Live well, Laugh often, Love much *edit*

I know it’s a long entry, but it contains so much insight about my last few months. More ups than downs. More love than lust. I need to write more when I am happy and less when I am feeling dejected.

So today marks the first day of Autumn.

A lot has happened since my last excitement filled entry.

David and I went house hunting during September and October, which resulted in us putting an offer in on a house at the end of October. We put a ridiculously low offer in for the house with the idea that the vendor would counter offer. Which he did, and his counter offer was still under the price we were willing to pay.

I sat my Qualified Medical Laboratory Technician exam on November 7th, passed with flying colours! Basically it means I am a qualified Phlebotomist (glorified vampire, if you must) and can practice anywhere within New Zealand at a higher pay rate.

That afternoon David and I went on the Interislander ferry over to the South Island where we started the beginning of our 10 day holiday. First stop was Kaikoura, where we were only staying overnight to get some well earned R&R. From our room we could even see the snow on the mountain ranges. Just gorgeous.

From Kaikoura we drove to Christchurch where we stopped and had lunch, and explored the container mall. It’s amazing how a community can band together and overcome the destruction that the February earthquake left. I have to say that the container mall looked amazing – I think that those shipping containers should be used even more widely!

Our final stop was Timaru. The reason for the trip to Timaru was that my cousin was finally getting married (after 10 years together and 3 kids later). I was responsible for making the wedding cake. I baked the cakes at home, froze them and took them down with me all prepared and ready to ice. The wedding was beautiful and the cake went down a treat. We spent our time having walks in the botanic gardens, along the beach, family dinners and shopping (of course!).

We spent a few days in Timaru then drove to Hanmer Springs, which is a place inland known for its thermal hot pools and beautiful scenery. On the way up I wasn’t feeling too great, feeling very cold and being ever so sleepy. Thankfully David was driving so he let me sleep. That night we ended up having to borrow a blanket from the owners as I was so cold that I had on 3 layers of clothing, a feather duvet, a wool blanket and pillows piled on top of me and I was still shivering! In the middle of the night I woke up absolutely roasting which was a wonderful change. I still wasn’t 100% the next day, but we continued with our plans and headed out to the hot pools. Being in the warm water was wonderful, although being a hot pool you weren’t supposed to swim (putting your head under is a definite no-no) so it was nice to just sit and blob. That night was the worst night I have experienced in a long time. David ended up calling out the ambulance because I had excruciating pain in the side of my head (not just my ear, but the whole side of my head) and I couldn’t stop coughing. I was so incredibly sick the paramedics thought I had meningitis (I had photophobia, sore neck, as well as influenza symptoms). They called through to the after hours dr who made arrangements for us to meet him at the medical centre. He diagnosed me with having influenza and extremely bad Otitis Media (ear infection). He said it was bad enough that having it burst would be better for me. So the next few days were quite awful for me.

When we got back home after all this I had to take time off work due to the influenza (the drs believe it was certain type of influenza which is quite serious, and given my job I can’t risk giving it to patients). When I did return to work my voice was still not back to normal (I have recordings of how strained my voice was – I literally sounded like a 5 year old!) and I was still coughing quite a bit. After a few days my throat closed up and I couldn’t talk, couldn’t swallow (not even my own saliva) and was starting to find it difficult to breathe, so David’s mum took me to the Emergency Department. They asked me a whole bunch of questions about my sexual status (was that even relevant to my illness? I think not!), gave me a whole bunch of antibiotics, numbed my throat up and sent me back home. My dr then put me off work for another 2 weeks until I actually got over the infection.

The day that David’s mum took me to hospital was also our settlement day on the house – 23rd November! There were problems with Kiwisaver (it’s like a Government run superannuation fund that you and your employer contribute to but you can take money out of it under special circumstances, like purchasing your first home) where they stuffed up what date they were going to be paying out the funds (even though we had approval for it to be released on the 23rd November as it is only allowed to be released on settlement date, they stuffed up and were releasing it on the 27th). So that caused big hiccups which scared the crap out of us. Finally it was all sorted and I was able to go and pick our keys up – we were officially HOME OWNERS!!!

Since then we spent a large amount of time revamping the inside of the house – pulling out nails, getting rid of some very ugly "decorative" skirting board, stripping all the flaky paint, totally redoing the laundry, and repainting the whole interior. It took a lot of hard work and time, but thankfully (and with the help of our families) it is all done and wont have to be repeated for a number of years to come. 

Finally, on January 12th, we were able to move all our things into the house and spend the first day in our own home. A great accomplishment after all the hard work! We still both say that we can’t believe this is our home. Ours.

Health wise things have not been all that great for me. I have been in and out of hospital with my undiagnosed side pain. Had countless ultrasounds, xrays, CT scans, and even a full body bone scan (involved me being injected with a radioactive isotope and being scanned 3 hours later). Even just this week I spend 3 days in hospital with them dosing me up on pain relief and not finding out the cause to all the pain.

The Registrar at my Drs practice thinks my gallbladder is to blame for all the pain I experience based on my history, the location and description of the pain and what brings it on. To help with his diagnosis he made me do 1 week of eating totally fat free, then I had to eat something laden with fat to see if the pain comes back. During the whole week of eating nothing but fruits, vegetables and rice I had no pain whatsoever. Within 20 minutes of eating fatty food on the final day I experienced excruciating pain, enough to take a full dose of pain medication. So because of this the Registrar believes it’s my gallbladder causing all the pain. We don’t believe it is gallstones or anything of the sort (especially since all scans come back clear), but we believe it might just be a poorly functioning gallbladder. So now I have to wait around 5 weeks to see the Gastroenterologist who specialises in this area. I just want it all sorted

Although the main n

egatives about the gallbladder fat free diet thingy is that it is as boring as bell, the positives are that it keeps my pain away and I have also been losing weight. Before seeing the Dr (Jan 20th) I weighed over 96kg (212lbs) and as of last Sunday I weighed 89.6kg (197.5lbs). That is the first time since I was about 15 (that I can remember) that I have weighed in the 80’s.

I know I am a compulsive overeater (something that I have only ever admitted to David before now) and can go through a family size block of chocolate without even realising it until just the wrapper remains, but being on such a restrictive diet for my own good and knowing that if I stray I will experience pain is a good motivator to keep sticking to it. And since living with David I have drastically reduced my portion sizes (gosh the portion sizes at my parents are HUGE). Since I opened up to David about my compulsive overeating he has been so supportive. It shocked him to hear me say that as it was the last thing he expected me to say. Since we do plan on getting engaged at some stage in the future (I’m leaving that all up to him to sort out) we made a deal – Until I weigh less than 83kg (183lbs) we will not be getting engaged. It might sound awful to some readers but it is a great incentive for me. I am not going to diet in any stupid way to reach that weight, and even when I do reach it it doesn’t mean he’s going to propose to me straight away. It’s an incentive for me to make a life choice. I can choose if I want to get to that weight or not. I can choose how quickly or slowly I get there. I can choose if I want that second serving of something. If I slowly get down to 83kg I will be much happier with myself that I have been able to achieve a healthy goal and stick to it. I plan on reevaluating my goal when I get there. But if I get to 83kg it means that I haven’t been overeating, which is a massive achievement for me.

Our relationship is stronger now than it ever has been. I can’t imagine spending my life with someone else. He makes me feel so incredibly special, safe, secure, protected, loved, adored, amazing. Even when I’m angry with him I can’t stay angry. He’s the only person I’ve been able to be like that with. The only person who I can have an argument with and then snuggle up to. Oh how I love his cuddles and snuggles. They are the most heart warming, special things in the world to me right now. Days (and nights) when I don’t get to see David are like there is something missing, something not right. We are quite capable of doing our own independent things, but we also work so well together. He is the only person who makes me truly happy, and happy with myself too. I have never been one for showing off my body but with him I am so comfortable with myself that it doesn’t upset me to be naked around him, even if the lights are on. Then again it’s hard not to feel good around him when I find him so utterly irresistible and sexy!

I love him so truly and nothing could change that. And I honestly don’t know what I would do or how I would cope if I were to lose him. And so now I sign off as it’s late, and I would really like a cuddle before I sleep.

***EDIT***

I had forgot to mention the reason for the title of this entry. It was my birthday this week, and David gave me a necklace with "Live well, Laugh often, Love much" inscribed on it. It’s my absolute favourite quote and one that I try to live by. I don’t know where on earth he found it or even when he found it, but I was (and still am) over the moon thrilled with it. It means just so much to me.