Time to resurrect this blog!

Hmm, where do I start? 21st August was such a long time ago. This is gonna be a long post.

So much has happened since August. Not much of it was very nice - hence no blogging took place.

We had a serious illness in the family - much time was spent visiting hospitals & nursing homes.

I loved this man as if he was my own father. He passed away in September. He is now in peace. No more pain, no more suffering. For that we are grateful. that is all I will say about that chapter. Let's move on.

A few days after the funeral, our household started a huge face lift. Cupboards were completely emptied and only frequently used items were replaced. Some things were packed away but most were donated to a local charity. Aside from the fact that this really needed to happen, I'm not really sure why we started on this epic journey. Once we had started..... we simply couldn't stop ! Enter into the picture Vacuum storage bags ! What a wonderful way to store things. All winter bedding & clothing has been packed away and with all the clearing out of unused items we discovered that our house is really quite a good size !

I started to get grumpy at our vacuum cleaner. It seems that over the years I have paid what I thought was a decent amount of money to find that the vacuum sucked...... or didnt suck, as the case may be. After vacuuming the lounge floor one day I was really annoyed to discover that dust still rose from the carpet when I banged it with my hand - even immediately after cleaning it. That afternoon, I googled & researched vacuum cleaners. Let me share with you that vacuum cleaner forums are simply the most brain numbing boring read ever.

The next day, I purchased a Wertheim 5035 vacuum cleaner. It wasn't cheap but it does a fantastic job. It had been less than 24 hours since I had cleaned the carpets with the old vac - the Wertheim filled the bag when I did just the top floor of our house ! We were well chuffed with the purchase, albeit a very expensive one. We did however get a free steam cleaner machine with the vac so that made the price much more acceptable.

Our joy was short lived as the washing machine died just a few days later. It must have gotten its nose out of joint at our vacuum celebrations.

Back on to google and washing machine forums I go. Boy, they were exciting. Such riveting stuff! Keeping in mind that I was trying to be a good greenie, we looked at water & power usage. Trying to do the correct thing for the environment and at the same time get a decent machine & warranty is bloody expensive. Settled on an Asko. Haggled the price between shops and got a good deal :) This is what we got. It has had quite a work out since purchased (thanks to the spring clean on steriods) and has proved to be a very good investment. How awful that both appliances we bought were not made in Australia. Both are from Europe.

Next to shit itself was the upstairs fridge. I have learnt that you should NEVER replace a household appliance unless you have enough money to replace the whole friggin lot. Luckily, we had a better fridge downstairs.

On the 27th Sept both fridges were emptied and positions swapped. I didn't do the moving of the horrible bulk up and down the stairs, the guys did. (thanks !) All kitchen counters & the table were covered in the contents of both fridges. I had been out, and when I came home the kitchen was very dark. The phone rang, it was a good friend from Florida USA. I chatted for a few minutes but felt that I needed to open the kitchen curtains. It was too dark to see all the stuff on the counter. With phone in one hand (to my ear) I leaned across the kitchen sink to open the curtains with my other hand. As I moved backwards, I felt a heavy thud on my left foot. I had no idea what I had knocked off the counter. It hurt, but I guess it felt kinda like a small can of food hitting me. Heavy thud but not lasting pain.


I was happily chatting away but imagine my surprise when I looked down to see this sticking straight upwards out of my foot. It had to be the big heavy chef knife didn't it? It couldn't be anything but the heaviest sharpest knife in the bloody house.

I think I managed to uttered something like "umm...there is a knife in my foot - I think I have to go" and I hung up (sorry about that sudden end to the phone call btw!)

So, as I had refreshed my senior first aid course last year, what was the first thing I did?

PULLED THE BLOODY KNIFE OUT.

What a dick. (actually that is the brand name of the knife - coincidence no?)

I know that was the wrong thing to do. Listen up kiddies, do NOT pull a knife out if you are unfortunate enough to get stabbed. Its the normal reaction I know - BUT - I did know better. I even had all the correct first aid items on hand to make the doughnut bandage etc etc.

I now know that rudimentary reactions override learnt skills.

Of course as soon as I pulled the knife out there was blood everywhere. I calmly called out to Zed and said "um, I think I might need a hand here". He had no idea what I had done and my tone of voice gave him no indication at all.

Off to the hospital with me. Once again, our local hospital (that every one complains about) did a fantastic job at getting me attended to fast & effectively. After xrays etc, the doctor told me what a lucky girl I was. I had missed the artery by a smidgeon. The knife had gone right through my foot all but the thick skin on the base. He reiterated a few times that I should NOT have removed the knife. I know... I know... I KNOW !

This is the foot now, 3 lots of antibiotics, 5 weeks later and Im finally off crutches. It doesn't look like much but it sure does hurt sometimes. Who would have thought that something so simple could have caused so much damage? I still have about 40% feeling in two toes and the nerves go spastic frequently.

I dare not complain because I know that if that knife had of gone a few mm's either way, I would have been much worse off. Don't whinge, be grateful woman!

So, now I am off crutches and just in time to start helping out for the Federal Election. It is to be held on November 24th. As Lish may read this, I will omit any political talk :) I know she dislikes it !

Now, to end the month on a wonderfully high note, we got visitors. Mel, Christian & children arrived on Monday evening. It was so lovely to see them all. We stayed up way later than we should have as we knew that we would be attending a theme park the next day. I roared with laughter at Mel's work stories. No one can tell a story quite like Mel can. No one I know can relate to 2 year olds like Mel can. Mel & two year olds........ a recipe for hillarious adventures I must say!

I am so happy for Mel in her new job. I just knew that she had found her niche when she told me about the position she was offered when I was in Gladstone on holidays. I know she had her doubts about it, but I just knew she would love it. Now, when she tells me stories about the wonderful children, her eyes gleam and you can see the love she has for those kiddies. Its not my place to be, but I'm well proud of you Mel - and you should be too.

The next day, we went off to Wet'n'Wild for a fun filled day. We had such a great time. We didn't leave until the park closed. We all had the appearance of drowned rats but that was ok as everyone else there looked the same. This photo was as the troup had just come off the Mammoth River Ride

This beach towel made me laugh. It looked much funnier when it was wrapped around him. I did a double take as it looked as if the man was wearing an itsy bitsy yellow thong .I don't know the person but I did ask permission to take the photo. I may or may not have mentioned that it would end up on my blog. My bad? Still, he was such a good sport about it and had no problems posing for the pic !
It was a devine tempreture all day. Not too hot & not too cold. We drove home from the park to discover that Zed had cooked dinner for us all (what a champion!) We all showered and as we were knackered from the day's outing (and the staying up late the night before) we had an early night. Mel & crew needed to be at the airport the next morning at some ungodly hour. This was made worse by the fact that day light savings had started here the weekend before. It always takes us a few weeks to settle into the change. It is made harder by the fact that only a few houses away from us, is the border. There is one hour difference between the two states. Mel & I managed to confuse our tired brains by trying to work out the correct time to get up out of bed the next day. The airport is right on the other side of the border. All things considered - including a taxi that did not turn up - we got to the airport in time. You can see some of Mel & family's adventures in Sydney by checking her blog here. I advise you visit her blog frequently as it is always entertaining. Mel, unlike me, attends to her blog often.

I will try to blog more often although I imagine a lot of it might be political (that is your warning Lish!) I still can't sit at the pc for too much time at once because of this damn foot insisting that it needs to be up higher. That will pass in time.

It was so lovely to see that I had so many comments left on my last post. Thanks to all of you :)

Winky, if you read this, allow me to leave comments on your blog please ! I loved seeing your fishing adventure - what exactly were you doing to that fish?

Take care all :)