A quote for those others out there that hit 40 this year:

"One day I said to myself: 'I'm 40!' By the the I recovered from the shock of that discovery, I had reached 50" Simone de Beauvoir

I have returned from New Zealand. Our time there was only a week which never seems long enough and returning to work today is painful. I was however very glad to see the furry critters again and Mac the cat was very appreciative of our homecoming, he's been a big sook ever since we picked him up from the cattery - he's barely let us out of his sight!

The worst thing about travelling is the time spent at airports. We finally managed to arrive in Christchurch after 3pm, the devestation there is awful, so many roads still closed, buildings with various safety notices. The first two locations we were going to stay at were closed but we ended up in a lovely deco motel. We didn't even make it to the centre of town, it was just so sad to see all the destruction and amazing how people still go into work each day not knowing whether or not they will have power etc - my heart goes out to them even more after witnessing a small amount of the damage :(

I finally got to see our former Freemason's lodge in Ravensbourne (just outside of Dunedin)- it is HUGE! The view is also lovely, looking straight onto the bay. The students who currently live there seemed very nice as well. It would be very interesting to research some of the history of the lodge.

One highlight of our visit was dinner at Larnach Castle - it was only a pity it didn't include a guided tour of the building, but the food and company were good so you will get no complaints from me.

On our final day in Dunedin, tcpip and I went on the Taieri Gorge Railway. It truly is spectacular, I would love to do the Seasider journey at some stage, it even travels right past our Freemason's Lodge.

Well, I've managed to complete one of the three things from my list in my last entry. I have a new car. Not that I changed much, I basically went from one blue Nissan Micra to a new blue Nissan Micra. Call me boring, but my last one lasted a long time, was easy to drive and comfortable (not so much for passengers though). I am now trying to get used to power steering and not over or under compensating, power windows are a novelty too, not to mention having a stereo system which isn't just a radio and cassette player... It also has four doors now which should make it a bit more comfortable for any passengers that might venture in it :)

Now to arrange for a weekend away somewhere since I can now actually drive in comfort ...

Off to see the Magic Flute tonight at the Playhouse. This will be the second opera I have seen, hope I don't doze off like I did in Madame Butterfly LOL. The Magic Flute sounds like a bit more fun - will let you all know the outcome.

Thankfully I managed to survive christmas, but I don't have the issue of family which tends to make it a bit easier. My thoughts are with those who have had family members ill over the holidays and many hugs their way - yell if there is anything you need, even if it's just company. We spent the afternoon/evening with the delightful devilgirly and finally got to meet Saki :) In other words, it was a lovely, friendly, stress free day.

There was only one negative and that is relatively minor - a il diamond decided it didn't like life in my ring, not impressed seeing as I have only been wearing it a week *sigh* such is life and I am sure I will cope (tongue firmly placed in cheek)

Mac cat has been enjoying having company at home and has spent time sunning himself, when not sleeping or wishing he knew how to chase a bird. The ratty boys have had their share of fruit mince and attention.

Haven't been doing much aside from reading, sleeping and relaxing - I needed this.

Plans for new year are to go to Euchronia (lovely civil union gift) and hopefully catch up with a few more of you in the near future, preferably somewhere that we can chat for more than 5 minutes :)

Well, it's over - Lev and I are officially civil unioned.

A big thank you to those of you that were there, apologies to any people we missed inviting, and bad luck to those who didn't turn up :P

I'm being lazy here and not use nicks.

Big thanks to Danielle aka Dolly Q for making me a fabulous outfit with extreme time constraints, Kat and the other lovelies at Lockworks for the lovely hair and Illamasqua for the wicked makeup. Almost forgot, thank you to Tina for recommending Devour It for the catering, the food was apparently much appreciated :)

More special thanks to the delightful Ms V for hanging out with me in my nervous state and being there when I had a few panicky moments.

It went well and I certainly was not prepared for all the people that turned up, nor the applause when we were on the "stage". I'm not to big on being the centre of attention, so it was all a bit strange for me. I think I got to chat to most of the people for a few minutes and am very much looking forward to a proper catch up with those that I haven't seen in WAY too long. You sometimes really don't realise how long it's been between visits.

I'm glad that it's over and am looking forward to catching up on some sleep this coming weekend.

Well, Mum knows now and as expected it was a case of "why didn't you tell me that you were getting married before I went on holiday", gee, maybe because it's a civil union and we didn't have a date back then. Then I told her that she would be staying in a hotel, there was dead silence and then in one of those "how dare you" tones of voice asks why along with the usual, "I guess I won't stay long then" - felt like just saying "mum, I don't really care if you turn up, but you ARE staying in a hotel if you do". Can't she see that even though we have been living together all this time, it will still be "our" night and we might want some peace? I know I will, I get knackered when I've been with people all day - not that I don't love you all, it's just me (too cliched?)

Anyway, the dress is being made, the food is ordered, the bar has a tab I think tcpip has done a good organisation of the location and foods.


UPDATE Mum is ok with staying at an apartment now that the rest of the clan are turning up, they will all stay together. She means well, but as has been said, she's a mother :)

Lots and nothing has been happening in the time since my last entry, tcpip manages to keep a list of what we do much better than I do :)

We have lost a number of our pets since my last post, the latest being Mischief the adventure rat who left us on Saturday. His breathing had been deteriorating for a while and antibiotics weren't helping, but true to his name he went on one last adventure - he climbed out the window and ended in the gutter. It was tcpip to the rescue, climbing out on the roof again (the last time was to rescue our tailess wonder of a cat)and rescuing our rat. Later we realised it would have probably been easier to get the ladder...

Mischief has now joined his brother Calamity in the land where rats can roam. We now only have Trouble from this litter and he too is slowing down to a waddle and his new youngster friend Rascal who had been alone in a petshop for a while. Rascal has a cute little white patch under his chin and no doubt Trouble will teach him all the tricks of being a ratty in our household.

Well, Monday night ended up being loads of fun. A night in the hospital, just what everyone wants, and the reason? Diabetes!

I went on the insulin pump just under two weeks ago so am still learning how it all works and adjusting all the insulin to carb ratios, insulin sensitivy, basal rates etc. So on Monday when my blood glucose meter tells me "HI" followed by "27.7 mmol" after having given a correction bolus, I decided to check my blood ketone levels, 1.3, hmm time to call the registrar at Royal Melbourne Hospital. She asks me to take my ketones again even though it's only been about 15 minutes - 2.3 - "better go into the emergency department just in case" she says. I'm a bit paranoid about ketones since my brother's death last year, so a bit panicked off I go.

I must admit I got seen very quickly, within 5 min I was in the emergency ward and having my blood tested. By 2.30am I was in a ward, it was a busy night for emergency in a public hospital. I was stuck in there until 4pm Tuesday afternoon with little sleep, I had to have blood glucose test done every hour so they could adjust the insulin drip accordingly. Thankfully no ketoacidosis for this bunny!

They aren't actually sure what was the cause, if there was a blockage in this pump line, good old "female problems", or something else entirely but so far today my rates have been ok, not great but definitely nowhere near what they were on Monday!

tcpip is a much better story writer than I am, but many thanks to you all for your good wishes. Thanks also to 17catherines for her enjoyable and distracting visit, beautiful flowers and an AMAZING celtic colouring in book! :) Much appreciated.

Mac the cat was very glad to get me back home and much playing and purring followed. My shower was accompanied by yowls because he couldn't see me anymore. Have to keep him out of the rat zone!

Today I am still tired, but better after having gotten to sleep by 9pm last night.

Hey there all

Aside from work I'm having a very squeal day. tcpip really surprised me with his birthday gift - a trip to Bali!!! Dates haven't been arranged or anything yet, but definitely something to look forward to, especially after the last five weeks of hell at work (at least that's over now)

MacLir the Manx is settling in well, he has way too much energy though, I get tired watching him. I love hearing the sound of him purring.

Does anyone out there want to join me and go to this:

http://www.theartscentre.com.au/whats-on/event.aspx?id=1425