Snaps ‘n’ Crackles #5 – Around here lately!

Keeping a positive attitude!

It’s 8:15pm on Monday evening and I don’t have a post written for Tuesday’s #IBOT.  It’s been a bit busy around here lately!  Time is limited to write tonight because I want to watch Part 2 of the ‘Brock‘ mini series and that starts at 9pm.  I go to my spreadsheet of nearly 100 blog post ideas but it’s too late to start writing most of them.  I’d need more time.  I stare at the books on my desk looking for inspiration.  Finally, it dawns on me – I’ll just chat about what’s been happening around here lately.  It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those kind of posts.  So here goes, and hopefully it will turn out OK.

I’ve been having quite a few medical appointments lately.  I won’t go into all the detail but it has certainly been taking up a lot of my time!  There have been some symptoms and test results that caused some concern for doctors (and me) and so a series of more tests were done.  Some quite sinister suggestions of what might be wrong were mentioned but thankfully so far none of them have been found.  I’m seeing a specialist now so lots of train trips to the big smoke (easier than worrying about parking and lots cheaper).  To think I used to do that train commute twice a day, five days a week!  I don’t miss that at all!  Once or twice every now and then is fine though.  The specialist ordered some more tests which have all been done now (until he orders more).  One of the drugs he has put me on has made an enormous difference to me.  Bless this drug!!  It’s made me feel so much more comfortable and that is so much more fabulous than I could possibly put into words!!  I will be seeing the specialist quite regularly for quite a while it seems.  He and his team are awesome and I feel so happy to be in their hands and far more hopeful now that all will eventually be resolved.  One day, I might feel ready to tell the story in a little more detail but maybe not until I actually know and understand what has caused the problems!  The answer to that is still being investigated.

On a brighter note, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you would know that I recently looked after my sister’s dog ‘Rudi’ while she was away.  Rudi is a red toy poodle and so cute!  He was great company for Ava and a lovely distraction from medical stuff for me.  He was with us from Tuesday one week to Thursday the next.  He had me twisted around his little paws.  Love him!

Cheeky boy making himself at home on the arm of the lounge

Getting really cheeky now! Look how high I can go!

L to R: Ava, Rudi. The injustice of incarceration so that the bags of groceries could be brought inside without fear of any escapees!

On the Thursday that Rudi was to leave, my sister (from Sydney) and her two children arrived to stay.  They’d been staying with my parents, had a week’s holiday down at Burleigh on the Gold Coast and were now spending a little time with us.  They were to fly out on Sunday night and were delivered to the airport in plenty of time only to phone later to let us know their flight had been cancelled (due to the crazy windy weather in Melbourne).  So back out to the airport to collect them and we had a bonus extra night and morning with them and the kids got to miss a day of school (so exciting)!  They managed to get re-booked on a flight late Monday morning and are now safely back in Sydney. 

If you read my September Taking Stock post, you would have read under the WAITING prompt that I was waiting for my niece and her husband to have their first baby.  Well they have had the baby!  It’s a girl!  She was born on Friday night at 10:30pm.  She’s 3.2kg and her name is Claire Ivy.  I will be meeting her soon.  Cannot wait for a cuddle.  I adore newborn babies – especially when I can hand them back and get a full night’s sleep! haha No it’s true – I love them – all those little sounds they make for one thing! 

I am finally sitting at my new desk in my home office – yahoo!  The old one has gone into my son’s room.  He needed a bigger desk so that has worked well.  I still need some shelves put up on a wall, to buy a filing cabinet and another little storage unit and to decide what to put on another wall.  Once those things are done I’ll take some photographs and reveal in a blog post.  It is SO.MUCH.BETTER now then the setup I had before!  More space. Much more visually appealing and to my taste.  Much more functional.   Hooray!  Here’s a little glimpse I posted recently to Instagram of my new block calendar (kindly given to me by my sister for looking after Rudi) and the sculpture one of my son’s made for me when he was at school (it’s of me).  Don’t you just love the heart-shaped ‘heart’ and the heart shape created by the joining of the hands.  I love it!

There’s so much more that’s been going on but that’s enough for now.  Besides, I need to make a cuppa before ‘Brock’ starts!

Ciao for now,

Linking up with Kylie Purtell for #IBOT