What a difference a week makes :)

Just to let you know I AM still alive and slightly kicking after my "heart" episode which on some further investigation has uncovered a non-life threatening but progressive pain in the anatomy none the less.  I worked the previous Monday night without incident though with my back still aching from the weekend/week before.  By Wednesday (which I thought was Tuesday, due to sleeping a good amount after Monday's night shift, and duh) I had a pain in the chest again, took asprin and breathed through it and decided to make an appointment at the chiropractor to sort my back which was not improving.  I have to say, this experience could not have been more different to the last torture chamber episode (written up in earlier post during the year) although I was a touch apprehensive at the start of the procedure.  I had to get down to nickers and don one of those gorgeous gowns all things medical seem to have a preponderance of.  (Knickers were on the right way this time so off to  a good start, lol).  A young bloke  (slightly older than Doogie Howser as most people are these days, lol) appeared and started by introducing himself with a firm handshake (scored points right there!!) and then proceeded to get me to answer a range of questions about various parts of anatomy and their workings.  He asked if I had had many falls - yes I said, from horses as a child, and lots of trips and falls over the past few years which I put down to clumsiness and multi-lens glasses.  He then asked if I had ever had a car accident - I haven't I said (he was most surprised at that) and then got me stand in front of a mirror facing him while I had to do some balancing tricks with my eyes shut, before turning me to face the mirror while he explained how out of wack (my words, not his medical term, lol) my spine was.  He said my pelvis was twisted (like the Brunhilda of my last experience had told me)  and my left leg was about 2" different to my right which was throwing my whole posture out, most likely causing pinching of nerves.  Good oh.  He got me to get on the purpose built table in the office and placed a pad of something under my right knee and something under my left lower thigh and left me like that for a few mins before using the staple gun thing a couple of times on my upper spine.  In the short space of time it all took, my pelvis had straightened somewhat and I was sent off to get xrays of my spine and a further appointment booked the next morning. 

I hied myself off to St John of God hospital and within about 10 mins was once again getting into another hospital gown before being led into the xray room where the woman asked if it was possible I was pregnant (before she took my xrays).  Bless, after laughing out loud and thanking her for the compliment I had to stand still, breath out, breath in and snap after snap was taken.  Front, back and side views all loaded onto a CD which when I was dressed again, I took back to the chiropractor so he could read them before the next morning's appointment.  It was around 11.30am and I had had nothing to eat at that point since about 10pm the previous night so decided to head to the Geraldton Regional Hospital to get my fasting blood test done but damn, the fates were against me.  After circling all the car parks twice and starting to feel light headed with hunger I gave it a miss and delivered the CD instead, before heading home for some sustenance. 

The short version is basically my spine is in poor shape.  The chiropractor has seen worse but it would seem time is of the essence.  I have mild spondylotic changes in the lumbar, thoracic and cervical vertebrae (curvature of the spine).  He drew a line on my xrays  where my spine should be, and I could definitely see the curve well below the line.  The front on view of my spine looked a little zig-zagged to my eye, and the tilt of my pelvis was again obvious to the untrained eye.  It would seem I have degenerative disc disease, mild osteoarthritic changes in both hip joints, and shading on my spine in several places would indicate arthritis happening in neck, middle and lumbar regions of my spine - who knew!!  So, after all this, because of my tilt and right leg compensating for the left leg, he could pretty much put all my symptoms of the previous Sunday (my imagined heart attack/angina all down to skeletal issues.  The plan is to have two sessions a week for four weeks which hopefully will put me in better shape and then a review.  The first two sessions did not make much of a difference to the by now chronic back ache but am feeling much better after yesterdays session.  Rather than the brutal crack, thump and wallop mode that I previously experienced, this practice follows a much more holistic and gentle approach by letting the body right itself as much as possible.  I am also on light duties at work for the next two weeks and he suggested mowing the lawns on my hill was probably not the wisest as I am trying to get spine functioning how it should.  So for the first time I am pleased that my back has given me enough gyp to see someone about it instead of taking pain killers until it went away.  I would never have had an xray to say the least or thought that I was so out of wack except once again, it was obvious when I was stood in front of the mirror with my shoulders on a complete tilt.  When the chiro told me that this was all part of the aging process for me now my response was, that I had had a good time getting to this place, lol and forewarned is now forearmed.  Thoughts of do I want a long time or a good time sprang to mind but I think with some minor changes I can do both, heh heh.  I had my first night back at work after a day off on Sunday and managed ok.  I had babies changed and delivered to me to feed, then picked up from me and put to bed, was able to sweep the floors but did not have to mop, and did folding and surface cleaning that did not involve bending or lifting and felt good at the end of the shift this morning so will see how we go.

Because of my confusedness with the Tues/Wed timing, I missed going to Rotary last week and did not go this week because of my shifts at work but have received an invitation to join so will organise having a coffee with the membership director later in the week.  I had a chuckle because the person who invited me along referred me to the chiropractor I am now going to, and would you know it, another woman from Rotary is one of the receptionists there. The small world of Geraldton!  

Last Sunday  one of the women from work came over for a scrap booking day which was fun.  She has done heaps and I have lots of resources, have just needed the prompts to get going.  It was a perfect day, nice and sunny even if blowing a southerly wind most of the day and we sat in the sun room overlooking 180o of the Indian Ocean whilst working at our respective projects.  I have No 1 grandson's 2nd birthday just about sorted, lol. 

I had a laugh earlier when reading niece Laura's blog,  http://www.hungryandfrozen.com  describing costumes various members of the family wore to a dress up 21st last weekend midst her food blog.  I had a moment when reading that her mother went as the ugly sister when the thought - she needed a costume for that, flashed through my mind lol.  It was a fleeting thought and a comment I am sure Kay would appreciate with the wit in which it is said, heh heh - ahhh the days of sibling rivalry that make such good stories now at family gatherings. 

Have just looked at the time and I need to get some sleep before tonight's shift so will stop and hope to finish this off at work early next morning.

Later:
Have just fed one of the babies and he is back in bed, all the chores are done except some school lunches so have snuck on here while we have a movie on the telly to pass the time away before the next baby awakes. Its 4am and have to say I am feeling a tad weary. I am thinking of having something to eat or maybe a coffee and that should ping me awake again. I weighed in earlier tonight and have officially lost 7.2k woohoo which is timely re my back, so all good.  I need to move before I doze off so will post this now. Looking forward to another warm day today, it was 36o yesterday and too hot to walk outside in bare feet.

What it takes to have a night off work, lol and minor car blip :)

Posting is top of my to do list today, so here goes.  Have just got to remember I have the sprinklers on outside watering the garden so that hopefully my new lettuce plants survive.

Speaking of survival, both the car and myself have had near misses so to speak,  this last week. I was driving back from work just after midnight last Thursday night, admiring all the twinkling lights at the port, thinking how great it was to see lights on all through the night, much like the steel mill at home (kind of pyschological support when you live on your own and yes it was a long thought, lol) when glancing down, I noticed a light that said "engine", was on.  Eeek!!!!  Thinking that I was about to cook the engine, the dilemma was to keep going or stop,  but as I was still aways from home and not wanting to walk  at that time of night I decided to put a few words upstairs and crept home - about a mile.  I was going so slow it took me three goes to get up the hill which is my driveway,  and when I stopped the car, ?smoke/steam was pouring out from under the bonnet with that horrible rancid metal smell that indicates something is extremely hot.  I stood contemplating the car for a moment once I was out, pulled all my things out in case it was smoke not steam in case it was going to burst into flame any moment, then when it didn't immediately do that, left it over night to cool down.  The next morning I checked the oil and water - the radiator was nigh on empty and the oil was ok so topped up the radiator, nothing appeared to leak out anywhere and with a certain amount of trepidation, turned the engine on.  No light appeared, the car kicked over and woohoo it gets to live another day.  I need to get it to the garage for a service I guess as the last thing I need is for the engine to go bang on the way home from another night shift.

Had a nice evening on Saturday as I was invited to the exworkmates' place for dinner to celebrate their eldest daughter leaving school - where did the time go!!! ( and she has her full licence now).  Barbeque dinner and a fierce game of scrabble afterwards with Nana (as the grandparents are visiting for several weeks) Gerard and family friend.  The tiles were reasonably kind to me, I haven't played scrabble for ages and it was fun with all the banter around the table.  I was moving gingerly as after spraying weeds with roundup earlier in the week, then sitting for two days at a work conference, my back had gone out.  I was coming right but unthinkingly had lugged several heavy bags of groceries into the car prior to dinner and by the time I was ready to go home I could barely move.  Decided to have an earlyish night, took voltarin,  and woke up bright and early the next morning so thought I would check out the state of the nation on the computer for awhile, whilst  the rest of the world woke up.  I remembered I had washing to hang out so at 7am went out to the line and while I was (slowly) hanging out various items I started getting a pain in my chest.  It started as a sort of pressure and then seemed to get more and more somewhat back labour pains (for those playing at home) or an elephant with its foot on your chest .... Great I thought, I am standing here outside on the lawn with just a dressing gown on (was about to have a shower as well), and I am going to drop down dead on the lawn in all my glory, lol - charming indeed.  (I figure if you go to the worst scenario and work backwards, it is never so bad, lol).  I got back inside (phew) and not only was the pressure getting heavier, I started getting pains in my jaw and pressure/pain in my left arm and for good measure felt like I wanted to throw up.  Went to go to the loo in case of being sick and decided I needed to sit instead.  Great, now I am in another position where I could die in extremis as have heard tales that a lot of people die on the loo with a heart attack ( it is getting better and better by the moment).  I have also heard that if you think you are having a heart attack you should cough, so there I was sitting and coughing and when able to move again, hied myself out of there.   OK, now I was getting a little more concerned and as I was thinking - drive or ambulance to the hospital to get this checked out, friend Donna rang.  She was being smart on the phone at the start thinking she had woken me up until I groaned and as soon as I told her how I felt, she dropped everything and zoomed over to take me to the hospital.  I opened the front door (again in case I karked it on the spot, lol) and went to throw some clothes on and not long after Donna arrived. Fortunately I had piles of laundry on the bed, grabbed knickers, threw a sleeveless dress/long top and a pair of jeans on.   Got to the hospital which is not far away and after explaining symptoms, was whisked straight into A&E and into a bed. They put an oxygen mask on me (nearly made me gag and felt very claustrophobic at first), then put my finger in something like a peg (I think that reads oxygen stats) and a blood pressure gizmo on my arm that continued to take my blood pressure automatically every 15 mins or so for the rest of the day.  Someone came and took blood and was so good at it, I didn't realise till later that she had put a leur in as well.  While that was happening, another nurse started placing these round plastic dots  with what looked like a dome in the middle about my person and then was hooked up by a variety of plastic wires to the heart monitor.  The good news is that the results were pleasingly dull and boring, all was well.  The nurse came to explain what they were doing by taking bloods and apologised for using technical terms to start with.  I said I knew exactly what she was talking about as I had worked on the heart ward at home (albeit as a social worker but I learned the lingo, just not how to read the heart monitors which is no bad thing for a social worker, lol) and to fire away.  I knew that if I had had a heart attack it would show in the troponim levels in my blood - an amazing diagnostic tool that can  tell when and if an attack  has occurred - something to do with enzymes in the blood.  Mine were negative but the hospital protocol is you have to stay there for 8 hrs for another blood test to make sure before you are sent home.  Somewhere around 10.30am I asked if I could pay a visit to the loo as my eyes were about crossing and after being unhooked, got there and had to laugh - a whole new meaning to not getting your knickers in a twist when I found that in my daze, I had mine on back to front.  I thought they felt a little unusual but on a scale of 1 - 10, at the time, that was not the end I was most concerned about.

I have to say, the staff were amazing and I felt I was in very good hands.  I was moved to a side room as time went on with another woman who was having angina for real and who was later sent by air with the Flying Doctors to Perth for more specialised treatment ( she had been having angina for three days and was diabetic to boot !!!).  I was given asprin early in the piece to take and by 11am was feeling a little peckish.  Was given sandwiches and then must have dozed and missed lunch so was given more sandwiches with apologies late afternoon.  Got to experience watching tv in hospital - the screen fixed from the ceiling above the foot of the bed, hand controls much the same as the controls to move the bed and the speaker/volume of the tv is in the hand control so several people can watch different channels and nothing can be heard much further than the bed you are in - brilliant, can I take one of them home, lol.  Dozed in and out of watching a V8 race - part of the series which finishes this coming weekend,  and then the beginning of the "Return of the Pink Panther",  which looks so dated now. As my 8 hrs were coming to an end, another blood test was taken, all normal and was allowed to go. They took the blood from the leur and unfortunately the protocol for doing that is the first 5ml is thrown away and the next amount drawn up can be tested (in case of impurities), so that was a bit of a challenge to lie still while needles were about my person.  This week I have to have a cholesterol blood test done and have to do a stress test.  I have to say I felt a complete fraud after the first hour with nothing further happening, not even a twinge of anything but was reassured I had done the right thing at the time.  They gave me a medical certificate for work for that night and then it was time to go home again. 

The workmate had said the night before, why didn't I ring them when the car was on the blink the previous night, they would have come and got me, so I had promised if I needed help again I would ring,-  so rang her phone - no answer, rang Gerard - no answer, rang eldest daughter- no answer and last but not least rang the home and this time got Nana who said everyone was at work but Grandad was out and about picking one of the boys up and he would come and get me.  I found a seat outside the hospital and was happy to sit in the afternoon sun which warmed up my bones without being unpleasant and was just day dreaming away when   popped up one of my ex Tardun neighbours beside me.  She had been driving along the highway, past the workmates car which had broken down just after picking up the others from work and even though she was on the way to a birthday party with her two young boys, she deviated to come and pick me up to drop me home. Bless.  Am happy to report all is well since.  Had an early night Sunday, slow day Monday with an afternoon sleep then worked night shift and then slept again yesterday afternoon and am now back in sync again.  One of the nurses at the time said there could be a variety of reasons for the pain/pressure I experienced, reflux, gall stones etc etc so will just have to see how things go.  The other thing I am thinking is that my whole system is out of whack with my back out, so it could be something to do with that.  Watch this space.  The good thing is if I get a similar pain again, I will take an asprin and if not gone in half an hour, will have to do the whole process again.  Forgot to mention they took an xray as well so not sure when I will hear about what that indicated if anything.

Have just rung for an apt at the chiropractors and realised it is Wednesday, not Tuesday like I thought and I have missed the Rotary meeting this morning - buggar.  (small pause while I go and turn the hose off).  Donna and I both weighed in at weight watchers last night and despite all odds I have lost 1.2k over the past two weeks.  I was extremely surprised at that as last week I was at conference for two days (previously mentioned) and the food there was rubbish.  All scones with cream, pastries, and very unappetising dinner of buttered chicken and horrible braised steak, lots of bread and pasta and bowls and bowls of lollies on the tables during the day.  The venue was sited right on the coast on the main highway to Perth with beautiful views of ocean, port and sand dunes.  Inside think 1970's budget hotel as to decor etc.  The conference itself ranged from tedious to slightly interesting though the murder mystery dinner the first night was a lot of fun.  We all got dressed up, most were Hollywood stars or other famous musicians and you had to ask one and all who they were and what was their clue to piece it all together.  It was great to see all the costumes and watch people get into character.  My CSI training came in handy, lol, I guessed the who but not exactly how.  It was reasonably obscure and I thought it had to be from exactly the clues we were given which it wasn't.  All good fun though and a great way of mixing people up.

Big news of the day today is the visit by Barrack Obama to Australia.  He will be in Canberra today which is pretty much in lock down mode by all reports on the tv, and is flying to Darwin tomorrow where he and Julia Guillard are announcing closer military ties of some sort - again according to the reports I am listening to with half an ear - have just heard next report and marines are going to have a base in Darwin -- hmmm wonder if any jobs are going up that way, lol.   He has bought his Presidential limo with him, all bullet proofed etc but egg on the faces of the men in black, who left info in a rental car with most of the President's movements today.  Big oooooops.  It was noted he comes with more security people than the Queen did when she was here earlier in the month ....

Am about to go out into the garden to peruse and clip dead heads of some plants.  Am eating cherry tomatoes daily off my plants and I see a couple of beans are ready.  Have planted new bean plants and am hoping the locusts have all moved on as about three plants only survived from the last batch.  I want to mow the lawns but not sure how sensible that is with my back being the way it is.  A pox on feeble body parts!!!!  I did carefully, spray the weeds out front yesterday morning as it must have been the only windless morning in weeks.  Did not lift the container of spray this time but moved it about on the ground slightly bending to spray - all good with no ill effects afterwards that I noticed.  The weeds out the back are dead or suitably dying so have been picking them out of the path which is beginning to look great again.  Have forgotten whether I mentioned the purchase of a worm farm in my last post and am happy to report the worms appear to be growing and multiplying and I have fed them the first lot of vegetable scraps.  Am disposing of all poisoned weeds at the tip so none of those going in the compost or to the worms. 

Am feeling peckish and it is time for lunch. Will go harvest some more tomatoes and work from there - have some ham in the fridge so may make a mini pizza, hmmmm choices.  Air Force 1 has landed, 20 mins early as he arrived with a tail wind.  Non-stop reporting on telly for the afternoon such is the newsworthiness of it all. 

And just in case anyone is concerned about my dramatics above: I AM ALL GOOD :):):)

T'is me again :)

Good grief, another month has passed, so this may need a cuppa tea and a sit down to read :):).  When I checked in to write a post today, the format has completely changed which has thrown me a bit but hey ho, will see if this is the new and improved, lol.   The last time I wrote I was in the midst of a lurgy - well it took four days to come right and had the energy of a wet noodle.  Back to work for two 12 hour days on the weekend after having used two of my days off being sick,  grr , and was ok but still not feeling 100%.  I worked Monday as well and came home, and had cold corned beef ready to go with a new salad I was creating with courgettes and hazelnuts, followed by FRESH mango for dessert.  I ate my dinner but it felt heavy on my stomach, nothing to worry about, just did not feel yippity skip like I thought I would after having such a healthy repast.  Can't remember now what time I went to bed, but remember still feeling a bit meh so read for a bit and tried to get comfortable.  I believe I did doze off but woke around 3.30am having gone from feeling meh to distinctly queasy. While the neurons and synapses of my sluggish brain were trying to do a check through 1000 diseases I could have been suffering from, I had the distinct urge at 3.45am to propel myself henceforth from my place of repose, in a lightening dash to the loo whereupon I was sick.  Ok, I thought to myself heading back to bed, hopefully that was it, but oh no...... for the next four hours I alternated at each end spending very close acquaintance with the porcelain bowl by which time I stopped throwing up but for most of the next day, kept the seat warm with my various trips back and forth.  There are 25 steps from my bed to the loo, (for those playing at home, lol) - that is what I was reduced to as there was not much else I was comprehending at the time apart from muttering imprecations and a pox on those staff members who had bought the gastric bug to work.  So, twice in two weeks I had two days off sick - the shock of that was nearly enough to carry me off.  I spent the next 24 hours, apart from trips hither and yon to aforementioned porcelain, flat on my back in bed.  I think I may have had a couple of sips of water - before friend Donna, bless her, delivered a bottle of lemonade to my door step (I was asleep at the time I think but she would not have been allowed in regardless, lol, all very prevent the plague behaviour at the time).  The next day, I also lay in bed again, this time sipping lemonade and nibbling on some plain biscuits I found in the cupboard.  I dropped 2.7k during this time !!!! and even now am not feeling like a whole lot of food at any given time, sticking mainly to fresh if possible.  If I thought I was unwell at the last time of writing, this time I thought I was dying.  

Several things have happened over the past weeks that now give me regular dates to affix to my calender.  I am not sure whether I mentioned going to a psychic fair some two months ago now.  Friend Donna turned up one afternoon and on a whim, we decided to shoot out to have a look around at the fair. After looking at several stalls, I decided to have a reading from one of the clairvoyants sprinkled around the main room and having fixed my eye on someone who seemed to be doing a roaring business, I wandered round the room and ended up in front of someone completely different.  The reading was interesting, I was told I was lacking in energy (ya think) that if I had a list of things to do, I may get the first one done but maybe not.  After a few more observations from the woman concerned I asked if she was living in my head as she was accurate in all that she said. She did a brief healing on me as I was leaving and I decided to go back the next day and went to a different person who did used crystals for another healing re-energizing blast.  I was so tired that day by the time I got home I did nothing but sleep but OMG the next week went like a dervish about the place. It transpired that the first woman I saw  (Judith) was in fact a Kiwi and in the old six degrees of separation, had attended Waikato University, doing an art therapy course with a woman I had worked with at the then Presbyterian Support group (during my social work training).  It also happened that Judith was going to run a weekend course on alternative healing which coincided with one of my weekends off, so I attended that and had a ball.  The very short version is that she holds a group once a week so that folk can continue building on their skills which I have been able to attend in and around different shifts (doing the course was where we made the Waikato connecton).  Through that course I met another woman who in idle chat said she was going to attend a Rotary breakfast meeting (a couple of weeks ago now) and lo and behold,  has presented me with the opportunity to attend her group for the past three weeks. 

I belonged to the Fairfield chapter of Rotary before I began the Aussie segment of my life and at the back of my mind over the past few months has been the thought to get involved with a community organisation again so was more than happy to be invited along.  The meetings are held at the Geraldton club which is a big old building across the road from the waterfront so we begin the morning with a coffee on the balcony watching the town start the day.  The meeting gathers at 6.45am finishing at 8am so its an early start, lol. I was introduced around to several people on the first morning and then as we gathered to start the meeting, I was struck by a horrible thought, OMG am I going to have to sing the Australian national anthem each week, and if so, can I do it....... At home we always finished our meeting standing singing God Defend New Zealand so there was my rather large dilemma the only words I know to the aussie national anthem are "girt by sea" and "advance Australia fair".  Michelle, who took me laughed when I asked her and said no they didn't do that, (phew) I was more than relieved as we had just beaten the Wallabies the weekend before where I had loudly been singing our national anthem with the telly on full volume at work, with a baby in my arms, telling him to be very afraid when he heard that song when he grew up, lol.  They do toast the flag to start off the meeting and I can drink to that without too much worry I think though it has been so quick I have almost missed it to date.  I was made very welcome and had automatic friends  at the next weeks meeting when three other members arrived wearing All Black colours to celebrate the World Cup win, woohoo.  So now there are four kiwis infiltrating the ranks, heh heh. 

Last meeting, we had a chap come and talk to us about being part of the yacht race following the path of the old clipper ships, navigating the world right now.  All the yachts were docked in Geraldton for several days last week before leaving for Tauranga, NZ their next stop.  Each yacht is built exactly the same, with a crew of 18.  The captain of each yacht is a professional sailor and all the others are volunteers or people who want to experience either the whole race or segments of it.  It costs forty English pounds to do the whole race so not for the economically challenged.  Whilst the yachts were in port here, they were open at times for the public to visit and also took folk out on the ocean for short trips under sail to have an amazing experience.  It was fascinating to hear how 18 folk managed their days and the minimal space, two people rotating sleep in the bunks provided as the other was on deck sailing.  The chap who came to talk to us had lost 13 kilos in weight since leaving England, as meals were mostly rice or pasta and consumed quickly.  The yachts had sailed through the roaring 40's to get here and he said it was so cold that he sais wore 9 layers of clothing to bed and was still cold while sailing through there. 

In between all this, in a bid to try and manage a more healthy approach to life whilst being a shift worker, I have once again trekked back to Weight watchers.  Donna (I know, she appears in most of these life changing moments, lol) wanted company to go along to meetings and again fortuitously, it was at the same time I was wanting to get things back on track.  They have changed the program since I last was on it probably about 5 or 6 yrs ago now and while I love it that fruit is free points, have not got my head entirely around the new way of doing things.  I must be doing reasonably ok as have managed to lose 4k along the way.  It makes life much easier at work , having to eat three proper meals a day with any amount of fruit that I want in between if I am hungry instead of cramming food in on the run.  I have picked up energy (a small amount, lol), and am eating more fresh food, without getting hungry in between and not even wanting rubbish food, not when you can have enough of it to fit in your eye instead of  nearly your body weight in the foods that are good for you.  Have been having fun with smoothies - 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk, frozen banana with a variety of other fruit to hand (strawberries, peaches etc) drop of vanilla and have been putting dollops of ww jelly in and then blitzing with one of those hand held whizz things.  Makes massive amounts to drink and it is like a meal all by itself.  I was told the trick of peeling bananas and wrapping individually in glad wrap to freeze and it works a treat to thicken without having dollops of ice instead.  The jelly gives colour and sweetness, and when blitzed and drunk immediately, you would never know it was in it.  Things took a bit of a hiding this week as I have just been at conference for two days with work and all they offered was prepackaged, pasties and such like,  but back on track this morning so all good.

Am back at work this afternoon after having a week off for annual leave which was when I had planned on going south with Jude which unfortunately did not come off in the end.  She got offered two weeks work cooking for a shearing gang which she couldn't refuse and in the end it worked out well for me as I have been catching up on a heap of things off my to do list.   I am in the process of getting four years of taxes sorted out - that involved four days going through receipts and papers going back to my arrival - two rubbish bin sacks full of rubbish and on the fourth day, found the last two papers I needed for my Aussi paper work.  Got two new tyres on the car, the front right hand wheel had a slow leak so kept needing to get it pumped up, so decided it was a good time to get things checked out.  It transpires that the other two back tyres need to be upgraded as well and that will be on next weeks list.  They do not have Warrant of Fitness over here so no cause to get your car checked for safety any time unless the car is over a certain age.  The chap at the tyre place said all the tyres were in a parlous state and if stopped by the cops for anything, my car would have been yellow stickered as unsafe so a lucky save there and should be set for another year at least after the upgrade. 

Am looking at the time and need to make tracks to get ready for work, can't wait to catch up with the kids and see how much the babies have grown while I have been away. Was going to add some photos but will leave that until the weekend I think when I have more time.  Will aim for another post by next Monday with photos :):)