3 weeks

After 3 weeks of being sick I desperately hope I'm on the road to recovery, I've felt horrible and terribly fatigued. Which is why you haven't heard a peep from me. The doctor diagnosed bronchitis and has given me some loverly drugs which I'm desperately hoping will mean good health for me!

Everything is backed up since I've spent most of my waking hours with my bum parked on the couch.

The bathroom renos are stalled atm since the fellow doing the job needed to go do some work for a lady who had a stroke. There's quite a few details to be ironed out before he starts upstairs.

We had the spa bath delivered today and it is just another mistake to be added to the long list of problems that have arisen since the beginning of the whole renovation, this has been one of the most problematic renovations we've ever had, and we've had some doozies, like the discovery of a septic tank while doing landscaping work the very same day that council was coming to inspect the location of the footing for the deck extension, which was to land directly on top of the open septic tank....or the kitchen countertop laminate which wouldn't adhere to the countertop itself and a new sheet had to be shipped from another state since it was actually discontinued and that was the last sheet that we could find countrywide.

If the drugs work, you'll see some more of me as my energy returns and the infection gets flattened by them instead of me getting flattened by the infection.

Surgery

The surgery has been postphoned, poor prof had to go into the hospital himself for surgery. He's had a bad run of it this year.

I, on the other hand am so relieved. I had become a radiating little stress balterRyere is so much going at the moment, and do much to be done. So now, I am making lists of all the things that need to be done before I go in, and actively conquering it!

A little something

A couple of weeks ago a lovely lady from www.buyster.com.au contacted me about a special something, that I'm hoping might fit in right in with our current renovations. I had a terribly hard time choosing just the right thing since they have so many amazing things and I can honestly very reasonably priced, and yes, I have done the legwork, way too much of it! Take a look at the entertainment units, so many choices here, and they deliver to your door. I wish I'd known about them before we trekked into the big city to a certain Swedish box company, it would have been so much easier.
No arranging kids to be looked after so that the carseats could be left behind and then watching the husband swear left right and centre that said items would not fit the car (he was of course wrong, we women can eyeball lots of stuff and figure out exactly how to make it fit, even if it means that our knees are sitting under our chins.)

Countdown to surgery 36 hours! eeks!

Next time I 'see' you I'll have a swollen head, literally ;)

Holly Jolly Swap Blocks

I don't have much of my own quilting to show you at the moment, since I'm slogging away at the last snowman stitchery, it's a whopper, I'm hoping to be done by the end of winter.
The holly jolly blocks arrived around the beginning of April, just as we were beginning to start the renovations, of which the downstairs area is supposed to be finished by the end of tomorrow, here's hoping!

The blocks were a definite mix, I've tried to group them together as best as possible.

This group includes my own submission.



The softer colours



One of my favourite blocks and definitely one of the ones that would have taken the longest since it's needleturn. Isn't he cute!



Cute snowmen, buttons to be added for detailing after quilting.

Another favourite, the plum pudding is very cheerful. Love the stripy dish!

Which ones are your favourites, colour or pattern?

Some news, I was going to post mid last week, that I had put my name on the waiting list mid March, (late March?) and had been told that it would be about 6-8 months until my surgery. On Thursday last week we received a phone call to let me know that my cochlear surgery had been scheduled for May 21st, and did I want to go ahead at this time? EEK!! As if we didn't have enough going on with the renovations! Not knowing when the next available date might be, I jumped in with both feet. Talk about being ahead of schedule!

If you don't see much of me in the next while it'll be because;

- I'm trying to get all the final details sorted for the upstairs bathrooms, since I won't be driving for at least 2 weeks after surgery, if not longer, I'm hoping not longer!!

- sorting out stuff for the kids during that time period, my in-laws who now live locally will be a big help in this regard

- maybe sorting some meals out? at the very least making sure that the pantry is figured out and flush!

- general stuff that I might need to have done in that two week period afterwards, I will be trying to get most of it done beforehand on the off chance that I'm too dizzy to even read, which I'm desperately hoping won't be the case since I live off reading!!

- stamping up catalogue launch party at a friends tomorrow night

- 3rd birthday party Saturday for a good friend's son

- Preschool picnic & church service Sunday, at which I've volunteered to direct some of the kids craft.

- there's probably more that I'm forgetting, my head has been spinning trying to figure it all out so that we can just slideit into our lives, rather than having it stop everything dead in it's tracks.

Normally we stay home on Wednesday's, yesterday was no exception, what was an exception was how the day went. Normally the day melts down into a horrible mess, with some stuff done around the house, but lots and lots of yelling and fighting and is generally unpleasant.

Yesterday was amazing, it embodies what I had in mind for our Wednesdays, by no means am I going to try to say that there wasn't a single voice raised or anything like that, we aren't perfect.

We baked cupcakes, the boys coloured, painted a tad, built Lego towers and stores, Chatty and I did some piano together (we're both learning, as our schedules and moods allow) we danced to music, James Blunt, oo how lovely is the sound! Chatty spun around with his hands in fifth position, inspiring me to try to show him all five foot and arm positions, he did all of the positions with help and even attempted a couple of demi plies in first and second positions. Boy was I rusty though, first and second positions came back fairly, but I just discovered while looking at the demi plies, that I mucked up the third arm position. He seems interested in trying out a class, so I'm hoping I can find an afterschool (or wed?) class next week for him to go for a play. I am hoping that the girls in his class won't be snarky...the last thing I need is for him to be turned off of the idea by a few girls!

Geocaching and more

Yesterday Hubby had quite a bit of work to do and I've been feeling a little stir crazy with the reno's on, so the boys and I went for a long walk. We recorded the co-ordinates for a couple of geocaches and set out. Chatty found a soccer ball well hidden amongst some bushes, so we picked that up, and took it with us down to the first location where we had some lunch while searching high and low for the cache, we found the location and all the hints, but no joy on the cache. Mischief & Chatty played soccer on the field nearby. Mischief is really good at dribbling the ball, natural skills!

This area is currently under development and hopefully we'll see many of the features that were recommended by the group I sat on, installed. If so, we'll have an Ampitheatre, basketball hoops, cricket pitches, junior & senior skateparks, an early childhood playspace including dry creek beds, large boulders, tunnels, an older playspace with zip lines, one of those giant spider web domes, a small water park connected to the pool water, a fully self sustainable community garden, dirt mounds and trails for mountain bikers, etc. If the council really gets behind the plans, this park could become an absolute Mecca for the community, instead of the barren Teenage garbage heap it sadly currently is.



We headed on towards cache #2 along a walking & bike trail that I adore, it's punctuated with a couple of playgrounds as well which appeals to the boys.



Last time we went on this trail I promised Chatty & myself to bring sketchbooks - you can see Chatty here with his. Mischief demanded to get out and walk. He found flowers and ran and had a great time.

I did some sketching, which I haven't done for years, so it's a bit basic. Here's a photo of the general area I sketched and the sketch. I'm happy I got a chance to do it!

The trail has some many features, and such lovely scenery.

Hubby joined us a bit later in the day as you can tell from the lighting, he got to help try to find cache #2, no luck. The GPS program recommended by the Geocaching group for the iPhone really wasn't very accurate. I hope it's just the user! I'm going to give it a few more tries, especially since I finally managed to get Chatty to understand that he actually had to search for the cache, no one was going to arrive at the locations, and hand it to us!! All in all it was a beautiful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.