One last Christmas gift. And Happy New Year!!

Wednesday 31st December

How fun! I have a 'Lemonade Award' from 'ShoppingKharma'! Thanks sweetie - a nice last Christmas pressie as far as I’m concerned!

At first I was a bit confused and had to do a quick shufti about the web to see what it was - it seems if you win this award you are to post it on your blog and provide a link to the person who nominated you [of course!]. And that'd be here:ShoppingKharma
Then you should make your own list of 10 other recipients – and don’t forget to post a comment on their blog with a link back to yours, letting them know their blog’s a winner!

Reading about other people’s problems, lives, hopes and dreams has made me cry, laugh and sometimes just sit back and have a rethink about my own situation and KNOW how lucky I am. Plus I gain so much from all the little comments that my fellow bloggers make, and the fact that ‘no’ I am not having the biggest disaster in the world at all. And the very best bit is making new friends. All the time. We don’t have to agree, we don’t have to pretend – we can just be us. Here’s to new friends, and a great 2009!! Cin cin!! Salut! Saude, Viva! Wherever you are, congratulations and cheers to a new year!

This award is for people who are turning what appear to be ‘lemons’ into lemonade! Good call! I am a Secret Lemonade Drinker ;o)

Here’s my list of ten blogs which I either love or I am fascinated by:

what - me worry?
this is Nat – she is beating a path to her recovery in a new [for me anyway] and interesting way. And sometimes she jumps out of aeroplanes.

shoppingkharma
this is so, so interesting for me – such a brave person. see what you think.

the ramblings of Tracey
this is Tracey – she has had two types of cancer, and only just started the blog, but I know it’s going to become something really worth following. Her sense of humour is amazing,

a letter 2 ovarian cancer
this is Kia – read her blog, she’s going to make sure everyone knows about ovarian cancer – you rock girl!

julietedburn
this is Julie- she has had two lots of surgery and is three years out of ovarian cancer treatment – she is like what Sporty Spice would be in the real world. So positive, so active – a real inspiration. Also new to blogging, but she is madly trying to raise funds for cancer research – watch that space!

emilymcarthur
this is Em – hers is the first blog I read after being diagnosed, and I cried and cried, then I laughed and laughed – this is a very encouraging blog, it makes you understand that there’s always a way, no matter how bad it gets.

assertivepatient
Jeanne’s blog is always interesting – she doesn’t mince words and she doesn’t suffer fools lightly – a very interesting and motivating read.

airingout.livejournal
I just love this blog.

glynis-myjourney
this is Glynis. See her lovely poem, and she has a different way of looking at all this than I do. And she is so POSITIVE! yay!

Meno A Kwena
this is not so much a blog as the diary of my dear friend David, who is trying to single handedly save the wildlife of Botswana – oh, and he’s not doing a bad job! At the moment life seems idyllic in Botswana, as the water has magically arrived, but usually life for animals is very difficult there...read this, it’s wonderful!

Oh and I must tell you that David had me in tears this year - not only from his tales of the life in Botswana [which are wonderful] but just from being so kind in thinking of me. The safari business he runs in Botswana is his own business which he started from scratch and built up himself through hard effort and work over the years, and like the rest of us, he is suffering from the recession. But his gift to me was to get my butt and Andrew’s over there, free of charge. His exact message was: "XXXX Come recuperate here that will fix you once and 4 all!!! Get yourselves to Maun I will look after you guys so not to worry about money to stay at camp..." Oh, we’d have to buy our own wine. Gosh... ;o). How can you put price on something like that? Plus I know it WOULD help me. I was and am, so touched, and we WILL go there. But in the meantime, anyone who you think would enjoy experiencing REAL life - well, point them to David. They won’t regret it. PULA!!!

and what else? oh yes...the busy day

Thursday 18th December

Today I had a photographer from the Express & Echo round, as yesterday I was interviewed over the phone by a reporter called Katy. She initially called me on Wednesday, but called yesterday to check some details, which was rather nice, as it would be awful if she got things wrong - it could be VERY distressing for some women reading it, not to mention for me. Statistics in particular - although personally, I don’t give a monkies for them, as they are a generalization, and I am not intending to become a 'statistic' - why would I?

Anyway. The photographer was lovely - he was so friendly and made me feel pretty comfortable [as much as you can be, having your pic taken when you feel like an ugly duckling] - we did some 'posing' garden things and some "lets chuck those leaves in the air" things…so at least I got the driveway clear of leaves at the same time. The edition seems to be coming out on the 5th January, but I will check that nearer the time. it’s the "Echo for Women" edition, so I am hoping lots of women will read it and realize that ovarian cancer exists and oh yes! It can attack anyone. Please! Read – take it in – remember.

The other thing was a load of logs. We decided that over Christmas, as we’re going to be home, it’d be nice to have a fire in the wood burner all the time. So we ordered some logs - so when Aj got home we had to move them from the driveway where I'd helped the chap drop them, into the back garden. Uff!! I enjoyed that, as a while ago I wouldn’t have been able to do it, but this evening I hauled logs and it was great - I am now Officially Shattered!

to all our wonderful family and friends...thank you and Merry Christmas!

Saturday 20th December

This little post might be the most important one I’ve done this year. It’s to say THANK YOU to all our family and friends. This year everyone we know has been wonderful in their own unique way, and without the support of all of you, we could never have managed so well.

So to everyone we know, even the ones we haven’t actually met [YET!!], we send the warmest Christmas wishes, and hope for the best possible outcome for everyone in everything they are striving for in the New Year.

But most of all, we send lots of love from me and from Andrew to all of you. Thank you for just being there. You are all amazing!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

PS: below is a REAL film of us, to add a bit of laughter to today! ;o)

us at the BBC Radio Devon studio

A bit early for me - I had to have 5 coffees! This was fun, a pity we didn't hear it at all, as it's the only program that doesn't have live replay! But even so, any little bit of publicity we can get for OC is good, so I don't think it mattered what I sounded like :o)

More amusing things happened later in the day - to follow tomorrow...need SLEEP!

a bit of fun and some publicity!

Monday 15th December

This is a quick post [I hope - usually I get carried away babbling on]. Today someone called me from BBC Radio in Plymouth. She wanted to see if I would be a reasonable candidate for a live radio interview. I suppose that means someone who speaks, as averse to someone that doesn't. She was very personable, and we had a nice chat - then she invited me to do a live [LIVE!! OMG!] interview at the BBC studio in Exeter. So tomorrow morning at 7.45am GMT, I shall be waffling away live on BBC Radio Devon. How cool is that! I think…

My only worry is that I may make some dreadful gaffe - and forever have to hide my head heh heh. But anything that brings ovarian cancer to the public eye, and makes women AWARE of this dreadful disease - well, it can’t be bad can it? And as I was helpfully reminded by one of my more sensible friends; Oscar Wilde said: "there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." We need people to talk about ovarian cancer, so no matter what, it’ll be good. After what I’ve been through this year, it’ll be a doddle [she says!]

For those of you who won’t be able to tune into Radio Devon, the live link to listen on any computer, anywhere, is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_devon/

yay! even my mates in South Africa can listen - isn’t technology marvellous sometimes?

Oh, and hilarious thing of the day - I was in the papers last week, and someone from Exeter let me know via a message on Facebook, as I was unaware anyone was doing an article, and she had seen it and looked me up on there - it turns out she lives about 200 yards from me! How weird is that? Her Mum had OC last year in August and is now recovering. Well I hope - but I shall see for myself, as I intend to meet her and her lovely daughter too. Did try lurking outside her house tonight but we missed each other. She walked her Chihuahua past our house and I raced past hers on the way to the shop. Funny old world! Must organise a coffee - all this lurking we could get arrested...

Here’s the links to the newspaper articles:

The Express and Echo

and here:
The Western Morning News
this one is about myself and one of the other finalists, Carly Gardiner.

I know!! It wasn’t as short as I hoped - but I AM a bit excited!! :o)