4 NOVEMBER

Well..... I got my HUMIRA injection pens today....

All I can say is thank God for my son Jason! If I had done it myself I would have really messed it up! I got him to do it on my thigh... everything was fine until he released the needle!
I SCREAMED and started counting to 10 out loud, for it to be over.
I didn't expect it to hurt so much... maybe I have a lower threshold for pain than I imagined.
I thought it would be like going to get my blood sucked... that doesn't hurt at all.

Jason was amazingly calm through all my blaspheming!! LOL!!!
I think I'm going to have to get him to do it for me the next few times because... now I know what to expect there's no way I could keep my hand steady.

I don't want to mess anything up because each injection is worth $700 though I paid only $5.30 for both. That's one advantage of being on a pension.

I'm so glad it's not a daily or weekly injection!!

Let's just hope it works.


13 NOVEMBER

With all the depressing stuff going on in the world today I think we all need a good laugh.


This is a radio show in Dublin that got a wee girl to phone up to ask a company in Newry to knock her school down!

You'll love this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qyfeJbfV30


18 NOVEMBER

I'm waiting for Jason to come home to give me my 2nd needle... he offered to do it before he went to work but I chickened out... it could have been over and done with... :-(

I rang the nurse at the specialists office... I could get needles instead of the pen but they would have to fill out another application... more red tape.. and it would take time. So, I'll persevere....

My psoriasis is almost gone!!!  I have a dark blue rug in where my computer is and it used to have to be vacuumed every few days because of the flakes of skin covering it. I vacuumed last week.... and it is still clean!!

My wrist are a lot better but my feet still hurt like heck after walking around when I did the grocery shopping on Saturday. Maybe they'll take longer before I have any relief. I suppose the spurs on my heels don't help either.

19 NOVEMBER

As usual, I've got my nose to the grindstone except for a couple of hours break at night and when I sleep. Talking about sleep... I've decided to get a decent amount of sleep for a change... a couple of hours here and there wasn't doing me any good, nor was it doing my creativity any good.

I got the HUMIRA for my RA and Psoriasis a couple of weeks ago and could have burst Jason's eardrums with my screaming and cursing when he jabbed me with the pen! LOL!!
So naturally I was apprehensive this past Wednesday when the 2nd one was due...

Jason offered to do the deed before he went to work.. I declined (chicken!!) and asked him to wait until he came home. I had phoned the nurse at my specialists' surgery a couple of days beforehand letting her know that I didn't expect it to be so painful. We decided that because I was anticipating it would be sore I had tensed up my muscles waiting for the jab.

Not wanting to embarrass Jason by baring my midriff (LOL!!!) I thought about it and decided there was
plenty fatty tissue at the top of my legs... so.... when Jason got home (all too eager to get it over... LOL),
I lay on my bed and let him do the deed at the top (near my hip) part of my leg.
I had my teeth clenched waiting for the pain....
GUESS WHAT!!??
DIDN'T FEEL A THING!!!!!
HALLELUJAH!!
(There is a God!)

So now I know where it won't hurt I can stop complaining and enjoy the fact that my psoriasis is just about gone after only 2 weeks! It started to disappear in the first couple of days. No more itchiness and scratching. No more flakes of skin all over my dark blue rug here in my computer area. No more vacuuming every other day! My wrists feel a little better and I can actually have a shower and wash my hair without being in pain for the first time in a couple of years. I'm still waiting for some relief in my feet. I did the grocery shopping thing last Saturday... the feet still hurt like heck when I was finished. I'm guessing the spurs in both heels are not helping matters in the area. But am living in hope.
So Jamie is a HAPPY PUPPY!!

I'm taking a couple of hours off today... have a lunch appointment with my friend Marj.
She's going to get a shock when she sees my flaky free forearms.
Will be back around 2pm and back to my computer... *S*
Jason is taking a couple of kids to their Prom tonight in his flashy car!!! LOL!!!
He's getting paid for it!!

20 NOVEMBER

Jason and I have just finished a conversation with my grandson (17yrs) Jared about his future... friends... trust.. life's decisions, work, further education etc., since he's finally completed everything for school and will hopefully get his certificate next week at the graduation. Jason will be taking him to TAFE (Technical & Further Education) next week to see what courses they are offering for next year that would interest him.

He's made some horrifically bad decisions over the past 3 to 4 years and we're hoping he's finally learning from his mistakes. Because of these decisions it's taken him 2 extra years to get his grade 10 certificate. He has a great feeling of relief that it's over at last and says he regrets the reasons that caused him to take so long..

I'm praying that he'll select a course that he'll enjoy. That would mean a change in attitude... doing something he wants to do rather than being forced to do.

I'm off to have my blood sucked as soon as Jason gets back.... LOL!!!
If I go in the afternoon I don't have to wait... there's never anyone there... silly people all go in the morning and have to wait forever to get their blood tests.

23 NOVEMBER

I didn't get back yesterday after getting my blood test... it started to rain then we had thunder and lightning most of the night so I didn't fire up my computer.

We had no power problems but again 36,000 homes and businesses south of us were without power for hours. A great deal of the country seems to be having rain, storms and a cyclone... so much for global warming!!

Have to tell you something funny....
You all know what a twit my grandson Jared is....
Well while I was at the doctors (we were only gone 45 minutes) a couple of weeks ago he decided to take the second car for a drive... no licence, no learners.... We got home to a cop car on our front lawn and a tow truck parked on the street.

If he'd put on the seat belt he'd have got away with it.... He was charged with unlicensed driving and failing to wear a seat belt and the car was impounded. Jason had to pay to get the car back.

Jared went to court (as an adult now he's 17) and was fined $450 but he got community service... 45 hours in lieu of the fine. He's doing the community service at the local recycle centre and is ENJOYING IT !!!! He had to smash 100 TVs the first day... he thought it was great!!

I hope and pray we have a court free 2010 *S*

25 NOVEMBER

Apparently the tow truck guy told Jason to give him a call on Thursday and he'd do a deal with him on the cost of the tow... seems he's sick of his yard being full of cars that have been impounded and the owners haven't bothered to pick them up. So that will save some money....

Jared goes to court on the 16th of next month... I don't know whether he'll get a fine or not now that he's 17...  Jason is going to make him pay the lot out of his Youth Allowance.
I can't be bothered talking to him. Every time I open my mouth to have a conversation he automatically assumes it's going to be a lecture.  Oh.. he'll talk to me when he want's help with something... like checking the grammar in his essays he had to do to get his certificate... he was nice as pie then...

I know God does everything for a reason.... I believe that too... BUT I wish he'd slap some 'smarts' into Jared instead.  He's even been too lazy to get the Road Rules book so he can get his Learner's Permit. I'm so sick of the whole deal.


13 DECEMBER 2009

This is from one of our local papers... what a bunch of hypocrites!

AUSTRALIAN government officials are living it up in a 127-year-old luxury hotel amid criticism that the Copenhagen climate change conference has become an overpriced talkfest that will do nothing to halt global warming.

A large contingent of Australia's 100-plus delegation, including Climate Change Minister Penny Wong and her offsiders, has set up camp at the $850-a-night Kong Arthur Hotel in the heart of Copenhagen.

A bowl of soup in one of the hotel's restaurants costs $51.

A Sunday Mail investigation has also found more than 100 Australian businesspeople and political lobbyists were treated to a lavish drinking session at the Australian ambassador's residence in Copenhagen on Thursday night.

The revelation comes as climate change campaigners at the conference question the green credentials of those involved. They claim the delegates are:

• Ignoring supplied recycling bins, lazily using normal rubbish bins instead.

• Printing out reams of paper documents, despite access to hundreds of laptops.

• Wearing summer clothing, despite Denmark's near-freezing temperatures, because conference venues have excessive heating.

Australian Koala Foundation chief executive Deborah Tabart said she was appalled at the waste created by people claiming to be working to end global warming.

"There were girls walking around in floral dresses in here and it's two degrees outside," she said.

"I think that they could turn the heating down a few degrees and everyone could learn to dress more appropriately."

Ms Tabart said solving climate change had to start with individuals, because governments could not be trusted.

"The waste here has inspired me to be more dedicated. All of us need to live more sustainable lives," she said.

"I think you would be amazed at the amount of paper coming in and out of the centre."

Australian Youth Climate Coalition spokeswoman Wendy Miller said she had also witnessed people throwing paper into normal bins.

Political lobbyist Tim Wilson, of the Institute of Public Affairs, said he was shocked at the waste created by the conference.

"All of these measures used to make this conference carbon neutral are just a sham," he said.

"There is very little green behaviour. Everyone has a lap top computer and there's a giant room with hundreds of lap tops where people can just check their emails.

"There's a real tone of hypocrisy about the whole thing. It's a 'live as I say, not as I do' type of thing.

"I have never seen anything like this; the number of people walking around with nothing to do other than wanting to be here is amazing. It's in direct contrast to everything that this meeting is supposed to be about."

Mr Wilson said he doubted a binding agreement would come out of the conference.

25 DECMBER

First I want to wish you all a very, happy Christmas and good health and
happiness for 2010. Have a safe holiday season.
Where the heck did 2009 disappear to????
On second thoughts... where did the last 10 years go?
It seems like only yesterday when we were celebrating the turn of the century.

For those of you with illness in your family , whether it be yourself or another family member, I hope things look brighter for you all next year. For those who lost family members, my sincere sympathy.

In the last few years our household has diminished from 5 family members to only 3, it makes a difference no matter what anyone says. I am thankful for my son and grandson even though the latter has caused us a great deal of grief and worry these past 12 months. Hopefully he has "seen the light" and 2010 will be a new beginning for him.... and us.

Every year at this time I pray that the turmoil in the world will lessen in the coming year but so far I'm still waiting...this year we added the "climate change' debacle.

I would like to say that the leaders of our countries could better spend their time and our money on the homeless, education, health, creating jobs and planning for the future...... a happy, healthy and financially comfortable future for our children and grandchildren so that they too can experience the kind of life some of us were lucky to have had in the past.
The 50's through to the 70's were the best years of my life.

Again, so many families are celebrating Christmas this year without loved family members who lost their lives either in 'the' war, suicide bombings, earthquakes, hurricanes and numerous other natural (and human caused) disasters.
We never know what tomorrow might bring, so... enjoy your family now and
BE KIND TO EACH OTHER.

Again I pray for peace in the world in 2010.

26 DECMBER

US storm puts the freeze on Christmas

A fierce Christmas blizzard forced scores of US churches to cancel Christmas Day services as snow and freezing rain brought a holiday headache to millions across a huge swath of the country.

At least 23 deaths have been attributed to the storm system that blanketed the central United States beginning on Wednesday, closing several interstate highways, stranding thousands of motorists in whiteout conditions and coating roads in a glaze of ice during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

The system, the second brutal winter blast to hit much of the United States in the past week, is not expected to clear before Saturday.

"This is a holiday mess" spanning two thirds of the country, bringing severe thunderstorms to the Gulf Coast to ice along the eastern seaboard and a raging blizzard in the Midwest and plains states, Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service (NWS) said on Friday.

"It's covering a tremendous amount of area and bringing record precipitation," he told AFP. "It's fairly unusual to have two record-setting storms in a week in mid- to late December."

The enormous system dumped 35cm of snow on Oklahoma City, an all-time record for the state.

In northern Oklahoma "a band of very heavy snow along with isolated thunder ... was producing up to four inches (10cm) of snow per hour," the weather service warned.

Up to 61 cm of snow was expected by late Christmas Day in some northern states, with blizzard warnings issued from Texas up to North Dakota on the border with Canada.

Normally balmy Dallas, Texas, was covered in 7.5cm of snow, the first time the southern city has had more than a trace of the white stuff on Christmas Day since 1926.

But while some were celebrating the wintery scene, others were ruing the cancellation of Christmas services in several states, with churches citing the treacherous conditions. Local media outlets listed hundreds of closures.

"Roads are bad," Pastor Andy Richie in Mankato, Minnesota told local KEYC-TV.

"(We) don't want you coming out if you don't think you can make it back."

The eastern US seaboard saw dangerous travel conditions on Friday, with forecasters alerting to freezing rain and heavy downpours from North Carolina up to New England.

Flood warnings were issued for parts of the northeast in anticipation of nominally rising temperatures later in the day, as snow from last weekend's storm melts.

The weather service warned of "dangerous or impossible" travel conditions in central states.

"Ice accumulations and winds will likely lead to snapped power lines and falling tree branches that add to the danger," said the forecaster.

Thousands of households were without power on Friday, including about 5,000 in the state of Iowa, the Des Moines Register reported.

In North Dakota, snowfall was forecast up to 41cm in some places, along with temperatures as low as minus 36 Celsius.

Flood and tornado warnings were issued further south with roads in the state of Alabama underwater, and freezing rain and ice storms hit the states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Washington capital region, with more ice forecast for New England states.

South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and Minnesota declared states of emergency and called up national guard troops to help dig out stranded travellers.

The Kansas highway patrol reported five fatalities on the prairie state's icy roads.

Six people died on Nebraska roads, including a Christian singer on his way home from a ministry training session, the Omaha World Herald reported.

The storm was blamed for four deaths in Oklahoma, including three motorists who were struck by other vehicles after they left their own cars, the Oklahoman newspaper reported.

Three people were killed in Arizona, three in New Mexico, and one person in Minnesota, local media reported.

And along the southern US Gulf Coast, a powerful thunderstorm reportedly left one Louisiana man dead after a tree fell on his house.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Thursday and Friday at airports from Minneapolis to Dallas.

This is the second major weather system to sweep the country in recent days, after a record-breaking snowstorm slammed the eastern seaboard on the final busy shopping weekend before Christmas.