(no subject)
Mar. 8th, 2011 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
girlofpreySo. On the advice of my flist, I have now downloaded AVG free antivirus protection for my virus protection needs. Although Norton will probably still make me pay to renew it somehow in May, but I shall have to deal with that when I get to it. And actually, I was going to get Avast, on the reasoning that one of my friends (as far as I knew at the time) was actually using it and having no problems with it so it was probably fine, but I told my dad about it and he found some review that said that AVG was the best free one, and I think it upsets/irritates him that I take the advice of my internet friends probably more than I take his, so I ended up getting AVG. But anyway. I have downloaded it and been on the internet with it and nothing has exploded so far. And I'm even getting those nice little page status reports that Norton used to give me to tell me if a page was safe or was probably FILLED WITH VIRUSES, so that's nice. And essentially, I'm back on the internet in my room again. Hurrah!
In other news, today was interesting. My grandma has been back in hospital twice since last Thursday. Apparently her carers found her on the floor on Friday morning having fallen again, and she was admitted to hospital but then released. And then on Saturday my dad went up and found blood all over her bedroom floor and a cut on the back of her head, because she'd fallen again, so she ended up in hospital again to be checked out, but came out again before the end of the day. So then today I got up sometime after noon as usual, hung out in my room, and finally come downstairs to find my mum in the kitchen, my youngest nephew asleep in the car about an hour after he normally is, to be told by my mum that my sister had had a meeting that morning and had asked mum to go pick my nephew up a bit earlier than normal, 15 minutes before this meeting, and when my mum had got there at that time she'd found both my nephew and sister practically naked, nowhere near ready, which had led to her and my sister having a massive argument and her giving my nephew a bit of a hiding while trying to get him to get dressed; that my sister had then had an appointment in Wakefield at 3 o'clock and had called about an hour before because her transport had either fallen through or never really been sorted out in the first place, so she needed a lift off my mum, which is why my mum was late back and my nephew was having his nap so late; and that the carers had been round to my grandma's this morning and found her on the floor again, so she'd been admitted to hospital again. Except that our local hospital just shut down the other week, basically, so she's now being taken to Pinderfields hospital in Wakefield whenever she gets admitted to hospital, and apparently, we found out throughout the day, they weren't even sure she'd fallen, she didn't have any injuries, they'd found her on the floor apparently but again it might not have been because she'd fallen, and she'd been admitted on the grounds of "acute confusion". Which she has anyway, because she's got dementia.
Anyway. Eventually my nephew woke up, and I was in my room and the first I heard of it pretty much was him crying his heart out at the bottom of the stairs, because he's been getting more and more separation anxiety in the past few weeks, asking to go home straight after playgroup and such, and he wanted to go home and see his mummy. Eventually, after he'd cried himself out a bit, we managed to take him round with promises of grandad and pancakes. Then we went round to the shop to get some nutella and milk, I think, and when he got back one of our neighbour's sons came round with a passport form my mum had agreed to countersign for my neighbour's father, which had a lot more information on it than my mum was expecting to have to give, so we ended up standing there with the young man on the doorstep while I held back our dog, mum tried to read the form and my nephew sort of tried to see what we were all doing, from the middle of our little gang. Until my dad came home and said yeah she needed loads of information for the form, it would be best if my neighbour's son went home and my mum would fill it in and bring it over. The neighbour's son went back across the street, and then came back to say that his mum had said she only needed to fill in the end section, at the same time as my neighbour rang to talk to my mum about it. So then they clarified that my mum needed loads of information and stuff, so it would be best if the neighbour's son went away again and my mum would fill it in and bring it over when she was done. Which she did.
Then mum ended up in the kitchen making pancake batter, and my nephew got hold of an axe of his from upstairs and spent the next twenty minutes or so holding it up and screaming at us. Then later on, when he was running from room to room slamming doors, he trapped his fingers in the door and ended up crying again. Then mum started calling us in for pancakes, on her sort of pancake production line she was manning single-handedly, having made about three times as much batter as she probably needed to. My nephew had one pancake and proclaimed he didn't want anymore, even with treacle or nutella on it. I ended up having five, because my mum was desperate to use up the batter, and I am not in the habit of saying no to extra pancakes. While I was trying to get through my pancakes, my dad started complaining because he and my nephew were the only ones not eating, so he was left looking after him, and my nephew was driving him up the wall by bothering him when he was trying to "do stuff". About half an hour before my nephew was going home. Anyway. Eventually my mum got to sit down and eat, and I finished off my pancakes and went to go look after my nephew, although he was still more interested in hanging out with my dad. Then while he was following my dad around he ended up falling off the bottom step of our staircase onto the floor, and ended up crying again. But he wasn't too badly hurt, so he was okay pretty soon after that. Then it got to about 8 o'clock and the time for my nephew to go home, and my mum came up with the idea of her going with my dad when he took my nephew home, and them riding through to Pinderfields afterwards to see my grandmother, who'd been admitted for the night. I said I'd come, because I haven't seen my grandma in a little while and she has been in hospital quite a lot in the past week. So we all got ready, and my mum was just going to phone through to the ward my grandma was on and see if it was okay for us to come through, or if it was too late. And she spent, I am not kidding, from about 8 o'clock to about quarter to nine on the phone, just trying to get through to the ward. She did get through once, and the woman told her that my grandma wasn't on that ward, but then she called operations and they said she definitely was. My dad, nephew and I were all playing catch in the garage waiting for her to be done, and my nephew was fine and not begging to go home or anything, but at quarter to nine it was getting pretty late to be keeping him at our house and we figured it would be too late to visit my grandma anyway, especially after driving to Wakefield, so we decided my dad should just take my nephew home.
So that's what we did, and before they set off my mum texted my sister to let her know my dad was bringing him back. Then me and my mum came back in, she tried calling the ward my grandma was on again - and immediately got through. Apparently my grandma was warm and settled and not distressed, but she didn't know what time of day it was, and had been asking if "the kids" had had their breakfast. But my mum sort of explained that that's what she was normally like. It was then I think that they told her my grandma had no injuries, and that if we all wanted to come through and see her or see the doctors then that would be fine. My mum got off the phone and asked me to bring her mobile while she called someone else, because my sister hadn't texted back to say she'd got the message that my dad and nephew were on their way yet. But then she called somebody else, either my aunt or the hospital again, so I decided to help out and call my sister, but we ended up in a mess where my mum was telling me to go away because I was talking while she was trying to listen, and my sister I think said that she'd gotten the message but hadn't gotten off the phone herself since she'd gotten it? I don't know. But she said my dad and nephew were there anyway. So I got off the phone, while my mum was explaining everything that had happened to my aunt, and I did a bit of tidying up while I was waiting for my dad to get back to see if we were actually going to the hospital after all. But he got in while my mum was still on the phone to my aunt, so I explained what had happened to him and that we could go see my grandma if we wanted, and he wandered around taking his coat off and putting his keys away, in a pretty clear sign that he probably wasn't planning to go out again. Although he didn't actually say anything one way or the other. Then my mum eventually got off the phone, she went and talked to him, he said he thought it was to go and see her, so we ended up staying in. And then I came upstairs to my computer. Phew.
So yes. A fun day. I've got a Jobcentre appointment tomorrow, and an appointment with my Back To Work service thing again in Wakefield in the afternoon. When I may or may not be going to Pinderfields with my mum to see my grandma and staying on afterwards to go to my appointment, but she doesn't know for sure yet if she's going, and she doesn't really want to drive and park so we might be going on the bus, and blah blah blah. We'll see.
In other news:
In other news, today was interesting. My grandma has been back in hospital twice since last Thursday. Apparently her carers found her on the floor on Friday morning having fallen again, and she was admitted to hospital but then released. And then on Saturday my dad went up and found blood all over her bedroom floor and a cut on the back of her head, because she'd fallen again, so she ended up in hospital again to be checked out, but came out again before the end of the day. So then today I got up sometime after noon as usual, hung out in my room, and finally come downstairs to find my mum in the kitchen, my youngest nephew asleep in the car about an hour after he normally is, to be told by my mum that my sister had had a meeting that morning and had asked mum to go pick my nephew up a bit earlier than normal, 15 minutes before this meeting, and when my mum had got there at that time she'd found both my nephew and sister practically naked, nowhere near ready, which had led to her and my sister having a massive argument and her giving my nephew a bit of a hiding while trying to get him to get dressed; that my sister had then had an appointment in Wakefield at 3 o'clock and had called about an hour before because her transport had either fallen through or never really been sorted out in the first place, so she needed a lift off my mum, which is why my mum was late back and my nephew was having his nap so late; and that the carers had been round to my grandma's this morning and found her on the floor again, so she'd been admitted to hospital again. Except that our local hospital just shut down the other week, basically, so she's now being taken to Pinderfields hospital in Wakefield whenever she gets admitted to hospital, and apparently, we found out throughout the day, they weren't even sure she'd fallen, she didn't have any injuries, they'd found her on the floor apparently but again it might not have been because she'd fallen, and she'd been admitted on the grounds of "acute confusion". Which she has anyway, because she's got dementia.
Anyway. Eventually my nephew woke up, and I was in my room and the first I heard of it pretty much was him crying his heart out at the bottom of the stairs, because he's been getting more and more separation anxiety in the past few weeks, asking to go home straight after playgroup and such, and he wanted to go home and see his mummy. Eventually, after he'd cried himself out a bit, we managed to take him round with promises of grandad and pancakes. Then we went round to the shop to get some nutella and milk, I think, and when he got back one of our neighbour's sons came round with a passport form my mum had agreed to countersign for my neighbour's father, which had a lot more information on it than my mum was expecting to have to give, so we ended up standing there with the young man on the doorstep while I held back our dog, mum tried to read the form and my nephew sort of tried to see what we were all doing, from the middle of our little gang. Until my dad came home and said yeah she needed loads of information for the form, it would be best if my neighbour's son went home and my mum would fill it in and bring it over. The neighbour's son went back across the street, and then came back to say that his mum had said she only needed to fill in the end section, at the same time as my neighbour rang to talk to my mum about it. So then they clarified that my mum needed loads of information and stuff, so it would be best if the neighbour's son went away again and my mum would fill it in and bring it over when she was done. Which she did.
Then mum ended up in the kitchen making pancake batter, and my nephew got hold of an axe of his from upstairs and spent the next twenty minutes or so holding it up and screaming at us. Then later on, when he was running from room to room slamming doors, he trapped his fingers in the door and ended up crying again. Then mum started calling us in for pancakes, on her sort of pancake production line she was manning single-handedly, having made about three times as much batter as she probably needed to. My nephew had one pancake and proclaimed he didn't want anymore, even with treacle or nutella on it. I ended up having five, because my mum was desperate to use up the batter, and I am not in the habit of saying no to extra pancakes. While I was trying to get through my pancakes, my dad started complaining because he and my nephew were the only ones not eating, so he was left looking after him, and my nephew was driving him up the wall by bothering him when he was trying to "do stuff". About half an hour before my nephew was going home. Anyway. Eventually my mum got to sit down and eat, and I finished off my pancakes and went to go look after my nephew, although he was still more interested in hanging out with my dad. Then while he was following my dad around he ended up falling off the bottom step of our staircase onto the floor, and ended up crying again. But he wasn't too badly hurt, so he was okay pretty soon after that. Then it got to about 8 o'clock and the time for my nephew to go home, and my mum came up with the idea of her going with my dad when he took my nephew home, and them riding through to Pinderfields afterwards to see my grandmother, who'd been admitted for the night. I said I'd come, because I haven't seen my grandma in a little while and she has been in hospital quite a lot in the past week. So we all got ready, and my mum was just going to phone through to the ward my grandma was on and see if it was okay for us to come through, or if it was too late. And she spent, I am not kidding, from about 8 o'clock to about quarter to nine on the phone, just trying to get through to the ward. She did get through once, and the woman told her that my grandma wasn't on that ward, but then she called operations and they said she definitely was. My dad, nephew and I were all playing catch in the garage waiting for her to be done, and my nephew was fine and not begging to go home or anything, but at quarter to nine it was getting pretty late to be keeping him at our house and we figured it would be too late to visit my grandma anyway, especially after driving to Wakefield, so we decided my dad should just take my nephew home.
So that's what we did, and before they set off my mum texted my sister to let her know my dad was bringing him back. Then me and my mum came back in, she tried calling the ward my grandma was on again - and immediately got through. Apparently my grandma was warm and settled and not distressed, but she didn't know what time of day it was, and had been asking if "the kids" had had their breakfast. But my mum sort of explained that that's what she was normally like. It was then I think that they told her my grandma had no injuries, and that if we all wanted to come through and see her or see the doctors then that would be fine. My mum got off the phone and asked me to bring her mobile while she called someone else, because my sister hadn't texted back to say she'd got the message that my dad and nephew were on their way yet. But then she called somebody else, either my aunt or the hospital again, so I decided to help out and call my sister, but we ended up in a mess where my mum was telling me to go away because I was talking while she was trying to listen, and my sister I think said that she'd gotten the message but hadn't gotten off the phone herself since she'd gotten it? I don't know. But she said my dad and nephew were there anyway. So I got off the phone, while my mum was explaining everything that had happened to my aunt, and I did a bit of tidying up while I was waiting for my dad to get back to see if we were actually going to the hospital after all. But he got in while my mum was still on the phone to my aunt, so I explained what had happened to him and that we could go see my grandma if we wanted, and he wandered around taking his coat off and putting his keys away, in a pretty clear sign that he probably wasn't planning to go out again. Although he didn't actually say anything one way or the other. Then my mum eventually got off the phone, she went and talked to him, he said he thought it was to go and see her, so we ended up staying in. And then I came upstairs to my computer. Phew.
So yes. A fun day. I've got a Jobcentre appointment tomorrow, and an appointment with my Back To Work service thing again in Wakefield in the afternoon. When I may or may not be going to Pinderfields with my mum to see my grandma and staying on afterwards to go to my appointment, but she doesn't know for sure yet if she's going, and she doesn't really want to drive and park so we might be going on the bus, and blah blah blah. We'll see.
In other news:
- I have pretty much totally finished Black And White 2. I used a cunning mix of expanding, building impressive buildings, and throwing a hurricane at the Aztecs. I had a feeling it would make their city less impressive and mine more impressive in comparison. It totally did. So yes, I've finished that. All I have to do left now is to charge up my volcano miracle and set it off and set off my hurricane miracle one more time, because I really never got to see the effects of that enough.
- Given how often I fall in love with jewellery and how much time I spend whining that I can't afford anymore, it's probably a bad idea for me to look at designer jewellery websites. But that hasn't stopped me doing it anyway. Mostly I love the Turandot pendants on that first page, and the XIV collection on the second. Which are pretty much equally as expensive (as far as I can tell).
- Other things I have finished recently: Season 3 of the US Office, although it was an episode I'd seen before. Oh Ryan. I'd almost forgotten about your attempts to protect the world from Creed's brain. YOU'RE LIKE A HERO FOR OUR TIMES. Although you then broke up with Kelly. Which was less good..
And I both started and finished No Heroics, which I was mostly interested in because of a) Nicholas Burns, and b) rubbish superheroes. I don't know really. I enjoyed it, and it was better than I was expecting it to be, considering that it was sort of popular but wasn't renewed for a second season. It was a bit weird really, because I watched the first episode, then I forgot to watch anymore the next night, then the night after that I watched four episodes, and then the next day, on Sunday, I watched the last episode. I think the last episode was very different to the previous episodes, in terms of seemingly trying to set things up for a second series rather than tying up things that had been happening in the previous episodes, and it was very much about Alex/Sarah suddenly, in a very blatant way. And I think I took my strongest impressions from the last episode rather than the rest of the series. But I did enjoy it. I am predisposed to like Alex best, because he is played by Nicholas Burns, and he was a very believable loser with some genuinely really sweet moments, like when he was talking about how heat-themed joke birthday gifts never seemed to get old for anyone, except for him, and when he talked about wearing the ring that Sarah had bought him for six months, even though it burned him every time he used his powers. But I really liked Timebomb/Don as well, he was ace. And I loved Claire Keegan a lot better than I did when she was in Nathan Barley, and I really liked Jenny. And Devlin was just funny enough for me to not hate him entirely as the bully, and just gay enough for me to ship him with Alex a bit. So yes. I did enjoy it. And I have a secret (or not so secret) fondness for slightly awkward comedies anyway. I would probably put it about on a par with Suburban Shootout, but not Green Wing or Blackadder or anything. Enjoyable, but not exactly brilliant. - Last Thursday my mum had the radio on on Sky while she was tidying, and while it was on I heard Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind for the first time. Which is, for me, one of those songs that when you hear it you can't believe you didn't hear it years before. I kind of love it.
