vasectomies, downton abbey and weightlifting...

A couple of nights ago I slept like a pretzel and then couldn't move. I literally got stuck and had to wake Michael up. He was grumpy until he realised I was silently weeping in pain. I was weeping silently because when I initially tried racking sobs it sent me into spasms of pain more than any I have ever experienced. He helped me get onto my back and then gave me his last remaining Panadeine Forte prescribed post-vasectomy. It actually hurt to swallow the tablet, then the drugs kicked in and I lay there bombed out of my mind. This was at 3:30 am. At 4:30 Sam woke with a high temperature and sore throat. I heard him from a far away, happy, drugged out place. Michael dealt with it.

We are now in our second day of multiple ailments here at #55. I have a bit more mobility and a diagnosed pinched nerve, a prescription of anti-inflammatories and a sick note for work. While the GP laughed at my story of being happily, pharmaceutically stoned he was reluctant to prescribe more Panadeine Forte and gave me a half-hearted lecture about taking drugs prescribed to others. I was disappointed and may yet send Michael back for another precautionary vasectomy in the hope of more drugs

Sam has a fever, sore throat flu-ey type thing and is promising to wear long sleeves and trousers for the rest of his life to ward off ever being sick again. Milly is sniffley with periodic crankiness interspersed with happily painting watercolours and making butterflies from the tissues. Expensive aloe infused tissues.

The lounge room has been transformed into a hospital and recovery centre a la Downton Abbey. There are two beds and various trays of medicinal supplies placed within reach. There is a whiff of eucalyptus in the air and the gentle sounds of snoring and moaning coming from Sam. I have an armchair with everything I could possibly need within arm's reach. I am left handed blogging from the iPad. If I had a Downton Abby-esque commode seat I would be complete; ablutions with a pinched nerve are somewhat difficult.

Today is Michael's last day at his workplace of 14 years. He has a two week break before he starts at a new job and it looks like he will be doing his best Lady Sybil impression and nursing us all. So much for a break. So much for our planned celebration dinner tonight. So much for the long list of jobs for him to do.

In the meantime the kids are interupting me to watch the Olympics where small women lift enormous weights over their heads using the smooth motion known as the Snatch. I am so bored that I am having a quiet chortle every time the commentators say it. Things are declining fast. Send chocolate.

How is your week going?

sunday adventure : july

Today we went to a picnic ground in the Otway Forest to celebrate a friend's birthday. There were 25 of us sharing lovely food and each other's company.

When we arrived I sent the kids off to use their eagle eyes to discover three things that would amaze us. They came running back with reports of two birds and a cute ratty thing.

Which we think may have been a quokka. It had some serious (healed) battle scars and a lame leg. When Sam suggested we take it to the vet Amber explained that "Sometimes you can be a bit wonky but still get around in the world pretty well". Which sums up why we surround our kids with smart and lovely people. We watched it burrow and shuffle around, impressed that the kids had managed to spot it in the middle of the undergrowth.

The kids all kept the fires stoked and the oldest, who had come straight from a shift at McDonalds sat and cooked the meat for us all.

A couple of rounds of Klop (such a great game - high on the list of things to buy before spring time) and some red wine later it was time to light the sparklers

...and sing Happy Birthday and eat cake (or cheescake, or lemon tart or pavlova). The gang of kids headed off to find the waterfall and returned covered in bog mud. We piled into the car

...and managed to see a whale and a rainbow as we drive along the Great Ocean Road. We pulled over to see the whale roll around under the rainbow's arc and realised we had had a spectacular, magical, lovely day.

driving

Such a busy weekend. Melbourne yesterday and heading down past Lorne this morning for a friends' birthday campfire. Lots of time in the new car. Luckily it is comfortable.

happy

{ North Stradbroke Island - September 2011 }

Picking the kids up on the last day of the school term, knowing we have nothing but the holidays ahead? Exhilerating.

Looking at the winter garden and finding growth on plants that signifies the coming end to the dormant season and heralds spring? A definite thrill.

Seeing Milly swim a lap of the pool without assistance? Makes my heart sing.

An unexpected day to myself? Joyous.

My days have sudden and unexpected spikes of joy sprinkled through them. They sneak up on me and the endorphins course through my body and there is a visceral sense of promise, that all is good.

But lately I have realised that my base line for happiness is actually pretty high. That these spikes, while gorgeous and unexpected and celebrated, exist in a world where I am mostly, mindfully, happy. Almost all of the time. Which is a scary thing to admit. And while I am tempted to temper this declaration with the things that are worrying and lurking around the corners, I will resist. And just put it out there. I am happy. So there it is.

new find

Yesterday we went outside our usual neighbourhood to a gallery near the river. It was hosting a popup art and design collective. Lots of loveliness to look at and buy, but the most exciting discovery was the gallery itself - Boom Gallery. Gorgeous contemporary art and objects and a fantastic coffee bar. I am scheduling a wander around the industrial end of Newtown with a stop over for a slice of cake in the next week or so.

at the moment I am...

reading

a novel about a woman who suffers a brain injury after a car accident and is left with a condition called Left Neglect - when the brain does not recognise any part of the left side of either the body nor the space it is inhabiting (that's a very clumsy explanation). The author is a neuroscientist and manages to combine the medical and human story fantastically.

walking...

Sadie around the river again after a long break due to weather and poor moral fortitude. I am sucking it up and walking around the river quickly to warm up. Sadie is in heaven.

watching...

( print from here)

a daily dose of Olympic highlights packages with Sam and telling him stories of athletes' achievements - Cathy Freeman's 400m win in Sydney, Steve Redgrave's 5th Olympics and 5th Gold medal, Haile Gebrselassie the Ethiopian long distance runner. His eyes light up at tales of super human feats and we are excited for the start of the Olympics.

loveliness

 (photos from dailydoseofstuff.tumblr.com and style-files.com) 

My birthday is soon-ish. I am thinking this is the year to finally fulfill my dream of a garden and verandah with lights strung as far as the eye can see. I have found a supplier selling 50 metre lengths with 600 globes. Which is a pretty good start. I really want to string them along the verandah and across the garden. This may be a problem given Sam's current love of kicking the football high into the air. It might be time to introduce him to hockey, or boules, or anything played at sea level.

answering my critics

The kids tend to look at the blog often but mostly to click on the link on the right to see the posts labeled with their names. Milly informed me that she has 6 less posts than Sam at the moment and it has been ages since I posted about her. So here is a Milly update...

• Running her a bubble bath in the afternoon means she is happy and I can have an hour of peace and quiet reading a novel before we walk to collect Sam. 
• Despite the lack of formal schooling she tells me she can read in her head and regularly peruses our shelves for all manner of reading material.
• She is (and always has been) a jigsaw puzzle fiend - 200 pieces seems to be the norm these days. Her Grandmother has her hooked on a daily online jigsaw habit.
• She has started to show an interest in learning to write and we have a go at letter formation and recognition every now and again.
• She rolls her eyes when she is displeased with something. I don't know where she gets that from. I know it drives me insane {Mum - I am sorry}.
• She does not own a dress or skirt. She is most displeased at any suggestion that she could wear one. Occasionally she will deem to wear a cardigan. Which she considers very girly.
• She thinks she will be a vet when she is a grown up. She will live in a flat with Emily B and Sarah. They will share ownership of a horse as they are actually a lot of work.
• She likes to use the word 'actually' a lot. 
• She does not like to have her hair combed.
• At the moment lasagna is her favourite food; Pink and purple are her current favourite colours; Pippi Longstocking is her favourite book.
• She is officially 5 and a third.

homework

hers & his

Yesterday was the last day of holidays - which means a couple of things but mostly it meant the kids needed to do their homework. I wonder where the kids live who do their homework early in the holiday break? Not at number 55 that is for sure. For the record, the holiday homework was complete before noon - that can not be classed as last minute can it?

big top

Circus Oz was brilliant. All of the spectacle of a regular circus without the horror of cycling monkeys and carnie folk. I'm not ever going to enrol the kids in circus school but we will definitely go again. The kids were enthralled and their joy at a late night in the Melbourne CBD was glorious.

the big smoke

I am child free today so have my walking shoes on. I am off to Melbourne on the train to explore some neighbourhoods (and a few shops) before picking up our new car and driving it home. We've been doing a lot of country town exploring lately (the photo above was taken in Chiltern near the NSW border) and I am itching for some hustle and bustle.

/iˈnərSHə/

in·er·tia/iˈnərSHə/ :

Noun:

A tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged: "bureaucratic inertia". A property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is..

I seem to have been struck by intertia. We have friends coming to dinner tomorrow and I am meant to be dusting. Yesterday I cleaned the bedroom, study and sitting room from top to bottom and it seems that met whatever urge to clean and primp I may have had.

Today I have procrastinated and dawdled. I started the day dealing with ants in the kitchen and I can't muster the strength to call the exterminators who came on the 19th May and supposedly left me a 6 month bug and rodent free house - guaranteed.

Meanwhile the children are on their 2nd dvd of the day and Sam has told me he is "busting' to do the rainy day activity lucky dip. I told him I had to finish my jobs first, he looked at me sitting at the computer and walked away. I think he may have given up on me.

I have resolutely closed the bedroom door because if I get a glimpse of my cozily rearranged bedroom and stack of books next the lamp I may crawl in and not come out. 

seasonal envy

I saw this movie last week with a friend in Adelaide and it was lovely. Among other things (Michelle Williams was amazing) it was the perfect tonic for a cold winter evening; set in Toronto in sizzling heat the golden summer light was mesmerising. Worth a look if you can find a cinema screening it - only one cinema was showing it in Adelaide so I had no hope of seeing it in Geelong. When it comes to movies we are the ultimate yokel, big blockbuster cinema release town.

I am on the prowl for other good movies - any suggestions?

fire

We have started a Sunday afternoon tradition of lighting the brazier and sitting around playing with the fire, reading and getting stinky from the smoke. We have perfected the art of toasting marshmallows but yesterday we took it a step further and cooked lunch on the fire. We put our griddle iron across the top and cooked sausages. Then inspiration struck and we broke out the Toastie Toaster / Jaffle Iron (for South Australians it's the former, Victorians call it the latter) with baked beans and cheese. Next week we will throw in some potatoes and we will have all the food groups covered.

I have heard talk of splitting a banana in half, filling it with chocolate and wrapping it in foil. Stay tuned for that...

winter beaches

It was still -2 degrees this morning at half past eight. Frost covered everything in the back garden, even the raised beds. The kids and I are remembering the beaches we visited every day last week and the feeling of being in the sun with no wind chill. The next time we go to Adelaide it will be late September and spring will have sprung. Can't wait. Our plan for the rest of this chilly day is to light the bonfire in the back garden and get ourselves warmed up.

In other news - we bought a new car yesterday - there are huge changes ahead at number 55. I am torn between terror and excitement.

junk shops I have known

One of the best things about a visit home to Adelaide is a morning to myself heading to the junk shops that seem to be undiscovered by big city stylists and cashed up retro groovers. These are the things I left behind, I have a large box in the boot of my car with treasures wrapped carefully in newspaper. I spent an hour and a half in this shop: struggling to decide between vintage tins, bessamer kitchenalia and debating the wisdom of starting a porcelain speedy jug collection (sanity prevailed and I didn't, but the pale lemon. creams and dusty blues were highly tempting).

another roadtrip

We seem to have perfected the art of arriving at our destination to gorgeous sunsets. We hit the final 80 kilometres of the roadtrip just in time to see the sun setting behind the Adelaide Hills. Eight hours after departing we were here, hugging Grandma and Grandad and ready for the exotic treat of electric blankets on beds and buttery toast for breakfast in the morning.