Smile...

I have just been to the best dental practice ever. I have been quite dentist phobic (and not just about the costs involved) since I had some teeth removed when I was about eight...I can still feel the dental nurse sitting across me in the chair, pinning down my arms and legs while the dentist was administering the anaesthetic, I recall screaming blue murder and thrashing around. Waking up after the procedure was just awful, I was bleeding profusely all over my brand new (for my birthday) yellow polo neck jumper. I still need 5mg of valium to even make the appointment. I researched and found this practice online yesterday and their website looked great so bit the bullet. I had a dreadful toothache as a piece of a wisdom tooth fractured when I was intubated for my spinal surgery. There was some decay under the fracture which is why it broke so easily.

The dentists and staff at this clinic are all middle aged women, around my age and older, every one of them. The dentist was so gentle, took a great deal of time, also took many photos which I could see immediately and explained everything to me as she examined me. There was also television on the ceiling, I could choose what I wanted to watch and opted for the fish tank DVD...!!! I chose to have the wisdom tooth removed and she did it there and then. Had it been an ordinary molar I would have had the root canal. The dentist felt it was the best thing to do as the decay had crept under the filling and gone below the gum line.

It was such a positive experience for me that I am now going ahead with a series have a series of treatments in the new year to replace my amalgam fillings with white ones and have my teeth whitened a bit, it's nowhere near as expensive as I thought it would be but I will wait until I am working before I have it done given it's elective.

It feels great to have been so courageous...I really think I may be able to conquer this phobia...how good would that be...???

In Our Garden This Morning...

Had a crappy night's sleep so at around 6.30am got up and went for a meander outside. Look what I spied on our avocado tree...!!! Our very first tiny, wee, baby avocado...!!!

It's about 5cm long at this point, not sure what will happen with it and how big it will eventually grow, probably not huge as this is the first year the tree has fruited. Hopefully next season we will be inundated, we eat them almost daily at his time of year.

Also had a look at what has happened in the garden since our huge rain dump last week...over the course of the week we received around 400mm, quite substantial. John was outside in the pool shed a number of nights having to pump water out of the pool. Had it over flowed we would have had it in the house or worse, it would flow over the retaining wall into the neighbours courtyards, they are about 1.5m lower than us over the back fence.

We have tomatoes of a number of varieties going berserk, although some of them are quite watery after the rain, eggplant, beans, zucch's, huge amounts of self seeded salad greens (love the bitter, peppery ones), sweet potatoes and a feral garden bed of mint, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, thyme, lemon thyme, lemongrass, Vietnamese mint and basil. The front garden has a couple of passionfruit vines on the fence, olives, avocadoes, a grafted eggplant tree, mango and paw paw. We also have a kaffir lime, mandarin and grafted lemon tree in substantial pots on the verandah.

When we moved in to our home the orange and lemon trees had been somewhat neglected over the years and we (that would be John actually) gave them a serious prune and nurture. They are looking fabulous now and have the makings of healthy fruit on them. We did get a reasonable number of edible oranges this year but most of what we picked needed to be dumped.

I'm keen on the garden but more a fair weather gardener, John is the more passionate one, I like to harvest and cook the produce, he enjoys getting his hands dirty. In the scheme of things it's not a bad balance I guess.

Hot...

It's quite a stinker here today...around 34C (that's about 95F)...really dry too which is very unusual for this time of year for us. Usually the air is lovely and humid and ceiling fans are great. All I want today is aircon, am tempted to go and sit in the car and read.

Actually, what I really want is to be able to jump in the pool, and I can't, everyone else has been swimming several times today. I can't while I have my staples still in...it would be so soothing and cool...all over. The steps are also a bit steep for me at the moment too although I'm sure I'd find a way to manage them if I could get in.

Just being a miserable, cranky so and so really. I want something particular to eat and we don't have it. It would help if I knew what it was so John could go and get it, an ice cream perhaps..?? He is going shopping "soon" so will give him a list, starting with Peppermint Magnums.

Time to suck it up and get on with things...perhaps a G&T will help..??

Phil...thanks for the award, will post tomorrow...

Not For The Squeamish...

As promised, actually threatened may be a better choice of word here, I have photos of my scar. Matilda took them a few days ago, I was quite desperate to see what it looked like...everyone had seen it but me. I can't see it in the mirror, not allowed to twist...my hips and shoulders are to stay aligned at all times.

So...especially for Kel...


Be warned...


Proceed no further if you are squeamish...


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Last chance now...


Pretty ugly really (the right side of the photo is the base of my spine)...it's a little red in places but healing well otherwise. A few of the staples are starting to fall out. Come Monday afternoon they will all be out. The itchiness is driving me crazy...I just want to rip at it...tonight I sat under the cool shower and let the water do it's thing, was bliss.

This evening I am feeling really good. I'm almost certain that the "tummy bug" I had was a reaction to the Heparin I was on. It started just on 24 hours after I began it...I was on it for a week and finished yesterday morning. Interestingly this morning I felt better than I had for a week and over the course of the day my energy levels have picked up enormously, it has now been 36 hours since I completed the course. My taste buds are recovering too, everything had a really musty taste, milk tasted "mushroomy"...ugh...!!! Was chatting to my Mum this afternoon and she said that after some major surgery earlier this year her taste buds went haywire while she was on Warfarin, another anticoagulant drug.

Coincidence...?? Am thinking not.

Anyway, I thoroughly loved my chicken soup that Matilda made today, bless her soul. She was so proud of herself. It was really, really good too, not just saying that because I am her Mum. She worked hard today, tidied, cleaned her room, changed the cat litter box, did all of her washing, brought ours in, emptied the dishwasher, went to the supermarket and pharmacy for me, cleaned & dressed my wound and all manner of little chores & errands for me. Am much more relaxed about it all tonight.

Looking forward to a gentle weekend here. Matilda has a busy schedule with five Cheerleading concerts. Her own concert is Sunday morning but they are showcasing the Cheerleaders this year and asked them to perform at all five concerts so we need to be there at 10.30am & 5pm tomorrow and Sunday. Looking forward to Sunday's concert though, her team does all of it's routines then.

Whatever you all get up tp, I hope it's with people who love & care for you...

Feeling Better Maybe..??

Am craving ordinary chicken soup today, can you believe, it is going to be 30C here and I want soup. My gut is pretty ravaged so I know it will be the best thing for me.

I must be feeling better, the untidiness here is bugging the crap out of me. I want to do something about it and am getting restless and antsy because I can't. Matilda is home with me today and is an angel, she is making the soup for me (no mean feat for a vegetarian - we work well as a team, I'll do the chickeny bits). She has told me not to stress, that she will tidy for me when she is done with the soup. I really don't cope well with mess and John and the boys are messy...untidy. I think it's a boy thing...it doesn't seem to bother them if there are piles of stuff all over the place. I knew it when we moved in together so in part I have to suck it up, however, they in turn knew that I like to be tidy and it works both ways.

I will add in John's defence that he has been carrying a huge load this last couple of weeks...he works every day then comes home to have to prepare dinner and get organised for the next day, I'm no help at all and feel pretty useless.

It's not a big ask to expect people to pick up after themselves, is it..?? To wipe down the bench when finished preparing a meal or snack...(and with wet cloth NOT the side of your hand on to the floor so it leaves smears across the bench that boys are blind to)...??

Any suggestions..?? How do I get all of the kids to pick up after themselves without being asked...?? One suggestion was to "impound" anything left out at the end of the day. It wouldn't take long for them to "remember" then but it seems pretty drastic.

Wise Bloggers...help...

Christmas Shopping Taken Care Of...

Our family has not really been into huge numbers of gifts at Christmas, an acknowledgement is just fine.

Over the past couple of years I have been rather uncomfortable with the idea of outlaying large amounts of cash for trinkets and bits that we don't really need so this year have decided to do something about it.

Most of our family, extended family that is, are all giving a Goat this year as part of Oxfam's Unwrapped gift giving program...a mere $39.00 will purchase a goat for a family and it will keep them in milk, fertiliser and future goats. The children in our family will receive a gift but also will have a duck or chicken purchased in their names.

Will get online in the next day or so and organise it...feeling better about the season this year.

Home Again...

Thanks so much for your well wishes, prayers and kind thoughts...the surgery itself went really well, it was complex and took longer than expected but due to the great painkillers I really didn't feel a lot of pain at all.

Have had a couple of recovery setbacks though...firstly on day 1 & 2 when they tried to get me out of bed I had a vaso-vagal reaction and spectacularly fainted in the shower...thankfully I was on a shower chair at the time and didn't hit the floor. Frightened the crap out of the poor student nurse though who thought she was going to have to call her first Code Blue.

On Friday I was having a great day until after lunch when I felt quite ill...turns out I picked up a gastro bug in the hospital, just beautiful...vomiting and diarrhoea since then...actually today is quite a bit better, I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have a residual problem with depleted blood volume though which has left me with palpitations, shortness of breath and light headedness. It started two days into the vomiting but is improving slowly though.

Have come come on Heparin which I have to inject, three more days of that to go.

Wound photos to follow...have to get Matilda to take a pic...I'm yet to see it but know I have at least 23 staples in it...!!!

Is Dr. Ross In The House...???

Today is surgery day, yesterday was long, much longer than I would have liked but the evening was gentle & calm. In the end I was far happier home with John and the kids than I would have been alone in hospital.

Cannot sleep, it's just after 4am here...decided to get up and catch up with some email before signing out for at least a week, more like two. I was talking with my Mum last night and she asked if I had given much thought to what will happen post-surgery. Um, a big no really...I can't think past today yet other than I have made plans for my family while I am absent. As long as they give me good drugs I will be just fine...I'll be taking anything on offer...the surgeon & anaesthetist have promised me great drugs. Gotta love them...even if they aren't as gorgeous as George...!!!

Thank you all for your kind thoughts, emails & messages, they mean a great deal to me. Think of me in 3 hours time, I will be so grateful to be finally going under the anaesthetic.

Will post as soon as I can...xoxo

For Braja...

In the vein of this post and the ensuing hilarity that followed, and upon Braja's specific request I now present my latest find at our lovely Asian Grocery Store. Matilda & I were out shopping this morning for some things she needs for her trip to Noumea in 3 weeks. After reading Lilly's Life and finding a recipe for Duck Rice Paper Rolls I just HAD to have them...John & I both adore duck and take any opportunity to indulge we can, even keep a few Peking Duck breasts in the freezer for "emergencies". We whizzed down to the Asian Grocery Shop for a few things...fresh watercress, coriander, rice paper wrappers, hoi sin sauce as well as a few bits that weren't on the list.

I could not quite believe what I found in the "personal" section of the store...

Placenta Cream...!!!

The ingredient list was long and difficult to decipher...about half way down the list was the ingredient "Placenta Enzymes". It didn't say what type of placenta was included, I can only assume it wasn't human and was probably sheep or cow.

Surely..??

Utterly bizarre...

After coffee we headed home and made the rice paper rolls...I made them with shredded chicken as I had some poached free range fillets in the fridge...also made some vermicelli rolls for Matilda (she is vegetarian, she is almost 15 and has been for almost half her life now...see what happens when you encourage your children to think and form opinions of their own...)

I had a quick sample and they are delicious, will be delightful to have with a drink very shortly. Actually it may be the last wine I have for a week or two...I have to refrain from consuming alcohol 48 hours before the anaesthetic...that gives me until 7am tomorrow.

It's Gin O'Clock...

Salut..!!

Can He Fix It...???

I knew the Obama camp's "Yes We Can..." slogan was familiar but couldn't really place it until I heard this yesterday...it's a hoot and the work of 774 ABC Melbourne producer Michael Taft.

Can He Fix It..??

I love it...

I missed out on posting yesterday...went out for lunch and did a little shopping and was wrecked afterwards, in a lot of pain so I slept.

Will two posts today still count for NaBloPoMo..?? I think we can be a bit flexible due to personal circumstances.

Can't we..??

Yes We Can...!!!

Excellence...

...am a proud Mama this morning...

Well, always a proud Mama but that bit prouder today. Last night was Matilda's school annual awards night. Matilda received an award for excellence in all 6 of the subjects she is studying this year. She has been a straight A/A+ student all year, has worked hard and deserves the recognition. Unfortunately I was the only one who could go to the ceremony last night...it does tend to be a little tedious and go on a bit, last year it didn't end until after 11pm and Myles really needs to be in bed before then. Josh wasn't home so John had to stay home with him.

Would love to scan & post photos of her awards but they include a bit too much information...last names and school.

On the way home she was talking about the Year 11 & 12 student awards...I have no doubt she will be up there in two & three years time. Year 10 next year is the year that really starts to determine the way her education will pan out...she is quite determined to study Medicine at University (and specialise in Paediatrics or Emergency medicine), so has opted for the Maths/Science stream with French as her "fun" subject. Her school offers Uni Maths & Science subjects in year 11 & 12 so she will almost certainly study those.

It's starting to get to the serious end of her schooling...I hope we all cope.

Sweet Transvestite...the sweetest of them all...

In a previous Meme I mentioned that I had seen the Rocky Horror Show live on stage 44 times, almost all at Melbourne's Comedy Theatre...have seen three actors play Frank-N-Furter but Daniel Abineri was outstanding...an amazing voice and oh so camp, he was Frank to perfection. I believe he played the role for several seasons, that's many hundreds of performances. I was lucky enough to be at his final Frank gig in around 1989...it was brilliant, many tears shed.I'm told Reg Livermore did an equally brilliant job in the 1970's but sadly I was a little young, I'd have loved to see him as Frank.

While up online in the middle of the night last night I found this...it has been illegally videotaped by an audience member so there are a few blips in it. It brought many smiles and some great memories...



Thanks so much for your kind thoughts and comments on yesterday's post, having a much better day today...had a crappy night's sleep but went back to bed for a nap this morning and feel as though the pain is under control today, have just managed to do some supermarket shopping and have put it away. If nothing else gets done today the day hasn't been a total loss. Am looking forward so much to having the surgery done next Tuesday.

This Barely Counts...

Today is a crappy, sucky pain day...almost no sleep last night, cannot get comfortable standing, sitting or lying.

Heading to my doctor for strong pain meds soon...hopefully this will help.

It barely counts as a post for NaBloPoMo...

Tom & Flo...a love story...

After chatting with friends about those close to us who have died I thought it was time to mention my maternal Grandparents Thomas Arthur & Florence Joyce Anderson, Tom & Flo to their many friends.

They were married almost 60 years and I don't recall them having a seriously cross word with each other, they would bicker often but in that way you do when you have loved someone for so long. I used to stay with them on school holidays and every morning I would climb into bed with Nan and Pop would bring us in a hot drink before breakfast. Always hot chocolate for me and hot tea for Nan with a glass of hot water and a squeeze of lemon in. He would pull back their curtains so we could see out of the window into their garden...Nan adored her garden, after we got up we would often walk around it so she could point out the new overnight happenings in it.

After Pop retired they moved interstate to a warmer climate...they were quite some way away but stayed in touch regularly. Their 50th wedding anniversary was quite an occasion...about 40 friends and family gathered to celebrate, they were so happy and obviously very much in love still...we used to joke that they were joined at the hip. They loved their lifestyle, played bowls seven days a week between them and usually lived within sight of the Pacific Ocean, they loved the beach and until ill health prevented used to walk on it most days hand in hand.

As they aged ill health plagued them and our family were very concerned as to how Nan would manage if Pop died first...she had an aortic aneurysm and had become quite dependent on Pop for just about everything. She didn't drive and refused to use a scooter to get around, she really dropped her bundle, it kind of suited her to be dependent. We were very worried about who would care for her if Pop died first.

In May 1996, we received the call than Nan had died, her aneurysm had ruptured, she had lapsed into unconsciousness and died peacefully. It was incredibly sad however there was some comfort in that she had been the one to go first.

As family were preparing to leave for the airport to fly interstate to support Pop there was an early morning call from a neighbour, Pop hadn't felt at all well overnight and am ambulance had been called in the early hours of the morning. He was in hospital on life support. Family were able to go straight to the hospital from the airport to say their goodbyes and arrange to turn off his life support. Astonishingly, he too had an aortic aneurysm that had ruptured...the doctors made all kinds of excuses and noises about how the stress of Nan dying would have pushed his blood pressure up and caused it to rupture. I like to take a more romantic perspective and think that he could not live without his beloved "Darl".

They were cremated and had their ashes scattered together...always together...RIP.

NaBloPoMo...& Tagged Again

...or National Blog Posting Month...!!!

I'm not likely to post every day, especially considering I am expecting to be hospital for 7-8 days of November however will attempt to post every day in November I can.


This was a fun Meme...thanks Kate for the compliment...I had to answer these questions with one word responses...some of it was easy, some really hard...

1. Where is your cell phone? Charging
2. Where is your significant other? Sofa
3. Your hair color? Dyed
4. Your mother? Complex
5. Your father? Absent
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Bizarre
8. Your dream/goal? Happiness
9. The room you are in? Living
10. Your hobby? Blogging
11. Your fear? Loneliness
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Alive
13. Where were you last night? Bed
14. What you're not? Painfree
15. One of your wish list items? Health
16. Where you grew up? Victoria
17. The last thing you did? Snoozed
18. What are you wearing? PJ’s
19. Your T.V.? Off
20. Your Pet ? Burmese x2
21. Your computer? Desktop
22. Your mood? Contented
23. Missing someone? Forever
24. Your car? Practical
25. Something you're not wearing? Knickers
26. Favorite store? Delicatessens
27. Your Summer? Beginning
28. Love someone? Absolutely
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Thursday

Last Thursday I cried listening to an interview with Vince O'Rourke by Richard Fidler...he has written a book titled "I Wish I Were A Leper" about his and his wife's journey with early onset Alzheimer's Disease. His wife's story was so incredibly sad, his absolute devotion to her brought the tears. It reminds me of both my sets of Grandparents, all of whom I was lucky to have until I was 33.

I am supposed to tag 7 others but have done a bit of tagging of late, so instead, if you read my blog consider yourself tagged but unless you want to participate you are not obliged. I don't mind a bit.

Until tomorrow...which is just about now anyway...