Party time

It was our 11th wedding anniversary yesterday. We have been together for 17 years - which we celebrate on the 25th October. Another good reason for our weekend away, because it fell in between the two.

I saw my Mum yesterday morning and she knew I was going into town to buy some ingredients for our meal. She asked if we were having a party - and I said 'no', just a 'nice night'.

Don't you just love when a night comes together and you do indeed have a party. A party for two it was, and we had a superb evening together. We started with a little wine, and then when the kids went to bed we adjourned into the bedroom for entree.

We came out and I continued to cook my meal. The meal was absolutely divine. It was exactly how I'd planned it to be. I didn't have a recipe - just an idea.

I cooked the most tender eye fillet steaks. They were about 2" high and pink in the middle, just perfect, Peter's was a little more rare. The vegies were char grilled, potato, sweet potato, onion, garlic, red capsicum and organic asparagus. These were cooked with olive spray oil and then I added a dash of avocado oil at the end. The potatoes were pre cooked in the microwave, so didn't take long, I just basically wanted the 'lines' on them. Instead of piling the vegies on the plate and then the meat beside, I 'built' it up and put the steak on top with a couple of tender asparagus spears. I dribbled a little avo oil and expensive balsamic vinegar around the edge of the plate. The result was absolutely fantastic.

We exchanged gifts too, I had downloaded the latest Led Zeppelin album that was 'remastered'. I even printed the CD covers, so they looked really good. I also bought him two tickets to the PGA at the Hyatt in December. He was pretty rapt. I got a present and was totally blown away. He bought me a fine gold bangle which I had admired in the catalogue earlier in the week. I thought it would make a great Christmas present so was quite overwhelmed with emotion when I opened it. He was surprised at my reaction, had no idea I would be so surprised. I haven't taken it off so far, it's gorgeous.

We drank some yummy wines. My favourite chardonnay, Yellow Tail, the rest of the Yendah Durif that we were given at the Food and Wine Show which was delectable even after it had been open for a week. We finished off with some Galway Pipe port which I had bought him some time ago and never tasted..........gosh it was good. We played music all night long, thank goodness my kids are good sleepers because it was quite loud. I bought some more music...........bit dangerous having me near a computer when I have had some wine to drink lol. I think I only bought a couple of songs, and they weren't even for me!!

We even made a surprise phone call fairly late - to the only person in the world who we would dare to ring so late. When I lived in Springbrook I made friends with a counsellor who worked at the top rate private school near Mudgeeraba. He lived a few doors down from me, and kept an eye out for me. We used to have dinner together and he would cook for me sometimes, because as we were both on our own, it was nice to cook for someone, as neither of us really cooked for ourselves. It is because of him that I love Mundial knives, because Noeli had a great knife which I would use in his kitchen. He taught me how to make the Beef Vindaloo which I still make today. And he also taught me to love good red wines. Needless to say when Peter came up on weekends and then when Peter moved up, we would enjoy many meals together and stumble back up the road to our house. Many a time Peter would walk pass our house and miss the driveway as it was so damn dark and he was so drunk!! We have seen Noeli about three times since we have been back here. He was still on his own, and we were worried about him. He seemed to drink more than he ate. He looked older than his years and I worried about his health and his happiness. He rang us quite a while ago and has a lady friend, which is just wonderful news. Talking to him last night was great, and he assured us he would be up to visit before Christmas.

It was midnight before we went to bed. I couldn't believe we had stayed up so late and had such a fantastic time. We are truly blessed to have the relationship that we share. We share so much more than three children. We share the same values and even though we are so different from one another, it just works so well.

My favourite TV Show

I just wanted to write today about something that's not particularly important. I mean really in the whole grand scheme of things a favourite TV show doesn't really rate ............

..........................(sigh)..................... I have been watching Prison Break since the first episode and I love the show as much now as I did then. I never get sick of looking at Wentworth Miller and watching him portray a very interesting character. The show is exciting, violent and totally unpredictable.

And then there's the eye candy...........

Our fabulous weekend

I have been putting off this post all day. Simply because I don't know where to start raving about it. I went and had dinner with Barbi on Friday night, which was lovely, and I was sensible and was home and in bed by 10pm. Much better than my normal form. I was up early and in the shower and got everyone organized. We were on the road by 7.50am. We dropped off the kids, and it took all my strength to be civil and polite and not bolt out of the place lol...... I was so excited I found it hard to stand still.

We headed off, stopped off and bought some fuel and some much needed coffee. Barbi's directions were spot on and we found the Holiday Inn without a hitch. The hardest part was getting from the foyer to our room. We were given a pass key, (like a credit card) which needed swiping before the elevator would go beyond a certain floor to our rooms. Dh in his eternal wisdom, (why I believed him I never know) said that the card probably told the lift what floor we were on. He also told me room 1410 was on the 15th floor!!!! I must have been in a good mood lol, to be conned twice......... Needless to say the card didn't tell the lift where to stop and all I managed to do was confuse the crap out of the poor lift. We rode around in a vertical kind of limbo for a few minutes when I decided I needed help!! The man at the desk must have thought we were insane........ Anyway he reswiped and re initiated our card and we were off again. This time to the 14th floor. I was rapt as it was only after 10am and we were able to check in much earlier than we thought. We dumped our stuff, freshened up and then headed out to the station, which is next door.

We rode one stop to Sth Brisbane and then took the long way to the Convention Centre. Actually in hindsight it probably wasn't the long cut, it just seemed that, because we didn't really know where we were going. The lobby into the Convention Centre is just huge. We headed straight to the area where Matt Moran's show was being held, so we only got a quick glance at what was on offer. We sat through the cooking show, which was good, but took quite a while. To put this comment into perspective, I thought we would have been leaving there by about 2pm. I thought we would see everything and would be ready to leave then.............. I couldn't have been more wrong.

We left the cooking demo and promptly found us some wine to taste. We bought ourselves some glasses, as after one tasting I decided I couldn't drink out of plastic for the entire day. As we warmed up the process, we just ambled from one stall to the next. Everywhere we went we were greeted with friendly, helpful and informative stall holders. I think they quickly surmised that we weren't just pissheads looking for a free drink,but that we were actually interested.

There was a huge mobile Wyndham Estate mobile van,


Wyndham Estate Bin 555 is my favourite reasonably priced shiraz. It's always good to buy when on special, so when we saw this huge truck, we knocked on the door to see what was on offer. When they said we could fit into the 4pm session, I thought that was pushing the envelope and that we might not be still around................

We even found the Yellow Tail stall, that's my favourite Chardonnay.............

We got quite tiddly, just having the best time, tasting, and talking to everyone....... I bought an apron, a bottle of wine from Bunnyconnellan, for obvious reasons, but also because it was as good as Yellow Tail Chardonnay. It was $20 a bottle, and I looked forward to drinking it on my birthday. We bought two six packs of beer we didn't want, because it came with a book and a t'shirt, I drank a 'lay back' because we bought the beer. We nearly bought a good coffee machine, but good sense and lack of funds prevailed - definitely something to look at down the track though. The brand was Rancilio and made the best coffee. We tasted a few dips and some nice gluten free bread, but the wine was unequivocally the highlight!!

We left the show, to 'The Good Food and Wine show is finished for today, please leave the building!'.

And I thought we would not stay there past 2pm!!

The session at the mobile cellar door was for shiraz and was informative and run by a vitner horticulturalist (he had a different name, but something like that). What a fabulous job!!

We came back to the hotel and then adjourned to the restaurant for dinner. The food was held up, as they lost our docket, which was great, because it was exorbitantly priced and we got dessert, coffee and free drinks. (I drank diet coke!!).

The next day we wanted to go to the museum, but we were both quite tired, even though we were in bed early. We walked through the Stanley St markets and just enjoyed being together, not rousing at anyone, not worrying about anyone, and just enjoying the different scenery and feeling like a couple again.........

We are going again next year, and are hoping to go for two nights! It's a day we will be talking about for a very long time.

Weekend @ Daisy's

A fun weekend was had scrapbooking away. Those who don't scrapbook, can't quite comprehend that we can actually spend the entire weekend scrapping. Mind you there's a lot of sociaizing, eating, drinking, chatting going on too.

I didn't stay at the motel this time, I came home to sleep. Thankfully I only live 2 mins away from the store. I got there latish on Friday as I still had Mickey home, and had to wait for Peter to come home. Thank goodness Mickey had turned a corner that day, and was feeling much better. The kids and Peter were off to the fete that night. I'm so lucky the retreat's always scheduled for that weekend...............

As usual I took ages to settle in and start scrapbooking seamlessly. I always spend the first night sitting there looking at my work and procrastinating. By Sunday I'm on a roll and don't want to stop. There were classes, a christmas bauble thing, and a christmas book, I got the stuff but didn't do the classes - once I found my mojo I wasn't stopping for anybody. I took ages to make the Christmas tree, because I stuffed up and had to fix my mistake. Suzy took great pleasure in telling me the ladies in the class finished it in half the time lol........ I wonder if there's is as beautiful as mine!!!

The theme for the retreat was Christmas at Daisy's, hence the Christmas head pieces in the photo. I hate dressing up and put the head band on only for the shot. I always end up with a huge headache within about ten minutes of even wearing a headband, so I wasn't going to persist with the crown.






Sammy and Mickey, my journalling on the back says I am not sure when this was taken, it's either Easter or Fathers' Day this year. I love this photo - those boys are just beautiful, the photo gladdens my heart. I write on the back of many of my layouts, and have told the children, so that one day down the track, probably when I'm gone, hopefully they'll remember that I write on the backs of my layouts. These are my legacy for my boys.
Mickey and his good friend Kye. They had a great time this afternoon. They got into a huge fight too, would you believe Mickey got stuck into Kye, because Kye his Sammy ........even though we don't condone hitting, I thought it was pretty special that my young son would turn on his best friend to protect his older brother - what loyalty. Like good friends should, they hugged and made up and played the rest of the afternoon without incident. Two passionate boys, there are bound to be fireworks ocassionally.
Some little shots of our Caloundra week.
Fishing and kayaking on Golden Beach.
Me, Barbi, Suzy and Janelle, holding Santa, so we could be silly like those photos where the person lies across the front...........


My Christmas Tree advent calendar made as per Suzy's instructions and a class she did a few weeks ago, that I couldn't make. I love it, and think it's an elegant replacement for the felt countdown I currently have.

Cocktail Hour

Thanks Chrissie for keeping tabs on my little man. He is a little better today. Not enough better for my liking, but slowly but surely. I had to take him out this afternoon, as Peter had his colonoscopy and rather than wait in the clinic we went to some stores and killed some time. He ate a couple of cinnamon doughnuts which was good - at least he is getting some fat and calories. He was exhausted a couple of hours later when we got home. He's now in bed, sleeping. He will stay home from school again tomorrow. I have rung school and I won't be at work tomorrow either. I hope I get paid...........oh well, I am a Mummy first and foremost.

It's cocktail hour - Thursday evening in our house has always traditionally been a drinks night. I am having a couple of little wines, as I sacrificed my fruit today. (A girls gotta get her priorities right..........) I bought the new Eagles CD today, and am enjoying it immensely - quite frankly they couldn't do anything bad!!

Off to watch Inspector Rex and read some of my book - The Time Travellers Wife.

Dr. Mum

In amongst the ventolin, seretide, anti histamine eye drops, prednisone, penicillin, paracetomol and ibuprofen, I have become Dr. Mum!! With Billy-Joe's asthma, Sammy's allergic conjunctivitis, and Mickey's tonsillitis, I have a veritable pharmacy on hand.

I took Mickey to the hospital yesterday afternoon, as I was becoming concerned for his lack of improvement. He was as hot as Hades again, and extremely lethargic. Three and a half hours later, I was home with a different antibiotic to try on him. He is a little improved today, although Dr. Mum has inspected his tonsils and there's no change at this point in time. The school fete is tomorrow night, so the little man is getting a little anxious about missing his long awaited ride in the cup and saucer. I don't know what to do about work tomorrow either. Don't know whether to just ring now and get it organized, or wait until later........

Peter has a routine colonoscopy this afternoon - so I will drive him to that, go to Hardly Normal and get some photos done, and just try and kill time with an unwell little boy in tow. If it were closer to home, I could come home in the intervening time, but it's probably not worth it.

On a lighter note, Prison Break wasn't on last night...............I hate that when you are watching a show week after week, and then just to drag it out they cut it for a week or more.........grrrrr........

My parents arrive home today from Phuket!! Woohooo!!

The week that is

Today is another day looking after my youngest. Mickey has been ill since Friday night - and this has really knocked him, I have never ever had him this sick before. I took him to the doctor on Sunday who found nothing untoward, so we came home to continued high temperatures and more lethargy and general unwellness. His visits to the toilet weren't frequent, but were very very runny. On Tuesday I took him back to the doctor and because he gagged so hard when the doctor checked his throat, it gave the doctor a good look at his tonsils and he diagnosed tonsillitis. Yesterday afternoon, after one dose of antibiotics and a dose of Nurofen, (quite frankly I think the panadol I had been giving him did diddly squat) he perked up a bit and even played a game of Snakes and Ladders with Billy-Joe. He even ate some tea, which was great to see. It's now nearly midday and he has lain around all morning. He is cold so I have covered him lightly, his temp isn't too bad. I hope he can go to school tomorrow, so I can do all my normal things.

Then I got a fright last night when Billy-Joe's asthma took a turn for the worst. I was within minutes of calling an ambulance or taking him to casualty. Actually if it happens next time, I would probably opt for the ambulance. I have done a few mercy dashes to the hospital and they aren't the wisest way of getting there, although given our proximity, probably the quickest.

Peter is having a routine colonoscopy tomorrow, so I will take him down and then go and have some photos developed. I had given him a good hit of seretide, plus a dose of prednisone. Fortunately the ventolin gave him some relief. Poor boy looks like the wreck of the hesperus
but was determined to go to school as the local state school is holding a concert and he was looking forward to going.

Last night was interesting, as Billy-Joe took ages to go to sleep and then because he had drunk copious amounts of water, had several trips to the toilet and then Mickey was unsettled because he couldn't sleep because he had a long and late afternoon nap, so it was well after midnight before everyone was settled enough that I could doze off.

No prizes for guessing where I was for a few hours this morning. I did my chores and hit my bed - just bliss. Tomorrow is busy, Friday is a work day and the scrapbooking retreat means there will be two very late nights, so I needed to catch up somewhere.

My new ipod arrived last night. It's pretty cool. It's so good having it back and I was dreading the set up, but it was a breeze, so much easier than the old one.

I ordered a new printer the other night...........oooohhh those tantalizing 'buy' buttons. I had just paid to have my print head cleaned plus had to replace cartridges which were brand new...........and have to buy a new machine anyway. I was so peeved that I had even bought the second last lot of ink, that would have gone 3/4 of the way to a new printer. It's done a lot of printing for me, and is over four years old, so it hasn't done too badly with the amount of work it has done.

I have bought this one.

I can't wait. I bought it from here. They only charged $10 freight and I bought 500 sheets of high quality Epson paper too.

Kate Morgan

I have started a diet again. I am almost loathe to admit it, for fear that admitting it aloud may attract failure. Sometimes I wonder if you don't tell anyone, would it be more successful. I have started a meal replacement diet called Kate Morgan , but will journal that journey on my other blog

Health Matters

It's three weeks since I went back onto my medication and things are still heading in an upward direction. It's slow - but sure. The hot flashes have stopped - thank goodness. I am sleeping better, and am still needing quite a lot of rest. I find I am getting very tired, which are the anti depressants still finding their equilibrium within my system. I know that will still take a few weeks to settle down, meanwhile I am just relishing in the ability to be able to get to sleep, stay asleep, and get back to sleep when I get up to the loo, which is sometimes twice a night with the hotter weather and an increase in water consumption. On another upside, I went back to the gym today. I have been doing some yoga and stretch work at home since last week, because my legs and hips felt so sore and awfully stiff. I don't want to be old and not be able to move, I know I have to keep the flexibility up otherwise it will go - and the chronic pain will set in. The yoga class was great, but even better was the fact that I walked through the doors of the gym again. I restarted my suspended membership and changed it back to an aerobic membership rather than a gym one. If I can only get there twice in one week, so be it, I am finished beating myself up about not getting there 'enough'!! Who knows, when my fitness levels increase I will go back to dancing too. Just at the moment, nights at home are far more tempting and inviting and more restful.

I am very pleased with my progress so far........stay tuned for further developments.

Holiday update

Better late than never.

We had a lovely break, so much so we booked again for next year. We have booked a different unit though, as our usual one is getting a bit 'tired' looking, and by admission of the managers, the owner isn't prepared to pay any money on the place. The new unit has much bigger lounge area, as they have switched the rooms which are dining and lounge areas. They have therefore been abel to fit in a proper lounge suite which looks really nice, and actually looks comfortable. Hopefully the bed is more comfortable as the bed I slept in was terribly, terribly uncomfortable. My upper back killed me, I had to take pain killers every morning, and my whole body just felt like it had been hit by a truck. How happy I was when I went back into my own bed and it took a few days for the pain to disappear. I have enough trouble anyway the last thing I need is a crap bed.

I loved the holiday, because the most difficult decision I had to make was what to eat and what to do! We ate lots of scrummy things like, waffles for breakfast, frappes for afternoon tea, thai take away (twice), once even the kids had it and really enjoyed it, lunch at the RSL, which was okay but nothing flash. On the last night we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant which we all really enjoyed and was very reasonably priced.

The weather was perfect for us. The days were quite warm with a sharp contrast to the nights, which were still quite cool. The kids swam every day, I only swam a few times, as I have to be hot before I will swim. We went to Golden Beach and took the kayak, I didn't row this time, not warm enough for me lol, Moffat Beach which I really loved, it's gorgeous there. It was a little windy but I enjoyed sitting and reading my book, while the kids played in the sand and then went and explored the rock pools with Daddy.

We walked from our unit to Kings Beach and made the kids play in the fountain. Far out, sometimes they can seem ungrateful................I told then we are going to the fountain and you will play in it, because I want to take photos. This was after the grumbles when they found out where we were going. Needless to say they just loved the fountain and we had to coerce them back out again. We swam in the Kings Beach pool. Fabulous set up, having a pool right on the beach, and it was free. I did go in because I was quite warm from the walk, but the water was freezing, though I was back in Geelong.........but it was refreshing and cooled everyone down. It was all too much for Sammy and he just laid on the bench. Bunny bought us all an icecream.........I had a caramel magnum.......mmmm delish - decadent, oh and I think the calories fell out of the packet when I opened it. (I wish!!)

The Dragon Boat races were also on, and this was a bonus and ended up being quite an emotional procession when the ladies took to the streets. There were ladies, from all over the country and from overseas countries too, there were many Canadians and they were just lovely to the kids, giving them badges, lollies and arm bands. It was emotional to stand there and watch all these ladies parade, in all their finery, some to sick to walk, and realize they had all been touched by breast cancer. The kids loved it, and Peter and I felt quite overwhelmed by what these ladies represented. They are so brave and so proud.

We all had a great time, it was really special to spend so much time together. The kids enjoyed having their Daddy around all the time. They fished most days and we all spent time at the pool. Sammy and Mickey's confidence has improved greatly in the water.

Now for some photos, hope they are all self explanatory.

It's been a long time coming.

We have been away for a week, and I will update in a new post and upload some photos too. Something pretty special happened on the last day of our holidays - very emotional and uplifting it was too. Those who know me, know I am the most unsportswomanlike person who ever walked the earth. I hate NRL, even though my boys love it, I hate soccer, I hate sport on TV full stop...... I loved cricket once, when dh no#1 was an avid fan, and I adopted the attitude, 'if you can't beat them, join them' otherwise I would have been left alone much of the time, I admit I grew to love the cricket during the early eighties, even went to the first day/night match at the MCG. But since then my foray into the sporting world is non existent. My love of Geelong, though , has never waned. I felt a little sad when I moved here, that Aussie Rules was not much watched of followed. That's changed of course, with the introduction of the Brisbane Lions. I could have changed sides, but that thought never occurred to me. Even when Geelong was playing at its worst, I never, ever entertained the idea of supporting someone else. Every week I ask my dh if Geelong won, and in the last couple of years, the excitement that maybe a premiership might be looming in the not to distant future, became more of a possibility.


To say that I was excited about Geelong being in the Grand Final was an understatement. We were going to have a BBQ here at home, but my parents are overseas, so there was no point in just us - my brother lives a fair distance away and he is now a Lions supporter, although was naturally Geelong all the way on Saturday. We watched the game, alright, it wasn't a game, it was an annihilation, at the unit in Caloundra. The game started and I felt sick in the stomach. I was so apprehensive and was steeling myself for another grand final loss. I couldn't believe Geelong just take the control of the game like that. It was like there was no other side on the field, absolutely exhilerating to watch..........I cried when they won. I cried when they showed the players' happiness. I cried when Dad smsed me that he cried too, sitting watching it in his Phuket hotel room. My husband and kidlets barrack for Geelong too, to help me and support me, it was a great family experience to share. The kids were so excited - their only connection to the town was when we went in January 2006 - and the fact that I was born and bred there.........

Good on you Geelong! You were the best team in the league this year, you deserved to win. Enjoy the accolades.

What difference a week makes.

By Monday, I was not a happy camper at all. My hot flushes were increasing, to the point I had a dozen episodes on Monday night. I worked on Monday, which, was good, because I think it helped me make some decisions.

I am good when I am out and about. I am a good teacher, and I enjoy being in the classroom. I hate feeling like I don't want to do anything. Something is not right, I am not supposed to feel like this.

When I got home from work on Monday, I rang the surgery where I was originally 'prescribed' the progesterone cream. I was told he was on holidays - and that I couldn't get an appointment until the first of November. To say I was a little distressed about this was an understatement but it was actually a blessing in disguise. I hung up from her, after she (receptionist) told me my body was addicted to oral HRT and that if I wanted to I could add a half a tablet to my regime - and made an appointment with my GP. I felt turmoil, because I felt I was going to give up the alternative, more healthy option for a quick cop out.

I saw my doctor the next morning. He told me that he had no evidence of me being menopausal as all my tests had been done at other surgeries. I assured him I DEFINITELY was. He referred me for another blood test. From that day on I was back on my anti depressants. Although their reintroduction has really knocked me, I am sleeping so much better. I have had a couple of really quiet days after driving to work wasn't such a good idea on Wednesday, and I feel rested and relaxed. I also started taking the HRT again on the Monday preempting the doctor's findings. It's now Saturday, my hot flushes have reduced by about 80% and I know I have made the right decision for me. Yes, it's sad I couldn't do it naturally, but I can't keep at something that was becoming quite detrimental to my health and well being.

And to all the proponents of natural hormone treatment - the blood test showed there was next to no progesterone in my blood stream. The small amount which showed in the blood test can be accounted by my progesterone only IUD.

I was prepared to say this isn't for me..............I had no idea I would find out that the cream wasn't even absorbing into my blood stream. This begs the question - are the many women flocking this particular doctor among the 30% for whom a placebo works???

Ikea

In the midst of the shit week, there was a highlight! There's always a highlight..........

My sister in law and a girlfriend went to Ikea on Wednesday. It had been planned for a very long time. I had a shopping list, complete with measurements. At one stage, I thought the trip would be more of a look trip, rather than a buying trip, because of the money I had to spend on my car. I actually bought lots from my list.

* chest of drawers for Mickey and Sammy. Their old drawer was one we 'adopted' from our first unit together in 1992, it was always meant to be a stop gap, and was never intended for two kids!!

* DVD storage. A funky black and white patterned shelf which can hold up to 88 DVDs
* soft, spongy stuff to put on the bottom of your kitchen drawers, cheap and much nicer than what's available elsewhere
* new tin opener because I thought Bunny lost his from downstairs ( now it's a spare)
* set of four plastic dessert bowls
* set of four glass bowls for using with cooking (like the cooking shows when they precut chilli, measure out bi carb etc)
* wine rack (really cook stainless steel thing which holds about five bottles)
* Stainless steal tissue box
* new ergonomic pillow for Mickey
* two sets of hooks for kids' rooms
* draw inserts (compartment things)

So you can see I did really well. The place is huge, I can't wait to go back again. Even the food at the cafeteria was really nice and very reasonably priced. The dessert, a lemon meringue pie, was divine. The pastry was soft and short, the lemon stuff was creamy......mmmm........just delicious.

I drove there and back, and apart from my steering wheel still vibrating like an out of control sex toy, and getting a little lost coming out of Ikea, that was eventful, and even though I haven't driven in Brisbane for a very long time, I think I did okay. Everyone was back safe and sound.

My car was packed quite full. My gf had the stuff that was the biggest, so the drama continued when on arrival she finally admitted that it wasn't going to fit into her car. (She drives a door wedge!!) Alls well, ends well, a good friend of hers came and took it home for her, that was after her dh drove several kms and couldn't fit it into his work van either lol................ Ah, but she now has an awesome scrapbooking desk, so it's all good!!

I can't wait to go back. I like the CD storage for Billy-Joe's room, they were out of stock, so I would like to get a couple of those. I would also like to look at wardrobe storage. They have some awesome systems there. Lucky the kids are older now, because I could go beserk in the childrens' area.

So, in the midst of my shit week, there were up times too.........

The day after Ikea, I took my car back to the mechanic's (fifth time!!!) and after waiting for two hours, they told me what else I needed replacing........... Cars, they keep us poor lol..................

The weekend has been busy. I slept in late yesterday morning. I couldn't believed that I'd stayed late at scrapbooking, and then perused a book a gf loaned me, and turned the lights out at 2am. Saturday was spent finishing the washing that Bunny had started the night before. I took Billy-Joe to spend the weekend with a mate, for which I was happy for because it changes the dynamics with the two little one's and life is quite peaceful. I came back home and met the plumber who was fixing the leak on our beautiful Kleenmaid oven. I had a nice conversation with him. He is leaving plumbing and going to start a Personal Coaching type business. I was most interested so chatted to him about that...............quite an apt conversation to be having I thought. I told him to send me something when he gets himself set up. Then I went into town and bought some 3/4 pj pants and sleeveless pj tops............we've gone from being cold to balmy summer weather in a matter of a day!! I bought the little ones new jammies too. I took them to Doughnut King, chatted with a friend in Rockmans and bought some new pants and a singlet top, and then headed home where I finished tidying, and folding washing.

Dinner was stir fried vegies plus chicken scrolls from the butcher. Yummo. I had an early night.

Sunday breakfast was Bunny's homemade McMuffin burgers, then I cleaned the beautiful Kleenmaid stove, and the beautiful kitchen, and the crappy bathroom. The kids were good, just playing and Mickey helped me out doing chores, which was great, especially as I didn't ask him to help.

Bunny came home from servicing his car, and then he put together the Ikea drawers. It took 2 1/2 hours....................but looks fantastic and is so much better having all that room. I am very happy with my purchase. The destructions were well pictured and made sense, all the bits were there and everything fitted together really well.

I picked up Billy-Joe and then unpacked some more Tupperware from downstairs, which I washed and put away, putting the rest in a bag for St. Vinnies.

I have had a couple of glasses of wine, and read some of my latest Jodie Picoult book (Vanishing Acts). Bunny is making dinner............gosh I love it when he cooks - what a turn on!!!

Holidays at the end of next week................yeehaaaa!!!





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The control freak loses control

I never got to finish that post from the other day. It was so not a good day. My headache did clear though, and now a few days later, and even though I still have headaches, they aren't as frequent or as severe.........only using paracetomol twice a day, instead of all day long.

Hot flushes a little less frequent, but I am sleeping better with the St. John's Wort and Valerian, so that's something to be happy about. Except here I was not wanting to take anymore medication, and instead I am replacing it........Although I should dwell on the positives, and think that the new stuff is a lot less damaging, but I wanted to be on nothing.......nothing.........just exist on what God gave me! You know, surely all those hormones, endorphins, serotonin, cortisone, adrenalin, and all those things...........wouldn't it be good if we were given just the right amount - so we didn't need assistance. Then on the other hand, one has to question why the benefits of herbs has been around for a very, very long time.........so then maybe it isn't just a sign of the times, there's probably always been a need for things like that.

The upshot, after speaking to good friends, friends who have knowledge, friends who love me, and those who have all the above.............. I have decided that I will ring Dr. Williams' surgery tomorrow, and see what I should do. Another option, is to see Adrian the naturopath at my chemist, who may be able to make me a brew. Another option is to try another progesterone cream. Another option is to try another natural thing. I am still on the fence about going back onto HRT.

This post is finished, I want another one which is a happy one.

How are you?

I always answer with the utmost courtesy..........
"Great thanks, really good - and you?"

Let's face it, if someone asks you how you are........imagine if everyone actually espoused exactly how they were feeling.......this one small gesture of courtesy would die a natural death.

At the moment my reply would be lengthy, and a little heavy on the negative side.

"I have had headaches everyday now for weeks on end. I eat Panadol like M&Ms and it's getting to a point where paracetomol, isn't doing the trick anymore? I usually get up and have a headache within a few minutes of getting up, if I don't have one then, I usually get a worse one later in the morning, and it's really hard to kill. I've had two lots of panadol and two lots of nurofen plus and I am still achy in the head. The chemist gave me something stronger tonight but I was advised to take it later........(but I want it to go away now, once I am asleep it goes anyway!!) I don't know if I am game enough to take it while I am still 'up'.

I have been taking an extra 1/4 tsp of my progesterone cream every morning, and I don't know whether there's a subtle improvement, or whether I am really good at kidding myself. "

Have to go now, but have more to add to this post.........

Thank you

To a thoughtful friend who sent me this today.

"To lie sometimes on

the grass under trees

on a summers day,

listening to the

murmur of the water,

or watching the clouds

float across the sky,

is by no means a

waste of time."

-Sir John Lubbock

Writing is therapy - right?

Maybe if I just sit down and say how I am feeling, I can close it up and then just move on. It's kind of like praying, handing it over to God and saying I can't do this by myself, so you have to just guide me please? So I guess this is in essence a written prayer.

So where do I start? Today I was happy, no work, and the house is up to date. So that means I an do whatever I please. Anything! I sit all day and read a book!! I am too lazy to go and do something productive. I mean, I can always clean out cupboards, or clean behind stuff, or tidy kids' rooms, or scrapbook, or edit photos, or update my recipe blog, go for a walk, go to the library, go to Maroochydore and collect my much wanted bowls which have arrived.............no I sat and read a book. I did clean out the filing box, and tidy up, but that's it. I sat and read a book - half the morning and half the afternoon.

I don't go dancing when I feel like this, heck I don't want to go anywhere. I just want to stay home. Safe, content (well not really, or I wouldn't be feeling blech!) but it's the easiest option.......

I write about my positive things, and there are so many. I am grateful for them every single day - that makes me feel more guilty, because I know I have no concrete reason for feeling like this. I love my family and I love looking after them, and making sure they have everything they need. I enjoy my work, and equally enjoy not going to work - just that I like the money and the challenge of doing something I often feel totally under qualified to do.

So what are the negative things............just me!

I have been in a fair bit of pain of late. The crushed crab shells keep me going, they are fabulous. Without them, I would be in bed.......that's the honest truth. I would not be able to function. The CCS keep my back pain free, they also help my achilles and my neck and my thoracic spine too. It's my hands that have been giving me a lot of trouble of late, or more specifically my fingers. The arthritis is really giving me trouble. The fingers on my left hand have settled down a little, although they can't tolerate being squeezed by my husband, which he often loves to do when he is holding my hand. They were so sore, that at night time I couldn't even move my hand, because it was so painful. Like I said, that's settled a bit. The middle finger on my other hand, now that's a different story. It has enough pain in that top knuckle to compete with the entire left hand's original pain. It's even growing nobbly bits on it. I went to the doctor because I was concerned about the pain I was having. I am not a wimp, but it's been a couple of months, and it's not easing. There's nothing I can do about it. Osteo arthritis, can flair up and then settle down again It can be so bad that there are things I can't do. My husband gets his socks and they aren't folded properly. I turn then into themselves like my Mum does, and sometimes I just can't turn the socks inwards...........it hurts so much. Changing the bed linen is painful too, holding the whole doona while putting the cover on........holding something heavy, like a shopping bag, or even a milk carton.

Then, to top it all off...........my tennis elbow is giving me grief again. I can't even wipe down my huge kitchen bench with my right hand. Thank goodness I have always been able to do a lot of things with my left hand, so it's really no big deal...........I can feel the inflamed tendon and I can massage it, it's so acute, it almost brings tears to my eyes. I did it vacuuming, too much stress holding the vacuum in one hand. I had it years ago, and then didn't vacuum for months - dh did it for me. It's back now with a vengeance.........

On the hot flush front, I am still having flushes, although not as many. I rang the surgery and am taking a 1/4 of a teaspoon extra of the cream for a fortnight to see if that makes a difference. I have also noticed that if I drink more than a couple of very small glasses of wine, they're heaps worse. So I am careful. On Father's Day, I drank much less than I normally would on a day of celebration - and not that I get drunk, drinking less, is never a bad thing. Then I read back on all the wonderful things that the cream promises, and I don't see them all fulfilled yet, I need to be patient. It promised that I would sleep better, and that certainly hasn't changed. I am taking the Valerian tablets every night now, and have a much better night's sleep.

I have prattled, aimlessly, possibly jumping from one thought to the next.

I have a special friend, a man I met in Springbrook. Peter and I became very good friends with him, but he and I were friends first. He lived on his own, was near retirement and we enjoyed each other's company. It's his fault I learnt to love expensive red wines!! He was a guidance counsellor at the private school where he worked and he would often listen to my ramblings. I would get into these types of 'moods' and he would always say.......
"Jen, don't should on yourself."

I always feel guilty and think I should be doing something other than what I am doing........... Like today, I should be doing cleaning, whatever, whatever, rather than reading a book........and this afternoon I heard Noel's words in my ear...........'Jen, don't should on yourself'.

It would help me to remember that more often.

My drive

I am very lucky, when I drive to work, this is what I contend with.........
The only thing I contend with are cows and the odd flood.

Wonder what's going on

I don't know what's going on, but over the weekend my hot flushes started again. I had the worst night on Saturday night, was awake and everytime I was awake, I'd have another hot flush. During Saturday wasn't good either. I have been in touch with a friend who has also just started on this treatment, but she has done some reading on this, and it can happen, that hot flushes start again before everything is stabilized. It's not Tuesday and I haven't had anything since Sunday night, so I hope that's a positive thing. I feel quite happy about it all now, but was rather frightened on the weekend that all the money, time and effort that I had spent to try and change my medication was going to backfire. I felt sick! If the flushes continue, then I will have to go back to the doctor. I have no intention of going back onto oral HRT ............

Grateful

It's one of my favourite emotions. Kind of leaves you feeling all fuzzy and warm. With being grateful comes contentment, another aaaahhhh emotion. They bring with them a feeling of peace and comfort.

Every night I sit down in my chair, read a book watch TV, or browse the internet, while my husband is downstairs watching his TV programs contentedly and my kidlets are tucked up in bed. I am in my house, which we bought, which we are so fortunate to have bought at the right time. Yes my house is too small, (with a huge kitchen though) and it's built on land where you wish you were a mountain goat, but it's ours! We pay $200 per week house repayments, much less than most people pay and considerably less than what rent is.

Yeah, it's humble, it's warm, it's filled with a loving family and a husband and wife who adore each other.

It doesn't get much better than that now does it?