Happy New Year!

As The New Year Dawns.

Faithless - BOMBS

MTV are apparently banning this (anti-war) video. Whatever happened to freedom?

Rovinj December 2006.

Christmas 1950

Christmas Comes But Once A Year

I have been looking at Christmas clips on YouTube. Love this one!

TRUE JOY.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

Chaos At Christmas.

I am in the middle of making mince pies. The stuffing for the turkey has yet to be done, the presents are unwrapped and just one tiny little decoration is hanging in the hall. The tree still stands in the garden waiting to be brought in. Never was Christmaas in the Seeker household more chaotic! Never mind, what is not done is not done - the world is unlikely to end because of it!

To all you wonderful people I have 'met' since beginning my blog, thanks a lot for your blogs and your lovely comments. You are all great. I know many of the people whose blogs I read are not having it easy in their lives at the moment, but I wish you all a very happy, peaceful holiday and a much, much better new year.

Take care.

Christmas in Rovinj, Croatia

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Sacred and beautiful

Christmas began,
A gift from God's heart
Bringing blessing to man.
For Christmas is Christ,
Let the truth never dim,
And the lights that are shining
Are shining for him

Jesus, our Saviour, our Lord, our King,
We have little to offer of myrrh or gold,
But Faith and Hope are the gifts we bring,
And Love more precious than wealth untold.

In thy presence, O Jesus, our hearts we bow,
And lowly kneeling we humbly crave
For light and courage and guidance now,
And life eternal beyond the grave.

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS.

I'm Back.

Back home again, that is! I have been away for 3 nights in a B&B in a little country town just a few miles from my home. I was getting over an awful virus and had no loo in my bathroom. Then my daughter caught the virus too (though not as badly as me) and was expecting her period and very hormonal. My husband did the only thing a man can do in such circumstances and banished us to a B&B where we did precisely nothing for 3 days!

We came back yesterday. I am over the virus now; it completely knocked me for six though! It started just before we were due to leave Croatia and I got a weird pain in my back. A very weird, pulsating pain as if somebody had installed a pump in my back and it was merrily pumping away. It got better if I stood or leaned right back - but worse if I leaned forwards. Fortunately, it had mostly gone away by the time I actually boarded the plane, but it came back again the next afternoon - along with a temperature of 102! I was ill for 3 full days and was completely wiped out by it. I could not do a thing! My doctor took some blood tests which all came back ok apart from one inflammation marker which was very slightly raised, as can aparently happen with a virus. It obviously was a virus, as my daughter caught it and had a high temperature too. I have no idea exactly what the weird pain was all about though.

On our first day back - when I was lying on the bed with my weird pain and waiting to go the the doctor's - there was a knock at the door. It turned out to be the plumber come to smash up our bath and sink. He was originally due to come that day but cancelled because he had a course. It turned out the course was subsequently postponed - only he omitted to tell us! Believe me, when you have a weird pain in your back and a thumping headache with a temperature of 102 you do not want a guy in your bathroom just opposite your bedroom smashing up your bath and sink. I wouldn't even try it for yourself if I was you: you can just trust me on this one. It is just not a good idea at all!

Anyway, we ended up banished to this B&B and we did get better. The bathroom has been a project from hell though! Weeks ago we went into a bathroom showroom and chose the stuff we wanted. My husband had made a note of all the measurements so all should have been well. Ha! Just before the work was due to be done, he rechecked and started panicking that it would not fit (we had chosen actual cabinet-type units which hold the cistern - the sink is set into the worktop). He then got worried about some pipes on the wall, as he thought they would be in the way of the units.

The showroom recommended a plumber who seemed ok but my husband wasn't sure he wanted the job as he was very vague about when he could do it. We got a tiler around and he said that he usually worked with a particular plumber and plasterer and so my husband changed to them and ditched the plumber. He didn't seem to mind though! Unfortunately, the new plumber turned out to be a pretty odd guy. I really didn't like him at all. He certainly didn't get on with my husband - he said my husband was the most difficult person he has ever worked for, because he worried too much! Worried too much? Wouldn't you worry if you had just paid a fortune for a new bathroom and thought it wasn't going to fit?!!!!

The people in the bathroom showroom told my husband that their salespeople are not plumbers so cannot be expected to be experts on all of this. But don't you expect them to be able to help check that everything would go in? They actually told him that they had had people in the past who bought a whole bathroom only to find that nothing would fit and all their money was wasted! We have never renewed a bathroom before and so had no idea of the problems it could cause. Never again!

Anyway, first of all the plasterer came round last Friday and did the walls. He suggested that we put up some plaster board to bring out the wall where the units were going, so the pipes wouldn't be in the way, At the same time, we discovered that the tiler wanted a wooden base for the tiles to go on. My poor husband then had to work flat out all over the weekend to get the work done. Luckily, on the Saturday his brother helped him out - they were both working until past midnight. On the Sunday, my husband worked alone all day and was again up until midnight. We went to the B&B on Monday as the loo was taken out then, but hubby was still up until 2 am one night working. The poor thing is exhausted!

It all worked out in the end, although it is not quite finished and won't be until the new year. One wall of border tiles has to be done as we were short. The panel is not on the side of the bath; we have got to get a carpenter to do that! Some more floor tiles have got to be put in under the units themselves, as the plumber forgot about the units being on legs! We have had to get the plumber back this morning as there was a leak under the sink! He has cracked one of the tiles by the shower screen too, so that will have to be redone. Oh: and the bath itself has a scratch on it which we don't think the plumber caused, although he should really have noticed. We aren't supposed to use the shower yet, although we can if we cover up the area around the sink which still has to be tiled and must not be got wet! Still, we do have a loo now!

The bathroom is actually going to be wonderful; it is just such a shame it isn't completely finished for Christmas.!

Christmas? I have almost forgotten it is nearly Christmas. My house is like a building site and I am still feeling lifeless after the virus. I am tempted to just turn into Mrs Scrooge and cancel Christmas altogether! Have got to go out today and get some shopping though! One big problem is that something strange has happened to my right arm and it hurts an awful lot. It feels a bit as if I have pulled a muscle, although the strange thing is it started when I was in bed and feeling too ill to even lift a book. Not what you really want when you have got to brave the Christmas shopping chaos! Wish me luck!

Thanks to those of you who have left comments here recently. I am sorry I haven't replied to anything; life has just been far too crazy for words!!!!!!

Apology For Absence.

I am unwell. So unwell, I can't stay here a single minute longer.

I'll be back when I'm better.

Stressed?...... Or Just Ill?

I thought I was really losing it yesterday - I just got so stressed with everything! I did go to the gym and my daughter came with me - that was great because it de-stressed me for a time. Then I had to rush home, prepare some nibbles to take to Greek with me (for our end-of-term party) and the mad rush brought the stress back with a vengeance! I ended up going to Greek and leaving all my notes and papers behind! In the end, it didn't matter though and we had a good lesson. The food I got very hurriedly was a hit too (only frozen stuff - but it was a wise choice!).

I came home and luckily my daughter got the dinner. Afterwards, both she and my husband were watching a programme on TV about someone who went to sleep for 19 years. I ended up watching it with them, although all I really wanted to do was sleep for 19 years myself! I was in my reclining armchair though, so at least I could lie back! All of a sudden at the end, I got cold and shivery and rushed off to bed. A while later I got very hot. I ended up having a very disturbed night and feeling pretty ill; I still feel ill now.

Being ill wouldn't be such a disaster if I wasn't off to Croatia again with my husband (the dental-tourist) in the very early hours of tomorrow morning. At the moment, I am not sure how I am going to survive the journey - but no doubt I will get by somehow. At least, once I am there I will be able to relax without any of the worries associated with home and Christmas!

My hoped-for new bathroom project has run into problems - like the bathroom not after all being quite wide enough for bath and toilet (the plumber is going to have to cut the bath into the wall slightly) and the toilet soil-pipe coming out too far for the vanity unit that the loo is meant to fit against/in. Oh well, it sounds as if the plumber is prepared for such disasters - even if we aren't! The work should begin in earnest once we get back from Croatia - but in the meantime, a guy has been in and stripped all the tiles off the wall! See how lovely it looks? We are now unable to have a shower and as the hot tap on the bath hasn't been working for some time, we are going to be a very smelly family soon! Luckily though, 3 of us can have a shower at our gyms (though my gym is miles away!). We also have a lovely shower in our room in Croatia (that's why I am going to be dragging myself off there, no matter how ill I feel!).

If I'm still ill when I get there, at least I can be ill in comfort!

I'll talk to you all when I get back!

Greek-o-File.

It's official! I am a Greek-o-File! I meet all the conditions on this web site.

Are you a Greekophile’ ?

- If you love Greece for its ‘Greekness’, its difference from other places you’ve been;
- If you’ve felt compelled to return to the same special place in Greece, or to sample other parts;
- If you enjoy lazing on Greek beaches, swimming in crystal clear waters, watching the world go by from a taverna, exploring along donkey tracks or village streets, or finding that quiet cove that is all yours;
- If Greek music lifts your heart, and you hate noisy bars competing to be loudest;
- If Greek cooking is more inviting than burgers or pizza on the menu;
- If you make friends with Greek people easily, but want to communicate better;
- If you need your Greek holiday to look forward to and to look back on when life at home becomes dreary or over-stressed ..............

I wonder is there is any cure! Perhaps I should see a shrink!

Anorexia........ The Maudsley Approach.

I never cease to be amazed at the internet and all the information which comes my way via it. Today, I was reading NHS Blog Doctor (a must for any Brit concerned about the state of our health service) and he had a link to an article in the New York Times by Harriet Brown, the mother of an anorexic girl. You can access the article *here (that's if the NYT will let you - I had to register to access the article, but when I tried a second time it told me I had to pay!).

Anyway, I was very interested to read in there about the Maudsley approach. It was the Maudsley that we attended when our daughter (then a 15-year-old) wasn't eating (I see that Dr. Christopher Dare who is mentioned in the article and who led the team which worked with us has written a book on the subject, together with other experts). I wote my story in a previous blog MY DAUGHTER. It is interesting to learn that the Maudsley approach is now widely used in other countries as well as the UK. I see there is now a web site for Maudsley Parents.

I repeat what I said before about the Maudsley. Although my husband did not like much about the place, I believed that their basic approach was correct. I hated the horrible room we were in (physically hot, but very cold in atmosphere) and the fact that we were not only being viewed by a room-full of experts in the room next door via a two-way mirror but were being videoed at the same time. It was hard to talk under those circumstances, especially as we were under such stress anyway. Nevertheless, I felt that their basic philosophy was very good.

I wonder if the Maudsley still has the same system for payment, i.e. the patient's surgery had to pay if the patient attended more than a certain number of times (I think it was 3 times). As I mentiioned in my previous post on this subject, this prompted my (horrible, horrible!) doctor at the time to complain at us for costing the surgery something like £3000 because we attended just long enough to incur the charge and then stopped (we knew nothing about this until our doctor chided us about it). I personally felt very aggrieved about this as I really wanted to carry on going there; but it is very hard to make a 15-year-old go somewhere when she is determined not to!

A few weeks ago I drafted out a post about anorexia which was sadly eaten up by blogger. I was prompted by a post on anorexia on NHS Blog Doctor to go and look at the web site for the UK Eating Disorders Association. They were a great help to me when my daughter had her problems and I bought several books that they recommended. Anorexia & Bulimia Care (a Christian organisation) were very helpful too.

Anyway, when I visited the EDA website I noticed that there wasn't a lot of advice for parents on there, so I e-mailed them about this. They replied that it is an area that they will be improving on in the near future, but they asked me to let them know the kind of things that I think should be included. I really have no idea how to reply to them and (very naughtily) I still haven't done so. I feel that my experiences as the parent of an anorexic child are very indivual to myself and my daughter and may not be helpful to anyone else. I must try to draft something out though.

* If you have trouble accessing the NYT article, e-mail me and I will send you a copy.

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The music track now playing on my computer is: -

Sisters Of Mercy from The Songs Of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen

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I Love This Fellow.

Doesn't he just look so real?