Today was The Big Day! I frittered away the morning, after I’d done my Stair Walk, getting more and more jittery with every passing minute. For once, I was ready to walk out the door before Julian – an almost unheard of phenomenon! (I think I’ve learned the secret of how to get ready in time! Instead of asking him to tell me about fifteen to twenty minutes before we have to leave, I ask him instead “What time do we have to leave?” Then I can judge when I have to go off and powder my nose and re-do my lipstick, and all that, and so far, it seems to have been working!) So we walked out the door, and trundled down to the car park… where one of the “neighbours” (who wouldn’t know Julian from the man in the moon!) decided to be “rahght naybourley”, and have a little chat – he even insisted on shaking Julian’s hand! (when I don’t think he’s ever spoken to Julian before in his life!) …and I sat in the car and stewed, muttering dire imprecations, fretting and fuming at the delay (well, I was very nervous and agitated!) Julian finally made his escape, and we were on our way. We got to the surgery with about five minutes to spare (why do they call Doctor’s rooms “surgeries”, when they don’t operate in them? They should really be called “Consultanties”, because that’s what occurs there, not “surgical procedures”!) and this time I went in under my own steam (I walked, and didn’t use my chair! …Not that I wanted to impress anyone, of course!) The receptionist thought I looked terrific… and finally we were shown into a different consulting room to the one where we normally see Dr. Y. Then in he walked 🙂 I think he was pleased with me – we filled him in on my condition, and told him that we’d be moving next month. He thinks that discussions about surgery should wait until we’ve moved and settled in, and he’s changed my prescription to one that hopefully won’t cause me to retain so much fluid while I’m taking them… and he mentioned about maybe taking them only every second month, but I wasn’t all that keen on that idea – saying that at this stage it would probably be better to stick to what we know works! I’m supposed to be seeing him again in three months, but it’ll have to be four months, instead of three, because he’s going to Europe for conferences. I offered to go with him, to carry his bags, and he smiled, and said that I’d be very welcome to go with him, and that I wouldn’t have to carry any bags *swoon!* 🙂 He’s ordered some more tests for me to have the week before I see him again, and that was about it. Oh, I had to try to keep a straight face – he (finally!) noticed my hair, and commented on my red hair, red glasses, and (er…very red!) lipstick. With a hint of a smile, I looked at him and said “Dr. Y., I looked exactly like this the last time you saw me!” and to give him credit, he did look a little taken aback 🙂 (Men! We women go to all the trouble to make ourselves look nice for them, and 99.9% of the time, they don’t even notice! Grr!) (and you know what?! They notice quickly enough if you let yourself go, so that you don’t look nice for them! *pout* S’not fair! 😦 )
Well, we left there armed with a new prescription, a form for more tests, and an appointment for November 10th (already written in my diary, with appropriate sirens and alarms set to go off two days beforehand, so that I don’t forget about it (as if I could!)) By then, if I’m not down to my goal weight, it’ll probably mean that I’ve been run over by a bus, sometime between now, and reaching 70kg! Dr. Y. seems to think that 70kg is far too low a weight for me, and what did Dr. B. have to say about it? I told him I’d discussed it with her, and she seemed to think 70kg was alright, and besides, I’d still be classified as overweight, and probably even obese, at 70kg. So then I got stern looks and a bit of a lecture from both him and Julian about the dangers of listening to the BMI pundits – however, as I told them – I’ll be going on what I think, not on BMI recommendations, or anything else! Anyway, from there we went looking for outdoor furniture. We drove past Harvey Norman, but their front windows were still bare – obviously the new shipment of outdoor furniture still hasn’t arrived! So we cruised on down Whitehorse Road, and went to several places, because we’re still (fruitlessly!) looking for a desk for Julian’s office! We did pop into Beacon Lighting to look for bedside lamps and Standard Lamps, and we did buy a couple of bedside lamps – that isn’t a very good picture – it’s too bright/over-exposed – but you might get an idea of what we ended up with 🙂 Standard Lamps – which are called “floor lamps” these days, were a bit of a lost cause there – there were one or two that we didn’t mind, but I think we’ll keep looking… Then we went into The Outdoor Furniture Specialists (no wheelchair access – I had to walk – up a long flight of stairs, too! But more on that later! 🙂 ) and we did get an outdoor dining setting there! I’d link you to a picture of it, only (a) I can’t find a picture of it, and (b) the site is s-o-o-o s-l-o-w that I’d probably be sitting here at Christmas time trying to find it! Beg pardon? Christmas? Oh no, not this Christmas, I meant Christmas 2025! 
yes, their site really is that slow! (well, it was that slow twenty minutes ago, anyway!) However. It’s rectangular and seats eight… it’s made of creamy, mottled Travertine Marble tiles, and has a black, fancy, lacy, wrought iron insert in the middle that has a “doughnut hole” in it (which you can leave open for a beach umbrella to stand in, or close it off so that it just looks like a black, fancy, lacy, wrought iron tile – which is, after all, what it is) The chairs are quite roomy and comfortable, and we like it, which is the main thing 🙂
And after that, we came home, had lunch, and I did my Stair Walk. After I’ve completed my evening full-building Stair Walk, I’ll have walked three lots of 7 floors, up and down… as usual, plus an extra floor, up and down! The Outdoor Furniture Specialists did have sort-of wheelchair access, only we couldn’t use it. From their underground car park, there’s a small door leading into the showroom, but it was so surrounded by furniture that there was no way I could bring the chair in – and even if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to move around in there – it was a case of “you’re on your own! Walk, or miss out!” And there was also an upper level, which we wanted to have a look at, and that was up 16 steps (I counted them!) – exactly equal to one floor here – eight steps up, small landing and then another eight steps up (and of course, back down again too) So by the time I finish my Stair Walk this evening, I will have covered 22 floors altogether, up and down, today! (7 floors x 3 times + 1 extra floor = 22 floors…. I think. Maths is not my strongest subject, so don’t blame me if I got it wrong, OK?!)
And now it’s that time again – sorry! 🙂
+————————–+ * Dinner & Television Break * +————————–+
Weigh-in this morning. For once, I wasn’t disappointed! 82.4kg, for the “special occasion” – I was able to say that I was less than 82.5kg – Dr. Y. said that he wished he was doing so well losing weight (personally, I don’t think he needs to lose any weight!) but if I work on my previous estimations (and by some miracle of miracles, my estimation was, for once, correct – I did manage to get down to 82.Xkg by today – well, I only just managed to squeak it in, but I got there in the end!) So, working on a possible 10kg per month, if I’m 82.4kg now… by November 10th (this year) theoretically, I should be down to… 42,4kg???!! Ooo-er! I think that’s a teeny bit too low! No, I shall re-assess myself when I get down to 70kg – if I think I could do with a bit more off, I shall continue dieting until I think I look about “right”. And if I reckon that I look alright at that weight, I shall put myself onto a “maintenance” diet and try to stabilize myself somewhere between 72kg and 75kg …and then watch out KFC! 🙂 And you know what? I’ll be disappointed, but I don’t really care if I do bounce back a little bit tomorrow, I achieved what I wanted to for today, and that’s the main thing! 🙂
Well, my favourite eldest daughter will be over tomorrow – and Julian and I both totally forgot that we have a meeting with the Capable and Charismatic Carmen tomorrow afternoon! Oh well, Lee will just have to come along and meet Carmen, won’t she?! 😉 Julian has a Physio appointment on Thursday morning, and our cleaning lady will be here on Friday… Most of our furniture has now been purchased and is due to be delivered on August 21st! (my ghod! That’s only a month away! And tomorrow, it’ll be less than a month! However we’re not moving in until the 25th… 😦 ) We’ve both run out of ideas as to where to find a nice desk for the front Office, but that’s about the only thing left to get now, apart from “incidentals”, like “floor lamps” and plants, both indoor and outdoor ones… And so once again, that’s about it from me for tonight! Do call in again tomorrow night though, and I’ll be able to fill you all in on whether my weight did bounce back or not (and this time, I don’t particularly care if it does, so there! 😛 ) and what the Carefully Considering Carmen had to say to us regarding the sale of this apartment and her overseas holiday. I’m sure there’ll be heaps more news and gossip, so don’t miss out! Until then, though, please continue to bee good, don’t forget that to live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong; and remember to keep warm, to drive carefully, and to look after yourselves… but above all, remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 