Another Week in Paradise?

Been a slow week this week.  As they all have been this year.  Not sure what is in the air at the moment but I have been feeling so tired, lethargic and unmotivated for the past few weeks.  But then when I talk to others they are saying the exact same thing!  I think it is the end of year blues where everyone has been working so hard all year and we are all ready to fall in a heap at the end of the year.  Bring on Christmas holidays!

I am very blessed in that my place of employment is closing its doors on the 20th December this year and we return on 2 January 2014.  That is quite a long break for us!  Also they give us the days we are closed for free in that the days don't come off our regular leave days and we still get paid for them so it is 5 "free" days we get.  It is their way of thanking us for all our hard work during the year.  So I am truly looking forward to the long break.  Hubby and I have decided on no gifts this year as we are saving for a holiday and for our new house we want to build next year.  All I really want is a day of great memories...friends, family, great food, great laughs and lots to drink!  (Although I am still banned from alcohol!)

As I type this now we are in the midst of a pretty nasty storm!  I went out for lunch just as it started to pour down rain so I have come back to work with soaking wet shoes!  So currently sitting barefoot here waiting for my shoes to dry enough to be able to stand putting them back on!  We have had a series of storms the past couple of days which has been nice as everything is so dry but in all honesty it has been barely enough to soak the ground.

Our biggest excitement at home this week was the sighting of a small snake which decided to pop out from under my car and say "hi" as I was getting in!  Needless to say I wasn't a very happy camper!  Hubby reckons he was more terrified of me than I of him but I don't care!  I HATE snakes!  I can deal with spiders but snakes?   Brrrrrrr!  Mind you he was only a wee little fellow and I lost sight of where he went in the midst of my shrieking and dancing the dance of the wild snake woman!  It's only the second snake I have seen in all the 15 years of living where we do.  I am rather amazed we haven't seen others considering we live right beside a bush area that is home to koalas, the odd wallaby, a family of scrub turkeys, bearded dragons and an echidna!

One of my lovely Facebook friends informed me last night that there was three more pays until Christmas! (We get paid fortnightly)  Boy did that take the wind out of my sails!  I haven't even thought about Christmas yet as I have 2 birthday parties to get through in the next 2 weekends.  Where on earth did the time go this year?  I had intended to hand make my Christmas cards this year (I was supposed to last year as well but ran out of time!) but chances are I will not make it again this year.  Even having 2 days of a week from work I still manage to have so much to do and not enough time to do everything.  I have decided I must be one of those terribly unorganised people!  I seem to have such grand plans and I make copious lists of things that MUST be done but only a small fraction of these tasks ever gets marked off!  *Sigh*

Anyway I guess I should make some effort here in the office to be productive so I leave you here with the following thought:

"One thought, one moment, can change the rest of your life.

 

Don't blink, you'll miss it! "

My life in 2013 in Review

Who would have thought that it’s been nearly 18 months since my last blog?  Why did I stop you ask?  I’m not really quite sure.  Life just seemed to be a blur with nothing much going on and I just didn’t think anybody would really be interested in my day-to-day ho-hum happenings.  2013 has just flown on by and even though I did have a couple of huge events occur it just never occurred to me blog them!

The most exciting thing to happen was the birth of my beautiful little great nephew, the first born of my niece Nicola and her partner David.  He was born in July on the same day as his Uncle Adam’s birthday, Nicola’s brother, which we all kind of hoped wouldn’t happen but he now has a birthday twin!  They have named him Ryder Jeff, the Jeff being his grandfather’s name (David’s dad).  He is now 4 months old and it is so hard to imagine life without him now.  His conception had caused quite a drama in the family as some of the family thought she was too young to have a baby (she was 20 when he was born!).  They didn’t have anywhere to live as they were still living at mum’s house part of the time and then at David’s parents’ house the other times.  Still living even now at mum’s although they moved in with me and my hubby at one stage with the baby as they weren’t getting on with mum.  So yeah, it’s been a struggle for them as they shift between homes and try to find a home of their own.

In March, my daughter Libbee married her man Daniel.  Such a simple and beautiful wedding and the wedding she always wanted.  It was very low key and very low budget which she is extremely proud of.  I bought the wedding dress for her online.  It was a copy of an original designer dress worth $2,500 to buy the original and it cost $350 online for an exact replica.  We worried at the time at what we would end up with as it was made in Hong Kong and the colours would be slightly different but when we got it, it was the perfect fit (we worried our measurements might be out!) and it was as beautiful as the real one she had tried on in the bridal shop.  So she got her dream dress for a fraction of the original price and even after wearing it all day until 6am the next day it still looks as good as it did when we got it!  It got dry cleaned and now hangs proudly in her closet.   

In August Libbee and Daniel had to move as their rental house was being sold so Libbee has been living with us and Daniel is living with his mum on the Gold Coast as that is where he is currently working.  Libbee lives with us as she is working near us.  So, sadly, they only see each other once a week while they struggle to save for their own place again.  Not an ideal situation for a newly married couple who have yet to take their honeymoon but for the moment it’s the best they can do.

Health wise things are finally looking up after 5 years of constant specialists, tests, biopsies, blood tests etc.  I still have monthly blood tests to ascertain liver function and am on a cocktail of meds probably for the rest of my life but things are finally starting to level out and the drugs are finally working.  My last specialist visit a couple of weeks ago showed my liver function is getting better with only 3 numbers showing in the red.  One of the numbers has gone way down and is well in the normal range now and the numbers in red have halved so the new drug I am on is actually working.   This means now if the numbers stabilise with this drug I won’t need a liver transplant and things aren’t quite as dire as originally thought.  It also confirms that I have PBC which Primary Biliary Cirrhosis.  What this means is my bile ducts are kaput which is what is causing my liver to deteriorate.  The bile ducts can never be repaired so the life time drugs will keep on doing what the bile ducts should be doing.  And if we can manage that then the liver will be sparred further damage.  Maybe one day down the track there will be something they can do but for now I am happy to keep popping the pills as it sure beats the alternative.  I don’t go back now until end of January so I am hoping my next blood test will have positive results.

Anyway that is my year in a nut shell.  Here's hoping for a better 2014!

 

 

 

 

Dang head colds and long weekends!

Not much to report this week after last week's blogging efforts!  I expected to have done heaps this week being an extra long weekend for me but as usual I was sick for 5 of those days so I spent the whole time cold and miserable with a throbbing headache and wanting to sleep all day.  I did get to watch the first season of "Hart of Dixie" which one of the girls at work suggested I would like so I spent most of the weekend on the couch watching it with hot tea and lots of soup and toast.  A couple of times I actually fell asleep so had to rewind it and go back to the ones I missed.  Good show and I really enjoyed it.  MM is not keen on my "girly shows" but he was really busy with customers so I barely saw him in all that time! That took care of Friday and Saturday. 

Sunday I received really sad news that a friend of ours from New Zealand had passed away quickly on Sunday morning.  Her husband came home from work for lunch and found her on the floor, dead.  She was only 32 years old and it really hit me hard for some reason.  I spent most of Sunday upset and MM was really down about it.  We found out a few days later from her husband that it was a blood clot.  This one got her three years to the day that another one had passed through her lung and almost killed her then.  It was just so sad because we had been chatting on Facebook the night before and she was still feeling off colour.  She had been ill since Friday night.  She had also had a hip replacement operation a couple of months ago as well that she wasn't really recovering from too well.  So I wonder if that may have contributed as well.  Either way she will be so sadly missed and made me think a lot about my own health issues and taking better care of myslef as well as though around me. 

It also made me aware of making sure I tell those closest to me how much I love them because you just never know if you will see them again.  Family and friends still have a bit of a chuckle as it has always been a habit of mine and MM's to give each other a kiss before we go our separate ways for the day.  People always say "after 14 years and you are still kissing each other goodbye".  At night we still do the "I love you" before going to sleep.  Another habit we started from the time we started sharing our bed. It has always worried me that one day we may not see each other again for whatever reason. 

Anyway back at work today and feeling a little better although still a little chilled.  Hopefully all will be good by this weekend!

Anyway have a great week!

Ciao!  xoxoxoxox

Pic for Chris H - Hunners!

Chris here is a picture of what are apparently called hunners...high heels runners! 

Here is the contestants and the lady in question is in the bottom row on the right hand side with the cleavage!

Third Year Anniversary

Today is the third anniversary of my dad's passing which is sad as always but this year was the first time I got through the day without feeling down about it.  Probably because I thought the 6th was Thursday and I was psyched up for that day!  Anyway I posted a nice verse on Facebook then because work was so busy today, I plugged on and never really gave it too much more thought although at lunch time I did have a sit and think about dad but then got on with things again. 

I called mum after I got home from work to see how she was coping.  As you can imagine this time of year is very hard on her and as I suspected, she was a bit down but in reasonably better spirits this year.  We talked about her day and she talked a bit about dad and how 60 years ago today Dad was in England being Guard of Honour at Queen Elizabeth's Coronation.  He had been called back from fighting in the Korean War and was specially selected as one of a few Australian soldiers selected to be Guard of Honour.  He always spoke of attending the Royal Dinner with the Queen and was the dinner partner of Queen Salotti (unsure of spelling!) of Tonga who he said was an immensely massive woman who had to have a chair specially made to suit her large frame.  The Aussie soldiers had spent several weeks training how to eat properly, how to meet dignatories, how to march with the Queens Guards as well as learning to stand perfectly still for hours on end!  That was his big claim to fame!  He always told us how much he hated Charles and Anne, the prince and princess.  Apparently they were the biggest brats and would spend hours trying to get them all in trouble by trying to make them move.  Dad always said they were horrendously spoilt by the Queen.

Other than that my day was fine.  I managed to leave work at a reasonable hour.  Still icy cold outside but no wind tonight.  MM and I just had soup and toast for dinner as AJ works back late tonight and he generally gets his own dinner when he gets home.

Anyway almost time for The Amazing Race Australia.  This one makes me laugh.  There is some silly woman in it who is insisting on wearing her "hunners" - high heel runners!  And she looks ridiculous.  That along with her little g-string, tiny short skirt and her boobs popping out of her top as she runs and her makeup makes her look like a clown!  But her boyfriend on the race with her seems to love her.  She is good entertainment!

Nighty night!

Ciao xoxoxox

My Terrific Tuesday

Today is my usual day off and although I had nothing actually planned, it turned out to be rather fun.  Overnight an arctic chill seemed to hit Brisbane so it was actually a good day to stay in bed a bit longer and snuggle under the doonah!  Outside I could hear the wind howling so it definately was an effort to get out of bed.

I stayed in my flannies until around 10:30am, did a bit of housework, watched a movie with MM then decided I would go shopping.  I had a couple of errands to run so figured I should probably make a start.  It was rather horrible getting out of the car once I got to Westfield because I had the car heater on and it was oh so warm in there as opposed to outside which was oh so damned icy cold!

I ended up ringing N1 and my sister K and asked if they wanted to come down and do lunch which they did so while I waited for them to get there (and knowing Ni would take at least an hour to get dressed and make herself presentable!) I wandered around the shops.  I had to buy MM a couple of pairs of new trackie dacks as his old ones were...well...OLD and no longer fleecy lined and with more holes than swiss cheese!  So they were keeping nothing warm!  Had a quick look around at a couple of stores and ended up buying a couple on special at Best and Less.  MM hates the trackies with elastic at the bottom of the legs so I managed to find some that were straight legged and had a back pocket for his wallet and deep pockets for his keys and phone.

Then off to the Post Office to mail a special care package off then back to the Food Court to await N1 and K.

As I suspected they took ages to get there so I quickly ducked into a couple of jewelery shops that sell Pandora charms.  Didn't buy of course but found a couple for my wish list :)

At last they arrived so we headed to find something eat and ended up running into mum and her sister who had just finished their ten pin bowling game.  I have managed to convince mum to spend a day out once a week with her sister and they both love to bowl (my aunt is in a league) so they play lunchtime every Tuesday when there is absolutely no-one in there!  So we ended up sitting with them and yakked for about an hour or so.  N1 had the sushi, I had a plate of really nice chinese and K went for the McDonalds.  Was a really nice hour spent chatting and eating.  Haven't done that for a while.

Eventually mum and my aunt decided to browse some more at one of the Bargain shops and N1, K and myself went to have a look at new trendy clothing store because N1 wanted to show the dress she wants to buy when she gets a job.  She has finally decided she needs to work now as all her friends work and can afford new clothes and she can't.  Funny how our teens never listen to what we tell them eh?  She is looking for a new handbag as well and loves mine so she wants one similar.  I told her I would buy her one once she gets a job which made her happy.

Next N1 wanted to get a new motivational type book.  She finished the Miranda Kerr one I bought and hasn't stopped talking about it.  She has actually started reading it again and following some of the advice which pleased me immensely to know I have actually made some kind of impact on her life.  Apparently Miranda drinks something called Nori juice or something like that which N1 bought and is now taking religiously every morning.  It smells and tastes revolting but you have to take 10mls in a glass of apple or orange juice.  She has been taking it for 2 days and seriously you can already see the difference.  She had a huge zit the night before and she said by next morning it was completely gone with no redness...nothing.  And she claims her skin has already starting looking better. 

Anyway at the book shop she wanted to find a book by Louise Hay called "How to heal yourself" or something along those lines because it is Miranda's favourite self help author and helped her to write the book and a lot of the ideas in it comes from Louise Hay.  We ended up finding it but N1 was disappointed in not being able to afford it so I ended being the good aunty and buying it for her.  Hey...she is on a roll and I would love to see where it takes her.  So one very excited girl will be reading tonight.  Two books in 2 days...that's a record for her lol.  While in the store her boyfriend rang and said he was almost at Westfield and he would pick her up earlier.  They had to go meet with his dad so that was my cue to leave.  Hugs all round and N1 said she would let me know how the book goes.

Still so cold when I got home.  MM was curled up on the couch wrapped in a blanket so I made a coffee and curled with him for a while.  Then I got him to try on his tracks which as usual are too long...he is such a short arse!  So I took up a couple of inches and sat at the sewing machine and ran them up.  He tried them on again...perfect!  The back pockets also had velcro holding it shut which he hates because he can't get his wallet in there so I unpicked the velcro off both pockets as well and now he has 2 new track pants that are way warmer than the others!  Another older pair he has a still good however the elastic no longer holds them up so I will fix them later with some more elastic and that should do him.

Anyway another early night in bed.  Too cold to sit up tonight so I will snuggle in bed with MM again and watch some telly.

Night all...have a great Wednesday!

Ciao!  xoxoxoxox

PS I called the juice Nori Juice...I was told today by someone else who drinks it that it is Noni Juice lol...available at most health food shops and a quick Google search says it is from a fruit from Tahiti and is a great juice to overall good health.

Not-so-Manic Monday

For a Monday today went pretty well.  It's meant to be a really busy week for us in the office this week because:

1. Our wonderful and efficient admin assistant/receptionist is on 2 weeks leave so that means the phone answering/opening and sending off mail duties are divided between us.  I get it the days I am in the office and D gets it when I am on my days off; and

2.  We have some lovely visitors from Singapore who are here to visit our schools and kindys and see how well we do things here.  My first duty this morning was to welcome them and to organise a morning tea for everyone to do a meet and greet.  Thankfully boss agreed to cater in which made everything so much easier...it was just a case of whack a table cloth on the table, put out plates and set out the trays of food.  Voila!  Load up the dishwasher afterwards and all done...easy peasy.

Morning tea lasted until lunchtime when the Managers took the visitors off in the hire bus to visit some of our schools and kindys and during the week they will take them sightseeing to places like Lone Pine, Southbank and Seaworld.

The rest of the day was actually rather quiet which was nice so I completed my to-do list for Monday and I usually prepare things for my day off on Tuesdays so that Wednesdays at work aren't quite so hectic.  I have a huge day of chores planned for Wednesday which should be good as everyone will be out of the office doing the sight seeing thing.  That is of course unless something more urgent crops up which will put those plans out of kilter.  Invariably this is what does happen but I will manage that as I usually do...with a *sigh* and a grumble and then on with it...

Today N1 posted me a picture on Facebook of dad's rose bush.  Until a week ago or so ago this rose bush was just a stick in the ground and a very dead looking stick at that.  So dead looking in fact that mum had decided she was going to pull it out but couldn't bring herself to do it as it is the last of dad's rose bushes in that particular garden.  It got left as she was ill most of the week and had no energy to do anything around the house.  On Friday they had the solar panel guy around and he asked to see the meter box which sits above the rose bush and this is when mum noticed the same rose bush covered in green and carrying 5 huge roses! 

This is the photo N1 took.  Now on Thursday is the 3rd anniversary we have been without Dad and it seems every year at this time his roses take on a life of their own.  Now I know that this time of year is colder and I think this is probably the time of year that roses generally bloom but to mum it always seems to her that at this time every year Dad leaves her this gift because she is always feeling sad and down around now and it just cheers her up to have his roses in the house again.  She is now adamant the rose bush is staying and she is giving it some rose food and will take good care of it.  It's not really in a good spot as the soil is mostly clay and the roses in that garden never did very well even when Dad was around but for now this little bush will stay for as long as it keeps mum happy.  It's certainly a far cry from the dead little stick it was when last she looked!

I have nothing planned for Tuesday's day off.  It has rained on and off all weekend so I am reluctant to make any plans for that reason...I guess I will wait and see what eventuates when I get up tomorrow morning :)  Have a great evening everyone!

Ciao!

xoxoxox