Keeping up with Christmas

Last weekend I found out my GP died and a friend with Huntington's Disease.  This weekend my microwave, my fountain motor and my printer stopped working.
It wasn't until I turned on the dishwasher and it was as dead as a doorknob that the lightbulb flashed.
I grabbed a torch unlocked the meter box and found the offending trip switch.  Boldly I turned it on and hoped for the best.
Whoppee - the microwave is working again and so is the outdoor fountain and deep breath in, so is the dishwasher.  My Electrolux dishwasher was nicknamed, 'Alex' long before he was connected and started work at my place.  He's been scrubbing and rinsing for almost ten years now and he is much appreciated!  Tomorrow I'll use the microwave.  It's dark outside so I'll leave it in case everything stops again.  A new microwave is on my after Christmas Sales list.   
The frustration of the day is almost over but the darn printer still refuses to print.  The computer says it should, the printer says it should, it just doesn't.  I no longer care, I've had enough.
Last year I seemed to have so much more energy.  I remember washing windows before Christmas, hosting a family Secret Santa and a mirage of other chores successfully executed before the man in the red suit came down the chimney.  (hmm I don't really have a chimney and the front door is always locked!)
I think about what has changed since last Christmas.  I'm making a list of what I need to do.  I should list; cleaning the outdoor furniture and pulling the weeds but I wonder if I should even bother.  There are too many other things to do.
Merv is more dependent on me now, even showering and dressing is taking longer.  It's not just the time but the emotional and physical drain.  His sister Vicki has been very ill and only now is recovering. 
Mel takes up a lot of my time which is my choice to be her weight loss manager.  It brings me much joy to have a healthier daughter.
No Christmas Carols or late night drives are planned this year to marvel at houses lit up with lights and blow up Santas.  I know I should but it gives me a headache just to think about it. 
Our Christmas tree is up and a few decorations.  There appears to be fewer every year!
But come Christmas week I will don my Christmas garb, heat up the oven and serve turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  I will click on the Christmas album on the iPad and we'll sit down to toast the season and pull bon-bons before tucking into our Christmas lunch!  It will be amazing.
I wont think about the windows and I'll hope no one will notice either!

To Paris We Will Go...

I have hundreds of photos of her in skinny little dresses looking like Megan Gale or Jennifer Hawkins.
My Mel at 36 has had a yo-yo of a time with her weight.  As a young girl she ate whatever she liked and was as skinny as a beanpole.  This continued until she was 22 and prescribed mental health medication for her illness.  She went up four dress sizes and over 20kgs in less than twelve months.  It was devastating to see her bulking up but her only desire was to munch as much as possible and as quickly as possible!   She became an expert on chocolate bars, packs of crisps and the latest choc covered ice creams!  She knew no limits to satisfy her hunger or the amount of calories she munched on.
Just like the women's magazines which have endless stories of fad diet and dieters with amazing diet success stories we were on a mission.  Mel like many others tried Jenny Craig and lost a few kilos only to put it back on plus a few more.  She tried Lite & Easy and a variety of other pre-cooked meal programs.  By early 2013 we decided to take the bull by the horns and she joined Weight Watchers.  Amazingly she lost almost 19 kilos but after twelve months she stopped being inspired and the yo-yo syndrome once again raised it's demeaning head.  Eventually Mel had successfully gained 10kgs and I declared war.
I was disheartened she was paying $75 per month to Weight Watchers but only gaining not losing.  War it was!  I gave myself the title of; 'Weight Loss Manager' and began a plan where she could only lose not gain.  Lose weight that is!
We created 2kgs incentives which included Gold Class movies, massages and a new desk for her colouring in books she loves.  There are a whole list of rules and encouragements.  A Fitbit was purchased and the gym membership put to better use.
This week Mel gained her prized incentive - a pair of blue jeans because she has now lost 10kgs in 14 weeks.   Well done Mel!
I promised Mel a trip anywhere on a plane when she gets to 65kgs (another 15 kgs to lose).  I thought she might say; Singapore or Fiji but she was adamant she wants to go to Paris.  It took only a minute to agree.  If getting down to goal weight after 14 years of being overweight Mel wants to celebrate in Paris then that is exactly what we will do.  Time to start saving....

3rd September 89.6kgs

Celebration 10 December 79.6kgs

Running Hot

I've been home for almost a week.  There have been moments of joy, disbelief at our completing our journey and plain darn tiredness.  It isn't every year you prepare for a 304km walk and complete it, but we did.  The three sisters together. 
Yesterday I was only interested in cleaning the house; we have a big day ahead, why not get it done now?  It's late but it doesn't matter.  I vacuum, I dust, I clean the bathroom.  I'm filling up the bucket with nice hot water.  I'm turning off the water and yet again I turn it on.  I turn it off but nothing is happening, the tap is stuck and the hot water is running.  Not just a friendly drip or even a trickle but a full-on marathon white water rafting style running. 
I stop to reflect.  I turn off the water at the mains.  I rummage around for a torch and old shoes.  The water meter is smack bang in the middle of my sandy flower garden.  It has more sand than flowers.  I turn off the tap, but I still hear the water raging down the laundry drain.  I'm sure the neighbour can hear it also.  I turn off the gas lever as the gas hot water tank starts to grunt, groan and becomes an alien in the darkness of night.  It's now asleep but the water in the laundry is still running.
Out comes the iPad and I Google my predicament. It tells me to find the tap on the water heater and turn it off.  Oh, brilliant I say and run outside with my torch to find the tap.  It’s sitting in the darkness of the sleeping tank but it won’t budge.  My hands hurt but I'm not beaten. 
I figure if I can’t turn the outside tap off I will try once more to turn off the laundry tap with an arrangement of Merv's old tools, but with no success. 
I stop and reflect once again.  A tool of some description is what I need.  I pick up a thing which looks like a spanner with a circle at one end. (Merv tells me the next morning it's called a ring spanner).   I grab the torch once again and do battle with the outside tap.  I get the circle thing and twist with all my might.  The tap screams and slowly moves.  I am ecstatic.  The sound of the running water from my nearby laundry stops suddenly and I sigh with relief.

I'm never going to make a handywoman but I will never give up! 

I turned on the water at the mains this morning when it was light.  I can fill the kettle and use the loo.  I can't have a hot shower; there is no hot water. 

I call the plumber who promises to visit between 12pm -3pm.  He arrives at 3pm and all is done within 30 minutes.   The washers are replaced.  I ask him to replace washers on both laundry taps as he has only replaced the hot water tap washer.  He is happy to do so and as he does he remarks it had only one more turn left in it.  Thank goodness, it's all done.  The gas is back on and the hot water tank groans, moans, bangs and belches as it fills up and delivers hot water not long afterwards.

I'm looking forward to a long hot shower!


The three sisters completed the Coast to Coast walk in England from Sunday 5th July - Friday 17th  July 2015.  We had an amazing time.  See our Facebook page for the full story.  It is amazing.

www.facebook.com/walkforhuntingtons

Thank you for your support and reading my crazy blogs.


Three Sisters at completion of our walk



Worst Case Scenario

It happened just how I thought a nightmare would be.  With just one week before we leave for the UK, daughter Mel came down with a cold and her asthma threatened to take control.  I'm not one for rushing over to her place laden with medical healing marvels, but this time that is just what I did!

After a gruelling two hour beach walking session that afternoon I received her call.  Her voice was raspy and her breathing beginning to rattle.  I grabbed my car keys and hit the chemist buying the cold and flu tablets and driving in the dark of night to her place to provide the magic tablets.  Her flatmate called me a 'good mother,' but I wasn't listening.

We changed the brand of cold and flu tablets the next day and by the weekend she was dosing up on a tonic as she sat in my lounge while I waited on her hand and foot.  I cooked, I cleaned and I dosed her up with modern day magic medicine. 

I thought terrible thoughts of missing my plane as she lie in a hospital bed gasping for breath, but it was just my overactive imagination.  Thank God.

After two nights I send her home with strict instructions on taking those magic meds and tonic.  She sent me a message saying she was getting better.  That is just what I had expected.  Modern medicine and a Mother's love combined, it's a winning formula.

My suitcase is still not packed but my house is a little cleaner.  I have less than 24 hours, wish us well!

Please follow our walk from 5th July to 17th July 2015 on Facebook:

Find us on www.face.com/walkforhuntingtons

make a donation:   https://give.everydayhero.com/au/WalkForHuntingtons

Off the Beaten Track



Walking/Cycling Track

I have a good excuse for what happened today, at least it sounds good.  With less than seven weeks before my sisters and I go head off for the UK I thought it best to get a bit more training in while hubby was at his day centre.  My excuse being the news story on a local current affairs program stated too much Vitamin D causes your brain to be fuzzy.  I take Caltrate with Vitamin D added.  There is my answer!


I did my homework for the walking track I drove to today.  I found the starting point without wasting time. It happened to be at the car park in front of the Maylands golf course.  There was plenty of parking and with my back pack, water bladder and fruit to munch on I headed off on the walk/bike track.

Off I marched swinging my arms and enjoying the perfect weather.  Suddenly the track headed east but I wanted to head west.  I had a destination scribbled in my mind.  I detoured off the track, finding a meandering path through the park.  I soon found myself following an old bloke and his playful dog on the river verge.  The verge was covered with thick tough  green grass.  I stopped and chatted to him for just a minute.  He replied positively to my question whether  the path would take me all the way to my destination in East Perth.   I took off at speed, leaving him behind to wander slowly with his companion.

 

The grass soon thinned out leaving me battling through reeds and marshy slushy ground.  The sun was deliciously warm overhead and I suddenly found myself outside the boundary of the golf course.  The golfers ignored me. Hikers and golfers; there is no common ground!

The boundary all but disappeared leaving me in front of a waterway with rocks from my side to the other side.  I attempted to cross but gingerly returned as I slid precariously on the rocks.  Assessing the situation I spied a wall of limestone blocks crossing the waterway.  Like a tightrope walker I stealthily crossed it knowing this was no ordinary walking track!   Where should I be? I have no idea.   Except for turning back I had little choice but to duck between fence and river and continue traipsing through the overgrown river ferns and plants. 



View of Perth from East Perth

Finally I emerged in a park with another waterway.  I wasn't going to jump the six foot creek and sensibly walked around it.

I looked down to find my feet were standing on the very walk track I was trying to find.  Oh, I moaned and with arms once again swinging I walked along the not so interesting walking  track.  At least the river walk had been an adventure!  I finished my walk in East Perth and treated myself to lunch at the Kinky Lizard cafe before returning along the track.

  

As the clouds gathered above I walked past the place I had emerged from the river track to the park. I realised where I had gone wrong. Such a simple mistake which made my forty five minute walk into a ninety minute walk! 

What had I done? 

Native Shag drying her wings

I had simply walked along the track at the front of the golf course in the wrong direction! 

Next time I will take a guided walk!  Life is full of small distractions!

 

Guttered

I can bake cakes, run a household and years ago an office almost singlehandedly. 

Gutters are another story.  I am like many (not all) women.  A gutter is a bit of metal which catches the rain water and stops it from leaking into the house.  When it rusts and the water comes through it's time to call in the tradies. 

To be honest some of my gutters rusted long ago and like both men and women I have been putting it off.  Today I have a fistful of cold cash, some phone numbers and a little time. 

I have rang four gutter companies.  Two of them said my times didn't suit them and that was that.  From the other two I had one written quote.  The other came and measured.  It was almost dark but he used his flashlight on his iPhone to see my rusty gutters and fascia.  They look so much worse by flashlight!

He was here for fifteen minutes.  Ten of those minutes he shared his life story.  I later found out his name but I already knew he lives with a woman who has a six year old boy.  They moved in together five years ago.  He then said with regret he had tried to be a father to the child but it didn't work and now he is just his friend.   I didn't know how to respond.  What does one say?

My mind was going crazy, all I expected was a gutter quote and I got Days of Our Lives in colour previews.  Alarm bells in my head rang loudly.   You should always listen to alarms.

Two weeks later I have yet to receive his quote.  He texted a message saying the last twenty quotes he had emailed had not been received and he would surely give me a good price.  I am still waiting.  I know the job will never begin or at best never be finished.  There would always be something else.

Time is always good for reflection.  Even if he gave me the cheapest quote I have already crossed him off my list.  I hope he sorts out his home life!


That leaves me with the company which emailed me a quote.  It wasn't a bad quote, but it only included the gutters and a small length of rusty fascia to be replaced.  He told me his brother in law is a painter and came to quote on painting the salvageable fascias and eaves.  His quote almost doubled the cost.  I must have looked like an easy target.

I had checked out the gutter companies online and today I checked out some more in the local paper.  I have circled five.  I have time to ring and collect further quotes.  I am not looking for the cheapest quote.  I am looking for someone who knows what they are talking about.  How they will tackle the job.   I already know about fascia covers, gutters with storm slits to prevent overflow, how many downpipes my house really should have.  I am getting quite savvy with gutters!  I had hoped for a good quote, a great job and gutter  satisfaction. 

Spa Talk

His name is Jack.  I met him in the spa at the local indoor pool.  Each time I use the spa at the local public swimming pool I check out the number of people lounging lazily.   I am checking to make sure there is room for me!  Today the spa was full of big bodied men, therefore I waited until most of them had left before I tip toed carefully into the warm swirling water and sat with plenty of room on both sides of me.

I was careful today, more careful than I was yesterday.  Yesterday a number of overweight adults chatted jovially as the bubbles swirled all around them.  I took little notice.   I carefully chose my space where I could see the huge clock on the wall 50 metres away.  I am running to a timetable and nothing was going to make me late!  Until everyone left the spa except Jack who started to chat!

Jack let it be known he is a senior and pays almost half of my monthly fee.  I am only a couple of years short of a senior card.  The thought of cutting my monthly payment in half cheers me slightly. I don't know if Jack is married or whether he has a family.  He tells me he did a stint in Vietnam.  I know he talking army not tourist.  His age is right.  I wonder how he felt when he returned from war without recognition or praise from the Australian government and it's people.  I don't want to ask difficult questions so I turn the conversation in a different direction. 

We discuss our travels, finding we have both visited Africa and Europe.  We share colourful traveller's tales before I realise I have no more time left and I need to leave in a hurry. 

I left thinking I knew nothing about Jack but in hindsight I knew a little.  Jack is one of those people who begin a conversation and in five minutes or less knows your whole life story.  It is easy to feel comfortable with him.  I could have invited him to dinner and called him a long lost friend; he would have kept all the guests entertained!

The world could do with more Jacks, someone to leave you with a smile and a little encouragement to keep you going throughout the day.