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Sunday, 2 July 2023

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....................







Sunday, 25 June 2023

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: