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. :)