I KNEW I was injured!

On Friday I went to the club for dinner with Neil and Sooz.  Another couple were there and Himself was elsewhere (work Christmas lunch and an old school chum catch up).

We hadn't been there long when I started to experience the aura that preempts a migraine.  I haven't had a migraine for nearly 5 years and at first I hoped that I had been dazzled by the light glancing off something metallic.  But no.  I didn't want to go home and sit there by myself wondering whether it would be a doozy and didn't want to put a dampner on the evening.  In the end I told N & S what was happening and rang Three to bring me some drugs!  He was on his way out and called into the club, bless him.  3 neurofen, 1 maxalon and several glasses of sav blanc* later and the visual disturbances and word finding difficulties had subsided and the tingling weakness in my hands was less.  On Saturday I woke up with the residual headache which didn't go away as it normally does.  I wasn't sure whether the migraine had been caused by stress or hormones or had a mechanical cause.

*This is MY cocktail for treating MY migraines and is not to be considered the norm or in anyway recommended!!!

Yesterday I did some Christmas shopping and my lower back and shoulders were very sore.  Fortunately I had a physio appointment yesterday evening and told her my woes.  Apparently when I fell over in Chadstone a week or so ago I suffered a form of whiplash and that was the cause of all my problems.  I was thrilled to know that there was a cause but, oy, the pain after she poked and prodded!  Thank heavens for neurofen!  Today the stiffness is better and the headache has almost gone.  JOY!

So.  On we hurtle towards 25th December.

On Sunday I decorated the tree.  I will post a photo when I have replaced the batteries in my camera and tidied the house a bit! I am very happy with the way it's turned out.  I went with a silver and red theme this year.  The stair banisters are decorated with red and gold balls and bows!  My napery will be red and green so the place should look very christmassy.

Two rang yesterday evening asking us to pop over.  They had bought their first decent sized tree and decorated it and wanted to show off.  It's gorgeous (bigger than ours - is that some rite of passage when the kids' trees are bigger than the parents'?) and they are so house proud.  It's just a shame that they will not be there for Christmas but will be in Sydney.

I have knocked over most of the shopping.  I still have to get some bits for Three who is proving very difficult his year.  I need to fine tune my lists and go to the butcher (TODAY!).  And I have a heap of sewing to do.  My plan is to get the pressie shopping done today and/or tomorrow and then focus on the hand made stuff.  If I have time I want to make some biccies to have on hand for the unexpected people that you like to have a little something for.

So on that note I shall get started on my lists.

Christmas is just around the corner.

Some people have already put their tree up and decorated it.  Mine is in a box in the garage.  At least I have a tree in a box in the garage.  I bought it last week when I went shopping with Three (and fell over!).  I managed to kill our artificial tree last year.  I might get around to assembling and decorating the thing over the next few days.  Not sure what else to do for decorations this year.  We'll probably put the lights up on the balcony again.

I have been buying presents here and there without proper lists of who needs what.  I really need to sit down and get those lists done so I can knock the shopping over sooner rather than later.  I bought Himself a blood pressure monitor today!  How romantic!  He will be thrilled with it.  Well, what else would you buy a 60 year old overweight male?

I also need to sit down and get my food lists and menus sorted.  I'll concentrate on easy finger food with some bbq stuff thrown in as well.  It gets expensive so I should start stocking up on that stuff as well.

This was last Christmas Eve.  Yes the photo's a bit blurry but you get the idea.  I hope the new tree will look OK.  It's much smaller than the old one.  Last year we went for a green and gold theme (from memory). We have done blue and silver, gold and silver, red and gold, and all the colours over the years (once we stopped using all the kids hand made stuff that they used to bring home from school and kinder).  I thought they'd miss their offerings but they like the themes.  This year the tree will be mainly silver with accents of red.  At least it will if I can get my act together!  I also need to buy some silvery table cloths and runners as my current ones are gold.

Himself dropped my stat dec, pass and keys back to work today.  I can now consider myself unemployed.  One more pay which will have my holiday pay included which will help with Christmas and then I should work out what 'budget' means.

Dinner's ready to go into the oven (mustard and dill chicken parcels with steamed brocollini and spuds).  I am enjoying a rather noice savvy blanc.  Himself has gone to the gym and Three should be home soon.

Life is pretty damn good (and will be better once I get Christmas under control).

A demon faced

I went to work today to have lunch with two of my colleagues.  We ate in the hospital cafe.  It was a strange feeling but good to catch up with them and we will stay in touch.  I wanted to say goodbye to a particular person but couldn't as I started to tear up.

Dr Teacher will sign my stat dec and I will get Himself to drop it and my security pass and keys back next week.

Then it's time to move on.

Life's never dull!

Yesterday I went shopping with Three.  He finally had a day off and we needed to get some Christmas stuff from the store that he works for and he needed to pay the balance of his 21st pressie trip to Bali.

We went to the new improved (a matter of opinion) Chadstone.  Lots of bling.  And security guards all over the place in the classy section (Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hilfiger, Tiffany etc etc etc).  I remember when you could nip over to Chadstone in your tracky daks and runners to grab a few things and wouldn't look out of place.  Now you almost need to dress as if you were going to the races!!

Three and I went to the Perfume Connection and bought stuff for One and Two and their girlfriends.  As we were taking those goodies back to the car I tripped over a speed hump in the car park (poorly lit) and did a spectacular full frontal dive along the ground.  Three was yelling "MUM, MUM"!! and some bloke came over to see if I was OK (I only saw his shoes!).  At that point I think the ego was more damaged than any other part of me but as the day wore on my right knee became very sore and swollen.

And the ego is still smarting!

I received an email from HR saying I could submit a statutory declaration instead of a medical certificate so duly purchased a stat dec form, filled it out and took it to the local cop shop to be witnessed.  Only to find that they don't do that anymore (even though any police officer can witness them according to the instructions).  So I am now trying to find someone to witness the damned thing so I can get it to work early next week.  My plan was to drop it off today.  Doctors and pharmacists can witness and there are plenty of them at work but I would have to explain the whole thing again and don't want to go there.

I'm about to head of to my PT session - no running today! - and then will see what the day offers.

Swearing sometimes help

I finally plucked up the courage to go and see a doctor about a medical certificate for the remaining two weeks of my notice (a grand total of 5 days!).  Because we haven't been down here for any length of time I don't have a GP to call my own.

I went to the local medical centre and the fucking prick told me he could give me 2 days ... today and tomorrow.  This was after going through the whole thing again and getting upset.  He then had the fucking gall to tell me that my mental health is important and I should look after it.

Now I understand why there are notices all over the clinic about appropriate behaviour!  If I wasn't so upset and feeling so stupid and worthless I would have called him for all the bastards under the sun.

And now I am taking my red blotchy tear stained face to the gym!

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

Feel a little bit better ...

Later...

I went to gym although I was very tempted to cancel.  I told Matt (my PT) what had happened and he trained me hard which is what I needed.

Tomorrow I will ring the HR department at work and find out what my options are.  To tell you the truth, I don't really care at the moment.  I'm not going back.  What can they do?  Sack me?  Dock my pay?  And tomorrow I might just be able to make that call to the psychologist.  It's just so embarrassing to sob over the phone to a total stranger!

Ensuite's gone!

The tradies arrived at 8.00 as promised.  I had gone for my walk at about 7.15 leaving himself at home.  I sort of expected that he would have removed the stuff from the shower ... HAHAHAHA!!!  So I was emptying the shower and clearing MY stuff off the bench (left his!) while the foreman was trying to explain what needed to be done.  The guy that destroyed the bathroom was charming and the noise was less than I expected although still unpleasant.  He finished quickly, though, and another bloke came and smeared some smelly stuff all over the floor.  He will be back tomorrow for another coat.  The tiler will be here on Friday so hopefully we will have it back by early next week.

I really, really hope they get it straight this time.  The first time they had to rip it up was because the shower wouldn't drain properly.  The shower drained OK after that but the shower screen and tiles didn't line up and it looked wonky.  Apparently that had something to do with the fact that the original floor tiles weren't laid straight so EVERYTHING has gone (except the bench) ... all the floor tiles, the shower base, the shower screen and the loo!

There is obviously something not right with the drainage in the garden.  Half the plants are flourishing (fortunately that includes the espaliered camellias) and the other half are rotting.  The planters on the balcony are doing OK which is promising as we get a lot of wind.  I make sure I give them all a good drink on windy days and have been rewarded with a tomato plant full of flowers (and two baby tomatoes) parsley, rosemary, mint and thyme. I used the rosemary and parsley in dinner tonight.

I am pushing on with the cross stitching but as I have other projects I need to start or finish (or both) I don't know if it will get done by Christmas.  I bought something on ebay for Mrs Other and am thinking about buying The Aunt an angel from ebay as well.   Two wanted a print from National Geographic which I have ordered.  I hope it arrives in time.  I really need to sit down and make some serious lists.  Presents, food for the three days, people to invite (although it's usually the same culprits each year) and other bits and pieces.  I also need to make an appointment to see the Dr this week and must pluck up the courage to ring the psychologist that work put me on to.

And on that note I think I'll toddle off to bed.

RAIN!

After a couple of very warm to hot weeks a cool change came through on Friday and today it's bucketing down.   The courtyard is flooded - we need to get someone to come and have a look at it and make some suggestions.  We have always lived in areas with sandy soil and although we are only a kilometer or so from the beach the soil here is very clay like and we're not sure what to do with it!  I'm guessing we need some serious drainage.  I'd be happy to have less garden and more pots.

Himself was in Sydney overnight Friday and caught an earlier flight home so got back just after I finished the boxing session.  He persevered through the day on no sleep and finally succumbed in front of the telly just after dinner.  We have no plans for today and it's rather nice just flopping around the place listening to the rain.  We have a hard rubbish collection this week so he will need to get a wriggle on at some stage and put stuff out on the nature strip.  We've only been here 12 months so there shouldn't be too much!

I am still not over the work thing.  I have to get another medical certificate this week which I'm not looking forward to as I'll have to go through it all again.  Last night I had a most unsettling dream about the place and what had happened which left me feeling very down when I woke up.  Also, a conversation with an ex-colleague (who has become a friend so we will stay in touch) indicates that the boss seems to think that I'm the only one with a problem.  Hopefully she will come to understand that the whole department is on the brink of melt down if she doesn't change things.  I don't think she will ever have that insight so it's up to higher management to keep an eye on things and I really can't see that happening.

OK.  I've spent enough time here and it's time I went and did something constructive!  Cross stitching here I come.

We are having our ensuite ripped up AGAIN tomorrow (3rd time lucky) and that will be noisy.  Hopefully the sewing room with the door shut and my iPod LOUD will be a sanctuary.