It's been a while, but amazingly the news hasn't changed all that much.

Kirstie's knee is getting better and better, I haven't lost nearly as much weight as I'd hoped, and Sheila is still Sheila. Mom is doing well, and Dad is making very slow progress with occasional setbacks. Erika is still far away and Tony's eye problems have been replaced by leg problems. Life goes on.

Details; Kerry has managed to do the same thing to her knee that Kirstie did, and she did it the same way - a bad landing after a volleyball jump. Her surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, the 20th of December. We'll see if she manages to avoid the complications Kirstie had to deal with; the pulmonary embolism and 6-month course of rat poison...

Did I forget to mention about Kirstie's embolism? Yes, she had an embolism a week or so out of knee surgery in June. She noticed difficulty breathing and WALKED (can you say, "idiot-child") the 6 blocks to the hospital on crutches. It's a miracle she didn't collapse and die on the way there, because those things have a significant chance of being lethal. An embolism is the same thing as a heart attack or a stroke, except it happens in the lungs instead of the heart or brain. Dangerous. VERY.

But she's fine now, and off the meds. Our hope is that Kerry doesn't do the same thing, so given the family history she has been prescribed aspirin for after her surgery.

I've managed to lose 15 pounds and gained most (10) of it back. Exercise Kevin, exercise.

Erika is still half a planet away, but doing well for all of that. She's gotten her computer up and online (intermittent, but it was working yesterday) and we use the SKYPE program to video call her computer to computer on those occasions when things are working well. We use the same program with the computer to cellphone option (cheap compared to an international cellphone call) to reach her when they aren't. I am officially a fan of SKYPE. I even pay money for it, something I am loathe to do for any online service. Try it - you'll like it.

Time to go Christmas shopping. Sheila wants a computer, I want a big screen TV. At least one of us is getting what we want this year...