A blog post for week: 22 July 2023

 

Fog over Eudlo flats (John Rourke) 22/07/23

It has been a busy couple of weeks and I have not had an opportunity to blog.

Greg had to have a hernia operation a couple of weeks ago and the operation went well.  He had to stay in hospital overnight and came home Thursday 13/7.  All was going well.  

This is after it has mostly healed.  It was BLACK!

Until he called me on Monday afternoon to call an ambulance as he couldn't feel his leg and had collapsed!.. I called the ambulance and then made about 10 phone calls to arrange everything whilst leaving work and driving to pick up Ben from school.  

The ambulance took him to hospital and they thought he had had a stroke.  Ruled out.  Then a DVT.  Ruled out.  Didn't know what was wrong and after a million tests he had a rare side affect from the surgery called neuropraxia which is a nerve reaction to the surgery and it causes extreme pain and loss of mobility.  He has been on the mend since then but it was quite a scary time.

I had planned a trip to Toowoomba to see Courtney and Greg was feeling a lot better so I went to the farm.  Had a great time at the Ladies Who Long Lunch and Courtney was speaking there. The venue was lovely, food great and I had a nice day.

Afterwards we went for dinner at a Thai place in Toowoomba city.  It was a great day/night!

Mine was Lychee (mocktail) - very YUM

I then stayed another day on the farm to mind the kids for Courts as she and Erin were going out for a dinner overnight.  I had to put my big farm girl pants on and feet the calf!!!  Scary stuff but I did it.  Here is Enzo doing the job (I couldn't take pics of me as I had to give the little calf all my attention).

I had a fantastic time and needed the down time away from everything.  It was great especially after the huge amount of stress I had had over the week.

The boys did some indoor climbing for something different:

06/01/24

I noticed that I didn't ever post this blog so I am now. 

Love 

Rach xxxx

A blog post for week: 2 July 2023

Hello friends,

Mooloolah this morning (from J Rourke - local resident)

We are having beautiful sunny days on the Sunshine Coast but the nights are very cold and we have had the fire on every night.

This week:

I was lucky that I had an RDO this Friday.  I went to see Mum and Dad which was nice.

I had a remedial massage early Saturday morning.  I haven't had one since September or October 2022.  I really, really needed one as I was starting to get a lot of pain due to tension in my neck, shoulders and arms and it was starting to affect me.  Today I feel very sore but in a good way.  It shows how knotted all my muscles were 😬  I hold all my tension in that area and over the past 2 years, I have had a LOT of stress and tension in my life.  I have booked my next session in a month.  It will be great.

Greg ended up resigning from the job.  He was Casual but had advised them the times he was available and they kept giving him work outside of those hours. His normal supervisor was away and he tried to talk to the other supervisor but she was quite dismissive of him and a bit rude to him - so he wasn't happy.  They were giving him 1 hour jobs over 30minutes away.  This means he was travelling for 1 hour (unpaid) and working for 1 hours (paid but not a very good rate).  Basically, it was not worth him working this as we were really losing money when you consider - time, petrol, wear and tear on the car etc.  Such a shame but he is looking for something else and he has hopefully a few options - I really hope so because with the cost of living at the moment we really need him to start contributing to the family finances.

I went to a paint and sip night with Mel and Nita.  I am certainly no painter and the subject matter was a naked man!! -  who was very comfortable in his own skin, which was good.  It was actually a fun night and something different.  Here is the guy and my pretty bad painting 😂

The boys have had their first week of school holidays.  The boys went to the Big Boing on Friday afternoon.  They had a great time.

For my birthday last week I had some birthday money (thank you mum and dad and Greg's mum!).  I wanted a pond for my guppies as I have too many for the little fish tanks I have.  I saw a patio pond I liked but it was $650!!!  Out of my price range.  

So, I found a similar pot at Bunnings, for $219 - still very expensive but not to the level of the other one.  Greg sealed it with his fibreglass kit.

We had a pump/filter from the old outdoor pond we used to have which was perfect.

As the guppies need the water to be be a bit warmer than what the pond is in winter, I have bought a heater for the pond.  Once this arrives I will set the pond up properly.  I have put some stones in the bottom of it and am just waiting for the heater. I can't wait!  

Jemma came up off island today with her friend and we went to Flaming Sushi for lunch today.  It was lovely and she paid which was unexpected (she sneaked off and paid without me knowing).

Well, better get organised for my week starting tomorrow at work.  

Have a lovely week!

Love Rach xxxxx

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

For my massage lady (who lost her son, a twin, when he was 6yo) and to Courtney, Alex and Jemma (who lost their brother Sean on 30/06/2000) and to me who also lost Sean. Still think of you every. single. day. forever - 23 years so far....................

Starting again - 2023 updates

 Hello blogger world!  

I have had a very long break from Blogging and I note that a lot of blogs I used to follow are no longer blogging now.  With all the new platforms, maybe Blogger is a bit old school I suppose.  

But.................. I really love looking back on my family history and what I was up to over the years.  As you can see I have changed a bit over the past few years!

January 2023

June 2020

 

June 2023

 

So, I have decided to resurrect my blog again 😀

Quite a bit has changed over the past 4 years or so and a bit has stayed the same.  I will talk about me later, but this is what has been happening.............

The boys have grown up

Birthday 2022 - 11yo

First day of school 2023 - didn't want photo

Michael is nearly as tall as Greg

No more braces - he had them for 1.5 years! 2023

New school for Ben

Lots of changes for the boys.  Michael is in Year 9 at Beerwah HS.  He enjoys it and catches the bus every day.  Rhys is in Year 6 at Mooloolah State School and rides his bike to school every day.  Ben is in Year 6 at Palmview State Special School and we moved him at Term 2.  He is loving it!  I had to put up a BIG fight to move him there (a regular thing for me for my boys) but it was 100% the right decision.

Jemma has now moved to Queensland and lives on Moreton Island and works at Tangalooma Resort

Jemma, Shona (my friend) and I at Tanga

Alex has moved to WA.  Unfortunately she has separated from Ben but they remain on good terms for Summer and Blayd.  I can't wait to see them again soon!

Greg has had a tough few years with health conditions - thank goodness for private health insurance.  He detached both retinas 3 months apart and nearly went blind.  It has been a 3 year process fixing them and 4 surgeries later he is fine with no further review.

 Then this year, after limping for I reckon 10 years, he finally listened to me and went to the Dr.  Total hip replacement done!  He has just been diagnosed with a hernia........... but it isn't bad and he sees the specialist in a few weeks.  Hopefully that will be it 😢  All of this has put a lot of pressure on us as a family as he hasn't worked in paid employment since we moved up here, but he just started Casual domestic assistance work last week.  💗

Courtney and Erin and the kids have also moved to Queensland.  They now have a farm at Toowoomba.  I am so excited that they moved up here and are about a 3 hour drive.  I love going over there and seeing them.

At the farm 2023

2023

Mum and Dad are really good.  They sold their house and now live in a retirement village in Caloundra which they LOVE.  They have a crazy social life 💥

Nat and Martin sold their house and are living more rural on acreage past Maleny.  We don't really see them very much but they are enjoying the land and Nat has chickens! 🐔

There are SO many things that have happened over the past 3 years - to many to say in this post but I will gradually bring them into my blog as the weeks go by.  I plan to update every week 😀

Love Rach xxx

Quote of the week:

 

It's official - I suck a blogging!

I can't believe it has been so long between posts, but there you go.  Early June was my last update.

Of course there are reasons:

1. I have been fairly unwell over this time with Psoriatic Arthritis unfortunately.  It was quite bad and I wasn't well at all but I am now please to say I am probably about 95% better now and feeling like a new woman.
2. My volunteer role is virtually like working 4 days per week!  There have been some massive changes happening in my volunteer role and lots of sorting out to be done.  This is continuing and although I have a brilliant supportive team of volunteers around me, there is a lot of time taken up to get through the things that need to be done.  I am basically working 4 days a week volunteer work and 3 days a week normal job!  It will get better!  Now only one big thing to sort out and then I may get my life back.
3. I was offered a project role at work for 2 days per week for 9 weeks or so.  This has been quite full on as it is a short sharp busy project.  
4. Lots of appointments with the boys.  It's just that time of the year really and appointments take lots of time and energy to manage!

So I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs at all.

Some highlights:

Birthdays!

I surprised Alex as it was her 30th Birthday and flew up to Darwin.  Jemma and Courtney also few up to surprise her.  It was so lovely to see everyone (my grandchildren are gorgeous).  A quick visit but so worth it to see her face when I walked in 😆

It was also my birthday and Greg and I went out for lunch which was yummy.

New Fence out the front

Part of our ongoing beautification of our home, we felt a new fence was in order.  We had a guy from school build it and he nailed my vision it perfectly.  Greg painted it black and it looks beautiful.  We also got a new path put in and it all looks pretty good.  Now to decide if we grow a hedge or not....... decisions, decisions.......

New Fire installed

I gave it 2 years but I can't stand being cold.  Some people get HANGRY, I get ANGRY COLD - COLDGRY???  Yes it's a thing.  So we bought a big arse fire and Greg installed it.  Brilliant job I must say (of course it wasn't an "easy" job with beams and stuff in the way which required lots of work so the chimney could get out the roof - nothing we every do is straight forward).

Crochet

Oh my passion.  My relaxation and enjoyment.  Unfortunately as I was feeling unwell and had quite a lot of pain in my hands and arms, I wasn't able to do much at all.  However as I got better I eased myself back and made a lovely mustard coloured scarf.  I'm doing another one in red tones and Mum and I went to Yarnfest in Maleny and I bought some yarn to make a textured blanket.  I have stopped doing my other blanket a this stage because it requires a lot of concentration and I don't have the time to devote absolute concentration right now.

Silly me then was a bit smug about being well over the lot of Winter.  Well didn't Karma bite me on the bum.  I needed an iron infusion as my iron was at 5 and should have been over 50 (I think).

I got an awful cold, then got over that for a week and then got a terrible hacking dry cough that I just couldn't stop 24/7.  That has lasted over a week but I'm feeling much better than I was thank goodness.

While I was sick in bed a lot of the time I started on some cute little cushions.  Then Ben wanted me to make him one too, so we picked out some yarn and he now has his rainbow cushion.  I have a lovely pinky/purple one on the hook at the moment.

It was the boys 8th and 11th Birthdays!

We went to Monster Trucks but it was a bit of a fizzer as it was too wet and they should have cancelled it, but no.  Then Ben got scared because of the noise, then Rhys (because Ben was scared) and then it poured down with rain LOL.  I would never go again - it was an absolute waste of $300 (I paid for premium seats which they had oversold - absolute dickheads)

It was Greg and I 10 year wedding anniversary!

It was also Father's Day

All in all a pretty good few months.  Here are some pics!

Lot's of good times and a sad time because our beloved Donut our doggie passed away last week

.
She was very old - we're not exactly how old because she was a rescue dog, but probably between 16-18years old.  She was a real granny doggie but was very happy pottering around and sleeping a lot.  She wagged her tail and was a happy girl.  But last week that all changed and she wasn't happy, she wasn't eating and she didn't wag her tail once - even when getting lots of attention and love.  She was dry retching a fair bit and was not looking good.  Greg took her to the vet and he said she may survive a week at the most as her heart was not good and lumps inside her.  We decided she was suffering and she passed away.  We love you Donut, you were a lovely sweet dog, part of our family and we miss you xxxx


Thought for the week:

Hopefully it won't be so long between posts.  I've actually worked out a good way to upload photos now that doesn't take me forever.

Love Rach
xxx