Happy Valentine's Day

Love is in the air.......

Happy Valentine's day everybody. I hope you receive a secret gift from your loved one.

What has been happening in the Pattison's world over the last week. Last week I saw Princess Dina Mired of Jordan. The IAEA were supporting World Cancer Day, and she came along to support the cause.
She is the pretty lady at the front, and you can even see me behind the big speaker.

Apart from that Monday excitement, my week was full of meetings and web site design. Yes that's right, although I didn't do the really hard designing (templates etc), I am doing the content.

The house is still not on the market, the thought is there, but motivation is lacking. Last weekend we stuck plastic foam 'stuff' around the windows, so the road

noise was quietened. This weekend, we bought some masking tape and a paint brush, with the idea of painting the entrance hall, but failed. We are also thinking of a quick way to finish the patio (as we ran out of stones) - so I think a strip of chippings at the back of the patio with potted plants on it will do just fine! Mollie is slowly motivating me to finish the house and sell it, as I miss my friend in Vienna.

Ian and I are very happy with our weight watchers diet plan, I managed to lose 3.5lbs last week, and Ian was around the same. I am loving weight watchers, it makes you think about and enjoy food much more, plus I get to eat a flake at night.
Tank is at the vets today, he lost a lot of weight over the past week (just bones), so we went to the animal dentist, as I thought it was his teeth. He managed to suck down 3 tins of cat food mousse at the weekend, showing how hungry he actually was. The Dentist (luckily trained in Canada - so speaks excellent English) said Tank's teeth were very clean for a 9 year old, but would take x-rays, blood work and a ultrasound, with a hefty price tag of around 300 Euros. Waiting at the vets was an experience, it looked like 2 dogs were going to put to sleep with 2 crying families, but then there were plenty of happy dogs and a loving Tank, which made the waiting people smile (we let tank out of the carrier as he loves to be nosey). So Tanky is in a cage somewhere waiting to go under, and being the softie that Ian is, he was loving Tank just in case anything happened and told the vet to take care of him (huge softie).
Last night Ian was playing with Neo, the results can be seen in the photo. I also was looking at photos on my camera and came across a photo I took on our way to the airport around a year ago. My caption for this would be 'only in Austria'

It is a goat in the back of a micra!

For all of those family and friends who are desperate for Ian and I to start a family, I made the first steps in trying to work out how we get pregnant when an essential part of the puzzle is in another country. The Oxford clinic gave me an address of a shipping company who can transport frozen tadpoles abroad, but I am still waiting for a consultant to contact me as to whether I can take an easy option and just pop into the clinic for the turkey baster approach (a lot less hassle and a lot less money). I seriously doubt that this approach will be acceptable, but it's worth asking the question.
We will definately keep you informed when we start trying. The good news is that the Austrian health scheme pays for 80% on IVF for 4 attempts, and then I will get another 80% back from the remainder from extra private health insurance - another bonus of living in Austria.

Oh I should at least add another funny story from my working week with the youngsters at work, who made me feel really old when asking for advice with their boyfriends.
Would I let Ian play poker with the boys more than once a week, or once a week and let him stay out after midlight? My responce was, firstly its not about 'allowing' Ian do anything, and secondly yes he can do as he pleases, which leaves me a quiet evening at home.
Do I get jealous? No.
Does Ian get jealous? No.
Does Ian speak to women? Yes.
Is that ok by me? Yes.
Does he have female friends? Yes.
Would I let Ian go out alone with another woman? Yes
and on and on and on. An intense lunchtime grilling from my officemates, cute!
Cheerio for now

P.S. The vet just rang and said he couldn't find anything wrong with Tank, but we should pick him up in a little while and see an internal specialist. Bloody cats! Tank has done this once before. He was really ill and wouldn't move off the bed and cried when we touched him, panic obviously set in. Off to the emergency vets in the morning, and as soon as we started driving he made a miraculous recovery, so we turned around and he was fine....maybe he does this for attention.