'Tis the season ...

... to be jolly, falalalala lalalala!

7 days to Christmas. Have you done your Christmas shopping yet?

I hope you have.

Well, I only started yesterday. I spent 2 hours and managed to buy 4 pressies - would have been 5 if not for the shop not having stocks of one.

It helps if you know what you want to get and where to get them.

I love shopping early in the morning when there isnt much of a crowd. Once it hits lunch hour and the shoppers come in droves,I much prefer to make my way home. Only problem is that many shops only open at 11am, some at 10, so I only have 2 good hours of shopping a day.

I am also one that shops better under pressure ie when I dont have much time left. Makes me less wishy washy. When I shop early I tend to come across other things later which I may feel may make d a better gift. That's me.

Tis is also the season to go on vacations!!

With at least 6 weeks of school vacation for the children, we usually travel at this time of the year.

This year we went to Melbourne, and I managed to get help in planning for my trip from a fellow blogger, Mott.  (http://mottisland.com/). Thanks Mott for helping me plan the meals during my trip. I must say: Melbourne has amazing eats!! The range of restaurants and the quality of the food probably helped it to win "The best city to live in" title.

Wishing all a Blessed Christmas. May it be filled with peace, hope, love, laughter and good food!!

The first hurdle

For those of you who are following my daughter's medical condition, we have crossed the first hurdle.

She has had her first pamidronate infusion last week and will be doing it every two months.

It went as expected:

* not covered by the insurers as it is congential - such a bummer this is!!

* she had the fever - but thank God it didnt go too high. 8 hours after the procedure she still hadnt had any fever and we were rejoicing until the doc told us that it will only come on after 24 hours. Sure enough, it did. But luckily it hit a peak of 39C and then it came down over a two day period.

* her bones ached for days after.

* no nausea, allergies. Praise the Lord!!

* she is not drinking as much as she should. I now worry when the procedure is done during the school term as there will not be anyone monitoring her fluid intake!


The unexpected were:

* she didnt cry when the  cannula was inserted. So proud of her. Such a brave girl.

* her pulse rate dropped mid-way during the procedure, and they were really concerned about it. They did get it up back to normal when they realised it.

* she lost her appetite for food for a few days. Eating half her usual :(

* one of her tooth fell out  mid-way during the infusion!

* she was in high spirits despite everything!!


The disappointments:

* the insistence of the hospital on my child being wheelchaired around for her kidney and bladder scans. My child is well and capable of walking. We wasted an hour just waiting for the porter to come get her and then wheel her back.

* the late start of the procedure. It didnt start until 7.30pm when she was admitted at 3pm. As the procedure took 4 hours in total, the poor girl was totally tired out at the end of it, as she was not really able to rest despite it being administered intravenously  as she was constantly montiored. Every half  to an hour there was someone coming in to check her for bruising, allegies, blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, etc.

* Not being able to sleep even after the procedure as she was still being constantly monitored. They were taking her temperature, blood pressure and pulse rate all through the night. And even I couldnt sleep as every time they came into the room, they insisted on checking with me whether she had drunk any water and if she had gone to ease herself.

* the error of the pharmacist on duty in the supplements given whilst in the hospital!!

* the long time it takes for them to dispense medications for us to take home with us. 4 hours??? I would have waited a much shorter time had they allowed me to go to the hospital pharmacy to collect it on my own!!

* The huge BILL!!!


What I was happy with about the whole thing

* Prof was more chatty and forthcoming with information as compared to when we were in his clinic. My guess is that he has too many patients to see during his clinic consultation hours and all he wants is to get them out the door!!

* the nurses were really attentive and took good care of my child.

* I was given an orientation of where I was to go for her future visits, which fortunately will not involve a hospital stay!!

This is going to be something we have to do for many years to come!!

Nothing Is Impossible

D: Is that another impossible level? (as she watches me play a computer game)

Me: Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it!

(D then turns and looks at her butt.)

Me: What are you trying to do?

D: I'm trying to bite my butt and I can't! You lied to me!

Me: @.@ hahahaha!!

D, my fashion police!

D: Isn't the back of your dress too low?

D: Maybe you are wearing it the wrong way around!

Who needs the fashion police when you have a daughter like her!

10, 000 steps a day? With my fitbit

It has been said that we should walk 10,000 steps a day for health, fitness and weight loss.

How far is 10, 000 steps? Based on our average stride of 2.5ft  (76cm) a stride, it works out to approximately 5 miles or 8 km.

Is that possible for a normal person who doesnt include exercise in their daily routine?

I would say: No.

I am not a sedentary person. But neither am I all that active. But I am absent-minded. As a result, I find I am going up and down those steps in my home to retrieve things. I average 12 flights of steps a day. In the first week, I averaged 6300 steps a day. In the second week, a dismal 4800 steps. The number of steps for the 3rd week is not representative as I walked 13 km over 3 days as part of my effort to get more exercise into my routine. (in the first two weeks, I only swam).

My friends with pedometers have posted average readings of 4000 steps a day.

For most people with a desk-bound job, I think it is most difficult to achieve that 10,000 magic number.

In the 3 weeks that I have had my fitbit, I have only managed to exceed that magic number 4 times.

The first was on a day when two of my children had medical/dental appointments, and for both, I took the stairs instead of waiting for the lift, and on that day I had walked half a kilometer to the shops and back. And I took public transport down to town for a bit of shopping plus dinner with my girlfriends. All that just to touch that magic 10,000.

And for the other 3 occasions that I managed it, was when I did a 3- 5 km walk in the morning.

That's how difficult it is to be fit, healthy and get some weight loss!!

So, if you want to lose weight, like my fitbit always flashes me: Burn it, move it, Vamoose!!

Me and my Fitbit.

I know I am not active. I try to be, but no where near where I would really like to be.

Recently I have seen my friends post their pedometer readings on FB for a record of their "activity" level.

That got me curious as to how active I really was. Then a friend told me about Up by Jawbone.

It monitors your activity level, as well as sleep.

I tried to get it at but was unsuccessful but got it's competitor instead - the Fitbit.

The guy at the shop couldnt advise me on how to use it, but I managed to figure it out from help on-line.

I have had it for slightly more than a week and I got my first fitbit report this week.

I am nowhere near the recommended 10,000 steps a day, but definitely better than my friends' average of 4000+ a day.  I average around 6300 steps a day which works out to approx 4.1km!! My most active day for the week was 9300 steps which unfortunately falls short of the 10,000 I was hoping for.

I also found out that I climbed on average 12 flights of stairs a day. I tell you, this is due to my absentmindedness!! I forget something, and I have to go back up to get it.

Another thing which it monitors is my sleep. I only sleep an average of 6 and a half hours a night. Sad. I used to average 8-9 hours. I need to get in more sleep. But somehow, my body clock automatically wakes me up each day. I reckon it has to do with age.

I tried logging in my food intake, but gave up after the first couple of days coz, by the time I got to logging in my breakfast and lunch, it tells me I have exceeded my recommended calorie intake for the day. And that's even before I have started on dinner!! Guess I have found the reason for my weight gain. I must walk/exercise more, coz I cant cut down my food consumption. I really dont think I eat that much on the average, but the fitbit obviously thinks otherwise.

One good thing about this gadget is that what I will do now is: nearing the end of the day, when I take a look at it and see that I havent walked much during the day, I will just climb a few more flights of stairs - just for the sake of increasing my activity level!!

How active are you??

D goes shopping for clothes with me

D loves to go shopping with me. She loves to go into the changing room with me and give me her comments.

Mum, you can't buy that.

Mum, it's too transparent. You will need a camisole if you are wearing it.

Too tight. 

No sleeves mum! 

Buy the purple!! Buy the pink!!

Not black again!!!

All those comments made another shopper turn around to me and say: looks like you brought your personal shopper with you!!

And with her shopping with me is probably the reason why I have a pink dress in my wardrobe!! Can't imagine how I allowed her to talk me into buying that dress. Can you imagine a 50 year old in a pink dress??!!??