So good to hear from you Lorchen. Doing the happy dance for you here! Congrats on getting your BP back to normal and getting rid for good of some kilos. Keep up with the good work. Remarkable that you've accomplished all this while having high stress to deal with. Hang in there and keep taking good care of your self!

That quilt in your fridge is wonderful! I might have to borrow that idea. The photos in your fridge are adorable!

Congratulations to the parents and all the family for the comming bundle of joy!

Lorchen, I'm glad to hear all of your good news! Health and babies, and some quilting, what a life

Lorchen, sounds like you are taking the high road at work and managing to keep in balance. In the meantime, you are doing so well on your personal fitness road and must be proud of your new milestone and accomplishment--I know many of us are for you! Congratulations on your BP going down to normal and the news of a new baby in the family! I'm excited for you! Happy New Year and so glad to hear from you!

Hi Lorchen, sorry to hear about your work colleague. I hope you don't have to take on more stress than you can bare. And what an incredible triumph, 4 stone in 4 months and to have your blood pressure down to normal... just incredible. Congratulations! And a very happy New Year to you.

Congratulations on the new grandbaby!!

The dragon is cute, but Eva's photos are ADORABLE!!

Life in my neck of the woods has been somewhat 'interesting' lately.

We have some serious problems at work which resulted in one of my colleagues to go off ill due to 'stress at work'. I have been exposed to the same problems and the resulting stress, but managed to cope. I can't really give any details because even TQS is not a totally 'private' environment. As a result I quite often just can't make myself boot up the computer in the evenings. I just want to listen to some classical music, trying to relax, and then sleep as much as possible. But don't worry about me. I'm fine. The only time in my life that I got very close to not being able to cope was during my 'interesting' three year long divorce battle, and I came out of that stronger. I'm also lucky to have a very supportive family and brilliant friends, so plenty of shoulders to lean on whenever necessary.

Let's talk about positive 'stuff': Over Christmas dinner Eva's parents announced that there'll be another addition to the family in August. I better start knitting and think about a baby quilt.

Healthwise it's also all sunshine. My blood pressure has gone from high to normal. This alone is a reason for me to never put the weight I lost back on. I'm still following the same rules, with the odd treat, and it still works brilliantly. I started with 25st 1lb on September the 11th, and was weighed again today....... drum roll, please (bang your rotary cutters on the table)....... 21st. So I'll get a fourth one of Eva's painted stones. If you work in kg, that from about 159kg to about 134kg. My clothes will all need taking in (roll on summer holiday).

And to make this quilt-related, I have a new little quilt on my fridge door (click on the picture if you want to see the the centre better):