My First: laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Well, that sounds impressive doesn't it!lol All it means really is that I had my Gallbladder removed via keyhole surgery this week! I thought I would share this week with my friends this way, it saves me explaining what happened a few times and might make interesting reading to someone looking up the subject online as well :-)

As you all know a few weeks ago I had an ERCP which removed a load of gall stones which had become stuck in my bile duct and replaced them with a stent to prevent it from happening again while I waited to have my gallbladder removed. Well, Saturday night I started having a lot of pain again but nothing that I've not become used to so Dave went to sleep and left me to it as I asked him to. At 4 am I woke him and asked him if he would take me to the hospital, I'd just been sick and there was some blood in it, not much but it made the pain I was feeling so much worse and I knew there was something very wrong inside me.

When we got to the Hospital some of the staff seemed to recognise me even though it was months ago I last went through there, they understood what I was telling them and gave me some painkillers to help (and then even more when they didn't work!lol) After a couple of hours, some blood tests and X-rays I was admitted and moved to ASU and from there on to a surgical ward where for the first 3 days I shared with the same 3 women and had a a good time with them.

When I saw the doctor in the morning, he said I had an infection and because I was already being treated by someone over there he was going to prescribe some antibiotics and get in touch with my usual consultant for him to take over my care since he knew my history better and there was a chance that since I was there anyway he might want to do my operation if he could fit me in!

When I saw him he explained that sometimes the stents could cause infections and I was unlucky enough to be someone that this happened to and I don't regret having it put in as it solved a lot of my problems so I would not go back and not have it put in even with the problems it caused. He also said that he would like to remove my gallbladder while I was there and I was put on the list for the next day (Tuesday), sadly there were a few emergencies that came in that day and I was moved to Wednesday but I was kind of relieved when they said I wasn't having it Tuesday as I'd had an odd thing happen which at the time was annoying but looking back it was quite funny!

In the afternoon my pain was getting worse so I asked for my oral morphine to be switched to the injections which worked a bit better for me, the nurse agreed and went to prepare it. When she started to inject it into me, the syringe exploded and covered both me and her with the medicine! Sadly this meant I had to wait an hour to see if I'd gotten any of it before they could give me any more but looking back it probably looked quite funny for anyone seeing/hearing about it and it does put a smile on my face thinking about it now and that wasn't my only needle mishap either!

On Wednesday I was second on the list so was taken down to theatre quite early. I had a few laughs with the staff who were there to look after me while I was got ready and being anaesthetised and was complemented on how calm I was, having had a couple of operations in the past, I knew that if you were stressed or worried it just makes it all so much worse, keeping calm makes all the meds work better and means a better outcome for me and probably a better time for those looking after me too :-)

After I came to I had to stay in recovery for a bit longer, I'd had my other needle incident! When they tried to administer the paralytic drug there had been a problem and they'd had to put another needle into me and give me another dose so they had to make sure I came out of it all OK which I did. I was moved back to the ward after lunch and was soon well enough to call Dave and text Cathy and Dawn to let them know I was back in the land of the living and all was well.

I saw my consultant the next morning and he told me he'd left a tiny piece of my gallbladder behind to keep the stent in place and from causing any more harm but that small piece would do me no further harm and the stent would be removed in 6-8 weeks. He also told me my gallbladder was very seriously infected so I'm so glad I listened to my body and went back last weekend as if I hadn't things could have been so much worse for me. He had put a drain in which he said could be removed Friday morning and if there were no problems I could go home YAY!

I spent the rest of Thursday continuing my work which I'd started the night before, I was determined to get better and back to normal as soon as possible and so with the approval of the nurses on the ward I was up and walking around as much as I could without doing too much. By the end of Thursday I was walking normally and able to get in and out of bed unaided, the nurses actually complimented me on how much I was helping myself get better and how well I was doing with it so I figured I was doing a good job :-D

Friday came around and so did my last visit with my consultant, he was very happy with me and my progress and said I could be discharged after having my drain out and set about prescribing my meds and after care so I set about getting myself ready and late morning the nurses came and removed my drain (which wasn't as bad as last time I had one out thankfully!) so I went and got washed up dressed and set about waiting for my drugs to turn up and discharge paperwork. As soon as that came I called Dave and got picked up and brought home.

I now feel so much better, I cant feel that pain anymore and it's such a relief that I know I'm never going to feel that again either. Yes, I'm a bit achey and I have enough tablets I need to take for the next week I think I'm going to rattle but I'm glad it's done now. I know some of you reading this will feel upset for me getting the infection from the procedure that I had done but please stop and think about the big picture. I needed to have that done, the infection was not intended it's just something that can happen in a small number of cases and without me having that, I'd still be in pain every day until June/July when I was scheduled to have my operation. So yes, it was a dangerous thing to happen but I'm glad it did as the end result was so worth it.

Finally, if any of them are reading this, I would love to thank the staff of Southampton General Hospital and especially the nurses from F6 and all the other doctors, nurses and other staff involved in my care who helped me so much, you're all amazing!

My First: ERCP

As most of you know this week I was in hospital to have an ERCP done to remove some gallstones which had left my gallbladder and become stuck in my bile duct. I was a little concerned when I went in as even with all the research I'd done about this procedure, I still wasn't exactly sure what would happen to me.

After getting my bed, having my vitals checked and being decked out in a gown it really wasn't very long till I was being wheeled down to radiography to have it done. I was first amazed at how much equipment they used, the little X-ray room was soon filled with trolleys carrying lots of different equipment alongside quite a few members of staff to monitor me as well as use everything! I also had 2 medical students in there as well, they have to learn somehow and I knew I'd be kind of unconscious so I didn't mind!lol

Once I was settled I was fed a cocktail of drugs and didn't feel a thing for ages but I came to a little early and they were still removing the stones (there seemed to be loads of them!) which was a little uncomfortable but the nurse was reassuring me as it wasn't much more they had to do. She was right too, before long I could feel the snaky thing coming back up and I was so glad I had a numb throat and mouth, it's a very odd feeling!lol

I was taken back to the ward and told not to eat or drink for 4 hours as they'd had to make a small cut since it was my first ERCP and they were checking me every 15 mins to make sure nothing had gone wrong. It was here I started to notice a real difference in me, since I've been attending hospital this year, my blood pressure has been incredibly high (the top number over 200 and the bottom over 120 each time and going much higher) which has been worrying to everyone who has seen me. Well, the first time they took my readings it was already lower than it has been all year and after 2 hours it was down to around 145/85 and stayed around there until I was released the next morning (I was on the afternoon list so had to stay overnight)

Now a could of days on, I've noticed so many other changes in me as well, I have more energy, I'm eating properly and I feel happy. It does make me wonder just what damage those stones were doing to me for all this to have changed in such a short time. There can be complications after having this done but thankfully, I don't seem to have any symptoms so I'm not worried about having to have it done again after I have my gallbladder removed. I only have to have it done again as they put a stent in to my bile duct to try to prevent this from happening again while I wait to have the operation done, so that will be much quicker and now I just have to wait for the next letter from the hospital but having this done will make the wait much easier no matter how long (or short) it is.

My First: Percy Pig Easter Egg!

Now I'm sure most of you can remember how disappointed I (and a few of you too) were last year when these all sold out very quickly and we were left pig-less at Easter! Well, thank you very much to M&S, they have them back this year and when we went there last night there were loads of them in stock, and since it's only 2 weeks till Easter I managed to persuade Dave to buy me one.

I know I wont be able to eat much of it but I'll be able to eat a little if I can bear to break him (he is very cute!lol)

I haven't actually seen any advertising for these yet (am I not looking or have I just missed it all?lol) but after what happened last year, if you want one too, go get one quick, they have a nice long shelf life so they will last and they are on 3 for 2 at £6 each right now too!

My First: Burned iron :-(

I'm the sort of person who actually enjoys ironing, I find it relaxing (I know many of you don't and no, I wont do yours for you, I have enough of my own to do thanks!lol) but today I had a major problem with my ironing. Part of the way through ironing a delicate shirt I must have nudged the heat dial higher as when I checked after, it was set a lot higher than I had when I started so yep, it melted it and I ended up with a yukky black smudge across the plate and a huge hole in the shirt (kinda lucky it was one of Dave's really, he has loads!lol)

After doing some googling I found some products I could get to help (my iron has a non stick plate so I cant use the wire wool option!lol) but someone suggested while the iron was still hot, apply a damp very cold sponge carefully to the smudge suggesting that it would peel off. I figured it would have to be worth a go, it couldn't make things worse anyway so I turned the iron back on to heat the plate back up, ran a sponge under the cold tap till it was nice and cold and tried it. I couldn't see any difference to be honest so I turned it off again and gave up.

A while later I went up to put the iron away and thought the smudge looked a bit different so I nudged it with the tip of my finger and sure enough it moved! I carefully peeled it back and almost all of it peeled off in one piece! I simply used a rough towel and buffed the plate to remove the remaining particles and YAY my iron's back to normal again. I just had to share my mishap incase it happens to any of you too since the solution to it is so easy (and free!)

My First: iPad Game

This one is entirely Zoe's fault over at Splodz Blogz, she made a post this week about a couple of games she's been playing on her iPad and one of them looked so much fun that I just had to try it out for myself.

It's a bit like the games I love playing on Facebook where you have to build things to raise money to be able to build new things. You get tasks to complete which advance you through the game but with this one being The Simpson's it's just that much more fun! You get to order about the characters that we all know and love from the TV show, getting them to complete jobs while you build the town up again (yes, Homer did destroy Springfield yet again!lol) I've been playing it for a couple of days now but I'm totally hooked and looking forward to seeing what the game has in store for me over the next few days/weeks/months :-D

And if you want to play too, please add me as a neighbour, I'm MunchKim2013

My First: Hair Mask

I know I have won some of these a few times over the years but my hair's always been in really good condition so I've given most away to friends and family. Unfortunately I had to use one recently, a set of hair products I was sent to trial left my hair extremely dry and brittle after 2 uses (yes I did stop using them then and reported this to the company) so I needed to find something to help me out of the mess my hair was in.

The answer was sat on my shelf from a win last month, I was lucky enough to win a Herbal Essences Intensive Hair Mask on Twitter and it was just sat there looking at me. I've always had good results from this brand, I know some people have problems with them but I'm sorry, they smell good and my hair likes them so I will continue to use them.

Anyway, after just one use (used instead of conditioner & left on for 5 mins) my hair was straight back to normal again, soft and silky and looking healthy, so I'll certainly be keeping it handy incase I have any bad hair experiences again!

My First: Passport!

Yes, I know I probably should have got myself one of these years ago but the need just didn't arise until recently but anyway I started the process in December and finally this week I received my first passport.

I really cant wait to use it, there are so many firsts I can have from this one too, first flight, first time in each country, there are so many to look forward to :-D

I will be back .... again!

I had such a promising start to the year with this blog didn't I? And I really did mean to keep it going but sometimes life gets in the way sadly. I know some of you know what is going on with me but I wanted to explain here as well incase anyone had missed it and thought I'd just given up on my blogging challenge to myself this year (I haven't by the way, it's just on hold temporarily)

A week or so into December last year I had quite a bad bout of gall stone pain which was quickly followed by what we suspected to be norovirus (vomiting & diarrhoea for a couple of days) and then I had more stomach cramps again which seemed to be something some people suffered from after having that horrible virus. All over Christmas most times I ate I would get crippling pains but I managed to cope and we had a good if quiet time together while Dave was off work.

A couple of weeks ago the pain got really severe one night and Dave took me over to A&E, they kept me in overnight while they ran some tests but there wasn't time to do the ultrasound scan as I was getting really stressed and my blood pressure was getting far too high. They sent me home and last week I went in again and had the scan done. The operator told me what she'd found and after a bit of googling I discovered that it would probably mean me having to have an operation which has been confirmed by my consultant this week. I really need to have my gallbladder removed now and one of my stones has escaped it and become stuck in my bile duct and that is what is causing me so many problems right now.

So thats where things stand right now, I'm waiting to have a scope go down my throat to pick out that escaping stone (about 2 weeks he said) and also to have my gall bladder removed via keyhole surgery (about a month on this one) both of which will be new things for me so they do kind of fit in with my plan for this year but not exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for really.

Anyway, on the bright side, I have my interview arranged for getting my first passport (another first here you see) and I know, no matter how stressful being in hospital might be for me it will be worth it as I'm getting rid of the part of me that has caused me so much pain on and off for virtually my whole adult life (I've also heard that it can help with weight loss having it out so there's another positive too!lol)

My First: White Chocolate Lion Bar!

Last year my friend Kym (yes this one is all your fault!lol) told me about white chocolate lion bars, I'd never heard of them before but was instantly curious. I used to love normal lion bars but for the past few years Nestle milk chocolate has given me terrible heartburn so I have avoided it. Their white chocolate however has not presented me with any problems which made me even more keen to try these out. After hunting for them I managed to find someone selling them on Amazon and added them to my Christmas wish list for Dave to select my gifts from. Luckily for me he chose to buy them but sadly they didn't get delivered in time, in fact they were only finally delivered to us this week!

Because of my health this week I've only tried a small piece of one, Dave has done some more rigorous testing though and given them a thorough thumbs up!lol

The piece I did try was really good, very very sweet however so don't try these unless you have a real sweet tooth, they will be too much for you! They start off being sweet and crispy and after a little chew they go creamy and soft, possibly a little too sweet for me but I'm sure I wont mind having a couple every so often while the ones I have last!

Be careful what you ask for ...... around me!

Me: Do you want a mince pie?

Dave: Please

Me: hot?

Dave: Yes

Me: Cream?

Dave: Yep

Me: Do you want me to do it?

Dave: If you don't mind

Me: A little or a lot?

Dave: ...... A lot!

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Yes there is a mince pie under all that cream!lol

1st First on the 1st!

Well, I've already done something that I've never done before, I've set myself a list of things I'd like to win and written them down here!

Each year there seems to be one challenge or another and I join in to some which appeal to me, fun ones I remember were winning the Alphabet and win a prize a day, both were quite difficult to complete and so last year I set an easy one (to win less tat) and I succeeded with that too!

I've never really gone for the win a wishlist ones before though as I really don't want to appear to be greedy especially with the things I've won over the years I've been comping already so I took some time and really thought about what I would like to win. Yes, some things are for other people but I always try to help my friends and our family out with the things I win anyway. And Yes, I have been deliberately vague with them as well, mostly this is because I've won so much recently, I'm not really sure what I want exactly right now.

 

I did have an all time wishlist but the last 2 years have wiped that out (well, except for the lawn mower but that's not for this house anyway) with winning a BBQ, Xbox, iPad and just last month a 3D TV but I'd just had that list in my head and heart. So now I've let my wishlist out into the world, I wonder what will come from it, I'll certainly be letting everyone know what does/doesn't :-D

A year of Firsts!

I've decided to set myself a fun challenge this year, something that will stretch me a bit and I'm not sure I'll be able to complete but it should be fun and I really hope I'll keep it going this time! :-)

I've decided to try something new every week this year, from a new recipe or food to new genre's in music/film and books right through to getting my first passport, going on my first foreign holiday and (hopefully) us buying our first house together! So there's some small, some huge and I'm sure I'll think up some middling ones too through the year and if any of you have any idea's for new things to try (please bear in mind I'm not very fit & have agoraphobia when you make suggestions!lol) I'd love to hear from you :-D

So now to think up something new to try this week ...... I'll get back to you soon &

Walkers Deep Ridged Crisps

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Sam at Walkers Crisps Twitter asked me if I'd like to try out their new crisps and tell all of you about them. Well, I wasn't going to turn him down now was I?lol

On Monday a box appeared in my doorway, I eagerly opened it and I was amazed at the size of the bags! They're quite a bit bigger than the ones I'm used to (these weigh 50g) they're more like the grab bags you get in the services. They come in 4 flavours (Flame grilled steak, Salt & malt vinegar, Mature cheddar & onion and Ready salted) and the packaging makes them look a bit special too don't you think?

These 3 flavours are the only ones available in the 50g bag but all 4 can be found in 28g and 100g sizes.

And on to the testing, well, the flavours are exactly how you would expect them to be, the Flame grilled steak is nice and meaty, the Mature cheddar & onion is very cheesy and the Salt & malt vinegar (I'm told as Dave tried these ones) is strong and tasty. All of them do have very powerful flavourings, the ridges do seem to collect a lot more flavouring than other designs of crisps but it never becomes overpowering. One good thing about them as well is that they are very filling, with some smaller packs you don't feel like you've eaten much, if anything due to the lack of contents in the bag. Well, I'm happy to say these have a really good amount of crisps in the packet, here, see for yourself

Believe me, these aren't small crisps either and they crunch really nicely, they don't turn to potato-ey mush within a couple of chews so they really are nice to munch on ...... although maybe don't take them to the cinema, you will get some dirty looks from the rustling and crunching as you eat them!lol

I guess there is one more thing I really need to put on here and that's the nutritional information as supplied on the packs:

	Flame Grilled Steak	Salt & Malt Vinegar	Mature Cheddar & Onion
Calories	258 (13%)	256 (13%)	260 (13%)
Sugar	2.2g (2%)	0.9g (1%)	1.0g (1%)
Fat	15.0g (21%)	15.3g (22%)	15.4g (22%)
Saturates	1.3g (6%)	1.2g (6%)	1.3g (7%)
Salt	0.78g (13%)	0.91g (15%)	0.81g (14%)

Ready salted (taken from the website rather than a packet) and these figures are for a 28g bag where those above are for a 50g bag

	Ready Salted
Calories	148 (7%)
Sugar	0.1 (1%)
Fat	9.0 (13%)
Saturates	0.7 (4%)
Salt	0.35 (6%)

I know some of these figures look wrong but they are what is written on each packet, I'm assuming 1.3g of saturates is borderline between 6% and 7%!lol

Also some of the figures are high but these are not supposed to be eaten with every meal but rather as part of a whole balanced diet and as such they are a very delicious and filling snack that we will enjoy occasionally.

Samsung Olympic Pins competition!

I had a really lovely surprise this week, amazingly my application to become a Samsung Mobiler was accepted YAY! After seeing Alison (Dragons&Fairydust) and Chris (Mummy of 3 Diaries) hard at work with this over the last year I have to say I'm a bit nervous but mostly excited to see what the year ahead will bring!

My first task has just arrived in my inbox and that is to let you all know about this android app and competition that Samsung have developed. From what I've seen it sounds like you really need to be either living in London or working there as you need to collect pins from different locations within the city. The app guides you to where and when you need to be in order to collect the pin and there are some great prizes on offer as you can see below

If you're having trouble reading the details from the image, the first 100 people who collect all 49 pins will receive a Samsung GALAXY S III and the grand prize (drawn at random from all those who collect them all) is listed as a "Global Travel Ticket to exciting destinations"

Now all that sounds like fun doesn't it, so you'll want to know where you can get your hands on the app itself, well you can go here and find the link to install and more information about it as well! I think the only thing left for me to say here is

Easy Home Bake - Oaty Cookie Dough

As I'm a BzzAgent I sometimes get products to test and on this occasion it is a very yummy one!

I joined up to a campaign to test the new Tesco Easy Home Bake range. I was sent some vouchers to gain some free products and more to share around. I exchanged one of my vouchers for the Oaty Cookie Dough and have just made and tasted them.

Calling the range 'Easy home Bake' doesn't even come close, all I had to do was warm the dough in my microwave for 30 secs and then spoon out 12 balls, place in the oven and wait for them to cook. Totally simple and I think anyone could cope with this to achieve results which look and smell like completely homemade. The real beauty of these for me was that the cook can decide which style of cookies to bake, I love those big chewy bakery style ones so I made mine like that but if you prefer smaller, crispy ones then you can make those instead, you could even press in fruit or chocolate to make different flavours and personalise them more. This is how mine came out:

As you can see I ended up with a variety of sizes, mostly because I was stingy with how much I used for each of the first 6 I made but there is a generous quantity of dough included so you can make them larger which is what I did with the second tray of 6.

The taste is slightly sweet for me but Dave enjoyed them and I have to say there was not much of an oaty taste to them, more a gentle hint but they are very nice. Mine came out of the oven and cooled just how I liked them in 12 mins, that is crisp round the edge with a chewy centre.

Over all I have to say I am impressed with these and am looking forward to trying more of the range.

Some oddness!

Over the Christmas period I received quite a few packages most days and achieved quite a collection of rubber bands. It made me wonder how many I get in a year so starting on the 1st of January this year I collected each band that came with the post (and only Royal Mail deliveries counted in this) and made them into a ball. Here's a picture of where my pet band ball is up to now along with a coin to help you see how he's doing. Hopefully he'll continue to grow this year and I'll share with you all how he grows ...... I just need to think up a name for him now!

Well, I did say there was some oddness here!lol

Now and to come!

Well, as expected I put on a little over my Birthday and Easter but not much and my fitness is getting better and better all the time. My skirt size has gone down again which I'm really happy about especially as we have an event to go to this weekend and I hope that I might give some people a surprise, well, maybe anyway. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes wearing the right sizes compared to my old comfy (very baggy) clothes, still there's a long way to go before I'll be clothes shopping, I have a good stock that I didn't ditch as I put on the weight, they'll do till I'm happy with myself

As for other highlights coming up, I've got a few review products I'm waiting for which is good. Some cleaning products which are always good to try out, these ones are 'green' so I'll be interested to see how they compare to my usual chemicals!lol Also there's some baking goodies (I know, I know diet but a little is OK to have!) not just cakes but also different types of breads as well. I've a couple of books, one is here but since I've just started a new one, it'll have to wait a couple of days till it gets started!lol and the last one I know of right now is (look away gents!lol) some sanitary products which are always handy, it'll be interesting to see what they send as a selection to sample ..... and if there are any gimmicks with it, I remember one a few years ago that came with test tubes, it would have been a good idea except the items in question lengthened instead of widening!lol

Anyway, that's my quick update for now, more to come soon from me now I have things lined up to tell you all about

Confessing and a new start

It's obviously been a very long time since I last posted on here and even longer since I have done any sort of update on whats happening with my weight loss and so I think it's about time I came clean, confessed and started keeping this blog again as it DID help me and I found it fun to do.

And so to my confession, I got bored of the diet food, started trying to add different things into my diet, stopped weighing the food I was eating as my meal of the day and found excuses for everything I could to myself and those around me that were trying to support me. Luckily I snapped out of it this year and have started again but I will say, I don't regret that cheesecake we shared over Christmas ..... it WAS worth it!lol

Anyway, I didn't put on that much, only half a stone which over all these months isn't really that bad (especially as that included Christmas!) and I'm really pleased to say that I've managed to lose it and another bit on top as well and so I've now lost a total of 48.4lbs YAY!

The biggest thing I found to help me with this is to use a smaller plate. I now have most of my meals on a sandwich plate, it really does make it so much easier to have control over your portion of food when you don't have much plate to put it on! Also, eating slower, chewing smaller mouthfulls of food properly before swallowing and increasing the volume of water that I drink has helped as well. I know these are all basic steps that we are all encouraged to take when we start dieting and like most people I couldn't see what difference it would make but it does, it really does!

Finally, the most amazing change has happened in my fitness. I started back on the treadmill in January, slowly at first and gradually increasing the amount I do, I now do 2 miles most days and I feel so much better for it, my shape has changed a lot and my skirt size has reduced by another 3 sizes which I'm absolutely over the moon about, top size is only down by 2 but it's all headed in the right direction and WILL continue to now!

And so onto my new start, well as I said above I'm exercising a lot more than I was now and I am still kind of on the Slimfast plan, when the weather is cold though I switch out the lunchtime shake and have a bowl of soup instead, it's comparable on the number of calories but very warming and filling so for me this works well, only time will tell though I guess but I know it'll keep going as it has the last couple of weeks, I'm determined it will! I do expect a blip next week ...... I have a night out coming up which I fully intend to enjoy as I know it's only 1 night and I can lose the weight (if any) I gain from it over the new few days by being good again!

The Night before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey

I received a copy of this book after applying for one from the Ebury Women's Fiction Facebook page last month and very happily I was one of the lucky few to receive a copy.

All Lydia's ever wanted is a perfect Christmas...

So when her oldest friends invite her to spend the holidays with them, it seems like a dream come true. She's been promised log fires, roasted chestnuts, her own weight in mince pies - all in a setting that looks like something out of a Christmas card.

But her winter wonderland is ruined when she finds herself snowed in with her current boyfriend, her old flame and a hunky stranger. Well, three (wise) men is traditional at this time of year...

Christmas is just about my favourite time of year and so when I saw this book and read the synopsis I just had to get a copy and read it. It has all the elements that you'd expect from a Christmas story, lots of family troubles, arguments and the odd stolen kiss. Alongside the main story there are some nods made to the more traditional Christmas stories, there's the boyfriends (past, present and possibly future too) there's the heavily pregnant woman due to give birth and the modern favourite of being snowed in at a remote location.

The description of the setting is wonderful, a remote house outside a village in the Lake District with a colourful history all of it's own! But, what made this book such a page turner for me was that all the characters are so well written, you get to feel as if you know them and can sympathise with them and what they are all going through. You want to keep reading just to make sure that everything turns out OK and that our Heroine gets together with the right man in the end and that all is well with all of her friends and their relationships too.


It all works together to make for a great read and I really do recommend this for anyone especially with Christmas fast approaching us now, it's a great Feel Good tale