Wk 21 of ’23

 

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An update of the week that was.
Week 21 of 2023

Monday

– I did some canning while on a FaceTime call with our Daughter-In-Law as she has a new pressure canner and has no experience using it, so we did a live ‘walk-through’ and canned together.
She did some home-grown apples from their little Farmlet, that she had puréed for their little boy, and I canned some beef mince.

Once we were done with that call, I cooked some dog food as well, then did the usual Monday things like laundry and tidying up the house following the weekend.

Still have diarrhoea.

Tuesday

– Our garden guy (the Mighty MG) came today and he finished off building the hoop-house that we’ve been ‘going to get around to‘ for about a year.
It looks bloody great!

I did some weeding and garden tidying, but am feeling quite weak and foggy and despite trying I haven’t managed to do very well with hydrating today.
Less than a litre.

Still have diarrhoea.

Wednesday

– Heath ( a civil engineer) came over to preview the job we’re hoping he will do to fix some of the drainage issues along the eastern fenceline, and he will send us through a quote later in the week.
Seems like a nice young guy.

Its been cold and rainy today – definitely an inside kind of day!
Wearing long sleeves and long pants and closed in shoes.

Blogged.

Day 8 of diarrhoea.

Thursday

– somehow corked my shoulder in my sleep last night.
I think it was because I was so exhausted and run-down from the diarrhoea that I slept for five hours straight without moving.
Unheard of for me – I am usually a rotisserie.

Raining and cold again.

Our eldest Daughter arrived on a spur of the moment visit for two nights, today.

Friday

– laundry day again!
Got most of the stuff packed that we will want for our trip away this weekend.
We’re leaving Saturday morning and coming back Monday afternoon.

The pain I’m having in my arm has made sleeping very difficult overnight, and I can’t use my arm, or raise it at all.

I’m in lot of pain.
Getting more than a little concerned tbh…

Saturday

– I ended up at the hospital Emergency Room overnight with the uncontrolled pain the I just couldn’t get on top of, and was at the point where I couldn’t sleep and also couldn’t move around in bed or even get up easily, without assistance.

After some observations and history etc I ended up having some more Panadol and some Oxycodone and was released to see how I fared.
The diagnosis was a probable pinched nerve.

I was discharged with some extra meds and a script for more in case I needed them.

Woke up in a lot less pain – thankfully!!
It makes a big difference when you can finally break the pain loop…

My Love was not terribly keen to still go away, but after much discussion she agreed that we could still go, as it was obvious I was a lot better than I had been overnight – plus I had the extra medication in case things got ‘exciting’ again – so off we headed – away to palm cove in the bus for two nights!

Yippee!!

Sunday

– We spent the day relaxing and reading and hanging out in the gazebo beside our bus, then wandered up to Esplanade to have lunch at the surf club.

We decided to have dinner at our favourite pizza place – Il Forna – so wandered up there just on dusk, and were spoilt as always, by the wonderful staff.

It was a really lovely day, and neither of us is wildly keen to go home tomorrow.

I always sleep so well in our bus!
For some reason I feel really safe and cocooned when I’m snuggled up in there in my bed at night.
Truely one of my absolute happy places…

So that’s it for this week!

 

The revamped Hoop-House that our Mighty MG Garden-Guy whipped back into shape in a matter of hours.
Road-Trip ready!!
The picturesque Esplanade at Palm Cove.
Its a little messy in this pic, but its my happy place. Snug, safe and warm in our bus.

Wk 20 of ’23

 

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An update of the week that was.
Week 20 of 2023

Monday

– grocery shopped, cooked dog food, did laundry, watered big veg garden, cleaned.
Mowed the houseyard and some of the paddock.
Mondays are usually a pretty standard day of catch-up around the house, from the weekend.

Tuesday

– started out with an interview with Hannah from ‘Good Times’ about their products and wanting my ideas and feedback.
Did some weeding and garden tidying and finished up a blog for another site.

Our garden guy worked today and did some poisoning, and we planned out next weeks job of rebuilding the hoop-house.

Went and got some fuel for the mower and took back some glue I got last week that didn’t work, and bought another brand.

Our New Zealand SIM cards need to be topped up every six month to stay active, so I also did that today.
We like to keep them active rather than getting a new number every time, and it’s easier to just swap over to a working sim when we hit the ground, than faffing about setting up a new number each and every time.

Wednesday

– I awoke to early morning loose bowels, so am wondering if it is the seed bar I had as my snack last night that have ‘set things in motion’.
Its days like today that I am very glad that I built a secondary composting toilet out in the shipping container / laundry!

The day started overcast again, but the rain mostly held off.

I planted a couple of trees and mulched them – out the front near the roundabout garden – in the hope that they will suck up some of the rainy-season run-off next year.
They look good!

As I was in need of some extra protein, so I had a small tin of tuna for lunch – but ended up vomiting it back up.
The feeling of tuna chunks stuck in my neck where the hernia is, was freakin’ horrendous!!

Thursday

– early trip to the grocery store before all the other folks arrive after school drop-off and such.
Picked up my Formulite parcel from the post office with 4 tubs in it.

My Wife spoilt me and got a pizza which we had up on the hill for dinner, in the bus.
The one slice I had was just blisssssss!

Friday

– Our poor surrogate daughter just keeps drowning under more and more shit.
Her uncle died this morning… 😔

I had a zoom call with our Daughter-in-Law this morning, as she has a new pressure canner and is wanting to do her first ever round of canning on Monday, so we chatted for a while so that she could have everything ready and in order, and we plan to link up again on Monday for another video chat so that I can help to walk her through the steps she needs to do.
Hopefully it will help her feel more confident for next time.

Lunch with the ex-work colleagues crew was also in the calendar for today, and was held at one of the Cafes at the top on the Range and near the Lake, about a 40 minute drive from our Farm.

There was no soup on the menu, and no small meals, so I got a hot chocolate made on skim and a protein ball.

Only ate ⅛ of the ball and about half of the small hot chocolate, which was barely Luke-warm. Ugh!
Didn’t stay too long – just long enough to not be too rude.

On the way home I stopped off at the second hand store, and found some things that I think my Love will be interested in putting into the garden, so took photos so that I could send to her and she can go to the shop and have a look if she’s interested.
I also bought an old broken fountain that I think will make a nice piece of garden art.

Ended up with diarrhoea again when I got home.
Felt icky at dinner time, so just had yoghurt.

Saturday

– couldn’t stomach breakfast so the dog got to have it.
Still feeling pretty rough…

Sunny again today – makes me feel better.

I have been sorting my goodies box for a trip away that we are planning for next weekend.
Protein, fibre, vitamins, soup, shaker and shakes, cordial, insulted shaker cup etc etc
I swear I take more with me now that when I had babies!

Sunday

– we went to an out of town market this morning, then to one of the nurseries we haven’t been to in years, then to bunnings to get my Wife an extra garden bed.

The afternoon consisted of mostly watch a weightlifting competition on television that our son was competing in, in Adelaide.

I’ve mostly had diarrhoea for 5 days now, and feeling pretty nauseous when I do try to consume anything.

Other than that I feel mostly ok until about 5mins before the next bout arrives.

Makes it very difficult to eat anything of any substance, which just compounds the issue…

As the old saying goes: liquid in, liquid out!

Fingers crossed it doesn’t keep going for much longer as whilst I prefer it to vomiting – because at least my body has a chance a small chance to get some nutrients in on its way through – I’d rather just be able to eat small amounts as usual!

So that’s it for this week!

pizza up on lookout hill was one of the highlights of my week, and definitely something that I needed to help me relax and get out of my own way for a bit!
I didn’t ever believed that I would willingly watch a weight-lifting competition!
the old broken fountain I ended up buying at the second-hand store. I will use in the garden as decor.
my view when I do my dishes each morning – helps me to start my day in a very grateful mood!

 

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