If it doesn't rain it pours

Hello readers
Well if it doesn't rain then it pours here at Tilly Towers lol. Last week I developed an infection in my jaw and as I am so used to living with pain on a daily basis I didn't catch the symptoms in time. I woke up Friday morning unable to move my mouth which meant I was unable to eat or drink. As a result I suffered my worst gastritis attack to date it was so bad I honestly thought my time was up and I was going to die. My lovely little Brandon called an ambulance for me and the paramedics rushed me to the RUH in Bath. They gave me gas and air, morphine, intravenous paracetamol everything you can think of but they could not get the pain under control. Every time they reduced the pain relief the pain would start up again. They kept me heavily sedated for 3 days until the pain finally subsided and I was allowed to return home on Sunday night. My blood tests showed a high level of infection and that my liver is in worse shape than when I last had blood tests done. My blood pressure was through the floor and I was in a pretty bad way.

I am now back home feeling very weak, tired, and nauseas but a lot better than I was on Friday. I am on 2 very strong antibiotics and pain relief and when I finish the course I am under strict instructions to return to my gp for further investigation of my liver. I am a poorly girl right now but I feel very grateful to still be here as I really thought my time was up.

Tea tonight is a beef casserole chucked in the slow cooker so nice and easy. I am taking baby steps right now but I'm a fighter and its in my nature not to sit still for to long so I am finding all this resting business a little hard to deal with. That said I am being sensible and resting a lot with a few baby steps thrown into the mix lol.

I just want to thank my mum and best friend Karen who have been amazing through all of this. I love you ladies more than you will ever know.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Catch up post five = And now for the rough stuff

Hello readers as promised I'm going to share a little of the rough stuff we have been going through since coming home from Cyprus.

The night we got back from Cyprus I received a message from my ex husbands wife asking if I could give G a call as he needed to speak to me. He informed me that the day before we went on holiday his step mother passed away. The boys thought the world of their nana S and G made the decision not to tell them until they got back so as not to spoil the holiday. This was a very kind and selfless act on his part and I thanked him for his kindness. He thought it best I broke the news to the boys rather than him having to do it over the phone and I agreed that was the best way forward. My darling little boys broke their hearts when I told them the news :(

They are slowly coming to terms with their loss and both myself and their dad have made it clear we are there for them should they need to talk. I liked S she was a really nice lady and whilst it's incredibly sad you passed on you are no longer in pain. RIP S xxx

The additional bad news is that Lee and I have split up. I'm not going to go into details as it is a private matter. All I will say is that I had my reasons for ending the relationship and it was not a decision I made lightly. Lee and I have said we will remain friends and I hope we do. Although it was my decision it still hurts and I am still trying to find my feet and come to terms with the idea of a life without him in it. Lee if you are reading this as you sometimes do I wish you the best in your life xxx

So now I am all caught up rough stuff and all I should be back to my regular blogging.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Catch up post four = Small space living

Hello readers
As my regular readers will know I have just spent two weeks living in a one bedroom apartment with four other people. There was three adults and two children in a small one bedroom apartment. I wanted to do a post on this as minimalism and small space living is something I have read about in the past and is a subject that I am very interested in.  Here are some pictures of the apartment.....

The living room/ bedroom/ kitchen

The bathroom

The bedroom

Sleeping arrangements were as follows Brad had one of the single beds and Ben and Brandon shared the other single bed whilst Lee and I shared the double pull out sofa bed in the living room. Now whilst small space living has always interested me I have never really thought of it as a viable option with the three boys. Especially as two of them are autistic and one of them has suspected ADHD on top of his autism. After spending two weeks living in a one bedroom apartment with the boys I have come to the conclusion that it very much is a viable option.

Don't get me wrong I'm not about to give up my lovely three bedroom house just yet. But I know if worst came to worst and I was forced to dramatically downsize our living quarters we would manage. It would not be as hard as I once thought it would be. 

I like the idea of only living with what we need and dramatically reducing our possessions. I also like the idea of paying a third of the rent that I do now. Did you know you can rent a one bedroom apartment in Cyprus for €200 which is about £145 sterling. Whilst I don't envisage any of this happening anytime soon here at Tilly Towers it has definitely given me food for thought.

So readers what are your thoughts on small space living ?

Much Love

Claire xx xx xx

catch up post three = Elle

Hello readers meet Elle

Isn't she beautiful

I had seen Elle floating about the apartments over the course of our two week stay but it was not until the day before we were leaving that she decided to pop on to our balcony to formally introduce herself. I gave her some ham and milk and over the course of the day fell in love with her. I was very concerned for her welfare as she had a chunk missing from her ear, a very sore bottom (swollen and bleeding), fleas, diarrhoea, worms, and scars on her face and chin. Lee helped me to try and find out if she was feral (as a lot of cats are in Cyprus) or if she did in fact belong to someone. After speaking to several of the local residents we found out that she is in fact feral and floats about looking for food and attention. One person even told us not to encourage her "just send her on her way she will be fine" grrrrrr. I managed to locate a local cat rescue charity but they could not pick her up till the next day (our departure date). That night we kept her in the apartment with us. Readers in spite of her injuries and neglect Elle is the most loving and affectionate cat I have ever met. That night she snuggled up with me in bed her head rested against mine and she did not move until I did the next morning. I knew that there was no way I could leave her in Cyprus and that rescuing her was not enough we had bonded and I had to bring her back to the UK to have a forever home here at Tilly Towers with me and the boys. That morning when the rescue centre arrived to collect her I signed forms to claim ownership of her and have her exported to the UK.

This is probably one of the most un-frugal spontaneous things I have ever done but as I have said on this blog before some things are just more important than money. The charity that helped me rescue Elle has treated her ailments and got her back to good health, given her food and shelter, and provided her with the required 21 days quarantine period free of charge. They are facilitating the export of Elle for me which is going to cost me €1300 euros or £950 sterling.

Here are some pictures I was sent today of my little girl happy and settled at the charity.....

You can see the chunk missing from her ear in this one

Here is the link to the charity who has been helping me website.....

http://www.cyprusanimalwelfare.com

Please have a look at their site and consider making a donation. Just as soon as I have paid off the export fees I will be making a nice donation myself as well as signing up to make regular donations by direct debit.

Elle is now safe and well and will be here with us on or after 20th March (depending on flights) but there are still so many feral cats out there that would benefit from your generosity.

So readers do you think I went a little bonkers here lol ? Oh and if you are a troll and have nothing nice to say kindly bite your tongue and say nothing. I know this was a completely un-frugal act and guess what I couldn't care less lol.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

catch up post two = Cosmic world

This post was originally intended for Monday 23rd February

Hello readers :)
Today we went to a place called cosmic world. I soooo wish we had found this place sooner but hey ho we know where it is for next time. The facilities are fantastic and the prices are low. So very much my kind of place lol.

At cosmic world they had a soft play area, ten pin bowling, fair rides, bumper cars, arcades, and a restaurant. Best of all its in the main area of paphos and can be got to by bus and a short walk. The soft play area costs €4 So about £3.20 sterling and the children can play for as long as they want to. The ten pin bowling costs €4 a game per person. Although you can get 3 games for €10 per person so approximately £8 sterling. Fair rides, bumper cars, and arcades are all €1 each so about 80p sterling. You can get a good sized meal for €6 or £4.80 sterling and they have a good selection of meals available. The food was ok for what we paid but I have had better.

The boys had a blast and we were there for hours. Brandon even made a little friend in the soft play area. Lee won one game, Ben won a game, and Brad won a game of the ten pin bowling. I only played one game and came nowhere lol but I was happy to sit and watch everyone else enjoying themselves.

Here's what I spent.....
Soft play x2 €8
My bowling x1 €4
Boys bowling x6 €20
Arcades and bumper cars €15
Food €24

Total spent €71 or £56.80 sterling and we had hours of fun. I highly recommend this place if you have children and are in the paphos area.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Catch up post one = Carnival Time

This post was originally intended for Sunday 22nd February

Hello readers sorry for my absence a LOT has been going on. There has been a lot of illness among us and it was not until Sunday that any of us felt well enough to venture out of the apartment and even then I was still very weak. We managed to get out on Sunday and Monday but I completely forgot my kindle to take pictures sorry :(

I will do a few catch up posts to bring you all up to speed on the last few days of our holiday in Cyprus starting with today's post "Carnival time".

This weekend in Paphos was carnival weekend. We unfortunately missed the carnival itself due to illness but did manage to attend a carnival party on the Sunday at Loonyland. The boys had a fab time with singing, dancing, face painting, and crafts, as well as the usual soft play facilities. All of this was for the regular bargain price of 5 euros per child so 10 euros in total or £8 sterling.

After the carnival party had finished we decided to take the boys to the cinema to watch Paddington bear. unfortunately Paddington was only showing in Greek so we had to watch the only kids film showing in English which was "Spongebob the movie - sponge out of water". Thankfully this was a film the boys have been wanting to watch for a while so there was no tantrums at missing Paddington and everyone was happy. They had a family deal on as it is half term and so it cost us 6 euros each instead of the usual 8 euros for anyone aged over 12 and 6 euros for children. So total paid for the 4 of us was 24 euros or £19.20 sterling which I deem to be a frugal family day out.

As well as being a cheap day out we were also treated as royalty by having the entire cinema to ourselves. I mean like completely to ourselves readers. There was not another single soul in the whole screening other than myself, Lee, and the munchkins. I don't think that has ever happened to me in my 35 years of going to the cinema, but I really enjoyed it just being us. I didn't have to worry about anyone being to noisy, we were able to sit wherever we wanted, and could talk to each other as and when we needed to throughout the film.

All in all it was a wonderful day at very reasonable prices.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx