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Happy 2014!
I have been missing in action for the past several weeks. I’m here but for some reason I’m at a loss of what to write quite a lot of the time.
We’re just getting through the last month of summer here and it’s been fairly mild for the last couple of weeks. Not to say we haven’t had some hot days but nothing extreme like has occurred in many of the eastern parts of the country and none of the nasty floods that have hit the north of our state. I wouldn’t mind, however, having a small share of the rain from the north. After such a wet late winter, it’s been almost completely dry here since the end of October, I think, perhaps a bit earlier.
January wasn’t a great month for us. The year started off well enough but there were a couple of things happening, family-wise, that left January a rather negative month. I can just hope the year improves from this point.
At the end of the month, our gym membership contracts will run out and we are cancelling our membership with the club. Not that we are unhappy there, but the Scientist reached his goal months ago and I have started to lose much interest in going. My aim at the beginning was to go at least twice a week and aside from a couple weeks at Christmas, I have more than stuck to that for the better part of the eighteen months. Now I am more interested in doing exercise outside the gym like just walking or dog walks, cycling, etc. We also now have a spin cycle and a treadmill in the house, so should be set for even the winter and the really hot days left in the season.
Speaking of the gym, I am still working on my weight and fitness levels. I think the fitness is still pretty good but the weight stalled for quite a while and I have had to overcome some of the psychological aspects of that before getting going again. I also had some shoulder bursitis and tendinitis issues that I couldn’t quite get sorted with physiotherapy alone and had a steroid injection just before Christmas. With further physio, some of the shoulder issues have improved enough so I just need to make sure I don’t overdo any particular type of exercise again. Anyway, after some ups and downs, I think I am back on track for the moment.
I saw my new immunologist for the second time on Saturday. She had requested I have certain blood tests done and the results were back well before the appointment. They also sent copies directly to me. Overall, the results were all fine but I can’t help but be a bit pedantic about one thing that showed up. I’ve been getting a high titer ANA back every test since the first one back in 2004. This time was no different but there was a completely different sort of pattern to the ones that have appeared before. It was a different lab so my feeling is it was misread. My doctor wasn’t bothered about, didn’t really seem to know the pattern differences either. My usual pattern is rare but associated with Sjögren’s syndrome (which I have) and also autoimmune liver disease. Because of the pattern, previous doctors were keeping watch for a couple of liver-related antigens in blood work. These never were positive in the past but one associated with autoimmune hepatitis did come back a weak positive this time, which is rather funny, I think. At the moment, it isn’t so much of an issue due to it being weak-positive but mostly due to the fact almost all my liver functions tests came back in normal range. Only my albumin was slightly low…so also isn’t an issue at this point. At the moment, I will just go back for yearly reviews as I’ve done since my symptoms haven’t been anything major as yet.
Today I went in for a whole blood donation and was asked to give plasma instead. I was a bit surprised since it’s been so long since they’ve requested whole blood. Plus I thought they really wanted it this time as I got more reminders than usual. I’ve become acquainted with some of the staff at the center since I began donating, to the point that some of the staff skip quite a few of the questions. But the last couple of times, I have gotten new people and they have gotten into detail on some questions. Strangely it came out today that nobody thought to note down the Sjögren’s syndrome on my records before. The lady that interviewed me had never even heard of it so then went on to check it was okay to donate. Which it was.
Our board games have sat rather untouched the past two months. At first, Lego Lover wasn’t interested in playing but then we missed it one weekend or another and just haven’t got back to it. Meanwhile, we’ve had a few more games arrive lately so we need to get back into it.
There are probably some other things I need to update but honestly can’t think of anything now. I just wanted to get back into it keeping track of things a bit more before more time passed.
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At long last, a new post!
Some days I feel I could write something every day but then the next day comes and I find it hard to write anything. I guess I’ve had quite a few days like that over the past month.
Life has gotten a bit busy recently. Last week I started a temporary/casual part-time job at a local university. It’s the same job I’ve done the past two years so it’s not really anything new, aside from some of the people involved. I’m working eighteen hours a week over three weekdays, which leave two days for other activities during the week. This work will only last a few weeks at most.
My other, less formal job has also had some changes. I was working casually for the disability services commission as a carer for a family friend for two to three hours a week. I’ve been doing it for about eight or nine years so it’s old hat to me. But the carer hours are now being handled by another organisation and my work will be more formalised. This means I have to have a police clearance and I have to fill out an employment application as if I were totally new to the job. Once it’s sorted out, I will be getting a small increase in pay with an official decrease in hours to just two per week. Also, the funds will be deposited directly to my bank account, which means there’s no chance of my charge taking the money and spending it elsewhere before I get there (as has happened a few times in the past).
I finished up two of the Coursera classes I started last month. The Science of Gastronomy was both easy and enjoyable. The worst part was getting through the lectures on video, which sometimes ran a bit longer than was really needed. One of the last assignments involved making sauces using varying amounts of salt and corn starch plus water and a flavoring. Curry powder was recommended but we didn’t have enough powder on hand. I used cumin powder instead, which was a mistake as it was not very nice on its own. There were six different solutions and our task was to work out which one had the most intense flavor in it and it was interesting to note the effects of the amounts of corn starch and salt on each mixture.
The Maps and Geospatial Revolution class was far more interesting than I ever expected it to be. The instructor was engaging and did fairly short lectures plus weekly mapping assignments. We had a final assignment that we had to submit for peer review  which involved making a map that tells some sort of story using online tools. I decided to make a story map of the photos I took when I went into Perth one day last month while my car was being serviced. I liked doing most of the assignment but had some technical difficulties with saving content as it would disappear from the page afterwards. I never worked that one out but found a work-around by changing the blurbs on my Flickr photos so that text would import and I didn’t have to do anything further in the web application. I wasn’t able to fix the titles of the photos used, though, so had to leave them with the numbering the application gave. It looked kind of strange but it was the best I could do within the limited time available. There was also a final exam I completed last night and managed to get 45+ out of 50 points on it…which was pretty good except I missed one that I should have gotten right.
I’m still enrolled in a Modern and Postmodern class which mainly is focused on philosphers in the modern and post modern eras. I really like the subject but got rather far behind while finishing up the other two classes and didn’t do the first essay assignment. I decided I would just audit this time and try to do the class again when it’s offered. At the moment, I’m toying with the idea of dropping it for now as I have other classes starting up soon and not enough time for all of it.
I am still going to the gym most days but it’s probably more like five days a week than the six I was doing when I started out. Even at the beginning I had no illusions that I’d be able to stick to a six day schedule and had the goal of going at least three or four days a week . I did manage to stick to that schedule for most of the first ten months but have slipped a bit over the last six weeks or so. My current favorite exercise routines are the fusion video classes that combine yoga and pilates. Mostly it’s been yoga and a very tiny bit of pilates if any. At least in the classes I’ve tried. There is a class that is all pilates but I haven’t tried it yet. I haven’t done much yoga in about ten years when I last took a class. I had taken a class of the Kripalu yoga style while in Halifax, NS while we lived there for a year and when I came home there wasn’t a class nearby that interested me. The classes at the gym are rather fitness oriented so tend to focus a lot on the exercise for exercise sake. But I’ve found I’m really enjoying the yoga parts so try to do at least part of a yoga class after my other exercise each day. All of the classes seem to do quite a bit of the plank poses which would have been really challenging for me in the past but are now getting easier for me.
All the yoga workouts have interested me in doing a proper yoga class again. And it just happens that there is a yoga class that runs before our tai chi class on Tuesdays. Â I’ve signed up for a short beginner series as a refresher then may try out the regular classes that finish just before our tai chi class. Hopefully this will leave me quite relaxed on Tuesday nights. :D
Meanwhile I am now donating plasma on a two-weekly basis, mostly on a Tuesday…making for rather busy Tuesdays on alternating weeks lately.
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A bit of oddness
Today was my about monthly visit to the Australian Red Cross blood donation centre again. I think this makes about eight donations since I started last year. While nothing particularly odd happened today it was a bit of a strange experience, as though everything was a bit out of kilter. The usual receptionist is on holidays and one of the regular staff members had taken over at the front desk. It was incredibly still and quiet inside this time. I was given the clipboard with forms to complete and it seemed to take much longer than usual as I felt distracted by the quiet. Even though it was so quiet, it took quite a while before I was called back. When the nurse checked my blood pressure, the machine pumped up to a really high pressure and took ages to go down again only to never pick up a reading and start all over with another high pressure. My bp was quite normal but it made my arm really uncomfortable for the duration. Today was a whole blood donation but the last few times I’ve been there have been for plasma. It seemed almost alien to do full blood again. I was glad it didn’t take so long, though, as my arm was already going numb in the about nine minutes I was actively donating. Usually they put a pillow under my arm and adjust everything for comfort but today there was only a towel on the arm of the seat. Once I was finished I went to the canteen for my after donation snack. The staff handling reception was doing double duty at the canteen too. I chose a muffin like usual and she heated it up. But she did it differently to the usual person and it didn’t get very warm this time. Also she asked me what I wanted to drink and poured the apple juice into a tiny little cup instead of the usual paper cups they use. It was hardly worth it. I’ve organised it so that I will do my next donation (plasma) the last Sunday this month when the Scientist is doing his next regular donation.
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Arrival
It was a dark, wet and dreary day nineteen years ago as I stepped off the plane in Perth for the first time to start my new life in Australia. I don’t recall specifics but there was a whole line of family and friends to meet us at the airport. I remember it was a bit overwhelming to meet so many people at once and I didn’t think I’d remember names any time soon. There probably weren’t that many people but it seemed a lot at the time. I was four and a half months pregnant with Game Fanatic at the time and starting to feel a bit oversized already…I remember I had on a short-sleeved red top that I was fond of wearing. In fact, I probably didn’t wear it much after that time and I have no idea what became of it now. Funny the stuff you remember after so long. That first month seemed to be have rain just about every day but the sun would often pop out and we’d see a rainbow appear on many of those days too. After that life was a bit of a blur as I adjusted to my new home. That is, until October when life got very interesting after Game Fanatic was born.
I completely missed this anniversary last year. I might have also missed it this year had I not had to write out the date today. I was at the Red Cross doing a regular plasma donation and had to sign and date the forms and that’s what triggered the memory. As a side note, I have now reached the maximum plasma donation level of 18% which allows me to give 800 mls each donation. I think this is only slightly higher than the last one but it makes the last cycle of blood draw and red cell return a bit more worthwhile. As I’ve used my right arm for donation most of the time lately, I thought I’d give it a break and try my left arm. It seems my veins were not easily found by the lady doing my session today so the expert was called in and he found a good vein. Interesting part was the way the machine was not moved to my left side this time but the tubes were draped across me. I think this had a lot to do with my location at the end of the room as they usually do shift the machine to the same side as blood draw. My next appointment is in a month for a full blood draw, but I wonder now if they will again ask me for plasma instead since they still have a high need for it.
We had pizzas from our much-loved local shop for dinner and I went back out to the store afterwards in search of a brownie mix. Brownies are my go-to treat to celebrate special days. I will clarify that I would love to make home made brownies most of the time but my boys seem to prefer the store mixes. Our favorite brownie mix here is the Australian made White Wings brand which has a nice chunky brownie mix that works well with my non-fat oil replacement of Greek yoghurt. Sadly the store had no boxes of this type available. They did have the Betty Crocker type available which is acceptable. They also had the Duncan Hines type which wasn’t all that great when we tried it. I found another mix by another Australian brand which was cheaper than the others. I decided to give it a shot and bought it along with a muffin mix on a special offer. Unfortunately they didn’t come out well at all. Not inedible but definitely quite underwhelming. I now feel the need to fix this wrong by making more tomorrow that taste like they should. Of course the lesson in this situation is not to try something too unknown for anything special.
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Latest happenings
I went to give plasma again today and it all went well aside from a bit of blood leaking out from the site of the needle. There’s a high demand for plasma so I offered to go back in a couple weeks but there are no appointments available until next month. So my next donation will be in early June. I seem to have become a bit of a regular at this now. :)
We are bracing for the first major winter storm of the year. Unless one counts that nasty storm that came through in mid-March and left a fair bit of damage around the town. Seems the next few days are going to be nearly cyclonic conditions with heavy rains and thunderstorms and strong winds. So far we’ve only just got the rain with a bit of wind around here. Game Fanatic is kind of happy for the wintry weather since that means it will be good stew weather and he loves his stews.
I was going to go to the gym yesterday since I had my blood donation today…but then I spent a bit of time in our yard and realised a lot of work needs to be done. So instead of spending an hour at the gym I spent a couple working in the garden. I finally planted some chilli plants that have been sitting in our kitchen window for ages. One has grown quite tall and has two chillies on it and another one has some small Thai chillies on it. The jalapeno plants nearly died as small seedlings but they came back to life for a while. I suspect that one might survive…assuming it doesn’t get too battered by the storms ahead. The other plans should be okay as they are a bit more solid. I also planted out mint seedlings into a big pot and assume they will be okay as they tend to be quite hardy. I also did a lot of hacking on some overgrown bushes out there. One is a tea tree that pretty much takes up a huge part of the yard. I’m trying to cut it back and eventually remove it…but it’s quite big at the base so I’m not sure how that will go. There were also shrubs overhanging the driveway and making it difficult to get in and out without them scratching the car…it’s now all clear even though the one shrub looks a bit bare on one side. Hopefully I’ll get out and do the rest some time soon so make it look a bit more balanced…The nice thing about this one (a bottlebrush) is that I can hack it up and it comes right back with no trouble. Then today I went out to check on plants and noticed something growing up into another bottlebrush tree at the back (different type)…turns out it’s a wild passionfruit vine that had found it’s way up the tree. Then I found another one up there and realised we have to get rid of those soon as they will choke the trees out back. They have lovely flowers on them but are truly invasive around here. :(
Also marking the start of the winter season…Lego Lover woke up with a sore throat today. I’m not quite sure how he got it as he hardly ever goes out and he stayed well clear of anyone when we went to a family lunch on the weekend. The Scientist thinks it’s possible one of us has brought something back and he’s picked that up and we haven’t as we are both healthier and fitter than he is. We bought him some honey and lemon throat lozenges and he wasn’t too sure about them but tried anyway…and said they helped even if they tasted rather revolting (my words but his sentiment).
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Change of plan
I arrived for my blood donation this afternoon and filled out the paperwork required. When I turned it in, the reception person asked if I’d be interested in doing a plasma donation instead. I guess the local supplies are quite low at the moment. For some reason she didn’t have any information about my having donated plasma before. It didn’t require too much change of plan aside from the fact it took a lot longer than a simple blood draw requires. The first two times they only took something like 700 ml of plasma but this time it was increased to something like 825. The previous times, there were three sessions of the blood being drawn and separated but this time it became four. And the last session’s draw was quite short but it seemed to take much longer than the other ones. The place was fairly busy when I arrived but I was the only one there when I finished. I guess it was a slow afternoon. I won’t give a full blood donation until July but did book in to do plasma in another month.
I still haven’t been able to re-enrol for my tai chi class online because the class I want is still showing as sold out. It seems unlikely this is really the case so I contacted the owner again tonight for the second time to clarify that there is still space in the class. I find it hard to imagine otherwise but there could be people joining with discount vouchers, I suppose. I have suggested to her that I book in with a different class instead and sort out the day later on.
We didn’t end up trying the new board games this evening after all. By the time all the coming and going was over and food was eaten, it was getting late. Looks like it may have to wait for the weekend as I will be out tomorrow and we have some dvds to watch from a video service we are trialling (for the second time now!). Â As we weren’t going to play games, I decided to retry the iPad version of Caylus and see if I could get an understanding of the game play. I got through two games and finally feel I have some idea of what I am doing. I still need to work out some of the finer points but at least I feel I am in the game now. :) Â I have a few other games on the iPad that I am trying to learn too, along with others that are the same as games we already play (Carcassone, Settlers of Cataan, Ticket to Ride, etc).
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Random stuff
I’m due to donate blood again tomorrow with a full blood donation. It actually seems a long time now since my plasma donation in February, which seems to be a good thing, I think. Maybe I will increase my plasma donations since I am feeling okay about it. I did manage to get through gym workouts yesterday (just) and today (comfortably) so I will be taking tomorrow off while I give blood. I’ve also decided to do cardio workouts only for a few days to give my body a bit more time to recover from all the new workouts I’ve been trying.
My tai chi class finished for this term this evening and I will be on to level six next term. As I was telling the Scientist, it feels really great to feel up to speed on the moves at the end of term for a change. Usually it takes until well into the following term before I start to get a real handle on new moves. Next term will be mostly moves I know but will be done on the opposite side. I imagine this will be a big challenge for me, particularly because there are a lot more moves to work on each week this time. But there are a few new moves to look forward to and at the end of next term I’ll be done with level six…which means I will know all the moves in the tai chi set (108 ). I went to re-enroll for next term online and my usual location says it’s sold out of spaces. I find this rather difficult to believe as there aren’t that many people attending regularly right now so surely there is still space. I also wanted to do a workshop focusing on level four and that wasn’t available at all in my choices. I sent an email to the owner and she has already replied saying she was going to rectify the problems and to try again tomorrow.
There are appointments to take Game Fanatic to this week on two afternoons. We see his clinical psychologist on Wednesday and it’s on to the psychiatrist he saw last month to continue the assessment for autism. I was a bit perplexed last time we saw the clinical psych as he seemed concerned about fitting GF into the current criteria for autism due to the fact he had no language delays. The language criteria in place currently does not require a delay but does require one or two other criteria to be met. Lego Lover was diagnosed without a language delay so I don’t see the issue. Apparently the new criteria, which goes into effect with the new DSM V next month, isn’t a problem for diagnosis…Since it’s likely to take that long to reach the conclusion of this process, I suppose it doesn’t matter in the long run.
We seem to be in a bit of an autumn heatwave right now. Today the temperature unexpectedly reached 37.6 locally which is somewhere close to the 100F. Apparently the heat will continue through the week. Just when we thought the new air conditioner will start being run less regularly, we are getting a full test of it’s ability to cool the house in summer conditions. Not to mention higher electricity bills…
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Odds and ends
We’re in the middle of another heatwave here after dodging pretty much all effects of Cyclone Narelle, which didn’t hit the northwest coast of Western Australia as originally expected. The much needed rain never eventuated and it’s just hot and humid right now. Fun stuff. We had the hotted night since 1989 last night at something like 27.8 C. Despite our a/c running all night, it was still pretty uncomfortable so I can imagine how bad it was for those without it at all.
I donated blood again today and it all went pretty easily and quickly. I think I felt the most normal I ever have after a donation. I even refused the little chocolate bar as the muffin was plenty for me. I go back in a month for a plasma donation and in three months for another regular blood donation.
Because I was donating blood today, I changed my day off  exercise for the week from Monday to Tuesday. This meant I worked out seven days in a row and my body seems quite ready for a break. I think I’ve exacerbated my shoulder problem again so will likely take an extra day off doing weights and adapt my routine a bit until that feels better. I’d also been doing rowing pretty much every day so this seems a good time to change gears and focus on a different cardio machine for a little while.
I made my chickpea and veggie patties last Friday and they came out quite well. Using the new food processor didn’t exactly make it quick and easy but it certainly improved on time and labor to took to prepare some of the ingredients for cooking. I also tried cooking the patties in the air fryer and they came out quite well there. The time had to be adjusted a bit after the first batch or two but it seemed to do a pretty good job of cooking them. The only change I made was to make the patties smaller so they would cook more evenly. I had some old leeks in the fridge so I chopped one of those up into the onion and zucchini mixture and it worked well. I’ve also started adding a bit of chopped kale to that mixture and that has also worked well. It’s nice to be able to play around with ingredients a bit when making this recipe. My only mistake was I got a bit food processor crazy and started chopping up more veggies for a stir fry while cooking. But because I was devoting less time to it, it turned into a pan full of sort of mushy veggies with a strong leek flavor. I must admit I am a bit over the leeks right now. But I will try them again for some winter cooking, like leek and potato soup.
After having trouble choosing my doctor on the online appointments system and getting that fixed, I have found that system seems to always have issues. For a week or two, there were no appointments showing up at all. Then only one doctor was showing up. I hadn’t checked it for a while but today found that all the new doctors are showing up and none of the established ones. This means I have to call for any appointment for the  family since none of us see the new doctors. The other issue is you can only book short appointments on this system and of appointments I need to make, at least two will need to be long ones due to extra items to be handled. It appears the online booking system as it stands isn’t going to work out for our family after all. :(
I found a shop sort of near us that sells a trackball mouse that I think might work to replace my old one. They didn’t have one in stock to look at but will call me when one arrives. I’m handling the Logitech trackball mouse that was supposed to replace the Kensington expert trackball mouse…but only to a just functioning level. I find it hard to get the cursor from one side of the screen to the other with any speed. At first I thought this was due to the fact I am left-handed and the muscle strength in my thumb isn’t as good as the left one. But now I think it’s due to the small trackball and the not-so-smooth movements. Once I get a new trackball mouse, I imagine this will just be stored as a back up for the future. To be honest, I think I’d have done just as well with a reasonably ergonomic mouse for the interim period.
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Donation time
Today I donated blood again but it seemed a bit iffy as to whether it would happen or not. There seemed to be a few problems going against my chances today. Before today I would have suggested my blood pressure would be too low as it’s been quite low when I’ve checked it in the evenings lately, around 95/55 on a couple of occasions. But that wasn’t the problem today as it was very much within the normal range. The first problem was my haemoglobin level was 23 lower than the last time I gave blood. It has been within the normal range both times but it seems a drop of more than 20 requires further testing. I had some blood drawn from my vein (first time was from the finger prick test) and it was tested and it was still kind of iffy. Somehow it was given the okay after what seemed like a convoluted calculation. The second issue was the difficulty finding a suitable vein, despite me being well-hydrated. There was much tapping along the insides of my arms to find my veins and personally I found that far worse than the blood draw itself. Eventually some success was had and there were no issues with the actual donation. Even before all this, I arrived there and there was no record of my appointment on their system. I organised it all online and received a confirmation email with the day and time. After I’d finished there, I had to sit in the canteen and have a drink and some food before leaving. While there I checked my emails and I had not made a mistake as I had feared to begin with.
I was asked early on about also donating plasma as there is currently a shortage here so I am scheduled to donate plasma in a month and whole blood again in January. Apparently plasma can be given every two weeks but that’s a bit more frequent than I am willing to do right now. Besides I’m not sure my veins would hold up too well doing it that often.
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Wobbly
I definitely overdid the exercise yesterday and my muscles all felt so tired today. It was still the same when I went to tai chi tonight and my legs felt a bit like jelly as I wobbled along. I made it through the class and even think I managed my new moves pretty well today. In class tonight, I received a certificate recognising my achievement in completing three of the six levels of the program. It’s only taken three terms to reach that point but I am here and looking forward to getting another certificate once I’ve complete all six basic levels.
I finished off the last of the curries from Game Fanatic’s curry feast on Friday at lunch today. All that was left were a vegetable korma and curried chickpeas with spinach so I cooked a bit of rice and made a salad and had way too much food. It was still pretty tasty even though I’m not really that fond of korma curries.
I’ll be donating blood tomorrow afternoon if all goes well. After that I will be picking up my new glasses which is kind of exciting since I’ve had this pair for five years or more. The new ones are similar to what I already have except the new ones will have an anti-glare coating which apparently is better on the eyes. I will reserve judgement on that as it was another add-on charge for some fairly expensive glasses. Less expensive single vision lenses are now a distance memory for me, just as contact lenses are.