G'day all,

Good to read everyone's posts, especially Trudy's keeping us up to date with Slavika's dh's progress.

I haven't got the other window open to see what everyone has said and I cannot remember too much other then the 'fogging' for mosquitos etc. This is one of my main concerns when we go to the Outback, dh does not get bitten but they see me coming from miles away The condition you spoke of must be similar as that of 'Ross River Virus' which you can get from certain mosquito bites. The virus is very similar to chronic fatique syndrome and very difficult to treat.
Great that Ann and Karen got to have lunch together. Yes the rolling of the eyes is a common reaction for me as well when I speak of my 'cyber friends'. It does stump them a bit when I tell them that we have been friends for almost 6 years!!!!!

I looked after Matilda again the last 2 days and she is a little sweetie but boy, I do NOT want to do this permanent baby sitting. Her other grandmother came to pick her up late yesterday afternoon, she went on and on how lucky I was not to be working and I could spend all this time with Matilda!!!!
I pointed out that I do work and in order to look after Matilda, I was up till late at night finishing off stuff for customers. She just dismissed that because 'I love doing it'.
It is very difficult and she has the happy knack of making me feel quite guilty. She then also assumes that I am not confident looking after Matilda, and tells me how to look after her .
She is a lovely lady BUT.......
I must stop whinging, dh home tonight, d-i-l lost her semi final in Sydney last night (that was the reason I looked after Matilda) and I hate to say it but I was very pleased because had they won, the grand final is in Melbourne and that would have meant looking after Matilda again next week from Friday till Sunday.
It is now waiting to see if she made the Australian squad, if she does it will mean a tour to New Zealand and Jamaica for 15 days her mother and myself have agreed to look after Matilda for 1/2 the time each.

Busy day, hope everyone is well and happy.....

Cheers
Maria

Hi everyone:

I have a question for the WW workers? or anyone else who has the answer. I'm not sure just how to use the flex points, and if I am using them correctly. Since I have had to drop my daily points I am finding it very difficult to stay within them without going over, so I use the Flex points. I have never used all 35 in one week, but I have come close. If you use all of them does it effect your weight loss? And can you use both activity points and flex points at the same time? I usually have at least 3 activity points every day. So if I use them, then I am of the opinion that I shouldn't use Flex points. But on the other hand, if I use Flex then I shouldn't use activity points Am I right about that? It gets a bit confusing.

Maria: You are being a very nice Mother and Grandmother. It is hard to refuse sometimes, and it is certainly not nice of the other Grandmother to try and lay on the guilt. If she feels that way, why doesn't she do the babysitting all the time? : Maybe she feels that she would be selfish and depriving you of the opportunity to be with Matilda.

We are waiting for rain as Tropical storm/hurricane Katrina passes by us out in the gulf on Friday and Sat. We do need the rain. But I don't want the wind and all the rest that might accompany it.

Karen: I'm glad that they finally have a diagnosis for your SonIL fever. I sure hope that they can get on top of the possibility that he might have Lyme disease too. And you are right - it is good that he is young and strong. West Nile Virus can be devastating to older people, and especially anyone with other illnesses that are weakening to ones system. I try not to go out at dusk or dawn, since those are the times the mosquitos like to stalk their victims.

Slavika: Happy Anniversary. It is probably one Anniversary you will not forget and surely will hope that the circumstances won't ever be repeated once your David is recovered from this treatment.

You know, I think that it is quite amazing that we have all stayed together for 6 years or more. There are so many threads that people only visit now and again, and then you never hear from them again. We do have a closeness that has developed over the years, through our good and bad times. I am grateful to be able to call you all my friends, and feel richer because of your friendships. It would be lovely if we could all meet sometime, but guess that is just a lovely dream. I am so glad that we were able to get together with Karen and her DH for lunch and will hope to get together again one of these times soon.

Trudy: I would like a picture of you sitting on your exercise ball and working on the computer. How does it work for your back muscles? That is one of the places i need help, as does DH.

Peggy: Gee, now when you have a backyard barbecue you can cook the hotdogs. : You might even have other cooking adventures during the school year.

The bed is calling so hi to everyone. Curves tomorrow, and then will be going to lunch with friends. We call this lunch date 'The Monthly'. That is in honor of the fact that we only have this 'monthly' anymore. :
See you all tomorrow. Ann

Ann: Everyone is different. But I have always used My Flex Points and My Activity Points. I sometimes dont use all My Flex Points. But I always dip into them weekly and sometimes I do use all. But if I earn Activity points I use all of them the day I earned them. My body likes me to. So no you are no right about if you use your Actitity Points you cant use Flex Points. They are ALL there for you to use if you want.

But like I said everyone is different. When I use them all I have better losses. So play with.

Maria: You are being very nice. I dint know if I could Handle 15 days even f it is only half of it. Thats to much Baby sitting for me.

Trudy: I have one of those exercise balls. Havent used it in years. Use to use it to sit at Puter. Should try again. Course Knowing me I probably put it away cause I feel off LOL

Later

Yesterday I became a brunette with frosted hair. Hmmm....not at all used to it. My granddaughter has been doing my hair and it has just gotten lighter and lighter and lighter. So she put some color back into it and I about fainted. Haven't looked like this ever. But I might get to like it.

Trudy, I am so happy you gave us the update on Slavika's DH. I know he has the best caretaker he could have and the hospital staff sounds top notch. It just takes time and he can do that. Have to keep their eyes on the goal, not the day-to-day struggle.

I so wish we could all meet. I guess that won't happen, but it does sound good. I would love to have lunch with you guys.

Karen, good news about the colonoscopy. When I had mine, I was so sick I thought I would die. When it came back good, I thought, well won't do that thing again. I believe I neglected to drink enough water.

Gloria, thanks for all the emails. Enjoying them a bunch.

Maria, I think you are wonderful to take care of Matilda when you do. Sounds like your son's MIL picks and chooses what she "hears."

Well, all have a good weekend. My sister and her husband, brother and his wife are at my house and we are still both working. My sis called and said they were just sitting there visiting. This is our couples' weekend. We are meeting at a restaurant at 5 and then the party will begin. You know what kind of party? Remember we are old. It involves food and cards. Whoopee! I will definitely have to waddle in to work on Monday. One more weekend of eating and then off to WW. I promise!
Glenda

G'day all,

I cannot believe it Glenda that is exactly what I did the last time I had my hair done...I was just getting 'blonder' and 'blonder' and I was told that it just drained all the colour from my face and made me look older
I now have ash blonde hair with some lighter bits....it took a little bit of getting used to but I think it does make me look a bit younger.....perhaps as much as 6 months
This also reminds me of some work I did last week for a Dairy Company who wanted me to do a poster of their products. I found a stock photo of a 4 year old having an ice cream in a cone which dripped everywhere, a good example of how enjoyable dairy stuff is! They rang me about something else and said they loved the photo of the little girl and asked if it was my daughter I didn't tell them I was a little past it at 60!
I must sound VERY young

Our aim is to get to the States/Canada and personally say 'g'day' to everyone! It WILL happen.
DH is a platinum member of the Marriott group of hotels which gives you all sorts of freebies and deals but all are for America only, so you all know I love a bargain even if it means going to America to get it

Ann I agree with everything you said about our friendship, I never thought this would happen but I am glad it did and I feel very fortunate to have you all in my life.

We are off to watch our son play football, some 90 km from home, the good part is that it is a beautiful day and we will be taking the little 'dream machine' with the top down

Hope everyone will have a great weekend.....
Cheers
Maria

Attached is a photo of our daughter with Matilda when she was over for a visit from Melbourne last weekend.
We had a lovely time.

Hi:
Maria: Loved the 'pic' Matilda is such a cutie, and she is surely growing.
I did the oposite with my hair. I was getting more gray than I liked so I had dark highlights to match my original hair color. I quite like it, and I think it does make me look younger, at least I tell myself that. DH likes it too.

this was one of those days. Didn't get to weigh-in as I had a church retreat to attend at 8:00a.m. and our weigh-in is at 8:30. It was a good session. Then came home and after lunch DH and I went to Walmart to get gasoline-6cents cheaper there than at the stations around here. $2.53.9 as opposed to $2.59.9 and at some places it is $2.65.9 .We w6ent into the store to pick up a couple of things, and they had some black grapes, which we like, so I tasted a couple to check if they were sweet. Didn't think about not being washed. On the way home I went into a sneezing bout, and have been doing the same with runny nose and eyes ever since. Dumb me had stopped taking my allergy meds a couple of days ago, since I was doing really well. so now I have to get the prescription refilled and start over again. The only thing I can lay it to is the grapes. I sure hope it isn't a cold starting. But I don't feel bad, just the dripping faucet of a nose.

I may take some Airborn just to be on the safe side.

Then to add insult to injury, I was chewing a sugar/free caramel and pulled off a crown. Now I have to go to the Dentist on Monday to see if it can be reglued.

Didn't get any exercise today, as we are getting rain as a result of Hurricane Katrina. We were fortunate to have dodged it this time. I feel for the folks down in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale who are cleaning up now, and for the people up on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisana where they think it will now come ashore and it has strengthened a lot so it will spell big trouble for them.

Thanks Lily for the advice. I will use the points as I need them. I know I have big trouble staying at 22 points without using the flex points. All our fruit now is coming from California. Strawberries, Grapes. peaches. plums. Love them all.

Hope you are all having a grand weekend. I will get back on the allergy meds and nip this sneezeorama in the bud.

"See' you all later. Ann

Hi Everybody
My son picked me up this morning and we went to the hospital. I had phoned DH first thing this morning and he was some what disoriented as to were he was and what was going on. They had put him on a morphine drip a couple of days ago and increased the amount yesterday as the sores in his mouth and down his esophagus were very bad and very painful and he was not even able to drink water. I phoned my son this morning and we went to the hospital immediately. When we got there the doctor and a couple of nurses had already decided that the morphine was too high for him and took him off it and put him on a drug called "Hydomophone" which is from the same family as morphine but the effects aren't so bad. He didn't sleep well last night. so after talking to the doctor and nurse and spending a couple of hours with him we decided to leave him to rest. I told him to call me if you wants me to come back. As his number get better the sores will start to heal.
His white blood count went from 5.73 on Aug. 16th to .03 on August 25th. Normal range is 4.5 to 11.0. Today the count was 0.81....so it is going up. Hopefully tomorrow it will be over 1.
I have met some wonderful people on the hospital ward, both patients and visitors.
Maria your Matilda is a little cutie pie.
Glenda, I noticed that you have changed your hair colour and so has Maria. Sometimes a change is good.
So my friends I just wanted to share with you how things were going with us, and I will "talk" to you all soon.

Not much going on here but I did want to post.

Slavika: It was so good to hear from you and although DH was not feeling well the numbers are going in the right direction which is what you want. Right now with those sores I guess rest is the best thing.

Marie: That cutie, Matilda, is lying there wide awake and looks like she is saying "What's with this sleeping Aunt? Doesn't everyone know I need to be entertained?" You are being very nice to do so much baby sitting. Don't tire youself out.

Ann: Wow! that is some reaction to the grapes. How long will you need to take the allergy meds to get back to normal? Then to top it all off...pulling off a crown. You are sent good vibes for the upcoming week so everything goes well.

Glenda and all those hair colorists: I have never colored my hair. I guess I am lazy and have just let what happened happen. My hair was always dark with a white streak by my 'widow's peak' and now it is more white with a dark streak there. I am very lucky that my hair has some body and curl and I have it cut very short which means that a shampoo and dry takes me about 5 minutes in the morning.

Lily: I usually use most of my Flex Points and sometimes it helps and others not.

We are in for a week of rain including the remnants of Katrina. Speaking of that I hope Karen and Ann have made it thru the rain and may this be the last hurricane for you both.

Gloria

G'day all,

Good to see you post Slavika and I am glad that the doctors have changed the morphine medication. I must say it sounds very painful what your dh is going through but as Gloria said the blood count is going the right way which is good to hear, before long the sores will start to heal and he will be a lot more comfortable. You must feel very helpless at times, I imagine you would want to do so much but in reality it is something that cannot be rushed.
I am pleased you have met some wonderful people, you are not going alone through this experience.

Like Gloria I have also thought of Ann and Karen and those hurricanes Is it because I never knew anyone in Florida I never realised how many hurricanes Florida gets hit by

Our weekend has come to a good end, ds and d-i-l were buying a house close to us. It was very expensive and I have been worrying how they were going to do it, they have now realised themselves that it is just too much and are staying put for a little while longer to do some more savings
I just wished I was a bit more like dh who is just quite philosophical about it all whereas I just worry
DS got quite badly injured at his football game last Saturday...just to add to my worries. He tore a muscle in his calf which has somehow effected his back and neck. He is moving worse than an 80 year old, hopefully he will get some relief from treatment he is receiving today.

Some weeks ago I had my family room measured up for some built in cupboards, in due course we received a quote, dh had a fit, I placated him and now we may get them installed this week I will then have the task of re-organising all my cupboards, it will be great.

Cheers
Maria

We haave been so blessed that Katrina left us in Central florida alone, but I do pray for all the people in New Orleans and the rest of that Gulf coast. It is hard to believe that is storm has now increased to a category 5, and that it is huge. Our tv programs are showing long long lines of cars evacuating the area. It has to be very scary for people to be leaving their homes, all they havae worked for, and feel certain that it could all be under water or completely destroyed when this storm passes. According to the projected path, I think Peggy might be feeling some of the effects. So pray for those people.

Slavika: Glad to know the numbers are going up. Thanks for keeping us informed.

Hi to you all. Ann

Glenda: Both yours and Marias hair sounds very nice.
My hair always gets lighter in the summer. Then changes to darker in the winter.

Slavika: Thanks for the updae on your DH. Glad they are going to let him rest. Sounds lke he is improving. Praying daily for him!

Maria: Cute Pic!

Gloria: Thats why I said everyone is different. Its always helped me. But I know some people that it doesnt help them. Think it most have to do with Metabolish

Ann: Glad you missed the Hurricane. Sounds like it is pretty bad.

Later!

Slavika, I know you are right in the midst of the process and it can't be fun for either of you. This sounds like the classic route. If anything, you know what is happening is exactly what they said. This is the way to that wonderful word - REMISSION. My hubby said the worst part of my treatment was just feeling so darned helpless. You want to take it on yourself and can't. Just being there is the bestest thing you can do.

Ann and Karen, so are you tired of rain? We are. Usually August in Oklahoma is dry and brown. This August we have rain daily almost and then the sun. Like living in the tropics. And the yard grows a foot overnight.

Our couples' weekend was just more fun. The best part is that there is no preparation, no cooking, etc. We eat out once a day, probably barbecue (or sandwiches) once a day and shop and play games and all go to the movie once. No pressure to entertain or have everything perfect. We mainly laugh and reminisce.

Maria, what a little doll! The big doll is kind of cute too! Is Matilda always so wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. You could make a really funny caption on that picture. I think I am liking the brunette look with frosting. I look mysterious, well about as mysterious as an old woman with brown hair can look.

Peggy, are you in the path of the rain from the hurricane? I have not seen or heard anything about the storm. I have been so out of touch.

Lily, it is nice to hear from you so much more. Don't we love computers!
Glenda

G'day all,

That is fantastic news about Slavika and her dh. Thanks for letting us know Trudy. I can well imagine that she sounded somewhat different today . It certainly is no picnic but everything is on the improve which is just great.

I know what you mean about the colour fading Trudy, that is a bit of a problem for me as well. I will just see how I go but I think there is nothing worse than 3 inches of 'white' roots

I have heaps to do so 'hi' to you all, it was just so good to hear that Slavika's husband is making such great progress.

I am also watching the news bulletins regarding 'Katrina', such devastation that nature can inflict

Cheers
Maria

Trudy: Thank you so much for the Update! Thats wonderful About Slavika DH! Such good News. I was so worried!