Tuesday 31 August 2010

Melbourne Part 2

Before I go any further I must tell you I forgot to add something last time. Wednesday we did not stay home. Dobby sang in the Festival of Music at the Festival Theatre, along with about 150 other kids, and a troupe of dancers. She was in it last year too and it was great!

Anyway, After traipsing all over Melbourne CBD for a Smiggle store, not finding one, making our way back to our room for room service dinner, we looked in the telephone book and found a Smiggle store - right around the corner from us! Typical!

So Saturday we knew exactly what we were doing. I had booked us tickets at the 11.00 viewing of the Titanic exhibition, so we had a little time to spare. Now, in Adelaide, all the shops open at 9.00am on Saturday. We thought Melbourne would be the same. So we went down to the Sky Lounge Bistro for breakfast. This is a pic of it, though not a good one.



If we booked breakfast upon check in it cost $17.95, but if we just wandered down it was over $23. We booked. But it just wasn't worth it. Dobby only had two little (and very tasty) hash browns, a dessertspoon full of scrambled egg, a bowl of cornflakes with yogurt. And a glass of juice. That was it. I didn't eat much more, just added bacon and swapped the cornflakes for tasty muesli. So we cancelled Sunday's breakfast.

After breakfast we set out for the Smiggle store. Down the street, around the corner, and we came across a heck of a lot of noisy road works. On the Friday Swanston Street was a hive of cars and trams. Saturday it was closed off, fenced off, and full of machines digging holes and tearing up the tracks! Huge job in progress.

We saw this couple of buildings along the way.


Quote of the day - Me: "Hey, look at that one!" Dobby: "Yeah, looks like some kind of building...."


I am not sure what this building is, but it looks interesting.

A few streets down we found La Trobe Street, and half of this street was blocked off to house the machinery used in the Swanston Street works. Across the road we found the mall.

Remember I mentioned that round, pointed building in my last blog? Well, all the while we had been staring at the biggest shopping centre I've ever seen! It's called Melbourne Central, and it's built around an old prison.



This is inside the building, looking up at the dome. It had areas covered in Ivy, and something different everywhere you looked.





This is part of the old prison building, inside the bigger building.

It's 3 levels high, passes over the road in one area, and you actually cross the street in the middle of the arcade in another level.



It seemed to stretch for miles!

What we found when we got there at 9.20 was that it was closed. Until 10.00. We were only there to look at Smiggle, so we knew that we would be cutting it fine to shop and then make our way to the exhibition by eleven. So we cased the joint, found Smiggle, then killed some time by looking around. We stopped at Diva for a look and found a few bargains.

Then, surprise of surprises, Dobby spent less than I at Smiggle. I wanted a notebook for my handbag. So I bought a pack with a notebook, pen, huge paperclip and eraser and pencil. Then, I thought, I need a sharpener. So I bought one of those. Then figured why not a calculator? Then a pencil case to put them all in. Now I am kitted out properly!



Outside the museum was this lovely Royal Exhibition building, with this fountain outside, which I would have liked to have had time to photograph properly... behind it they were setting up for the food and wine festival.



Our first view of the museum proper, was a stretch of open ground, with signs pointing us to the main attraction.

We had to walk fairly quickly back to the exhibition. It wasn't far, but far enough. And all uphill. We were quite pooped when we got there, with just a few minutes to spare. Well, ages actually, because people were lined up way back out the entrance.

I tied my jacket around my middle, and wouldn't you know, when we got inside they were taking photos. "Don't worry, we are only taking head shots so you're jacket will be fine" says the kid taking the photo. And stupidly I believed him. Dammit.



Still, it's not a totally bad picture I guess... we also bought a black and white one, of us standing in front of the huge propellers.

The exhibition was interesting, but so crowded it was difficult to see some of the displays. Just too many people at once. They were stopped in front of the huge blocks of writing, so you couldn't get past, they were crowded around the display cabinets so you couldn't see what was in them. People everywhere.

But the total effect of the lighting, sound, display set up (complete with a hallway, staterooms, and actual chunks of the side of the ship) was very good. There was a video playing of how they collected some of the artifacts, however it was at the end of a hallway, beside a corner, so you couldn't stand there and watch it because it blocked off the walkway!

Anyway, after spending a small fortune in the gift shop (2 books, a lovely brooch/hair pin for Dobby, tea towel and magnet for mother, badge for father, pen and stubby cooler for dad, plus the photos came to $112...) we headed back toward the city centre.

Dobby wanted to see the Tim Burton exhibition, which was on as well. And were do you think that was? All the way down the other end of the city of course! Back down noisy Swanston Street. By this time we were truly walked out and knackered. When we got there, we were rather saddened to find it was going to cost us heaps to get in, and there was a half hour wait.

Dobby was not terribly impressed when I expressed my reluctance. But we both agreed we needed to sit for a bit, so we just found a little stone wall, and watched the people walking about. There was a huge screen up, with a hidden camera, and we watched with amusement the people stopping to take pictures of themselves on the big screen. Quite funny.

Anyway, eventually we were beaten so we slowly made our way back to the room. A quick stop for Sushi on the way for lunch, even though we had eaten some lovely yogurt earlier.



This church was massive, too big to photograph at once. There are some lovely buildings on this street, and some weird people too. Like the older gentleman, wearing brightly coloured board shorts, with an equally bright, but sadly mismatched shirt, buttoned with only two buttons, rather crookedly, across his huge stomach. I joked that was Dobby's father-in-law, as her dad keeps finding her "husbands".



This chair was just sitting on the sidewalk outside a little cafe (there are hundreds, but mostly Asian food) minding it's own business. I rather like it, don't you?

Back up stairs we decided we would just sit for a while. Alas! No satellite television! That meant we only had 7, 9, 10, ABC and SBS, and we all know what weekend television is like! Dobby found her perch back on the window ledge and stayed there most of the afternoon.

We went to McDonalds for dinner, it was right near the hotel. Actually, Dobby had Maccas, I had the last of my pizza from the night before, and we stopped at a little deli and bought an ice cream each.

Sunday morning we were awake early. After packing up, we decided to go to Maccas for breakfast (hotcakes, hash browns and a drink was far cheaper than the bistro!). As we had to check out at ten, we figured we were all walked/shopped out, so we may as well head to the airport.

When we stepped outside the hotel, a taxi was waiting for us. I don't remember if I told her the taxi on the way in ripped us off, something shocking, and his car was dirty and smelly.

This one, also driven by a middle eastern person, was worse! It rattled to such a degree I didn't think we were going to make it! And his fuel light was flashing!

Anyway, we did make it, and he didn't rip us off at all. Saved ourselves over ten bucks!

At the airport, we dragged our bags around for a while looking for shops. Dobby heard there was a Smiggle shop there (did I mention she's obsesses??) but we didn't find one. That was the only time she got moody and horrid. Otherwise she was great.

We found other shops at which to unburden her wallet of her remaining money (most of it anyway). We stopped for awhile at Krispy Kreme for a snack and I read my ebook while she looked around. Then eventually we moved to the bakery and partook of some very nice baguette and pie. Eventually, with about an hour and a half before our flight we made our way down to the lounge. It was actually quite nice to be not in a hurry, take our time, just hang, you know? We both seemed to enjoy it.

We got home and Fluffy had cleaned the house from top to bottom (which meant we had to be very careful not to misplace a single thing or we would bare the wrath of the cleaning monster!) He had done about 5 loads of laundry over the weekend (it had been wet all week so I couldn't do more than what would fit on the airer in the lounge over night with the heater blowing on it), vacuumed, tidied, cleaned, and cleaned the inside of the car.

I was extremely grateful for everything he did. It was lovely to come home to a clean house. And it's always nice to climb into your own bed, but when that bed also has fresh sheets, it's even better!

Sunday 29 August 2010

Melbourne Part 1

So this week was busy all week! It started with Monday morning. First stop at 8.00am was for blood tests pertaining to her doctor appointment last Friday. First in line meant we made the hospital no problem. I had to take Dobby back to the hospital to get her finger examined to see if it was healing properly. I thought it was just a quick look see. WRONG! I parked around the corner and made our 9.00am appointment with a couple of minutes to spare (like 15 or so).

The nurse took us into a room just before nine and took off the strapping on Dobby's fingers. We waited. And waited. Eventually at 9.30 I heard her name being called, and let the doc know we were in here, not out in the waiting room! She looked at the finger and sent us up for x-rays. Oh dear. Up we go to the next level, then wait for them to get developed, then back down to Pediatrics. Sigh. Another wait. By this time the room is chock-a-block with noisy women and equally noisy children. Finally we went in and the doc said her fracture hadn't moved, which was fantastic, and that that type of fracture (the first bone after the hand of her left index finger, right beside the knuckle) was notoriously unstable.

Then we had to wait for a splint to be made! What? It had only been strapped for ten days! But, we sat and waited another hour for her splint. It's purple with a bright green strap... I'll include a photo later, as I just realised I don't have it downloaded yet.

Anyway, I got to work at 12.30....

Tuesday was a trip to the Repat hospital for an abdominal scan. That was no problem really. Mind you, she forgot she was supposed to fast and ate a handful of nuts! But, fortunately they didn't seem to show up....

Made it to work at 10.30am that day...

Wednesday we actually didn't have anything on...

Thursday I had to duck out after work to find a light weight warm jacket. I looked everywhere, and finally found a fleecy think jacket at Target, that was priced at $39 but scanned at less than $32. Gotta be happy with that. A quick grocery shop, then home with dinner and a last minute pack.

Dobby had an appointment at the doc for the results of her earlier blood tests and scan, and as I had already taken so much time off work, Fluffy graciously agreed to take her. Turns out she is pretty clogged up inside, and her blood sugar is quite high. She has been told she must improve her diet (as we had actually tried to do this week anyway) and take these suppositories to help remove some of the "clogging". I told her she was full of crap....

Friday we were up very early as Fluffy dropped us off at the airport on his way to work (we got there about 5.45am)...

Dobby and I at the airport having fruitsalad for breakfast...

Our plane left just after seven, and we were in Melbourne, checking into the motel by 9.30am. Turns out, when I booked, I booked a studio room, with a note added that I needed two single beds. But what she didn't tell me was there the studio room only has a double (queen) bed. There were no other beds or rooms available so we were stuck with it. The room, otherwise, was lovely! Dobby graciously offered to sleep on the floor but I told her it was okay with me if she didn't want to.


Our room. It's small but lovely. Comfy too.


This is the view from our 11th floor window. Take note of that pointy round building... it will feature in my next blog...

We were lucky enough to be able to check in right there, and once settled, trudged up the road about 50m to the Victoria Markets. I didn't take any photos of the markets because, well, I forgot. We didn't buy much but it took a few hours to go through everything. We couldn't buy much because we didn't have much room (carry on luggage only) and for the most part, it was a lot of stalls of the same thing - shoes, clothes, hoodie jackets and such. There were a few knick knack stalls, and I bought Fluffy a teeshirt that says "I'm busy. You're an Idiot. Have a nice day". I liked it. I also bought him a wooden bead bracelet and necklace. He had bought himself one in New Zealand but the elastic broke so I replaced it.

Dobby bought herself a purple hoodie and not much else. Just a long hairpiece extension thing.


Suits her, don't you think?



This is me clowning around trying it on.

As it was so terribly, bitterly cold, we decided after a bite to eat to head back to the motel. Once inside we turned on the heater and just kicked back. Dobby played with her hair piece (I even tried it on..) and I watched TV. We found Discovery Channel, and it had a couple of crime type shows on to watch.

Eventually about 4.30 or so, we was restless so I asked if she wanted to go explore a little. We rugged up and headed out. I suggested we head in the general direction we would need to take to go to the Titanic display. It was quite a walk but rather interesting.


This is a Theatre Restaurant we passed. The adds for this place look rather interesting.

We walked for ages, turning down Exhibition street. Our mission, apparently, was to find a Smiggle stationary store. No worries, we had nothing better to do.


It was lightly misty raining, and this is a rainbow we spotted between buildings.

We turned down a street randomly, and realised we were headed to China Town. It's an amazing place, Melbourne city, full of little lane ways and alleys. In Collin's Street, in China Town, you are accosted everywhere by people wanting to entice you into their establishment to eat. It's quite competitive. One thing we did notice was that everything was in Asian, and the majority of the people we saw were Asian. And not just in China Town.


This is one of a pair in the centre of the alley that is China Town. I like the structure behind him too, don't you?


This is just looking down Collins Street, at China Town.

We just kept walking around, turning random corners, eventually finding ourselves at the southern most part of the city square. Without finding a Smiggle Store. After a bit Dobby was getting tired (and I could feel a stiff headache coming on) so we turned back. The weather was failing us too, with frequent misty rainfalls. Just enough to make your hair frizzy.

We weren't worried, because I told her when we got back to the motel we would have a look in the phone book for a Smiggle store close to us. She was happy with that.





During our wanderings, we found several of these horse carriages. It was lovely to hear the clap clap of their hooves on the road. Dobby was too chicken to take a ride. I would have loved one though!

About 6.30 we made it back to the warmth of the room, and decided for dinner we would order room service. There is an organisation that delivers to motels in the area, it seems. We had a 9" pizza each (tropicana for her and supreme for me) plus wedges with sour cream and chilli sauce. And a bottle of diet coke. I could only manage one piece of pizza and half the wedges, which, I have to say, were the nicest wedges we had tasted, very close behind, or even possibly equal to, the ones we had at Darling Harbour last year. We both agreed we would have to compare to decide...

Anyway, we watched some more Discovery channel, eventually settling in to watch a ghost hunting show. Sadly we both fell asleep and didn't see much...

Anyway, as it's late now, I'll add part two soon. Not sure if I will get to it tomorrow, as I am going to be very busy from 6.15am until probably about 9.30pm!

Sunday 22 August 2010

Did that week just fly by?

Cause I swear, I musta missed it somewhere. I can't believe how fast time flies now.

This week was certainly interesting. Monday night my friend Leanne popped in to pick up her Tupperware, so as she was coming so far across town, I figured she may as well stay for dinner. I 'm afraid it wasn't anything very flash but she was lovely and polite and ate all her dinner. We also had home made cheesecake for dessert. Yummo!

Wednesday Dobby missed her guitar lesson due to her finger being fractured. She didn't mind too much. She will also miss this next week due to her concert, but I'll blog about that next week. It will be a big one next week!

Tuesday night Dobby and I got our hair done. This is mine...



What do you think? Dobby wouldn't let me take a pic of hers. Fluffy hates it, but Dobby and I like it. Something different!

On Friday Fluffy came home from work saying he had hurt his back again. This time it seemed to be muscular, around the base of his spine. Not as bad as the other issue, and moving certain ways offered some relief this time. Luckily.

About 10.3o Friday morning I got a call from the school. Dobby was in the sick room. She has been complaining all week of pains in the stomach. Apparently for weeks now she has had these pains. Around her right side, but sometimes it seems to move. So, as Boss was still not in yet, I figured I had better wait for him. He finally got to work after eleven, so I met him on the stairs and told him I had to go.

I picked her up, and although her headache had gone she still had the stomach pain. I figured now or never, I had better phone the doc. The only appointment I could get was at 1.15. It was still only 11.30 at this time.

I phoned boss and he gave me the rest of the day off. He already knew I would be late in on Monday because I have to take her up to the Women's and Children's hospital to have her finger looked at for a follow up.

Anyway, I took her to the doc. She prodded around her stomach and found a tender patch. The doc told me that if she were older she would suspect gall stones. There is a huge history of gall stones in our family but she said no, she was too young.

So, this Monday before her trip to the hospital I have to take her up for blood tests. Then, on Tuesday morning I have to take her for an abdominal scan to see if there is anything there. Great!

Anyway, Friday evening she had a sleep over at Hermione's. I love sleepovers! And Nan loves having her. We dropped her off when Fluffy came home and Nan made us fresh scones and gave us the leftovers. Love that lady!

After that Fluffy and I came home and veged in front of the telly. Saturday we wandered down to Marion and in Bunnings I bought his Father's day present - a blower vac. I also bought some plants to replace the ones I lost in the wild weather recently. Then across to the shopping centre to see if we could find cheap dog toys for Oz. We also found a cheap pair of black stretch jeans/tights things for Dobby to wear to her concert Wednesday. We had lunch as well, and put in an order for a Telstra THub. That's my birthday present. Yay!

Back home I planted my new plants. Boy, this arthritis I have is giving me so much trouble. My poor back ached so bad and the pain in my fingers was worse than ever. But I couldn't ask Fluffy to help because of his back. So I just soldiered on.

Then, the lady behind us, who has a little dog Ruby, asked if Ruby could come play with Ozzie for a bit. Sure, we said. Then she went shopping. Ruby and Oz have fun, running around everywhere.

But we were going out for dinner and she still hadn't returned so I had to pin a note to the back fence telling her we had gone out and to come get her when she was ready. We left them here together.

We went to Montezuma's. I really enjoyed it but Fluffy, typicall, forgot his glasses so couldn't read the menu. And I don't think he really wanted to go. He let me order something for him, which I did. We had the 3 dip starter, which was two warm and one cold dip with warm corn chips. Very tasty.

I ordered him a chicken dish, which was half a small chicken with a bean dip and salad (instead of rice) and I had a garlic prawn in tomato sauce dish with rice on the side, which I didn't eat either. The dish itself was covered in melted cheese with two warm tortillas on the side, and it was positively delightful! I will definitely order that again!

We saw some old bowling buddies there as well, which was nice.

Home by nine, then a trip to the local "adult" shop for something to watch. Boy, that shop is expensive. Might have to look somewhere else next time...

Sunday we tried to sleep in the but cat had other ideas. So we watched some more of the election coverage on Sunday on None. Boring as! Interesting the situation, but politics and sport have to be my two least favourite subjects. Ich.

Eventually we got up and did some housework. At lunchtime, I took nachos outside in the sun on the patio, and made a card for a friend who recently lost her father-in-law. Spent a bit of time there before going up to pick up Dobby. She stayed two nights with Hermione as it was her birthday party too. They had a great time apparently.

Back home, Dobby liked the hair bands, skull candle and jeans I bought her. Dinner of chicken pieces and chips, then early bed I think. Fluffy's back is still sore, especially because he had to help a friend of Nan's unload a sofa bed, got it as far as Nan's entry, then it would go no further. Dug a big groove in her new lino too. She is quite upset, understandably, because it won't fit. And she just got rid of the spare bed too! Feel quite bad for her.

Anyway, busy week this next week. I may not get to blog until Monday at work next time! But it will be worth it!

Monday 16 August 2010

Ouchies

So this week was another interesting one. I often wish I had a boring life. But then, what would I blog about?

This week work wise was great. Boss was away, as he will be first half of next week. As it is end of month, I have had a steady flow of stuff to do, but I spent most of the week waiting for one supplier's invoices. They came Thursday and Friday so now I need to wait for the accountant to finish June figures and I can roll over! Sound's dirty, doesn't it? haha.

Wednesday this week, I had a lucky break. I had entered a radio competition telling them my favourite 3 80's songs, and why. I chose Only for Sheep cause it reminded me of Moose, Careless Whisper by Wham and Cindi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun cause they remind me of a friend I lost just after her 18th birthday in '84.

The station called me up to play spin the ticket wheel. Up for grabs were tickets to James Reyne (I wanted those), Jimmy Barnes at Denilliquin Ute Muster, Bon Jovi, and Pat Benatar. Or, you could win a family pass to the show. Which would suit me too because it was our year to go and this would mean we would have to go.

I got to play and I won show tickets. Picked those up Friday, so we are off to the show on Saturday 4th. Should be fun. We are taking Hermione, which will make it very expensive, but hey...

On Thursday at work, I had stepped out to the loo, and when I came back, a delivery person arrived. While letting him in I noticed some gritty bits of like pottery on the floor near the door. My first instinct was to look at the terracotta potplant on the bench. I thought it might be disintergrating, as the cement water feature has developed salt damp and leaks. But no, it's okay. Further inspection revealed two large holes in the wall! The workman next door, doing renovations, has drilled two bit holes, a couple of centimetres across, through my wall! So I went to tell him, he came and had a look, and said someone would come and look at it later.

Anyway, Thursday this week was Dobby's turn to go to hospital. I was sitting on my bed, watching the telly, and munching on a freshly cracked sugar Easter egg. Dobby can hear the crack of an egg, or indeed the rustle of a candy wrapper at 500 paces. No sooner was it in the Tupperware box, and she was there.

I gave her a little piece (I like to eat the little onces first) and she cracked up that it was such a small piece. I just stared at her and she flounced out of the room. On the way out she pulled the bedroom door shut. Now when she pulls a door shut, she has a habit of sliding her hand along the door as she walks past. This time, the door closed pretty quick, and she managed to get her left index finger jammed into the hinge corner of the door jamb.

Scream! I have never heard anything like it! We gave her some ice for it, and Fluffy asked her a series of questions - could she feel it? Could she bend it? No to both. After leaving it on ice for about fifteen minutes, it started to develop a slight lump. Off to the emergency ward.

Actually, I am quite surprised. They left about nine-thirty, and were home by eleven-fifteen. It has a fracture down the bone of the first joint. They taped it up and told her not to play sport.

WHAT??? Netball finals were on Saturday. We had to phone the coach and tell him she couldn't play what could be the most important game of the year. He was disappointed naturally but understood.

At the game on Saturday, she felt terrible. She was moody, which is understandable, and all her team mates dedicated the game to her (which I thought was lovely). It was a very close game, in fact ending at full time in a draw. They played into overtime, two 7-minute ends. But a few minutes in our centre tripped and rolled her ankle quite badly. This threw our girls off and the other team took off 4 goals ahead. Very sad. And naturally Dobby was so upset that she wouldn't be playing again this year. We have decided she can play summer netball. Just need to get the details.

She fortified herself Saturday night. It was Nan's 67th birthday party, way over at Craigmore. That's about 45 minutes drive for us. It started at seven and I told Fluffy we wouldn't stay long, as we didn't know anyone. But we got chatting, and fairly late Dobby got an offer to go for a drive to take someone home. They were gone an hour or so, so we didn't end up leaving until after eleven-thirty! Late night, but we got a sleep in Sunday morning. We also met Mary's son and daughter-in-law, and I think Fluffy liked them. We met a few other characters too, like the old man who has a young Thai woman living with him, as a "student", whom he says is 21 but we think more like 18.... draw your own conclusions there.

Hermione put on a turn at one point almost ruining a family photo with the birthday girl because her older cousin, who is a total bitch, was being annoying to her. She spat and turned her back and scowled. We all berrated her until she turned around, then we spoke to her after telling her she almost ruined her nan's party and that she is old enough now to rise above that other person's shit. She should learn to ignore her and not stoop to her level. Then I distracted her by chatting about the show.... whew...

So, backing up a little, on Friday the building foreman from next door came back to have a look at the damage. He said someone will come in next week and fix it. I told him Boss was very particular so they will end up having to paint the entire wall, he understood. While they were there I asked when my water would come back on, as the plumbers had turned it off. It should be back, he replied. Turns out the plumbers had cut off my water supply. So they had to come back and fix it. As Friday was my 3 year anniversary at the job, Boss told me I could leave at three. However, the plumbers didn't come back till after that. So I made sure they were okay to not have to come into my office, and I left about twenty past.

Sunday was work day for me. I did 3 loads of laundry, swept and steam mopped the floors, stripped and remade our bed and the van bed, ready for a northern interloper next month, put away some things in the van, made a cheesecake, made pea and ham soup, did the poo run, changed the cat litter tray (well, I had to do the litter tray, to get a bag of waste to put into a bucket, to put the dog poo in, to be able to hang the washing out, cause he likes to poo under my clothes line!)

Now back to work to relax a few more days....

UPDATE... got to work this morning and at first had trouble turning the tap on. When I eventually got water flowing, it wasn't anywhere near the pressure we used to get. Then I tried to turn it off. Whoops! The water won't turn off. It is still trickling out with the tap turned fully off. Stupid plumbers! I went and asked the young blokes next door to call them back for me. I hope they are not too long!

Sunday 8 August 2010

Wow...

What a week it's been this time. Workwise, the week has been a full one. Trying to get end of month done again. And I only just finished June a couple of weeks ago! But hopefully next week won't be so full on. Plus Boss is away for the week, so I can afford to go a little slower...

Tuesday night Fluffy and Dobby went to see WWE Smackdown wrestling at the Entertainment Centre. They loved it! Because Dobby and I have had a couple of girly outings recently, I decidced they needed some Father and Daughter time, so I bought them tickets. Dobby has long been a wrestling fan, often watching it on the weekends. When I bought the tickets I upgraded to slightly better than originally planned seats, and I am glad I did. Apparently Fluffy reckoned they were great seats. So a fantastic night was had by all, cause I got to sit and watch TV in the quiet for a couple hours...

On Wednesday evening Fluffy complained of a pain in his back. He said he had gotten up with it Wednesday morning. I rubbed some heating ointment on it and gave him some reiki, thinking he may have pulled a muscle.

Thursday he could barely move, and said it was still terribly sore. Thursday evening I gave him some more treatment. Friday was far worse he said. I suggested he go see a doctor. After a very sleepless and restless night Friday he decided to go see a doctor Saturday.

Before I phoned our local GP I phoned the hospital help line. He spoke to a nurse at length and she was worried because he had in effect had the pain since Tuesday. She told him to present himself to the hospital emergency ward.

I duely took him up to Flinders Private Hospital for a look-see. He didn't want us to wait so we dropped him off and continued with the errands we had. It's quite hard to wander all over Marion looking for a green table cloth when you are somewhat distracted.

I eventually found the table cloth, and a cream runner to go down the centre. Back home we waited anxiously for the call. We fully suspected kidney stones and that they would admit him. At 11.15 my friend Paula dropped by for a visit. She had been to Bali and bought me back a pair of black beaded thongs, two chunky bangles, and she bought Dobby and I a frangipani hair clip each, one purple and one blue, and also had us a gold bracelet made each with our names engraved on them.


Neat, hey? Apparently they made from $2 coins.

After that Dobby's friend, whom I am sure I have mentioned before, but I can't remember what name I gave her, so I'll call her Myrtle, only cause she's quite noisy, was dropped off by her mum. Dobby was going for a sleep over last night, and as mum had to work for some time before hand, I told her to drop Myrtle off here first.

Eventually Fluffy phoned to say they were still running tests, but so far after blood tests, urine tests and an MRI, nothing could be found. He said they had given him strong pain relief but he thought he would be allowed to go home soon.

As it was netball afternoon, the last competition game of the season before finals, we picked him up on the way to netball. Dobby's team won, something like 46-31, something like that. After netball Fluffy went straight to bed and slept most of the afternoon.

Myrtle's stepdad was to pick them up at 5, but before that Myrtle got a message to say he had been delayed. I have a headcold, and Fluffy was asleep, So I thought as soon as they go I will run a hot bath then have something to eat. We had bought the Pizza Hut dinner box the night before but no one was hungry so only the pizza and garlic bread got eaten, plus some of the pasta. I planned to have the leftover pasta for tea.

Oh, before I go further I must tell you of my personal week. Monday I had to go for an x-ray to see if a cause for my reflux could be found. There it was, a small bulge on my esophagus, which meant food was just sitting there and not going through, causing the reflux.

On Friday I had my doctor's appointment to review the x-rays, and he deflated my band. It has to stay that way for a month to give time for the little blow-out to correct itself. What does this mean? I can eat normally again. I don't want to, and I am going to have to be very careful I don't overeat and undo all that hard work. But if I am not thinking it would be very easy to overeat. Like today, I had a 6" Subway. Once, I would be able to eat only 3/4 of it but today I could easily have finished it. I made myself leave the last little bit...

Anyway, back to my story. The girls were collected about 7.00, just after Grease had started on the telly, so I ran my bath. On walking back past the bedroom I saw Fluffy was awake. Darn. I wandered in to see if he wanted dinner. No, just a cup of coffee. He stayed put for a bit. I asked about his pain level, he said he wasn't game to move to find out.

Eventually he did wander out for a while, but we were both back in bed by ten.

Today, Sunday, the pain is still there, and he did take pain killers, but it is far less severe than yesterday. He slept better last night too. He was game enough to come out with me today.

Remember that table cloth I finally found yesterday? Well, when I took it out of the packaging, it hadn't been hemmed at all! It was just a raw edge! I had to take it back today. When we had done the deed, I told Fluffy I was thinking of buying Hermione a good bag for when she goes for sleepovers. When she comes here, she has one small bag with clothes, another with bits and pieces, her pillow, a toy or something, and her shower bag. She needed one to put everything but the pillow in. He helped me look at a few and get ideas. We also found her, as her proper birthday present may not be back in time, a bath towel reduced to $7 with cherries on it.

Then he was good enough to drive me to Harbourtown so I could have a look at the $15 dresses Rivers has on special. While walking around to Rivers we passed several stores with bags. We went to Sintri and found a lovely glossy snake skin pattern green and yellow bag for Dobby, too, cause she needed on, and a blue sports type bag for Hermione for Christmas.



This is Dobby's bag. It looks so much brighter and far prettier in real life...

At Rivers I found the dresses on sale. They were various styles and black and grey, knitted in soft black. I bought 3. One was light weight jersey type material, long sleeved, smock style with indian type beading around the neck,


One short sleeved knitted, fitted around the bodice then coming below the knee,



and a 3rd long sleeved knitted, comes to above the knee.



All 3 will look great over leggings and calf length boots. I also bought a sleeveless grey marle long knitted cardi. Couldn't be bothered taking photos of those right now, maybe later.

Anyway, Dobby is due home in an hour or so, Fluffy is napping after his bit outing, and I am about to make a cup of tea. It's raining again, and time to put the heater on I think....

Wednesday 4 August 2010

Roller Derby pics



Salty Dogs make their entrance



Bottoms Up!



Get out of my way, bitch!



Road Train Rollers take the lead!



Oh no! Crashed out!

Road Train Rollers thrashed the Salty Dogs, but the Dogs sure put in an impressive display! Lots of sin bins from both sides. Elbows, hips, they all copped a work out!

Thanks to Catherine's partner Paris for the pics! Beauty, mate!

Sunday 1 August 2010

Okay, so you know I like a good bargain...

.... and, it's been pointed out a bit lately, I do like to shop a lot. But, bear in mind that I do also really only shop when it is a bargain.

So this week I have found the mother of all bargains. Back to that later.

This week at work was okay, not too stressful, not terribly busy. Busy enough in spurts to keep me, well, busy.

The usual netball practice on Monday night, with the team photos being taken this week. Dobby spent ages working on her hair and stuff, but I think they were practicing as well, so it probably was all mucked up for the photos. Guess we'll see, hey. Guitar on Wednesday.

Friday there was no school, so Fluffy took the day off to spend with Dobby. That was nice. I had to pay all the company bills so I couldn't do it. He decided to pick up the caravan too. It has been in having a side panel replaced because it had a dint in it. Just a little one. They replaced the decals on the side, but they are a slightly different colour to the other side. But I doubt anyone will notice. It certainly won't change how comfortable (or uncomfortable) the bed is.

Fluffy also picked up a new vent plate for the oven, as they replaced the fridge vent, which makes the other look yellowed. As it is.

Friday night, instead of me bringing dinner home, we decided to duck up to Nando's. Now, unless you are a South Aussie you probably don't know what Nando's is. It's a neat chicken place, that specialises in spicey chicken. I can't eat a lot, as you all know, so I usually order 4 tenderloins with a side of fries and a drink (which I take home and drink later).

No surprises there. I also bought Dobby a fundraising bracelet for $4.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. Friday I had to see my surgeon again. My reflux and heart burn has been getting a lot worse. Instead of a hit and miss affair with my medication I have been forced to take it every 2 days. This seems to work. But I wanted to find out why this was happening.

During weigh in it seems that I have gained another kilo. This makes 3 this year. Now, I know for you ladies out there, 3 kg is pittance. But as you know, I was 88kg for 3 years. To suddenly gain 3 now is not a good sigh. I wondered if this didn't have something to do with the reflux thing? That and the upping of my chocolate intake... bad girl.

He has sent me for an x-ray on Monday morning (fasting, of course) and a follow up visit on Friday. If this proves inconclusive I may need another endoscopy. Yay. Something to look forward to.

So, on with the weekend.

Saturday we had a visit with our family counsellor, which went past the hour but the lovely lass only charged us for the hour. Then a visit to the Chemist Warehouse, beside which there now exists my favourite cheap grocery store. So we had a quick shop in there. Then home for Netball. They played Grange, at Henley Beach, and man, it was so bitterly cold! There was no relief! Luckily us parents had sheltered under cover, but the wind still tore through us. My neighbour went to her car and brought back a blanket, so we looked like a pair of old nannas. But it was still cold!

Worth it, though, because our team won 37-18! At one point we were down a couple of goals so that's excellent for us!

Dinner Saturday night was a bake up again, this time no frozen pizza! Sunday it was decided a trip to the Caravan, Camping and Outdoor show was warranted. As I had a lot to do I begged off, and dropped them off at the showgrounds.

I proceeded to Marion, and my first point of call was Dick Smith, for a coaxial cable extension for Dobby's aerial. Plus an adaptor which it appears Fluffy didn't need. Then to Miller's for a voucher for a birthday gift (don't tell her though). While I was there I saw a couple of racks reduced to $13.95. I bought 3 tops.

this is brown with a false front in oranges and browns.

this has a false cardi type bit at the front, and again, in orange, brown and purple. very pretty.

this is in purples and black, and around the neck has a few rows of black square beads sewn on.

A quick trip to Big W for a cheap clock radio for Dobby, and to check out earphones to no avail.

Then I began the hunt for skate shoes for Dobby. Her existing pair, which we bought on the road at Christmas, are coming apart at the heel, and her older pair, from Sydney last year, are losing their tread.

I looked in all the sport shoe stores, all the dress shoe stores, and the surf shops. I found these:





But, at the store that had these black ones, I had the most help. The store manager ended up coming and helping, and I explained to him I only had $100 to spend, and if I could find high tops I would be happy. He wandered out the back to see what they actually had in stock.

He came back empty handed, but took this:



Off the shelf. It had a price tag of $179.95. I almost fell over. They are, as you can see, Nike SB, a very good quality shoe.

"I think this is our last pair, and if I can't find anymore out the back you can have these for $100.00." Wow, what a bargain! We had been having difficulty finding the right size shoe for her, and remember, she is at the caravan show with her dad, so I am texting her all these photos of shoes! There are others, too. I hurredly sent Dobby a photo of the shoes, then phoned her. Her response was "Those are awesome!"

Anyway, soon he comes back. Nope, they don't have any others. These look like they may be the right size too. Anyway, he said, if they aren't we normally don't do this, but you can bring them back for a store credit. Wow, must be my lucky day! I thanked them profusely, and made my way out to finish my shopping (groceries this time) and earphones from the cheap shop.

I picked up the troops from the caravan show, and took them home. After unpacking the groceries, I gave Dobby her shoes to try on.

You wouldn't believe it, they were A PERFECT FIT! Wow, how lucky was that??? I made sure I phoned the store back to tell them how pleased I was I was, and how much I appreciated their help. The little English fellow who took my call said "NO WAY!" He thanked me for my call, and told me how much he appreciated the feedback, and assured me he would pass my message onto the manager. So, if you are looking for skate shoes, go to DAILY GRIND opposite Wendy's at Marion!

So, then Fluffy moved the aerial in Dobby's room, where it now works perfectly, pulled some stuff out for her to put away, which she did without a fight, and we put in her clock radio as well so she can be responsible for getting herself out of bed. One of the things we discussed at the counselor was how I was the only one trying to get her to bed so we negotiated a new bed time, on the proviso that she get herself up for school and would have to walk if she were not ready to go when I was.

So quite a productive day. Dobby got the shoes of her dream, a new aerial in her room, and a clock radio, and she cleaned her room. I did her bed linen this morning for her, so now she's set for the week. Hope she keeps it clean now.

Me? I have just steam mopped the dining room and kitchen, just have to run the vacuum over the carpeted floors later today. For now, though, I think I will sit in the lounge under the heater and watch TV and eat lollies with Dobby.

Oh, and as a footnote, I decided to try out my dutch oven I received as a wedding present two years ago. I bought chicken drumsticks for the occasion. After heating the oven on the stove top, I added the drum sticks, then when they had sealed, put diced onion and carrot in with garlic and butter. I think my stove is on the way out - it keeps seeming to turn itself off...

Anyway, I put the dutch oven into the stove oven, and on the shelf above I put a tray with 3 oil coated potatoes for baking. Closed the oven, threw the pot mits down and did the washing up. Nex thing I noticed a funny smell. Turned around and found...

I had put the oven mits onto the hotplace that I had just used! Stupid girl! Dobby raced around and helped me close the doors before the fire alarm went off, and whipped on the exhaust fan. Wow, I sure know how to have an exciting day, don't I?

Catch ya next week.