Whew....what a month!

I am soooo happy that August is over and almost half way through September! Some days I wish I could be footloose and fancy free and just do what I feel like instead of marching to the beat of everyone else’s drum! Only a few more months before the mortgage is off our hands and then look out world! Time for a sea change methinks.

August was pretty atrocious for me. I had 2 weeks off work as I was suffering intense kidney pain and had to go back and forth to the doctor those 2 weeks. I feel like I live there these days! Luckily I have a really nice doctor. She is Indian or Sri Lankan but very nice and although sometimes her accent is noticeable I have no problems understanding her. She is very thorough which is what I like about her and rather than fob you off she will try everything she can to find the cause of any ailments. And because she bulk bills it costs me very little except time. Anyway I had the usual urine test done to see if maybe it was kidney stones. The pain was excruciating and kept me awake every night as every time I moved it felt like I was being stabbed in the side. Anyway it turned out it wasn’t kidney stones so I was then sent off for chest xrays as she thought I may have pneumonia or pleuresy. Turns out the x-ray showed a bronchial thickening in my chest which was causing the pain. Apparently I had bronchitis at some point that wasn’t treated (don’t remember that as I don’t recall ever having bronchitis!) Anyway a course of antibiotics later and the pain is gone. Now though I have a bad head cold which is really driving me nuts!

The past month or so I have been organising our early childhood conference which was held last Saturday. So much work for just one day! But it was very successful and I received heaps of great feedback so I was really pleased it all went so well. So all over for another year and now planning starts for the Annual Staff Retreat in March which is a weekend away for all 50 of our Kindergarten/Child Care Directors.

End of August would have been my dad’s birthday so I have decided that each of his birthdays I am going to buy myself an orchid as that was his favourite flower and something we always bought him for his birthday. I know nothing about growing orchids but my father-in-law is also an expert on them so he is going to help with tips and advice. I now have 2 orchids – one that dad me years ago which is still growing nicely and the one I bought on his birthday. MM is going to build me an orchid house so I can’t wait!

Last Sunday for Father’s Day we went to breakfast for my father-in-law. It was really nice. It was at the North Aspley Leagues club and apparently they do a big buffet breakfast every Sunday. The food there is really good and MM has decided he loves it there and wants to go more often! This is a guy who really doesn’t like going out anywhere! So I was surprised to hear him rave about this place and how much he loves the breakfast. They have everything from cereal, pancakes, sausages, eggs done every which way, bacon, spaghetti, baked beans, toast with all kinds of spreads, danishes etc. Really good variety. So that was a really nice day.

On the way home we had to go to the inlaws as dad wanted me to help him get Skype working so he could talk to his family in New Zealand. They all now have Skype and so I set it up for him and showed him how to conference call. We then went home. Not long after we got home dad called to say he was going to conference with the NZ rellies and did we want to join in. So MM and I logged in and I initiated the conference call with all the NZ rellies and we sat around for an hour chatting. They all marvelled at technology and being able to chat over the computer instead of the phone. We even got to chat with MM’s grandmother who is a sprightly 96 year old and she was loving being able to chat to all the kids in Australia! Some of MM’s cousins live in Christchurch and as you will know they have had the big earthquake there so everyone was concerned but it turns out everyone is fine. MM was funny because he doesn’t even know most of his cousins and he was asking me who they all were! It seems I know more about his family than he does! Anyway the biggest drama to come out of the earthquake was that an antique grandfather clock belonging to cousin Kit was badly damaged in the quake so she was very upset. It was a wedding present to the great great great grandparents and is over a century old so everyone was tutting over the loss of the family heirloom. But thankfully no-one was hurt.

Yesterday (9 September) my baby girl turned 17! I can’t believe how fast time has flown by. I can remember being at the hospital the day she was born! In fact she still has the fluffy elephant I bought for her the day she was born. It is her favourite thing and she still treasures it to this day. I haven’t managed to see her yet to give her a gift as her social calendar is full! Last night her boyfriend took her to dinner then a movie…Saturday her friends are throwing her a BBQ on the beach, weather permitting so hopefully Sunday I can grab her for a bit of time! Last weekend I helped her submit her QTAC form for TAFE so now she has to work on a portfolio to submit along with a 250 word essay on why she wants to do photography and what she expects to get out of the course. Not to mention all the exams and assignments she needs to hand in for end of year. So she is feeling the pressure a little bit now.

Anyway I guess that’s my month in a flash. See you all next time!