G'day all,

So nice to 'see' you Lily also good to have someone who can appreciate my stress at the moment The website is coming along quite well now, I worked on it from 7 in the morning till late in the afternoon and I feel I have it under control.....I think!
I am doing this for a customer and gave the ridiculous quote that I would do it for $500, at this rate I am working for about 10 cents an hour
I have learnt heaps and IF there is going to be a next time, I will be much wiser.

Ann good to hear your showtime was an enjoyable event. I don't have the problem of having to push my dh to do anything, it is more the other way around. He cannot just spend a weekend doing 'nothing'

Glenda That must have been hard to cope with re your ex daughter in law. I agree, one would not choose that life style but then I wonder why they (not all, of course) display themselves the way they do at the Mardi Grass. We have so many laws to protect children and yet there was a float in the Mardi Grass advocating having 2 'Mums' was a great thing, a number of lesbian couples were on the float with their very young children. I would not have thought half naked men/women dressed in leather etc. was a desirable environment for young children. Perhaps I am just a little old fashioned!

Hello to everyone else, hope you are all well and having a good day.

Back to THAT website

Cheers
Maria

Hi Everybody
You gals are all so busy, and I love reading about what you are all doing. Today DH and I went to a couple's home for lunch and that was a nice change then eating "out". It's good for us to get out of the house and do things and see people. DH has had 4 treatments of radiation and he does tire more quickly and has experienced some nausea but he is doing not too badly. We can go out for about 3 or 4 hours then he wants to come home and rest. That's ok!
Tomorrow though to Friday he will once again have the radiation treatments.
My brother had a weekend pass from the hospital so we had breakfast with him and my sil yesterday. Today he had one of those medicated stents put in the artery that was 80% blocked and everything went well. I am so thankful for that. The one remaining worry I have about him is that his blood count is low. For a man it should be 140-180 and his is 104 and they don't know why. They did a colonoscopy on him while he was in the hospital and there was no bleeding or anything else to worry about there.
Our grandson who is 11 years old and 1" shorter then me hee hee, (he just loves the fact that he's still growing and I'm not) came here after school today and when he hugs me I can hardly breathe....BUT I love it! When my son came to pick him up he has a cold so he kissed me on top of my head and my grandson said he can hardly wait until he is tall enough to do that to me too. I sure love those boys, when they come here both DH and feel great.....course the same is true when the "girls" come. Family sure is important.
Just wanted to say hello to you all. Bye for now.

Hi all:
Can't believe the weekend went by and I never got back to post.

Lily: How great to hear from you. You sound really busy and a bit on the stressed side. Hope you can find some time to relax a bit. And come and 'see' us when you can.

Glenda: I can understand your having a haard time not ogling, with the skimpy outfits, and the piercings. I really dilike going to a restaurant and having our server with a pierced tongue. That just seems a bit too much for me. Tolerance is important for many situations. For me it is just the exhibitionism that gets to me, and it doesn't matter- gay or straight- going out of ones way to shock is too 'far out' for me.

Slavika: So nice to hear from you. Hope all continues to go well. I have heard that radiation does take a lot of oomph out of the patient. Interesting to me that your brother is having the problem with the low blood count. That is what we have been dealing with with DH. and they can't find any reason for this to be happening. So I think that finally the Iron Deficiency Anemia was what the Dr. came up with. Hence, the iron infusions. He had another one Friday,has one more to go and then a re-evaluation to see where he stands.

I remember how thrilled our grandkids have been as soon as they get taller than me. And now that is all of them. Granddaughters too. "yikes: I'm turning into just a little 'shrimp'.

Our big news for the week is a new dishwasher. Our old one was just grinding away, and when the repair man came, he said the bearings were gon in the pump. So he figured out how much to repair it to the tune of $389, and we said'forget it' We'll get a new one. So it was installed yesterday. A bit different to get used to. All the loading patterns are much different.

Also DH is getting hearing aids, for the first time. I hope that they will make a big difference in our communication. He has such a loss in the higher pitch range. It will be a big adjustment for us both, I believe.

Guess it is cooking time. A big HUG for you all. Ann

Hi Everybody
Ann I remembered when I posting about my brother's blood count being low that was similar to your husband's problem. I'll let you know what they come up with regards to my brother.
My DH is much more tired now that he has started radiation then he was during his chemo. He just doesn't seem to have any energy at all. We left the house today around 9:00 for his treatment and made a couple of stops on our way home and were back in the house about 11:30 and he has been laying on the sofa since then and actually slept part of the time. He would like to do "something" but just does not have the energy.
There is a new show starting tonight for any of you that like "police type shows". It's called "Blind Justice". I saw a couple of the ads about it and it looks like it might be a good series. I'll watch the pilot tonight then I will know.
Talk to you all soon. Bye now.

G'day everyone,

I am now totally relaxed that THE website is up an running.
What stress but what satisfaction having it up there for the world to see.
I have learnt just so much and I did make many mistakes dealing with the customer along the way, but c'est la vie!

I am now going to start packing up 'stuff' to take back home at Easter. My daughter in law's parents are arriving on March 17, leaving March 22 and then we leave March 24! I will return to Sydney again on April 2.
In between I will be 'celebrating' my 60th

How is your new dishwasher Ann? I remember getting my first dishwasher many years ago and I was so excited. When I stopped and thought about it I thought how amazing it was that I could get excited about a dishwasher, a galvonised iron garage, fly screen doors etc. etc.
Love all new appliances and don't they make our lives that much easier.
Good luck with the hearing aids. My dh is hard of hearing (not deaf...so he says ) his father has hearing aids and still leaves them out half the time. I guess at 92 you can excuse him, but it is very frustrating. I have told dh that when the time comes and he needs them to remember how frustrating his father's use of hearing aids was.

Slavika good to see you post. It must be so hard for your dh to want to do stuff but just not having the energy.
I look back and don't quite know how I managed to keep working but it was also a good distraction and of course I was then in my late forties and there is radiation and radiation
There are going to be brighter days ahead and this will be like a bad dream.
Don't know if I would like my grand children to be taller than me , at least your grandson is excited about it!
You are right, family is so important. Last night we received a text message from our ds, all it said was 'you 2 r the greatest'
Not sure what brought that on but I do know he is very keen for us to get back home.

Have a great day all, I will just rest on my laurels, well today anyway!

Cheers
Maria

Slavika, I echo Maria's thoughts. Brighter days ahead. I worked through my chemo, but I missed days too because of nausea. I so well remember the fatigue. I would walk up a flight of stairs and have to bend over, thinking I was going to faint. But it did the trick.

I have something good and something very sad to share with you all. First the good news: My friend Nellie got to fly home (mediflight) Monday night. They took her straight to a rehab facility. We had heard that she had brain damage, could not speak well, and had become angry. Well, those stories were way exaggerated. She has a bit of a rasp in her voice from the trach tube and she has some difficulties with her left side. That is why she is at rehab, but I talked to her last night and she sounded just like my Nellie. She was so sedated in Phoenix--she said she remembers being in a concentration camp with barbed wire. That was her impression and that is why she was so angry.

Now the sad news: we went home Tuesday and our precious little Kassie dog would not eat, could not stand up and was just in a sad way. We cried and I decided enough was enough. We took her Wednesday to the vet. We were both with her and Leon brought her home and buried her. I cried all day and today I am just cranky and feel that I have a stone of pain in my heart. This is the little dog who was sent to me by God (I thoroughly believe this!) during my cancer and she was my shadow. She has always been "my" dog, even though my husband and youngest son feel the same way. I know I will get over this, but right now I don't think I will.
Glenda

G'day all,

Glenda how sad you must be feeling, loosing your dog That is one of the reasons I will not have another pet, I am just too pathetic and it would upset me too much.
I hated having to return my 2 dogs to the breeder when we started this life.
Great to hear about your friend Nellie and that she is just like you remember her. Sometimes medical staff, how ever well meaning they are, can make you feel that what they are doing is NOT the best for you.
I read a book once of a journalist who had a serious diving accident which left him a quadraplegic, he spoke exactly of that experience and how angry he was.
Don't know if there is an answer to that dilemma.

Trudy are you too busy cooking in your new kitchen that we haven't heard from you for a while
I hope that is the reason.

Nothing too much planned for this weekend, preparing for next week when my next lot of visitors arrive!

G'day to Ann, Karen, Lily, Peggy and Slavika hope life is good for you.

Cheers
Maria

Hi all:

Maria: Your web page is awesome. You should be very satisfied with all your hard work.

Glenda: I can understand just how you feel. Soon after I got home from the hospital we had to take our little dog to the vets. My DD and DH took her, as I was in no shape to go. We still miss her, and probably will for a long time. We had her for 14 years. A real part of the family. It is sure a tough decision to make, but sometimes it is the only one left to us. Because of where we live, we couldn't even bring her home for burial. We just have to grieve a while, that's for sure.

I am happy to say that our crape myrtle tree that we planted is beginning to show some life. A few buds here and there. And we had our grapefruit tree pruned way back and it is beginning to show new growth and a few blossoms. Spring is here, even tho' it has been quite cool the past few days. I'll be glad when I can get to the pool.

The dishwasher is very good. Does a good job, but I am having trouble getting used to loading the dishes, since the loading patterns are so different from the old one. It is very quiet, and our old one had been making the grinding noise for quite a while.

Time for bed. A big hello to Trudy, Slavika, Karen, Peggy, Lily. The weekend is almost upon us, so have a good one. Ann

Glenda so sorry to hear about your little furry friend. I know just how you feel. I went through it with my little Kipper. I still tear up when I think of him. So cry all you need to soon you’ll feel a bit better. Also good to hear about your friend. Glad she is doing better.

My Dad is having surgery again on March 24th. This time he will have a colostomy bag. So keep him in your thoughts.

More news. My kids in the service are going to home on leave later this month. With all we have going on it just isn’t in the cards for us to be able to see them. We are still in limbo waiting to see the doctor who will be doing the heart ablation on DH. And we don’t want to miss any appointments that will be coming up. DS understands. They had to take leave at this time so they could be on leave together.

I have been seeing a chiropractor for my neck and shoulder. This the first time I have ever been treated by one. She told me I didn’t get there a minute too soon. I have been out of alignment for way to long. Here hoping she can help me. So far I have not seen any results. But I have invested a nice sum of cash $$$$$$$$$$$$$ so need to see it through . Hope she knows what she is doing. I am still in pain and at times more that I was in before.. Wish me luck! I need to go to bed this pain has been very tiring.

Karen

Hi Everybody


Glenda I am so sorry to hear about your fur faced friend. I know that you loved Kassie and you will miss her always. I still miss Nikita and so does my husband, and it was my sad duty to take her to the vet for the last time in the winter of 1999 and hold her in my arms when they put her to sleep. They become so much a part of the family that the house is truly empty without them. Glenda, cry when you need to....you have lost a friend.

Glenda: So sorry to hear about your dog. They are like family so it is hard to go through. But it does sound like it was best.

Slavika: Radiation does take alot out of you. But it the end it will be better. He will have a hard time til its done. But at least he is going out when he is up to it! Thats good! Im sure he does get bored being at home all the time.

Maria: You web page does look good! You do learn alot from the first one.
But boy I will never go back to doing for Clients. They are just to fussy all the time. If you are gonna update it make sure you charge good for that as thats where most the trouble comes in.

Ann: Ohhh a new Dishwasher! I think we are about ready for a new one. Hope not to soon.

KAren sorry to hear about your Neck and shoulder. Hope the Chrio helps sounds like it will!

Gonna work in the yard tomorrow. Its that time again Yuck. Hate it want cement

Off to watch a movie!

G'day everyone,

Thank you for your comments Lily I have sent my account and I also wrote a covering note to advise what my charges are for changes. I know what you are saying but hopefully as these people are not friends, in fact I have never met them, it will work OK.
I charged AUS$500 for the site, I checked in some other webdesign type forums, they all thought it to be very cheap as well as my hourly charge of AUS$35, they thought to be a bit ridiculous.
Time will tell.

Ann I just love crepe myrtles, they are so pretty and ideal for a smaller type garden. Pleased your dishwasher is doing a good job!

Karen I think chiropractors are the only way to go but of course you can have good ones and perhaps not so good ones. I hope this one will work out for you. Sorry to hear about your dad.

I am off for another little adventure this afternoon. One of my favourite interview hosts (http://www.abc.net.au/enoughrope/)records his program here in Sydney and I applied to be in the audience. Part of being in the audience you had to fill out a questionnaire to tell a few things about yourself.
I have 'cut & pasted' the last question and the answer I gave:

10. Is there anything else about yourself that you’d like to tell us? Something unique, surprising, bizarre, funny or sad?
I came out to Australia as 14 year old from the Netherlands and spoke little English. I had some 21 jobs in 5 years. Some of the most memorable ones were a five week stint at Arnott’s biscuit factory where I had to put the tops on the Monte Carlo Biscuits, I wasn’t much good (too many passed without a top!!!) I was then transferred to the dog biscuits but even there I failed and I was asked to leave after 5 weeks.
I then worked at the Hoadleys factory where I watched the violet crumbles pass on a conveyer belt after being sprayed with chocolate. My job was with small tin of liquid chocolate in hand, to ‘dab’ the violet crumbles where the machine had missed! Of course no such thing as plastic gloves, just your ‘naked’ finger that now and again strayed into the mouth!
I was told that I had to buy a purple and yellow uniform if I wanted to keep the job, I decided after 2 weeks ‘dabbing’ violet crumbles was probably not the career path I wanted to pursue.
I will be 60 this month, still happily married with 2 married children. To keep myself occupied whilst we are in different countries for my husband’s work, I started my own (very small) business, doing photo restorations, photo manipulation, some basic web design. Something I can do wherever I am in the world thanks to the internet.
The producers of the show rang me to ask if I was willing to talk on camera about my experience
She couldn't believe how factories worked in those days, not to mention the hygiene!
It depends on time if all this happens but in the meantime, I have a seat right up the front for the cameras and Andrew Denton (the host) to get to me easily
So I had better go and 'tart' myself up so I will look OK on TV just in case!
All very funny and I will probably feel a bit nervous once I get there. I guess it is not as intrusive like being on Dr. Phil!!!

Cheers all,
Maria

Let us know what happens Maria.

My doctor is taking me off Hormone Therapy. I am having a very weepy time of it, I'll be back when i get through this.

Karen

Oh my, Karen! I have heard from others about getting off hormones. I did it the hard way--had ovarian cancer surgery and they told me to not take anymore ever. Seems that my cancer was hormone sensitive, could have been caused by hormones. Made me a believer, but all those years hearing about the good hormones do and I knew I couldn't take them. Now they say no one should be on them forever. You will be back to yourself soon. I am such a firm believer in chiropractors! I visit them and have for years and I no longer have awful headaches.

Maria, I hope you get chosen. Your life has been so interesting, especially to someone who has never lived outside Oklahoma. So, are you still bilingual? What is your other language? That is kind of sickening when you think about the hygiene on the conveyor belts of that day, but don't you know we have all eaten things we just need to remain ignorant about.

Went to visit my friend Nellie in the hospital in Oklahoma City. She was mediflighted from Phoenix last week. She is just my old friend Nellie. Maybe a little raspiness in her voice and she can't walk yet because she leans to the left. That is what they are working on. Isn't that all a miracle. Just 2 weeks from major brain surgery and she is herself again. She was at death's door. Lots of prayers involved in that miracle.

Are any of your basketball fans? My OSU cowboys are in the March tournament. We start out playing in Oklahoma City. Last year we went to the Final 4. I don't think we will get that far this year.

Have a good day!
Glenda

G'day all,

I am exhausted!!!

I did get chosen and it was all very funny. The host, Andrew Denton, is as gracious, sincere and genuine as he appears to be on TV.
Having met a number of celebrities/politicians etc. in my flying career, that certainly is not the case with many!
He did an interview with 4 people, so I had no idea if mine was any good. After the show he came up to me and shook my hand and said 'the interview was just delightful'!!!!! I thought from that maybe I will be on TV.
I caught the bus home and whilst on the bus the producer rang to say 'you were just fantastic Maria and it will be on Andrew's show tonight'
I wasn't quite sure what her interpretation of 'fantastic' was, did I make a complete fool of myself or was the interview OK?
Rang a few people to let them know and then waited for the show to air at 9.30 pm.
Well it wasn't too bad, my lovely coral top and black jacket came up quite well but of course as we all know, the TV cameras make you look at least 15 lbs heavier , the balck jacket didn't quite have the slimming effect that I had hoped for!
After the show my dd rang from Melbourne and thought I did well and then at 11.30pm the calls from Adelaide started (Adelaide is 1 hour behind). It was well after 2 pm when I finally must have fallen asleep.
TV career is OFF, I have enough trouble sleeping!
In time there will be transcript on his website, when it is there I will send you the link so you can actually read what happened.

Glenda Yes I do still speak Dutch though being married to an Australian I seldom speak it these days. My eldest sister speaks to me in Dutch and I reply to her in English, much easier for me. When I visited relatives 10 years ago, the first week was very hard to speak 'pure' Dutch but then it was fine.
When I read about my life it does look a bit 'exciting', but I can assure you I would love to have lived with a few less 'exciting' things that have happened to me.
Pleased to hear about your friend Nellie and how well she is recovering, it is amazing indeed after having brain surgery such a short time ago.

Karen I am with Glenda I also could not take any hormone replacement because of cancer. My sister when she heard that, she never took hormone replacement and preferred to put up with the inconvenience of the menopause symptons.
There are many natural therapies out on the market, perhaps you should give those a try to get you over this.
I hope your neck is getting better.

I better be off to do some shopping to stock up for the next lot visitors arriving on Thursday.

Cheers
Maria