HELLO From New Zealand

chevalier

1) Housework despite being knackered i still managed to change the bedding, wash, and dry it and put it away for 3 beds.
2) Plant potatoes
3) Sew two badges on DS1's scout top :A:A:AI get angels for this as i BL**DY hate sewing
4) Put some elastic in DS1's new school trousers. He has decided he doesn't need it:T:T:T
5) Trade me for clothes listing.
6) Look online for jobs found a potential job. will try and find my resume again, but my computer is playing up
7) Follow up about environmental courses
8) Keep the swimming up. went today with the boys, DS1 reluctantly did some lengths with me, but it was good he did any as he was still awake at 11.30 last night:eek: too hot here.
9) keep an eye on homework to make sure I know what both DS's have to do. ds2 has a chart to do, ds1 had a bit of homework but not much yet, will follow up with teacher. Have followed up, and will have a go helping...
10) Have discussion with deputy head. she has said this week
11) Input receipts. done ALL of them :Aso now up to date. I am in shock!

Had to shell out nearly $100 in trip money today. Painfull to say the least. But they are for heavily discounted trips, so it is not too bad. tis sunny here and I have done the blessed sewing on. Have a job to apply for, but I am going to do half an hours knitting first.....

EH yes he has, it is just a shame that he won't be ready for the gala that is on this weekend. I am going to talk to him about it, cos it would be MUCH easier if we don't go, but I will if he wants to compete in the land events.....
chev

chevalier

(shamelessly copied from wols' thread)
i had a very planned day to day derailed by me forgetting to take the plug out of the utility sink after soaking a sheet. half a cycle of water on the floor of the bottom of the house later......:eek::eek::mad::mad::mad: still there is a good breeze today so i am at least getting some weather help to dry it.

Had to leave it part way through for a xray of my back. Fingers crossed they can get to the bottom (lol) of why I can't sit on a bike for more than 5 minutes without being in agoney....

It is really peeing me off now, as the boys want to go for bike rides and unless OH goes with them they can't go, cos i end up in real pain.... And it wasn't always like this because i used to cycle 6 miles to work and back.....
chev

chevalier

LIST FOR THIS WEEK
1) finish off the knitting of my jumper if not make it up
2) listings!!!
3) mop upstairs floors (don't need to do the downstairs ones)
4) hoover groan
5) read some stuff for back ground for course
6) enquire of OU as to whether i can do my course again
7) enquire of local uni if i can do their environment course from july whether OU say yes or not
8) job hunting
9) reply to estate agents about looking at houses
10) see teacher about ds1 and dyslexia testing
11) photocopy stuff she gave me.
12) washing hokey cokey
13) get car rego done (like car tax)
14) register DS1 for soccer - he wants to be a goalie this season
15) swim at least twice this week
16) walking school bus

should keep me out of mischief!

taxi73

that's some list..hope they get to the bottom of your pain

chevalier

chevalier wrote: »

LIST FOR THIS WEEK
1) finish off the knitting of my jumper if not make it up Nope but did knit another baby hat
2) listings!!! nope only done relistings
3) mop upstairs floors (don't need to do the downstairs ones) did sweep up though
4) hoover groan nope but DS's tidied the front room so I can hoover now
5) read some stuff for back ground for course tiny bit
6) enquire of OU as to whether i can do my course again yes i can and my old units will count to a degree just got to decide now whether getting a uk degree is the best thing to do.
7) enquire of local uni if i can do their environment course from july whether OU say yes or not not done this, but a friend of someon's on the PTA is just starting the course so she will ask her for feedback
8) job hunting there is sweet f a about at the moment
9) reply to estate agents about looking at houses looked at 2 one was:eek::eek::eek::eek:
10) see teacher about ds1 and dyslexia testing still to bottom this out. but he has gone up a level in spelling so woohoo to him
11) photocopy stuff she gave me. oops
12) washing hokey cokey up to date
13) get car rego done (like car tax) done
14) register DS1 for soccer - he wants to be a goalie this season done
15) swim at least twice this week done
16) walking school bus only twice as it was peeing it down on wedneday and we cancelled it.

should keep me out of mischief!

So not too bad all in all plus see below!

chevalier

Ok so look away now if you don't want to read a rant (well a bit of one)

So thursday last week I booked myself in to have done an ultrasound bone density test. You basically have ultrasound aimed at your heal bone to see how dense the bone is and how strong. $42 but I thought if it all checks out or even if it doesn't then at least I will be able to take action about it.

So the test comes back that my bones are good and strong, BUT that I have a bone density of a 60 year old:eek::eek::eek::eek:Now as I am only in my 40's this was a bit of a shock to say the least. So the lady says about upping my calcium intake and to come back in a year....

Now I had always thought I had done ok with this, as I have milk with my cereal each day pretty much, and take a calcium tablet at night....

Anyway the next day I was going to the GP anyway, so thought I will take around the results and talk to her about it.

So the Dr confirmed that the xray (reason i had first off been going) had shown that I have mild arthritis in my spine. Holy cow if this is mild I am dreading the pain of more advance arthritis! Some days I can't get to sleep with it even after taking ibuprofen.....

Then I showed her the bone density tests. Her response was that they 'weren't reliable' ie they were a bloody scam! !!!!!! how the heck was I supposed to know that then. The health system in this country is so fragmented you don't know which is a good test and which isn't half the time....So that is $42 wasted. PLUS as I now have had a dodgy test, (even though it is 'not reliable') she insisted I get another proper one done. Cost $150. Wonderful......

But more interestingly, when I said so its just a case of upping the calcium tablets then, she said oh no we don't advocate you taking calcium tablets at all now. They have been shown to increase the chance of having a heart attack. Like WHAT? I thought. Oh yes in fact anyone that we have prescribed calcium for, we are taking them off it and telling them to eat more dairy and green veggies instead.

HOLY COW! So apparently for all those years I have been religiously taking calcium tablets to avoid osteoperosis, I have been increasing my risk of heart attack. As there is heart disease on both sides of my family this is GREAT news NOT! Interestingly the article only mentions hard calcium tablets. I wonder why that is and must ask the Dr if i can get soft calcium tablets are those ok. (Because Boots in the UK do these).

So there is nothing in particular to do about my back. I know that swimming helps it (and doing helping out in the water at surf lifesaving helped ease off something, though don't know why I was jumping through waves a lot (insert shrug smiley here)), and she has suggested again that I go to a physio. Suggested the one right opposite me so that is quite cool. ho hum

In other news we went to see another house this week. Oh my gosh what ah s hole it was. the previous tenants had obviously not left on good terms, and so had punched holes through most every door! And so the owner had just glued boards onto the door, no replacing them or anything. It was on for $475 and wasn't worth even $400 with the damage. finding somewhere is a pain in the bum at the moment.
chev

chevalier

Also on thursday we got a letter from the Rugby World Cup organisers.

Now we have already splashed out this year, and bought 4 lots of pool packs for the local stadium to us. This means that the boys will see some Rugby from the world cup, though only France is one of the top teams. Still it will be great days out etc....

Anyway if you bought tickets to the pool stages then you went in the ballot to get the chance to buy tickets to the final....

So we have won the chance to buy two tickets to the final:T
BUT the tickets are $1534 for the two, AND there are only 2 seats available to us, so either me and OH go, and then we have the extra expense of babysitter for the DS's (and this was what most people I have spoken to about this expected us to do, interestingly), OR I go with one of the DS's. But how do you choose which one?

So do we go at all - this is about £700 we are talking about for one game:eek:. And if we do how do we sort out who is going. My DS's will be 10 and 7 by the time of the game. I have had people saying that they won't get anything out of it.... But what do other people think?

We only have until the 4th March to decide....So it isn't like we can save up for the tickets in the meantime/ me get a job to pay for it etc.

chev

hypno06

ooh, how exciting - I have to say I would buy the tickets, and then decide over who is going to go later on - after all, the match isn't for some time yet, is it. but what an opportunity for you!

Hope the back stuff gets better soon - as for the bone density stuff, weight bearing exercise like walking is also proven to help.

taxi73

can empathise with you re back pain..hope you find something that helps.
as for the rugby...don't think I'd buy the tickets due to not being able to get the 4 you need as someone will be upset.It's a hard one.

ZTD

chevalier wrote: »

So the Dr confirmed that the xray (reason i had first off been going) had shown that I have mild arthritis in my spine. Holy cow if this is mild I am dreading the pain of more advance arthritis! Some days I can't get to sleep with it even after taking ibuprofen.....

The spine is a very sensitive area, so even mild things in the wrong place really hurt.

chevalier wrote: »

Then I showed her the bone density tests. Her response was that they 'weren't reliable' ie they were a bloody scam!

Did she say they were a scam, or were you just reading that into her remarks?

chevalier wrote: »

!!!!!! how the heck was I supposed to know that then. The health system in this country is so fragmented you don't know which is a good test and which isn't half the time....So that is $42 wasted. PLUS as I now have had a dodgy test, (even though it is 'not reliable') she insisted I get another proper one done. Cost $150. Wonderful......

Get the results and see how different they are to the $42 ones. I'd be curious to know what her cut from the test would be.

Cynical? Moi? :A

chevalier wrote: »

But more interestingly, when I said so its just a case of upping the calcium tablets then, she said oh no we don't advocate you taking calcium tablets at all now. They have been shown to increase the chance of having a heart attack. Like WHAT? I thought. Oh yes in fact anyone that we have prescribed calcium for, we are taking them off it and telling them to eat more dairy and green veggies instead.

HOLY COW! So apparently for all those years I have been religiously taking calcium tablets to avoid osteoperosis, I have been increasing my risk of heart attack. As there is heart disease on both sides of my family this is GREAT news NOT!

Take medical articles with a pinch of salt (which is also apparently bad for you). Yesterday eggs were good for you, the day before they were bad, and tomorrow they will be bad for you again. I remember when margarine was good for you, now it's a bad, bad block of trans-fats.

chevalier wrote: »

Interestingly the article only mentions hard calcium tablets. I wonder why that is and must ask the Dr if i can get soft calcium tablets are those ok. (Because Boots in the UK do these).

It's probably because that's all they tested. Who paid for the test? What do they sell?

chevalier wrote: »

So there is nothing in particular to do about my back. I know that swimming helps it (and doing helping out in the water at surf lifesaving helped ease off something, though don't know why I was jumping through waves a lot (insert shrug smiley here)), and she has suggested again that I go to a physio. Suggested the one right opposite me so that is quite cool. ho hum

Why don't you just go out in the sun (Vit D help bones at the very least), swim a bit, jump through waves a bit, run around a bit. It was found by people on the various space stations that impacts to the bones caused by walking/running etc strengthens them. The exercise will strengthen your muscles, and take some strain off your various other joints. That'll ease your pain.

Don't sweat it about the calcium either way. Your body auto-balances your various intakes - most of the excess calcium you took, ended up down the toilet anyway. If you're drinking milk and eating bread, you should end up with enough.

Supplementation only works with deficits. I'm not sure why people are so in love with it. I guess it's the usual siren call of "if you take this tablet, then all your worries will be over".