What was your fasting blood glucose? (full on chat)

ellesangel said:

Glad to find this chat. I was 8.7 this morning and working on cutting out different things at a time plus going to the Low carb call later. Hope everyone has a good week.

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ianpspurs said:

Morning all from a damp L.A. where the new gutter bracket is proving to be a sound investment. Initial fbg was 3.9 but I'll go with the 4.6 after a short walk into Nanny and Grandad's “special room.” Having thrown away 6 bags of clothes - local charity shops won't take more than one small bag of clothes now and my skin makes entirely different demands since June. It looks like I may have needed to wear everything I had by Friday and UV stabilised/Nosilife clothing may not be so useful. Sorting clothes is a revelation - who knew I had so many dress shirts? One of the worst days of the year is when I need to wear trousers, socks, a vest, long sleeved shirt and a 279 tog top in the morning. Still ok for shorts today. That also signals the long period when LC food doesn't meet my needs - unless someone has a Keto Cassoulet recipe for example. I know Tim Spector and pals feel beans and pulses are very on point. When Diet Dr comes up with cabbage casserole
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@gennepher thank you for sharing the kaleidoscope which made me too think of Halloween - pet rant topic of mine. Totally wrong area to live for that. @Krystyna23040 Mr K's expression must have been a classic when you of all people had the chutzpah to say take it easy - priceless. Y'all enjoy your Monday if at all possible.

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gennepher said:

Last week was not my week.
This week my 'luck' has to change.
I was not going to write about it, but changed my mind.
I was expecting a packet, not my order because I have all my packets and parcel delivered elsewhere, but a friend decided to send me something, even though I had said nothing to be delivered to my address.
I was out at the beginning of the week to sort out the prescription, and so had to leave the gate unlocked while I was out so it could be left in my 'safe' place.
I came back to the unthinkable for me.
My wormery had been stolen, but just the contents, the black bin had been left. It is a massive black bin and was full of thousands of thousands of thousands of worms and good soil, which was for my new hanging basket vegetable garden for next year. My new hanging vegetable basket garden will not be happening now.
What was very scary was the black wormery bin was wiped totally clean inside, not one wriggly worm remained. The thieves had scooped out all the soil and worms, not tipped the black dustbin up, or taken the whole lot, but meticulously taken out every bit of soil and worm, but left the straw and fine wire mesh stuff at the bottom of the bin.
The thieves had to have driven their van(?) and backed it up to my gate to work unseen.
I never go out on regular days.
How did they even know that wormery was there? It cannot be seen from the road, and neither could any one have seen me put stuff in it.
This wormery is over 10 years of hard work to build it up to this level, and I was about to split it up and start another one. It meant I did not have to buy any rubbish garden soil or fertiliser and I always had a good constant crop of healthy vegetables, free apart from a few seed packets.

All gone now. I cannot be self sufficient with vegetables any more. All wiped out. I cannot start again, it will be a few years to get even remotely some of that level of worms and soil again, and I would have to reinvest with a supply of tiger worms again. And the likelihood is I may not be around long enough.

Hopping mad doesn't even describe me at the moment.

The bit that scared me was the immaculately clean inside of that large wormery bin wiped immaculately clean. My instant reaction, because my brain couldn't compute, was Scotty has beamed up my worms - and this statement is not meant to be humourous. It would have been carefully wiped clean because of all the new impending baby worms on the sides of the wormery bin.

Someone knew what they were doing. How? This is a level/stage up from the scrap men scaling our gates and stealing iron from our gardens, which does happen.

I am still gobsmacked. I haven't felt secure or safe since. My gate is locked the entire time I am in. I am still waiting for this parcel from my friend. And consequently on Saturday the gate was unlocked. I was feedin a stray cat (who didn't look well) in the kitchen. The kitchen door was shut and locked because my gate was unlocked for the parcel. Then the stray cat stopped and froze, but looked at me first. I froze too, because I didn't know what the cat was alerting me to. By the way, my kitchen curtains are frosted, but let the light in, so no scally/conman can see me from the street. The sun was shining and so it threw a shadow against my curtains. It should have only been the postman putting my parcel in my safe box (which I had checked moments earlier when I let the cat in, and there was nothing in it).
But the stature of the shadow was not the postman.
I watched the shadow go to the safe box, heard him (he was a tall solid person you would not want to tackle, the postman is shorter more weedy looking if he casts a shadow on my frosted curtains) lift the lid (I was wearing my hearing processor), and I heard the lid being replaced, and him going out of the gate and the click of the gate. I went out immediately, but no one or strange car was to be seen.

My friend got a text earful from me for having to leave the gate open for her parcel, and more earful stuff I wrote to her...


I am leaving the gate open this morning for one last day, because it is meant to be delivered by today. Friend says the seller says it hasn't been marked as delivered yet. But the postman often doesn't bother to do that....

I have had to order some more security stuff. I already have some. But I want some noise stuff which attracts attention if I have an intruder. My trail camera got stolen from outside...

Am ordering some stuff today.

This makes me feel vulnerable and jumpy. And hopping mad. I am not scared, I am done with the scared bit, although my body feels very stressed.

Edit: Daughter in Australia has given me ideas how to hide the new trail cameras for the front which will arrive tomorrow (at a collection point). How did you think of that I asked? I'm an engineer mum, that's my job...

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SlimLizzy said:

Maybe I should gave been more specific in my post.
Errant was a stray cat I adopted. He was injured, limping, missing many teeth and part of his jaw, had a serious chest infection, fleas, worms and ear mites. Unable to hunt he was being chased from place to place by the resident cats, having to fight (often losing ) for any food left out. We think he had been scavenging bin bags. Known to be in the area for for three years he was gradually starving. Extremely nervous, it took nearly a year before he stopped hiding as soon as he saw me.
During the quiet of confinement he gradually came to trust me. Mr Slim was in UK at this time. So Errant was my only companion for some months. I protected him from the neighbours cat, who was larger and a lot fitter, with a water pistol, until she gave in and allowed him my garden as his territory.
It became clear from Errants behaviour that he had been a pet at some time in his past. Feral cats don't open doors or enjoy laps. Nor allow ear drops without protest.
When Mr Slim returned he accepted Errant and was very careful not to frighten him. Soon they were best friends.
Since Errant no longer needed to travel long distances or fight to find food he gained weight and condition. The infection required two courses of antibiotics. He stopped limping and was actually able to jump onto a chair or lap. Even to run a few steps. It was so rewarding. We watched him closely and celebrated every new achievement, almost as if he were a child growing up.
During the second confinement he came with us to UK, where we were trapped for seven months, living in a motorhome.
On returning to France, Errant was happy in his tiny territory. He had no need to roam and was nearly always beside one or other of us, wherever we were working. Loud and sudden noises didn't bother him. Drills, food processors, even the lawnmower.
However, he did need to maintain his territorial boundaries, to do this a cat walks round it usually twice a day leaving their scent in several different ways.
Errant used to walk along the outside of the front hedge on this side of the road and then come back inside the garden.
(Kiki also does this but on the other side of the road)
One day he came back limping, I thought he had been fighting. We took him to the vet two days later when his voice suddenly become a whisper. Antibiotics were ineffective. Back to the vet. This time an x-ray showed multiple pellets, one lodged right by his voicebox. The vet said it was too dangerous to operate and gave him more antibiotics.
Errant died of lead poisioning a month later.
Both MrSlim and I were heartbroken.

This was three years ago, but I still miss him.

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jjraak said:

Kalispera, as they say around these parts


Yes, managed one more holiday before winter strikes.


Left stabby kit at home, so no FBG for a while .


Did bring the gloves @Annb

So will be testing them out,, admittedly in less stress environment than work, but might still offer some useful data.


( Am not there yet, thank god

But with thumb increasingly painful with any sideways pressure applied, I am having to finding ways to adapt to using just the Fingers and front & back of palm of left hand )


Sadly most of my day is spent handling cash. Notes & coins for which the use of the thumb is non negotiable


While i can still do it, when in pain I am a lot slower.


And I need to be fast enough to get the work done in a timely order .


At the moment I'm having to seriously reconsider my options & evaluate at what point the pain disrupts myself working so much it become inadvisable to continue doing so.


So the gloves are my latest attempt to improve that situation, sufficiently to last me the next year, or maybe two .


I'm hoping they offer up a little respite when painful & reduce the reoccurring pain when I forget to be more careful using my bad thumb .


Otherwise, sunny, sunny, sunny is forecast here for next week or two. So that's nice .


Enjoy the day if you can.


* Bottles of sunshine will be available on request at very reasonable prices on my return.....yassoo my friends

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gennepher said:

Last week was not my week.
This week my 'luck' has to change.
I was not going to write about it, but changed my mind.
I was expecting a packet, not my order because I have all my packets and parcel delivered elsewhere, but a friend decided to send me something, even though I had said nothing to be delivered to my address.
I was out at the beginning of the week to sort out the prescription, and so had to leave the gate unlocked while I was out so it could be left in my 'safe' place.
I came back to the unthinkable for me.
My wormery had been stolen, but just the contents, the black bin had been left. It is a massive black bin and was full of thousands of thousands of thousands of worms and good soil, which was for my new hanging basket vegetable garden for next year. My new hanging vegetable basket garden will not be happening now.
What was very scary was the black wormery bin was wiped totally clean inside, not one wriggly worm remained. The thieves had scooped out all the soil and worms, not tipped the black dustbin up, or taken the whole lot, but meticulously taken out every bit of soil and worm, but left the straw and fine wire mesh stuff at the bottom of the bin.
The thieves had to have driven their van(?) and backed it up to my gate to work unseen.
I never go out on regular days.
How did they even know that wormery was there? It cannot be seen from the road, and neither could any one have seen me put stuff in it.
This wormery is over 10 years of hard work to build it up to this level, and I was about to split it up and start another one. It meant I did not have to buy any rubbish garden soil or fertiliser and I always had a good constant crop of healthy vegetables, free apart from a few seed packets.

All gone now. I cannot be self sufficient with vegetables any more. All wiped out. I cannot start again, it will be a few years to get even remotely some of that level of worms and soil again, and I would have to reinvest with a supply of tiger worms again. And the likelihood is I may not be around long enough.

Hopping mad doesn't even describe me at the moment.

The bit that scared me was the immaculately clean inside of that large wormery bin wiped immaculately clean. My instant reaction, because my brain couldn't compute, was Scotty has beamed up my worms - and this statement is not meant to be humourous. It would have been carefully wiped clean because of all the new impending baby worms on the sides of the wormery bin.

Someone knew what they were doing. How? This is a level/stage up from the scrap men scaling our gates and stealing iron from our gardens, which does happen.

I am still gobsmacked. I haven't felt secure or safe since. My gate is locked the entire time I am in. I am still waiting for this parcel from my friend. And consequently on Saturday the gate was unlocked. I was feedin a stray cat (who didn't look well) in the kitchen. The kitchen door was shut and locked because my gate was unlocked for the parcel. Then the stray cat stopped and froze, but looked at me first. I froze too, because I didn't know what the cat was alerting me to. By the way, my kitchen curtains are frosted, but let the light in, so no scally/conman can see me from the street. The sun was shining and so it threw a shadow against my curtains. It should have only been the postman putting my parcel in my safe box (which I had checked moments earlier when I let the cat in, and there was nothing in it).
But the stature of the shadow was not the postman.
I watched the shadow go to the safe box, heard him (he was a tall solid person you would not want to tackle, the postman is shorter more weedy looking if he casts a shadow on my frosted curtains) lift the lid (I was wearing my hearing processor), and I heard the lid being replaced, and him going out of the gate and the click of the gate. I went out immediately, but no one or strange car was to be seen.

My friend got a text earful from me for having to leave the gate open for her parcel, and more earful stuff I wrote to her...


I am leaving the gate open this morning for one last day, because it is meant to be delivered by today. Friend says the seller says it hasn't been marked as delivered yet. But the postman often doesn't bother to do that....

I have had to order some more security stuff. I already have some. But I want some noise stuff which attracts attention if I have an intruder. My trail camera got stolen from outside...

Am ordering some stuff today.

This makes me feel vulnerable and jumpy. And hopping mad. I am not scared, I am done with the scared bit, although my body feels very stressed.

Edit: Daughter in Australia has given me ideas how to hide the new trail cameras for the front which will arrive tomorrow (at a collection point). How did you think of that I asked? I'm an engineer mum, that's my job...

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dunelm said:

Good afternoon everyone from onboard a train between Manchester and home. 5.3 at 0530 UK time. Lovely last day with my mum yesterday. It rained all morning so we sorted out paperwork. French cassoulet was targeted for lunch - no mamby pamby keto stuff - propper beans - mum makes it to a traditional French recipe so no unpronounceable ingredients. Sun came out so a wander down the river path for an hour or so. We watched a recording on you choob of a folk concert which include folk that she knew - Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy - she had a grand time singing all the songs while still managing to count stitches knitting a baby cardigan which had teddy bears on it. Newly learned ideas for me were ‘tension’ and ‘reducing counts’. Art bit is the last of ink splodges. Hope you had a reasonable day of it. I may get home before the fish and chip shop closes (oh no! What have I said).

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Krystyna23040 said:

That is so sad @SlimLizzy to have lost such a special cat in that way.

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ianpspurs said:

@jjraak hug for the pains and difficulty at work but well done on getting away for some sun.. Our preferred time was towards the end of November for maximum contrast, to my favourite hotel in Paphos. Attached is breakfast time by the pool (after a session with a PT and swim, back in the gym and pool, sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi when sun went down, before evening meal. Sadly back won't cope with that anymore) was taken 3 years ago, late November/early December when there were UK frosts. The 2nd image of the breakfast spread grossly downplays how lavish that meal was and no image can do justice to the omelette chef who would sing in at least 5 languages. His station was in the background under the pot plant. People queued just to hear his banter. Waitresses took it as an insult if one refused champagne with breakfast, Huge Christmas tree and decorations were up inside the hotel, quite surreal. You can see by my grimace how difficult I was finding life. Enjoy the sun and travel.

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ianpspurs said:

@gennepher and @SlimLizzy having read your posts re wormery and intruders and Eerrant my issues with LC food and cooler/cold weather seem very whining. Sorry.

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Lamont D said:

7.2 this a.m., Eek. I am blaming the weather and lack of garden time.

When things like your week @gennepher and your pets @Annb.
I am not sure how to respond without, not saying enough or too much.
But I hate it so much, when life is cruel.

The weather is cruel, at the moment.
I had to (under orders) go for milk very early, as the four pinter (2 litres) I bought Friday, went off.
In the pouring rain as Mrs L needed her morning cuppa.
This has thrown my chores plan for the morning out.
All sorted, but, I wasn't there when Mrs L raided the freezer again.
Fish for mealtime later......... Again.
Pharmacy phoned and asked about Mrs L patches, which wasn't delivered with her blister packs. (Again)
Hopefully delivered tomorrow, as it is due to be changed tomorrow.

Don't get wet you lot, like I did.
Best wishes you lot, stay safe, stay warm.
Yes it is damp and cool.
Well..........It is Britain!

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ianpspurs said:

I’m going to use this as a sort of confessional box. MIL is a lovely lady and at 94, nearly 95, she deserves to do things she enjoys. She has cottoned on that I don’t stay in the lounge long once she comes downstairs in the morning or often after 12 noon even though I take her tea in bed and make her toast/.breakfast when she comes down. What she doesn’t know is why I leave. She loves to knit and watch TV programmes which I find challenging. The knitting is problematic because she has a style of knitting, choice of needles, method of counting, choice of wool colour/patterns which drive me mad. She is knitting for her great grandchildren and neither JKP nor myself dare tell her about the colours. I bought the biggest TV I could, purely to watch sport - it takes up virtually one wall so I can’t ignore that and my peripheral vision is drawn to her knitting and the weird clicking. JKP knits but her style and wool are vaguely normal. All summer I could claim to be watching cricket, the Euros and Olympics. That won’t work now but I can’t actually tell her why I can’t be in the lounge until she goes to bed except when Spurs or International rugby are on TV. Sunday evenings are the worst as she watches Countryfie and Antiques roadshow. NFL helps but the dining room is the coldest room in the house. JKP also gets cross if I sit with headphones on as I don't talk to her and it is a bit rude. No amount of praying and asking for my sins to be forgiven works so far. Confession over, don’t think badly of me please.

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SlimLizzy said:

He was the perfect cat. Highly adaptable, he travelled with us to Uk and lived with us in four different places. Due to his disabilities he didn't chase birds or jump onto kitchen work surfaces. He never bit me. Not even when I was giving him tablets or putting drops in his ears.
He would walk by my side like a well trained dog. Once he gave his trust he gave it completely.
His name came from the first vet. Who declared "Ah, un errant!" At his first visit. Errant means stray or wanderer. Until then he had just been Cat.
Three years on and I still miss him.
Am still so angry with the other vet, who decided to give what she probably knew were useless antibiotics and left him to suffer the slow death of lead poisioning.

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