Kids, kittens & tummy aches

Greetings to you on this first blog of 2009. Okay, I have copped a small amount of flak for being slack in updating the blog here. In my defence I have to say I have no defence, I am just slack. Okay, there, I said it. I actually don’t think I have been completely slack as I have been struggling a little with my health over the last 4-5 months. You may remember I had my Gall Bladder out back in October. That in itself was successful, but associated pain and nausea that I thought would GO when the Gall Bladder did, didn’t! In fact the nausea and pain got worse! BUGGER. There are a few things that make it worse, and they would be walking, exercising, eating, and bumps in the road. That last one is the killer.

As my job involves many hundreds of kilometres in a vehicle each work day, it sucks. Especially since country roads aren’t known for being pothole or bump free. And 4 or 5 year old Toyota Hiace’s aren’t known for their great suspension. The only thing that I have found that helps ease the pain isn’t medication, but an old motorcycle kidney belt. (Thanks Ken). I have been back to the surgeon, I have had an MRCP.

Definition of MRCP: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, an application of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to the hepatobiliary and pancreatic system. An MRCP uses an MRI machine with special software to obtain images comparable to the cholangiogram and pancreatogram obtained by the more invasive approach with ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) without the added risks of sedation, pancreatitis, and perforation. Definition courtesy of (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=19514)

In other words, they use an MRI machine to take pictures of your tummy. The MRCP showed nothing wrong. Blood tests have returned to normal. So now I am off to have Gastroscopy (16th January ‘09) and an Endoscopy (26th February ’09). The Gastroscopy is no problems, BUT I am not looking forward to the endoscopy. I hate it when the put the camera where the sun don’t shine. I am just thankful that I am unconscious when they do it. The hardest part is actually the preparation. If you really want to know what it’s like, drop me an email and I will let you know, this isn’t the forum for that much detail.

Danger, Danger.

Sorry Amy, but people need to know. On the 29th of December, 2008, my first born got her licence to drive a car. So far so good, keeping all fingers and toes crossed, she hasn’t had an accident. I am not sure how many she has caused or how many close calls she has had. I don’t think she would fess up to that. But kudos to her, she got it. Her cat had a kitten back in November. That’s right, it’s not a typo, a kitten. One. He eventually got called George because he was very curious. I think he took a long time to get his feet steady because he had no brothers or sisters to push him, but he did. I enjoy seeing a kitten learning to do the things it should, it’s kind of like an accelerated baby to toddler stage. 0 – 2 years in 6 weeks. It either shows how complicated we humans are, or how lazy. But as our life span is much longer, I guess we win. We said goodbye to George yesterday, he went to a new home. It nice not to have to worry about getting a kitten pouncing on your feet while you’re making coffee. But I will miss him a little bit.

Katrina has been working part time at Sam’s Warehouse now for a few months, and has been getting a lot of work over the holidays. She is a good worker so I think she is among the first they call if they are short staffed. She has been working hard with her physio on the knee she injured playing netball, and now thinks she might be able to get back to playing netball this winter after a year off. A bit more hard work and she will get there. She still has the same boyfriend, Locky, and it doesn’t look like ending to soon, but you never can tell can you. Katrina’s next goal is to get her learner permit, and get her hours up so she can get her licence in 15 months time.

Late in December, we put a computer in Roberts’ room, so that he would be better able to do his homework in year 9. I struggled getting the cabling for the internet sorted out so I left it for a time when I was more mentally prepared to tackle the trouble shooting. Anyway, a week or so ago I felt that I was ready, I was cleaning out the office, getting rid of a lot of old bits and pieces of computers, which gave me space to get to the cabling that lead to the router from the various computer points we have set up. To cut an extremely long story a little bit shorter, when Amy painted her room last year, I tucked the network cable back in behind the wall plate, as she now has a laptop which connects wirelessly. And when I pulled the cable through into Roberts’ room some months later, I pulled the wrong cable through didn’t I. Well problem solved, Roberts happy, and so are his sisters because now he has the internet in his room we hardly see him anymore. With the X-Box and the Computer in his room now, he is as happy as a pig in mud. All he wants now is a DVD and a television aerial, both of which are a no-no as he still needs to learn some socialising skills.

Anita has been working hard in the shop, but took a few days off between Christmas and New Year. Her customers don’t seem to mind, and the regulars actually seem to encourage her to do it. Things are now nearly back to normal after the flood, with the last of the insurance money in so she can replace the stock she lost. It has certainly been interesting watching things in the shop and comparing it to the current world financial situation. I think we are lucky here in Australia, as I we haven’t yet been hit as hard as other countries, and Bizzy Bees is blessed in so much as we haven’t seen too drastic a drop in sales compared to a year ago. So it’s keep your fingers crossed time for Anita, and keep your toes crossed for Glenn that one of the scopes explains things, soon!

Happy 18th Amy

Well we all grow older. Except I think I feel a lot older than my daughter who just had her 18th birthday. Yes, Amy turned 18 on Wednesday 17th December, 2008. This is how we celebrated it.

Quite some time ago, Amy decided that she wanted a cocktail party for her 18th birthday. So she planned it, and she tried to open our pockets wide. Alcohol is damned expensive. So when you have a whole bunch of different cocktails with 2 to 5 different types of alcohol, setting up is not cheap. We don’t have an extensive bar, well we didn’t. We suggested that she try to limit the different number of cocktail drinks available to 6.

In November Amy and Katrina went on a shopping trip to DFO in Spencer St, Melbourne, there Amy found a bar tenders guide to mixing cocktails reduced about 70%. So she picked up the little bargain and trawling through the pages searching for yummy drinks. Keep in mind her experience of alcohol is limited, so her choice of drinks came down to colour and flavour, or it sounded nice.

So the final 5 (five), her choice, were, a Blue Lagoon, a Death By Chocolate, a Flirtini, A Heartbreaker, and a Midori Illusion. (Email me if you want the ingredient list). They average three different types of alcohol in each. That’s right; fifteen different bottles of alcohol were required. Amy even prepared the menu, and as Anita was going to be working, she even said she would prepare the food. She baked her own cake, which was a tower of Mississippi Mud Cake Muffins.

We held the party on Saturday the 13th of December, as her birthday would be mid week, and that wouldn’t be fair as people would probably leave early for other week day commitments. So, she invited 10 friends and their plus ones.

Some didn’t bring a plus one, so we had about 15 young people turn up and celebrate with Amy. We had tidied, cleaned and moved things in the house, so we were presentable and practical. I think they had a good time, I think Amy had a good time. They danced, they talked, they ate and they drank. And thankfully they didn’t over do any of it. All in all, a great bunch of young people.

On the following day, Amy’s Oma came up to spend the day, coming to church with us, and then home for lunch and the afternoon. Gran & Grumps came early afternoon and Auntie Joanne and Uncle Michael came mid afternoon. More presents and more food.

Wednesday the 17th came around, and we got the family up earlier than they would have liked, because Amy was working at the shop with her Mum. She is a hard task master her mum. “No day off just because it’s your birthday, in my day they made us work harder and we were privileged. Aye.” She said. Not really, it was actually Amy’s choice. I had to work, and by the time I got home at 8.30 that night, Amy was asleep on her bed. All tuckered out. Kids these days, no stamina.

So that is the tale of Amy’s 18th Birthday. Relatively pain free, and fun for all.

Neville Lloyd – 70 years young!

Firstly, sorry Dad; Sorry it took a while to so long to get this up. For everyone else, wish a Happy Birthday to my Dad. He turned 70 in mid November, 2008. We celebrated his Birthday on Saturday the 15^th with a gathering of family and friends at home in Frankston.

Dad’s oldest living mate, Wally, joined in the celebration, and in typical Wally style lead Dad astray, and off the wagon, with a bottle of single malt Scotch. But with his usual generosity, Dad shared. Mmmmmm. Dad’s sister Glenda came down from Albury, bring her daughter Jenni, grandson William and granddaughter Jenna with her. (Won’t go into the family tree of who belongs to whom)

Mums brother Lex and most of his family joined in, with his daughter Leah providing this excellent cake, which celebrated a large part of Dads working life, as you can see.

Family friends Joan Carson, and Di McKay turned up, and Di's son James graced Dad’s presence for a little while too. Others visited on and around Dad’s birthday and made this time very special for him.

Some of the memories I have of my father, and I am sure there will be many more to come, follow here.

- Visiting Dad at work in the Army Band

- Watching him blow the Bugle on Remembrance Day at the Shrine

- Driving to Melbourne every second week from Puckapunyal to go to Eye & Ear Hospital, and visiting the Vic Markets

- Trips up the old Hume Hwy, single lane, to Albury & Wagga Wagga

Learning to drive on the old airfield at Puckapunyal me aged 7, so that if Dad had an accident getting firewood, I could drive back to the main road.

- Dad going on road rescues with St John’s at Seymour

- Bush walking at Wilsons Promontory. Especially with the Carson’s; Dane wearing knee hi socks.

- Hitch Hiking around Tassie, and waiting an eternity in Strachan for a lift

- Dad blowing Bugle for the local RSL on Remembrance Day

- Going motorbike riding and Dad coming off breaking his knee, (looking for me ‘cause I was late back and he wanted to go home, but hey, no guilt!)

- A proud father on his Daughters graduation from the Police Academy; a proud father on his Sons graduation from the Police Academy.

- A proud father when his children got married.

- A proud Grandfather

A special thanks to Mum, (it takes two to Tango!)

We Love You Dad!

Recovering from the Flood and the Gall Bladder

For me, recovering from the removal of my Gall Bladder (Cholecystectomy) proved much easier than the shop recovering from the flood. No pain relief was needed from Sunday Morning. However I think Anita still has a headache! From the problems caused by the burst water main of course. As I said in the last blog, the assessor approved the carpet, so before that could get layed, the store room had to be cleared out as well. So a few of the younger chaps from church who were available weighed in and helped out.

They had to move all the excess stock into boxes or trolleys, or even just carry it by hand to the temporary storage locations. The insurance assessor agreed that we need to replace the old water logged counters, so Anita measured and began calling around. Without exception, not one cabinet maker or joiner in Warragul said they could help us before Christmas, and probably not before February! It wasn't looking good, we needed two quotes, and there was only one guy willing to even look at quoting now. Craig from Allure Kitchens looked at the job and said that seeing it was small he would squeeze it in. So he quoted, Anita told the insurance company of our dilemma, 'not until after Christmas quotes', and they agreed to go on the one quote. So Craig got the job.

The strange thing was that even whilst the shop was being stripped and things moved to other vacant shops in the centre, people still wanted to come in and buy things, regardless of the complete sense of disarray. Some customers seem to thrive on disorder in these situations. I don't know if they think they might get a bargain or just want to get the items on their shopping list. I have to say most of our customers were very understanding, most just said they would come back next week when things were back in order

So Wednesday was the day, the carpet got layed. Anita was happy with the choice of color, but she was very unhappy on Thursday with the smell that the carpet glue made. it gave both her and Kerryn headaches. The carpet layers looked like they knew what they were doing, it all seemed to go down smoothly and little mess was left. That was until on closer inspection we found that the carpet was about one inch short of the wall in the front corner of the store. Fortunately for us, there is a fixture that goes over that spot and hides the error. On one of the joins, there is glue that has marked and damaged the carpet. and in the back where it is not so important, they did a lousy job of fitting the carpet around the pipes. The front door had to be adjusted by the landlord as the carpet is thicker and if left alone would have damaged the new carpet very quickly.

Anita originally planned to re-open on Thursday, which she partly did, but due to the fixtures having to be moved back in after the carpet was layed and the glue dried, it was late Thursday before some normalcy returned. Thursday morning saw the young volunteers from church return, and lend their able bodies toward the task of returning the fixtures to their spots, as directed by the Queen Bee and her apprentice, Princess Bee.

We had the odd fairy turn up to help as well.

But by the end of the day, the fumes and the effort had started to get to the girls.

They called it a day around 4.30 p.m.. Which was fair. And Friday saw some return to normal trading, although the paper stands were still out for most of the day until clean up and restoration was more complete. My sense of humor was definitely NOT appreciated when I walked in near lunchtime and said, "Is that all you've done?" It lacked sensitivity and understanding. I also failed to say how great the shop looked. Then again being tired can do that to you.

So How did my recovery go? I rested a lot. I apologise if my email to some were short, but it was difficult to sit up straight for the first few days, and resting a laptop on my lap took time to get comfortable. I spent my time mostly reading. I ready Wally Lamb, "I know this much is true"(900 pages). Paulo Cohelo "And on the seventh day" which is a trilogy that includes: By the River Piedra I sat down and wept, Veronika decides to die, and The devil and Miss Prym.(350 odd pages). Followed by Ken Follet, "World without End". (1250 pages). So as you can see I have not been bored. I have also watched a few movies, drunk some coffee & tea, and visited the surgeon again.

The surgeon was generally happy with the operation, but one of the blood tests was not back to normal, so that is to be repeated. I see the Surgeon again on the 6th November. I visited my G.P., Dr McKelvie today, and had a Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) removed from my right cheek (face for those wondering), and a Solar Keratosis burned off with liquid nitrogen. The good news is that my cholesterol levels are great, and there are no signs of diabetes. I have now lost around 14 kiograms, which puts me within 6kgs of my goal weight. Not that you would notice.

Anyway, to those I have offended I am sorry. To those I have overlooked, again, I am sorry. To those of you who feel neither offended or ignored, I am sorry. Better luck next time. Cheers