The days before the World Wide Web, eh!

helensbiggestfan

Dreams are so revealing aren't they.  Sometimes they make no sense at all, but sometimes I think they can act as our spirit guides. Showing us the way through life's complicated maze.  

Loving the 70s food memories, such delicacies, such sophistication!!!! 😂🤣.   I love Abigail's Party.  Cringy but brilliant. Alison Steadman is a gem.  Apparently there was no actual script, it was ad lib.  The director Mike Leigh just told them what he wanted and gave the actors free rein. He did another one called Nuts in May, about a  camping. trip.    I'm currently watching Ivanhoe.  A load of old tosh but great fun.   

helensbiggestfan

Happy Pancake Day. 😁

How are we all.  Still fabbing along nicely.  Or is it time you got your Glow Up moving.  I'm doing ok, eating healthily.  Still not exercising  much.  Need to slap my wrists and kick myself up the derrière,  it's such a vicious circle.I feel stiff and sore so don't want to exercise but I know  if I exercised more I wouldn't feel as sore and stiff.  I just need to grasp the nettle, no excuses. Actually I have got chiro tomorrow.  Hopefully that will break the cycle and loosen  me up enough to get me in a position where I feel less discomfort exercising,  

Still sleeping for England, still feel shattered.  Never mind spring is just round the corner, maybe some warm  sunshine will give me an energy boost.  

Yesterday was glorious here so I went for a mooch round a local chazzer.  Bought three beautiful vintage blouses.  Just £3 each.  The quality is superb, beautiful fabrics and with all the finer details such as covered buttons, gorgeous embroidery details, properly finished seams.  They just don't make clothes like that any more.  

Charity shops are funny things. You can go for weeks and not find anything and then one day, wham I could have bought half the stock but I was very good and just stuck with the three blouses, a brand new small purse for when I want to use a small clutch bag or evening bag £1 (brand new so I'm guessing an unwanted Christmas present??).  A beautiful medium size lead crystal vase £2. And 5 DVDs for £1.  20p each!!!!!  You can watch once and then re donate.  Although I am actually building up a collection of DVDs, especially any old classic movies I happen to spot.  I do love the old classics from Hollywoods Golden Age. I love the styles and the clothes.  

I do love modern films, the acting quality is often much better these days than some of the overly melodramatic acting of the 30s and 40s and some of our female stars are stunning but I do have a soft spot for the movie stars of yesteryear, especially the "power house" females.   Some of those women were seriously glamorous.  I think the cinema and the glamour were an antidote to the awful reality of life back then when life was so grim during the Great Depression and WW2. People craved escapism and fantasy and found it in the film stars of the day.  

It is often said that fashion follows the economic reality of the times.  This is certainly true of hemlines, they rise during booms and fall during depressions.  Clothes and make up in general become a way of dealing with the harsh reality of economic downturns.  

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the current fashion trends known as Quiet Luxury/Old Money/Stealth Wealth.  Basically it's about dressing elegantly, in classic styles, no logos, no flash in the pan trends, no gimmicks such as neon colours, nothing too obviously "sexy". Think Jackie O or Audrey Hepburn as opposed to Marilyn or the Kardashians.  It will be interesting to see if history repeats itself and we see a trend towards more restrained elegance.  

I have a photo of my mother taken in the early 1940s.  She looks like she stepped off  the cover of Vogue.  I asked her, the war was on, you were living under the German Occupation, how did you manage to look so glamorous. She just shrugged and said she didn't really know but it was just something she did and so did everyone else.  She said everyone made an effort to look their best.  Same with my three English Aunts. They were as poor as church mice but always dressed up to the nines and were as glamorous as the movie stars of the day.  

I had a quick look at some sites selling perfume dupes last night.  I think I'm going to try one called the Perfume Parlour. They have  got good reviews... has anyone used them.  

 

Floss

helensbiggestfan said:

I have a photo of my mother taken in the early 1940s.  She looks like she stepped off  the cover of Vogue...  

  

I have a B&W snapshot of my mum in 1952, shortly after my parents became engaged - she's wearing a beautifully tailored suit, hat, heels & clutch bag.

thepurplepixie

Hi everyone, thanks for all the words of wisdom about nightmares.  I had another one Sunday night, I'd lost an important legal document at work and my old boss was a bit of a bomb waiting to explode so I was terrified of him finding out.  Thankfully last night was fine.

I made pancakes for breakfast and GC due soon for theirs as they say my pancakes are the best.  I will be remembered for something when I'm gone, once a year it will be "No one makes pancakes like my granny did."  My granny was a cook and she could make a feast from 

I'm trying to have a bit of a spring clean as I have one of my kids plus partner plus baby arriving on Saturday for a few days.  I had a bad chest infection before Christmas and then slipped and hurt my back so the house has just had a lick and a promise for weeks.

I think some of the old stars were great.  I was watching Michael Parking interviewing George Burns and Walter Matthau.  They just all exuded start quality and it made me feel quite nostalgic.

thepurplepixie

Forgot to share my good news.  I think health counts as fabbing?  So I get a blood test every 12 months to check my thyroxine levels, this time doctor decided to test just about anything you can test for and I got "normal" for everything.  The only thing raised was I might need to take a B12 supplement.  Very happy with that particularly that my vitamin D and calcium levels were good as I was diagnosed with a bit of osteopenia, I think they check the bones in 5 places and I was just into osteopenia on two of them so I have been on vitamin D for 5 years, doctor decided I didn't need calcium as she thought the problem was probably me  being a red head (well I was) and freckled so I keep out of the sun, cover up in the sun and always wear SPF 30 as a minimum so low on vitamin D.

It is nice to get a positive result and I was assessed by physio a couple of weeks ago after hurting my back and he said my balance and joints were very good for a 70 year old.  Honestly after 2 years of long covid it is so good to feel I'm actually healthy at last.

helensbiggestfan

💕Happy Valentines Day 💕

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance"  (Oscar Wilde)
 

Makingabobor2

Well done @thepurplepixie, on your test results. Its great to think we are healthy as we age. It is the secret to longevity.  I am having a bit of a body MOT over the next few weeks. Just had my regular blood test for over active thyroid, and that was fine, then I have a PAD scan coming up in a couple of weeks and a letter on its way with a Mammogram appointment apparently.  I have another physio appointment next week for my broken wrist; trying to sort out massage appointment and also wanting to ring the GP to discuss a few things....but you know how hard that is these days...lol.  Also having regular Reiki sessions, which are helping my wrist to heal, but also balancing my body out and definitely helping me in other ways.   I'm also trying to rejig my diet and thinking of maybe consulting a nutritionist. I do follow a brilliant naturopath on FB, who gives a lot of good tips, but not sure how she differs from a nutritionist. 

thepurplepixie

@Makingabobor2 that sounds like a very thorough MOT.  It is good to do it I think, gives us a chance to tackle things.  I have an underactive thyroid and have been on levothyroxine for nearly 20 years, on the same dose all that time and then suddenly doctor says I need a lower dose.  Not sure what that is about as my results are normal but I had a message to say she is going to phone me on Monday afternoon for a chat.  I'm honoured to get a telephone appointment without even needing to ask.

One of my kids is a nurse and they told me to always check if a health care professional has a protected title.  So for example only someone with a recognised qualification in chiropractic can call themself a chiropractor but nurse isn't protected so if someone says they are a nurse you need to check their qualifications.  Naturopaths and nutritionists are not protected titles, dietician is a protected title.  I don't suppose it means one is good and one is bad but it does mean one is fully trained and regulated.  I found it interested and useful to know.

FreetodoasIlike

@helensbiggestfan I think Alison Steadman is a gem too. Have loved her in a lot of things, I remember Nuts in May too - Mike Leigh was her former husband, wasn’t he? I loved her in Abigail’s party too, but I didn’t know there was no actual script - it was cringy I know, but SO good. I loved her as Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice but also more recently in Boomers and Life, along with Peter Davidson. A good actress. I’m not really a film lover. My OH is though, that’s why we have two large flat screen tellies!

@thepurplepixie  - good news on your test and good luck @Makingabobor2 on your health MoT. I also broke my wrist two years ago and it was very painful. As it was my dominant hand, it was such a pain, cooking/dressing/washing hair etc. I actually fell over the duvet cover on my way to the bathroom. How stupid is that?!

@helensbiggestfan - loved your post about style and elegance. I like simple styles and I try to stick to the classics. A while ago I got rid of most of my polyester blouses and replaced them with pure silk in black, navy and cream, which I can wear with classic black trousers or black jeans, a tailored long jacket or a waterfall cardigan. I team this with gold or silver or costume jewellery and I’ve been told by my OH’s daughters that I always look “put together” - well I try! Well done on your charity shop finds, particularly the vintage blouses. You can always tell quality, can’t you. My mum always looked good too in her younger days too, despite having very little money.

Talking of my mum, the dreaded pacemaker appointment was this morning. The disabled taxi was fine, although I could hardly get in it as it was so high - the taxi driver had to help me (yank me up, whilst I was holding into the rail) - SO embarrassing -  and I’m only 68! My 87 year old neighbour is far fitter than I am. It’s because I don’t exercise enough and they say “use it or lose it” - well I’ve definitely lost it!  I’m going to try and walk regularly to see if I can get fitter. My mum is 102 and it’s so difficult getting her to appointments. Most of her appointments are at the care home and I was told today that, although pacemaker checks are not normally carried out at home, in exceptional circumstances, you can request a machine and the test can be carried out at home and then the result sent to the hospital. Apparently they did this during the COVID pandemic. I wish I’d known that before!!!  I was told (incorrectly) that it wasn’t possible. My mum’s pacemaker is one of the older ones, but apparently I can ring up a few months before the next appointment and they can update the software on the home machine. My mum asked for a “sick bucket” on the ride back (as if there would be one in a taxi) and I was in such a state in case she was going to be sick in the taxi. Luckily, we were nearly back at the care home and she managed with a hankie,  but was promptly sick on arrival. I had visions of emptying my handbag and passing it to her to be sick in. What a nightmare it was. If 102, incontinent, suffering from travel sickness isn’t “exceptional” circumstances, I don’t know what is! When I say I’m ONLY 68 (which will be quite old to some), it made be realise that I’m so unfit. My OH, who is much older, walks miles and is a lot fitter than I am. So, I am going to start slow and build up. Let’s hope the weather gets a bit better. MY OH said, “go round the block a few times to start with, then join me on one of my short walks”. He’s always asking me to accompany him, but I’m always too busy - like on forums like these! 

Happy Valentines Day everyone. We’ve never celebrated it, as to me it’s just another commercial thing - the flowers in the supermarket today were grossly overpriced, and it’s just another way for supermarkets/florists etc. make money. Even, to those to you who haven’t/don’t want a “Valentine” - treat yourself with a nice book/bath/wine, whatever. As the shampoo advert said “we’re worth it”.

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