Happy New Year
What is the state of the lnr?
Had a wonderful Christmas at mum and dad's with Steph, Mike and the three Snape/Reader cousins. We had a shopping day out with just me, mum and Steph as a treat for us two - complete with lunch and cocktails. And a lovely long muddy walk over the hill on the other side of the river where we found two actual minecart containing coal and iron ore which very much impressed the Minecraft fans. The theatre trip which was a present for me and Mike ended up cancelled due to one of the other members of the audience being taken ill just before the start of the show, and the performance being too delayed to be able to go on - but we did have a pleasant evening out nevertheless. Pleasant chilled out New Year once we got back - with a very wet walk on New Years Day. We're off to Em's at the weekend to meet the littlest cousin, who is 4 months old, and we're expecting to see Mike's side of the family before the end of the month.
I had my biannual eye-test in late December and got new glasses last Friday - primarily for VDU work but I'm trying wearing them full time since they do seem to make everything a bit clearer (my long-sightedness has increased a little). Mike and Matthew both had eye tests yesterday, and both need new glasses too! Though Mike's will really just be for the computer.
I'm back at work today after Christmas and the New Year. Work continues stressful due to the Review and we're now told if the Plans for Change are approved we'll be told what they actually are in March and then Consulted and there will be Implementation between May and July, and we don't have much idea what they'll actually want to do, or what difference it will make to our jobs, and also can't really make any sort of strategic decisions in the meantime. We plod on and grumble. I'm making the most of it being a normally short day where I don't need to dash home and taking a long lunch break :)
Tomorrow Matthew will be back at Rainbow and we'll start getting back into normal routines. We're finalising the application for his school place which needs to be done by the 15th. Applying for Shelford and Stapleford, which are our catchment and closest schools respectively. The next closest is 2.7 miles away so not really plausible. Both are good schools, and both seem nice from visiting, but given Shelford is a church school and we're not religious I rather suspect we'll be going to Stapleford.
Health wise I'm doing pretty well on the Sertraline, and have an appointment at the parathyroid clinic in February, which hopefully won't have anything too worrying to say (my parathyroid hormones are slightly elevated but nowhere near as bad as before). I've got a dodgy right knee that I really should take to the GP though, and have had a mild headache most of the time for about a fortnight which also probably needs looking at (and frankly I could do to at least stop putting on weight and preferably lose some, and to sort out my bladder control issues too which I assume is post-pregnancy/birth related). I feel like a little bit of a wreck, but at the same time not actually ill :) The mental health people I tried to self-refer to for counselling sent me a letter about a month later saying they'd contact me soon, but I've heard nothing since.
And technology wise I finally got a reconditioned replacement for my Samsung Galaxy s4 mini from the insurers just before Christmas but it's a bit rubbish (poor battery, reboots a lot, won't USB mount, still had some of the previous owner's data on it!?!) so I've sent the insurers an email asking for assurance they've properly destroyed the broken one, and seeing if they can come up with something a bit better. It's fairly moot though as it's only going to be my back up phone from now on, as I've bought a new Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 to replace it. Slightly bigger, rather faster, more recent version of Android, and I'm happy with it so far (it only arrived yesterday to be fair :). I've transferred my number onto the smaller sim in the new phone, so am easily contactable again, and can send text messages without SHOUTING all the time. Our landline is being intermittently very crackly, so the mobile or email or Facebook or Whatsapp are all better ways to reach me.
Despite the fact LJ is now all hosted in Russia I have no immediate plans to move, so you'll still find me here too :)