January 8th,2007
Well, hello out there if there's still anyone around. I'd be surprised if there is, although I'm sure a few people still lurk. Life sort of caught me up and ran me down in the just over three months since I updated this. I'll try to be more regular about writing, but no promises. Part of the problem was a massive amount of babysitting. In about a four week period I think I spent four nights, overnight babysitting and had grandchildren at my place a couple of time overnight too. Then there were about ten full days of minding grandchildren. Fun but messy.
Not to mention the computer/phone/internet problems which took several weeks to sort properly. I think everything is stable now and I have a lovely new Apple Mac, thanks to #1 son. I've been using computers, PCs since the late 70s. We originally had what was called a Sorcerer, a forerunner in many ways of a modern PC. It loaded programs from a cassette tape! Apple is completely different. I've had this a couple of weeks now and am still getting used to it. On the whole it's good and when I find my way around better, I'm sure I'll be thrilled. At least it's stable and a million times faster than my old PC which was way past geriatic in computer years.
My husband retired early December and that was a shock too. Lots and lots of financial details had to be worked out. I'm still getting used to it and he's disappointed that I don't share his enthusiasm for what he sees as his future. His diabetes is not good. Blood sugar levels have proved hard to control without most unpleasant side effects from the drugs needed and he's just started another type of tablet which is supposed to work withut the side effects. It's taken a while to get government approval for this. Without the approval, this new drug would be several hundred dollars every month.
Weight? It was going down quite well and I lost about 10 kilos by the end of the year, but some has gone back on over Christmas. I can tell by my clothes.
I'm sorry I can't make it to Melbourne this week. A small group of us have been online friends for a long time now. We've had a few ups and downs over the years, but those of us who are left are wonderful friends. We're a great support to each other though thick and thin, as the saying goes. Weightloss is just one of the areas. Emails go to and fro offering support and realistic advice and ideas when needed. No glossing over problems. No wild and woolly words. No rude letters or spur of the moment decisions. Just mutual support and lots of it. A couple of us have had a rough ride last year. One in particular who now has a third child has written here in some detail about how she values the support we give each other. We raise matters in emails that we don't put publically in journals. Some of those are quite serious, some less so. No matter, we cope. The group is important to each of us and while we joke about unsubbing each other if we forget birthday greetings, there's no way we would do it, even though each of us is a moderator of the group.
The Melbourne members are meeting for dinner on Friday with the Queensland woman who is down for the tennis. I'm sure tehy will have lots to discuss. I had a meeting up here the other day with Sydney people from another forum and that was great. I reckon this will be even better as we go back a long way together.
If you've got this far, you've done well. hopefully, there'll be more in a couple of days.
