Wed 30 April

07:29:00   6.7  / 120  Fasting     
11:07:00   6.9  / 125  Post-Bfast  
13:09:00   5.5  /  99  Pre-Lunch   
15:33:00   7.0  / 126  Post-Lunch
19:53:00   4.2  /  76  Pre-Tea     
22:50:00   6.9  / 124  Post-Tea 

Driving Totals: Daytime: 560 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 200 mins of 600 req

W: 90

Scratchy: No win. 5288 steps

Total Steps: 7539

Breakfast: half toasted cheese sandwich
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: pork chops w/ potato, onion. My signature chop dish, made in an electric fry pan.

Notes: How lovely being able to just type about stuff without having to do anything with my stats.

Rod had classes all day today and I planned to spend the day working on client related stuff, and definitely did that. Mind, the project took a little longer than expected, but the overall result has been good. I needed to basically take my PHP web form software and adjust it so my client could use it for his project. It actually turned out quite well commented and he was able to take it and add all that he needed to, so I feel I was successful in creating something easy to use that I can archive up and have available for other clients if they need them.

I did have a bit of an interruption just before lunch time when a reminder popped up to tell me I have an appt at Flinders tomorrow for my wound. Couldn't ask for better timing as I took the last of the antibiotics on the 17th and just a day later the wound started having extra exudate that's greenish and this has only increased in volume since then. If it weren't for this appt tomorrow, I'd probably be ringing RDNS to have the dressing changed a day sooner... no kidding, Rod's even marked the dressing twice now to be able to see how much extra fluid is showing.

Usually the doctor I see at the wound clinic (actually it's the 'Plastics Treatment Rooms', has been nothing short of amazingly biased, insensitive, prejudiced, and very assumptive ... all things I hate to say about anyone let alone a woman. So I have tried to have some information on hand. First of all I made sure to get a written report from the RDNS nurse so that yesterdays' note about the extra fluid and tinge of the dressing are noted. And then I rang the doctors office to get the details of the last swab that I had and what antibiotics I've been taking. Fortunately I was able to search this journal and find dates and details. That's why I write about this stuff, so I have a record I can turn to in the future. Then I had a brilliant idea. I asked the chemist if they could print out a list of all the antibiotics I've been on for the last year. They were actually able to get from the beginning of March last year. The print out is for all medications I've had in that time frame, who prescribed them, dosage, etc, and the pharmacist highlighted all the antibiotics. It's not an insignificant amount.

So my plan is to, if I get the same old lines and attitudes, to ask for a multi-disciplinary review with the wound management clinic, plastics (who are the main ones I deal with), and my breast surgeon, who has had 2 different GP's talk to him about why more isn't being done with my wound. And I think I'm within my rights to request this. I would just like to see some people doing some talking rather than taking the word of one rather jaded, biased, rude, insensitive registrar. I realise not a lot can be done, but having had 2 GPs have very similar opinions on this that doesn't match what the treating registrar says, I think it's important to take it a bit further.

And while I'm not happy to have a new infection going, I am glad that they get to see it in this state as all my other appts have been while I've been on antibiotics, and that's because I've been on a LOT in the last thirteen months because this keeps re-infecting. So, I have amunition this time around. I did last time, too, but hopefully this time I have more "stand up for myself-ed ness".

Tue 29 April

07:01:00   6.6  / 119  Fasting     
12:41:00   5.8  / 104  Pre-Lunch   
15:11:00   7.5  / 135  Post-Lunch
19:15:00   4.1  /  73  Pre-Tea     
22:18:00   8.7  / 157  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: 560 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 200 mins of 600 req

W: 89.5

Scratchy: no win. 5128 steps

Total Steps: 7539

Breakfast: sausage roll
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: chicken enchilladas

Notes: Whoo Hoo! I've been working on a little project so that the stats on Sugarstats.com get updated automagically. And it works! Yay!!

One of my biggest hassles at night was updating my daily glucose stats on Sugarstats.com. I wish I had a dollar for everytime I've dosed off just copying the information from my own stats system to theirs. I like theirs as it has better charts and long range stuff than my own, and that's why I use it. Subscribers get the ability to upload stats from their meter's software, if the meter is supported, but most of mine haven't been, so it didn't make sense for me to subscribe, it wouldn't solve the problem for me. They had an Email option, but any of the Emails I've sent haven't gone into my account. Another option they had was for Twitter, so I signed up on Twitter, and then signed up on Twittermail.com so I can send the automated Emails to that address. It then gets sent to Sugarstats. I put my little script file into a cron job that runs every 15 minutes, checks to see if there are any additional stats, and if there are, it sends them in an Email. Look ma, no hands! LOL. So now I can spend more time typing stuff here rather than putting myself to sleep doing things that computers should do for us.

I took Rod to school this morning because I had an RDNS appt to get my dressing changed. The dressing from the weekend was quite wet and oozy but she didn't make any comment on that. I let her know it's been itching me, and apparently where it was itching the skin is not looking too good. Part of the problem was where and how they put the tape so I got her to do it the way that 'works for me' and so far, so good.

I bought chicken enchiladas today for our tea from a poultry butcher shop at the mall. How sad that this was Rod's first taste of an enchilada because they used ITALIAN seasoning in it instead of Mexican. Ugh! I shall have to make our own using low carb tortillas next time. Mind, these were still pretty good, but NOT what I had in mind, that's for sure.

In other news, on Flickr, I have finally succumbed and joined the Monthly Scavenger Hunt group. I've been watching Vicki's entries each month for ages now and I finally decided to give it a go, starting with next month's list. Each month you get a list of 20 words/phrases, and then you search your photos or take a photo and upload it to Flickr and tag it for the group. When you're finished for the month, you can make a mosaic of all the pics you put in for the hunt and add it to the forum on the group. You also vote, and have your photos voted on. It's all confidential though, so no one sees what you've voted on stuff. I've been voting on pics a few at a time every day and it's addicting, so have had to limit myself to just 3 at a time. Otherwise I end up discovering an hour has gone by. LOL.

This is what Vicki had to say when I told her I'd joined...

(21:37:37) < oh!!! :) :) :) welcome!!!!!!!!!!!! fun group and you don't have to get the whole lot if you run out of month. the voting booth is cool as well - there are some great interpretations and lateral thinking to the theme, many make me laugh out loud

(21:39:00) < oh and don't forget the MAIN rule!
HAVE FUN!

(21:39:47) < also pics can be from your archives they don't have to be taken that month. you actually get to a point where you take pics of 'things' just in case of a future hunt :)

(21:41:42) < D's not interested (so he says - yeah right!) but is often coming up with a suggestion for a category as we drive around etc. I know read out the list to him at the beginning of the month and keep him updated as to which pics i am still hunting for as the month goes on.
(21:41:00) > Can people see what vote you've given?
(21:43:02) < no and that is the beauty of it - no hurt ego's - what does happen though is that the top 3 aggregate scores get acknowleged and the top scoring pic becomes the next months group icon.
(21:46:09) < the voting booth is quite a feat - it doesn't score your pic on the amount of votes - so if you pic went in on the 1st of the month by the end of the month it would have several hundred votes but someones whose went in on the last day of the month would have say 10 votes, it averages the votes by the amount of votes. every pic must have a minimum of 5 votes to be able to be averaged evenly. in the voting booth there is an option of voting on pics with less than 5 votes - so the votes are weighted and then averaged
(21:48:16) < what does happen at the end of the month is the vote categories top 3 are shown with an aggregate score but the other members also put up a mosaic of their favourites from each category. you don't have to vote to put up your favourites in a category.
(21:49:18) < the voting booth also keeps track of the pics you give 10's to so you can view them later when you are selecting your favourites per category so you don't have to remember which pics you really liked (and so scored a 10 to)
(21:49:32) > that's neat. voting is kinda addicting though! LOL That's really clever.
(21:53:28) < it is. early in a month i do category by category (and usually ones i have already decided on my own pic to enter so i am not influenced by ideas) and some of the interpretations are quite good. some are obscure and i can't see how the pic fit the clue and many are ordinary. i tend to start as a base of 5, if i thought it fitted but didn't grab me i score 5 or 6 or 7. if i didn't understand the relevance or thought it didn't fit the clue well i score lower, it it made me laugh or go 'yeah' then it gets a 10, if it is good but didn't make me laugh it gets between the 7 and 9 - that's my scoring method

Anyway, I reckon Diane, Chris and Fira might be interested in joining too. I think it's a great way to be creative and have fun at the same time. And for me, it'll be great incentive for finding places to drive to on the weekend. :-)

I think that's about it for today. It sure is nice to share my thoughts without dozing off. Am really glad that I got the automation set up. Another good thing about it is that if I haven't had time to update my blog, You can still see I'm doing readings and stuff on either Twitter or Sugarstats (links to both my areas on each are on the sidebar to the right on this page). So it'll keep Diane from worrying about me when I sometimes go off the computer for a few days. ;-)

Mon 28 Apri

08:17:00   5.9  / 107  Fasting
11:07:00   7.3  / 132  Post-Bfast
14:15:00   5.8  / 105  Pre-Lunch   
17:18:00   6.9  / 125  Post-Lunch
19:21:00   4.8  /  87  Pre-Tea     
22:21:00   9.1  / 163  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: 545 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 200 mins of 600 req

W: 91.5

Scratchy: no win. 3046 steps

Breakfast: toasted half cheese sandwich
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: seafood stirfry. Probably too many noodles.

Notes: Had a very quiet morning and had an appt with David in the afternoon to go over plans for a website we're working on together.

In between work stuff, I managed to get caught up with Neighbours episodes that were on my flash drive so I could watch the episodes on my digital photo frame out on the patio. One nice thing about this is that I used to snack while watching this show, and now I'm watching it in another location I no longer have that urge/craving. The fact I edited out the commercials might also have helped a bit.

Tonights tea had a lovely sauce that I created myself using sweet chilli sauce, Nandos lime marinade, and Nandos hot sauce, along with about 1/3c liquid from my crushed garlic container. It turned out excellent. And I do think the sauce (which was a limited amount) wasn't the cause for my high after tea reading, but rather that I had it with 3 min noodles. Will have to try the sauce recipe again in future and see how my body handles it.

Steps: 6262

Sun 27 April

10:08:00   6.2  / 112  Fasting
12:36:00   7.3  / 131  Post-Bfast 
16:10:00   7.2  / 129  Post-Lunch
19:27:00   5.5  /  99  Pre-Tea     
22:22:00   8.7  / 156  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: 545 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 200 mins of 600 req

W: 89.5

Scratchy: none.

Breakfast: 2 leftover chicken wings
Lunch: Scrambled egg and 2 crumpet toasts
Tea: 2 slices pizza

Notes: For our drive today, I drove to Mt Compass, and then back to Willunga where we parked and walked up and down the main street. Unfortunately I left my camera at home. There's a really big hill at Willunga, so I have experienced it in both the chugging uphill direction and the flying downhill, trying to maintain a speed of 80km. Very fun.

When I first came to Australia, I had my very first freak out in a car while on this hill. Vicki's late husband Ray was driving, and when we got to the hill, it has passing lanes, so he passed a few slow cars -- in passing speed. OMG, it freaked me out and I valiantly tried so hard not to show it. I used to have panic attacks in cars all the time in Michigan. I don't much here in Australia, which is what makes that experience all the more memorable.

Willunga is a nice quiet little town full of botique shops. We window shopped and then stopped at the Alma (a pub) where instead of having a beer while listening to the Sunday afternoon band, we had yuppy cappichinos. L-Platers and their driving supervisors have to have a zero alcohol level. Still was a good band, a nice cuppa, and it got us out of the rain that started just as we reached that end of town, and our car was parked in the centre of town. The outing gave me another 80 minutes driving time too.

Steps: 4405

Sat 26 April

07:11:00   9.2  / 165  Overnight
08:40:00   7.8  / 140  Fasting     
10:53:00   6.4  / 115  Post-Bfast
13:09:00   4.2  /  75  Pre-Lunch   
15:36:00   5.6  / 100  Post-Lunch
20:44:00   7.8  / 140  Pre-Tea     
23:01:00   7.9  / 142  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: mins of 600 req

W: 91

Scratchy: No win. 5852 steps

Breakfast: 1/2 slice banana bread w/ PB
Lunch: 2 eggs, 2 crumpet toast, bacon
Tea: steak, noodles.

Notes: Rainy day. Found a $10 bill on my walk today. Picked up the new batteries for my new meter and the backlight now works likes a charm on it. I especially like that it can light up the area where the strip is. Pretty nifty. Painful walk home, but made a bit easier by taking my mind off of it... looking for possible other bills just lying waiting for me to find them. :-) Did a lot of video related stuff today and I suppose that also includes watcing a movie with Rod in the late afternoon/early evening.

Steps: 8169

Fri 25 April - Anzac Day

07:50:03   6.8  / 123  Fasting     
11:42:40   7.5  / 135  Post-Bfast
13:16:14   5.8  / 105  Pre-Lunch   
15:49:55   6.7  / 121  Post-Lunch
19:11:17   6.3  / 113  Pre-Tea     
21:57:12   7.4  / 133  Post-Tea

W: 88.5

Scratchy: None (public holiday)

Breakfast: 1 low GI toast w/ PB and SF maple syrup
Lunch: Snowy River sausage roll (smaller) and cottage cheese
Tea: fish & chips

Notes: Sugar free maple syrup with my toast this morning was a bit of an accident - I meant to grab the honey instead. Still, it was quite tasty. Today is a holiday and my plans are to have a house day instead of a computer day.

After lunch I made homemade banana bread (with Splenda instead of sugar) in my bread machine. It mostly turned out OK. The bottom half was denser than the top though. Spent day doing odd bits like rearranging my closet and drawers, converting TV files to watch on my photo frame, and generally keeping low key as Rod's working on a project for school and we're both hoping he can have it finished before Sunday as I'd like to spend at least one day of his school holiday with him doing something other than school work. Although it was a quiet day, I've really quite enjoyed puttering around. :-)

Steps: 7110

Thur 24 April

08:14:16   7.4  / 133  Fasting     
11:08:12   8.0  / 144  Post-Bfast
13:17:22   6.6  / 118  Pre-Lunch   
16:00:06   6.9  / 124  Post-Lunch
20:46:49   5.2  /  93  Pre-Tea     
23:24:37   8.1  / 146  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: 490 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 175 mins of 600 req

W: 88.5

Scratchy: No win. 3678 steps

Breakfast: low carb tortilla w/ PB (think I over guestimated amt of PB to use)
Lunch: Egg sandwich on low GI toasted bread. 2 eggs
Tea: KFC

Notes: 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.

Before we left for the RDNS appt, my new Freestyle Papillon Mini was delivered. I didn't even get to open the shipping box before leaving home though. Talk about having something to look forward to when I got home!

After RDNS, I drove to the Reynella pharmacy to pick up antihistimines as I can get them there cheaper than what I used to get them online for. Only thing is, the online ones came out of the credit card whereas buying in person means spending my own cash. Boo Hiss. One nice thing with driving though is Rod's kind of captive... if I want to go somewhere I don't have to ask anymore, I can just drive there. :-)

I spent all afternoon checking out the Freestyle Mini. It is a bit different from my other meters and took some getting used to, but nothing that made me upset with it or anything. It does need a new battery though (it take two). The backlight wasn't working on it and so I tossed it to Rod last night to see if he could sort it out and as it happens if we reverse the batteries, I have a light, but the rest of the meter doesn't work. Well, that's not very good. Unfortunately today (am writing this on Friday) is Anzac day, so I won't be able to get new batteries for it until Saturday. Another minor downer is that when I first set the time it was on 'PM' and should have been on 'AM'. So my first few trial tests have the wrong time. No worries, until I learned you can't delete data from the meter. The software only lets you delete the entire patient or a whole days worth of a patients data. Still, I can use my own database and make it correct there, so I'm not all that fussed. And yes, the main thing that makes me a very happy camper is that the data cable I already had for my Caresens monitor works fine with the Freestyle Mini. Yay! Another nice thing is that it exports data in a pretty straight forward manner.

I happily spent the afternoon and part of this morning (Friday) working on scripting code so I'll be able to easily upload the data to my database. It's finished now, and I'm very pleased both for meeting the challenge and that it all works.

The Freestyle mini does read a little higher than my Caresens, but it uses a different method of assaying the blood to get the results. Another nice thing - all prior meters I've had, have had the ability to read results from other places besides the fingers, but required a special lancer attachment that cost extra and didn't come standard. The Freestyle included the extra bit. Yay! I have little marks all over my inside forearm from learning how to use the thing... looks like I have measles or something... and then I discovered I get much better results and less marks if I use the out side part of my forearm. Ah, live and learn.

Reading a few forums, I've read that some people don't like the fact that you have to press a button after putting in the test strip in order to get it started on making sure the coding is correct and telling you it's ready for you to test a blood sample. Almost every other meter on the market 'comes alive' as soon as you put the test strip in. I actually like the 'press the button' feature. It means I can get all set up and only when I'm ready to lance my finger, I can press the button and by time I have a sample ready for it, it's ready for me. I hate when devices rush me.

Went late night shopping (stores stay open to 9pm on Thursdays -- and yes, that's considered 'Late Night shopping' here) last night and chose a place a bit of a distance away so I could have some night time driving. Oh yea, night time, rush hour driving on the 2 lane expressway. Eek. (Yeah, I know. 2 lanes for an expressway... but ours is reverse - it changes directions twice a day). And it really WAS rush hour, and an L-Plater is only allowed to go 80km instead of the allowed 100km on the expressway, so yeah, I had a bit of traffic behind me!

Along with the driving minutes, I've also added a 'W' entry in my journals. These are for the daily weight measurements an RDNS nurse suggested I take. I have the list from the last week or so (as long as I've been doing these measurements) below. I'm really kind of blown away by the results. The tests are done in the morning before eating anything and with nothing on - not even glasses.

91.5 Thur
92.5 Fri
93.5 Sat
92.5 Sun
91.5 Mon
90.5 Tue
90.5 Wed
89.5 Thur
88.5 Fri (today)

Steps: 4206

Wed 23 April

09:54:53   7.2  / 129  Fasting     
12:38:38   7.7  / 139  Post-Bfast 
14:10:54   5.3  /  95  Pre-Lunch   
16:19:26   8.6  / 154  Post-Lunch 
19:38:58   6.0  / 108  Pre-Tea     
22:18:10   9.4  / 169  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: 450 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 115 mins of 600 req

Scratchy: 1 free ticket. 3476 steps

Breakfast: 1 low GI toast, 1 egg
Lunch: 2 low carb cheese tortillas and cottage cheese.
Tea: Stroganoff w/ ground beef and lower carb egg noodles

Notes: The day started off full of energy and promise, but I dozed off after lunch while watching a tv show with Rod and it's been sorta downhill ever since. I did manage to get invoices done and mailed out though. Did the invoices this morning and didn't end up mailing them out until this evening. Not very happy with myself as have lots to do and not a lot of time to get some of this stuff done. I really didn't 'need' a nap today, nor did I plan for one. Am so tired of doing anything remotely relaxing and dozing off. Bah!

Link to the Flickr pics from last weekend (Sorry I forgot to add them to that day's blog).

Steps: 4794

Tue 22 April

08:06:50   6.7  / 120  Fasting     
10:56:53   7.6  / 136  Post-Bfast
12:18:33   6.8  / 122  Pre-Lunch   
18:44:10   5.1  /  91  Pre-Tea     
21:41:53   6.9  / 124  Post-Tea

Driving Totals: Daytime: 450 mins of 2400 req // Nighttime: 115 mins of 600 req

Scratchy: No win. 5768 steps

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB & drop honey.
Lunch: cuppa soup w/ 3min ramen noodles and cottage cheese
Tea: Yiros meat (lamb) & chips

Notes: RDNS appt went well. Still a bit of green ooze so will keep Thurs A.M. RDNS appt and will discuss swab/antibiotics with GP today when I get my flu shot. Stopped at chemist on Beach Rd for diabetes supplies. Stopped at Heathers store for USB faceplate, to move one 2.0 slot from in back to the front. Picked up mailing satchels for sending off bookcrossing list books. Picked up flu vaccination from chemist.

Later, walked to GP office, had flu shot and Dr. Lim looked at hole in my side. He was the GP that originally sent me to the hospital last year when the abcess was found. He said it's never going to heal correctly or quit oozing unless they go back in and clean up what's behind it properly. (This is similar to what my regular GP has voiced several times). I explained that the Flinders Plastics Treatment team (they're the ones who did the abscess surgery, as well as the reconstructive surgery) have said repeatedly 'no surgery. let it repair in its own time', mainly because I'm diabetic and heal slowly. He asked who my breast surgeon was and I told him. He said I know him very well. I'll have a word with him. And wrote himself a note that he tucked in his shirt pocket. I did mention that my other GP had also talked with the same surgeon, but that he (the breast doctor) has to tow a line with the plastics people so as not to get any one upset. (Fsking politics, I'm telling you). Anyway, that was interesting - to have a second opinion on my ongoing saga. He didn't see a need for further antibiotics.

Afterwards, I posted off a bookcrossing book I couldn't finish and am sending on to the next bookring participant ('The Almost Moon' by Alice Sebold. I just couldn't cope with the gruesomeness of the events. I dropped off some prescriptions and got my hair cut.

Tonight I've been reading Email (catching up as I'm a bit behind) and will shortly be doing my stats and then trying some more things with printing my neighbours photos for her.

Steps: 6967 so far

Mon 21 April

Mon 21 April

09:21:52   7.4  / 133  Fasting     
12:33:55   7.0  / 126  Pre-Lunch   
19:46:28   8.1  / 146  Pre-Tea     
23:20:41   5.7  / 103  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No walk.

Breakfast: Low GI toast w/ PB & drop honey
Lunch: low carb tortillas with cheese
Tea: 4 chicken kebabs/kabobs (chicken on a stick)

Notes: Woke up with joints aching today and my right foot swollen a bit (I have slippers that are loose and require me to wear socks. Today they were tight on the right side). My hands were swollen too. Had to take my ring off. Normally I come good in an hour or so, but not today. By 11am I went for a lie down as I wasn't feeling very awake. Slept till Rod came home at two. Had lunch and watched TV with Rod. Then dozed again until 6 or so. After tea I went for another lie down and slept until 11pm or so. My brain just doesn't want to engage and I just hurt in almost every joint it seems. bah!

Steps: 3445

Sun 20 April

00:40:46   7.7  / 138  Bedtime     
07:02:38   6.7  / 121  Fasting     
11:12:10   7.9  / 143  Post-Bfast
12:42:28   5.4  /  97  Pre-Lunch   
15:48:25   7.1  / 127  Post-Lunch
18:54:59   5.4  /  98  Pre-Tea     
21:51:40   8.9  / 160  Post-Tea
22:54:13   7.3  / 131  Post-Tea

Scratchy: I owe myself one. Will get a $5 crossword scratchy tomorrow.

Breakfast: Low GI toast w/ PB & drop honey
Lunch: scrambled eggs, 2 crumpet toast
Tea: 2 slices pizza (it's Sunday)

Notes: Today was filled with discoveries. My neighbours asked me to print some photos for them and bought me a big 100ct package of kodak photo paper to play with. Turns out, I can use the pre-sized photo paper with my printer and it even does copies, albeit I'm not happy with the colour on the pics. I'm going to try scanning them and printing to see if I can get the pics better colour-wise. But now that I know, I'll be printing more pics of baby Ricky, for sure.

Laundry has been getting higher on my to-do list every day this week, and so today I did 3 loads. At the same time though, I decided to have a really good test of what cleaning products work at getting out stains and what doesn't. I've tried this before, but by time the clothes were out of the wash, I couldn't remember what I'd used for what shirt. So today I got clever and wrote notes describing each shirt as briefly as possible but so I'd know which one) and then what I used to treat stains with. Well did I ever learn something. I tried 4 different approaches. 1st - Regular spray laundry stain remover, 2. plain white vinegar, 3. Orange Power spot and stain remover (it's for carpets, but it also says you can use it on just about anything. It's a citrus based cleaner). and 4. One shirt was pretreated with vinegar and baking soda. This last one was a bit messy for my tastes. As in I wouldn't want to use on to treat every item of clothing needing pre-treatment. The results? Pretty amazing.

Positive results (where the item of clothing had all stains removed) :

Stain Remover: NONE!
Vinegar: 2
Vinegar & Baking Soda: 1 (very good job, actually)
Orange spot remover: 4

Negative results (where the item of clothing still had stains):

Stain remover: 3
Vinegar: 2
Orange spot remover: NONE!

Wow, so I won't be buying that brand of stain remover again. Or any other as the Orange citrus stuff works better. If I were in a pinch though, vinegar & baking soda would certainly get another look in, but it's too messy to work with.

We went out for a drive this afternoon so I could have some practice time. I need 50 hours driving time in order to get my 'P' (Provisional) license, and 10 of those hours need to be at night. We didn't have any real plans on where to head to today, so I told Rod I still needed to get my walk in for the day, so where could we have a nice walk, hopefully on a beach somewhere. We ended up at Silver Sands. I took some nice piccy's and a couple movies that I've uploaded to Random Experiments. It was great to have a good walk on the beach, and to see the sunset and moon rise. I drove along a really long stretch of road along the coast which was also good as it let me really learn about the accelerator with this car, and pretty much learn how to keep it at speed. It's a really light touch, as are the breaks. Sheesh, not at all like my old Dodge Charger or any other car I've ever owned. The trip home was after the sun set, so the time driving counts as night time driving hours, which is cool. All in all, a very pleasant late afternoon.

Tonight I have uploaded pics to Flickr, looked at new pics of my grandson, watched a couple videos of my son, DIL and grandson, made some voice recordings on my phone that I uploaded to my eldest son's directory for him to download. This is a great find as it means I can talk to him, for once, without him interrupting me. Teehee! I'd been using my mobile phone's voice recording features for notes and such lately but tonight I found out I can easily convert the files to something other people can listen to them with (mp3) and then I can just Email them or whatever. Great find though. Maybe if I get the nerve up, I'll record a lullaby for Ricky. I'd have to have the house to myself for that first though. And later I can read him stories. :-)

Well it's getting on and I haven't done my stats yet so think I better do that and then get this uploaded.



Steps: 7935 so far

Sat 19 April

Sat 19 April

09:51:44   6.9  / 125  Fasting     
13:36:10   6.6  / 119  Pre-Lunch   
17:36:34   6.6  / 118  Post-Lunch
20:07:34   6.8  / 123  Pre-Tea     
22:50:07   9.8  / 176  Post-Tea

Scratchy: $6 on $1 4049

Breakfast: Low GI toast w/ PB & drop honey
Lunch: Hokien noodles w/ tuna and thai dressing
Tea: marinara stirfry w/ thin noodles

Notes: Todays walk was very painful. The osteoarthritis is slowly turning my right foot towards the right, and when I walk, the muscles on the outside calf just scream at me because they're being stretched in ways they aren't meant to be stretched in.

Steps: 5468

Silver Sands Beach

It's Sunday and our day to go out for a drive so I can get my practice driving time in. Today I told Rod I wanted to go somewhere that I could have a nice walk on the beach and we ended up at Silver Sands, which is just the other side of Aldinga. If I figure out google maps I'll show you on the map. Anyway, I took some great pics which I'll be uploading to flickr shortly, and I'll add a link here once they're online, but I also took a couple of videos I thought you might like to see.

The first video is on the beach at sunset and the 2nd video doesn't show it too well, but there's a full moon in one direction and the setting sun in the opposite. I tried to show both, but I don't think the moon is very visible. The sunset is stunning though, and a bird, as if on cue, flies in from the right side of the view, turns just a bit and flies out of the shot on the left. Couldn't ask for better timing.

Here goes:

1st Video:


2nd Video:


Here's the link to the pics

Cheers!

Fri 18 April

11:19:49   5.9  / 107  Fasting     
14:28:00   6.1  / 110  Post-Bfast  Low GI toast w/ PB & drop honey
20:51:50   7.4  / 133  Pre-Tea 
23:14:00   8.0  /         Post-Tea

Scratchy: no win. 5506 steps

Breakfast: Low GI toast w/ PB & drop honey
Lunch: Wendy's hotdogg
Tea: Fish & chips.

Notes: Slept in a bit. Had RDNS appt at 1:15. Dressing had green ooze on it. Will decide on Tuesday if I need to get into the doctor's office of if it'sOK to have Rod change the dressing on Friday afternoon. Took walk today at Tafe and Colonnades after having my dressing changed. Had Rod drop me off at Jen's and went from her place to Marion (another Mall) and was with her when she picked up a gorgeous bed throw from one of the Mystic Moon type shops. OMG, it's silky cyan on one side and the other is a patchwork quilt of beautiful shimmering patterns, beads, sequins, etc. Stunning. She didn't mention her front seat might be wet from a plant she'd had in the car earlier and there I was walking the mall with her with a very wet butt. LOL. From there we went to the Breastroke meeting and that was wonderful. While she was in the pool I learned how to use the voice recording feature on my phone as I've been meaning to get that figured out, and changed a few ring tones that needed adjusting, and basically tooled around with my mobile phone until she was finished. I sure will be happy when I can join the girls in the pool.

Steps: 9327

Thur 17 April

01:05:11   6.8  / 122  Post-Tea  
04:08:25   13.1  / 235  Overnight
09:00:06   6.5  / 117  Fasting     
11:57:39   8.2  / 147  Post-Bfast 
13:24:53   6.2  / 111  Pre-Lunch   
19:23:05   4.3  /  77  Pre-Tea     
22:17:27   7.7  / 138  Post-Tea 

Scratchy: No win. 5665 steps

Breakfast: toasted cheese & vegemite sandwich (2 slices) as experiment.
Lunch: 2min noodles with chicken soup and worst cottage cheese ever. Bleh! Dairy Farmers brand.
Tea: 3/4 Subway sandwich.

Notes: Worked on honey site most of the day. Spending evening updating my own stuff as I'm very behind. Took last of the Cipro antibiotics tonight. Started putting my stats online. Hadn't done this since the 10th! Sheesh.

Steps: 8660

Wed 16 April

06:35:11   8.1  / 145  Overnight
09:10:25   7.2  / 130  Fasting     
11:50:24   6.8  / 123  Post-Bfast 
13:25:32   5.8  / 105  Pre-Lunch   
16:36:01   5.6  / 101  Post-Lunch 
19:58:29   5.1  /  91  Pre-Tea 

Scratchy: $2 on $1. 5674 steps

Breakfast: 1 slice low GI toast w/ PB as experiment. Success!
Lunch: Ham & cheese sandwich on low GI bread, cottage cheese.
Tea: Fish Stick sandwich. Worst fish sticks EVER. Bleh!

Notes: Wow, well the low GI bread works for breakfast. Neat. It'll be nice to have a bit of bread back in my life again. I had an appt with Workskil today, and of course I drove there. I must be doing OK as I had a police car keep a very very polite distance and he didn't stop me for anything. Tea was awful tonight. I made the fish sticks in the oven and they were all very very hard and crunchy beyond reason.

Steps: 7832

Tue 15 April

07:52:46   7.1  / 127  Fasting     
12:11:37   7.4  / 133  Pre-Lunch   
15:39:38   6.7  / 120  Post-Lunch
20:01:40   5.7  / 103  Pre-Tea     
23:09:39   8.1  / 146  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. 5877 steps

Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: sausage roll & cottage cheese
Tea: Chicken soup with noodles. Very yummy.

Notes: Bought a loaf of Low GI, High fibre bread from Baker's Delight. They had given me a free sample a few weeks ago that gave me good BGL results so thought I'd buy a loaf and experiment with toast for breakfast and such. Got way sidetracked looking into how to install the new DVB-T device without much luck

Steps: 9248

Mon 14 April

07:39:12   7.1  / 127  Fasting     
11:34:16   6.8  / 123  Post-Bfast
15:21:43   6.0  / 108  Post-Lunch
19:51:52   5.2  /  94  Pre-Tea     
22:48:10   6.6  / 119  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. 7819 steps

Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: 2 pieces of chicken
Tea: Chili (store bought, microwave bowl kind)

Notes: Rod had last 2 teeth on top pulled in the morning. I spent most of the morning doing housework. Had a quick lunch and then off to the RDNS clinic. On way home, the posty delivery truck was just pulling out of drive, so flashed lights and waved. She turned around and so we got our package without having to pick it up. It was my DVB-T USB stick so I can watch HDTV on my computer. Well, once I get it installed and get the drivers sorted out. Also in today's mail was an envelope from my daughter, 'Fira Flame' who sent me a business card, magnetic calendar with her business card on it (way cool), and a neat postcard with her art on the front and advertising her services on the back. It also had her new address on it, too. No letter, but that's OK. :-) Once we were home again, I spent rest of afternoon finishing my housework project I started earlier in the day, then went for my walk. As I owed myself a scratchy from Monday, I treated myself to a $5 scratchy to cover both yesterday and today. Spent evening trying to get my new TV card going without much luck.

Steps: 9785

Sun 13 April

08:56:33   7.3  / 132  Fasting     
12:10:09   7.2  / 130  Pre-Lunch   
18:21:37   4.8  /  86  Pre-Tea     
23:17:14   7.0  / 126  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. ?? steps

Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: scrambled eggs
Tea: 1/2 Ham & Cheese on roll (snack), then pizza later.

Notes: Too late to get a scratchy when out grocery shopping so bought a $5 crossword scratchy on Monday to cover for both today and Monday. Very late pizza. Lots of driving time. Did slow manuevers in Maslin Beach parking lot (the big lot by the sea, not the high lot where the weirdos hang out).

Steps: 10889

Sat 12 April

07:51:28   8.9  / 161  Fasting     
11:06:37   8.3  / 150  Post-Bfast
12:17:36   6.4  / 115  Pre-Lunch   
14:52:43   8.9  / 160  Post-Lunch
20:13:01   6.1  / 109  Pre-Tea     
22:51:18   9.7  / 174  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. 3697 steps

Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: 2 eggs, bacon, 1/2 bagel w/ lite cream cheese
Tea: steak and salad

Notes: Aside from walk, spent day in. Think I was trying to catch up on reading news feeds.

Steps: 5987 (*) Not sure why the asterisk?

Fri 11 April

07:27:34   7.4  / 134  Fasting     
11:27:14   5.3  /  95  Post-Bfast
12:17:04   6.1  / 109  Pre-Lunch   
14:52:30   8.4  / 152  Post-Lunch  
18:41:22   6.8  / 122  Pre-Tea     
23:02:57   8.0  / 144  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. 4119 steps

Breakfast: the usual
Lunch:
Tea: Fish & Chips

Notes: Follow up appt with Woodward. Tests normal. Referred me to the sleep clinic.

Steps: 8131

Thur 10 April Update

08:51:13   8.4  / 152  Fasting     
11:43:18   8.5  / 153  Post-Bfast
14:12:00   5.1  /  92  Pre-Lunch   
18:10:57   6.6  / 119  Pre-Tea     
21:09:34   8.0  / 144  Post-Tea 

Scratchy: No win. 4191 steps

Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: Wendy's hotdog
Tea: KFC

Notes: RDNS again today. Went well. She (a nurse that hasn't seen me before) commented that my back feels hard. I explained it was either the cavity that I still have, but it's not connected to the hole in my side, or it's lymphedema or a bit of both (most likely). Bought myself 2 pairs of traky daks (track pants) and a pair of long johns today. $8 each for the daks and $5 for the long johns. Not bad. Drove Rod to Tafe and he had only one complaint (I didn't indicate at one of the roundabouts).

And, let the freebie diabetes glucose meters wars begin! I got a letter from Medic Alert (the braclet people) today letting me know that from now on Members will receive a choice between 2 different glucose monitors made by Abbott. WAY cool, because one of them is one that I've wanted but its price always put me off. So I sent in the form telling them which one I want immediately. If you're reading this and an Australian that's diabetic, I can give you a thing so you can get the meter too, but you do have to become a Medic Alert member. But hey, that's 2 free meters in 2 weeks. I love it. I'll really be able to give these a good try and then decide which one I'm going to stick with. Since I get the strips for a very low price from being on the NDSS, the only other thing is the price of any cables and/or software for being able to easily get my data into the computer. I have to order the one for the MWD Pen Sensor as it turns out that micro USB cables are not all as common as I thought they were (and Rod discovered that too). The cable for the Freestyle Papillon Mini is like $69 (for SA Diabetes members - more for the general public), and it comes with software. However, as my regular everyday meter uses a serial cable too, I hopefully won't need to buy a cable, and I can download the software from the website. I hope that's the case as it's the one meter that I have always wanted to have but because of the cost for both the meter and the cable (over $100 for both), I've shied away from it. Two things it has going for it is that it's tiny, and it's backlit. Oh, and uses even less blood than my current meter.

Well here I go nodding off again. Sigh. Time to go do something else so I can wake up a bit.

Steps: 6776

Wed 9 April Update

08:28:27   7.6  / 136  Fasting     
13:03:31   5.8  / 105  Pre-Lunch   
16:37:34   5.8  / 104  Post-Lunch
18:38:13   5.1  /  91  Pre-Tea     
21:22:27   7.4  / 134  Post-Tea

Scratchy: $2 on $1 4897 steps

Breakfast: the usual.
Lunch: salad with chicken and cottage cheese.
Tea: stirfry veggies w/ thin noodles and 2 pcs honey soy chicken breast

Notes: Had an appt with my GP for test results, which overall were pretty good. Looking back on the appt though, I pretty much think he called me a liar but phrased it as I have a 'perception problem'. I've always kept him apprised of my walking stats and such and yet because my weight has increased (honest, I swear I gained 10k in a weeks time, a few weeks ago. One day my pants were falling off me and the next nothing fit) he seems to think that I am making up numbers like my steps in a day. I'm not. I have a pedometer. I write what I eat in diary entries. Anyway, I'm not happy about that. I also showed him how my right ankle is turning my foot out to the right, and he told me to walk on uneven surfaces. He decided to run a TSH test on the blood still at the lab and called it in. This is due to maybe my weight change isn't me lying about my activity and food intake - it could be due to a thyroid problem. He said he doubted it though because it doesn't fit with my 'activity level'. Which is when I told him I fall asleep at the computer constantly. I love how my activity level is a lie and yet not a lie at the same time. I will get the results back on Friday when I'm to go in for my flu shot. The thing is, here you get a prescription filled at the pharmacy for your vaccine and take the vaccine to your GP appointment for the shot. Well, the pharmacy is out of vaccines and apparently a lot of the other ones are too. So if it's not in on Friday, no flu shot until the vaccine does come in.

Both yesterday and today I have crashed in the late afternoon, totally exhausted and dropping instantly off to sleep. I think some of it is because I'm hardly sleeping at night. Apparently last night I yelped in my sleep in pain and not only did I wake myself up, but also woke up Rod (who can sleep through just about anything). So I'm probably crashing in the afternoons from lack of sleep rather than excessive caffiene use.

Here are my test results:

HBA1C: 6.8 (up from 6.7 in December)
Cholesterol 3.4
Tri 2.1
HDL 1.3
LDL 1.1
Vitamin D: 80 (60-160 is normal).

Steps: 7593

Tue 8 April Update

01:11:31   8.9  / 161  Bedtime     still high BGL.
06:59:20   6.6  / 119  Fasting     woke up early - arthritis.
15:16:17   8.9  / 160  Post-Lunch  lemon chicken, noodles, shared w/ Rod. 
23:11:06   8.0  / 144  Post-Tea    Yiros.

Scratchy: no win. 4920

Breakfast: the usual.
Lunch: Food court chinese lemon chicken and noodles, shared with Rod.
Tea: Yiros.

Notes: My appt went well today with the RDNS nurse. I see one RDNS nurse and each client is scheduled for 15 minutes (which is longer than my GPs regular appts). The nurse I saw had met me before (as a visiting nurse), and she even remembered that I use green tea to help control my diabetes. I spent the rest of my morning trying to track down a USB type A micro cable. None to be had locally. I met Rod for lunch as he was between classes and then took the bus home. Did quite a bit of walking today too.

Steps: 8703

Mon 7 April Update

09:21:29   7.5  / 135  Fasting     
11:40:05   7.9  / 143  Post-Bfast  The usual
14:14:03   8.1  / 146  Pre-Lunch   
16:47:04   8.9  / 160  Post-Lunch  sausage roll & cottage cheese
20:01:28   4.3  /  78  Pre-Tea     
22:49:03   7.0  / 126  Post-Tea    leftover roast beef w/ gravy & egg noodles

Scratchy: No win. 6567 steps

Breakfast: the usual.
Lunch: sausage roll & cottage cheese
Tea: left over roast beef w/ gravy and egg noodles

Notes: Exciting postal mail today. A box of Pooki from Catch of the Day, and the MedWatchDog glucose sensor pen arrived today. It's a glucose meter that's basically shaped like a mp3 player that's about twice as long. It has a USB connection, but I don't have any cables that fit it. It's a newer 'micro cable' that I need.

Steps: 8511

Sun 6 April Update

06:16:39   8.6  / 154  Fasting
13:44:05   4.2  /  75  Pre-Lunch   
17:01:18   8.7  / 157  Post-Lunch
18:27:54   6.2  / 111  Pre-Tea     
21:27:51   10.0  / 180  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. 3631

Breakfast: Usual.
Lunch: scrambled eggs and two crumpet toasts.
Tea: 2 slices pizza, garlic bread.

Notes: weird day. weird dream. Woke up 'early' due to arthritis pain, and then after I'd been up awhile I realised it was even earlier since the clocks needed to be adjusted for daylight savings. Made a cup of dark roast coffee using a new plunger system I bought the other day on clearance. Was excellent coffee, but unfortunately I'm coming to realise that the caffiene is putting me to sleep. Rod got up, and I kind of traded places with him and went back to bed for an hour or so. I had the strangest dream that I was trapped in some school/hospital with younger people, and there seemed to be no escaping the place. Was sort of fuzzy all day long, and then had a cuppa with Rod an hour or so ago and ended up taking a nap in my rocking chair on the patio. Bugger, because I really like the coffee, and I know that reducing the amount I drink is going to lead to a headache. But still, the point of the coffee started out for the caffiene to stay awake. Obviously that's not working for me.

Yesterday I discovered that I can watch the TV shows we've taped on our PVR (sort of like a VCR but it saves the video to files on a hard drive. As our PVR is networked, we have been copying stuff I've fallen asleep watching (seeing a theme here?) to a folder on my computer, basically to save space on the hard drive of the machine. Well, I found out that using a couple simple commands on my linux box I can convert the TV files into an .avi file. I can copy these files to my USB flash drive, stick it in my digital photo frame I keep on the table on the patio and watch stuff whenever I'm taking a break. I'm so rapt with this, as I figured I'd never see these shows as I don't often watch TV in the bedroom except at night, and that's where the PVR is. So TV on the patio, of sorts. :-)

Funnily enough, what caused me to make this discovery was that Rod bought me a USB HIGH DEF DVB-T (TV) Tuner for my computer (for a song) and I was looking into whether I could convert the stored files into something that let me watch the shows on my digital photo frame. So over the course of the weekend I've managed to convert all the stuff I've missed, and have watched about half of them. I'm even all caught up with watching Neighbours, and I'm always about a week behind on that show. Not any more. :-)

On another note, I was saddened to learn that Wally Bronner of the incredible, magical, amazing Bronners Christmas Store passed away. I know he had a strong faith in God and said he'll be making sure the decorations in heaven are in place, but it's still sad that he won't there to great folks at his store, and have chats about decorating and Christmas. He was a one of a kind person. My condolences to his family. A few weeks ago either the Saginaw News or TV5 had a fill-in form on their website to send Wally messages. I sent him a message starting with 'G'day from Australia!' and thanked him for the wonderful memories I'll always have of many family trips to his most amazing store. I don't know if he received any of those messages from the website, but I hope he did.


Steps: 6235

Sat 5 April Update

08:18:54   7.8  / 141  Fasting     
11:21:22   8.6  / 155  Post-Bfast
19:20:38   7.3  / 131  Pre-Tea     
21:53:05   8.1  / 146  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. Steps: 5163

Breakfast: Usual.
Lunch: Thai Green Curry Chicken and Jasmine Rice
Tea: Chicken bits and chips

Notes: Lunch at Flagstaff Hill. Gee it's expensive there. Nice salad bar, but still awfully pricey. Pretty non-descript day. Worked on honey site.

Steps: 6892

Fri 4 April Update

08:07:17   8.1  / 145  Fasting     
13:06:53   6.5  / 117  Post-Bfast
14:21:33   6.6  / 119  Pre-Lunch   
16:42:17   8.6  / 155  Post-Lunch

Scratchy: No win. 4437 steps

Breakfast: usual
Lunch: 2 chicken wings, cottage cheese, Mac & cheese
Tea: Lamb stew

Notes: Rod had 3 teeth extracted on his right side today. I've had a walk and now plan to do some photoshop work and a bit of housework. That storm the other day pushed in all kinds of DUST/DIRT, again. Gee this is getting old. At least this time I have some really good microfibre cloths which should make cleaning up a log easier

Dang, Falling a sleep at the keyboard and it's only half past five.

Steps: 6631

Thurs 3 April Update

10:27:57   6.7  / 121  Fasting  fasting blood test this AM
13:07:47   5.7  / 103  Post-Bfast  
16:54:35   5.0  /  90  Pre-Lunch   
19:17:45   7.0  / 126  Post-Lunch
21:53:42   4.5  /  81  Pre-Tea 

Scratchy: $3 on $2. 3855 steps

Breakfast: Ham and Cheese bakery roll and cottage cheese
Lunch: Toasted lamb sandwich made with sample Bakers Delight low GI bread.
Tea: KFC.

Notes: Walked to GPs office for blood tests, then picked up a scratchy ticket and a ham and cheese roll for my breakfast and walked home. I drove Rod to school in the early afternoon (I think he's starting to like being chauffuered). I took a stack of requested paperwork to Centrelink, and then wandered around waiting for Rod to finish class. Drove to Woodside and picked up a 2-tier garment rack for $20 at The Warehouse. I let Rod drive home.

We had a very late lunch. After it got dark, we left to do shopping, with me driving (in the RAIN, at NIGHT). For my driving log with my Learners license, I have to have 50 hours of driving experience and 10 hours of that has to be at night so we went shopping at our 'old' shopping center at Seaford, just so I would have the night time driving experience. After we got groceries, I drove us to the KFC near where we live and Rod had me go through the drive through, which even the guy at the one counter told me how to manuerver the next curve because apparently everyone hits either kerb (left or right) as it's pretty poorly designed. We had to wait for our order and then apparently there was a mix up so they gave us extra chicken, 2 big tubs of potato and gravy (of which I can only have the gravy), an extra lg chips and for good measure they added a bottle of Pepsi. Wow, that was nice. And I can't believe I've had over 14k steps... mind, the stuff I did this morning seems like it was a year ago. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

I made an appt for next week to go over the test results with the GP. I also made double sure that both my iron and HBA1C were being tested. Last time, the lab didn't do the HBA1C which was rather annoying.

As I'd been in the bakery a few days before, the sales girl recognised me and offered for me to try their new low GI bread. They had pre-wrapped slices to give away to regular customers. And I was pleased that unlike some other breads I've tried, this bread really did not cause my BGLs to spike. So, that freebie was well worth it. I'll probably get a loaf to keep in the freezer. I don't have bread that often, but it'd be nice to have some available that I can have without any problems with it.

Steps: 14,819

Wed 2 April Update

07:02:15   7.7  / 138  Fasting     Woke early - wind gusts 65kph
10:50:37   10.8  / 195  Post-Bfast  
13:28:45   6.1  / 109  Pre-Lunch   
19:30:49   7.8  / 141  Pre-Tea     
22:15:05   8.9  / 161  Post-Tea 

Scratchy: no walk. Wet, rainy, cold & I wasn't up to it

Breakfast: crumpet toast with PB and drop honey
Lunch: 1 big bowl of self pity (aka chicken curry noodles), cottage cheese & chocolate
Tea: yiros meat pack and a few chips

Notes: BANG! Something crashing outside woke me up this morning. As I sat up, every joint in my body creaked and moaned, telling me that winter has arrived. I put on slippers winching as the little joints in my toes complained at me. I put my robe on and stepped out on the porch to see what had woke me up. The first thing of note was that the bins we'd put out the night before (it's trash day today) were on their sides. The recycle bin had all our last 2wks worth of plastic, paper, etc threatening to become airborne missles. I looked over at the two metal doors for our covered 'half garage space' (well it's not a car port nor is it a garage, I have no idea what to call it) and one of the doors was violently opening crashing against the other door. It does that when it's extremely windy but today it looked like it might just get sheared off if it didn't get dealt with. And being only in my robe in a gale force wind and only partially awake, I decided I'd better get a coffee, get dressed and be a bit more awake before I went out to do clean up. I went to go back inside and in a flash of a moment, the screen door ripped from my hand and then came back as quickly as it'd opened... smashing right into the first joint on my right index finger, which was already being somewhat sore and stiff with arthritis. Oh, I think I said a few four letter words several times over... Nice start to the day. Sigh.

So I got my coffee, took my drugs, sat and woke up a bit and then went out front to deal with the carnage. To my surprise, the two bins were upright and hardly any recycle stuff (of our own) was visible. But, the large recycle bin was upright and instead of being next to the road, where I last saw it lying on its side, was in the middle of the yard. It was also empty, which was confusing. I thought everything had just blown away. As it turns out, our wonderful neighbours saw the bins and put them upright, and let me know that the recycle truck had just been by a few minutes before. Phew. I ended up taking that bin around the yard and picking up other peoples recycle items that had escaped their bins. I wonder if half of ours is down the road? I really think the council should let us put this stuff in bags because every fortnight when its recyc week, I see stuff that had to either come from our recyc or someone elses, always a bit further up the street from our house. It's very silly having recycling if it's going to be loose in the bin and escaping to become neighbourhood litter.

Anyway, I spoke to the neighbours on both sides, meeting the ones on our right for the first time as they moved in there a few months ago. Good thing I put my dentures in before I ventured outside!! (LOL)

So now it's hours later and actually colder outside than what it was at 7am. And my fingers are being very grumpy. I used Voltaren on them and am giving them a bit of exercise while I write this. That way they can't complain about not being allowed to move about and get lubricated. And now I feel like I need a nap. Sigh. I am actually quite frustrated at the moment. I can't seem to conventrate and I have so much stuff on my to do list. ARG!!

Added later: Well I had some lunch and took it easy and still hurt so finally took a Panadiene Forte with codeine around 4:30 and then slept from about 5 to 6:30. I've felt like a zombie all night. I did some work on some graphics this evening but on a better day I'm sure I'd be finished with it. Tomorrow I have a fasting blood test so I can't have anything but water from now until then.

Honestly I think today wouldn't have been so bad but normally winter arthritis just creeps in slowly as the days slowly get shorter and colder and the weather gets rainy. Today was like being plunged suddenly into mid-winter as far as the arthritis goes. No easing into it slowly. I can't believe this is the same body that walked 12,000 steps the other day or has accomplished as much as I have lately. It's a reminder that I'm on disability for a reason. Anyway, that was my day.

Steps: 5241

Wed 2 April Update

Scratchy: no walk. Wet, rainy, cold & I wasn't up to it

Breakfast: crumpet toast with PB and drop honey
Lunch: 1 big bowl of self pity (aka chicken curry noodles), cottage cheese & chocolate
Tea: yiros meat pack and a few chips

Notes: BANG! Something crashing outside woke me up this morning. As I sat up, every joint in my body creaked and moaned, telling me that winter has arrived. I put on slippers winching as the little joints in my toes complained at me. I put my robe on and stepped out on the porch to see what had woke me up. The first thing of note was that the bins we'd put out the night before (it's trash day today) were on their sides. The recycle bin had all our last 2wks worth of plastic, paper, etc threatening to become airborne missles. I looked over at the two metal doors for our covered 'half garage space' (well it's not a car port nor is it a garage, I have no idea what to call it) and one of the doors was violently opening crashing against the other door. It does that when it's extremely windy but today it looked like it might just get sheared off if it didn't get dealt with. And being only in my robe in a gale force wind and only partially awake, I decided I'd better get a coffee, get dressed and be a bit more awake before I went out to do clean up. I went to go back inside and in a flash of a moment, the screen door ripped from my hand and then came back as quickly as it'd opened... smashing right into the first joint on my right index finger, which was already being somewhat sore and stiff with arthritis. Oh, I think I said a few four letter words several times over... Nice start to the day. Sigh. So I got my coffee, took my drugs, sat and woke up a bit and then went out front to deal with the carnage.

To my surprise, the two bins were upright and hardly any recycle stuff (of our own) was visible. But, the large recycle bin was upright and instead of being next to the road, where I last saw it lying on its side, was in the middle of the yard. It was also empty, which was confusing. I thought everything had just blown away. As it turns out, our wonderful neighbours saw the bins and put them upright, and let me know that the recycle truck had just been by a few minutes before. Phew. I ended up taking that bin around the yard and picking up other peoples recycle items that had escaped their bins. I wonder if half of ours is down the road? I really think the council should let us put this stuff in bags because every fortnight when its recyc week, I see stuff that had to either come from our recyc or someone elses, always a bit further up the street from our house. It's very silly having recycling if it's going to be loose in the bin and escaping to become neighbourhood litter.
Anyway, I spoke to the neighbours on both sides, meeting the ones on our right for the first time as they moved in there a few months ago. Good thing I put my dentures in before I ventured outside!! (LOL)

So now it's hours later and actually colder outside than what it was at 7am. And my fingers are being very grumpy. I used Voltaren on them and am giving them a bit of exercise while I write this. That way they can't complain about not being allowed to move about and get lubricated. And now I feel like I need a nap. Sigh. I am actually quite frustrated at the moment. I can't seem to conventrate and I have so much stuff on my to do list. ARG!!

Added later: Well I had some lunch and took it easy and still hurt so finally took a Panadiene Forte with codiene around 4:30 and then slept from about 5 to 6:30. I've felt like a zombie all night. I did some work on some graphics this evening but on a better day I'm sure I'd be finished with it. Tomorrow I have a fasting blood test so I can't have anything but water from now until then.

Honestly I think today wouldn't have been so bad but normally winter arthritis just creeps in slowly as the days slowly get shorter and colder and the weather gets rainy. Today was like being plunged suddenly into mid-winter as far as the arthritis goes. No easing into it slowly. I can't believe this is the same body that walked 12,000 steps the other day or has accomplished as much as I have lately. It's a reminder that I'm on disability for a reason. Anyway, that was my day.

Steps: 4810 so far

Tue 1 April Update

08:18:17   8.9  / 161  Fasting     
11:14:07   8.0  / 144  Post-Bfast  crumpet toast w/ PB and drop honey.  Wasn't as active this AM as usual.
13:51:07   5.4  /  98  Pre-Lunch   
16:35:31   7.6  / 137  Post-Lunch  sausage roll & cottage cheese
19:11:31   5.0  /  90  Pre-Tea 
22:27:39   6.2  / 112  Post-Tea

Scratchy: No win. 6448 steps

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB & drop honey
Lunch: sausage roll & cottage cheese
Tea: roast beef, potatoes and veggies

Notes: Rod had classes all day. I couldn't take him to school as I was expecting an RDNS nurse to come this morning. She came around 11am. Spent morning and afternoon working on honey website and doing 3 loads of laundry. I took my walk after Rod came home this afternoon.

Steps: 7887 so far

Mon 31 March Update

07:10:06   8.2  / 148  Overnight   
08:10:33   6.7  / 121  Fasting     2c green tea
12:06:04   6.6  / 119  Pre-Lunch   My walk today was 8088 steps.
15:30:03   7.7  / 138  Post-Lunch  
18:39:55   4.9  /  89  Pre-Tea     
21:25:04   8.6  / 155  Post-Tea    

Scratchy: $3 on 2 steps 8088

Breakfast: crumpet toast heal w/ drop of honey and PB
Lunch: sausage roll & cottage cheese
Tea: satay pork w/ stir fry veggies and rice

Notes: Man what a busy day. I drove Rod to Colonnades (aka 'the Mall') and took my daily walk while trying to find a mop handle for the mop head I bought last week. Funny thing, Kmart has a great stock of brooms by the same company that made my mop head, but not a great stock of mops. Whereas Big W (the other side of the Mall) has the opposite. So first I went to Kmart, then to Big W, and then back to Kmart again. I ended up buying a new broom (I'd wanted a new one anyway) and it happens that the mop head fits the handle so killed two birds with one stone.

I walked back to the car at Tafe to leave my stuff in the boot, then went through Tafe to the Noarlunga library where I picked up a book on various ways to play with a gym ball. From there, I caught the bus home and spent a busy afternoon working on a few different projects. I probably racked up the most steps EVER for me (since using a pedometer all the time, anyway) today. Over 12,000! Amazing.

Steps: 12697