Gaelyne's Home Suite Home

Today I've spent catching up on reading RSS feeds, and generally making sure I've done the things I wanted to have done by the end of the holidays, which ends tonight. Catching up on blog entries is the finishing touch, so I'll be ready to do a variety of other things tomorrow.

We normally have pizza on Sundays but I had a taste for Chinese - and not my own stir fries and we needed milk so we picked up two small meals at China Cafe in Woodcroft for our tea. We'll have pizza tomorrow. Was quite warm today and tomorrow promises more of the same. I shouldn't be too surprised because it is after all January (which compares to about July in Michigan). We were very fortunate to have very comfortable weather all through the last two weeks so I shouldn't complain.

I have one more meme I'd like to do, but I'll save that for another day.

The first Saturday of the month is when we get together with the Lunch Group crowd. Today we had lunch at the Old Noarlunga Hotel. I had the 'Salt and Pepper Chicken Strips' and Rod had the 'Avocado Chicken'. While others were having their coffee and cake, I went over to a friend of mines place that's just a few houses away and bought a replacement teapot from his wife and had a quick chat.

After lunch, Rod and I headed for the Seaford shopping center where I had some good old fashioned retail therapy. I bought some new shoes - two pair actually which is pretty unusual, a new rug for under my rocking chair on the patio, a Pyrex 9x13 dish (also known as a 'Brownie pan' in my family, and a bunch of silicone heel cushions to go with the new shoes. Rod needed shoes too, and managed to find a good pair in his size for only $5 (original price was over $60). He couldn't believe the price and thought someone had been playing with the stickers, but that's what they rang up as.

Here's the shoes I bought:

Normally I wouldn't make a big deal about buying shoes but these are a big change for me. First of all I bought more than one pair which is unheard of for me, and second, I've been wearing sneakers (or 'track shoes') for years and years now. I haven't bought a pair of regular shoes since before I came to Australia. The thing is, now that I have diabetes and have a foot that's been plaguing me with arthritis for months now, I have to have good shoes. I'm like obligated to myself to take good care of my feet and part of that is wearing shoes that fit me correctly and are good and solid - especially on the sides so that my foot doesn't turn. The brand I bought are 'Grosby'. Well over a year ago I bought a pair of Grosby slippers that I wear every day most of the day and they've been very well made, very comfortable and have lasted exceptionally well (you wouldn't know to look at them that they're over a year old). BigW was having a sale on Grosby shoes so I decided to get a pair that's for work and walking - very sturdy and the type that people who work on their feet all day would wear, and another pair for those rare times when I need something a bit fancier. I actually kinda like the 'girly' shoes - I haven't had a pair that style since I was a little girl. Both pair are 'air-step' - which is a recent feature Grosby has added - extra cushioning which is just what I need.

I wore the work shoes for half the day today, breaking them in, and had no problems. I also had no pain, which is really nice - and I didn't need to use the silicone heel gels I bought, either. The no pain part isn't what I was expecting but as these shoes do support the foot better than what I've been wearing (for walks etc), I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

One funny thing. The shoes I bought for $30 each... the same model shoes listed in speciality stores that cater to Diabetics and others with foot problems are listed at over $100 a pair. OK, so that's not as big of a bargain as Rod's shows, but a $40 savings is nothing to sneeze at either.

This was a lovely day to stay at home and enjoy the holiday. We didn't do anything of any interest at all. Sweet!

Quite a long time ago (Mid-September!) my daughter-in-law tagged me to do this Meme about listing 8 things about myself in my journal. Then last week I was tagged on Flickr but now it's 16 things! Yikes, I better hurry up and do this before someone makes it 32 or something.

First I'm supposed to post the 'Rules', which I'll do for both Flickr and the DeviantArt Memes. But, right at the top I should let you know that I'm not following the rule about tagging a certain number of other people. Honestly, if you'd like to tag yourself and do the meme in your journal or blog, great. If not, well, meh, it's not for me to worry about. And since I had to think up 16 things, that's what I'll list. So the earlier '8 Things' meme gets a double bonus I suppose. :-)

The Rules (8 Things):

1-POST THESE RULES IN YOUR JOURNAL
2-EACH TAGGED PERSON MUST POST 8 FACTS ABOUT THEMSELVES IN THEIR JOURNAL.
3-AT THE END, YOU MUST TAG 8 PEOPLE AND POST THEIR ICONS IN YOUR SAME JOURNAL.
4-GO TO THEIR PAGE AND SEND THEM A MESSAGE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN TAGGED.
6-NO TAG-BACKS.

The Rules (16 Things - Flicker Meme):

The simple rules are. You post a self portrait, list 16 things about yourself, then tag 16 others.

1. My favourite colour is purple.

2. I think Sean Connery is a very sexy old man.

3. My favourite alcoholic drink is vodka & fizzy lemonade.

4. My favourite foods are prawns, noodles & chocolate. My favourite fruits are raspberries & kiwi fruit

5. My favourite perfume is Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, not that I wear perfume that often.

6. I'm better at writing than I am at speaking.

7. I'm a cat person.

8. I have diabetes, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis.

9. I drink green tea to lower my glucose levels and because I love the flavours.

10. I can't stand asparagus.

11. I am a spiritual person, but please don't label me with any organised religion.

12. Flowers: lilacs, marigolds,& babies breath.

13. Butterflies are beautiful and always lift my spirits.

14. 7yrs ago I had breast cancer.

15. 5yrs ago I had breast reconstruction.

16. 2yrs ago I had a life threatening infection that started in one of my reconstruction scars. This led to surgery and an 11cm deep hole in my side. A month ago I had surgery to close the hole in my side and at the same time they added a nipple to my reconstructed breast. I've made a full recovery after 21 months with a wound on my side.

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So I have finally made good on Jennifer's tag ages ago. Phew. :-)

We had a pleasant New Years Eve, watching Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, munching on Chex Mix. Rod had a New Years Eve count down program going on his phone and the movie ended FIVE SECONDS before the year ended. How is that for timing?? The program was a dud in that we expected some sounds or it to show fireworks or something. None of the above to be seen or heard. Outside, a house in the neighbourhood was having a party and must be new to the area as we've never heard the music and language before, but I loved the music with the drums. It was a cool way to enjoy the night after the midnight hour.

The Chex Mix is made, and as soon as I finish this entry, we'll be celebrating the New Year watching a movie or two, probably Christmas comedies but as long as they're comedies I don't really care.

Kerri at Sixuntilme had a year in review meme for her blog where she picked the first few definitive lines from her blog from each month of the year. It seemed a nice way to end the year so I'm doing the same. Thanks Kerri!

January: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-love-in-my-life.html
Goodness, I've fallen in love. I've only seen a few photos of my grandson, but he is the cutest most adorable baby with the roundest big head. He's utterly perfect. You do realise I could wax on this way for pages and pages...

February: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/02/thurs-saturday-2008.html
23rd Feb:
Ricky is 1 month old. Spent morning vacuuming after dirt got blown in yesterday. Have done the office, dining room, kitchen, hallway, entrance. Just as I reached the living room, the RDNS nurse came, so I put vac and cord in the room and closed the doors off to it. My plan was to get back to it after todays walk, but that didn't happen. The nurse came, we had lunch, and then I was just going to have a quick nap before my walk and I slept through the entire afternoon. Those new antibiotics really do quite a good job of getting me to rest while it does it's work.

March: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/03/sun-30-march-update.html

First time driving a car (in Australia) today. Two things to adjust to (aside from driving on the other side of the road, which isn't all that hard to do) are having the switches for indicators on the other side of the steering wheel from what I'm used to, and on this car, the gear change is in the middle of the two seats, and on the left hand side for the driver. As I suspected, most everything else came back fairly easily and naturally.

April: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/04/thur-24-april.html
Day started out early as had RDNS clinic appt at 9:15am. Dressing and wound looked pretty good. Nurse and I discussed Dr. Lim's comments and she asked what I wanted. Heck, I just want it to be healed, really. Not fussed about the means to get there.

May: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/05/sweet-geeky-surprise.html

OMG, this is such a geeky Mothers Day surprise!

Thanks, Kerstin! I LOVE them!!

June: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/06/fri-13-june-happy-b-mike.h...

It's my former hubby's b'day. Happy B'day Mike! I still feel rough. RDNS nurse said I looked pale and asked if I'd seen the GP yet. No. Have appt at BC Clinic on Monday. My new meter arrived today along with a kit to return the defective one. And comparing just the regular display on both models shows my old one was hard to read even without the backlight - there's a real difference between them, so obviously there's more wrong with it than just the backlight. I'm amazed and pleased they replaced it so quickly.

July: http://randomexperiments.blogspot.com/2008/07/mon-21-july.html
This morning I had an appointment with Dr. Ling, as opposed to my regular GP as he's on vacation. She is so thorough, and gentle. I made the appointment because of needing scripts to be re-done, but as I had the sinus problems over the weekend (and for the last few weeks in general), and as she asked, I told her about it, and then the rib/side pain and that my breast still hurts, etc. She listened to my heart, my lungs (which are clear, so the gunk is all from my sinus'), checked my sides and reassured me that these are muscular pains probably from coughing, and checked my ears, throat and nose. I have a lot of fluid behind both ears. That explains a lot too. So I'm back on antibiotics, and she redid all the scripts that needed redoing. She asked if there was anything else that needed attention, and as you know I've been considering switching to her, and this appointment really showed me the difference, so I asked if I could be her patient and she was delighted.

August: http://gaelyne.com/random_experiments/tue-19-aug-2008

Dressing change in the morning, and then later in the day I took a walk and redeemed my $40 winning scratchy. I had my hair cut, and bought some prawns for tea.

Sept: http://gaelyne.com/random_experiments/bone-scan-results

First up, we'll jump right to the conclusion:

"Appearances are thought likely to represent a combination of old and more recent rib fractures. No convincing evidence of bony metastatic disease."

When I last had a bone scan 4yrs ago, it showed a bunch of 'pairs' of broken ribs, all on the RIGHT side, which is where I had radiotherapy for breast cancer. This new scan shows I have 6 recent fractures on the LEFT side, along with one older one. I also currently have 2 ribs on the right that are recent and weren't on the previous scan.

It also shows I have osteoarthritis (which I was well aware of) in my neck, spine, both shoulders and both knees. I'm really surprised it didn't show anything for my feet because I have one foot that's really having quite a flare up at the moment.

That's it. Isn't that wonderfully exciting news?

Oct: http://gaelyne.com/random_experiments/sun-12-oct-2008

Spent a quiet morning and afternoon, then went out for dinner at our favourite restaurant, Double Dragon, and had a very nice meal out to celebrate our wedding anniversary (8yrs!). Our real anniversary is on the 15th, but Rod will be in class all day, so we decided to celebrate today since it was a Sunday, and we got married on a Sunday. Then we came home and watched a marathon Heroes session starting with the season opening special followed up with 2 back to back episodes.

Nov: http://gaelyne.com/random_experiments/my-nokia-n95

In no particular order, here are a few of things my Nokia 95 'Smartphone' can do. Honestly, I really didn't expect to have something so incredibly fun and useful. Is it really smart? Oh heck yeah.

Dec: http://gaelyne.com/random_experiments/mon-8-dec-2008

Breast cancer can bite my lily white ass.

Another young woman - only 41 and a Common Wealth Gold Medalist athlete - with 3 very young children - died today. Her name was Kerryn McCann. Here's a news story about her: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24766728-421,00.html

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Note - I will likely edit this to tidy it up tomorrow but have Hubby and Chex Mix waiting. The New Year must be celebrated! Happy New Year!

Busy day today. I had an appt with RDNS to check the reconstructed nipple. It's looking good. I don't have to go back until Friday after next. (9 January) and that will likely be my last visit.

We then ran some errands - picked up some waterbed treatment that we'd be looking for for ages, then went to the cheap shop and they were out of my sugar-free mints that I've been having at the computer (better than smoking) but plenty of other stuff, like frozen kilo of prawns for cheap and a box of heat and eat Butter Chicken wings that we had for tea.

I had two parcels waiting for me when we got home - one was a tube from Christopher and the other from a pharmaceutical company. We also had a card to pick up another parcel. Neat. The tube from Chris had this year's photo of the Saginaw Water Works building all alight in Christmas lights. That place has been part of my Christmas for almost all of my life, and it's neat the he takes these great pics and sends them to me. Last year he spent a fortune sending the photo and the frame, but this year he only needed to send the photo. I hope this will be a long time tradition for us, although I'd be fine if he moved away from Saginaw, really. Anyway, here's a link to the piccy:
http://reborn-atheist.deviantart.com/art/Winter-Wonder-Works-08-final-10...

The parcel from the pharmaceutical company was because I joined a special thing that they offered for people who have osteoporosis and take their medication. It included a lovely blue tumbler so I take the right amount of liquid with the once a week tablet but it also is a great reminder to drink the daily Calcium/Vitamin D drink, a seven day countdown timer for reminding me when to take the pill, and a nice medium sized travel bag. I felt like I was having a Christmas with my Dad, who always had goodies from pharmaceutical company give-aways that were part of our Christmases.

The item at the post office was a rug I ordered for my side of the bed. No, not a Chrissy gift, but something that was needed and I'm really impressed with the quality. We had something to mail too so I had Rod take me to the post office and we got the rug, then I walked home while he took the rug home. So another day of walking. Yay!

Yay! I went for the first walk I've had in a couple of months today. It was only one way - I had a prescription that needed to filled and had to pick up milk, so I had Rod pick me up when I was finished, but feels good to at least be getting back on track a bit. Unfortunately my right foot hurts with every step, but next time, I'll put neurofen gel on it before leaving. That should help.

I bought lots of different veggies so I could try slicing / chopping them in my new food processor. Tea was great - a lamb stir-fry with tons of fresh veggies and I really really had fun with the food processor. It's excellent. The last one I had was a tiny mini useless thing that was too easy to put the top on backwards and if I did that (which I did, often) it would be harder than hell to get the bowl off the unit. None of that with this one, it's extremely well thought out. And much larger (2c instead of one cup).

The next thing to try in it will be cheese for the Sunday pizza's.