Well, last Thursday, all the frustration; wishing  hoping; working towards, all came together when I had a meeting with the Local Area Service Manaer of NSW Health, a ward adminstrator, and half a dozen affilliatate staff, so that we could finally reached agreement, and my new Project is starting on Tuesday.

It all started in November, when I  lost my job with as a Welfare Worker.. That was not too bad, My boss had sugested that I look outside the company - not to rely solely on ny current employer for work as a welfare worker, and to perhaps provide a service for patients in psyciatric hospitals.

In January 2009, I had a meeting withthe big wigs of my company, where the outline of my program was structured an much as possible. But the final  decision had to await for Health to come to the party. There have been a couple of  meeting  over a period of time, and two weeks ago, my boss told me he was going the see the Administrator of Mental for Area Health

After tht meeting, my boss told me that we had a meeting with all the big wigs, after which the Program could start. And its is!! - next Tuesday. I am so excited, it scares me.

Since November, my feelings have been that they were stringing me along, not brave enough to tell me my services were no longer required. But lo and behold, it has al come together. One little idea in my head, and it has come to fruition.

Boy, am I excited.

Recently, I have developed a bald spot on the centre/back of my head. It is about two inches in diameter and surrounding that, there is an area of broken off hair.

My doc is no help at all - "it's just stress", and I don't know of it happening before in women. Does anyone have any knowledge of apopecia (thats it's medical name) ? Does it get better? Or does it continue to get bigger. I wasn't too worried about it until last week when someone commented on it, so now I wear hats, surprisingly, some of them don't look too bad!!

If anyone know anything about this, could you please let me know.

Thanks,

grannyjack.

I have a bit of a predicament. My son, whom I love dearly, has to attend court for custody of his two girls next week.

Let me digress: about three and a half years ago, my son and his eldest daughter stayed here. As a result, I promised my daughter he would never be welcome in the house again.

When he and family went to Woolongong for Easter, my daughter was happy for him to call in on his way through.

Now he has to go tho court, five hours from home. My daughter reluctently agreed that he could stay here, but there is the problem of the pssibility of him losing his girls, he may have a major outburst, maybe get violent, maybe( probably) get drunk - he has a drinking problem and uses dope.

The last straw came last night when  my son told me that he was bringing his 13 yo stepson and his baby, three months old. This is not acceptable, and I will tell him this at my earliest opportunity ( it is now 12:43am)

My predicament is this: I love both my children, and I want to support my son, but not at the cost of my daughter's sanity.We had a wonderful time visiting him recently, it was fabulous to see him so well. He drank and did dope while we were there, and my daughter thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

The answers to my predicament as I see them are:

* Tell my son he can't bring anyone else;

* Make some strict ground rules for while he is here;

* Tell him that if he breaks the rules, he will have to find somewhere else to stay;

* After each court day, he will no doubt be upset with the day's procedings, so meet him at the pub to cool off rather     than go home angry and upset.

* Take care of my daughter's needs by not allowing him to go home until he has settled down. 

What do you think?

please help me

grannyjack

PLEASE EVERYONE READ NEW DRUGS IN SCHOOL AND LIBBYLINCOLN'S BLOG They are important.

Well, it's been over a week since I came back from New England,and my first logon since then, but I am delighted to report that the weekend with my son and his family was beyond wonderful. Adam and Deb live in a very small town - school population 21, and have an ideal lifestyle.

We arrived there about 4pm on ANZAC Day, to be greeted by Deb, Adam and 5 of their six children. Adam met us at the edge of the dirt road, having given us directions on how to get there. He said "if you're not there in two hours, I'll come looking for you." Much to his surprise, we got to the dirt road before he did, and he guided us through the maze of dirt tracks to his house.

Deb's eldest son lives with his aunt, and is working towards becomming a Police Officer. The children at home range in age from thirteen years old to eight weeks, and they are the best behaved group of kids I have ever met. The eldest is quiet and introspective, with a very quick wit, who really does help out with the younger kids.

The next eldest is six, and her dad hasn't ever seen her. I said to her you know how I am Grandma to two of your brothers, well, I'd like to be your Grandma too if you would like that. She grabbed me and gave me a huge hug, and started crying, she was so happy. When I sent a Thankyou letter to Adam and Deb, I enclosed a special letter to her, and just today, I have sent her a tooth fairy box - she has a loose tooth, her first, and I hope the tooth lasts till Thursday, which is when I expect her to get the parcel.

Next comes my three year old grandson. When I saw him I almost cried, it was like going back in time thirty years, he is the image of his father at that age. I still have trouble believing he is not Adam, I have his photo as my desktop background, and I stare at him several times a day, and count my blessings. I am so fortunate to have all these people in my life.

Two year old Tahlia is next. She was very shy with me, but she has the most beautiful big brown eyes, and is gorgeous. She is going through the terrible twos, and threw a few tantys while we were there. She sure is going to be a beauty.

And last but not least is my youngest grandson, Brock, who is a very good baby, full of smiles (not wind) very happy and contented. He is a great sleeper, but Adam and Deb take it in turns to attend to Brock each night.

Adam works on a property owned by Tahlia's grandfather, and he loves it! Mustering, branding, all the work he does. It's a perfect job for Adam, he loves the bush,

From the minute we arrived, we were made to feel like honoured guests, and very much at home. They even dragged out the electric blanket for me. Deb had prepared a special meal for us for dinner, which we gobbled up (on the second night she cooked roast pork with perfect crackling)! Deb, particularly, spoiled us so much, and my new granddaughter gave up her bedroom for us.

The next morning, Adam took to the wheel of our four wheel drive to show us the property. We took three of the kids with us,, and proceeded along some very bumpy tracks. My daughter, Jodii sat in the front, and I was surprised how well she took to driving in the bush. Her only stipulation was that we only go on tracks, and we did, but some of the tracks had only been made the day before!  We kept a lookout for kangaroos; wombats and echidnas, to no avail, but we did see dozens of ant hills, some two metres high! We drove through areas thick with Gum trees, both alive and dead, many so close to the car that we wouldn't have been able to open the doors.

All too soon, monday morning came, and after spending the morning with the family, we reluctently headed home. I made sure that I had a committment back home on Tuesday, because we didn't want to outstay our welcome, but Deb was most upset that we had to leave, and said we are welcome anytime. We will take her up on that too, after the weather warms up again. Because of it's isolation - there is only one house in sight, and a loaf of bread is a forty five minute drive away, the family have to have harmony in the house, and they do. It's not as if Adam can go to the pub for a drink if there is an upset, they have to live very much in each other's pockets.

I admire Deb more than words can express. She is a wonderful mother, her children's behaviour attests to that, and a great partner for my son. All in all, despite the cold, it was a fantastic weekend, and I can't wait to go again.

I just watched Susan Boyle again, and was again blown away, to tears. This dear sweet lady, probably someone's aunty, singing with such an incredible voice, it just takes my breath away.

I hope they don't do much to change her, it would ruin her naviety (sp) she is just such a surprise package.
Hey all you Brits, how does this work, does she come back next week or when do we see her again? Has she generated much publicity in Britain?

Cheers,

Jacqui.

Well, they've been and gone, and we had a wonderful visit. My Son, his new Partner, who is just such a nice person, two of her older children, 15 yo and 6 yo, who were just so well-behaved, and of course, my new Grandson, who looks just like his Dad.

They called in on their way from the New England Region to Woolongong, and I met my Son's partner and two of her four children, for the first time. To say she is "nice" is to underrate her - she is just such a lovely person, and her kids, they had been stuck in the car for hours, and just behaved so well while they were here. It is so pleasurable to meet such good kids.

My Son hasn't changed a bit after more than 3 years, it could have been yesterday that I last saw him. He still has a bit of "fungal" growth on his bottom lip, I think it is left over from when Shannon Noll was on Idol. My son now works on a property, and proudly showed me the hands to prove it. It was just so great to see him and meet Deb and her kids, and of course see the baby.

I have been so excited waiting for them to come. We won't see them again until we go to their place on ANZAC Day, and then I will meet my other Grandson 2yo and his sister. It's been a wonderful day!!!

I am so excited. My son, Adam, his new partner, Deb, who I have not yet met, and his new baby, Brock are calling in here on Friday on their way to Deb's parents place in Woolongong. I havent seen Adam for 3 years, we have not be in contact until about 3 months ago, and now he rings me most nights. He has another son, Jayden who I have not met either, but he is not bringing Jayden on this trip.

Adam and I have a funny relationship. He can be a wonderful son, and at times he can be absolutely horrible. So, while we are in good contact, I want to make the most of it. He and his family live in a little town between Tamworth and Armidale, and I, and my Daughter are going up there to visit for a couple of nights on ANZAC Day. I want to go up there before the weather gets too cold - I can't stand cold weather. I am looking foward to meeting Jayden, who, I'm told is the spitting image of his father, and is 3 years old. I would also like to visit Adam's daughters, to another partner, but I don't think I will be able to, his ex-partner is not on good terms with Adam, and therefore with me. But for now, I am just so excited about seeing Adam and Co. on Friday.

I have changed a lot since Adam last saw me, and so has my Daughter, Jodii. We stopped smoking last November, and have put on quite a bit of weight as a result. I just hope Adam doesn't blab out something like "Gee you have put on weight " or something equally horrible. Jodii has always been on the skinny side, but now we are both "plump" to say the least. I have warned Adam not to say anything, but I can't be certain that he will stay quiet about it. It was quite a feat quitting smoking, but it has been almost five months, and Jodii and I are so glad that we did it. Apart from the health benefits, we have saved ourselves a fortune in cash!! And I can appreciate the taste of food now. I have discovered that I don't like the taste of plain milk or butter. Quite strange, becase I used to really like both. We are proud of ourselves for quitting, but with the new medication that's availbe now, it wasn't that difficult. I would never have believed that I could quit smoking so easily. It is a daily battle not to smoke, but the cravings only last a short time. Enough about that - what I am really excited about is seeing my Son and my youngest Grandchild on Friday. That;s my good news.

Cheers,

grannyjack.