Kristin

I do alot of photo work and then designing using the computer..having a 24" screen helps alot!

I do love Lighthouses and when we can travel we visit as many as we can. I always collect something from each one and have a pretty good collection of them...so I send alot of time dusting them!

Fingers crossed we can move house this year then i can decorate and acessorise. That is my favourite hobby designing a home.

I just thought i would pop in and wish everyone the very best for 2011. Its been a while since i posted. Hope everyone is ok and still reading lots of books.
2010 was a mixed year for me. I lost a dear friend to lung cancer and i still find it hard to believe she has gone. And for the good news i am finally going to be a grandmother. Actually TWICE lol. Yes we are having two babies. Two of our children are finally starting a family and are due one month apart. I am so excited and cant wait to hold them both. So 2010 ended with some wonderful news.

I have a feeling i am going to be very busy this year and hopefully i will have the time to come post more often.

Kathy

Lets all hope this will be a good year as last year was a terrible one for me anyway and my family. Love to all of you

Kerry

Lee

Lee

And yes Lee they are going to be very spoilt. After waiting so long why not lol.

Kathy

Wishing you all a very belated Happy New Year!

Edit: It has been so long since I've posted here I forgot I had an automatic name/country...you'll see a few more edited posts while I remove my doubled name. LOL

Kathy

For me it would be a character that is overweight... And I don't just mean a little... Kinda get sick of reading about stick figures women...lol

Lee

Also illness. I would love arthritus up there.There are lots of different ones and each person gets effected differently and it can effect your life. Until you have it or have someone close you do not understand. I have good days and terribel days but it is always there, and that has put people off more than i could ever imagine it is hard to explain but people seem to feel to not invite me anymore incase i have a bad day.

I do not know how to decribe it. My mum has a different arthritus to me and i have to help her alot her everyday living is a nightmare.

I will not be swinging into a saddle easily on my first riding lesson but i will do it! that is my aim.

Sorrry i babbled but i would love that in a book.

Kathy

Kathy

I love the historicals too. It is usually all i read.

Some just don't want to face the facts of what life doles out to people. I may have mentioned at some time that my mother died when I was 9 and I was raised by my older sister who contracted polio at 14 months old. She has lived her whole life challenged in ways many people can't even imagine, and now has to deal with Post Polio Syndrome. Now that I have disabilities, I have an even greater respect for my sister because I credit her for making me the strong person I am today. She in turn gives the credit for this to our mother who never gave up on making her as whole as our siblings. So I guess what I am trying to say is Catherine, whatever challenge you choose to write about is fine with me, just keep up the good work, your research is wonderful and you don't hold back any punches, you tell it like it is. Oh I have to mention my sister is now 75 and going strong! She has had 2 wonderfully blessed marriages, raised her own two daughters as well as me and is enjoying life to the fullest.

Catherine have u ever thought of doing a Wagon Train story??? I love them and can't get enough of them...

Lee

I did see it in both Target and WalMart...but I wasn't happy that they both have it placed on the lower shelves....but I was good and didn't rearrange it.

It will be a night without a book im afraid.

Soon as i finish here to stay i will be realy waiting impatiently for David's story. Who is next then Catherine?

We currently own over 3,000 sq. ft. custom home on 4.3 acres in the rolling hills of Southern Ohio. It has a lake with a fountain and is a gorgeous home for that area.....but sadly the schools are so inferior we can't possibly reside there any longer. If only I could tranport my home to Northwest Columbus! We brought both of our children home from the hospital from that home and have ten years of memories with our children's handprints and footprints all over the place.......Because of this, we had considered Eric remaining in the South and us here in the suburbs indefinitely, but the children and I miss him so much we just realize that even your dream home is not worth jeopardizing your family.

Have any of you had a similar experience where you've had to leave your own home before you felt ready?

To try to deal with my emotions, I am now looking around here to find just the right place for us to move. The dollar doesn't spend equally, as this area is progressive, effective, and almost a 360 degree change in community and services. Therefore, it will cost us more to have less, at least in house.

Still, I believe I am doing what's right---doing whatever needed to help my child, and sometimes we have to give up something in the process. I will miss it but I will never be sorry for being a dedicated Mom....

If you are so inclined, please pray for us that this will all work out ok in the end. I'm putting on my brave face, but when/if it really does sell I'll be a basket case when I have to say goodbye once and for all.

Stephanie Vogelsong
stephvogelsong@aol.com

A few days ago I had horrible intestinal cramps and vomiting. This is a side-effect from major abdominal surgery several years back, and once in a while, without warning, this happens. I was warned that it would be a part of my post-surgical life, and that there was nothing I would be able to do about it, except live with it. Okay, that part, considering the alternative, I was fine with. But it seems like everything else happens whenever I already have these annoying, but happily fairly brief, flare-ups.

Anyhow --

I crawled into bed after being sure there was not possibly anything left in my system for me to throw up, heartily resenting that this surgical glitch had to appear on the same night that my daughter chose to bake her county-fair-winning chocolate chip cookies. I was very hungry. I could smell them. I wanted some. I knew what would happen if I ate one. I was exhausted, my innards hurt from having the dry heaves, and I felt miserable.

Our half-Siamese black kitten, James, came and snuggled on the pillow right beside me. He insisted on curling up right by my face, and in shoving his head under my hand for pats. This was sweet. He is a Familiar in training…everyone in our family is sure about this. But somehow he sensed I was feeling dreadful and he wanted to display sympathy. I felt comforted. He was here to comfort me.

That’s what I thought. It turned out, belatedly, that he had come to ME for comfort.

I don’t know how much later it was, but I felt James jump to his feet and then I heard that “urp urp” sound that means serious business. A hundredth of a second later I was liberally sprayed with feline vomit, including particles, as James heaved projectile vomit over a three-foot sweep.

I shot bolt upright and switched on the light just as James got sick on the other side of the bed, and then became hysterical and bounded all over the bed, meowing frantically and belching forth at intervals. He saved the biggest expulsion for the last, after he'd leaped back into my arms for reassurance.

Not only did I have to remove my nightgown and take a bath, including washing my hair, I had to strip the bed and wash everything, including the pillows, and then I had to vacuum the floor because there were pieces of vomit in a trail from the bed to the washing machine.

I won't mention the things I was muttering under my breath as I performed these ablutions except to say that they were not of an entirely ladylike nature.

Has anyone else ever had a day like that? I'm sure you have, but it might be fun to hear about it.

Katlin

I think one of my worst moments came when I was a young married, at the time with long blonde hair and a very good figure. We had a neighbor next door, an older man who was married to a shrew, who always seemed a little too interested when I was outside working in the yard if my husband was not at home.

One day, I was home sick from work and running around in see-through pyjamas, commuting between the kitchen and the bedroom, trying to cook dinner. I needed a cookbook I had stashed in the garage, so I went through the connecting door, shutting it behind me to keep the cold out. A milisecond after I shut it, I remembered that the door locked automatically!

Well, there I was, sick, barefoot, in see-through pyjamas, and locked in a very cold garage in winter, three hours before my husband was due home from work. We'd left a house key with neighbors, just in case...but guess which neighbors?

I had to go next door, dressed (or undressed) like that, explain what had happened, and ask for our key. Of course, his wife was not home and I had all I could do to keep him from coming with me. When my husband got home, he was not amused, and he at once disabled the automatic locking feature.

Quel embarrassment!

Those embarassing moments are ones we always remember, maybe not funny at the time, but hilarious after the crisis is over. I know a few of those stories myself...believe me, I do! I'll think about which one(s) I'd love best to share and put one up.

Does anyone else out there have a most embarrassing moment story you'd like to share? Everyone can use a good laugh now and then, and I've certainly had mine today. Thank you, ladies.

Catherine

For some reason my body does not handle meds well. They make me drowsy or sick to my stomach when they shouldn't. I had to have a tooth extracted and another tooth filled. With that said....I was pretty doped up. After the dentist was done with me I had to tinkle pretty bad, so I went to the restroom. I felt like a total drunk!! I could barely walk straight and every time I turned around I would get super dizzy and wobble to and fro. Fortunately I made it to the potty without killing myself or anyone else!! When I realized that the toilet paper was out I started going through the cabinets to replace it. I finally found it and proceeded to change the roll. Before I could finish the job, however I got super dizzy again and started to wobble. There I stood holding the toilet paper handle (one with the springs in it) bouncing all over the restroom.....and then it happened. The dang spring slipped out of the tp handle and fell into the toilet!! Down, down it went to the bottom. I just stood there in disbelief. What was I going to do? I could barely stand let alone fish for a stupid spring from toilet! I had no choice.....I had to tell someone. So I went to the front desk and told the lady what happend, in a very drunken, slurred speech mind you. To give her credit she tried very hard not to laugh. But as soon as she told the Doc he burst out laughing and so did she. UGH!! I'm sure I turned every shade of red possible.
To this day when I go to the denstist, Doc good naturedly reminds me that NO meds will be administered....it's safe to use the potty!

LOL! I think my daughter was out of school for Spring Break and we went to the UBS. She didn't tell me that she wasn't feeling well. I guess it just came on quickly. She proceeded to throw up on the carpet in the UBS. I had to tell an employee. I was embrassed that they had to clean it up. One of the employees went into the back and came out with a Sprite for her.

I remember the time that my father went into the hospital to have his first knee replacement surgery. He was in private room and I had to go really bad. So, I used the bathroom in his room instead of running down the hall. I accidently pulled the emergency call cord. I'm just glad that nobody was actally hurt in the bathroom. Not one single nurse came down to answer the emergency call.

By the way, I'm the same way with some meds. I can take a Benadryl and it won't knock me out, but if I take non-drowsy meds, I feel all cobwebby.

In regards to my embarrassing story.....glad I could make you all laugh!! Hee.hee!

The same thing happened when my father was in the regular part of the VA hospital the last time. You would push the nurse call button and it took them forever to come and give him any pain meds. I know that their busy, but when someone is in extreme pain, they need to get the medication right away. Now when he was in the hospice, whenever the button was pushed, they were there fast. Especially in his final days, and he was having bladder spasms. But thankfully he was so sedated with pain meds, he didn't know what was going on.

I am equally sorry for the Americans who have been affected by the quake. Most of the fishing fleet in Crescent City, CA was wiped out, as one example, leaving men with no way to feed their families. Those pictures look pretty bad, too.

I've heard of a lot of relief funds for Japan, and believe me, I know they need all the help they can get. Has anyone heard about any sort of a relief fund for the Americans who have been affected by this natural disaster?

I have been told by my doctor that if having a child is successful for us(fingers crossed we will have another one) i can go back on my medication and start my exercising again. He said eat healthy with weekend treats and good exercise plan made fun and i will be fine.

By the way when i was diagnosed with this eating disorder i was told if i did not put weight on i would never have a child. This spurred me on and some male friends helped me through. I now have a daughter and want another child before my medication gets too strong for another. 2 years and still waiting. I hsve food diaries that the doctor checks regularly and althers for me as necessary. I was lucky i had a lady doctor who went through a similar situation as myself it was all brought on by the first love syndrome. Terrible relationship. I also met a few men with eating disorders who were very shy about it. I am determined never to go that way again. In the last 6 years i have done well and had one other lapse after a bad miscarriage but the doctors caught onto it in time.

Good idea.

When I was working on weight loss a few years ago, someone referred me to a great book called Eating by the Light of the Moon. The book is written for women with eating disorders, and while much of what they discuss is focused on anorexia/bulemia, it can also apply to people that are overweight. I'll be honest - I did not read the whole book cover to cover - but what I did read helped me to put my weight issues into perspective and understand events and circumstances in my life that led me to be overweight. It was not a miracle cure, but I did lose bout 30 pounds, and I attribute some of that to the things I learned about myself in this book.

One question it asks you to think about that still stands out in my mind 3 years later is, what were the "rules" you learned about food/eating as a child? For example...in my family, you were expected to clean your plate at every meal. My parents were poor and they didn't want food going to waste. I realized that as an adult, so often I find myself eating not because I'm still hungry but because there is still food in front of me. I am sure this is in part because of that "clean your plate" mentality.

I didn't mean to get off on a tangent/soapbox! I just wanted to share this book if it might help someone else.

It's sad to hear all that you've gone though, but I'm glad things are starting to get better. I can tell that you're a very loving mother, just from the fact that you want another child so bad. Any children of yours are very lucky. The idea of not being able to have children seems to be something that would cause a woman with an eating disorder to really change her life around. I feel as though this would be a great idea for a character in a novel. Your story is definitely inspirational.

Beth,

Don't worry, I quite enjoyed your tangent! haha. The same "clean your plate" rule applies in my household, which I have often attributed to my weight. I may just have to look up that book sometime, although I often just analyze myself. I'm constantly diagnosing myself with different syndromes and habits in an attempt to figure out my life. I'm still young, and going to college with three jobs is horribly difficult, but I feel like I need to get a handle on my weight now so it doesn't cause problems in my future. I haven't gained much weight over the past few years, but I'm just so afraid that's going to change after I reach my twenties. Either way, I think that a character who is not anorexic but has a type of eating disorder would also make for an interesting plot-line.

They actually think the eating disorder brought on the early deteriation of my rheumatoid. As happen along the same time and also once i had my daughter things went down hill. But well worth it. I am sure if we can have another(which i pray for everyday) it will be worth it if i get worse again. I can go straight onto treatment anyway then.

As for clearing the plate i was also told that. And had a good appetite. I dropped 4 dress sizes when had the disorder. And even now i like to clear my plate now i am recovered. I do not think i would go back i had no energy and was miserable. I need my energy especially with my rhematoid giving me fatigue i do not need it through starvation.Healthy eating with occasional treats at the weekend. I may not be slim but i am not classed as overweight either. Once i have a child i will tone up. And get on a horse!