You can always talk to me…
(Eldest son & Bonnie 1984)
(c) Sherri Matthews 2013
This post was planned for yesterday, but as is so often the case my plans went slightly awry. No point explaining why, I will just say that sometimes we mums all know what it’s like when our time is needed to provide a listening ear even as our fingers are twitching desperately to get back on to the keyboard…at those times I have to remember what is most important…
So, back to business, which is to say I have some good news you will be pleased to know.
On Saturday I had the pleasure of receiving my flu jab (this is good news? Read on…)
I am entitled to this on the NHS because I am my daughter’s official carer (this always seems so strange to me since I am her mum so automatically I care for her but being recognised in this official capacity for the purposes of ‘carer’s rights’, I am entitled to a few things, the flu jab being one of them.)
However, I was not able to receive the jab until this tricky little business of the question of Lyme Disease was cleared up. Some of you will remember ‘Tickgate’, coming as it did fast and furiously on the heels of ‘Spamgate’ but for those who don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, click here and you can read all about it to bring you up to speed.
For those of you who may remember this unfortunate incident and my decision not to take antibiotics at the time, I should let you know that my GP recently sent me for blood tests. I couldn’t get the flu jab if my tests came back positive for fear of a reaction and I had to wait for the results.
So there I was, on Saturday morning at my doctor’s surgery, standing in a long line with people coughing and sneezing all around me (how long does it take for the vaccination to kick in??) and at last it came to my turn. I mentioned this little matter of Lyme Disease to the nurse since I had not heard back from the doctor and she confirmed that the results were negative and all was clear. Wonderful!
Now you understand why getting the flu jab is good news (aside from the glaringly obvious reason of being protected from getting the flu, one hopes).
The nasty red lump on my upper right arm that felt quite sore for a couple of days afterwards was nothing compared to what things could have been like if I had tested positive for the dreaded Lyme Disease. I took my chances, it paid off and I am very, very thankful.
The other piece of good news I would like to share with you all has absolutely nothing to do with medical matters but everything to do with writing.
Your Cat Magazine, BPG Media Ltd. November 2013 Edition
I submitted my article to Your Cat magazine last December. I was thrilled when the editor contacted me to say she liked it and wanted to publish it but that I should be prepared for a long wait.
Dear readers, I was patient, very patient, and now my patience has been rewarded! The November edition of Your Cat magazine is out today and you can find my article ‘Our Happy Reunion’ on page 56!
I am delighted to see this in print at last. The story is about our cats Maisy and Willow’s journey across the sea from America to the UK when we moved back ‘home’ and how important this was to our family – hence, ‘Our Happy Reunion’!
To celebrate, I took this photo of Maisy to share with you. This was taken shortly after I told her the great news that she is famous at last with her photograph appearing in a national cat magazine.
Maisy looking regal
(c) Sherri Matthews 2013
I think it may have gone to her head. But then she is entitled. Were it not for her, and dearly departed Willow (not forgetting the boy Eddie of course) there would have been no article in the first place.
All in all, I do feel quite happy today 🙂
Your Cat Magazine, BGP Media Ltd, can be purchased at WH Smith, Pets at Home and larger supermarkets in the UK for £3.25
A View From My Summerhouse 
Brilliant. Maisie does indeed look suitably sniffy to be regal. She is secretly very proud to be famous and is asking for her share of the payment!! Ha ha. So please to hear you have not got Lyme disease and congrats on getting your articla printed. I llok forward to reading it. much love xxx
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Thank you so much MP!! Yes, good news all round, much love to you too 🙂 xxx
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Congratulations Sherri, you are now a published author, this is a pretty big deal girl !!!
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Thank you very much Bob! It is a really great feeling I have to admit… 🙂
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Nice job, Sherri! I’m so happy for you! I’m also happy to hear you got the Lyme Disease beat. I have a friend who has suffered with the disease for years, it’s been debilitating for her.
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Many thanks Jill, yes, good news indeed but I’m very sorry to hear about your friend. Lyme Disease can very nasty indeed. I hope that she can beat it.
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I’m very pleased to hear you don’t have Lyme disease. What a horrible experience! I didn’t realise there were ticks in the UK. Australia has the dreaded paralysis tick which can kill a dog within 24 hours. Do you have those over here?
Congratulations on your published story! That is fantastic news. Can we read the story online?
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Many thanks Rachel! The link above will take you to the magazine but only shows a few ‘taster’ pages. It seems that it can’t be viewed online unless you take out a digital subscription. If you go to a WH Smith when you are out and about you should be able to find a copy of the mag there. Let me know if you manage to find it and read it!
So far as those ticks, no, I’ve not heard of those nasty paralysis ones here in the UK. I didn’t even know that Lyme Disease was here although I knew it was well known in the US. We were in Norfolk at the time when I got bitten and Thetford Forest apparantely has ticks that can carry it so that is why I was extra careful, even though we weren’t near the forest itself!!
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Congratulations on your publication, and beating Lyme.
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Many thanks M, I appreciate your good wishes 🙂
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Congrats, Sherri, on both of your good news items. Wow, published in a national cat magazine. I am jealous!!
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Thanks very much Bev! Ha ha! It took ages, I was actually suprised in the end as I seriously wondered if it would ever get published but the editor did warn me to be patient!
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Congratulations on being published Sherri! What an accomplishment. Shall you call it inspiration to continue on your larger project?
I had to go back and read on the tick incident and had to laugh at your reasons for not taking antibiotics!! But it did pay off it appears. I had a flu shot a few weeks ago and it takes I believe 2 to 3 weeks to take effect. I had mine on the same day as my daughter who ended up with the “flu mist”- which I recently learned is better for the younger population (but it does have live flu agents).That darn shot numbed my arm for a few hours!!
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Thanks very much Tieshka, and yes, it certainly is an inspiration to get going, absolutely… 🙂
Well, so far as the tick incident, I did take a chance but having read up on it I knew that I would be ok providing I made sure to keep on top of things and follow it up. So glad now that I didn’t take those horrible antiobiotics for nothing, they always upset my tummy very badly. So glad that I didn’t miss out on some summer fun too 😉
Yes, it does take about 2 weeks so I believe to ‘kick in’.
I didn’t know about the ‘flu mist’ being given to children, that wasn’t around when my kids were young. Is that for the swine flu too?
I know what you mean about the numb arm, mine really hurt for a couple of days, but all ok now 🙂
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Hi Sherri- yes, there is a flu mist for H1N1… I didn’t go to my daughters appointment but they gave her the regular flu vaccine via mist I believe.
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Well done Cat Woman! Lovely to be published.
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Ha Ha!! Thanks very much Jenny! Hmmm, Cat Woman…now that does give me an idea… 😉
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Please tell me it doesn’t involve a pink ensemble
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Well, Halloween is coming up…
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You are one very clever girl! What an achievement! Good choice of subject matter too as it must have been one big adventure/trauma (delete as appropriate) for the cats and a major event for yo as well.
Gorgeous cosy photo too – I think Maisy would have made a better cover myself, pretty kitty that she is.
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Ahh, thanks for the good wishes Denise! Yes, Maisy does look pretty doesn’t she! That photo wasn’t posed by the way, the ‘love’ cushion just happened to be behind her and she does love to lie on the red cusion – which is saturated with her fine, white fur 😉
I was so concerned that the journey would be as easy on the cats as possible and it was a very complicated affair. I couldn’t go into details about the Pet Scheme itself as the article is only 700 words (my original was twice that long and I had to cut it for the editor’s requirements) but it was well worth going through it all as there was no quarantine period once they got here. Otherwise I would never have put them through all of that.
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Congratulations on getting published Sherri! It’s a well-deserved honor. Keep on writing those amazing stories… I love reading them.
Maisy is a beautiful cat… her coloring is wonderful. We have a stray orange tabby cat that adopted our family about ten years ago.
So glad that you tested negative for Lyme disease. 🙂
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Thank you so much Theresa for your very kind wishes and also Maisy thanks you very much for the lovely compliment 😉 Her mother was feral and she was raised in a cat shelter from birth until we brought her home with us when she was 8 weeks old and weaned. Now she is 11!
I love tabby cats! Cats certainly do know who they like to be with so I’m not surprised to read that he/she chose your family to live with 🙂
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Hi Sherri, Very happy for you on all fronts.Thank God, you have tested negative for this awful disease, and also for the fact that you are now, a PUBLISHED AUTHOR! Great job. The best to you. Blessings.
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Thanks so much Johnny, you are very kind, your good wishes & blessings on all fronts mean a great deal, and I wish you the very same 🙂
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I’m glad to hear all is well with your health. Congratulations on your published article. That’s exciting for you and Maisy. Sometimes I wonder if I should be doing more writing for magazines, but as you’ve so accurately described, patience is required.
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Thank you very much Christine! I started off writing for magazines with the hope that I could gain experience with submitting query letters, preparing manuscripts and contacting editors. I did actually have my first ever full length article published in Prima magazine this April, and my first short story for their competition last November. I had submitted my cat article to Your Cat at around the same time but it took this long to be published! I want to continue with submitting to magazines but since I started my blog in January I haven’t done as much and yes, a great deal of patience definitely is required 🙂
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Sherri, just saw this…CONGRATULATIONS!!! Oh, my, I’ll have to see if I can find the mag here. Will buy up copies and brag about you to all my friends. That is wonderful news. Bravo, girlfriend!
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Ahh, thanks so much Susan, I really appreciate it and all your support 🙂
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Congratulations Sherri! I’m so proud of you and Maisy, she’s so cute!! Do have a great weekend!!
Much love. 🙂
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Thank you so much Seyi, how lovely of you to say! Glad you enjoyed the photo of Maisy too! You have a great weekend, with love coming your way 🙂
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So glad you didn’t have Lyme Disease! Congrats on your article being published…what a sweet kitty!
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Thanks so much for very kind wishes on all fronts, it means a lot. Have a lovely weekend 🙂
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Echoing the happy sentiments–congratulations!
I also wanted to let you know that you’re featured at the pumpkin party today– thank you for contributing! http://tracyleekarner.com/2013/10/18/its-october-join-our-pumpkin-party/
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Thanks so much Tracy, and wow, that’s so wonderful, I can’t wait to come over to the party! I feel very honoured to be featured at your pumpkin party today and I look forward to visiting everyone else’s ‘homes’ too! You really are a star 🙂
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Seems I’m a bit late to the party but congratulations on both counts, great news. Published article ooooh get you! 😉
Lovely kitty too. We have a cat called Maisie! A right feisty old battleaxe, definitely the boss. 😛
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Ahh, thank you Steven…I know, get me 😉 ha ha!! And you know what ‘they’ say…better late than never eh? 🙂
How amazing that you have a cat called Maisie too! Our other cat Willow was more like the feisty old battleaxe, Maisy is too refined for all that!!!
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Great news. Don’t forget to include that with all your promotion when you publish your memoir–which i can’t wait to read, but not being pushy, I promise. Glad to hear all is well with your health.
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I forgot to say that Maisie is beautiful!
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Thank you…she is rather a lovely cat if I say so myself 🙂
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Thanks so much TB, on both fronts and I really appreciate your great advice! Please, keep pushing, I need it… 🙂
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Terrific! What a beautiful cat…and thanks for reminding me I need to make an appointment for my own flu jab. Ugh…but better jabbed than flued 🙂
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Thank you very much, and so glad that I helped with the reminder. Definitely the best option 🙂
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Sherri, reading old posts, getting to know you……Thankd God you did Not have Lymes disaes, have 2 friends that do have it & they have spent a fortune on doctors & meds. Love maisie, my mom had a cat that coule have been her twin, Twinkletoes, cuz she wore a collar with a bell;
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Hi Kay, boy you are really being generous in your reading about me lately! I really appreciate it! Yes, thank God is right. I was really very worried about it for a while and made sure to get that blood test, I insisted in fact. Love that, Twinkletoes, how cute 🙂
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