Christmas and other things.

Christmas is both the best and the worst time of the year I think.  Best because it is an excuse/reason to reconnect with friends and family and to be able to share with them. Worst because Christmas always needs to be one more month away, lol.  With the best intent in January, I tell myself, this year I will be organised.... and yet.... work, visitors, and the" must dos"  in life seem to get in the way, lol.  I tend to buy things during the year for Christmas with the thought I will be ahead of the game, but constantly find a trillion things for one person and still struggle to find something that fits for the others.  As an exercise in speed organisation, I spent several harried days at Glenfield Mall in Auckland (while on my "holiday") sifting and sorting, managing to get the whole NZ contingent sorted and wrapped before I left - no mean feat indeed.

 Last Saturday we had the Tardun Christmas get together - not at my place this time but at the Brentwood Olive Grove about 15 mins south of Geraldton.  This place was on  Jude's and my  bucket list to visit and when she found out that this weekend is the last time they will be open to the public as a cafe, she fixed a date and amazingly it worked.  Due to the casualness of the invite and response she had only booked for 14 when 20 turned up and full marks to the staff who squeezed in an extra table and chairs.  We responded by liberating most of our water glasses for other guests and stuck to our drinks - in taller glasses and so the world goes round.  Need I say that the food was exquisite.  I ordered the Mediterranean platter and on reflection supposed it really was a shared thing, heh, heh, but as I had no breakfast and had not planned on much dinner, it was yee har instead. OMG it was divine.  Two small dishes of caramelised  onion dip and hummus, hazelnut stuffed green olives, a long green pepper stuffed with couscous, two vegetable samosa type things, marinated mushrooms, slices of warm turkish bread, preserved artichokes and capsicums in oil, and a couple of other interesting mixtures of I know not what,  but exceptionally tasty.  The serving was large and I managed every finger and lip licking bit of it. However, if that was not already enough, I soared into orbit with dessert  and felt at this point I had died and gone to heaven.  Way beyond OMG, lol.  I had an enormous home made meringue covered with lemon butter delivered on a bed of whipped cream.  The lemon butter was what I would have called lemon honey at home and pow, the zingyness of the lemon flavour with the sweet of the meringue was absolutely divine   Anyone with a spare pot of lemon honey/curd in the cupboard, go create this straight away, lol.

Feeling just a tad replete and after much laughter, catching up, reminiscing and several hours later, we exchanged gifts with those we would not see again before Christmas and I hitched a ride back with the WMH to flop on the couch at home.  Donna had arrived the night before with her lad and I had picked up "my" lad for the weekend,  so as I recounted the day to everyone, the boys asked if they could have a candy cane of the tree - yes and pass one round to me and Donna too. You know there are just some days you should quit when you are ahead.  I was biting on my candy cane with the few teeth I have left when crunch and that sickest of sick feelings that something was not quite right.  I removed myself to the bathroom, and spat out into my hand candy cane and a massive piece of filling!!!!!!  I also think I have nearly broken the tooth from its moorings because if I touch it the wrong way it feels like it is going to come out of its socket.  So far, it is not hurting so am trying to work up enough courage to find a dentist and then to cope with what ever verdict will come - it will come with a four figure price tag as my teeth are in a parlous state and then there is the trauma I usually go through - am needing this like a hole in the head and at the end of my proposed visit I may well be looking at just that - no teeth at all, lol.

Speaking of teeth, again the few I have left are mainly the sharpened front ones and they certainly were working well  on Monday night!  I had a real estate person ring me on Wednesday  last week saying they had a prospective buyer to show through and would the next day be ok. No, I said, I will be sleeping (on night shift) and will be sleeping Friday as well, Monday afternoon will be ok as I will be at work.  All good.  On Monday I get back here at just after 11pm and went to walk through the front porch door only to find it locked!!!!!! You have to be joking I thought - the only key I had to get in was the front door  which was behind said locked door.  A quick check about the place and of course post burglery earlier in the year, the house is locked down tight as the proverbial fishes bum. Blood pressure was starting to do a slow burn and while thinking what to do I went to txt the WMH to see if he was still up  only to find a txt from Emily his daughter earlier saying that she had gone back home when she couldn't get in also,  so just drove round instead.  Luckily  Gerard was still up and thankfully while I was seething and fanging about useless, poxy real estate people, he found me a phone book and I rang the rental people and the real estate agent only to get answer phones!!!!! Arggggh  - of course all my emergency numbers were locked in back at mine.  While contemplating what to do - break a window to get in and sort it out, ring the police to see if they could break in, rip some soft toy to pieces, lol, the phone rang and it was the rental people.  I explained the situation and was told to meet the person at the office in 20 mins - they had to get dressed and travel in from out past where I work.  Phew, as Gerard had a total house full, with one couch to spare which I could have used, but after an exhausting weekend and 10 hours work, I just wanted my own bed.  So, at quarter past midnight, with two sets of keys in case one didn't have the right key (?) I was back into my own house.  I got in yet another sliding door into the sun room this time as the porch door had been snibbed from the inside from the prospective buyer thinking I had left the place unlocked - ya think!  As I relayed to a colleague yesterday - do people not know  farm rules over here - if a gate is shut you leave it shut, if it is open you leave it open, It is the same with flaming doors!!!

Once in bed I took some time to de-stress with a few games on the laptop and probably fell asleep around 1.30 2.00am to be woken by the phone at 8am by the real estate agent profusely apologising as he had just got my message.  I was ALMOST able to see the funny side of things by then, but 8am, come on, still the middle of the night for me, lol.  He totally redeemed himself however when I finally got organised and left for work, and yes out of the now open porch door, to find a parcel wrapped up in Christmas paper which was a basket of goodies and a card apologising for the day before.  A very professional and appropriate response and they will also get the bill for the call out so all is well with the world once more.

I got back last night from work at much the same time to find two new parcels at the kitchen door from NZ so yay - they have gone straight under the Christmas tree and will wait with anticipation to see what is within.
I have got a good amount of Christmas cards done and dusted.  Had a bah humbug moment with them too - went to print off my Christmas letter to enclose with most of the cards  and sod, sod, sod, the printer would not print.  Cleaned the nozzle - several times, changed inks and got everything going except the black. Shot up town to buy some more black ink and even that would not work so figure the nozzle must be clogged good and proper.  Was just going a pale shade of puce with frustration when I had a eureka moment - print it in a colour.  Tried a dummy run with blue and bingo it worked.  Another yay moment and then to double side a three page letter which is the smallest update I could manage, lol.  Several dummy runs as it had to print all the page ones, then be manually taken turned upside down or whatever to do the page 2's and lastly another run for page three.  Unfortunately, the printer hamsters were on the fritz too, so it took forever as I had to cancel and reload the job numerous times.  Flipping technology.

Speaking of technology or maybe it should be electronic/mechanical?  my fridge might be on its last legs.  It is an ex-Tarden model of unknown years and is temperamental in its closing doors habits.  I went to get something out of the icebox/freezer on Friday to find a mini thaw and refreeze had occurred that now prohibited the door being closed properly at all. Damn, I only cleaned it out the week before.  There was nothing for it but to do another quick defrost, de-ice and get it sorted before the weekend.  All done,with everything in neat and tidy, I finished, cooked dinner for Donna and the boys and retired from the kitchen for the night.  When Donna went to get water out of the fridge the next morning she noticed it wasn't very cold and then not long later checked to find I had not switched the sodding thing back on - another arrrrgh.  Luckily the freezer food was all ok but did not trust some of the fridge things so another clean out of food stuffs while I am thinking I may just throw money in the air - it will have the same effect as I had to throw out chicken I had cooked the night before - one thing I would not trust to keep.  Then one of the boys hung off the fridge door while I was cleaning it which I think was one too many things for it and now if you do not give the door a good slam, it will not seal properly.  Am keeping a bare minimum of things in there and eating mostly at work with the shifts I have this week, so will see how I go. Will not buy a new fridge regardless though may have to look at the prices of a second hand one.  The other fridge I had from Tardun I had given to the WM and family ages ago and that also died in the last few weeks so no replacement there.

I have tomorrow and Friday off so that will be my next flurry of last minute cards, gift wrapping and sorting out things like enough meds to get me through Christmas, maybe the tooth, and two lots of catching up with folk for Christmas coffees.  I missed the Christmas work dinner as I had to work night shift last week,  but was more than happy with that.  The Tardun Christmas and the actual day which I will spend with the WM, WMH and family will do me. I am having Christmas and Boxing day off this year and plan at this stage curling up with a good book on Boxing day, hopefully in the sunshine, on the couch in my sun porch with maybe a few carol CD's on in the back ground.

I have not watched the news on tv for weeks now, occasionally get a newspaper and listen to the news on radio to and from work and was floored by two tragedies over the past week.  The first was the woman who committed suicide after a prank call from a Melbourne radio station to the Duchess of York while in hospital.  The DJ's pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles and the woman who died put the call through and gave out some information I think.  I am so over "it is just a joke" mentality that is often the excuse to cover bullying and mean acts.  The two DJ's are devastated but too late when it has cost someone their life - hopefully the entertainment media that passes for news etc these days will take a good long look at themselves.  The two concerned thought it was ok because it had been cleared by the legal department!!!

The other tragedy that bought tears to my eyes was the shooting of the children at school in the States.  What utter, utter horror and too horrible to imagine for the families of those killed. I think I picked up at paper at Maccas when I went for a coffee and to faces of the children killed was what bought tears to my eyes - all so young, cheeky and full of life when they were taken.  I believe the outcry on gun control is in full swing - and some mention of mental health.  The frightening thing is many of us work with damaged children, young adults who could so easily do same and the lack of support for anything to do with mental health is huge.  Australia and New Zealand have had their own multiple tragedies - each one that occurs leaves an indelible mark - the pain for those left behind is incomprehensible especially with the randomness these events occur to ordinary  people going about their daily business expecting to return to their homes and families at the end of a day.  I briefly caught a clip of President Obama bought to tears by the school shootings and you would have to hope something will come out of this event to prevent it happening again.

It is time to get moving for another day at the salt mines.  School finished yesterday for our kids so I am thinking there will be lots of beach time in the next week.  We are having lovely fine days and warm weather but there is still a lot of wind blowing.  I thought my washing and the tent the boys put up to sleep in on Saturday night, would all end up in the neighbours as the wind was so strong over the weekend.  Gotta fly :)

Tis the Season to be Jolly already!

This has not been my most salubrious year for posting blogs and to the ever faithful out there I do apologise.  I have been in the midst of writing my Christmas letter reflecting on the year that has passed and it has gone by in a whirl.  I think the challenge for me this year is as I have said before, a good chunk of my life is taken up by work which because of confidentiality is difficult to write about meaningfully without breaching said confidentiality.  The job by its nature in working with traumatised children takes a lot of emotional energy and with working shifts - 12 hours on the weekends and mostly 9 or 10 hours, the single cells left at the end of each shift do not have much energy to replicate into fluent or cogent thinking.

That being said, I am pondering on how to do better as when I get cracking, I do enjoy writing it and the responses I receive.  As I checked in today I realise that I had begun a post while in NZ on holiday and never finished it so a quick recap.

I flew into Wellington this time to spend Labour Weekend which included No 1 grandson's 10th birthday.  First mission was to buy a phone which took two days of trips into the city and back before I was satisfied.  It seems Telstra in Australia locks their phones so you cannot buy a prepaid sim card and drop it into your phone though in NZ you can do that very thing.  After buying a $5 sim card the first day and it not working, I went back and bought an el cheapo Telecom phone as max it will only get used twice a year until I return home whereby they probably will have come out with a phone that can make you a cup of coffee as well as land man on the moon again.  I also invested in a prepaid telecom dohicky for the laptop so I would have coverage when not at family friendly uber gigs homes to tap into their networks.  Then of course, I became aware I didn't know any NZ mobile numbers as they were all in my stolen phone and not written down, arrrrrgh.  I put in No 1 son's ph number and luckily he had a few of the numbers I needed and so I slowly began to get in touch with immediate family. Tricky when you are trying to negotiate pickups from airports and such like, lol.

Wellington was both fine and freezing so completely typical. I missed an earthquake (minor) earlier in the week.  The 10th birthday took on epic proportions turning into a three day event as all bases were covered having his friends come round for cake and a trip to the movies on the Friday night, cousins, aunts and uncles round for a barbeque Saturday and the piece de resistance - the actual day.  I ended up by taking the three friends and no 1 grandson to the movies and dinner assuring no 1 son that four average kids was a walk in the park compared to some of the ones I have worked with and so it was.  Dinner at Maccas in the food court associated with the theatres preceded the movie and then it was ice cream afterwards with the boys being picked up by no 1 son to be delivered home while I caught the bus back to Karori as there were not enough seat belts for me as well.  All good until I got to Karori and went to txt to say I was there for my pick up and the sodding phone was already flat, this as it began to rain.....  Luckily its only a 10 min walk and I survived without getting too drenched.

The birthday was legendary - no 1 grandson was awake early with excitement and received a couple of small parcels to unwrap before we went downstairs for the main event.  He was given the garage door control to find behind door no 1, there was a brand spanking new bike.  Great joy and instant try out on the front lawn before finding out Mum and Dad also had bought new bikes so they could all go out together for rides in the weekend.  Very impressed we then left for breakfast out at a favourite cafe/restaurant in Wellington called Maranui.  It caught fire awhile back now and it was great to see it re- outfitted and still as popular as ever.  With breakfast/lunch behind us, we then set out to buy helmets to go with the new bike (needed to be there for the right sizing) and then to the local sportshop to buy cricket gear ( my birthday present) as this year no 1 grandson has graduated to using a hard ball.  Therefore pads, helmet, gloves,  a box and special underwear to fit later we were good to go to the next venue which was a go kart facility deep in an industrial area in a huge warehouse.  No 1 grandson started with trepidation but soon got more confident and you would have thought he was racing in a grand prix by the end of it, lol.  I think his Dad enjoyed it just as much. 

The previous day had involved a trip to the Wellington zoo and what a change that has had since I was last there about 8 yrs ago.  They have done a lot of development which means more natural enclosures for the animals that they have.  That was one of the glorious fine days in between the rain so we took full advantage of it before returning for the family barbeque.  No 1 grandson has moved on from Spiderman, Ben 10 and Dr Who with his main focus now being the Hobbit. He was devouring the book and I have since heard he was very disappointed to be away at school camp when they had the premiere of the movie in Wellington a couple of weeks ago.

My time there was over all too soon and I then winged my way to Auckland being met by sister Kay and two of her work colleagues as they swung by the airport on their way home from work.  I was struck by all the green once again, paddocks full of grass as Geraldton was almost in drought conditions when I left.  I spent the first night with Mum and Clive and then gypsy like stayed at Kay's and friend Viv's (waves) for two nights to catch up as they were at work teaching during the days, and I would then spend the days with Mum and Clive so could catch up with all.  One of the highlights was taking Mum and Clive to Pukekohe to see the movie "The Sapphires" - an Australian movie just released about four indigenous girls who form a band like the Supremes and travel to Viet Nam to entertain the troops at the time (set in the late 60's) and is based on a true story.  We had a bite of lunch before the movie so a great afternoon out.  I was able to indulge with plenty of fresh vegetables as Mum and Clive have their main meal middle of the day and it was great to be able to pick things straight from the garden squeaky fresh so to speak.  One lunch I was able to catch up with a friend who I have known since I was 10yrs old, and it made me realise how luckly I am with friends and neighbours who go so far back.  Leonie had moved back home post the Christchurch earthquakes and I got to hear first hand of her experiences that still are taking a toll.  She had been talking to a customer in the shop and delayed going to lunch by about 10 mins when the big quake hit and once she had closed the shop as best she could to get out of it she walked out to find the city in ruins - I think two people were killed outside the shop from falling masonry.  She talked of walking miles to a friends place past areas that were turning to liquification and sleeping under a table at her friends place, too scared to return home.  Then there was the costs and issues of getting out of the city and finally moving back to start afresh, leaving her job, her friends and her life behind.  The trauma was still very fresh for her. 

I got to catch up with my tennants and was very pleased to see how well the place was looking.  I had no car this time home as No 2 son is now using it to get to work and back so was very dependent on others for lifts and the loan of their cars when they were free.  Unfortunately it meant I did not do my usual fly around the country catching up with friend further afield but it did mean I got to spend a great time with family and longtime neighbours instead which was great.

The last leg of my NZ trip involved heading to the North Shore to stay with No 2 son and family and to meet Evie Lily, my first grand daughter (and likely to be the only one I have been told, lol).  She was just on three weeks when I arrived and just over a month when I left so packed in lots of cuddles in between lots of Nana time with the No 2 grandson, who now 3 3/4 yrs was just delightful.  Lots of "No Thank You Nanas" when asked if he wanted to do different things like go to the potty, have something to eat, nap etc in contrast to having fun playing lego, going to the park with his bike, jumping on the trampoline (a sight to behold I am telling you, lol), blowing bubbles, playing firemen with the hose, lots of stories and I was introduced to the movie "Cars" with McQueen and Mater which I saw nearly once a day, lol.  We had a lovely gathering on the last night I was there quite by chance when No 2's brother and sister (their Dad's second family) came with their respective partners and baby cousin for a barbeque.  Friend of the family, Peter who co-incidentally had been  a neighbour of the boys father in their teens, also visited so lots of stories told round the table with lots of laughs over dinner.

While home I had done most of my NZ Christmas shopping at at 4.30am the morning I left, I finally wrapped the last parcel, had repacked and gone to bed for the next three hours sleep before the household roused.  A quick breakfast, shower and last minute checks to see I had everything and we were on the way to the airport for my return to Oz.  We had decided to meet with Kay and Viv at Maccas outside the airport so the family could return home before the baby needed her next feed and after a luggage transfer to Kay's car it was off to check in and a last coffee before take off.  It is never long enough home to do everything that I want but the bank balance required me to return to work in Oz and I reflected that I had squeezed as much Nana time in that I could to get me through another few months.

I had a brief stop over in Sydney on the way back and friend Val once again met me at the airport, this time whisking me off to a French patisserie for coffee and a pastry on the way back to hers where we bunkered down with a cooked chook, salad and some wonderful coffee via her Nepresso machine (as good as cafe coffee if not better) and talked the night to a standstill.  Once again I was blighted by technology with my phone and laptop.  I put my pin in my Oz phone to open it and in a dyslexic moment did the wrong number , tried a different one, tried the first one again and the damn thing locked.  Then my Oz doohickey for the lap top would not work - said it needed to be reregistered so after attempting to get into hotmail (momentarily forgot my password for that too, arrrgh) I fired off emails to friend Donna who was meeting me at the airport for coffee and the WMH who was to pick me up and just prayed they would get the messages.  All good, had a lovely catch up with Donna before catching the flight back to Geraldton and then as I was waiting for my bags the WMH turned up with youngest son to retrieve me and take me to theirs for dinner.  I landed at 6.30pm and started work at 6.45am the next day and for the following two days after that.  I slept my first day off right through needless to say.  I am writing this as I try to get some sleep in before a night shift tonight so will close now and get back to the Christmas theme in the next post.  :)

Buses,cars and planes ......

It has been a roller coaster time as I organised myself to be away from Oz for just under a month, having travelled, and am now in the middle of my stay which is being spent in three NZ locations.  I almost have to take a pause each morning I wake up to get my bearings, lol.

Before I left, I had work of course, and then my 3 monthly purge of the house in preparation for the house inspection, which meant mowing lawns, weed spraying, edge trimming, gaining a cupboard for my laundry and totally resorting that room out putting all cleaning products etc in said cupboard and rearranging boxes etc that I have things stored in, getting all washing and ironing up to date, and of course, after all the tidying, a sweep throughout the house and a mopping of the floors.  Then packing and having a meltdown as I tried three different printers trying to print out my tickets - arrrgh. 

In the midst of this, I had a bit of a social twirl - the Workmates second daughter turned 17 so had a birthday dinner to attend a week before I came home.  I had called round earlier in the day to drop off gift and finalise dinner details when Gerard said it was a shame I wasn't dressed for painting as he was thinking of painting the lounge.  Siezing the moment, I suggested he drop me home with the aforementioned cupboard, and the weedeater I had lent him so I could get changed, and lo and behold, mid dayish, we started on the lounge. 

I took around a small steam cleaner so we did the walls with that as preparation and then bang, a coat of paint that most of the kids help apply, with Gerard doing the high bits.  I moved furniture, dusted, vacuumed as we moved around the room and then helped put things back, finished about 10 mins before Bronwyn walked in the door from a day at work.  Thankfully, she loved how we did things which included getting rid of an old book case that had seen better days. The following day Bronwyn's parents who were over from Victoria for a few weeks came with me to look at a quilting exhibition/craft fair being held at the local basket ball stadium.  There were some amazing quilts on display and I found a few small projects to do whilst trawling the stalls and bought some amazing relishes/chutneys that were being sold by a woman from Angloa - was able to have a taste of each before I bought and yum - a lemon grass and mango chutney, an egg plant chutney and a tomatoe based relish that was a little hotter than the others with an amount of chili in it.  The next evening I was invited to friends of Bronwyn's for a bonfire and barbeque.  What an experience that was - a huge pile of gum tree bits pushed into a pile in the middle of the paddock which went up like a rocket when lit.  The heat was phenomenal and the speed at which it burnt gave some tiny hint at what a bush fire might look like.  Mick had mown the paddock earlier in the day like a proverbial buzz cut and before my eyes, the fire spread out burning the grass left as wide out as the fire went high if that makes sense.  Heaven knows how far it would have gone if the grass had been longer.  Much to my level of comfort, Mick eventually got the hose out and dampened all around where the fire had burnt.

The following weekend, Bronwyn's parents and I set out on another sortie to North Hampton for the 16th annual Airing of The Quilts festival held in the town.  OMG, what an amazing experience that was.  We found a park around the back of the main street and walked to the top end of the main street to look at stalls and then walked the length of the town.  The festival follows the tradition I believe that started in America that represents the coming of spring, airing the quilts before they are put away.  Quilts were strung between shops, in shops, along the footpath areas, and in front of and off the verandahs of the old convent in the middle of the town.  There was a woman driving two ponies and a trap about the town, giving rides.  In the War Memorial Hall, there were spinners and weavers doing their thing among the quilts displayed - work done by various schools for the festival.  There should have been photos posted with this but in a fit of organisation I have put everything on my hard drive and therefore not exactly to hand at the moment.  Botheration!  Will update with NZ news next post. :)

For Unto Us a Child is Born :)

After peeling my eyelids open this morning and wandering to the lounge to check my mobile phone, there was a txt waiting to announce the arrival of Evie Lily at 2.05am this morning (28th September) weighing in at 8lb 11oz, mother and baby happy and healthy and she has dark hair.  So after two wonderful  grandsons  I now have a grand daughter which is awesome -  another great grand daughter for Mum with Evie being beaten to the punch by my brother's grand daughter Jazmin who is now a year old.  I will be getting to meet Evie in a months time so watch this space.

It has been a busy few days - I attended three days training with fellow work colleagues which focussed on a change management process and a way of working with traumatised children which has built on our previous training and will take our working with these children to a new level.  Part of the course involved learning trauma theory which is a huge and fascinating topic.  The impact of trauma on brain development can start in utero if the mother is in a violent or substance abuse life style so these children often operate in chaos with elevated behaviours, unable to learn as their bodies are perpetually geared in a state of  chemical response ready for flight or fight.  Children also often fail to thrive in these conditions so we also deal with children who have not met "normal" developmental stages physically, emotionally, with their ability to learn compromised  until they feel safe, so we have had toddles not yet crawling or walking for example. In one case we had a 9 month old who could not sit up or roll over even when we got her.  We have had 2 - 3 yr olds who have only be able to utter two or three words that are understandable as they have no other vocabulary and then there are the older children who struggle with writing, reading, numbers and social interactions with others.  We have learnt over the past three days several  new strategies as staff to manage our own behaviours and emotions when working with these children so that we can then keep calm and at base line so our behaviours do not escalate theirs.  Am working two twelve hour days over the weekend so will see how I go.  One of the good things about the course was  the affirmation of so much that we are already doing well so the coursewas  by way of fine tuning and going forward for most of us.

At the same time as I was doing the course and during my days off last weekend I have had a little visitor.  As of last Friday, I became an official respite carer for the department just in time to have the little lad I have been having now and then come and stay for a week with me this time.  His full time foster carer ended up in hospital with double pneumonia so I picked him up from after school care last Friday and he is now off to friend Donna and her lad in Perth for a few days while I work and his carer still recuperates.  It has been an interesting time - my kitchen/living space has been turned into an inside camping area with a couch turned alongside  facing several chairs with a double sheet over the top to make a cubby (hut for NZ crew, lol).  A sponge topper pad and the inner mattress out of my swag have been incorporated as flooring, with a small coffee table and other chairs with a small cardboard campfire make up the dining area.  Surrounding all this is various plastic farm animals, army bits and pieces and a construction crew.  I have now seen "Puss in Boots" with Anthony Banderas almost twice a day, lol as the lad was waking at 5.30am each morning ready for the day and so would watch it then,  and then would watch some again on return from his after school program.  I had one night with him waking at 11.30pm with a nightmare, and then he got up at 4.30am this  morning however thankfully he returned to bed after a toilet stop and then slept until 7am - so a veritable lie in, lol.  I have been to a school disco, spent several hours at the foreshore - me with a book lying in the sun while the lad played for hours at the playground and have  had to be organised to make breakfasts, lunches and cook again for dinner - no packets of chippies or choc biscuits at the end of a long day but meat and veg heh heh.  As this little lad is a creature of habit we still operate in most of the routines we had when he was in care which is a familiarity for him and gives some continuity when other changes occur. 

We scored last week when we called into Macca's after the disco - he wanted to leave early, it was a wet and miserable night and we had not had time for dinner beforehand - and when we got there Gerard was still at work.  Gerard shouted us our meal and came and said hello - the lad fascinated by the vampire toy in his happy meal with numerous questions about vampires for the rest of the evening. We then got rung the following night to share Chinese takeaways with the family and scored an immediate hit with the lad as they have Mindcraft - a computer game - on their computer.  No sooner than dinner was finished, he was off to play the game with help from one of the boys and has talked about it ever since.

We have had lots of rain this week with pockets of sunshine so I suppose pretty typical spring time weather.  The warm is getting nice and warm again and it was delicious lying on a rug at the park in part shade to read my book with the sun warming right through to my bones that day.  At least the rain has meant I have not had to water the garden this week.  I have eaten more spinach from the garden and the last lot of plants seem to be holding their own.  I will give them some liquid manure early next week on my next days off.

Today I visited my Italian workmates who over the past few days have emptied their flat prior to leaving Geraldton next Tuesday to return to Italy.  I had lent them some kitchen bits and pieces when they first set up their house so today they returned those bits and I have inherited all the things from their kitchen that they had not sold or been able to give away. With that they also cleaned out the rest of their pantry so have received a pile of ingredients that has restocked my pantry that I cleaned out last week.  I have scored some more exotic ingredients along the way - truffle oil, saffron, Italian pasta, and dry porcini mushrooms to mention a few.  I will be looking through the cookbooks over the weekend to extend my repertoire.  Once I have sorted through everything and decided what I can or cannot use, I will drop all the left over things down to the disaster relief people, the salvation army or St Vinnies - whichever has the easiest parking on the day, lol.

Have just got in the door from the ex workmates place after a game of canasta with Gerard and Hayden - which I won, heh heh.  Bronwyn's parents are over from NSW for a month so also had a catch up with them - will see more of them next week no doubt.  Am on the countdown to holidays home now about 18 sleeps to go - so will head off now and tick one more off the list - need to do a few more chores before work tomorrow so will go sort clothes and finish kitchen.  Will update news of grandchild as it comes to hand :).

"This is the end, beautiful friend, this is the end" In Memory of my friend Justine

I have been deeply saddened over the last week with the news that one of my best friends back home died suddenly while on holiday for a family celebration in Samoa. For those of you who have faithfully followed this blog, Justine was the J of J&J who sometimes left comments at the end of my posts. The sudden and unexpectedness of her death has hit hard - I would have been catching up with her next month on my return to NZ for a holiday and am still trying to get my head around the fact that we will not have our usual debrief catching up on all those things that do not fit into an email/blog etc. We shared a particular time in our lives when both working at the same school and found we had much in common which led us to becoming fast friends. I admired her consumate professionalism at work and regarded Justine as a friend and mentor, learning much from her. I shall miss the shopping expeditions, sharing foodie excursions to local haunts and the dinner parties of several courses and accompanying red wine through to liquors, sitting doing embroidery together, sharing books, and of course that chats solving the world's, the families' and our own issues over numerous coffees, nibbles, red wine, chocolate (in all its forms, lol) against the background of music and or favourite tv shows, comparing photos and news about our respective children and grandchildren - this list goes on.

We introduced family and friends to each other - not only did Justine become friends with Mum, sister Kay, and friend Viv during their many visits when I was Head of Boarding, she also taught niece Laura and had followed her budding career as author of her own blog and now soon to be published cookbook. As a teacher she touched the lives of countless students and was always happy to see where they went in their adult lives. Mum made the trip down to Hamilton for her funeral to represent the family and by all accounts it was a wonderful tribute to Justine. As much as I find her death incomprehensible, Justine was  a woman of faith - something else we shared ( though neither of us had any patience with the man made parts of religion), so am digging deep at the moment to accept this loss.

 The title of this Post comes via the Doors - and it came to me while I was thinking about Justine yesterday, so have run with it even though she was not a huge Doors fan.  Music was very much a theme to Justine's life so much so that many of the towns and cities on their Route 66 tour of the States were to be found in song titles and I remember looking at the map before they went laughing at how many places had been sung about.

As I have been reminded several times over the last week, it has been awhile since I last posted - and the last time I was unwell. I am happy to report that I have returned to health, and hopefully will get to the end of the year without further issues although when working with children, not necessarily guaranteed! We have had children with boils, ring worm and last week the chicken pox (have had chicken pox when I was 12,  so all good there) and of course nits - have dodged a bullet with all of them so far - touch wood. My back that I put out - I gave up going to the chiropractor and toughed it out in the end - not lifting babies heaps has helped with that. Since I last posted it has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster at work too as we had one of our sibling groups move out two brothers at a time, and the other sibling group also move on after having them for over a year. I had become very attached the younger ones of each family group so it was quite a wrench to say goodbye,especially as the transition was not easy for some of them. Luckily I have been able to see one family of  boys a couple of times since and it now seems they are more settled in their new home which is what we hoped would happen. In the meantime we have had another sibling group come and go, and we have several new kids to replace them. There is no shortage of neglected or traumatised children  so the time between kids leaving and new ones arriving is brief indeed.

 Also connected with work, I have been going through the process of becoming a respite foster carer with the department of child protection. I have been having visits from one of the lads I used to look after at work - I am regarded as a person of significance in his life and have managed to stay in touch with him since he moved out. Becoming a respite carer officially means he can stay more than one night at a time so that when his carer needs a break he can come to me instead of maybe having to go to someone who he doesn't know. He is lucky that another work colleague that he knows is already a respite carer so he will then have two of us who can look after him. My first interview was a couple of hours and then the main interview took four hours, with three other referees having 45 mins interviews by phone so it is a lengthy process and I am already on the books at the department through being a staff member!

At the end of last month we had our annual work conference and this year was a huge improvement on last year. In the main there were great speakers and along with the networking, there was quite an opportunity to hear how the district is doing and some specifics from those working on special projects within the department. During one of the sessions we did one of those life balance cycle exercises and I guess it was no surprise to find that work, family and friends were the only things that rated above 7 on the scale of 1 - 10, in level of importance in my life and most other areas were either flat lined or just slightly above. Hmmmmm food for thought indeed.  So,  I am now looking at what I can do to fill some of the flat line areas up somewhat. To that end, I have begun yet another sort through things I have piled up to do when I have time to do them ..... almost an exercise like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, lol.

 I realised I had not taken any photos since my cameras were stolen and that maybe getting another camera might be a step in the right direction. This was by way of getting my hard drive sorted out....... When I went to look for the cords to connect my hard drive to my laptop, I could not find the power pack so headed off to the local appliance shop to purchase a new one only to be told, - we only sell them, we do not have parts!! Snarl, spit, what is the point in that, snarl, spit again so the hapless person delivering the above news gave me two choices of places to go to MAYBE get what I wanted. I hied myself off the one with the easiest parking and there was blindsided by the news - yes we have a power pack but without knowing the amps or some such thing, it is difficult to know which one will work, if too high you may lose all your info and if too low, not to good either - hair now spiking with frazzledness and feeling fangs sharpening to fillet said person behind counter - ok then,  am now exceedingly over this, how do I get the info on the hard drive out of the tetra hard drive thingie so I can get access to all that I have stored on it -- ok, that is easy, I can get the inner hard drive thing out and we have a new case you can put it in for $48. Be still my bleeding heart!  No sooner said than done and why did it take nearly a nervous breakdown on the spot to get that piece of news! Within the space of 10 mins the bloke behind the counter had undone screws placed innards into new casing and given it a road test and all was good - yay - not only a new case with own power pack but also a usb connection and a stand for the hard drive to sit in. Now this place just happened to be two doors away from a Harvey Norman shop so thought why not check out the cameras while I was there - hence I am now the proud possessor of a new Fuji camera that has 30 zoom lens and will take 11 shots a second (when I learn how to do it, lol), it will also do panoramic shots and whoohoo, have had a go at that and it is amazing.


I have also been spending some time in my garden - revived from near death during the summer autumn  months, I have cut back bushes, pulled out lantana bushes that were becoming small trees (also poisonous plants and noxious weeds over here),  have eaten my first lettuces and spinach and hoping that the capsicums, courgettes, tomatoes and basil now take off.  I planted runner beans again but they are very lack lustre in their growth - it is probably cheaper to buy all the above mentioned vegetables by the time water consumption, plants, manure etc is taken into consideration but it is grounding I think to grow things.  I cut lavender stems the other week and stuffed them into a jug to make a nice display inside on the hearth and felt very hunter gatherish when harvesting my lettuces and spinach.  The citrus manuring from last season seems to have paid off and the small mandarin tree that had one  offering last year is smothered in blossom this year - will keep fingers crossed.

Have been visiting the ex workmates a fair bit lately - it is the season for reality talent shows again - The Voice, Australia's got Talent and now X Factor so at least once a week I get round depending on my shifts to try and watch the shows.  Have got into playing cards again - mainly Canasta at the moment and young Hayden has become very adept at playing,  so much concentration is involved with each highly contested game.  He has got very cheeky at his ability to beat his father and me every now and then, lol.  Brianna, the eldest daughter turned 18 earlier in the month and bought a brand new car for herself which is an awesome effort for someone her age.  She is getting it over four years and likely to have it paid off before that - both her mother and I shaking our heads as neither of us has ever owned a brand new car! She works full time now at Macca's and has already made management trainee so doing very well for herself indeed.

Good news over the past few weeks is that sister Kay came through an op after discovering a lump on her neck (that wasn't her head, lol), which turned out to be a tumour on her saliva gland (has some very fancy name which escapes me as I type).  The short version is that the tumour was benign (great release of held breath at that news), the surgeon removed 3cm of saliva gland and got all the tumour leaving Kay looking like she had been in a machete attack by pirates.  As people are wont to do after surgery, she did try to show me  the wound site several times - with me seeing plaster before I could close my eyes (which was bad enough) and I did remark she needed to have health warning mentioned before trying to display her wounds on skype. It seems you are not allowed to "excite" your taste buds for some weeks after this type of surgery as to produce huge amounts of saliva not only hurts but could put the surgery at risk, so befell a fate almost worse than death for a Naysmith - no salt, spice or interesting foods, no tomatoes or acidic fruit, no hot drinks to begin with - just bland, butterless, saltless, most basic of foods - no chocolate of any sort either .....With great strength of purpose, she followed the Dr's instructions and is now slowly reintroducing some taste back into her life, getting a twinge when she has gone too far but in the main, doing ok.  Once again skype came into its own and most days was able to catch up for a quick hello once she was home from surgery . 

Have finally booked my tickets home for next month and that was a marathon effort over two nights - I had requested leave at work which was defined by two lots of training, only to be told I could change the dates when one of the training times was put back from the end of October to December.  As I am trying to work around the impending arrival of the newest grandchild the change gave me a better option if the birth does not happen on the due date so had to rejig dates off work and by then all the flights I thought  I could get  changed as by then it made more sense to go to No 1 son's first in Wellington than to fly to Auckland then Wellington and back to Auckland effectively cutting out one extra flight. 

This has been written in several goes and so will not post before making a sandwich for lunch and heading to the foreshore for a ramble.  It is now the weekend and I have had the young lad I mentioned before since Friday night for emergency respite care while his carer is in hospital with pneumonia - luckily I had the weekend off and have training during the week so can manage drop offs and pickups around pre and after school care.  After three grey, windy and rainy days it is blue sunshine with a stiff breeze so washing is drying on the line and it is warm in sheltered spots.  Need to go as am being told he is starving, lol.  :)

 

Like a dying duck in a thunderstorm!

Not sure if that comes close to how I feel at the moment.  On Monday night, out of the blue, I started coughing.  It was like I had something stuck in my windpipe I thought so cough, cough, cough to try and get it up, but to no avail.  I went to bed slathered in Vicks just in case.  On Tuesday I went to work at 6.30am, continued to cough to the point of nearly being sick and after checking that I had a slight temperature, and being able to find cover, I lurched home at 11am with a stop at the chemist on the way.  I wanted some Codral night and day (reasonably kick a**e meds) and the girl at the counter tried to head me off with some other nancy, less than, medication because of the current meds I am on saying the codral may interfere with blood pressure (this as it was rising anyway from being thwarted, hem hem).  I replied I didn't give a tinkers about rising or lowering blood pressure as I was going to bed for the next few days, that is what I wanted.  She tried to get me to take some cough mixture - puke was my reply, not interested in liquids that taste like paint thinners - but it has a tropical mango flavour ........  She may have noticed my eyes go red, head swivel and steam pour out nostrils so finally handed over the codral and after a quick duck into Coles next door for mandarins and ginger beer, barley and lemon juice and some throat lozenges, I wended my way home.  I took the first codral and huddled in bed hoping everything would all go away soon. 

Not only have I a dose of the flu but also somehow my back has gone out and giving record levels of pain in my sacral/hip area so trying to find a comfortable spot was nigh impossible.  Along with the dry cough that goes until you have coughed your innards up for some small speck of gunk to appear, there is also the headache which feels as the the top of your head is lifting off/being squeezed in a vice.  The only good thing about it is the total lack of desire for food.  I have nibbled through 1/2 pack dry sao crackers and had two mandarins until last night when I had a small plate of potato and pumpkin pieces followed by an apricot tart and smidgen of ice cream.  Today I have had two crumpets and did not enjoy them at all but at least it is something I guess to line the stomach a bit.

Last night Gerard rang to see if I was going round to theirs for tea and to watch Australia you've got talent and I said I was too sick and could not spread bugs around.  He said not to worry, he and eldest daughter already had it so  I would not be spreading anything.  As they are only around the corner, I decided a change of scenery might help so in pyjamas, with jersey over the top, covered by scarf over my head and leather coat over that and my pink bling ugg boots, I ventured forth.  I could not get comfortable in a chair so they fetched a single mattress out for me and covered me with a duvet and then fed me nurofen while I dozed thinking I had made a bad mistake. It was deliciously cosy and warm in their sitting room as they had the heaters on full blast and once the nurofen kicked in, and it was time to take my night time cold and flu, wow, I got my second wind.  Hip pain almost vanished entirely, and head cleared - just a chest heaving cough every now and then to let me know I was not out of the woods.  After two hours I finally felt like something to eat, hence the potato and pumpkin veg - could not contemplate meat.  I was able to enjoy the talent show and fell asleep for several hours once I returned home.  I was sent home with a complete packet of nurofen and a sheet of strepsils to help with my recovery.  Apparently you can alternate nurofen with night and day - I said that sickness is all new to me and I thought I was chancing my arm defying the chemist being on the night and day.  They all laughed at me at that so duh I guess.  Nurofen is now my new best friend. 

Today, I am without the headache, and my hip only hurts as meds are wearing off.  I am writing this perched on my legs as I lie in bed,which currently resembles something like a rat's nest with tissues, medications, books, laptop et al all around me.  I managed a chiropractic appointment on Monday and have a follow up tomorrow so hopefully after that I should be on the mend properly, though going back to work and lifting babies is counter productive to a full mend.  We have not long to go with them staying with us so will grin and bear it for a little longer as what can you do when their little arms reach out to be lifted. 

Have not seen the news in over a week, however Gerard made mention last night that another bloke has been eaten by a shark south of Geraldton.  A bloke beside him on a jet ski saw the shark bite the lower half of said bloke and he tried to grab what was left of him but the shark turned round and took the rest.  Horrible way to go.  There is a white pointer that has been seen around Geraldton  and with all the other attacks, it amazes me that people still put themselves at risk by going into unprotected waters. 

I am meant to be doing night shift tomorrow and Saturday night, so keeping fingers crossed I am up to it.  Have taken the last two days off and totally unimpressed that I have caught this from other staff who have brought their bugs to work instead of taking time off.  The children have all  been unwell too so it is a vicious cycle. 

Time for another nap I think, a drink and another dose of tablets to try and beat this thing.  Catch you soon.

The Gift that keeps on Giving !!!

Burglary, the gift that keeps on giving.  I had my little lad come for a visit on Sunday and after watching a game of footie, lunch at Macca's, some gardening and a couple of dvd's he decided to play office with paper, pens, scissors etc and asked if he could use my old laptop, - no problem I said, you can have it unplugged to play with.  He asked how did you open the lap top and I said just press the button underneath which he did but could not get it open so brought it to me.  I pressed the button and it sort of opened so far and no further - odd I thought, the button had freed and there was a small gap so tried to prise it open with a gentle pressure, -  no luck, it would not budge, so I gave an almighty wrench which saw the lid part from the base along with several tops of letters off the key pad and as neurons bounced off synapses taking this all in, I sat there gobsmacked that the little shites had put glue all through the laptop keys and because I seldom crank the old one up, it had escaped my notice. Now I am even more relieved I had this trusty beast with me in hospital.  I just hope karma is working its way back to those involved and seven fold at that. Re the burglary, I have heard nothing back from the police, though I have not really expected to.  There were six other burglaries the weekend of mine, then another 7 the following weekend and 14 last weekend of some significance as those were in the industrial area, so it seems as though the police will have more than enough to keep them busy.

I mentioned that it might rain in my last post, well, it did.  It proceeded to rain for nearly two weeks which has probably saved the wheat crop for this region so I was not allowed to complain at all.  I was nearly at the go out and buy some new clothes stage as laundry was backing up when thankfully we got to  merely overcast and windy and finally last weekend  some perfect fine days (there may have been a few other fine days but have been immersed in work and weather makes little difference there).   It took me over two weeks to get all the washing done from the burglary and until last weekend to get all the ironing and folding up to date, so again,  the gift that kept on giving.  It seems strange to see the floor back  in my laundry. 

In between the big clean up I have been getting five years of information together for the tax people.  I had got four years of it together last year and was then told I had to have all the information on my house in NZ included.  I met with the accountant last week and she wanted all the interest in my bank statements listed on both the fixed and flexible loans, to go with written list of rent  I have been paid, so several more hours work involved and yay, finally dropped it all back . Am now keeping fingers crossed this all works and hopefully in my favour. 

Amongst my list of  "sorting of things out" to do, I have been back to the Dr for a new prescription and cancelled a follow up appointment with the specialist.  The Dr was a bit taken aback by my decision but as I wouldn't take a cat to the specialist (and I told the Dr that) there was no point in paying money to see someone I have no faith in.  I was emphatic that I would continue with the medications, hence my visit for a new prescription, and saw no point seeing another specialist at this point as surprise, surprise, the medications were working (as I knew they would).  I told him that all the tests in hospital did not show any heart damage however, if I got any more pains now I am on the meds again I will hie myself quick smart back to the hospital and do any tests they deem necessary.  I will have a fasting blood test at the end of the month to see how the levels of the meds, blood sugars, and cholesterol are doing and go from there.  The Dr has also offered to put me on a Care Plan - as I am now deemed to have a chronic condition - it links me with other health professionals and gets bulk billed back to medicare so I will meet with the appropriate nurse at my next appointment after the blood test - watch this space.  I have found myself not the only person less than satisfied with the performance of my specialist.  Last weekend I opened the newspaper to see an article about another Dr who is taking him to court for an operation that went wrong.....  so I feel quite vindicated by my decision.  The specialist's  family has also been all over the news, both tv and print, as his son badly injured a girl when driving a boat drunk and then refused to pay her court directed compensation,  so a charming bunch all round.

Mowing lawns moved to the top of the list last weekend and I  attacked the back garden as well.  I had got some plants from Bunnings the week before so after applying blood and bone to the freshly weeded patch, I planted out climbing beans, spinach and lettuce.  I sprayed the front paving with weed spray and got more round up today for the rest of the paving which will probably get done now next week. 

Tuesday a week later.

Sorry about that but work intervened. I am lying in bed as it is RAINING again, bucket loads, and as I have a bunged up nose thought it quite the best place to be on my day off.  Have just finished catching up with sister Kay, niece Laura, friend Vivienne (afternoon tea at Kay's), then Mum and Clive (afternoon tea there too, lol) by Skype so a good round up with them all.  I worked two 12 hour days over the weekend - sick kids, sick staff and short staffed and then did a 9hr day yesterday on four hours sleep as I just had to watch the end of the tennis at Wimbledon.  I had seen Serena Williams take out the Women's title the night before and really wanted to see Roger Federer play his final which he won for the 5th time.  It was nail biting stuff and gutsy play by all concerned. 

Had another cockroach incident earlier in the week - I had just put on my slippers after wandering about the house in bare feet , and was delivering some summer wardrobe to the back room drawers, when I turned to go out the door and yup, there was a multi legged, multi feelered beastie lurking in the middle of the door way.  I know not from whence it came - they just seem to materialise on me.  After a arrrghhh of surprise, I leapt onto the bed to watch the aforementioned creature to figure out how I was going to liberate myself from the bedroom before fading away to a shadow.  Luckily, I have a can of flyspray on standby in several rooms and this was one of them, so grabbed that off the drawers and from about four foot away gave a liberal blast in the beasties direction.  I noticed that it seemed to be having difficulty moving and think I may have inadvertently stepped on it partially when I entered the room or maybe even opening the door, eeeeewwww either way so watched as it sort of sat and moved slightly sideways and gave it several more blasts hoping it would move further into the hallway trying to escape the spray.  At the same time I was looking at the leap I would have to make from a standstill to get out the door, left into the hallway which would also include a small step up as the hallway is in two levels.  The cockroach slowly moved out of the door way in the right direction but as soon as I got off the bed onto the floor it sort of slewed around to come back my way - eek, so another leap back onto bed followed by another almighty blast of spray and then one giant leap forwards for woman kind as I jumped just over a metre sideways and ran down the hall as soon as the insect moved further away from me - I tell you, all those years of long jump at school sports have not gone amiss, lol.  I am happy to report within the next 24 hours the creature was found to be stone dead.

While it was fine yesterday afternoon after work, I decided to seize the moment and weed the side garden near my bedroom at the front of the house and I checked on the weeds sprayed the previous weekend which are not dying soon enough for me.  I also read the instructions for some solar lamps I had put in last weekend that had not appeared to work, (had my little lad put them together for me and did not follow up) only to find I had to unscrew the top of the lamp to turn the battery switch on - duh.  Lo and behold, later that evening, there was light.  Most of my plants have survived the very dry summer and have started to bloom.  The arctotis are thriving as are the gazanias and the lavender bush smells terrific.

I am in the midst of getting my passport renewed as when I checked last month, it had three days before it expired.  Have got the mandatory photos done and do not look too much like a criminal - I wore a red jumper which lifted my complexion, lol and luckily you are not allowed to smile, so no crooked/missing teeth and tooth to be seen.  I am all done except I have to find another New Zealander who knows their passport number to sign one of my photos and give their name, rank and serial number so to speak and then I can send it to Sydney where a new passport will be issued to me within 10 days.  I think I will be getting one of the new micro-chip ones which should streamline even further, air port travel between Australia and NZ. It is around $160 Au to get it done and couriered back to me.

Speaking of things postal, I am not well pleased to find a parcel I posted to a friend in NZ  back in May did not get to her.  I have been back to the post office here and had to ring a number to try and trace it. Because it did not have trace and track it is a bit of a challenge (no one offered that facility and I did not think of it ) and the blurb I got was, check with the person again who you sent it to, and given the dates, if it could not be delivered in NZ,  mid August would be the earliest it should be delivered back to me as my return address was fully written on the back.  You virtually have to offer DNA here to post a parcel - they copy your licence, get address and phone number, so am not impressed.  The woman I spoke to also made comments like, New Zealand has been having problems with its mail  in places recently.......   Not something I am likely to be able to prove or disprove.  So I will now wait and put in a formal written complaint around August sometime.  It was lucky I had kept the receipt for proof.

I had planned to drive down to Dongara this afternoon with Gerard to have dinner with Jude as the rest of Gerard's family are out Tardun way camping for a few days over the school holidays.  We had left over broccoli and bacon soup he had made last night with crusty bread followed by left over schnitzel rolls while we watched the American version of "the Voice" on tv.  This is another singing contest where people get picked by judges who have to turn around in their chairs to see them able to judge on their voices and sound alone before making their choice to mentor the singer.  The x factor is starting again soon and we seem to be suckers for these reality talent shows.  I am constantly amazed at how many talented people are out there and such a diverse bunch too.

I noticed with some sadness during the week, the passing of Andy Griffiths and Eric Sykes and Mum tells me today that Ernest Borgnine  died yesterday.  All three of them were legends of the silver screen and caused many an hour of laughter in our home as we were growing up.  All the programs they were in were running when my paternal grandmother was still alive and she has been gone 38 yrs so we are talking real yesteryear stuff.  It bought lots of memories back of watching tv as a whole family and we knew Mayberry  (Andy Griffiths) and its folks as well as we knew our own home town.  We all watched Ron Howard grow up from a little boy, to go onto Happy Day's which I watched with my own children and then go onto being an amazing film director. Eric Sykes with his brilliant slaptstick comedy - who will ever forget "the Plank" which had us in tears the first time we watched it - and his unique, very British comedy along with such other greats as Hattie Jacques, Harry Secomb, Sid James etc.  McHales Navy (Ernest B) was a regular in our household too and I remember going to the  movie "McHales Navy joins the Air Force" which was hilarious in its day.  RIP to three great entertainers.

The day has slid into afternoon so am going to sign off and go forage in the fridge for something to eat.  I am thinking of putting a pot of soup on as I bought a pig ankle a week ago to make ham based soup and it needs to be cooked.  I have Donna coming up from Perth Friday morning to stay the weekend as part of the school holidays for her lad.  I am hoping for fine weather as it is likely we will get the other lad over for a sleepover and they want to tent on my back lawn again.  It will be alright as long as it doesn't rain. So cherrio and will talk again soon. :)

Hospital discharge and Thieving B*****ds!

After spending a second night in hospital and 24 hours without pain, it was negotiated with the Dr's that I could go back home.  I had managed to dodge having  Clexane injections in the stomach - yay - as I told them the last time I had Clexane I started leaking at injection sites and had two gushing blood noses.  I did not expect they would agree but luckily the xray and bloods showed no heart damage that they could detect and they were content with me managing on meds until such time my bloods showed damage had occurred.  Score 1 to me.  Score 2 when they put me back on my old medications and no further issues.  They treated me a bit like Dresden china so had to remind them I had been taking spray for the pains and going to work earlier in the week for 8 - 10 hour days, and would not break tidying my things and picking things up that dropped off my bed.  I was given the all clear mid morning but had to wait until just before lunch to get a medical certificate for work and prescriptions sorted.  In the meantime, I had had a shower, got dressed, repacked and scored a coffee before I was on my way. 

Had to go get my prescriptions filled out - another $80 - and that is just for a months worth!!!,.  I had a few things I needed to get and some fresh fruit and veg, and finally drove up the drive around 1.55pm.  The first thing I noticed was the back gate open and I thought damn and blast, I am sure I left that shut, and that was after finding it open on the Thursday when I got home from work too. As I turned the car off and got out of the car, I then noticed the sliding door into the kitchen open and I knew I had shut that and checked it before I left for hospital, so not good.  I went through the door and saw cupboards open, packets of crackers and biscuits on the floor,  and as I moved towards the lounge saw the front door and the porch slider open at the same time I saw  suitcase lying in the middle of the lounge floor with a guitar hero (play station 2 guitar and dvd) packed in it and sideboard open with bottles of alcohol out on the floor.  I moved towards my bedroom and OMG, what a mess.  Clothes were strewn over  the bed, on the floor and every drawer and shelf had been emptied, lipsticks, eye pencils, brushes etc  were strewn everywhere having been thrown out of  the case I had them in. On the way to my room, I noticed that foundation (makeup) had been squirted up the wall, over the mirror and over the vanity.  Buggary bollocks.  I went straight outside as I heard the next door neighbour out there to ask if she had noticed anything at the same time trying to ring the Police.  I wasn't sure what number to ring - it is 000 here not 111 like in NZ and as I couldn't get my phone to work she rang for me.  Of course it rang in Perth, not Geraldton so when they asked where I was, I said at home, lol (must have been shock) and the woman said no, what state!!!!  Then she wanted my phone number and I said didn't it come up on her screen, the number I was ringing from - honestly does nothing work like on TV!!!!!!!  Had to give her my house ph number as do not know my mobile number by heart - too many phone numbers to remember, lol.  I then txt the WMH to let him know.  He was at work as were three of the four kids and he left work in such a hurry to come round, he left one of the kids behind, lol. (Bronwyn had come too so after seeing I was ok, she left and went and picked up Em who had been left behind)  We sat round in the midst of chaos and waited for the local police to turn up when Gerard finally rang  to see where they were, laying it on a bit thick about me coming home out of the cardiac ward to find the house burgled and ransacked,  to give them a nudge and was told they were not far away. 

I had noticed on my second sweep through the house that there was a running shoe (not mine) left in the lounge by the sideboard and then on further investigation in the kitchen/ lounge, a bag of playstation games( not mine) that had been left behind.  While outside ringing the police, Gerard noticed a fly screen on the ground and that the  side window had a chunk of glass broken out of the corner, which was probably how they got in, putting a hand through and opening the sash window, lifting it then to get inside.  ******
The police did arrive and took away the shoe in a plastic bag, plus the dvd's,  getting quite excited that there may be DNA evidence left behind with the shoe especially.  They were impressed I had done no cleaning before they got here - saying that most people start cleaning straight away - again do they not watch CSI, Bones,Morse, Taggert, etc lol.  Of course I wasn't going to touch anything until the fingerprint bloke had been or any police for that matter.  They took photos of my room, bathroom, window etc and then left.  They said I could tidy up after isolating items most likely to have fingerprints but did not feel up to it, so after  another look around went round to the WM's for pizza and left over birthday cake and desserts which was a nice interlude.  Gerard drove back behind me on my return more as reassurance than anything, no one about,  so sat up for a time playing on my computer until I felt I could sleep.  I think I was more shaken than I realised and I could not settle so in the end pushed the bed up against my bedroom door (was in the spare room), leaving a light on in the lounge, finally sleeping with my laptop and two phones beside me, lol. 

The fingerprint bloke eventually got here mid morning the next day and so began the huge cleanup.  I think I have done 14 loads of washing so far with another two to go yet,  then I will have washed my entire wardrobe and bed linens.  The police had immediately sent me an email with a job number when I first rang them and since then I have been writing down what has been missing, jotting more as I notice more things not being where I thought they should be.  The first thing I noticed when I saw my bedroom was that ALL my jewellery was gone,then as I wandered through again,  alcohol, play station 2 and sing star dvd's, both my cameras, video camera, guitar, NZ cell phone, Aussie pre paid ph that I was using as an alarm clock since I got a different phone, then weekend bag, back pack, and camera bag.   Trying to remember what I had here as opposed to still back in NZ jewellery wise was a bit of a challenge but I had tidied the drawer not long ago so have managed a fair list.  Nothing worth heaps but all with a story, a lot being gifts and more sentimental value than anything else. The bracelet that the Tardun mob gave me for my birthday two years ago was probably the most expensive, then there is my charm bracelet with all the charms having some meaning, the necklaces and earrings I wore to both my boys's weddings, my amythyst and diamond drop from Mum for graduation to mention a few. It is a total pain losing the phones as I had all my numbers in there. They didn't get the the charger leads so both totally useless especially the NZ one.    I was just thankful that I was not here when they broke in and that they had been disturbed before taking more.  The TV had been unplugged but not moved which also led me to believe they had taken off before finishing the job.  The cops told me neighbours two doors down had their shed broken into Friday night after 8.30pm and the neighbour said she got home around 8.30pm then her partner around 10.30pm so am picking it was between those times.  All the lights were turned on in the house when I got home, however I found the outside security lights had been switched off in the front, and unscrewed outside the kitchen side of the house.   As I was tidying yesterday, I had a couple of wins.  As I was clearing clothes off the top of my drawers to wash, underneath one heap, I found a sliver koru shaped pendant with the seven chakra stones and a pair of paua and silver earrings left behind.  I had talked to sister Kay on skype by then and she reminded me that she had my Grandmother's amethyst ring with her plus some other pieces I had left behind back in Feb, so whew, another special piece still with me.  It wasn't till another four loads later as I moved to take clothes off my bed, when squeal, under another pile there was my glasses case that I used to put some jewellery in while I was travelling home and back and an even bigger squeal when I opened it and there was some things in there.  The first thing I saw was the pounamo (greenstone) pendant given to me by friend John the Porter, that belonged to his grandmother.  I had thought it gone forever and was imagining what dire things would happen to those who had taken it as it is the worst of bad luck to steal someone's greenstone.  Also left was a pair of black Abrolous Island pearl earrings I had bought to match my bracelet (gone), my green jandal (thongs) necklace - birthday present from family friends in Feb ( wave to Claire and co), a paua pendant - present from J & J in Hamilton, a silver chain, one of my amethyst/garnet pendants, one of my garnet and silver earrings, -( the other is in NZ) and a pair of paua and sliver hoop earrings.  The next win was yesterday lunch time as I went to put some makeup on before going out, and there tucked in the top vanity drawer in the bathroom between a box and the side of the drawer, was my amethyst and marquisette ring that I particularly liked. 

There is no reason that the glass case should have been left behind, I would have thought they would have tossed it into the bag they also stole, and my take on it is that the old kuia who owned the pendant originally did not let it go out the door, think what you may .......  So, now the glasses case is in my handbag, and those who laughed at me taking my laptop with me everywhere - I still have it and that is probably the most important thing as with my hard copy photos, I had been uploading my most recent photos before going into hospital, in fact, I still had the 8gb memory card in the computer which I had already found by chance before I had got home to a burgled house.

I am still taking the laptop and phones to bed with me, but have managed to sleep with doors open and lights out the last two nights and am I having a spring clean whilst doing the massive clean up.  All surfaces wiped down, clothes washed, and am getting to the floors tomorrow.  The glazier arrived yesterday and fixed the window and had the plumber here to mend the second toilet where the doohickey had perished where the pipe from the cistern entered the toilet bowl causing water to gush over the floor every time it was flushed.  Received sympathy from both tradies and what was really lovely is that my hair dresser who lives further up the road, gave me her  phone number and said anytime I go away in future, to let her know and she will check the place for me on her home from work.  I was very touched by that.  I have made myself go out and about as per normal over the last few days, so as not to let the b********ds win so to speak.  I cannot be worrying about being on my own, but do find myself double checking doors etc as I leave and have taken the laptop with me in the boot of the car each time I am out of the house. 

In between all this, we had Queens birthday weekend here too (as in NZ) so a three day weekend which was nice.  I had the lad round for some time out from his carer on Monday.  We got Puss in Boots out on dvd and went to Maccas for lunch, and chilled out in the afternoon watching the movie, doing jigsaw puzzles and colouring in between playing pirates with my lego pirate ship and Jack Sparrow.  Donna bless her rang and has found another playstation 2 with 20 dvds to go with it for $50 which she will bring up in two weeks time, so next visit we will have games to play as well.

 I had left the tv unplugged on the first night home in case there were finger prints that they needed from it (they didn't) so in between the loads of washing since, I have managed to watch a fair bit of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations which have been spectacular.  The first I saw was the Royal barge going down/up the Thames to the Tower bridge - and I  HAVE BEEN THERE.  Then there was the concert outside Buckingham Palace and I HAVE BEEN THERE, and last but not least, the Church Service in St Paul's Cathedral ..  and yes.. I HAVE BEEN THERE too.  I am not sure what it is about seeing places that you have visited overseas in movies or other televised events, but there is just a little bit more excitement for me and it is almost like being there, without the sounds and smells, lol.  There is no one who can do a spectacle like the Brits and they did not disappoint this time either.  My paternal grandmother had the chance to attend the coronation in 1953, turning it down because she got sea - sick ( did not make the leap from steam ship  to ocean going liner, lol) and was a Royalist through and through, buying her first colour tv for Princess Anne's (1st) wedding, so I am always reminded of her at every major Royal event and how much she would have enjoyed the jubilee as well.  Once again, thanks to skype was chatting to Mum and sister Kay while different events were on so got to enjoy them with some of the family after all.

Am back to work tomorrow morning and looking forwards to seeing all the kids.  Caught up with the babies today as we had a farewell lunch in town for a staff member who is leaving and moving back to Queensland.  I will miss working with her but am already looking to forward to having somewhere to stay when I manage to get up there for a look around.  There is a silver lining to every cloud, lol. 

Speaking of clouds, it has finally rained here today after a tiny shower about two weeks ago so I cannot believe I am saying this, but I hope we get at least three days worth if not a little longer as the farmers are desperate for it.  They have had to dry seed this year with the rain being so late and if this does not work, after the bumper year last year, this year it will be a disastern instead this year without rain.    Lunch has worn off and I am feeling peckish so better go look what is in the fridge to eat and then some more tidying away before bed. 
Ciao.

Drs and Nurses

Well, here I am again, in hospital.  I had been round to the Workmates place for dinner on Wednesday night and just as I was about to go to bed at 1am I got pain after a day clear of it. I went to get toothbrush and nickers together with laptop when I got another belt, so after my second lot of GTN spray, grabbed two books, my phone and packed laptop,  and drove to hospital.  Got in the door and was just attracting the attention of one of the nurses when I got another pain, which was good timing as I got whisked straight in, and on an ekg after another blast of my GTN spray.  I was expecting a canula to be put in and bloods taken,  however it was just my luck, instead of the experienced staff I have usually encountered, I got a beginner!!  First of all he said my veins were not good and after much tapping inside both arms and tops of my hands, he settled on top of my right hand. After saying this will be a little prick (had to bite my tongue at that one as I felt I already had the little prick in front of me, lol) there was a considerable jab and ouch and more ouch. He stopped finally and told me the canuala had come out because I had moved (my eyes were shut tight so had no idea what was going on except the pain was at last beginning to stop.  I told him that when it is done properly it should not hurt, and he kept saying that I had moved - I was too busy gritting my teeth stopping saying some very unladylike words and going feral on him to respond to that one.  Then my next hand was swabbed with alcohol, more tap, tap, tapping and fortunately that one went in ok.  I was moved into a four bed holding room off the emergency dept and next morning after more pain and an ekg with some changes, and a chest xray, I was moved up to HDU.  Have had two of the same nurses as my Christmas admission which was good, - as soon as they saw my laptop come out, they also remembered me.

After another bout of pain, they put a GTN patch on me much like a nicotine patch which I had on for just over 12 hours and no more pain. During the day had Dr's tooing and froing asking histories etc so mostly read and slept inbetween obs being taken and answering questions.  Because there were some seriously unwell people on the ward, I was mostly left to my own devices once the patch went on and I had no more pain.  My patch came off at midnight as I was having more obs taken (I was still awake and just thinking I probably should get some sleep soon though).  I was hungry having had a cardiac diet for the day, - no frills lol,  so the nurse got me a cup of coffee and two sandwiches and then just as I had been to the loo, and was getting back into bed, bang, another pain.  More GTN spray, and things settled, another ekg was run which showed some changes straight after the pain. Again this was good. When I saw the Dr's this morning they said that it was definitely my heart and not reflux or osophogeal spasm which the specialist still reckoned on (they had rung him yesterday). They are reinstituting my original tablet regieme and strongly advised that I might like to get a second opinion from a different specialist without actually saying the words. 

After I had the pain at 1am, the nurse came asked if I had fasting bloods taken which I hadn't so a bit of an ooops having the coffee and sandwiches as the blood nurses needed minimum 10 hours without food.  No probs slept not long after that, waking around 8am, not hungry and went till 10am no problem.  The nurse was more concerned than me, I think she thought I may fade away, lol.  Thankfully had a pro at taking bloods this time and though she had to try both arms, barely felt anything at all.  I am becoming quite expert in my pin cushion role.  Had toast followed by lunch not long after and then dozed and played on computer for the afternoon before a visit from the WMH.  It was his birthday so I had a visit before he went home to roast pork dinner, red velvet mud cake, tobelerone mousse, home made vanilla ice cream.  I remarked there was something about occassions and hospital admissions having been admitted last time on just before Christmas and the Tardun mob's    Christmas dinner at my place.  I settled back to my sausage meat meatballs, steamed silver beet, boiled small potoato and sliced steamed carrot with not the same joy as I would have approached the aftorementioned repast, lol.  Time for more medical attentions so will pause here :). More soon.

Ok since I last wrote, the whole blog spot site where I write has changed and I am not sure how to find my way around it.  Have just tried to upload photos and could not do it, damn and blast. I shall just keep writing as I do not have the time to take meandering my way through instructions etc. Will sit here with a small amount of smoke pouring from nostrils instead, grrrrrrrrr.

Getting photos organised has been the main reason I have had such a gap in my postings as have had some exciting moments over the last month pictorially documented, which I wanted to share. I have been on morning shift this week for a change and luckily missed four days of 6 kids down with some gastric bug last week, which has also cut a swathe through staff.  I myself had taken last Thursday night off thanks to the chiropractor who I had cause to visit twice that week.  I am getting relief each visit  but lifting babies, mopping floors, hefting all sorts of other things, I am not having much chance to get things right.  I also paid my second visit to the Dr in a week trying to sort out my health.  I needed another prescription for tablets so met my new GP. Told him I was not impressed with the specialist, explained symptoms and the GP did not have much to add except he felt that perhaps I could go off another tablet which I didn't seem to need and to re discuss things with the specialist next month.

So,  since then I have been having chest pains again, and gone to carrying my GTN spray with me at all times which gives relief  in a couple of minutes.  When I went back this week to the GP I said just in case, I would try the reflux tablets the specialist recommended.  On day four, it has made no difference at all except to my bank balance and the medical professionals' retirement funds.  I have woken with pain the last two morning but have been able to go to work without further bother at all - I nearly rang in sick but we are now down to skeleton staff with the gastric bug sweeping through the place so will give it one more day and if I get any more pain after tomorrow, I guess I will have to leg it up to the hospital again which I am loathe to do but am running out of options I guess.

Apart from the nuisance of my health, life has been very good indeed.  Have car will travel, so have been out and about more than I have been in a good long while.  Last Monday, after the chiro, I headed out to stay the night with Farmer Geoff and Janette (she was our office lady at Tardun).  They farm 8,000 hectares on the Mullewa Wubin Road.  The trip out flashed by and it was like going home driving out on the Mullewa Magnet Rd.  I pulled out some CD's I had not listened to in awhile so had nostalgic music playing as I made my nostalgic way back to Mullewa and surrounds.  The road was near empty but had a smile as I came up behind a road train with its FOUR trailers - over 100metres to pass! and thought to myself, yup I am back in the countryside again.  First thing after the lack of traffic that I noticed, was how dry it all is.  There has been little rain over the last two months and the season is not looking good with little rain on the horizon yet.  Janette and I ended up driving for miles out the back of the farm to move machinery with Geoff as he was dry seeding lupins with a 12 wheeled seeder, and he needed help with a tractor and seed hopper being moved to the paddock he was seeding (I say paddock but it is larger than some principalities).  I got to drive the 4 wheel drive nissan following the other two so that there was a vehicle to get back home in. The ground was rock hard and Geoff was having problems with the seeder so after trying to get a hub on a wheel for some time, he gave up to get a new one from home for the following day.

There are new railway tracks running alongside old tracks out Mullewa way as some of the line has been altered with loops at various points to accommodate the line needs once the port at Oakagee gets built.  All the wooden railway ties have been replaced by concrete ones and the line looks very pristine at the moment. The wheat bins at Mullewa are still being emptied of  as are many in the outlying towns as there was a bumper crop last year.  Wheat is still being transported daily to the port in Geraldton, so a huge enterprise for the wheat belt area of Western Australia.

Had home killed lamb chops for dinner and the lamb did not die in vain. There is nothing that tastes so good, grilled crispy - yum, yum. I had dug out a very nice cab sav wine to take out which complimented the meal to perfection followed by curling up on the couch to watch "The Voice" (yet another brilliant singing contest) and Janette's favourite of the moment "Revenge".  I was put up in the front room which doubles as Janette's card making area.  It was not without a little nervousness as when I got there she picked up a pillow off the bed and noticed a cobweb on the pillow, which removed saying oh, its a sticky web....  and what does that mean asked I. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask" says she - "it is a redback", "oh wonderful" says I ," where is the can of fly spray then".  A small napalm amount later and no sign of said spider,  I deemed it safe to sleep in the bed (with my own pillow) much later that night. I do recall however rolling over shoving my arms under the other pillows in my sleep and knowing that I shouldn't do that and turning back over again.  No bite was sustained to wake me up properly so all good.  The one downside of heading to the great outdoors again was the flipping midges, which I have been lulled into a false sense of security these days living in town where they do not seem to reside.  Of course, once out on the farm as the sun went down, the sodding little beasts bit the daylights out of both forearms which in turn have been torn to shreds by scratching, though a week later they are on the mend. Note to self, take insect repellent next time and USE it.  Moving through my CD collection ( the trip is a CD and a bit each way, lol) I drove back next morning in time to go to bed to sleep before night shift that night - oh the joys of shift work lol. 

I have been to North Hampton again to watch footie - this time with Jude to watch her grandson play last Sunday.  It occurred to me on the way over that I have watched more live Aussie football now than I have watched live matches of rugby - ouch.   The oval is just out of the  town, and it was a pleasant drive to and fro on a sunny afternoon.  I want to go back sometime soon and have a look through the local museum, - still on the bucket list.

In the light of being (slightly) healthier in my eating habits, and general laziness in stove cleaning, I bought myself a (small) George Foreman grill the other week and it has been in constant use since.  Have grilled asparagus, courgettes (zucchini), egg plants (aubergine), pork chops, lamb chops, steaks and sausages, all with great effect.  The food tastes great, and it is a quick wipe over at the finish and an empty of the fat catcher dish and all is done.  No more nasty stove grills for me.  I debated about getting the family sized one but in reality, the small one cooks enough for me.  I also lashed out today at while getting some groceries - went in for a lettuce and yogurt and $88 later lol, came out with all that including two tamarillos ( $1.48 each), and two feijoas ($1.98 each, I kid you not) as my tribute to NZ winter fruits.  The tamarillos were Australian but the feijoas came from NZ - go the exporting of. I laughed at the check out and said my family would think I was mad paying that price for feijoas, as at most homes, they rot into the ground as they fall from the trees.  I am taking them to work with me tomorrow and will have them for lunch - tamarillo or tree tomato (as it was called back in the day) sandwiches with a sprinkle of sugar on them - mmmm mmmm. 

I have a new flybuys card (loyalty card) that works at the local Coles and on top of that they are running a top 5 promotion at the moment where 5 of your most frequent buys earn extra discount even if they are already discounted - my bill dropped by just under $10 today so I guess that is a plus.  I also get 4c litre cheaper petrol by shopping at the above grocery shop and got $7 off last time I filled up so it all helps. Petrol is currently $1.60 litre without any discount so high for over here. 

I think winter has arrived - I have broken out the winter pj's and put two duvet inners in the duvet cover on the bed with my air cell blanket at the ready.  Have taken to wearing a chemise under my shirts and carry a jumper/cardigan most days/nights.  Bought the heater out of storage on the weekend as we had a night in the minus temps last week - friend Donna said it was -6 degrees in Perth on the same night. The days are still glorious though (except for the farmers), washing is getting dried in an hour if out in the morning sun. 

Looking at the time and have heaps more news but need to get some sleep. Have a 12 hour day tomorrow as there is some in house training again, all going well and if there is enough staff on board.