PUTTERING AROUND TODAY

I'm going to be on tender hooks today, until I hear from my Mum early this evening.  They should arrive back in Coffs Harbour, Australia around 7.30 pm (our time).    I hope the trip goes well for them, and Mum doesn't allow herself to get too wound up... as per usual.

Once the kids are at school/kindy, I shall decide what to do.
Last night Brylee moved totally into the 'spare bedroom'... which shall now no longer be called that.  *smiles*

ABOVE:  Brylee's new room.  She has slightly less room as her new bed is much bigger than the one she was in.

But, she likes her new room.

ABOVE:  The soon to be 'working room'... where I will have my sewing table, cutting out table and ironing area set up.  The bed has to be dismantled and stored somewhere.  We have no idea where yet!  This house is full!

If I have the energy, I will do some sorting in here today.

Cute story:

Yesterday, we noticed Keera's other front, bottom tooth was wriggly at lunchtime.  
On our way home from Auckland, nature called, so I stopped at the bathrooms in Huntly.

Keera and I were in there doing out thing, and I noticed her tooth was gone!
I asked her where it was, did she eat it with her lunch?
She said no.
So next (of course) ... I asked her where it was?
And she did this:

ABOVE:  She pointed downwards and said "It's in my shoe Grandma!"
And it was ... she took off her shoe and fished around and found it. 
I was gobsmacked.  Fancy thinking of putting it in her shoe for safe keeping!  
She's a bloody clever wee girl.

Needless to say, the Tooth Fairy visited over night, much to her delight.  

ABOVE:  She's gorgeous!  And amazingly, her first adult tooth has already popped up.  Don't kids grow up fast!

ONWARD...

When I woke up this morning, I was about to jump out of bed and make Mum and Ron their breakfast... till I remembered they were no longer here!
So I fell asleep again.  And the same bloody thing happened when I woke again... I immediately thought I had to get up and tend to them.

Clearly they have been foremost on my mind for a while now.  I wonder how long it will take for that feeling to go?

Since taking the kids to school/kindy, I've been pottering in the sewing rooms.  Sorting them out so they are finally done... and they are now.

 ABOVE: So, this is now the sewing 'storage' room.  And Keera's room.  And once she leaves, it will be a room where we can put air beds down on the floor for visitors if necessary.
So, a multi-purpose room.

ABOVE:  My new work room... where all the sewing will get done.
It's looking very stark right now as I've not put anything on the walls yet. 
I do have a shit load of 'stuff' to put on the walls, but I need to get something on the walls first, to pin things on.

We saw some hessian? covered panels at Mitre 10 the other day that might just be perfect for that job.

 ABOVE:  Now that I have two wardrobes to store my stuff in, they are not cluttered and jammed to the gunnels.  I love it!  So much room... room to spare in fact.

It's so quiet here !  I'm listening to some of my favourite music on my laptop... Skin by Rag'n'Bone Man, Heavy by Linkin Park, I'm The One by Justin Bieber and a few others, Good Life by G-Easy & Kehlani to mention a few.  There's some neat music out right now.

After picking up Keera, we both had lunch then I totally ran out of power... and faded in front of the TV.  Not surprising really, I feel like I've been on the go for weeks!

Well, not really... but certainly working on a high stress level before and after Mum's 80th Birthday.

So relieved I can relax and unwind now.

I took on board what Dee said about protecting my fabrics from the sun, AND Lynda's comment about Keera's space.  More on that tomorrow.

I'm now spending a quiet evening doing NOTHING I hope!  *smiles*

Well... I have done nothing!  Trouble is it's actually tiring doing nothing.  Time for bed.

FIRST STEP

Today Mum takes the first step towards heading home to Australia.
I'm taking her and Ron up to Auckland this morning, and if her sister is up to a visit, we shall be visiting her in hospital. (her sister had a stroke the day after Mum had her heart attack)

We won't know if we can visit her until we've talked to her husband and checked if it's likely to upset her too much.
No way do we want either Mum or her sister to get upset.

Because I don't want to be worried about getting back in time to pick Keera up from Kindy, I'm taking her with us.  She will enjoy the day trip I'm sure.

Mum and Ron are booked into a motel close to the airport, so once we've done whatever we need to in Auckland, I shall drop them off and come home.

And breathe again!  *smiles*

After all the drama and upset over the past week, I'm going to get home and just CHILL OUT!
I don't have to cook dinner for at least two nights, as we have masses of left overs from the past two night's dinners.  Excellent.  I love left overs lol.

So, I better get moving, get everyone some breakfast before we pack the car and head off.

ONWARD...

*sigh*... we are not leaving till midday now.  Mum and Ron are both feeling awful with their colds having gone onto their chests.
So... we certainly won't be visiting Mum's sister in Middlemore hospital, we will be going straight to the Motel once in Auckland.

Then they can just relax till they are picked up by the airport shuttle tomorrow morning.

Mum must feel like this has been the holiday from hell!  Though I do know she had a fantastic birthday... so that's a small consolation I suppose.

I'm now going to take Keera to Kindy for the morning.

Oh... I'm still feeling like utter shit with the cold too... but oh well, never mind.  I can look after myself ... tomorrow. *smiles*

5.55 pm:  We got away at 12.30 pm, and had a smooth, uneventful trip up to Auckland.  We had lunch at the mall, then I dropped Mum and Ron off at their motel and Keera and I headed home again.

The entire trip took 5 hours, which was great.  We missed the rush hour traffic in Auckland, and, as we skirted Hamilton, we didn't get much of their's either.

It was a HUGE relief to get Mum settled into the Motel I can tell you.  I was so concerned something would go wrong again!  They are all sorted for transport to the airport tomorrow morning, and Mum has assistance already organised at the airports, so I don't need to worry about her not managing.

I think I can relax now!  

Signing off early, as there's a few things I want to get done tonight before I can enjoy tomorrow.  IN PEACE.  lol.

P.S.  I really love this giraffe picture! 

It totally reflects how I feel.

CAMBRIDGE TOWN

Mum and Ron want to go for a wander around the shops in Cambridge this morning.
While I'm not thrilled at the notion, I know that Mum does need to slowly get back into walking for her health, so that's what we are going to do.

She has said she will pace herself, and sit down if/when necessary, so it should be ok.

Before that, it's the normal routine, getting the kids off to school and kindy, getting some housework done and so on.

I went out in the garden the other day, it's so sad seeing how the frosts have affected some of the plants.  Some succulents had died off (bugger!) and my oregano plant is completely DEAD!

 ABOVE:  I do love how the leaves are turning though, this tree is gorgeous.

 ABOVE: I have no idea what sort of plant this is, but it's been frost burnt, yet looks like it's going to have flowers!
It will be interesting to see what eventuates with it.

 ABOVE:  In the meantime, all the plants we put in 10 months ago are growing like weeds!  I'm thrilled with how the gardens are filling out.

ABOVE:  Kelly gave these gorgeous orchids to Mum yesterday... they are so pretty.  There's some glitter on them too.

Right, that's all for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

So we get down town... have a little wander around.
Then there's these two women and one man walking ahead of us...and I'm thinking... they look damn familiar. So I yell out "Oi!"... and they turn around and it's my Mum's two sisters, Eyhel and Joyce and Ethel's husband Frank.

They had come down for lunch with us, only Ron had forgotten to tell me.

So we go back home and I end up making chicken sandwiches for everyone... and copious cups of tea and coffee.

I am slowly getting more exhausted by the day. We have friends of Mum's from Rotorua coming for dinner tonight too. 

AND I'm going to weigh in at WW tonight too...I want to get back to my usual meeting. As I weighed in just on Saturday I'm not expecting a loss.

WOW!   I lost 1.5 kilos since Saturday.  No idea how that happened.  Maybe it was all the running around after people for the past few days?  No matter, I will take it!

Our dinner guests have just left, it was really good to see them and visit with them properly.  Mum and Ron enjoyed spending time with them, Judy was my Mum's housekeeper for 18 years when my parents lived in Atiamuri.  Lots of stories shared tonight.  Lovely.

Now... relax till bedtime.  Tired.  Bone tired.  
Tomorrow I take them to Auckland, then when I get home it will be time to get back to normal.

FAMILY DAY

Today Mum has a couple of visitors lined up.  I've tried to space them out so she doesn't get over tired.

First up we have a very dear couple from Tokoroa visiting Mum.
We have known them forever and ever.  
Mum will really enjoy seeing them.

Then this afternoon we have Amanda, Andrew and their kids coming.  They have not seen their Grandma at all during this visit, so it's nice they will get to see her at least once before she goes home again.

Kelly and Rena are coming too.  They all have a two hour 'block' of time!  I'm being very strict with visits as I am not going to let my Mum get stressed out.  Noise gets to her, just like it does to me funnily enough!

Stew is going to work on the shelves in my sewing rooms today, so I can get everything back in the wardrobes... then once Brylee can move out of the 2nd sewing room, I can really start to get both rooms functioning again.

I can't wait to get in there and start doing my sewing again!  I'm rather excited to think I'm going to have so much more room!

When Keera went to bed last night, she was coughing and crying with an ear ache.  She's now got the cold we have all got/getting over.
Seriously, this past week has been a right bitch.

NOt only with my Mum ending up in hospital, but with EVERYONE having a dreadful cold, cough and sore throat.  

OK... time to get a move on... there is some washing to get done, then I need to get breakfast for Mum, Ron and Keera.

ONWARD...

Domino effect.  

Mum is doing well today.  I didn't mention it the other day ... but one of her sisters had a stroke the day after Mum had her heart attack.  So, they say things go in threes...  

3.03 pm:  And it's been a busy day so far.  We had the visitors we were expecting, plus some. Amanda, Andrew and their kids are coming for dinner, 5 - 7 pm is their allocated time!  lol

Mum went for a slow walk after all the visitors left, and she did really well.  I'm starting to think she will be OK. 

Dinner went well.. I made Spaghetti Bologniese.  A family favourite.
The kids only stayed till 7 pm... which was good as I was feeling incredibly tired... never mind my MUM!

It will be an early night for me tonight.  

WHOOPS

Last night Steve was being silly and said he was going to dip his 'dick' in Bex's cuppa tea.
She said 'Go on then'... so the idiot did!

The tea was HOT, and he got burnt!  

ON. HIS. DICK.

I now can't get visions of his dick cooling off in the kitchen sink out of my mind.  

And Bex said "Mmmmm, dick tea!"

I won't tell you what my Mum said/asked him!  It was too rude.

But 'stiff' and 'limp' were a couple of words she uttered.  

She may be 80, but she is still rather real... and funny!

Needless to say, he won't be doing that again in a hurry I'm sure. 

Today we are going to take a careful trip into Hamilton so Mum and Ron can finalise their trip back to Australia, which is booked in for next Wednesday.  Mum only has to walk a few steps into the travel agency, and the bank next door. 
Let's see how she goes.

ONWARD...

Up first thing and off to Hamilton to weigh in at Weight Watchers.  I'd not had a chance during the week.  I expected a huge gain as I've not been eating well all week... so was happy to see only a .300 gram gain.
I know it can catch up with me during the coming week, so I shall have to be careful between now and next weigh in.

It's a dull, miserable day out there, but not too cold.  
Hoping to get Mum into Hamilton in the next couple of hours, then straight back home... unless she wants to have some lunch at the mall.  We will see...

We have been into Hamilton and sorted out the olds travel plans, then we came home as Mum was tired after just that little outing.
She's now sitting relaxing again, after a nice lunch here at home.

Soon Stew is going to pop out and get some timber, for shelving in the wardrobes in my new sewing room.

SOME PEOPLE!!!!!!  

Stew has done some of my shelves! All going well he might finish the rest tomorrow.  One less job for Steve, he will be pleased.  *smiles*

We are now going to enjoy a quiet evening, Mum is resting like she has been told to.  A bit of stress this afternoon that she certainly didn't need, but I'm doing my very best to protect my MUM from stress and follow doctor's orders.  End of story.

Signing off now... time to relax and calm down .

QUIETNESS

Much to my mother's disgust, she is going to be ensconced on the couch today, tucked up with a warm, snuggly electric throw.

Ron and I are going to fuss over her and make sure she does not over exert herself.

All going well after a couple of days like that she will be up to making plans for going home to Australia.


I will also be doing some sorting out in the sewing rooms... though as I've decided I do need shelves in the wardrobes, there is only so much I can get done until they are up.

Steve and Bex are coming down on Queen's Birthday weekend, as Bex's brother is getting married, so Steve can do the shelving then.


So... it's going to be a really quiet day I hope!

I gave my Mum strict instructions as she went to bed last night NOT to have any shenanigans in the morning! No repeats of Tuesday morning that's for bloody sure! I never want that to happen again.


ONWARD...

So far so good!  Nice quiet morning.  Fed and watered both of them as often as possible!
Mum's been very good... just sitting and chatting, eating her lunch , but not the crusts!  Naughty girl.  lol

I've got their flights arranged, thanks to our son-in-law Andrew.  All going well they will be flying out on Wednesday morning.
Tuesday will be spent in Auckland visiting her sisters.

This afternoon I am going to get some more sorting done in the sewing room.. and that's about all for now.  I'm feeling rather jaded.  

I'm so relieved it's friday!  Stew can help me with entertaining these two oldies.  I'm at saturation point!  

Very quiet today ... I'm happy I've not pissed anyone off today!  lol 

Having some seriously good laughs tonight, courtesy of Steve's dick!  I'll tell you about that tomorrow!
Time to sign off for the day... I am so tired I don't think I will be up much longer. My cold is still hanging on... the sinuses are still causing horrid headaches.  EVERYONE in the house has it now, which is a bugger.

HAMILTON AGAIN TODAY

Today should go something like this:

Take the kids to school and Kindy, then home.

Ron will then follow me into Hamilton in their hire car, and we will return said car.

They won't be needing it anymore, as I can take them here and there after today.

All going well we will then head off to the Hospital to see Mum, and if the specialist gives her the all clear, we can take her home.

Mum is really stressing out about travelling back home to Australia.  Sydney airport stresses her out, due to it being so big, with very long walks between check in - departure lounge - terminals etc.  

Ron and I keep telling her that she can be wheeled in a freakin' wheelchair if necessary, but she's still stressing out about it.  Silly girl.

I'm hoping that once she is sprung from hospital, she comes back here and just chills out for at least a few days!  The last thing she needs is to be rushing around trying to get home too soon.

I can't tell you how worrying this has been!  One minute she was just fine, a bit tired, but 'normal', ya know?

Then having a bloody heart attack right in front of my eyes!  I'll tell you this, it WASN'T like all the adverts show you it will 'look' like.
I think one person's heart attack can be quite different from the next person's.

My Mum just went all floppy, changed colour and could hardly breathe, and said it felt like she had an elephant sitting on her chest.  Then she had a weird feeling creeping up from her chest to her chin that felt like pins and needles, and sort of numb too?

So... no sharp pains in her chest or arms like you are told to look for/expect.

It's been very educational, if nothing else.

Well... enough of that... I'm hoping today is a good day for everyone, and Mum gets to come home.

ONWARD...

2.45 pm:  home from the hospital, just taking a break before going back to ... pick up Mum all going well.  She's not too keen on coming out, but as the Dr said, her heart is stable and there's no reason for her to stay in there.

She's just worried that it will happen again... she's a worrier.  Natural I suppose.

Ron and I are exhausted!  From doing nothing!  It's so tiring sitting in a hospital room on uncomfortable chairs, just sitting there talking.  
I'd much rather be doing something physical any day. Or sewing.  Let's not forget the sewing.  *smiles*

I've got a thumping headache so will bugger off and self medicate.

She's home... safe and sound.  Dinner is done, some birthday cake has been consumed and soon I have no doubt they (the olds) will head off to bed.  It's been a nerve wracking, tiring three days!

So glad she's home again.  Now we can start the process of getting her home to Australia safely.

FINGERS CROSSED

Griffin in feeling sick with a cough and cold, so he's staying home today.
It's cross country running at his school today, so obviously he's not keen to do that while feeling sick.

Normally Keera would be at kindy till lunchtime today, but she's staying home with Griffin so I can go up to the hospital first thing this morning.

Ron spent last night with one of his daughters, who lives about an hour away from here.  Once he gets back here this morning, we will both go up to the hospital to be with Mum.

Once she is seen by the specialist, I am hoping she can come home.  But we won't know until he's been and seen her.  And goodness knows when that will happen... but most likely sometime this morning.

I'm a bit nervous about leaving Keera with Griffin, but I'm hoping it's a good 'experience' for Griffin, and he does well looking after his little sister.  All he has to do is turn the TV on, keep an eye on her,  feed her and maybe get her to bed after her lunch.  Sounds easy eh? *smiles*

Right, I better get a move on.  Only Brylee to get off to school today, so not such a rush.  

ONWARD...

3.55 pm:  Today  has gone well.  Griffin has done an excellent job looking after Keera. So relieved.
Tomorrow Kindy have said they can have her all day, so one less worry for tomorrow.

Mum.  Is doing well.   She had a mild heart attack yesterday morning.
The cardiologist saw her this morning and has put her on a new medication to bring her heart rate down and under control.
All going well, she might be discharged from hospital tomorrow!

But as for her flying home to Australia, that is totally up in the air right now.  We will have to take advice from the doctor on when she is safe to fly.

ABOVE:  they are such a cute little couple!  12 years together, and he still fusses over her like she's precious.  ♥  So very happy they have each other.

Ron and I are taking a break at home right now, just relaxing for a little while, before heading back up to visit with her till bedtime.  Did I mention Ron isn't well either?  He's got a nasty cold, so have I and Brylee. 

Nearly half of everyone we run into has a freakin' cold!  Waikato Hospital is full to capacity... they have even cancelled all non essential surgery for the time being.  Bloody winter!

8.38 pm:  Well Ron and I spent a couple of hours with Mum this evening, she was so much brighter!  Making conversation and happier.  Such a relief.
I'm sure they will let her out tomorrow.

My cold is finally abating, my sinuses are not so sore, thank goodness. I'm totally over the constant headache and sore throat.

Time to sign off for the night... some mindless tv and nothing else to follow.

NOT SURE WHAT'S THE HAPS TODAY

Today's plans are going to totally depend on how my Mum and Ron are feeling.
They want to return the hire car back into Hamilton, and also book their flights back to Australia.  All going well we will get that done today.

If my Mum is still not well I am going to get her a Doctor's appointment.  She can't afford to be unwell for too long.

But I won't know how she is until they get up out of bed.  Which will be in the next hour or so I suppose.

At some point today I would like to get back into the new sewing rooms and do some more sorting out there.  It's still a bomb site!

I was supposed to be starting back at Donna's Quilt Studio today.  That's not going to happen. I am going to try and defer going this term and go again next term... as I have a couple of classes I can't go to now (today and one in June), and the term is only 7 weeks long for this group.  I don't know why her 'term' is only 7 weeks long?  The school term is easily 10 weeks.  Oh well, I will ask and find out at some point.

Right, that's all for now... off to get kids ready for the day.

ONWARD...

Well today is a bit of a bugger. I'm busy with the olds... but not as I expected. 
I wont be home till much later today... 


Home briefly to pick up the kids, then I'm out again.  I will be back later. Sorry, I can't divulge more than that. 

6.13 pm:  Well... without going into details, my Mum is now in hospital.  I had to call an ambulance for her when I got home from taking the kids to school/kindy.
She is in overnight under observation, and seeing a specialist in the morning.  

I am hoping she will recover quickly.  

It's been quite a day!  I came home mid afternoon and picked up the kids from school/kindy then headed back with an overnight bag for her and so on. 

Those hospital corridors are very long!  I've done heaps of steps today... *smiles*

It's now time for me to unwind, have something to eat and try to relax for a while.  And try not to worry too much.

 

PHOTOS... AND MORE PHOTOS

Here's more photos from yesterday's room moving... and Amanda and Andrew and kids visiting:

 ABOVE:  Griffin's new room.  He is very happy... so it was worth the effort.

 ABOVE:  Amanda and Andrew.  

 ABOVE:  Joel, he's 12 now.

 ABOVE:  Emily, who's 6.  Having such fun outside, even though it was freakin' freezing!

 ABOVE:  I was trying to get a photo of Joel with his fringe (bangs) in a pig tail... but his MOTHER photobombed it!  Nice one.

 ABOVE:  A cute moment with Huston (he's 13) and his little brother, Liam.

 ABOVE:  Emily and Keera doing 'gymnastics' in the family room.  They got nice and tired I'm sure.

ABOVE:  Little Liam (4 years old)... he's got sore lips from the wind and cold.
He and Emily ran into each other in the hallway and both got bumps on their heads.  Liam's was a REALLY big bump, but he wouldn't let Amanda hold ice on it for long, so he will no doubt have a good bruise tomorrow.

Today I plan on doing some 'normal' housework, then I am going down town to get some more warm trousers for Keera.  Most of her long tights are not warm enough for the frosty Waikato!  
And I might get some shelving wood for the two wardrobes too.

ONWARD...

Well now, ain't the trolls out in force lately?

Keera is perfectly happy and emotionally stable.  She is well aware of her situation and where she will be living next year, and she is being well prepared for her eventual move.

It was NEVER our intention to raise Keera for the next 12+ years.  I have been raising kids FULL TIME for over 38 years, and there was no way in HELL I was prepared to raise another child.  

AND to point out a very valid fact:  Keera deserves to be raised by young parents, with siblings her own age, and that is going to be her situation next year. End of story.

You trolls deserve to be bitch slapped, you know NOTHING and obviously just love stirring shit.  Nothing better to do, you poor bitches.

Me on the other hand, I do productive stuff with all the time on my hands.  Jealous?  Clearly.

We got a double whammy today:

 ABOVE:  Frost and Fog!  It's rather cold out there.

ABOVE:  Keera in a wooly jumper her Great Grandma gave her last winter... she insisted I put it on the blog!  The lovely flowers are from Amanda.  
Just as well I noticed Keera's tights had a hole in the knee before she left the house this morning!  See?  I need to go get her more warm ones.

WHOOPS!  I got carried away and bought Keera trousers, skivvies AND sweatshirts.  But, she did need warm stuff!

I also go several (OK 10) plastic boxes with lids for the wardrobes in my new sewing rooms.  I was going to get shelving wood etc, but the boxes seemed like cheaper, easier options.

Now I can make a start of sorting it all out.

My Mum and Ron are on their way back here from Auckland.  Sadly, my Mum is sick with a bad cold and an upset tummy, so NO VISITORS for a while I'm afraid.

They need a few quiet days to just relax. 

10.55 pm:  A very quiet evening here.  Mum and Ron went to bed very early after both of them managing to eat a little soup and toast.
I've still got my cold and cough, so does Brylee, and now Griffin has it too.

Hopefully everyone starts to feel better soon.