**TAMOXIFEN**the 6th

[MaryAnnSingleton]

here we go !

I think layering is the way to go. I like the idea of cerise and black, very stunning!

That is the kind of shopping I like, no getting stressed about trying to second guess children's xmas lists.

MAS, that is pure evil. Glad Frosty bag turned up.

DS persuaded me into some of those mini mince pies - he said we had to practice..

Outfit sounds perfect, SR. Sensible, yet sophisticated.

Sparkle, I trust the wine tastes good. Very much deserved.

Outfit sounds lovely SR, black velvet trousers will look gorgeous, - and good idea to go for warmth with the option of removing a layer should flushing occur

No bone density checks on tamoxifen, but I think bone density checks as a routine thing for women over a certain age are probably a good thing, whether you are on medication or not.

I have managed to stick to fruit as a snack today [polishes halo], no cakiness so far (the evening still has a way to go though).

outfit sounds really lovely SR - I do like velvet
Am off early tomorrow to London for a meeting with my agent & fellow illustrators - going on a train which is always quite exciting (I don't get out much !)

Am going to have to do my meditation on the train as I'll never have the energy when I get home - fortunately the train terminates here and at Waterloo so if i drop off I can't go too far wrong
I was right about the fellow Mindfulness woman having bc - I rather boldly asked her - she is mid radiotherapy. Same surgeon too.
Have a good Thursday everyone x

That sounds exciting MAS - have a lovely day

thank you KK

have a fab day MAS. Bold to ask that lady - well done!

SR - outfit sounds beautiful.

Anyone else being snowed on? It's falling quite heavily here, I hope MAS's train wasn't affected. I've just venture out to go to the post office, met someone on the way I haven't seen for a while, she wanted to stand in the pouring snow and chat for 15 mins. (while I soaked!) - actually she's a very nice person, I didn't really mind.

Then I was 20p short to pay for my parcel, so post office man said 'Never mind you can give it to me next time you're in', then his wife who runs the grocery bit of the shop said 'you can't walk home in that, stay and have a cup of coffee until it clears a bit!' - I do like living in a village

I'm off for my flu jab this afternoon, - what fun!

DS has first night of his new play tonight 'End Game' by Samuel Beckett, so I hope the bad weather doesn't affect audience numbers too much. We're going tomorrow night I think.

Hope everyone's having a good day today

No sign of snow here yet, though dd has high hopes.

Hope the play goes swimmingly (and not jut because of meltwater )

No snow here yet, maybe tomorrow, lovely clear bright sky and very cold. I like days like today, make me feel happy

Sparkle updates:

Wine - excellent, but fell asleep in arm chair after 1 glass, dh stepped up and finished the bottle though

rash - lovely tone of cerise, go nicely with SR's outfit, very itchy which is not very ladylike but has to be done.

FBS - at a push I will admit, not many yet but the day is still young

KK I live just outside a small village too, and it is lovely being part of that community.

MAS - hope today goes well, and you don't get stranded by the trains not working because of the wrong type of snow.

Poor sparkle - may I ask where the rash is (I think I can guess)

I love days like today too.

KK you may like to hear that I have been getting my own back on a bank - I am PTA (I am sure that should be PITA) treasurer and have been into the local Barclays today to bank a total of £676.38 in change and then subsequently withdraw £340, also in change, to create floats for our Xmas fair. They weren't happy

Sorry about the rash Sparkles, - hopefully it will clear soon now the AB's have stopped (can you take anything like antihistamine for it?)

Cakes - well done for annoying the bank mine didn't phone in the end, so if they try agin I think I am justified in saying 'push off, you didn't keep your appointment' - or words to that effect .

Off to get jabbed now!

Oh yes definitely tell them to get stuffed. Jumped up oiks.

Hope the jab site is not too sore.

last night at stretch'n'tone we tried Flexibars for a change. Have any of you tried them? They are knackering (and also pretty hard to control). But I had to give it a go, and go swimming today, as these are the only way I'm going to meet the lose 7lbs challenge. it's too cold to eat less!

Hi, I hope the itch goes away soon Sparkles.

KK - I was a huge Beckett fan as a student - hope the play goes well. We have a jolly postman here too though he hasn't asked me to stay and have coffee as yet. How big is yor village? I like where we live as its a good size for my liking - about 15,000-17,000, but still smalll enough to bump into lots of familiar faces when you go out. Everyone carries on calling it a village even though its grown a lot in the last 20 years.

Cakes and KK - are you keeping up your willpower. I got hungry in the night and RESISTED - but therefore lay awake for rather a long time. Have been VG today but going out this evening for a Thanksgiving dinner - might require ultra-willpower...it will be turkey I think and I am taking a sweet potato stew for the veggies. Its my former child-minder and her family who invite us to this each year as her daughter has married an American. I' really pleased that we're all still in touch as she was our child-minder for 7 years, then her daughter came as a family helper for a year too - that daughter is my friend who has Crohns and who has married the American.

MAS - hope you had an exciting time on the train (!)

Thanks everyone for supporting my cerise/black approach. No snow here yet but its very cold.

Had to have a cervical smear test today. I felt a bit nervous which I never used to, but given the result of the mammogram this time last year....anyway am hoping chemo will have zapped everything in every organ.

Thanks Giving dinner sounds really nice SR, hope you have a good time
We are very tiny - only about 600 population. But it is one of several villages which are all fairly close together. We have a shop/PO a pub and a Village Hall. So very quiet, but I grew up in a tiny village so I'm used to it.

I've done reasonably well today - I haven't eaten any rubbish, but I have felt hungry and have compensated by drinking a lot of coffee - so maybe not so good. Late at night is my worse time too, - maybe I should go to bed early and sleep through the hungry period

I love Beckett too, while I was having chemo, DS took me to see Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart and afterwards he queued up and got my programme signed by all the actors in it (Simon Callow and Ronald Pickup also in it) and they wrote lovely get well messages to me on it.

Well done for getting the smear out of the way - I'm sure all will be fine.

Well done SR on getting the smear out of the way, I am sure all will be fine.

Cakes - the rash is all over....and I mean all over, I am looking good

Well done all those virtuous enough to have resisted FBS today, sorry I am not amongst you....

hello - am back - no snow and trains on time but am totally shattered !
It was interesting-nice to see the other illustrators who came -a picture book editor came to do a presentation on picture books,then lunch at a pub and back for more discussions. I'm afraid there was a FBS yum and this was my bit
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150098273641532&set=a.206346256531.164419.206129046531&pid=7309571&id=206129046531 here]]
Hope you snowy ones aren't too chilly or stuck-and that people can get to ds's play KK
Well done for getting smear SR - I should get mine done I suppose...
Hoper rash is easing Sparkle

sorry We had no plates (meeting in a hired room in a YMCA building in Kings Cross) and had to cut it with plastic knives which kept bending. Oh and the illustrator from Falmouth brought a huge box of Cornish fudge...

That's what I call a cake! Hope you had a good day MAS.

Sparkles -i had an all over rash a few years ago after spending a lot of time in the pool on hols in Ibiza. God it was awful. I'd recommend pills AND cream from the doctor. Fast.

Well done for getting the smear done SR: am sure it will be OK. It is harder to go for these things now, having had a nasty scare before.

I have caught my bullet hoe with my nail overnight so it has bled quite a bit. I am not looking hot.

meant to say - didn't eat anything too unhealthy yesterday, but I ate a LOT of healthy stuff, so can imagine I'm not going to have lost anything much by Sunday.

ah if we are talking cake here you go! (more shameless showing off i'm afraid!) it's the anniversary cake for the lady who wedding dress i made last year! only prob is that i've got to get it back to Aber, and the snow is making me not want to get in the car at all!

What a beautiful cake..I wish I had the skill to do something like that.

Gosh I am feeling really down today, have just listened to Jeremy Vine on radio 2 talking about stress induced depression, something my dh suffers from, and feeling I am not far away fom that myself. Just wake up every day at the moment and think to myself, just get though the day for the dc.....not really living. I am going out to breath some cold fresh air. Sorry didn;t mean to bring down your happy banter....just need a place to feel sad today.

What a terrific cake! Remember the Jazz will be rotten in the snow so take the big 'un if you go. Don't want to be delivering crumbs.....

That's what're here for sparkles. You're bound to feel down: is it you who is posting about back pain as well on a different thread? A bit of fresh air may help: so would a nice treat filled weekend. Any chance?

Wow look at all the cakes (drools) MAS - that looks very yummy. And RWU - what can I say, you are so talented - I'd love to be able to make beautiful cakes like that

Sparkles - sorry to hear you are feeling down today , - but this is the very place to talk about it - we've all been there. It is totally normal to be feeling down, with what you are going through at the moment. Do come on here and chat about it if it helps.

It might also be worth having a chat to your GP, to see what is available to get you through the difficult patch. Sorry to hear your DH is suffering from depression, - it is a horrible thing to cope with. I completely sympathise with the 'just get through the day' feelings, you are in a sort of limbo at the moment waiting for your a DX, and the uncertainty is very hard to deal with.

I know its a cliche, but just try to focus on one day at a time, be kind to yourself when you are feeling low, and when you have more energy, trying to get a bit of fresh air really does help. The rash will also be bringing you down, so hoping that starts clearing soon. Hang on in there, we are all here for you

Thank you for being so nice to me, nice to now you are there, feel very alone really, worried about dh and the dc.

The rash is better today, the hives are still painfully itchy, but they are mainly on my thighs, rather than all over. I haven't posted about back pain, not me, I spend most of my time on special needs thread on eds and hypermobility ranting about my ds and trying to be supportive to others struggling with their dc in the same position.