Looking forward.....

This evening the 'horsey one' and I have been to a career information night run by the Victorian Police. She did her work experience last year with the mounted police and loved it. Tonight was great and may of actually given her a bit more insight into her future career path. Added bonus we picked up 2 new drink bottles and pens, both things that often go missing in our home!!!

I meant to say yesterday I have actually picked up an old knitting project in the last few days in the hope of actually making some progress, a little often may work!

Beautiful sunny day!

Catch up time in our house today..... the sun is shining and the world is good! Amazing how a bit of vitamin d is good for the soul!

Well my problem with blog reading in my last post was all my own doing! I had forgotten that I used google reader now not bloglines ..... think maybe it was a sign I was not well. I felt a little funny in the tummy Wednesday morning, lasted 20 minutes at work and succumbed to a full blown attack of gastro. I didn't get back to work for the rest of the week, not even managing to move anywhere other than my bed and the bathroom until Friday. Luckily I am feeling better now but boy it was not pleasant! To top it off SH was in Melbourne for work.The 'horsey' one was such a help cooking dinner and making school lunches. Not sure whether she got to bed on time or how much homework was done though!
Once I was feeling better SH came down with a miserable cold as did HS. HS also had some type of virus with fevers and aches. Just what he didn't need! Poor little Sharron was also unwell with this virus last night but she seems to be better today. Think maybe we need to be quarantined!!

I actually don't feel right 'complaining' about our trials at the moment, yes we are living them and yes they are a worry and our life is revolving around them - particularly the wrist incident which is ongoing, but a family that we love and have grown up with in country NSW is living a nightmare at the moment. Jess, who is 17 and doing her VCE, has been diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder. Without warning it struck. There is no treatment. The prognosis is not good. She is having many invasive and painful tests. No one is sure which path it will take or how quickly. This has weighed heavily on my mind for the few weeks I have known, the 'horsey one' is the same age and they are very similar in personality, I can not imagine how I would even begin to cope or understand if the situation was reversed. Please keep her, her parents, brothers and sisters and extended family (which includes my Aunty Judy)in your prayers.

Today has been productive, a flourless orange cake, cornflake & choc chip cookies, Greek lemon chicken soup, pumpkin soup, savory scones and a rhubarb crumble. Add to this the multiple loads of washing and we have been busy. I shall sleep well!

I can't back any of this up, the sun or the activity with photos as I have lost? misplaced? or had it borrowed? my camera card reader. If it is on the 'horsey' ones desk we may never see it again!!!

Grrrr..............

Bloglines is not letting me read any feeds , now I am cranky and forgotten what I was going to post about today!

Happy Birthday!

One of our special bloggy friends is celebrating a special Birthday today!
Pop on over and wish Chookyblue a very Happy Birthday!
Wish I was closer to share champagne, cake and help celebrate!!!

Celebrations and busy days!

A busy day yesterday, the 'horsey' one rode, umpired and played hockey, Sharron had a Birthday party at the indoor pool and SH and HS headed off to Geelong via Melbourne to look at a car. As soon as hockey was finished us girls raced down the highway to Geelong. We had a dinner to get to, celebrating our niece Sarah's 18th Birthday. She had a lovely evening and I am so glad we made the effort to get there.

This morning we went for a walk along Eastern beach and then us girls headed for home again while the boys visited the Ford Museum. They will be home tomorrow.

It's Friday.....

Does anyone else have weird but at the same time comforting routines????
Most Friday nights SH works at his 2nd (but loved) job baking bread for a renowned local hotel. He heads off to bed about 7pm until 9.30pm when he gets up and heads off usually getting home around 7am. HS normally is with his girlfriend or mates so it is just the 'horsey' one and I.
We start our evening at 7.30 watching the Glee project. We then move onto The Mentalist (our very favorite, not only is Simon Baker an Aussie but he is so lovable and makes us giggle!!). When this finishes we shift to my recently vacated bed and watch 2 episodes of CSI. Not always but sometimes this tradition involves chocolate!!! We don't always make it through without snoozing but it is some 'our' time that we share.
Not sure what will happen tonight, SH is not working and HS is home!!! Think we may just sneak off to bed at 7.30 for our marathon session!

Mothers Day memories

SH, HS and the horsey one gave me 3 standard roses for Mothers Day. SH and I finally made the trip to Treloars roses in Portland a fortnight ago to pick them up. They are not so impressive now but I am looking forward to them flowering. They are right out my front door. They are yellow, 'Gold Bunny'.
Boy is home today, we are all smiling, particularly him!!!
Very hard trying to blog daily when there is nothing new to talk about, hopefully that will improve very soon!

Maybe tomorrow!

Maybe tomorrow...............it has been a long day I'm off to bed!

Tomorrow...

Fingers and toes crossed, hopefully all things being equal HS will be home tomorrow and I am so looking forward to it. This hospital visiting is exhausting!! Surgery went as planned yesterday although he didn't go in until the afternoon and get back to the room until 7.15pm. He was very groggy and connected to all kinds of tubes. Much brighter this morning although the arm is very uncomfortable and he is a little fragile. More xrays this afternoon and the news that he has also fractured his elbow!!! He will get a full plaster in the morning before coming home which will stay on for 6 weeks. No work, driving and especially no motorbike for 6 weeks!!! How bearable will he be to live with?????

Reading.....

One thing about a lot of 'hospital' sitting is you manage to do a lot of reading. I finished this book this morning, really enjoyed it.
Last Chance Cafe by Liz Byrski
It is the 2nd of her books that I have read now, the first was 'Bellydancing for beginners'. I love that they are about fictional but 'real' women(they could be a neighbor or a family member) , set in Australia and fun while still touching on the dramas they face in their lives.
Has anyone else read them or any of her other books??

Whats on.....

Tonight is the Masterchef final and I am really looking forward to it. Oh I'd love Kate to win but Michael will be tough competition. Will be essential watching in our house...

Racing through the supermarket yesterday I spied the first series of 'Downton Abbey' on DVD. This was a series I would of loved to have watched when it was recently on tv but it clashed with something else so missed it. I picked it up and while I was on duty in the boys boarding house today I watched the first two episodes, it was so enjoyable, I am itching to watch more!!!

Polka dots!

Just a few weeks ago Lisa from 'A Spoonful of Sugar' posted a recipe for Mandarin Marmalade. Both SH and I are keen to test it out with some of the lovely mandarins we are buying at the moment. I had also seen on Lisa's blog that she had some very cute jar lids and was sure the marmalade would taste much better in pretty jars!!! My order from Lark arrived yesterday, a lovely parcel in a crazy week. I just 'had' to buy some red with white spots lids and some pale blue with spots. I also picked up some red with white polka dot doileys. I could of bought a lot more and am sure this will not be my last order!!!

My darling HS is still in hospital and won't be coming home now until after his next surgery on Monday. The swelling and pain are still problems that need to be controlled for the surgery to go ahead. The surgeon on call today 'attacked' the plaster with a saw so it is a little more comfortable!

Update!

Well it didn't all go according to plan yesterday!! The pain kicked in the night before and they were having trouble controlling it. I sat with him (which he thought was weird, I told him its what Mums do!) until he finally went to theatre about midday, he was a LONG time in recovery but that was also a pain issue. The joint kept slipping out again, even in plaster, so it wasn't a successful reduction. He stayed in again last night(but was moved to a private room which helped him rest)so they could try and control the pain and reduce the swelling which has become an issue. Not sure he will have got a lot of sleep with his arm suspended on a hook above him!! Hopefully he will come home today for the weekend if I can get the right equipment for him to hang off and he will have more surgery with the visiting orthopedic surgeon on Monday to have it plated and screwed. I am not working this morning, have cancelled my planned coffee date and will head back to the hospital early so I catch the doctors rounds. I have his room all ready with fresh sheets although will have to swing past the supermarket and buy more pillows to prop his arm on. Unfortunately I am working this afternoon, that is another drama all in itself at the moment!!! Short of staff and covering sick leave, annual leave and carers leave is hard work!

The next saga....

Just after I finished the post last night I got the phone call that us Mothers dread," Mum I've come off the bike, hurt my wrist, on my way to hospital, can you meet me there??". HS had taken advantage of the beautiful weather and with a mate decided to go for a quick ride on their dirt bikes before it got dark. He'd gone over the handlebars and his wrist was an odd shape. He has fractured it, spent the night in hospital and will have surgery this morning to set it. Luckily it looks like it should be fairly straight forward. He didn't have a lot of pain and by the time we left last night he wasn't making a lot of sense with all the drugs they had given him. I couldn't fault the care we were given in Emergency, we hear a lot of bad stories about our health system but our experience was great. No early night for me or lamb dinner...... Will make my way up there early this morning armed with magazines and hopefully bring him home this afternoon!

Oops............

Mmmm not sure that I should share but SH went to fill up his 3 week old vehicle with fuel this morning and filled it with petrol instead of diesel.....fairly sure he will never do that again! Luckily he realised before he turned it over and pushed it out of the way of the bowser for the dealership to collect, drain and return. He felt a little better when the lunchtime conversation at my work revealed he was in quite good company with more than one other husband doing the same thing!
Hope the kids don't read this post or he may never hear the end of it!

Cookbook creation!

The school Parents and Friends Association is producing a cookbook to release next term. All school families were asked for recipes and 256 were chosen to be in the book. Of course I got mine in on the last day!!! I submitted 5 of our favorites, not sure yet how many made the final cut. Some members volunteered to be 'testing' cooks and when my berry cake was tested a few flaws in the recipe were found - I hadn't listed the egg in the ingredients and hadn't said where to add the vanilla !Oops!! Last week we had a food stylist and photographer for 2 days , I didn't realise quite what I was letting myself in for when I said I was available for a morning to help. I had to bake 3 of my recipes and deliver them to be photographed. It was an amazing thing to be part of and worth all the stress of hoping my results were good enough. It is so much more involved than I ever imagined. Just one of my photos took about 40 minutes to take, to get it 'just right'!!! I made my Rocky road cheesecake, my Grandma's berry cake and my 'Lise fields' cookies! I can't wait to see the finished product and share it with you. (I took my camera on the day but amateur photos were frowned upon!)
We have still been enjoying Masterchef and I am so glad my 2 favorites are still in, Kate and Alana. I loved Sunday's show when they had to write their own recipe, just shows it's not as easy as you would think and I would of loved to taste test tonight's desserts!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to Henry and all of your friends today!
especially Showie, Moose, Bronson, Astro, Donut, Dell and Xena!! who all live with you.