"It's the end of the world as we know it...and I feel fine!." Popular music lyrics and the current world situations? The recent few days/weeks have been crazy hectic with work and the current world situation. COVID-19 the Coronavirus has taken hold of the world and if nothing else temporarily taught a few people how to wash there hands, taught some crazy brothers that profiteering on 18000 bottles of hand sanitizer can cause you legal issues and other crazy stuff. Business industries like restaurants are now starting to offer employees sick time (imagine that...a restaurant that forces sick employees to come to work?) a major bane in the USA food industry, now resolved. Places are going on lockdown and businesses are shuttering for the time being. Trying to slow the progression of the virus. Memes abound and hilarious stories are going viral. The US media is still fear-mongering the whole situation. But I feel fine.
Lynn and I have not gone out and binge bought a mountain of stuff we could never use. We could survive a 2-week lockdown. Would we want to? It depends on the safety of it all. But I feel fine.
The plants are doing great. At least I know that if things continue for 60-90 days I will have fresh lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, beets, spinach, and yellow squash coming on without having to go shopping for it. If the pollen does not kill me first. My black truck is currently yellow. Please rain this week and wash this stuff away. I don't want to have to quarantine because allergies have given me symptoms that are too similar to COVID-19. But I do feel fine.
All joking aside. Lynn and I are doing great. Lynn did a good spring cleaning of the house on Friday, Saturday we say down with 5 yards of material and made new pillow covers and curtain ties for the living room, and a valance and table runner for the kitchen. It ties the house together well. Most of everything that we want to grow is planted. I have some spring onions and potatoes remaining. The spring onions will probably be planted in the next 24 hours and the potatoes are awaiting the delivery of a couple of grow bags that should be here in the next 48 hours. All told the container garden is starting off nicely. Will it sustain if the end of the world occurs? No. Will we survive anyway? Yeah. Is the world going to end? Only if the rock flying through our solar system that is supposed to pass earth late April has a slight course change and comes close enough to hit us. But as of the time of this writing, it is supposed to pass by something like 16 times the distance of the Earth and Moon. But I feel fine. Well, actually, besides the pollen causing allergies issues I feel really good.
6 months food war
Hello,
Apart from missing my family and friends which is massive, I miss food. Every nationality is different, cultures are different, What I think is normal is far from what Jake does. I think that scones should come with fresh cream and strawberries. Jake calls them biscuits and thinks they should come with Bacon n Eggs or gravy. A white sauce that looks like the scone, cream, and strawberries have made a reappearance from the night before. Battered steak em, that's a no from me too. Gritz is like finding a dollup of porridge leftover from breakfast on your dinner plate. All these foods Jake likes and I think em yuk and no thanks. I miss mothers pride bread, the outsiders toasted dripping in Lurpark butter. Square sausage, white and black pudding and decent bacon slices on my breakfast plate at the weekend. Eating out is nuts too, the portion sizes are just no need. I do love Texas Roadhouse and Cracker Barrell the food they serve is what I think is normal. Seafood is smashing but where is a decent chip shop in this place, nothing beats a bag of chippy chips smothered in salt and vinegar when you're in the mood and nothing is quite satisfying. Well, a roll and chips has that factor.
I think you're getting the point reading this, I can't cope with the food craves or when I am tagged in pics on social media of Nesquick Banana Milkshake, or a decent Indian kebab they are called Kabobs here and nothing at all like a kebab back home. Sweeties is a massive miss, what even is Hershey's chocolate? deffo no for me and Dove chocolate, em back home Dove is the soap for washing in the shower its deffo no chocolate. Same with Jellies, aye Haribo is here. Suppose I should be grateful, I could rant for while on this subject lol. I understand Americans would feel the same with Cadburys and Nestle but to me, I don't think you realize just what you're actually missing out on if your love for decent "candy" is like mine.
We have found some Scottish Tressures in the shops here, that's another thing I call the shops and Jake calls them stores. At nearly a fiver for a tin on Heinz Beans, I have one can in the cupboard to look at keep for a special occasion. I still can't get over its nearly a fiver a tin, it might actually frame it. Jake cures bacon for me, so we have decent bacon slices and not just streaky bits of fat. He has also made square sausage for me, the rolls in the local supermarket are as close to morning rolls from back home that we can find. As this is really just only the beginning and I am still learning a lot am sure there will be more on this subject at a later date. I think so far I am not to keep on a lot of the foods but its a learning experience. My understanding so far is certain foods just don't go together and have a certain time that they should be on your plate. I understand it is what people are used to, like us in Scotland with Haggis, a lot of Americans think that's bogging Well I'm here for a long time so I best open up my palate. I still stand for one thing "biscuits and spew" I mean "biscuits and gravy" are deffo no for me.
Until my next rant take care
Lxxx
Apart from missing my family and friends which is massive, I miss food. Every nationality is different, cultures are different, What I think is normal is far from what Jake does. I think that scones should come with fresh cream and strawberries. Jake calls them biscuits and thinks they should come with Bacon n Eggs or gravy. A white sauce that looks like the scone, cream, and strawberries have made a reappearance from the night before. Battered steak em, that's a no from me too. Gritz is like finding a dollup of porridge leftover from breakfast on your dinner plate. All these foods Jake likes and I think em yuk and no thanks. I miss mothers pride bread, the outsiders toasted dripping in Lurpark butter. Square sausage, white and black pudding and decent bacon slices on my breakfast plate at the weekend. Eating out is nuts too, the portion sizes are just no need. I do love Texas Roadhouse and Cracker Barrell the food they serve is what I think is normal. Seafood is smashing but where is a decent chip shop in this place, nothing beats a bag of chippy chips smothered in salt and vinegar when you're in the mood and nothing is quite satisfying. Well, a roll and chips has that factor.
I think you're getting the point reading this, I can't cope with the food craves or when I am tagged in pics on social media of Nesquick Banana Milkshake, or a decent Indian kebab they are called Kabobs here and nothing at all like a kebab back home. Sweeties is a massive miss, what even is Hershey's chocolate? deffo no for me and Dove chocolate, em back home Dove is the soap for washing in the shower its deffo no chocolate. Same with Jellies, aye Haribo is here. Suppose I should be grateful, I could rant for while on this subject lol. I understand Americans would feel the same with Cadburys and Nestle but to me, I don't think you realize just what you're actually missing out on if your love for decent "candy" is like mine.
We have found some Scottish Tressures in the shops here, that's another thing I call the shops and Jake calls them stores. At nearly a fiver for a tin on Heinz Beans, I have one can in the cupboard to look at keep for a special occasion. I still can't get over its nearly a fiver a tin, it might actually frame it. Jake cures bacon for me, so we have decent bacon slices and not just streaky bits of fat. He has also made square sausage for me, the rolls in the local supermarket are as close to morning rolls from back home that we can find. As this is really just only the beginning and I am still learning a lot am sure there will be more on this subject at a later date. I think so far I am not to keep on a lot of the foods but its a learning experience. My understanding so far is certain foods just don't go together and have a certain time that they should be on your plate. I understand it is what people are used to, like us in Scotland with Haggis, a lot of Americans think that's bogging Well I'm here for a long time so I best open up my palate. I still stand for one thing "biscuits and spew" I mean "biscuits and gravy" are deffo no for me.
Until my next rant take care
Lxxx
The mornings of getting older.
It is an undeniable fact that the older you get the earlier you get up until we all turn into our parents/grandparents and get up before the sun is up. Doing so also usually means being productive early in the day. I have noticed at several points in my life so far where I made a sudden transition into a slightly earlier wake up time where it was a choice to get up at a certain hour and not sleep in later. Now don't get me wrong, there were years and years of time where I had to get up earlier than I ever wanted to. For the first year and a half of High School I had to get up at 4:30 am in order to catch the bus to school. There was that year in college where I had to take mandatory classes for my degree, but they were both taught by the same professor and he only taught classes from 7 am-10 am. These were times that I was getting up earlier than I wanted.
I remember the first time that I woke up "early" and kept the schedule and it was for personal reasons. I started getting up about an hour before anyone else in the house did so that I could use the time to play video games. It was the only chance I had to do anything for myself. It was liberating. There were other times as more normal work entered my life, I started jobs that worked normal working hours of 8 am- 5 pm etc. Some of these were forced on me and some were elective earlier times. There was a period after one of my deployments that I would get up at 5 am and just sit around doing nothing. Always the promise of being productive early in the day but mostly it was about sitting there in the quiet and being able to hear the quiet.
In the last couple of days I have run across quotes and memes that talk about doing things early in the day. One alludes to doing things you don't like first thing so as to get them out of the way, another says doing all of the important tasks first means you have more time to play later and so on. The things that most of our parents actually told us when we were kids and we never believed/ignored because play time was more fun. A lot of this has been coming across my screen lately. Not sure if the content I am looking at has become slightly more mature or if there is a sudden realization of productivity in the world. The one thing I have not seen posted yet but I will post here for anyone reading is the old adage "The early bird gets the worm". Cliche as it sounds that is what most of these other things I have come across state, just in different words.
The whole point of this is to say that as we get older and more responsible we typically lead healthier more stable lives where we get up early and be productive first thing in the day (which also means that we typically go to bed at an earlier hour as well). Is this me entering the next phase of getting up earlier in the day to perform at task? Are the plants I planted calling me to get up just a bit earlier in the day to take care of them before work? Is it a phase or will it last? Or was it the fact that one of the curtains in the bed room did not get shut fully and a bit of light crept in and hit me in the face just so that I woke up early? Was it a single occurrence or will it last a couple of days, a week, a month, till daylight savings hits this spring and it gets light an hour later? Wait... is my sleep schedule being dictated by how bright it is? All of these important questions on why someone who sleeps like a baby does not know why they woke up an hour early, took the trash out and made sure all of their bills were paid before their first alarm went off this morning.
Oh, and this post was written before work as well...
I remember the first time that I woke up "early" and kept the schedule and it was for personal reasons. I started getting up about an hour before anyone else in the house did so that I could use the time to play video games. It was the only chance I had to do anything for myself. It was liberating. There were other times as more normal work entered my life, I started jobs that worked normal working hours of 8 am- 5 pm etc. Some of these were forced on me and some were elective earlier times. There was a period after one of my deployments that I would get up at 5 am and just sit around doing nothing. Always the promise of being productive early in the day but mostly it was about sitting there in the quiet and being able to hear the quiet.
In the last couple of days I have run across quotes and memes that talk about doing things early in the day. One alludes to doing things you don't like first thing so as to get them out of the way, another says doing all of the important tasks first means you have more time to play later and so on. The things that most of our parents actually told us when we were kids and we never believed/ignored because play time was more fun. A lot of this has been coming across my screen lately. Not sure if the content I am looking at has become slightly more mature or if there is a sudden realization of productivity in the world. The one thing I have not seen posted yet but I will post here for anyone reading is the old adage "The early bird gets the worm". Cliche as it sounds that is what most of these other things I have come across state, just in different words.
The whole point of this is to say that as we get older and more responsible we typically lead healthier more stable lives where we get up early and be productive first thing in the day (which also means that we typically go to bed at an earlier hour as well). Is this me entering the next phase of getting up earlier in the day to perform at task? Are the plants I planted calling me to get up just a bit earlier in the day to take care of them before work? Is it a phase or will it last? Or was it the fact that one of the curtains in the bed room did not get shut fully and a bit of light crept in and hit me in the face just so that I woke up early? Was it a single occurrence or will it last a couple of days, a week, a month, till daylight savings hits this spring and it gets light an hour later? Wait... is my sleep schedule being dictated by how bright it is? All of these important questions on why someone who sleeps like a baby does not know why they woke up an hour early, took the trash out and made sure all of their bills were paid before their first alarm went off this morning.
Oh, and this post was written before work as well...
How long can I keep them alive?
4 days ago I decided that I would go ahead and start a couple of seed trays for some plants I knew I could run seedlings for and then transfer to pots or ground in a couple of weeks when there was no threat of frost any more. Reading the seed packets and paying attention to the plants I planning that it would be 2 weeks or so before I could get them transferred, I chose a couple of plants that were supposed to have long germination times (10-14 days). I did not think much about it and had the starter sets on a table in front of a window that normally gets 6-7 hours sun on a sunny day and checked the moisture level every day. As we have not had much sun until today I was not expecting much...and now I have a tray of 1 inch seedlings...
The tray in question is not that bad. It is just a set of flowers I was going to use to add color around the house and I have a lot more seeds so if they die off that is not the end of the world. The whole point of this is now to keep them in the seed starter tray long enough to outlast the last freeze, but get them out of the tray before they are stunted in growth. The joys of gardening where nothing ever goes as planned and nature never cooperates.
As I may have mentioned I am going to try to do some container gardening this spring and see how long I can keep some plants alive. Hopefully I will get to the point of obtaining some food from the plants, even if all I ever get is a small salad. Hopefully I will get more...hopefully. The whole task is an effort to save a few pennies with some home effort and after my score of plant pots, why not?
Just a wee giggle
What a giggle we had at the weekend, Myself and Jake went for a little
wander to the shops. I am Scottish I call them Shops Jake calls them Stores. I
wanted to go A.C.Moore, the shop was closing down and had lovely Easter
decorations I would like for our porch. Jake wanted to check out the garden
section in Lowe's. Both shops were in the same shopping precinct so that was
really good. Since moving over here I
try to do things here like decorate the porch for different occasions or
holidays. So, as I wandered off, I am bad for that, Jake says one minute am
there the next am gone. As I wandered round what was left in the shop, picking up
bits and pieces everything was seventy to ninety percent off. So, as I'm
thinking how I can add to my Easter porch display Jake comes and finds me. With
the words "You’re going to hate me" I said why am I going to hate you?
He tells me in a slightly excited manner that the shop is getting rid of the
flower displays for free. I said well go double check and get them. Thinking he
was going to take some flowerpots off the display, I was like don't be silly that’s
smashing. I encouraged him to find out if they were free, I said I'll wander in
here till you sort it out, I won't leave. He then tells me that we need to pay for what
we have and leave together. At this point am like Why? As we finished shopping
and we had a few bargains for our new home. By the way we don't have a new home
yet, that's on the list too.
p.s. I do love you to the moon Jake, you make me smile A LOT xxx
Any way I got sidetracked so there we were in the
queue waiting to pay for the goods, I am excited for our purchases especially
the amount of money we were saving. So, we get our shopping rung up and the
cashier was really lovely even though the shop was very busy and the shelves
were getting emptier by the minute. Finishing in the shop Jake said take the
cart (trolley) to the truck, I'll be right out. I said I'll just wait at the
front door. Thinking he was nicking in for some plant pots off the display. Well
I was not prepared for what came next. I couldn't move for laughing, I laughed
so hard I thought a different kind of drama was going to happen. Out walks Jake
with the full display cabinet. We got to the truck and he finds his toolbox and
starts to dismantle the pots. I had to call my mum and sister, let them in on
the laugh. My mother in law is busy on Saturdays so I messaged her a photo. "What
is he doing" with lots of laugh, I went onto tell them the story. Everyone
laughed so hard, Jake was so serious and kept a straight face. At one point a
lady stopped her car and asked him "Do you guys own a Florist"? He
was not caring what anybody thought. He just saved himself a lot of money on
plant pots as we now have twenty-four of them. The pots that I didn't think
much about when Jake says, "you’re going to hate me". Still happy
with his findings he set about trying to get the rest of the display on the bed
of the truck. We left A.C.Moore's to go to Lowe's. Originally it was for a
plant pot so we can start growing our own veggies, now it was for rope to tie
the unit to the truck bed. Jake was so serious about his treasures he is yet to
see why I find the whole thing hysterical. My side of the family were in
hysterics at Jake's antics. His mum could understand why he done it and went on
to tell me about Jake and his fish tree on his Grandmother's property. Maybe I
should let Jake tell you all about that when he talks about his new venture in
gardening. I was still laughing about it as we talked with his mum and dad on
the phone later on Saturday night. I shouldn't laugh, I nearly died when out he
walks with the whole display. A good Saturday to cheer us up. I should be
grateful I got a wee shelf for the porch to place wee garden ornaments on.
p.s. I do love you to the moon Jake, you make me smile A LOT xxx
The Store Display
Lynn and I went out this last weekend just to get out of the house and had each had a planned stop. The first stop was going to be A C Moore as the stores in the area are in their last days before they shut for good. This would give Lynn a last chance to grab a couple of items at great discounts for some decor for the home, her fairy garden, and seasonal displays. The second stop was going to be Lowe's hardware for a potential plant pot. As I had most of the pots to use for the year as we want to limit the amount we try because of potentially moving, We want to attempt some carrots. Now as I have discovered from many readings the most common fail with carrots in a container is not having planted them in deep enough pots. As most of my pots that I currently have are only about 8-10 inches deep, I wanted to check on a reasonably priced deep depth pot in the 15-20 inch range. Nothing too dramatic, just a quick trip out to get rid of some of the cabin fever we develop.
As we walked around A C Moore to discover what was left of the very diminished stock they had available a couple of days before closing I saw a sign up on a floral display that stated "Free if you haul away today". I double checked with a staff member of the store and found that the displays were truly free. As I talked to Lynn about she thought it was a great idea as well. The displays contained twenty-four 16 inch tall metal french floral buckets. After we paid for the items we had selected I went to grab the display and was going to meet Lynn at door. As I walked out the door of the store pushing a rather large display (think a set of stairs, 4 feet wide, 4 steps tall with a series of 8 buckets bolted to each of the top 3 steps) Lynn realized that when I said the displays were free, it was not just the buckets. Much to her dismay I wheeled out an entire store display that the store had used to display their selections of floral bouquets and all I wanted was a couple of the floral buckets to plant some carrots.
Lynn, having realized exactly what I had done, was wondering what I was going to do with this rather large store display. I wheeled it out to where I had parked, reached into the tool kit I keep in the truck and quickly unscrewed all of the pots leaving just the base display as people moving back and forth in the busy parking lot were looking to see exactly what I was doing. At one point someone even stopped to ask if we owned a florist. Loading up our loot we moved on to Lowe's hardware to look at some of the seasonal items even though I had just acquired plant pots that would be perfect for my needs.
I will leave Lynn to tell her version of the story as much hilarity ensued and she took pictures, called her mom to show her what I was doing, called my mom to see if she knew what I was doing and had everyone in stitches laughing at my ingenuity... But all told come to the end of the day I scored for free 24 french floral buckets to use as plant pots that are beautiful, tall and similarly sized items sell for $20-30/each online. I netted a savings of about $500 just because I was willing to spend a half hour unbolting a few pots from a wood display stand and then break the stand down into small enough parts to dispose of. Oh, I did get a free set of 4 casters as well that I will make a furniture dolly with for when we move. Purchasing the caster wheels would be about $100 or a pre-made furniture dolly would cost about the same. Keep an eye out and you could save big with a few minutes worth of work.
I will leave Lynn to tell her version of the story as much hilarity ensued and she took pictures, called her mom to show her what I was doing, called my mom to see if she knew what I was doing and had everyone in stitches laughing at my ingenuity... But all told come to the end of the day I scored for free 24 french floral buckets to use as plant pots that are beautiful, tall and similarly sized items sell for $20-30/each online. I netted a savings of about $500 just because I was willing to spend a half hour unbolting a few pots from a wood display stand and then break the stand down into small enough parts to dispose of. Oh, I did get a free set of 4 casters as well that I will make a furniture dolly with for when we move. Purchasing the caster wheels would be about $100 or a pre-made furniture dolly would cost about the same. Keep an eye out and you could save big with a few minutes worth of work.
Searching
We have been looking the last few weeks/months for a place to call home. Searching for a location around the state has been difficult. On one hand we love town we are in; on the other we want to move closer than 3 hours from a certain location. Can we find someplace that has both? The town atmosphere from the location we are currently and the closeness to the other location we want to be?
Having said that, there is 1 requirement that I have to have high speed internet for work. Outside of that we love the idea of an old style farm house on acreage. We have been looking at a 3 prong approach to the finding someplace. Option 1) Find a house for sale we like, 2) Find a piece of land to build a house on (we have a great layout/plan in mind for the house/garage, or 3) Find a place to rent until we do either 1 or 2. Why a new place to rent? Well, the price of rent.
Have I mentioned that I hate house hunting or that we are waiting on a document from an office for the lender and the office that is responsible for it has messed it up 3 times and each time it has to be re-requested and it takes 7-10 business days to get it back? And without that single document we will not know if we can even purchase yet?
Only time will tell where we... land...
Dad Jokes
Dad Jokes are one of my favorite things, when I come across good ones I like to keep them in mind for a later because the best Dad jokes only get better with age.
So when does a joke become a dad joke?
When it becomes apparent.
How?
Hey To The Person Reading This.....
My name is Lynn Westmoreland, previously Wilson. I am originally from a small town outside Glasgow in Scotland. I know life in a town on the outskirts of Raleigh in the state of North Carolina, in the USA. I have just turned thirty-four. I became a step-mum in October to three kids, I married Jake in October 2019. One little boy and two girls, aged from four to fourteen. I have one little sister who is two years younger than me. My mum and dad are still together, coming up thirty-seven years this coming November. I have my best friend Laura who I have known from high school, they are all back home in Scotland.
My life was like everybody else's, going to the clubs, lunch dates, theater days. Going to college, working part-time it was crazy normal. Girlie holidays, family holidays, weekends away, days here and there exploring. I had and still have the best relationship with my little cousin Ryan. I was seventeen when he was born and he's coming up for seventeen this year. He's my one in a million, my one to talk to when the drama starts. The one I could tell anything to know he would have my back. He is my "little man in a million". I used to have a big family until family drama occurred and I decided that the majority family on my dad's side just had to go. But that is a drama for another Blog.
I'll start from when my life went crazy downward fast. I did not turn to drink or drugs. I was something massive and could not sit back and watch it happen. My Gran who I absolutely adored was fighting Cancer. It was going on for years and years. I had started college working at getting my Higher National Diploma in Beauty Therapy. Everything was good. I passed the first year, it was towards the end of that course things started to go a little crazy. My mum and gran had gone to Spain to see the family. On the return flight, my gran took really sick. The plane landed and an ambulance was waiting for them on the runway. I and my dad were told by transport police to get Ayr General. Back and Forth to the hospital for a few days and our nightmare was confirmed. The cancer was back, it had killed one of her kidneys and operating on the tumor was too risky. Doctors decided to remove the kidney and then begin chemotherapy. My second year at college, was kidney operations and the start of chemotherapy. During this time I was completing my Higher National Certificate progressing into year three at college. My gran fought really hard, the hospice was involved, she would attend once a week and go into the hospice for pain control when it got too much. I struggled loads in my third year, my gran was getting worse, the cancer was winning. I passed, by the skin of my teeth, but I passed. Was a crazy roller coaster of emotions. It was the end of May and college had finished, my sister paid for us to go to the states for two weeks. She was going to visit her friend and didn't want to travel to herself. It was amazing, two weeks traveling the east coast of America. I met my husband on that trip, I just didn't know it until six years later. My gran deteriorated rapidly when I was in America I felt so guilty it was two weeks I should have been with her. I hardly left her side when she was sick. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, she meant the world to me. Arriving back in Scotland, I was so excited to see my gran. I was told by my dad that gran was coming home from the hospice, that a hospital bed would be in the living room. I thought I was prepared to see her, I wasn't. The smile on her face when she saw me, oh I can still see it today. That three weeks was mental. I went to work and came straight home to my gran every night. I didn't leave her side. She would send my mum and aunt home, we would lie in her hospital bed and I would fill her in with all the gossip and she would nip my arms. I didn't mind she was my Gran. The dreaded call came in the third week. I had to leave work and get to my gran. My dad and uncle came to pick me up, I arrived at the house. I ran in and everybody was around my gran. I felt so sick and ran out into the garden. I coped until now why was I giving up when she needed me most. Its all a blur and well yeah you have guessed it she passed peacefully on Wednesday the eleventh of July twenty twelve.
Months had passed I had a big fall out with my dads family, we still had the keys to my gran's house, it was on the market. With the help of my Aunt and Uncle, I bought the house. That was all a crazy blur too as I had less than one hundred pounds in my account. Remember this is January and Christmas had just passed. All I can say is someone was looking down on me. A wee while of plodding on and now working full time in a supermarket to pay for my house, I thought I was happy. Time just passed us by, we were all learning what it was like to live without gran in our lives. Everything seemed normal, had a boyfriend, had a job, had my own home. Everything was smashing. Then my close Auntie took sick with breast cancer, the night she told me I broke down, shattered into a million pieces on the floor. This is not the answer I told myself and pulled up my brave pants. Just as she was diagnosed so was her mother in law. This can't be happening, but it was. Between us, we all helped each other and got through it. In between times, my mum's other sister threw at a wedding to be planned. "Stop the bus" what even is happening. Sadly Granny Betty was told the worst and there was nothing the doctors could do. My Auntie fought so hard and she won her battle. The wedding happened, it was a good day. We all stuck together to make Granny Betty comfortable and now the hospice was involved and she was admitted. Now in November of twenty seventeen Granny, Betty went to heaven. I had a house for seven years. I was in a relationship, it wasn't going anywhere, I couldn't see a future. What I had and what I wanted was totally different. After three years I thought nope and we split up.
It was the end of yet another crazy year, sat in a hotel bringing in the bells at a New Year's Eve dance. It was coming up midnight when I got a message from Jake. I wished him a happy new year too and the next day we spent messaging the whole day. He told me about his divorce that was happening, about his kids moving states, about him moving to North Carolina to be closer to them. From that day I think we messaged constantly for a month. Until his marriage was over and his ex had left with his kids. After that, we video messaged and messaged constantly. We had planned he would meet up with me in Cancun. I was going on a girly holiday that summer. It turned out moving states and setting up the home he couldn't make Cancun. Never once did I think this isn't serious. The November of twenty eighteen my flight was booked to visit for thanksgiving. Landing in Raleigh, USA by myself hoping what I was thinking was right was actually right. I was so nervous. That fortnight was the best and I left with a broken heart. Getting on that plane was hard really hard. Although we had plans for him to come over in April and for us to start applying for a k1 visa, I was planning my move over. He came over, he met my family and we got engaged. He arranged to have my gran's engagement ring enlarged to fit my not so slim wee fingers. My friend from work done out engagement photos. Long story short I sold my house, expecting it to be on the market a good while, well it wasn't it was a day. Six weeks after selling I moved in with my parents, two visits to London for medicals and visa interviews. It was a success I got my visa. My visa arrived on Friday and I was on a flight on Tuesday. I arrived in Late August and we set a date for the wedding on the nineteenth of October twenty nineteen. MY mum, dad, and sister flew out with my aunt, uncle, and Ryan. Jake's brother and mum flew in from Texas. It was a stunning day, the best day ever. on a deck looking out to a beautiful lake.
If you got to the end of this first Blog well you deserve a medal. There are loads I can Blog about if interested. The dress, the hen night, there is tons. That is just a shortened tale for me to introduce myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to adding more as time goes on.
Much Love Lynn xx
My name is Lynn Westmoreland, previously Wilson. I am originally from a small town outside Glasgow in Scotland. I know life in a town on the outskirts of Raleigh in the state of North Carolina, in the USA. I have just turned thirty-four. I became a step-mum in October to three kids, I married Jake in October 2019. One little boy and two girls, aged from four to fourteen. I have one little sister who is two years younger than me. My mum and dad are still together, coming up thirty-seven years this coming November. I have my best friend Laura who I have known from high school, they are all back home in Scotland.
My life was like everybody else's, going to the clubs, lunch dates, theater days. Going to college, working part-time it was crazy normal. Girlie holidays, family holidays, weekends away, days here and there exploring. I had and still have the best relationship with my little cousin Ryan. I was seventeen when he was born and he's coming up for seventeen this year. He's my one in a million, my one to talk to when the drama starts. The one I could tell anything to know he would have my back. He is my "little man in a million". I used to have a big family until family drama occurred and I decided that the majority family on my dad's side just had to go. But that is a drama for another Blog.
I'll start from when my life went crazy downward fast. I did not turn to drink or drugs. I was something massive and could not sit back and watch it happen. My Gran who I absolutely adored was fighting Cancer. It was going on for years and years. I had started college working at getting my Higher National Diploma in Beauty Therapy. Everything was good. I passed the first year, it was towards the end of that course things started to go a little crazy. My mum and gran had gone to Spain to see the family. On the return flight, my gran took really sick. The plane landed and an ambulance was waiting for them on the runway. I and my dad were told by transport police to get Ayr General. Back and Forth to the hospital for a few days and our nightmare was confirmed. The cancer was back, it had killed one of her kidneys and operating on the tumor was too risky. Doctors decided to remove the kidney and then begin chemotherapy. My second year at college, was kidney operations and the start of chemotherapy. During this time I was completing my Higher National Certificate progressing into year three at college. My gran fought really hard, the hospice was involved, she would attend once a week and go into the hospice for pain control when it got too much. I struggled loads in my third year, my gran was getting worse, the cancer was winning. I passed, by the skin of my teeth, but I passed. Was a crazy roller coaster of emotions. It was the end of May and college had finished, my sister paid for us to go to the states for two weeks. She was going to visit her friend and didn't want to travel to herself. It was amazing, two weeks traveling the east coast of America. I met my husband on that trip, I just didn't know it until six years later. My gran deteriorated rapidly when I was in America I felt so guilty it was two weeks I should have been with her. I hardly left her side when she was sick. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, she meant the world to me. Arriving back in Scotland, I was so excited to see my gran. I was told by my dad that gran was coming home from the hospice, that a hospital bed would be in the living room. I thought I was prepared to see her, I wasn't. The smile on her face when she saw me, oh I can still see it today. That three weeks was mental. I went to work and came straight home to my gran every night. I didn't leave her side. She would send my mum and aunt home, we would lie in her hospital bed and I would fill her in with all the gossip and she would nip my arms. I didn't mind she was my Gran. The dreaded call came in the third week. I had to leave work and get to my gran. My dad and uncle came to pick me up, I arrived at the house. I ran in and everybody was around my gran. I felt so sick and ran out into the garden. I coped until now why was I giving up when she needed me most. Its all a blur and well yeah you have guessed it she passed peacefully on Wednesday the eleventh of July twenty twelve.
Months had passed I had a big fall out with my dads family, we still had the keys to my gran's house, it was on the market. With the help of my Aunt and Uncle, I bought the house. That was all a crazy blur too as I had less than one hundred pounds in my account. Remember this is January and Christmas had just passed. All I can say is someone was looking down on me. A wee while of plodding on and now working full time in a supermarket to pay for my house, I thought I was happy. Time just passed us by, we were all learning what it was like to live without gran in our lives. Everything seemed normal, had a boyfriend, had a job, had my own home. Everything was smashing. Then my close Auntie took sick with breast cancer, the night she told me I broke down, shattered into a million pieces on the floor. This is not the answer I told myself and pulled up my brave pants. Just as she was diagnosed so was her mother in law. This can't be happening, but it was. Between us, we all helped each other and got through it. In between times, my mum's other sister threw at a wedding to be planned. "Stop the bus" what even is happening. Sadly Granny Betty was told the worst and there was nothing the doctors could do. My Auntie fought so hard and she won her battle. The wedding happened, it was a good day. We all stuck together to make Granny Betty comfortable and now the hospice was involved and she was admitted. Now in November of twenty seventeen Granny, Betty went to heaven. I had a house for seven years. I was in a relationship, it wasn't going anywhere, I couldn't see a future. What I had and what I wanted was totally different. After three years I thought nope and we split up.
It was the end of yet another crazy year, sat in a hotel bringing in the bells at a New Year's Eve dance. It was coming up midnight when I got a message from Jake. I wished him a happy new year too and the next day we spent messaging the whole day. He told me about his divorce that was happening, about his kids moving states, about him moving to North Carolina to be closer to them. From that day I think we messaged constantly for a month. Until his marriage was over and his ex had left with his kids. After that, we video messaged and messaged constantly. We had planned he would meet up with me in Cancun. I was going on a girly holiday that summer. It turned out moving states and setting up the home he couldn't make Cancun. Never once did I think this isn't serious. The November of twenty eighteen my flight was booked to visit for thanksgiving. Landing in Raleigh, USA by myself hoping what I was thinking was right was actually right. I was so nervous. That fortnight was the best and I left with a broken heart. Getting on that plane was hard really hard. Although we had plans for him to come over in April and for us to start applying for a k1 visa, I was planning my move over. He came over, he met my family and we got engaged. He arranged to have my gran's engagement ring enlarged to fit my not so slim wee fingers. My friend from work done out engagement photos. Long story short I sold my house, expecting it to be on the market a good while, well it wasn't it was a day. Six weeks after selling I moved in with my parents, two visits to London for medicals and visa interviews. It was a success I got my visa. My visa arrived on Friday and I was on a flight on Tuesday. I arrived in Late August and we set a date for the wedding on the nineteenth of October twenty nineteen. MY mum, dad, and sister flew out with my aunt, uncle, and Ryan. Jake's brother and mum flew in from Texas. It was a stunning day, the best day ever. on a deck looking out to a beautiful lake.
If you got to the end of this first Blog well you deserve a medal. There are loads I can Blog about if interested. The dress, the hen night, there is tons. That is just a shortened tale for me to introduce myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to adding more as time goes on.
Much Love Lynn xx
Life, The Universe and Everything
42, the ultimate answer. Nobody knows what it really means, to understand that you would have to know the ultimate question. But that is not the purpose here. the purpose here is to ask the most relevant question of the moment. Will this blog actually happen? Who knows. There are always big plans to do something with this space. I have a domain name for 2 years...will it result in some mismanaged money or will it result in a chapter of life that is exciting and new? Only time will tell and getting things off the ground really depends on the activity levels.
The goals of this year are ambitious. 1) Type the family recipes and do something meaningful with them, 2) start container gardening some vegetables and see how that goes, and 3) find someplace permanent to call home.
The odds of those all 3 happening are pretty slim. Enjoying life with the wife? That is something I can do. Where the dedication and life of this blog go are unknown. Hopefully I can get Lynn in here to add her 2 cents.
The goals of this year are ambitious. 1) Type the family recipes and do something meaningful with them, 2) start container gardening some vegetables and see how that goes, and 3) find someplace permanent to call home.
The odds of those all 3 happening are pretty slim. Enjoying life with the wife? That is something I can do. Where the dedication and life of this blog go are unknown. Hopefully I can get Lynn in here to add her 2 cents.
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