Roberts 14th Birthday

Robert celebrated his 14th Birthday over three days. We started on Saturday morning at 10 am. Robert had set his XBox up in the lounge room and was pretty excited, as it was the first time the XBox had left his bedroom. Three boys rolled up, not quite together. Kiarn, Peter and James. After the giving of cards and as it turned out, cash, we took a drive into Warragul for food and videos. First stop Civic Video. The Boys borrowed 3 XBox games and 9 movies.


Then it was off to Coles where we purchased and assortment of food from Ice cream, soft drink and lollies, to frankfurters and chocolate. What more do teenage boys want? Back at home the xboxing began, followed later by frankfurters and meat pies for lunch, with a liberal serving of tomato sauce. The afternoon consisted of more xbox playing and a movie.


Amy made a chocolate cake and late in the afternoon we put on the '14' candles and some sparklers. Much fun ensued as Robert tried to blow out the sparklers. Gee, who knew you couldn't blow out a sparkler? Apparently only Robert. Anita picked up chips and potato cakes on her way home, and the boys ate the chips and potato cakes before moving back to the XBox. Robert had put some crumbed fish in the oven and Anita and the girls had gone out to a trivia night. I went into the kitchen and smelt an acrid smoke wafting through the house. I opened windows, switched on fans, choking all the while. It was about 5 degrees outside with a chill wind blowing very briskly. But the smoke cleared, Robert promised nothing had spilled in the oven, the boys tried to eat the fish, only to find it tasted as acrid as the smoke smelt. More lollies anyone?


Peter had to leave at 9 pm, no sleep over for him as his family were getting up and leaving early for a holiday on Sunday morning. The night was mainly XBox, and movies, with Jmaes the only sensible one falling asleep between 12 and 5 am. Kiarn and Robert napped, but watched movies and you guessed it, played the XBox all night. At 7 am Sunday I rose to visit the little room, and heard Kiarn's voice booming "No, No, No." Getting excited apparently about the Xbox. James left at 9.30, and Kiarn at 11. So it was Dad cleaning up around the boys as they departed, so the kitchen was tidy for Robert's Gran and Grumps when they came for lunch.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Gran and Grumps came at 11.30 after they visited and open garden in Darnum a few doors away from us. Fresh Coffee was enjoyed, and when the Girls cam home from church at around 12.30, more Fresh Coffee was enjoyed. Mmmm aroma! Lunch was a fresh platter of salad and a platter of chicken and ham, with fresh bread rolls. Make your own salad rolls. Amy had to babysit in the afternoon, so Gran, Anita and the girls went off just after 2 pm with the intention of dropping Amy off at work, and Katrina showing Gran her favorite house, just around the corner from where Amy babysits.


Dad, Robert and I sat around talking until the girls got back. Mother being unable to stop herself headed straight for the rose bushes with a pair of secateurs and proceeded to prune. Feeling guilty I pulled a few weeds to keep her company. They left late in the afternoon after another coffee and tea. We had Robert's Birthday tea Sunday night because I was on call on Monday, and couldn't guarantee being there. His choice of food consisted of home made chicken croquet's, potato gems, broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce and a tomato and onion pie just for me. Desert was Anita's homemade Chocolate mousse.


Monday morning, 22nd September, Robert was raring to go, his real birth day! he had to hold back as it was the only chance Anita had for a sleep in, so it wasn't until 8.30 am we gathered on the bed to present him with his presents. A book from Oma and another from Amy. A jar of Lollies from Katrina. An MP3 player and a voucher for the newly released book, Brisingr. Hand made cards all round, and a total of nearly $140 cash for his birthday. So what does he want to spend the cash on? A computer game!

Three months to go and we get to celebrate Amy's 18th Birthday, IF I have recovered from tihs one by then!

The Saga of the knee: Part II

The saga of the knee continues. Katrina has had problems since she returned from the snow, the CT was clear. But her knee has continued to plague her. It has collapsed under her a couple of times, so it was off to the Doctors again. He deemed it enough of a concern to get her into the orthopaedic surgeon the next day. Of course you can imagine the worst case scenarios were going through our minds as we contemplated the necessary visit. Not so bad, after an initial diagnosis from the G.P. about it possible being the cruciate ligament, the outcome was far more positive. The Ortho suspects the problem is the knee cap, so it’s off to physio, an MRI in 6 weeks and then 8 weeks time back to the Ortho for review.

Katrina has now had two weeks of physio, she has been shown how to tape her knee, she has thrown away the crutches, and the physio is happy with her progress. So now its wait and see.

Amy went away for a few days this week to stay with one of her nannies. Nanny Amy. Our Amy needed to be in Melbourne for some Chemistry prac’s as part of her distance Ed requirements. So she caught the train up Tuesday, shopped at DFO, went on to Rosanna and Stay with N.Amy, did her prac on Wednesday, stayed with N.Amy again and Came home via DFO again on Thursday.

When Amy went away her cat, Nutmeg was on heat, Nothing unusual there. But after 18 months of her trying to find a male companion, she finally attracted the attention of one of the local Tom’s. Funny thing was as soon as she got him, or did he get her? She cried so loudly she scared him, he dismounted, and ran a few feet away, she chased him and hissed at him, then proceeded to try and take a swipe at him. Then in the very next breath she rolls around on the ground like a ferret and starts crying for him again. So that cycle then repeated itself for the next day or so.

Anita went outside to shoo a cow away from our silver birches yesterday morning and stood on the step in her socks and the next thing I knew she was gone. Vanished like a UFO abductee. Actually she slipped and fell off the step and bruised her right palm and heel. She is okay so not to worry.

Robert is excited about his birthday party sleepover this weekend, and his birthday on Monday. It will be weekend of feasting boy style, chips, lollies, pies etc; Videogames on the X-Box; and of course the mandatory marathon movie session on Saturday night. I know I will be exhausted on Sunday!

I'll let you know how I coped next time!

Trials and tribulations.

What a week. Last time I blogged I thought I said I felt another trip to Mt Hotham coming on. I certainly thought it. Well, Katrina went to Ski Camp with school. She lasted until Tuesday afternoon when the girl in front of her fell over, Katrina crashed into her, the following girl missed them, but the girl two behind couldn't stop, and she crashed on top of Katrina. Katrina became the meat in the sandwich, and her knee the pretzel after dinner snack. This was during the Cross Country, so she had to ski back to base on a badly damaged knee, aggravating it even more.



She damaged her knee badly enough for the school to ask her to leave the mountain. That was of course day one on the Mountain. It wasn't quite panic stations, but we had to figure out how we are going to get her home. Neither Anita nor myself were up to an all night marathon drive there and back and then be ready to face up to the world and work the next day. We struck a compromise. Anita drove to a new friend's in Bairnsdale, Susans', and stayed there the night. She arrived at around 9 pm, and left again around 6am and drove to Omeo, where one of the teachers had driven Katrina. What was the compromise I hear you ask? I would still go to work the following day and earn money to pay the bills and keep the wolf from the door, and a ten and a quarter hour day proved it was a worthwhile compromise.



The girls managed to arrive back in Warragul by midday, and Anita assures me she stuck to the speed limit, where they headed straight for the local doctors. Anita had an appointment already booked from weeks before, so Katrina took the appointment to get her knee examined properly. The Dr was of the opinion that there was nothing more serious than a sprain, but off for X-Rays just to be sure. Now we haven't had the final word on the X-Rays yet, but the radiologist said that as far as he was concerned, it looked pretty good.



Amy has really struggled this week and ended up at the doctor on Friday, where he pronounced that she had a viral infection. The good news is that she has nearly lost her voice, the bad news is she has nearly got it back again. The better news is that she is now almost over it. She has regained a little more energy, and hopefully can restart her catch up on her school work this week.



Robert is really excited about three things that are happening in the next 5-6 weeks. Firstly he is excited that fathers day is next weekend. He has told me that he will make me something? Then he is excited because he turns fourteen in about 3 weeks, and he will get presents. We have that well in hand, and in case he finds out how to read my blog in the next few weeks, I won't spoil his surprise here! (You'll have to wait too!) The third thing he is excited about is our trip away to see the cousins in Howlong. It should be a good few days away.



Anita has struggled this week, with having to drive to Omeo and back, she has also struggled with increased pain levels and lethargy due to her Fibro Myalgia. I read a recently published article that said Vitamin D may help with Chronic Widespread Pain, which is a symptom of F.M., so I have ordered some Vitamin D for her to try. She doesn't get much natural sunlight now that she is working 5 and a half days a week in doors. I hope this might help.



And lastly, me! I am plodding along, literally. I get on the treadmill every day and do 45 minutes walking to try to help nudge away those winter pounds. OK, I hear you, the winter pounds from 1999. But I am still trying. The weight is slow to move, even though I am exercising more and eating less. So the goal at the moment is to lose at least 10 kilo's by Christmas. Even if I have to spend the rest of my life hiding from them, I am going to lose them somehow.

The End. (of the tail shaft).

Well I promised to let everyone know what the outcome of the tail shaft was! So here is the damage report. It wasn't nearly anywhere as bad as we had anticipated it could have been. We were prepared for 4-5 hundred just to get a replacement tail shaft and then extra to have it cut and shut and balanced so it would fit in our car. As I said previously, our wonderful mechanic, Graeme from Lardner Mechanical, found a replacement that just dropped right in. We still didn't know what to expect price wise, and I was to afraid to ask him. Well I got the account this week. That bottom line was that the tail shaft only cost $150 plus labor costs. Talk about a huge sigh of relief and weight of the pocket.

Health wise for me; I need to have my gallbladder removed, no question there. The only decision to be made was, do I go public or private? West Gippsland Hospital Warragul would be the choice of local public hospital. Actually its really the only local public hospital fo 50 k, so that's a no brainer. The other option was going private, into the Epworth at Richmond in Melbourne. I could have it done as soon as I wanted to. Only problem there was cost. I was assured by the surgeons secretary that he had no extra costs above what my private health insurance would pay and the only question she couldn't answer was what the anesthetists costs would be? Apparently they don't mind charging over the scheduled fees. Go Figure. No offensive to our friend Graeme the anesthetist. (different from the mechanic). The bottom line came down to the fact that by the time we saved enough for the difference in the scheduled fee, the bed payment, and the amount we agreed to pay our health insurance ( to save premium), I would almost be due on the public waiting list. So wait I will and go public I shall. Hmmm ( sorry Yoda). Hopefully the deed will be done by Christmas.

I have decided to take two weeks Holiday in October, and Robert and I will go up to Howlong to visit my very funny cousin Jenny and her brood. Should be a ball. Hopefully this time Jenny won't draw diagrams in permanent pen on the nice wooden BBQ preparation area. I don't know how I will control her though. She comes undone a little sometimes after a few wines. I am really looking forward to the visit, and so is Robert.

So how i the rest of the family I might here you ask! Anita is still struggling to get over a long lasting cold. It has plagued her for weeks now. She is getting better slowly, but her body is taking its time about it. Amy I believe is still struggling to come to terms with the fact the she needs to study from home, and needs to focus on her school work and less on her friends or outside activities. Its all about balance, but from a 17 y.o. perspective why can't they have it all?

Katrina has started a part time Job at the warehouse. She has only done a few shifts, but I think she likes it. She certainly likes the money she gets paid. She is off on a school excursion to the snow this Monday the 25th August. She has her wall sits up to 4 minutes, so hopefully her knees and legs will hold out. That means she sits with her back against the wall pretending she has a chair under her, and it is supposed to help her last longer on the ski fields.

And Robert. What can I say. He's my boy and I love him. But he can be so frustrating at times. A few days ago he crossed his arms and defied his teacher, refusing to co-operate with her requests. Absolutely nothing like his father was at school. The most defiant I ever got at school was the day I left school to start work. I walked past the class I was supposed to be in and ignored the teacher when she called out to me. The trials of parenthood. (I know I ain't seen nothin' yet!) But as they say where there is life, there is hope.