Seasons Greetings all in DD land and a Happy New Year.

I don't use Twitter or Facebook. I have a LinkedIn account but that's about it.

Congratulations Coz, it sounds like an amazing job.

Finergs nad otes rocssed - hence the spelling!!  Good luck

Hi Jess

I'll be happy to take a look too.

I agree with Katie, I'd like to bring back a dress code. nothing has ever been mentioned about a dress down Friday here but quite a lot of people used to dress down on a Friday and it has now spread to every day.

I may be showing my age here but how can you be professional when you are wearing what you would wear to the pub on a weekend?  I can hear the words of my first boss in the back of my head - sloppy dressing equals sloppy work. The only time I have worn jeans to work (but still worn a smart blouse) was when we were moving offices and I was emptying cupboards because I didn't want to ruin my trousers. Am I being old fashioned??

I would say it's a 60/40 split for me with 60% being reactive as the work we do depends on external forces. I can plan for what we think is the majority of work but then situations change and we end up chasing our tails - or sometimes doing a complete U-turn. At least I can say I've never had a boring day at work in the last 10 years  .

Oh, I would love to be able to lie in bed and listen to the radio for a bit after the alarm has gone off but unfortunately as soon as I switch my alarm clock off my furry little alarm (cat) starts, closely followed by the big alarm (dog) and so I'm dragged reluctantly out of bed to feed one and take the other for a walk . I don't mind it in the summer months (when we get them) as it's nice walking in the early morning sunshine but it can get a bit of a drag in the winter months when it's cold and nasty - however I do get to find out whether I need to leave slightly earlier for work to de-ice the car!!

I changed my password too. Haven't had any problems getting into LinkedIn though.

I received this from a friend and though it worth sharing............

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an lift in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of a small car. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Gee, hope everything works out for you.  Enjoy your holiday and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you too.

Happy New Year to everyone too 

1. Clear a large space on table for wrapping present.
2. Go to cupboard and collect bag in which present in contained and shut door.
3. Open door and remove cat from cupboard.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
6. Go to drawers and collect sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels etc.
7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.
9. Remove present from bag.
10. Remove cat from bag.
11. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.
12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
13. Try and smooth out paper, realise cat is underneath and remove cat.
14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.
15. Throw away first sheet as cat chased scissors and tore the paper.
16. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting cat in the bag the present came in.
17. Place present on paper.
18. Lift up edges of paper to seal present in. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realise cat is between present and paper. Remove cat.
19. Place object on paper to hold in place while tearing sticky tape.
20. Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.
21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase cat down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
23. Try to wrap present with ribbon in two-directional turn.
24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to cat's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
25. Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.
26. Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.
27. Put present in box and tie down with string.
28. Remove string, open box and remove cat.
29. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.
30. Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to lay out paper and materials.
31. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close and relock.
32. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear the cat from outside the door).
33. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet but do your best.)
34. Discover cat has already torn paper. Unlock door, go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because the cat helped with this last year as well.
35. Return to lockable room, lock door and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
36. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.
37. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.
38. Unlock door and go to kitchen to make drink and feed the cat.
39. Spend 15 minutes looking for cat until coming to obvious conclusion.
40. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
41. Go to store and buy a gift bag.

Susan

I can really sympathise with you as my dad has been battling prostate cancer for the last 2 1/2 years.  His was only discovered when he stumbled off a bus which caused a vertebrae in his back to crumble which in turn pushed on his spinal cord and started to cause paralysis.  It turns out that this problem with the spine is a secondary cancer to the primary cancer - prostate cancer.  He found that with all of the drugs that were being pumped into his body he was very susceptible to all minor ailments going around and twice he was rushed into hospital with breathing problems.  He has just finised a 10 x 3 weekly cycle of chemotherapy of which the last 3 sessions were the worst and at times he really struggled to breathe especially as it coincided with the really hot (well hot for us) weather that we were having. 

From what you have said it does sound as though the battle with the cancer has slighly delayed the normal recovery time but I know from experience that when they don't recover as quickly as you or I would or we would expect them to then we tend to panic just in case there is some other underlying reason.

Wishing you and your dad all the best and have a safe journey.


I wish you and your dad all the best

A cheaper version of Pritt-Stick.  It dries really quickly and you have to re-apply it at least 4 times for it to stick things together.