Saturday, April 24, 2010

More Mercury Mayhem

Three days ago my TV was taken off to be fixed or trashed, depending on its state of health. The man who collected it said that four or five of that particular brand had died in the last couple of weeks but that mine was showing slightly different symptoms so it just might be fixable. Next time I'll get an extended warranty - four years is too young to die.

I can still do my WII because I know the routine off by heart but somehow it is not the same if I can't try to run past all the other runners on the screen ... and cheer whenever one trips over and bites the dust.

I saw the rheumatologist during the week. Naturally my hip was feeling a great deal better but I realise that it is going to take ages if left to itself so I am off to have an MRI scan next Sunday evening and we will go from there. However, she injected my sore pinkie finger and hopefully it will remain sort of improved. It is not perfect and the joint is obviously in a dire state but less pain would be good. She said that she really wondered when she got a referral for a hip along with an X-ray of a pinkie finger so I had to explain about being asked if I had any other joint problems which could be looked at while I was there.

Not much else exciting. I will actually have a client at COTA this coming week - I have had none for the last two weeks but with Easter, ANZAC Day and school holidays, a lot of grandmothers will have been grandbaby sitting. And talking of grandmothers, my neck-to-knee bathers have arrived and I am very pleased with them. They are exactly what I wanted - just like the kids wear to keep the sun off when they are swimming but bigger. The sad thing is that because the heater on my pool is not working I can't road-test them yet; not that I am going to need them until I move house.

I had a letter from Multiplex saying that the units will be ready in the middle of next year so I need to get serious about deciding what I am going to take with me and disposing of the rest. That is going to be hard - I love my furniture and had a lot of fun buying it but it won't all fit.

And of course, there is the problem of Boy-cat and his refusal to use a litter tray ...

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Planetary mayhem

D1 tells me that Mercury had gone retrograde and it is upsetting communications worldwide. Funny - I thought that it was a volcanic eruption in Iceland. However, my TV has died and I am waiting for the service people to let me know when they can come and collect it to give it a heart transplant. I can do without the TV - there is nothing worth watching - but I am missing doing my WII. Blame Mercury if I get unfit because I certainly can't walk very far without my hip starting to hurt.

I am seeing the rheumatologist the day after tomorrow and hope that she can fix it for me. My GP asked me if I had any other rheumatic complaints while I was about it so I showed her my right pinkie finger so that has gone on the referral as well and I was sent off to have it X-rayed. Not that it shows anything much but it is painful too so maybe something can be done for it as well.

The weather has turned hot again - 29 degrees C yesterday and hot again to day. I sweated it out yesterday morning and cut back most of the creepers from the inside of the back fence and sometime when the sun is in the right place - which means at dusk - I will use the hedge clippers to cut back the creepers which are growing into the back lane. I am not so fussed about them as the trucks going past tends to limit their growth outwards and I don't feel that I have to make them look particularly tidy. I'll have to mulch the clippings, of course, and that is a horrible job but I cheer myself with the knowledge that I will only have to do it one more time and then it will be someone else's problem.

And now for your Cyberflirt hint:

Save your most intimate secrets for someone you know personally.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Brrrrr ...

Today is cold! Sort of cold anyway, compared to the weather we have been having up until now. The thermometer attached to my air conditioning says that it is 20 degrees centigrade. I don't doubt that outside in the sun it is a good deal warmer but it is a sign that winter is on its way. I thought about turning on the heating but keep remembering my last power bill and instead go and put on another layer of clothing. I should go out and sit in the sun.

On Thursday I decided to get myself a pair of elbow crutches because using a walking stick was giving me a sore hand, so I am now the proud owner of a pair of ergonomically designed crutches. Naturally, having forked out for them, my hip is feeling a lot better - about back to what it was like before I re-injured it, but I suspect that a lot is due to taking the weight off it for a while so I will continue to use the left crutch if I have a lot of walking to do or if I have to climb hills or stairs, both of which make the hip hurt.

I am back to doing my full WII workout; for some reason jogging on the spot doesn't bother the hip but it doesn't like being stretched and will stiffen if allowed to. That would be a recipe for disaster as it would be easier to injure. I will be seeing my doctor in three days and feel a bit of a fraud but I really do need to find out exactly what is happening in the joint and to get it right or it is going to put a damper on any future plans to travel.

Your cyberflirt hint for today:

Words which send the message that I'm "Iffy" -non-conformist; loner; excitable

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Ouch!!!!

The hip which I sprained about six months ago has flared up and I am hobbling around with a walking stick. I can't see my doctor until next week but contacted D2 who is an emergency physician and she has told me to take strong anti-inflamatory medication, painkillers if necessary, and keep using the stick to keep the weight off the sore hip. Then I need to ask my doctor to refer me for an MRI and then see a rheumatologist - she can recommend a good one and can get me an immediate appointment. So I am almost immobilised and it is very irritating; I want to be out in the garden; I want to do a bit of retail therapy; and I don't want to stop doing my WII because it will start moralising at me about the benefits of regular exercise.

And speaking of the WII - I accidentally set my weight goal for 2 kilos up instead of down and although it recognises that I am just in the overweight class it is concerned that I am losing weight and therefore moving further away from my goal. I can't find a way of re-setting my weight goal except by either putting on the weight so that I reach the goal I set, or by waiting out the time limit, when it will ask me to set a new goal. Aren't computers wonderful ... there is no arguing with them.

... and your cyberflirt hint for the day:

Even if sex is on your mind, keep it out of your profile.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Unitarian Jihad Name Generator

Yesterday I pulled the fridge away from the wall, took off its back and vacuumed it within an inch of its life. Hopefully it will work better now. Last night I was a bit concerned because it seemed to be running almost all the time but today it has settled down and I think perhaps that one of the doors may not have been properly closed.

I spent yesterday afternoon at http://www.amazon.com/ reading the book reviews for this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Control-Christian-Marriages-Priesthood-Children/dp/1425992609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270276940&sr=1-1#noop

... which are very funny, and the reviews for the "People who bought this book also bought" products. It is also worth looking at a few pages inside the book. It is self-published, of course and costs almost $140.

The URL was posted on the http://www.librarything.com/ site by one of the Happy Heathens. They are a very funny group and I enjoy their posts more than those of another group called The Pedants Corner who are frighteningly intelligent and delve into the intricies of English Grammer. I thought that I had mastered English Grammar but this lot are scary.

The Happy Heathens also posted the link to a Unitarian Jihad Name Generator and I shall endeavour to post the widget here:

My Unitarian Jihad Name is:

Sister Incendiary Grenade of Reasoned Forgiveness.

Get yours.

I rather fancy the name - one is given a choice.


The only other thing of note which has happened here is that the pool heater has broken down again, this time for good, I suspect ... but yesterday the weather turned cold so I won't be swimming again until next summer which gives me plenty of time to get it all fixed.

Next summer will be my last spent in this house. I have lived here since 1964 and since I was able to renovate it to my liking it has been a happy, comfortable house and I shall miss it. However, I am looking forward to moving to Claremont where I will have the train line on one side, the bus route on the other and almost 200 shops just an elevator's ride below me. And river views ...