Happy New Year

After serious and cautious consideration.....
your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2009.
It was a hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up !!!!!!!!!

My wish for you in 2009

May peace break into your house and steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become magnets for $100 bills.
May laughter stick to your face like Vaseline, and laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell like success, happiness slap you across the face and your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words........

May 2009 be the best year of your life !!!!!

My darling daughter Pamela

This is a very recent picture of my wonderful daughter Pamela (Pam), who has just turned 44. She is married to Stuart (16 years). They are the parents of James 14 and Rachel 11. Pam had Stu take this picture of her so she could post a recent picture on Classmates. Classmates turned up two of her very best girlfriends from the graduating class of 1983 . Pam and Jo Medina have reconnected...chatted on the phone for over an hour.....love the web.
I joined Friends Reunited a couple of years ago.....freaky....people from that long ago turned up and I sent messages to the ones I remembered....they all replied. How strange....we all look so very different, but recognizable! I think Pam and Jo will get together in person one of these days. I hope so...Jo is a very caring mother of four boys and also grandmother of a boy! Still lives in the same area when she and Pam went to school at Valhalla.

Bummer

Can you read the name of the boat......Temporary Insanity!!!!.

Perry had his first GOOD day yesterday.....5 weeks and 1 day after surgery. This morning he has taken some medical equipment back to a friend who loaned it to him . It was only needed for the first two weeks, not the usual four. Despite the horrible incident December 8 he really has done very well, despite having diabetes and renal failure. Now he must get some weight back on....he has lost around 10 pounds and his doctor told him before surgery, not to lose any weight ...if possible. He is around 170 pounds right now. He made a good start last night...ate a large number of cashew nuts...as did I along with ice cream.....and we also went out for dinner where he ate a steak with fries. I had roast beef and felt very virtuous about taking about half of it home. However....the ice cream and cashews came later. Will power where are you ?

Update

This is a picture of Taxi restaurant at the Waterside Hotel in Melbourne......Michaels surname is Lambie....just yesterday it was announced that Taxi restaurant plans to enter the Brisbane restaurant scene have been put on hold...the economy is shaky here too.
Maybe in the New Year. I really hope so...time Brisbane had a larger selection of cool restaurants.

My handsome son and his beautiful girlfriend Catherine

Catherine sent this latest picture of herself and Glen taken recently....either Laughlin or the river.

Perry is improving somewhat, but he is struggling with his mood. This time of year has been hard for us emotionally for many years......this year seems even tougher with his recovery and no family around. Last year was terrific as we spent six weeks in Melbourne at my brother and sister in laws town house while they were on vacation in Dubai and cruising the med. Pam and Stuart had a fabulous chef (friend of Stu's brother...Michael someone....awful with remembering names at times....) do Christmas for about 12 of us. The absolute best of the best....lobster...shrimp...turkey...ham...Dom champagne....the list was endless. We felt that it was a once in a lifetime 5 star Christmas feast. Mike is part owner of a top restaurant in Melbourne named Taxi....he is about to open another here in Brisbane which we must visit sometime after we get back from our cruise.
Spoke with Sherrene a couple of days ago and am hoping her son Josh can come up here for a week or two. I am very fond of the ....(was almost going to say 'little guy')....young man. He will be twelve early next year and I have been a part of his life since he was 4 years old. Feels like a grandson....the kind that you just want to hug hug hug.....

Another magnificent sunrise.

Perry took this shot a few days ago. Brilliant!
The visit to his Orthopaedic doctor on Friday went very well. He doesn't have to have formal physio as the range of motion is terrific and he can do whatever he feels comfortable with.......practise bowling when the weather cools down. Swimming maybe later this week. Pain level is still uncomfortable, but manageable . Explanation as to what happened Monday night ? Nothing really...the inference was.......sometimes....people just die suddenly. His heart is probably a bit weak...not sure if he has a heart murmur or not. Renal specialist...David Saltissi tomorrow. Hopefully the iron infusion has helped...he has been really good today after feeling dizzy last night at a Christmas party here in the village. I quickly got him home, took his B.P. and sugar level ....both O.K....had him lay down, feet above his head and a cold wet cloth on his forehead. It was way too hot and humid and I think he was just not up to it. I wasn't very worried this time even tho he was lightheaded, he didn't act anything like he did on Monday night.

Anyway.......my recent thrift store bargains!!!!!!! The shoes are new and therefore the most expensive. From Target and cost more than the total cost of the clothes! We have two thrift stores on the island....this one is next door to our doctors office...so I can't help but slip inside to see what I can't do without....even if it is a couple of books. I donate heaps of stuff then turn around and BUY stuff. Can't resist a bargain.

Shoes @ $22.95 cost more than the clothes.

$8

$4

$1

$3

$5

$

Blue sky and HUGE STORM cloud

We get fantastic storms here. I took this an hour ago and now the storm is here.....lots of lightning....not much in the way of rain yet, but it is coming according to the T.V. Warned to keep cars under cover in case of hail....clear loose stuff from around the house etc.

Perry is doing O.K. Tomorrow he sees his Orthopaedic Surgeon after a Nurse Practitioner contacted him regarding getting physio started. He has results of tests taken at the hospital Monday night to take with him, which will hopefully help explain a little more clearly just what took place and maybe why. We do understand that quite often....things just happen and are not understood very well.

Our T.V. lost it's picture a few hours ago.....sound still fine. Searched the web for some answers....not much luck and to get a tech here tomorrow afternoon......GOOD LUCK WITH THAT ??????

Very scary night.

Perry doesn't remember much about one of the scariest nights of his or my life.
Around 8.30 he decided he would take a shower to settle his leg down. It wasn't actually very painful, but a shower feels very soothing. When he came into the living room I blathered on about a funny show I had been watching and he was resting one hand on the back of a chair and the other on a doorway.....when I took a close look at him I thought he looked drawn and tired...so I asked him if he was O.K......his answer was...no, not really....I feel a bit dizzy. I quickly jumped up and led him to the sofa where I found that he was dreadfully clammy and falling asleep...(unconsious.) Things went downhill from there....very rapidly. I called the paramedics who arrived within six or seven minutes. The two of them took his blood pressure, which had dropped to 80/40....did an ECG....etc. He was in hospital 30 minutes later. Making it short....I picked him up around 1.30 today after him having several tests run ....xray...etc. He has a letter to give to our GP along with the results of the tests that were done. The letter stated that nothing sinister had been revealed....however the truckload of drugs he is taking and the possible side effects need to be looked at. He was told that they almost lost him for awhile. It took hours for his BP to return to normal.... (normal for him) ...and after that seeing that he had been under observation for all that time....it was O.K. for him to go home. Must get out of bed...up off a chair....ssslowly. He had no chest pain...nothing other than a lightheaded feeling and then ....even tho he was sort of awake...he was actually unconscious. He has suffered from a similar episode a long time ago, but it resolved very quickly.
Hopefully it won't happen again. It's been quite an ordeal for him. It's hard to pace yourself to your age when you still feel young. Young at heart....but 73 is 73.

Iron Infusion

All went well yesterday.

The BICB picked him up at 6.40am ....he was the last passenger, so off they all went to various hospitals and clinics. The trip to Holy Spirit Hospital cost $25 round trip...cheap cheap cheap... and no driving aggravation involved, which is a big plus when you don't feel well to begin with!

He was thru by 2.00pm so he didn't have to arrange for the passenger ambulance after all. Home by 3.30 looking pretty tired even tho he had slept a lot of the time......was told he snores pretty good!!! Tell me about it !!!

I have my new custom made ear plugs and got to try them out a few nights ago. VERY GOOD. Ladies....I highly recommend them....gents too ???

I have been told I sometimes snore also....ha ha.....very ladylike tho....if there is such a thing !!!

Downloaded the update of Picasa a couple of days ago. I have liked it since the day we got it....the update is really terrific! Need to organize our pictures...what a chore.

Pam's birthday tomorrow. The first time in her life that I haven't had a card and gift ready for her. My gorgeous daughter will be 44. I would have loved to spend the day with her, we have such fun ....we have the same sense of humour and bounce off each other like a comedy duo sometimes. Laughter is such good medicine and I read somewhere yesterday that it is a proven fact that laughter and happiness is truly catching! I'll buy that. When we gab on the phone I always hang up and feel great for hours after.

Three more birthdays between now and Christmas.....Libby will be 58.....Lorraine...not sure...around 60/61...then Glen ...my Christmas baby will be 42 Christmas Day.

Uh oh....look at the time....stuff to get done before we go visit the local Dr...Perry that is.

See ya!

(Love this picture!)

Nice picture of James Winch

This picture of my nephew James was taken recently. He is following in his fathers footsteps...career wise. I imagine he will eventually become a ships captain . At present he is in a learning environment out of Western Australia. Libby has two sons. Carl aged around 34 and James 20. (Two husbands)
Very hot and humid today with a lightning charged storm that has just swept thru. More to come tomorrow and the day after.
Perry heads off to have his iron infusion early tomorrow at Holy Spirit Hospital. It could be a very long day for him I'm afraid. He is getting a ride in with the Bribie Community Service bus....however as he doesn't know yet how long he will be there, he has had to arrange for a passenger ambulance to bring him back when they can. Hopefully it won't come to that and the BCS bus can pick him up around 3pm. I won't drive in stormy weather....I get panicky.

Start to another very warm day

Even less happy today....

as Dr Saltissi has ordered an iron infusion to be performed at Holy Spirit Hospital this coming Friday 5th Dec. " No physiotherapy, as overexertion can be extremely dangerous with your anemia this bad 'with your heart' "....said the doctor !!!! ....What heart ?????....one doctor tells him he has a heart murmur....the next one say's...no no no....your heart is fine. HOWEVER (another however)....he has high blood pressure that is hard to treat. What next ?
I KNEW his red blood cell count was down as he hasn't been able to stay awake unless he is physically doing something. Iron infusions are only performed in a hospital setting due to the fact that some patients have a bad reaction to it. Apparently they give a small injection in your butt first to see how you react....then it is a five hour procedure. Improvement is immediate...yeaa!!! Has to double up on iron pills and two injections a week for a while. Obviously when you have an operation, there is blood loss, so that accounts for it. If the ortho and the renal docs had discussed the operation, I feel sure Dr Saltissi (renal) would have had him tranfused there and then.
We have three Christmas parties to go to.....passed on the one last Saturday and most likely the one