Update:

* CSIRO diet going well. We've both lost a couple of kgs and generally feel much better and more energetic, clothes are fitting better. Apart from a constant, overwhelming urge to stick my head in a bucket of deep fried something, anything, it's actually fairly easy.

* Friday night I went to see the comedian Dylan Moran (writer and star of Black Books) with my sister JB. I hadn't been a fan of Black Books (hadn't really seen it) but I heard him on the radio and JB loves the show and wanted to go... so there we were. He was excellent, very dark, very funny. We were upstairs at the State Theatre, which I normally love, but that night I felt very squashed in and uncomfortable. I kept trying to find a comfy position for my legs but it wasn't to be. Lately it seems so many shows are spoilt for me because of the environment (the Billy Connolly concert earlier this year, as an example). It's frustrating to pay big bucks to sit in cramped, crappy seating. Something should be done! I might start a "Better Seating for Concert Venues" Campaign.

* Saturday we ran around like headless chooks in the morning and finally headed over to mum's for my Grandmother's 94th birthday lunch. Poor old grandma doesn't know if she's coming or going and I fear the occasion caused more stress than enjoyment but at 94 I guess we need to make the best of these family times together, for how much longer could they go on for?!

* Saturday night we were off to a Colombian Family Dinner I had organised for our family adoption support group. I wasn't sure what to expect but it ended up being a chaotic but fun evening. The twenty kids were all going burko all night so the noise level in the tiny restaurant was at about 13. Don't you just love those ear-splitting shrieks that happy children tend to emit? The Colombian food was simple but wonderful and took us back to our Colombian trip. You have to love a food culture with so much emphasis on pork crackling - one of nature's wonder foods (just ask my thighs). They had also organised a Colombian dancing show which was fantastic, with all the guests (including Marianna on my lap) clapping along and having a ball.

* Sunday we awoke to the disappointment that the Swans' game I had attempted to tape the night before hadn't taped. Jason was manic. [I do love the Swans' but I hate footy season - it makes J even more nutty than usual and brings out his obsessive tendencies... and as I keep telling him there's only room for ONE person with obsessive tendencies in this relationship!] So as we were heading out on Sunday morning I attempted yet again to record the replay. It wasn't meant to be. For some reason we only managed to get the final quarter this time around. Luckily the Swans had a good win so J was in a good mood and all was forgiven.

* J's new nickname is "Princess". A funny nickname, you might think, for a 6'2" bear of a man with a red beard, but very suitable I think. The man who, when I first met him, owned one pair of work boots, one pair of very out of style "going out" shoes and one pair of worse-for-wear thongs (a crime against humanity right there, but that's another story), has gradually, over the years, become a regular clothes-horse. Not only is he constantly buying shoes and clothes (including five pairs of very nice, pricey shoes he bought in Colombia) but he gets fussier by the minute and his tastes are climbing higher and higher on the label and price ladder. This "personal development" was highlighted yesterday when J returned home from a trip to the movies with Will with a new winter jacket, a beautiful, cashmere coat, which apparently is just what he needs for that ride to work every morning. For the price I asked him if it came with it's own tiara but he was not amused... as royalty often aren't.