This was a hard one to answer. I’ve been contemplating it for some time now and it’s really hard for me to narrow it down to just one accomplishment! So many things have happened in my life, and so many seemingly ‘normal’ events have actually turned out to be a really big deal for me, as we never thought I’d be well enough to manage them.

I think for me though learning to drive would have to be my proudest life accomplishment. I applied for my provisional when I turned 16, which was exciting, for sure! I applied for lessons later that year but didn’t start my lessons until I nearly turned 17. (I could learn to drive at 16 due to a benefit I’m receiving).

My dad took me out in the car most nights in the early days of me learning. (We didn’t learn the brakes until the second lesson!). By the time I started learning with my instructor, I had already mastered most of the basics.

The lessons where intense, definitely. It really took it out of me, physically, and financially! I took and passed my theory with flying colours, and passed my test on the second attempt (due to a minor fault on the first which was unavoidable).

Learning to drive is something that I’m really proud I managed to accomplish. Many people assumed I’d be too ill to do it, and I loved proving those people wrong!

There’s other things I’m proud of as well, one of them being when I got my first tattoo. I’d planned to have it for years, and the tattoo itself had a lot of deeper meanings, so for me, going through the pain of getting it was 100% worth it! People say to me when they see it ‘Wow, that must of hurt’, and I get a kick out of that, for sure!

I’m also proud of gaining the courage to apply to the Open University. I’d put of studying in the IT field most of my life, as it was just something I was good at, I didn’t plan to take it on as my career. Eventually though a close friend encouraged me to apply, and here I am, studying for my Computing degree!

I’m proud of the setting up home with my Dad, it was a big thing for both of us, we had very little but managed to thrive for many years. Along those same lines, I’m proud of moving in with Richard in Coventry, they both where big accomplishments for me!

I think that’s about it. There has been so many things that I’m proud of, that it was hard to whittle it down to just one!

The thoughts on my mind at the moment though are mainly linked to the dairy intolerance. I’ve officially been on the diet over 3 and a half weeks now (and Richard on his Wheat and Gluten free diet, but that’s a whole different story), and I defiantly think I’m benefiting from the change. I think if it wasn’t for the flu, I would be feeling a bigger change than I actually am at the moment. The flu kinda cancels all the benefits out.

The whole reason for the diet in the first place, was to try and combat my migraines (which I’ve been plagued with for 4 or 5 years). I had my first migraine 3 or 4 days ago for the first time since the diet change, and I was completely surprised! I usually get extremely severe ‘medical’ migraines, but this time, it was actually quite mild! I’m praying that it’s due to cutting out the dairy. But then there’s the whole question of, if its the dairy intolerance that causes them in the first place, why did I get another attack? I just don’t know, it could have been a whole number of things!

I think we’re coping with the change pretty well. The way in which I did the weekly food shop had to completely change though, I couldn’t buy anything really that I’d usually buy. The ‘Free From’ range in Tescos is pretty great, they do several meal options that don’t have wheat, gluten or dairy in (which works great for both me and Richard), but I’m finding it a little difficult creating different meals, so the food we eat isn’t the same week in week out. I’m thinking a ‘Wheat, Gluten and Dairy Free’ cook book might be on my Christmas list!

Eating out is a whole different story though. We went to a Chinese noodle bar yesterday (which was great!), and somewhere along the lines we think Rich consumed Wheat and Gluten, and I felt pretty sick, so not sure If something I ate was dairy. Gets us down so we don’t eat out that much any more (which saves money for sure).

When we moved in, we had to decide whether we wanted to go with Sky, or Virgin (for the TV, broadband, and phone line), and we where initially leaning towards sky, until we had looked in to Virgin. It was Richard’s dad who first mentioned Virgin, and with the fiber optic broadband line with the faster Internet definitely leaned us towards Virgin. There TV system also seemed much better than Sky. I think sky is so over publicized.

We’d arranged for the Virgin installation. Unfortunately they couldn’t install until two weeks later (one week more than Sky had quoted us for), but we took that option because of the better services we’d hoped to get. Two weeks later, no sign of the installation guy, so we called up virgin for some advice on what had happened (a call that I later found out cost me £17….), they informed us the installation had been postponed for another two weeks due to an unforeseen problem. They apologized and later offered us £25 off of our first bill because of the hassle they’d caused, but to be honest, after the customer service and the cost of the phone called, I’m really not happy. We’d hoped they’d offer us more than Sky could in every way possible, but it seems that that ideal customer experience just isn’t possible. I think they are all just out to make money, like any other company.

Sadly we hadn’t been feeling that well really the weekend before we got the keys. We presumed it had just been a cold, and tried to get on with the weekend. We attended a family fireworks display that weekend, and we hid at home on the Sunday as we really where starting to feel rough..We managed to get the keys and get all of the stuff moved in on the Monday. By GOD was that a task. I’ve never known moving to be so stressful!

We did though, sadly, start to get sicker the next few days after we moved in. Rich had it worse than I did initially, and I decided in the end to call NHS direct (the out of hours doctors surgery), and they advised we called the flu pandemic line and was later diagnosed with Swine Flu. Great! All of the family we came in contact also fell ill (Richards parents, and brother and his wife, her sister and their parents. Somehow my dad avoided the whole thing!). I’m still feeling the effects of it (due to my M.E/C.F.S).

Since moving in, we’ve done very little, really. I started my search for a small part time job due to loosing my Income Support benefit. The search is going as well as to be expected. Due to having little work experience and only a handful of qualification due to my illness, I’m not holding out hope that I’ll get employment straight away. Theres a few jobs I’ve got my eye on, which would be perfect, but we’ll just have to see how fate deals its hand.

We managed to get our feet on the ground. We picked up a rug for the living room, and a coffee table relatively cheaply. We also bought a 2 piece suit for £100 at a second hand store (a charity which is a great cause). We’d already got quite a bit of the other stuff, although had to spend out for a new fridge/freezer and a washing machine, which couldn’t really be avoided.

The living room had been redecorated before we moved in (the owner paid for that work). The carpet is DISGUSTING though, so hence we bought a rug to cover some of it! The kitchen is just tiny. Theres room for a cooker, and a tiny amount of work surface; Coventry is a mining town, so the houses tend to be small, and the kitchens even smaller. We have three bedrooms, two of them doubles pretty much the same size, one of them having a double bayed window (which we’ll probably use as the master), with a small single. The single is larger than what you’d usually get in a house in this area though. The bathroom is also small (but does the job), no shower though, which is slightly off putting.

The garden space out side is what sold the property too us. Its a corner plot (which is rare, we where just lucky I think!). The garden starts at the front, and runs all the way around to the back which has a decent sized lawn. Theres also a shed, and garage, with space for a car in front. (We have the two motorbikes in the garage, and my car in front of it). Finding a property with not only a garage, but off road parking, is just, non existent . It seems people where just too off put by the decoration!

The decoration upstairs is just.. terrible. The owner wasn’t willing to paint up there. The bathroom has wallpaper half way up, which is slightly moldy and needs repainting (the carpet in the bathroom is slightly stained too, but will be better with a bath mat). The hallway, I can’t describe. The painters only painted half way up the stairs, then claimed they ran out of funding and didn’t take the painting any further up! The hallway upstairs will need to be repainted, it’s mainly just the stair rails and the doors (which are pink). The first double bedroom is a creamy yellow, and livable, but the master bedroom was PINK! Oh the curse of pink bedrooms.

We’ve started to paint out the master bedroom (as we’re currently living in the back double). The walls took two coats of cream, and the ceiling also two coats of white. The ceilings and skirting boards and rails where stained a nasty yellow colour due to the previous tenant smoking in the bedroom so it all needed re painting. We’re hoping to get the second coat of gloss on today or tomorrow.

As for property repairs, when we moved in 3 of the lights down stairs didn’t work, so we had to call in engineers to fix it. The fire had been condemned shortly before we moved in, so we had to fight for the owner to provide an electric heater as the central heating just wasn’t cutting it and we where pretty cold the first few days! The garage door also needed replacing, which has now been done. The roof in the conservatory is also now leaking, which we’re told isn’t repairable, so the whole roof needs to be replaced. URG! Chances of the owner paying for that is slim though. The guy that came to look at it said it would probably take over a day to repair if it wasn’t replaced. This all means we can’t lay our carpet in the conservatory, which means it’s being unused at the moment.

Apart from all of that, we love the place! We had some problems with some kids on the property the first day we moved in (which ended up with the police being called, but that was quick and painless with Richard working in the force). The next door neighbors also seem slightly.. annoying. They keep throwing moldy bread in to the garden which the dog keeps eating, and then they keep us up at night with knocks and bangs and shouting, but, we can live with it at the moment!

As for this weekend, my dad arrives today, and we have a local rock concert tomorrow with family, which should be a lot of fun!

For now, I’ll leave it there, that pretty much covers everything that’s been happening the past few weeks.

Adios (for now!)