Day 121 Wanted...a pedicure.

I have noticed that I am not walking much, and when I do I am walking on fairly smooth surfaces. 

I have also not been going barefoot much-wearing shoes when going outside or slipper-socks inside. 

I think it is because of these actions, that the soles of my feet have lots of rough skin on them. It's kind of like those little bits of skin that seem to separate from your fingers in winter. You know the little spiky bits? The soles of my feet have heaps of these all over them. Maybe the moisture is being drawn away from my feet but they are not getting any 'natural' loofering of walking barefoot on rough ground. 

I have started moisturising my feet and think I will take a token stroll barefoot to the mailbox to see if it helps at all, but ultimately I think I need to get a pedicure...a real one, not a shopping centre nail bar type one, but one that will actually help with the issues and be kind to my straight leg, not just paint my nails....any suggestions?

Day 120 Can I help?

Illi was culling flowers in the house today getting rid of any droopy, browning or dry flowers from the displays she had put throughout the house. She was bringing them to the kitchen bench to work with and, as the only thing that ever happens in the kitchen is preparation of cat food (Haha!), Caramel wanted in on the activity. 

He jumped up on the barstool and sniffed the flowers. He must have decided that although the flowers were not palatable, that the activity was interesting all the same, because he sat and watched what Illi was doing for a decent amount of time. 

I often wonder what must go through the cats' minds at times like this!

Day 119 Rethinking.

Declan has a school assignment that he has had for some time. It involves collecting newspaper articles over a 2 month period. The problem with this is that we do not usually get the newspaper in our household. 

Another problem is that it states in the assignment that at least half of the articles are to be from newspapers NOT ONLINE ARTICLES. 

To overcome this, we searched newspaper sites to find dates/papers, and then went to the library to photocopy the articles from them. 

Problem...the library only keeps papers for about a week!

So after a bit of a rethink, about what articles to use (thus using the few papers we DID have at home), we ended up with more than the minimum amount of required articles...now to get him to do the REAL work for the assignment!

Day 118 Who'd've thought?

Last Monday, Sean took Illi flower shopping so that she could make flower arrangements for around the house ready for when I came home from hospital. 

Today, 11 days later, even though we have had some chilly weather with the central heating on, the flowers are still looking fairly spectacular! 

Today's pic is of the arrangement in the lounge room. There are also 2 lots in the computer room, one on the dining table and even one in my bedroom! 

Who would have thought that supermarket flowers would still be looking so good after this amount of time!

Day 117 Retraction-NOT my spot!

A few days ago I made reference to my 'Spot' (here), but I was corrected today.
Caramel, saw fit to remind me that cats have slaves and that whatever I previously thought, any spot is really HIS spot! I stood up and went to do some stuff and he jumped onto the comfy warm spot on the lounge.

Luckily I share!

Day 116 A little cheese.

This evening while I was cooking dinner (pizza) Sean decided to get some bikkies and cheese out to snack on. He got out a fresh block of Camembert and some savoury shapes. 

I kept cooking while he went into the lounge room with the plate. When I finally finished, he had gotten a little carried away with the cheese and the above pic was all he left. 

Luckily he still ate his dinner though (and the smaller portion he left me meant that I was also able to eat all of my dinner too)!

Day 115 What am I doing with my days?

In short...daytime TV. I have become a fan of 'Ellen'. I really hate that the Australian morning shows are a thinly veiled vessel for infomercials-despite this I do like 'The Circle'! 

Also, apparently anyone who watches daytime TV MUST need life/funeral insurance. I reckon the guy on the Suncorp funeral insurance ad's family need funeral insurance cos he does NOT cook that bbq very well! The chop appears half frozen and the BBQ is not even hot enough to sizzle when he puts the meat on-look out for food poisoning! 

I love that I get to watch reruns of 'M*A*S*H' and 'Hogan's Heroes'. Am also loving 'The View'! It is only wk 2 but I think I have been at home far too long!

Day 114 Red Tape

Interestingly, the above pic does not show any tape...it is the invisible red tape that it is wrapped up in that is the cause for irritation at them moment. 

As can be seen, the form says that I need to see Dr Burns in 4 weeks, but apparently the hospital DOESN'T HAVE this information, the information they have says the appointment should be in 6.5 weeks. 

This form also says that I need to go to the wound clinic to have sutures removed, however the hospital has no record of this needing to happen. 

So seeing that the different departments don't seem able to get their acts together, I am thinking I will try to get someone to break through the red tape for me in the form of a complaint. As it is my wellbeing at stake here, I think it would be remiss of me not to take action.

Day 113 Impersonating a celebrity chef.

Although I am a good cook, sometimes it is easier or less scary to revert to using a packet mix. 

A few weeks ago, I bought a Donna Hay packet mix for macaroons. 

Today, feeling a little bored with sitting around, I tried to coax Illi into making the macaroons with me. Although she started out enthusiastically, her recent goldfish attention span meant she left before the mixing had begun! 

The mix was supposed to make 12 sandwiched macaroons, but I made them a little generous in size (and yes this is after we had all "tasted" them)!

They wont last long, but I have another of the mixes in the cupboard...maybe Illi might be more involved next time seeing that she has helped devour this lot!

Day 112 A girl's best friend.

Caramel has spent time today catching up on his friendships with us. Earlier this morning, he curled up next to me on the lounge (he bit my leg brace-I reckon it is because he is 'punishing' the brace for being an inconvenience to me lol!) and hugged me for a while.
This evening he came into the lounge room, climbed across Sean, across me and settled on the lounge with his favourite teenage girl for a cuddle while he slept and she read while watching TV. 

In years to come I will look back and wonder where the time went, as at the moment, cuddling up with the cat and the remote on a Saturday night is a night of entertainment for Illi (at least I know whose lounge she is on and which boy she is cuddling!)

Day 111 New gear.

A couple of days ago, I introduced my new "hardware" ie the brace I have to wear on my leg for the next 6 weeks. What I didn't mention though was how horrendously uncomfortable it was. 

It was so bad that yesterday I went to my GP who immediately said I have no idea, but I will send you to a physio who will be able to help you. After over half an hour, the physio said that it was her opinion that the brace was incorrect for me as it would not adjust to fit me (it fell down every time I stood up). So she referred me off to a place who supply and fit these types of appliances. While I was there, the Physio called the place and spoke at length with someone about what I needed and what time I should go in. When we got there today, I was told that they could not help me as the person who does the fitting was not in store until Tuesday and the info I was given was incorrect. 

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and discussion, we ended up lobbing on the doorstep of the surgeon (I had not previously been to his private practice as I was through the public clinic at the hospital). The physio the previous day had said that if I needed advice I should be able to call the surgeon's rooms as he has orthopedic nurses on staff who may be able to answer enquiries, therefore I though the nurses may at least be able to give some advice about what to do next. I cannot fault the staff at the practice. They saw me immediately and (although I had to pay for it) fitted a new more slimline (and in my view more practical) brace which does not cause anywhere near the amount of pain the original brace did! I find it disappointing that I had to endure all that I have to end up at this point, but am grateful that this part of the saga is now settled!

Day 110 Christmas 2011, meet Christmas 2012!

I was looking at a catalogue today and asked Sean if it is too early to start Christmas shopping. I tend to buy bits and pieces throughout the year and save them up for Christmas presents. It makes for some pretty spectacular presents and keeps me busy. 

Last year, both kids got furniture for Christmas. Declan got a new double bed and all of the trimmings, however in the spirit of the season, I wouldn't let him have it until Christmas Day. So when we unboxed it and put it together I thought that it didn't look right. 

When the shops reopened after Christmas, I went back to see the display bed and I was correct, it was the wrong bed! The salespeople were most apologetic and promised to replace the bed when they came back in-but it was not expected until mid February! 

In Feb, I called and was told that the container had been held up and would now not be arriving til mid March! 

At the end of March, still not having heard anything, I went in again to enquire and was informed that they were due on 14 April (there was also a heartfelt apology as the owner thought the issue had been sorted out and how she was embarrassed as no-one has ever had to wait this long for something to come in before!)

So today I got a phone call from the store to advise that the bed would be delivered today! I am so happy that I stuck to my guns about this as the extra 30cm (or so) in height to the bed head makes a huge difference to to overall look. See the original bed here.

So while we have finally finished with Christmas 2011, I am thinking about Christmas 2012 already!

Day 109 Some not so subtle medication.

For some years I have been taking medication to help alleviate the pain in my knees. I take a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, glucosamine and fish oil-and more recently I had to add regular panadol osteo to the mix. 

In the lead up to my surgery last week, I was required to give up all of the meds except the panadol as they cause issues with clotting- ie they don't allow clotting. Interestingly though, in the aftermath of surgery, I require injections for 10 days of anti clotting meds! 

In hospital, the nurses gave the injections, but when I left hospital, I am required to give myself the injections. They come pre-primed and all I have to do is insert the needle and inject the whole contents. I still have numb spots in my tummy from last year's surgery so I don't feel the needle go in but about 30 secs later, the medication stings as it disperses. 

I am looking forward to Sunday when I will have the last of these..it is definitely NOT one of the easiest ways of self medicating!

Day 108 That's my spot!

Now that I am home from hospital, I have assumed my 'spot' on the lounge. As Sheldon chose his 'spot' on Big Bang for reasons important to him, the reasons for my choice of 'spot' are currently relevant to me.

We have a lounge with a chaise, but added extra cushions so that it can be used as a corner lounge. I usually prefer to sit on the lounge in the position that the chaise was originally designed for. BUT as it is my right leg that is currently immobile, I need to reorient myself accordingly. 

I have my laptop on the cushions of the lounge to the right and the tv is also in sight to the left of my field of view. I often have control of the remote (when I can reclaim it from Sean). I am a short hobble from the loo (although the geometry off fitting an unbending leg into such a narrow room is a whole other dilemma!), a short hobble from the kitchen (although I have issues carrying anything on crutches!) and within earshot of most of the house (although people have to be listening if I am to ever get any responses)!

Thankfully, as the new ratings season seems to have begun, I have quite a wide range of tv shows for my viewing pleasure to keep me company!

 Lets see if I am as happy with my spot after 6 weeks of keeping my leg immobile!

Day 107 The view from here.

This morning when I looked out of the window of my hospital room, I saw two hot air balloons. I found it interesting that although in plain sight, the balloons were quite large, through the lens of my camera, it required 4x zoom to get anywhere near a decent view of them. 

In person, the larger one in the picture, quite clearly was a Questacon balloon...I am still not sure what was written on the other one. It was a lovely view to see on a very clear morning.

Day 106 Their enthusiasm is overwhelming!

This afternoon when Sean brought the kids to the hospital to visit, i just had to snap the above pic. 

They were chatting occasionally but this pic just captured their enthusiasm at being at the hospital at all. They are happy to see me, but would prefer time at home...or probably any other environment than the hospital...as can be seen by the above body language! 

The up-side is, I should be going home tomorrow!

Day 105 Ouch!

The above pic is a bird's eye view of my leg. I particularly like how the surgeon has initialled my leg (AB). Apparently tomorrow I will be getting a brace and crutches but for now I am flat out in bed not allowed to move or bend my leg. With the amount of pain meds on board, moving is probably not a good idea anyway!

Day 104 A big day.

Today was quite a big day for a number of reasons...

1. It is the day when I finally got to have the knee surgery I have been waiting for.

2. The kids were coming home from 3 days at camp.

3. It is my birthday.

As I went through the steps of admission, I had to give my name and date of birth. As each person realised it was my birthday, they seemed rather perplexed that I was positive about "giving up" my birthday to have surgery. However, as I kept explaining, it was a great present as I was getting the surgery I had been waiting for AND I had people waiting on me and topping up my drugs as needed!

Further to the above, as I came out of the anaesthetic, I found that the recovery staff had created me some birthday balloons too...how sweet was that!

Day 103 When the kids are away...

With both kids at camp, it is amazing how unstructured our time is. 

This evening, we ducked out for a bit, then came home to a call from Mum, and I only got around to cooking dinner at about 8.40pm. Dinner, though, was a little different to when the children are home. 

Sean and I are generally happy to eat similar things, whereas kids being kids, they don't like or won't eat certain things. So it was quite refreshing to cook the sirloins (that I had stashed in the freezer) and have a simple salad with them...no fuss, not much mess but VERY tasty for minimal effort. 

When the kids are away....feed the man meat! (or is that mixing my slogans?)

Day 102 Meeting Aiden.

Last year when I was in hospital, I meet a lady called Sarah who was about 3-4 months pregnant but had Gall issues. Over the few days we were in hospital we found that we got on well and shared similar views on many things.

Fast forward to January this year (21 January to be precise) and Sarah's baby was born. 

Due to time constraints (and hopeless communication on both our parts) I did not meet Aiden...until today!

Aiden is an extremely giggly boy, who loves a chat, loves poking his tongue out (at times, WHILE giggling!), loves his toys friends and loves his mummy (daddy??...oh you mean the guy who went to work this morning, yeah I'll love him unconditionally when he gets home but mummy is right here next to me)!

Congrats Sarah and Warwick, your baby boy is just gorgeous, and it was a pleasure to meet him!

Day 101 If you leave me, can I come too?

This evening Illi asked me if I could double check her packing for camp to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. 

While we were doing this (no warm jamies or sleeping bag-she was gonna pack the jamies she was wearing and 'kept forgetting' to ask Sean to get her sleeping bag from the shed) we kept getting interrupted by Angel and Caramel. They seem to think that Illi needed a reminder of them while she was gone, cos they kept rolling all over the lid of her suitcase (while it was open) I joked that they were trying to get packed so they could go too!

The interesting thing is that they both turned camera shy and it took over 1/2 hour to get the above pic and Illi ended up sneaking up on Caramel to get it! 

Oh and the answer is, no kitties, you can't go too, you will have to make do with staying home with Sean and I (much warmer than camping in this weather anyway)!

Day 100 Some sage advice to a teenager!

Lately, Illi has been a little temperamental. I know that teenagers go through this, I know that girls are reportedly worse than boys. The thing is, when you are living it, you can hardly believe that the sweet gorgeous little girl you once knew, has become some weird being, totally ruled (possessed even) by hormones that turn their personalities ugly at times.

Today, we went shopping as Illi has grown out of most of her clothes from last winter and also needed a new pair of shoes. While we were out, we had noodles at an Asian noodle box type takeaway place at DFO. They had fortune cookies on the counter and as they were only 50c I agreed that Illi could have one. When she cracked it open, the fortune inside was as in the above pic.

"Gestures of love to a family member will prove worthwhile"

Sometimes I think all kids need reminding of this, I find it tends to reign them in for a little while. I reckon that as long as we can find the fun-loving, sweet girl from her younger years periodically, that is what will sustain us until she is of an age that she evolves into a mature, fun-loving girl who is a pleasure to be with more often than not.

Day 99 The bunny brings chocolate eggs.

When you really think about it, can you make the connection from Christian festival, to eggs (got me so far-new life and all that) to chocolate (starting to lose me but if you want to involve chocolate, who am I to argue?!) to rabbits who deliver the chocolate (OK I will take the chocolate but can NOT see the connection here)!

No matter if you make the connection, believe in the reason for the holiday or just accept days off and a reason to eat extra chocolate, you can't avoid the fact that Easter is upon us. 

As the children get older and their beliefs shift, I am finding so too do their sleeping patterns. What that means in real terms is that instead of the Easter Bunny visiting after the children go to be, he is able to pop in at a less busy time to make his delivery. This year I suspect he made our house his last stop on his way home on Easter Sunday morning. A time when small children would be bouncing about with excitement at the booty of chocolate that has been delivered.

The important thing, as far as my children are concerned is that the chocolate arrived. Interesting, though, is the discovery that they are Cadbury chocolate Easter Egg snobs. The green (mint) and gold (caramel) eggs in the above pic were not Cadbury brand and neither Illi nor Declan liked them...so as any responsible mum would, I 'took one for the team' and accepted responsibility for eating them! The things we do for our kids!!

Happy Easter all!

Day 98 A last minute arrangement.

A few weeks ago, Sean suggested that we do something tonight for my birthday seeing that I will not be in a state to celebrate on Friday (due to surgery). 

I didn't think any more about it until yesterday when he asked if I have given it anymore thought. So with the help of Facebook and SMS, we arranged to have dinner at APK Woden. 

As it was late notice on a public holiday weekend, many people were unable to make it, but Helen, Andrew, Ryan, Amy, Graham and Katrina joined Sean, Declan, Illi and myself. 

We had a lovely dinner, and as Helen said, if you can ignore the very average service, the food is lovely! 

Amy and Illi already knew each other, but Ryan and Declan had not previously met so it was nice that they got on and found things to chat about, while Katrina was extremely shy and only became sociable in the last 15 minutes of the evening. 

We were asked to leave the restaurant at 9 as they were closing, even though their hours are to 10 on Saturday nights. 

The pic above is of Declan and my leftover pizza. Declan had BBQ meatlovers, and I had the Marinated lamb, Sean had Tex Mex, and Illi had chips...yes, chips! Ahh well, at least with chips on the menu, we can got to a pizza restaurant and still keep her happy! 

Thanks to all who made it. The night was a lovely relaxed meal with great company.

Day 97 No whine...just wine.

Last weekend, when Declan went to Karate Grading, one of the Senseis spoke to me to let me know that even though Easter weekend was coming, that she would still be having class on Good Friday. 

 So this evening, after some resistance, the kids went off to Karate class. 

While they were out, Sean and I relaxed, watching TV (Better Homes and Gardens) and eating cheese and bikkies-I also had a glass of wine but Sean abstained until after he picked the kids up (a glass of wine is not worth it-especially with double demerits)! 

So instead of our usual teen whining, I swapped it for some wine...just what was needed on a lazy Good Friday I think!

Day 96 Don't forget the chicken!

When I was in primary school there was a book I loved called "Don't forget the bacon!" by Pat Hutchins. In the book the boy goes to do some shopping for his mum and has a list of things to remember, and last on the list is bacon...of course things happen and in the end he forgets the bacon (only) and has to go back for it!

Today was the last day of school for the term, and as I am not at school for the first few weeks of next term, I needed to remember to get the chicken out of the freezer that had been there for a few weeks. 

I used to buy this from Bibina (a warehouse open to the public that sells specialty foods) when I was in Newcastle, but have been unable to find anywhere similar in Canberra. When I spoke to Di in the canteen at school, she ordered some in for me but her supplier got the order wrong and only brought one bag instead of 2, so I took the first one home and a few days later she gave me the 2nd one. I put it in the staffroom freezer and kept forgetting to take it home! 

I took measures to ensure I remembered to get the chicken out of the freezer today. I put a post-it note on the door handle of my (shared) office. I asked Sue to remind me (I usually end up talking to Sue on my way out of school as her classroom is between my office and the front entry of the school). Sue reminded me multiple times during the day, but as luck would have it, I ran in to Belinda on the way out of school...not Sue! So, you guessed it, I forgot the chicken!! 

Now that I no longer have keys to the gate and front door (see here) I can't pop back in to grab it, so I will have to find out when our GA, Elva, is in so I can pop in to grab it! 

Day 95 Lateral thinking.

This morning I was lying in bed, trying to ignore that fact that the radio alarm had gone off, that I had to go to work, that Sean had turned the stereo in the entry way on....etc....when the stereo went off. 

I assumed Sean had tired of the extra noise, but found out that it went off of its own accord. As did the power in half of the lounge room, the dining room, computer room and half of the kitchen (oh and the entry way). Unfortunately, the electricity to the instantaneous gas hot water (and the gas central heating) is also on this circuit, so it was a cold wash and some good deodorant needed to get through the day! 

This happened last year and we had to call the electrician. It happened on Sunday-but it restored itself within the hour. Today it didn't fix itself. 

I rang the electrician and found that our normal guy is climbing Mt Everest! So Darren (whose phone Ben's number is diverted to) came around this afternoon to fix the problem. 

After 2 hours of work, he was still unable to find the problem, let alone fix it! He advised he will be back tomorrow morning (we told him 7.30am is more than suitable) with another electrician ($$!!!) to keep working on finding/fixing the problem. 

As he was leaving though, he came up with a solution to the hot water issue...we currently have a very long extension cord running outside (had to trim a hole in the cat enclosure to put the cord through) from one of the working powerpoints in the kitchen (as seen in the above pic). 

Here's hoping they are able to find the problem fairly quickly, so that a) we are not up for a massive bill and b) so that we (Sean) can get to work at a reasonable time in the morning....fingers crossed!!

Day 94 The way country people do things.

As I have previously mentioned, in my current job, I drive to Gunning each Tuesday to work with a child. 

On the way home today as I came over the bridge into Sutton, at the T intersection, I saw this display and just had to stop and take a pic. It is actually out the front of a real estate agent, but I love how they have used corrugated iron and then painted it beautifully. It is things like this that end up on top 10 type shows, showing iconically Australian 'stuff.' Oh BTW the dog and sheep are always there, they have added the rabbit, eggs and bunny ears on the sheep and dog for Easter.

Ya gotta love the way country people do things!

Day 93 After the fact.

I find it annoying when I find something after I need it. 

Or find a better option of something after I have bought what I thought was the ultimate item...until I see a superior version after the fact. 

Or sometimes I see something that reminds me of something I have recently done.

Today while I was in the supermarket, I saw some "party glasses" that would have been ideal for Simone's party (shown here) and seeing them also reminded me of Simone, Alie, Steve, Nina, Josh...etc. They were already blinged and would have fitted over my glasses. Oh well, bringing a knowing smile to my face was the effect of seeing them, I wasn't quite compelled to but them though.

Day 92 Changing colours part 2...

Today it was Declan's turn for Karate Grading. He started the day as an orange belt, but finished it as a green belt!
There were a LOT of people at today's grading, by my count there were 37 students and 15 instructors! It was cool watching Declan sparring, first with Sensei Emma, who he usually trains with on Friday nights, then with another male Sensei I have not seen before (in above pic). It is also interesting to see how tall he is when sparring with adults!
At the end of the day, he achieved what he was there to do and changed colours from orange to green! Congrats Declan!

Day 91 Will the real Illi, please stand up?

Today when we were at Costco, Illi pointed out the shelf with with Illy Coffee. It was kind of funny to see that she really blended in as she was wearing the same colour as the cans! 

Unfortunately on the coffee, it is Illy, not Illi (however many people assume her name is spelt with a y anyway). 

A few years ago, I did a search and found there is a place in the USA called Illiana...well not so much a place, as an area. Apparently where Illinois and Indiana meet, there is a speedway and it is called Illiana Speedway. There was also a milk processing factory and they produces glass bottle stamped with Illiana too! I suspect though that while my girl's name is pronounced Illi-ar-na, that in the USA they pronounce it Illi-a-na. 

Whatever way others say/spell their versions, I love my Illi/Illiana!