Blog No 168 – UK Mother’s Day

Today is Mother’s Day in the UK, therefore Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there. I’m unfortunately not a mother but I’m a Godmother and Aunt so I’m as good as a mother on another level. I got a beautiful card from my Goddaughter H for Mothers Day. Thank you H 💕

Considering I was living in Canada for years, I’m still tuned in to Mother’s Day being in May, I guess its hard to switch off. This year all mothers are in lockdown so I hope all children have been very creative. I’m sure more thought has to go into gifts and trying to make their day as special due to covid restrictions.

I’ve already spoke to my mother today and she is lavished with cards & gifts. She said she was going to have a relaxing day and have some chocolate.

To all those children who have lost their mother’s, I’m sure it’s a very hard day for you. Nevertheless, I’m confident that all your mothers are smiling as they’ve never been forgotten by their loved ones.

Can I include pets as my children, I’m sure there is a lot of people who do. My pets Lottie (dog) & Hamish (cat) have selfishly absorbed all the love today with cuddles and belly rubs.

I hope all new & old mothers have a wonderful day. Love to you all. 💗

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Blog No 145 – Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our wedding anniversary. Another year has passed, yet it only seems 5 minutes ago we got married. It was such a perfect day we celebrated with family and friends.

We’ve done so much in our married life, I hope there is room for more adventures to come. Mr Zebrakat told me last night, wouldn’t it have been good, if I had taken you back to our honeymoon destinations. He said he was going to hand me flight tickets to Miami and then on to the Bahamas. I would have been shocked but it wouldn’t be the first time he had surprised me with a trip. I just remember the heat in Miami this time of the year was unbelievable temperatures. How I would kill right now for a blue sea, an ocean breeze and sand in my flip flops.

Instead my sister in law invigorated me with coffee aroma and sweet bakes. Basically speciality coffees, plain scones with butter and jam preserve. The last couple of days especially Tuesday, I was so ill, I feel like I’m starting to get a bowel blockage again as I have the typical symptoms. Them dam pesky tumours won’t leave me alone, they are always wanting a nibble of my fine dining.

Mr Zebrakat gave me a beautiful bouquet in our wedding theme colours and took me to a local Italian restaurant. We both started with drinks as neither of us wanted a starter. Our main course choice was the same.

Beef Involtini Stuffed with Parma Ham, Pine Nuts & Basil in a Rich Tomato Sauce with Linguine & Garlic Buttered Green Beans

And for dessert, the top plate is Rhubarb and Custard Semifreddo with Poached Rhubarb and Pistachio Cream

The bottom plate dessert is Elderflower Infused Panna Cotta with Raspberries & White Chocolate Crumble and Peach Syrup.

The meal was excellent. A very quaint restaurant in the town and even though it was a Wednesday night the restaurant was fully booked and they had to turn people away.

Mr Zebrakat thank you, thank you for absolutely everything you do for me. You are an amazing individual with the kindest heart and I couldn’t wish for a more dedicated husband. Happy Anniversary ❤️ Now leave me alone to continue dreaming about blue seas……..

Weekly Blog No 116 – Goodbye 40’s and Hello 50’s.

I had previously mentioned in a blog that when I was diagnosed with cancer, I put out to the universe, to please let me reach my 50th Birthday. I’m glad to report, I made it. I do believe its a combination of a positive attitude and gaining a knowledge on Carcinoid Cancer.

The last decade was a mixture of excitement and emotions. We moved to Canada experiencing everything Canadian. Then I suffered with my spine and endured 4 surgeries. To add to the emotions, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer. Yet my husband & I continued to enjoy Canadian life with such amazing friends. 3 Cancer ops later it was time to go home to be nearer to my family in UK and Ireland. We have no regrets but my heart is still in Canada. Therefore goodbye to my forties and hello to my fifties.

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has been telling me I look mid to late 30s. I have to thank my parents Irish genes for that one because its nothing I have done. I haven’t had any invasive beauty treatments or used any special beauty products.

Last week, I was fortunate to have friends come and see me throughout the week. We celebrated with bucks frizz, coffee and tea. There was chatting over a variety of cakes and fresh fruit. I do love a girly gatherings because there is no subject out of bounds and the room is always full of giggles.

Saturday was my birthday and I was showered with birthday cards. Every available surface was covered with cards of love. I got balloons full of helium floated in euphoria. I had flower arrangements, salt and peppered around my house. I was sprinkled with gifts of generosity. The house was full of bliss and kindness.

I’m so so grateful to everyone who made my birthday so special. My 50th Birthday is one I shall always remember. Thank you.

Love to you all. ❤️

Weekly Blog No 93 – It’s My Birthday

 

I’m happy to report I’ve made another birthday and I’m still in my 40’s. When you are informed by a doctor that you have cancer you certainly don’t anticipate celebrating many birthdays in the near future. This is in fact my 4th birthday since diagnosis, however my Oncologist did inform me in 2014, I have about 3 yrs to live so if his prediction is correct this is my last birthday. I can assure you im not treating this as my last birthday

My intention was to get some of my friends together for coffee and cake but I’ve not been so good lately, which is a shame as I do love, a girlie get together.

I was showered with cards and gifts from family and friends. I literally got everything  I needed and Zebrakat favorites. I have a stash of reading material. Some new authors and bibliographies to open my mind up to other people’s lives. Some music to pass the time away whilst doing chores. I shall smell beautiful from all the products that I received.  I can indulge in some online shopping too, the gifts were endless. Thank you to all those people who showered me with gifts.

My birthdays are not exactly celebrated like I used too. I have even been known in the past to be in some exotic location on my birthday consuming cocktails. I will continue to make the best of every birthday where ever I am, that’s for sure. ❤

Weekly Blog No 88 – UK Garden Centre’s

Today I was feeling a little better so I seized the opportunity to venture out to buy some gifts. Mr Zebrakat & I went to a local garden centre as they are a mecca for unusual gifts. Gone are the days of garden centres just offering trees and plants.

We started to walk around and I spotted this cute little bird house resembling a British post box.

Then we spotted a scarecrow looking very familiar to Worzel Gummidge.  Worzel Gummidge was a children’s programme in the late 70s about a scarecrow that comes to live and his girlfriend Aunt Sally.

We maneuvered our way around the garden centre in the garden ornaments and came across these cute animals.

Around the corner was the Christmas section, starting to develop with Santa and other associated Christmas theme animals.

The next section was gifts but I can’t show this section because I don’t want to spoil the surprises for the individuals. However I did buy this book  “Mary Berry” cook book for myself to try out some recipes.

Following the gift section you navigate your way through the food section, where we brought a few goodies.

The blackcurrant jam was bought for nostalgic reasons, I believe my grandma used to make blackcurrant jam in Ireland.

The last stop was the café, which has always a good experience with its various food & drink choice. Mr Zebrakat had a full English breakfast priced at £4.75, not only was it overpriced but it was luke warm and didn’t come with toast. We shan’t eat there again as it was a massive disappointment.

Do you have a great place to shop for gifts, let me know.

Weekly Blog No 30 – Woman Together Can Be Dangerous.

This year I made a big thing about my birthday because last year I was preparing for a liver resection. It’s fair to say I really don’t know how many more birthdays I’m going to have. Ideally I hope to have many more but the reality is I have an incurable disease and time is something I don’t have.

My symptoms cause me many problems, which can limit my day to day life. Although, I seem to have had a guardian angel on Monday & Tuesday because I was able to do things just like a normal person. It all changed on Wednesday and Thursday evening I went to see my GP and within 13 hrs, he had me having a scan. Further investigation is still required and I don’t know the outcome as yet.

On Monday, I spent a few hours with my coffee partner having spa treatments, which was amazing because as a rule sitting down all that time is not my normal day. We then had a coffee and soup in the famous Canadian coffee shop Tim Hortons. Thank you to my coffee partner for her lovely birthday presents and magical day. Thank you J for treating me to the luxury that was once my monthly ritual

It’s my birthday.

Today I had arranged for friends who I knew would not be working to come for coffee & cake. I was nervous because what if I had to leave my guests if I was feeling under the weather with symptoms. They are all good friends and I knew they would understand if that was the case.

The coffee machine was on giving off a dark roast aroma. The table was decorated with pinkness ie balloons and napkins etc. Serving plates were filled with an array of pink cakes. I’m ready.

First guest geordie girl arrives with balloons, gift bag and more pink cupcakes lol. Then comes along 2 more guests unknown to each other google queen & my bombay partner in crime both loaded with gifts, cards and flowers. Next comes my cockney sparrow loaded with gift bag, card and grain free, dairy free cup cakes. Finally its my little weegie loaded with gift bag unfortunately my fellow blogger was caught up in meetings so she was unable to attend.

Not all the girls had met each other before, however I knew the chat would flow. Armed with coffee & cake the conversation flowed, there was no subject out of bounds. We talked about the 80’s music, concerts, fashion, celebrities, TV shows and even Paddington Bear made an appearance. Now the gathering kicked off at 11am so no alcohol was involved yet for some reason we got onto explicit topics. I’m not sure if it was google queen or cockney sparrow who started the conversation but we were in stitches & horrified at the same time. In fact, I thought I was pretty street wise until I got this lot together yet it seems to me, I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life. I must explain the explicit topics was not the actions of the people and to be fair some of them would have been dam impossible because of their gender. I will have to give the invisible trophy to cockney sparrow for being the most educated in the explicit topics.

Woman can seriously be dangerous together and I would hate to think what we would all be like on an evening infused with alcohol. Laughter is good therapy

Thank you to my family & friends, I had a great birthday this year.

Weekly Blog No 23 – Thank you for your support

 

I’ve been a bit lapsed with my blog over the last month because I’m not lying I’ve been suffering. Over the last 4 weeks I’ve had a serious amount of medical visits, scans and bloods & urine tests. It’s draining to have cancer symptoms and the medical visits that come with the investigating if the disease is lurking somewhere else. Next Monday I will get the results but in the meantime I continue life as normal as best I can in the circumstances.

I want to say thank you to everyone as well. I’ve been showered with gifts, food parcels and flowers since my diagnosis, however strong I am the parcels certainly lift up the spirits. I’m blown away by people’s generosity and that people go to so much trouble for me. I do know if it was the other way around I would do the same but I would be more diligent since I’ve been ill myself.

I certainly appreciate my family and friends and these gifts of kindness unquestionably help me with the distance that we are apart. Having friends locally feel like my family and I have amazing people in my life, far too many to name. Gifts from home certainly indulgence my taste buds and enhance my memories.

Carcinoid cancer friends have given me answers to questions that I haven’t receive from the medical field. The zebra herd is a community of continuous support and source of information, which is truly invaluable to a patient.

My blog has been outlet for me but reading other people’s blogs/comments is priceless. I love reading people’s life experiences, hopes & dreams. Thank you to my followers and to all the people who blog.

A special dedication to my husband, I can’t thank you enough for your continuous support. I knew I was marrying my soul mate when I married you. You have never failed in your love and devotion to me. There is no way I could have dealt with this illness without your love and support. You’ve always been there for me and those qualities are worth a king’s ransom. You’re my best friend and you still make me laugh daily. I could never repay you for what you have done for me, nevertheless please know that I will always be grateful to you, and you have made me the happiest girl in the world. I love you 💚

Now everyone put you tissues away and enjoy life 😄