Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Like sand through the hourglass

Another year has begun and I discovered yesterday, somewhat to my chagrin, that I haven't posted this year at all.  So much for the vague "blog every day" New Year's Resolution that wandered through the increasingly empty space between my ears.  The chagrin mostly comes about because judging from StatCounter, my dear friend SuperJ, who is living and working in Africa, comes here just about every day using some of her precious internet minutes to check out the blog only to discover that there is nothing new to look at.  Well, SuperJ, I shall do my best to make sure that there *is* something new a bit more often than there has been. 

So.  What's new?

It's our wedding anniversary today.  In a bit over half an hour we shall have been married for 15 years.  15 very happy and contented years - judging by our combined girths I'd say that there was quite a lot of contentment.  As I have often said he's the glue that holds the fabric of my life together and I cannot imagine having to do this mortal coil thing without him.

Ok.  That's enough mush for one afternoon.

No, we don't have any plans for the day.  We did talk about going out for dinner, but I have come down with a nasty chest infection/cough thing which is really not conducive to going out especially at night.  The cough is worse than the chest infection - significantly worse as in a wake-up-in-the-night-to-cough-but-can't-get-enough-oxygen-so semi-vomit kind of way.  That's probably TMI.  As a result dinner is on hold.

As of this minute I have no idea what we are going to have for dinner as there is nothing in the house.  We haven't been shopping since forever and I am down to the dregs...dubious things of uncertain age at the back of the freezer kind of dregs.  I don't think I'm brave enought o risk it, so the kids and I will have to brave the shops and get something.

Kissing is also completely off the menu this anniversary as we are desperate for Mr Bear to stay well and not pick up this hideous infection.  Last year was not kind healthwise, and there was one individual at his place of employment who was not kind jobwise, so we'd really, really like him to not get this.  His BIG project comes off this year and will kickoff in a big way at the beginning of February.  He is going to have to work very long hours over very many days this year which will be no fun at all, but to partly compensate for this, he is going to be able to work out of a local office 2-3 days a week.  This office is only 6km from home and just down the road from the church.  On the days when he's at that office he'll be able to leave just before 9 and he'll be home just after 5, which will be very lovely :)

The kids have started back at school which was great until I got sick.  They've had more play time this week than I am comfortable with, but as I can't talk without coughing I don't have much choice.  They are so raggedy this afternoon though that it will be back to the books tomorrow.  Never ever tell your homeschooling mum that you are bored.  It's a surefire way to see your books back on the table lol.

On the weightloss thing...he lost about 5 kilos and I lost about 3.  They found us again over Christmas.  As soon as I am well again it's back on the wagon.

I think that's all for the minute.

Happy New Year :)

It was the rainbow unicorns

The world hadn't gone to pot this morning, so the day started off better than i had anticipated.

The Other Half's project is being rolled out this week, which in IT terms means we have basically not seen him during the week since the roll out began.  The days have been very very long without him and the poor man is utterly exhausted when he does get home.

The good things are that this is the end of Phase One and that two of the facilities involved in Phase One are about 10 minutes from home.  In the day time there is nothing happening in the early afternoon in the project so he has been able to come home for lunch.  He's been working 12-13 hour days so that little respite in the middle of the day has been lovely for him, and for us.

The bad thing is that this is the end of Phase One, and Phase Two and Three are yet to run.  None of the Phase II and Phase III facilities are near home, and when they roll out he'll be working 14-16 hour days with no middle of the day respite.  The roll-out goes over two weeks.  We're not looking forward to that at all.

Please, please, please pray that he doesn't get sick again.  When he gets overtired, he gets sick and we simply cannot afford for him to get sick again this year.  There's some stuff going on to do with that, and basically it's not good, so please, if you'd care to, pray that he doesn't get sick.

The other stuff that was going on in the background came to fruition this week and was resolved very nicely in the negative.  Usually that's a bad thing, but in this case it wasn't.  There was a possible move on the cards.  It fell through and we're both relieved.  The Other Half had a bad vibe about it from the get go and the longer it went on, the worse the vibe got.  I was nervy, but as usual it was hard to tell whether the thing itself was wrong, or whether it was just me and my pathological hatred of change.

 

"Just because it's written down doesn't make it true"

This piece of advice was handed to me by my new doctor.  Of all the things he has said this is the one piece of advice/counsel that has stuck most firmly, and the bit to which I cling when piddling about on the internet.

Unfortunately the bit about being able to walk away and not be upset by something was very short-lived - about a month to be precise - and I'm back to being on tenterhooks on the internet.  This morning I read something that made me very angry indeed.  It was written by a person whose opinions always rub me up the wrong way.  (In fairness I suspect that my opinions make her feel likewise.)  As usual she was spouting off on a topic that has nothing to do with her, and is never likely to affect her.  I had to breathe deep and walk away.  It's her opinion.  I don't share her opinions - on anything - so today's pontifications were hardly a surprise.  It would be pointless to disagree.  So the best option is to simply walk away.  Again.

First of spring, but

it's chilly and overcast with intermittent sun.

But it *is* spring and for that I am extremely grateful.  Another winter over.

"I'll pray for you"

I'm working my way through "Teach Me to Pray" by Andrew Murray.  It's hard going and slow going because there's lots to think about and time to be alone and contemplative is thin on the ground.

He talks extensively about intercessory prayer, and how important it is in the life of a believer.  This is an element of prayer that I have kind of taken for granted as that's what Christians do; they pray for others.  They pray during times of sickness and sadness.  They pray in praise.  They pray for guidance.  They pray for their families, their churches, their leaders, their politicians, their friends, their pets.  It's what Christians do.  They pray.  It's not a badge of honour, nor a sign that God cares more for the Christian, or that the Christian is in God's good books, it is simply what we do.  A lot of the time it is the only thing we can do.

Ummm

Just checked out the blog and discovered it has been more than a month since the last entry.

Ummm, yeah, a month.

Just in case there are still any readers out there, I'll try and recap the last five weeks.

Dad came out of hospital.  Dad went back into hospital.  Dad came out of hospital.  Dad went back to hospital. They changed one of his medications as it was dropping his heart rate too low (43 bpm) and he's out of hospital again, hopefully for the last time.  He is looking and sounding pretty much normal again.  I think the med he was on was making him really unwell cos now that he's off it, he's doing really, really well.  That's good.

The stuff going on in the background that I couldn't talk about last time is still going on in the background, and I still can't talk about it.  Why mention it then, I hear you ask?  Because it's eating up a lot of my brain (and heart) time at the moment.  It's a good thing/bad thing thing.  Can't quite make up my mind yet whether the good outweighs the bad or not.  It's pretty much out of my hands anyway so I'll stop wittering on about it.  There.  Stopped.

I've been trying, ever since Dad's heart attack, to shift some of the extra poundage that has accumulated over the years.  Before I could answer the "does anyone in your family suffer from heart disease" question with a No, now I can't.  It's that simple.  So I've been on the Next To No Fun Food Diet for about 4 weeks.  No McDonalds, no chocolate, no ice cream, no eating between meals, no biscuits, no cakes, no lollies, no chips (except for jumpy legs), no marmalade toast, I tried black coffee for a while but gave that up.  I don't cook any more, I just heat things up.  I don't bake any more either, so that fun part of life is dead.  I have *something* that counts as fun food about twice a week.  On a Friday afternoon The Other Half takes me out for a coffee at McCafe and I have something yum with it.  One other day a week I'll have something...something small and insignificant like a couple of squares of chocolate, but it's literally a couple of squares and it's once in the week.  That's about it.  Lunch is a cup of stock and two bits of dry bread.  mmmm.  It's a pretty drab and colourless life really, and it stretches off into infinity that is bleak and dreary.  And for all this I have shifted approximately 1.3kg.  In four weeks.  I sit down at the table hungry and get up from the table hungry and it's all for basically naught.  I wouldn't mind so much if there was an actual result, but so far it's nothing.  

Pity party over.

The kids are going great guns with school.  Chickabid has just begun his Year 5 maths book and is going through it like lightning.  He's just about to finish the level 4 grammar book and as soon as the next one is published we'll get stuck into that.  We're rocketing through history and have begun The Crusades - I am learning as much as the kids.  We've almost finished our Biblical Studies book and I'm trying to figure out where to go next in that.  We've finished Exploring Creation with Botany and have just started Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. We're nearly finished our writing textbook and I have the next one ready to go. It's truly a season where I can say "we've finished ...".  It's a good feeling.  Ladybug has finished her grammar book and is working in the next one.  She's doing really, really well in her maths test book which is reviewing everything she's learned so far this year.  I've ordered the next book for her and it should come in the next few days.  We're making progress.

Chickabid's blanket is finished and in use.  Ladybug's blanket is 2/5 finished.  The house is passable in at least 1/3 rooms pretty much all the time now, but don't whatever you do look in the sink today.  I'm not joking ;)

 

 

State of Play III

Hadn't realised until I signed onto to typepad this morning that it has been 17 days since my last post.  That's gotta be the longest blog break in ages.  No real, specific, tie-downable reason for it, I just don't have a lot to say.

One possible reason (and it's only possible) is that I am totally stymied in the house.  I *know* what needs to be done, but I can't do it...not right now.  Our biggest, biggest problem is the homeschooling thing.  I haven't gone off the idea - and actually school is the about the only thing that *is* going right - but hsing does bring a set of fairly unique problems. a) the whole house is our school room, so the school stuff is not contained in any one particular place b) we have loads of books...loads and loads and loads of books, but a distinct dearth of bookshelves.  I've been trying to organise the school room for months, but can't because of the stacks of books and book-related paraphernalia hanging out in that room.  I've just placed an order for three more books to add to the chaos and am waiting on the delivery of a fourth ordered at the beginning of June but not delivered yet.  That doesn't even account for the books needed in the second half of the year, nor the art paper and dyes that are waiting the education rebate thingy.  before we know where we are there will be yet more stuff clamouring for organisation in the school room.  I'm so desperate for shelf space that a few besser blocks (breeze blocks) with some long wooden planking would suffice right now.

If I had my druthers, this is what would happen

- the bed in the toy room would be returned to its rightful owners, along with the bedding

-the books would all come off the bookshelves and roughly be alphabetised/subjectised on the floor

- all bookshelves would be moved to the toy room, thus rebranding the toy room as the Library

- the books would be reshelved, alphabetically for the fictions and subjectally for the non-fiction, until we ran out of bookshelves

- we'd buy at least two more bookshelves for that everything was on those shelves

- we'd get some mix'n'match storage units from here to go in the school room and hold all the school stuff, thus getting all the clobber off the desks and the floor

- my stress levels would subside, we could have guests over again, my anxiety levels would plummet and I would be calm and at peace, and if you look in the sky you'll see a flock of polar bears heading for the tropics.

If I had my druthers, that is.

Me time

This afternoon all is quiet, except for the dishwasher.

The house is empty of Mister Bear, Chickabid, Ladybug and Gyspy Jane.  It's just me alone.  I can't remember the last time I had time to be alone and to do nothing in particular.

For months I've been at work on the supersecret project, my Organised Fidgeting*, but that was completed yesterday when I sat and crocheted like a madwoman.  I still have a blanket on the go for Chickabid, and one slightly less along for the Ladybug, but I am kind of all crocheted out for a little while.  Their blankets will keep until we're all together and catching up on stuff on the TiVo.  For the moment I am merely enjoying the silence and the freedom of having nothing in particular to do.

In a minute or two I'll sign off here and fetch the scrapbooking box.  I have a few layouts that need finishing touches, and I have a whole bunch of ideas from here to explore with scrappy things.  There's a box bursting with photos that need scrapping.  I have barely touched scrapbooking in about 3 years - too unwell to think about it - but now that life is on the improve I need to capitalise on this.

I see the dr this week about my new med protocol.  There are not words to thank him enough.  I have my life back, but a better life than I could have dreamed about.  In looking back I think I have been sick for most of my life, without knowing it.  At least since I was 18, and possibly longer.  It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a particular traumatic event that occured 30 years ago could have triggered the illness and that it has been undiagnosed at least that long.  Everything is different now and I am having to learn how to live a new life.  It's a bit tricky, espceially when long ingrained patterns of behaviour no longer occur.  All I can say to the doctor is "Thank you", but that doesn't seem adequate.

I also have to write about Maria's visit...I'm finding it hard to believe that the visit has come and gone.  We were looking forward to it for so long, and now it's in the past.  It was a wonderful 2 and a half days and I will be forever grateful for the chance to meet someone who is now a firmly entrenched part of our family.

Foxed at every turn

The dryer died for good and all last week.  I have been nursing it for a year, gently coaxing it or shouting at it by turn, and it's been functional...until last week when it decided to stop on the airing cycle, but still run the motor.  Recipe for a house fire that one.

Cue yesterday's trip to Hardly Normal for a replacement dryer, a couple of heaters that we can run all winter without breaking the bank (as in 9c a hour per heater....boo yah!), and a slightly impulsive purchase: a blue mat for the family room floor.  More on the mat in a minute.

The grand unveiling of the mat was this morning and it actually worked.

After lunch, my poor sick other half unpacked the dryer and prepared to install it.

Ummmm, slight problem...new dryer is wider than old dryer and wouldn't fit in the space.  Possible solution: put dryer higher up the wall.  That was a non-starter as I am 5 foot nothing in bare feet and couldn't reach it.  Only solution: empty big white cupboard, full of cleaning products and products not related to cleaning, currently in laundry and take to garage.  Take box full of anything-but-cleaning-stuff out to the garage.  Find a horizontal surface to store the multitude of cleaning products until I find another place to put them.  Put the new dryer back on the wall.  Move the freezer from the kitchen to the laundry.  Accept that I can use the washing machine or the dryer, but not both at the same time until we can get another power point put in.

Every available surface in the kitchen is covered with bottles of all manner of cleaning stuff from detergents to disinfectants.  It's a massive jobby to put them all *somewhere*.  I think I'll have to fall back on the old, familiar 10 minutes at a time thing to conquer it.

Now for the mat story.  We have a lovely mat in the family room that Mister Bear's mum and dad gave us for Christmas 10 years ago when we moved into this house.  It has lived for the past 2 years or so in the family room.  It is resolutely burgundy in an otherwise blue/yellow/green room.  We've tossed around the idea of getting a coordinating mat for the family rooms for ages, but it's a big space and a suitably sized mat was waaaaay out of our budget.  On a whim yesterday I suggested that we have a look at Hardly Normal to see what they had.  What they had was a rug sale...30% off.  Good start.  Then we found a really, really great royal blue rug, with sea creature highlights in yellow for..............63% off its regular price making it very affordable.  So, we have a new mat.

But what about the other mat I hear you ask.  Well, have we got plans for it!  The back room, formerly a craft room, or a toy room, or a spare room or usually a room where you can;t even get in the door, is being painted a lovely restful, neutral "Pearly Gates".  In just 15 sleeps it's going to be a guest room for Maria.  It is also going to be our library.

Once painted, all our books and bookshelves are going up to the back room...Maria won't mind sharing with the books...the mat is going in the middle of the floor - it matches the curtains in that room - the standard lamp is going in the corner and it will become a quiet and peaceful haven for reading.  Can't wait for it to be finished and to be able to put a picture up here.  A house with a library.  Riches indeed.

This is getting weird

This is day 3 of feeling...good.

Not ordinary just-manage-to-drag-myself-around-the-house good, but good good.  Full of energy good.  Ready to tackle The Worst Room In The House good.  Have already finished the ironing and it's not even 9am yet good.

I have fingernails.  Proper, long-ish fingernails.

I also have headspins, slightly achy joints and a perpetually stuffy nose, but that's a small price to pay compared with how good I feel.

Please, please, may it continue.