A Little Disturbed

Something disturbing (to me anyway) happened during my day of medical assessments at the Sunny Coast last Wednesday.

My eye was poked and prodded by both an Optometrist and an Ophthalmologist. They lifted my eyelids and touched the insides of my top and bottom eyelids and stretched the skin around my eyeball, as well as putting drops of dye in my eyes and touching the dripping liquid as it fell from my eyes.

Neither of them used gloves at any time.

I didn't see either of them wash their hands before they began the consultation .. which is not to say that they didn't wash their hands .. they may have done so before entering the room, but at the time I felt a little uncomfortable and perhaps I should have asked them.

My eye has much improved, without medical intervention, although yesterday (Friday), a couple of people asked me if I was okay, because of the redness in and around my eye, but it improves more and more with each passing day.

I've spent today doing very little except cooking a delicious roast chicken, veg and gravy for lunch and watching movies with Adoring Husband.

We watched the start of 'The Minority Report' with Tom Cruise, but got bored with that so we switched channels and watched my old favourite 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion' (I never tire of that movie and it makes me feel good every time I watch it), then we watched the 2014 version of 'Godzilla' which was typical American rubbish and we are currently watching 'Winter's Tale' with Colin Farrell, which is a little tricky to follow .. it's one of those movies that you have to watch every minute, otherwise you easily get lost.

I also watched this today .. Adele pretending to be an Adele impersonator .. which kind of moved me.

Finally, as we edge ever so closer to the Christmas season, I thought most of my friends would enjoy this little game ...

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.  

Weather and Veg

Quite pleased that I don't live in Griffith right now ...

Who would have ever thought that our Spring/Summer weather in Queensland would be more pleasant than Griffith's?

Found this today that I thought was interesting. I never considered using the sprouts from old garlic to flavour salads. I like the idea!

It's four minutes to midnight on a Friday night and I'm off to bed, but try to remember ...

Nite all.

In the arms of Home.

It was just before 8am and there I was, still in my pyjamas and all snuggled up with Chicklet on my bed, watching the kid's movie "The Boxtrolls" on her laptop. Dadu had just served her breakfast in bed and she was pointing out some funny stuff in the movie, when my phone rang.

It was Adoring Husband. I answered it thinking that he was going to tell me that he had just left, or that he was at Gympie and wouldn't be long. Here is the conversation:

Me: Hullo
Him: Hullo Darling, how are you?
Me: I'm great! How are you?
Him: Good. What are you doing?
Me: I'm in bed with Chicklet watching a movie.
Him: Well, do you think you could come open the front door for me?

Luckily, I had packed my suitcase last night, but it still took me a good hour to pack up the rest of my gear, have a shower and get ready for the day.

Don't get me wrong. It was wonderful to see his smiling face at the door and we needed an early start, but none of us were prepared for his early appearance! I think we all felt a bit discombobulated, so Chicklet kept him occupied while we all got ourselves 'together'.

When we were finally dressed and ready to face the day, we all climbed into our cars and drove to Sunspace, where we sat outside under the awning, enjoying a tasty breakfast and coffee and sunshine. Chicklet got to run around in the big garden space and Vegan Chickie got to have food stolen from her hand by a Butcher Bird JUST as she was about to place it in her mouth! It all happened so quickly!! Shocking!

We left there at 11am, saying our goodbyes to the Chicklet family. Little Chicklet was disappointed .. I think she was expecting AH and I to tag team .. that I would leave and Poppy would stay with her!

We had a smooth run home and picked up our FROG box on the way, as well as our regular order from the butcher, checked the PO Box and bought coffee .. oh how I missed my coffee! The coffee that I had while I was away was pretty good, but only one of them was as good or better than my usual coffee from here.

It was about 2.15pm when we pulled into our driveway.

The entire afternoon was spent unpacking. AH and I unwrapped last year's christmas and birthday gifts that my niece left on Chicklet's doorstep for us at 11.30 last night. My sister failed to send them last year and decided to get her daughter to drop them to me on a trip to Brisvegas! So that was fun!

I unpacked the FROG box and the butcher order, then unpacked everything from my time away. Of course I had to cull quite a few items from my wardrobe before I unpacked, so that there would be room for my new clothes!

I watched some X-Factor that AH recorded for me and then made dinner .. crispy skinned chicken with sweet potato chips, fresh asparagus and beans from the garden tossed in butter and garlic, a thick chunk of zucchini fried in beef tallow and some kimchi.

AH complained about how much mess I made in the kitchen, so I told him that he would be cooking from now on!

Now I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed ... although I must say that my 'other' bed was very comfortable too and I slept well most nights. I, and the other visitors have worn it in well.

It's good to be home and I really hope that Vegan Chickie gets over her illness and jetlag soon so that she can enjoy being home too.

Nite all.

What a Day!

Me + buses = Epic FAIL every time!

I thought I was being very clever looking up the bus timetable and planning my own way to Sunshine Plaza this morning, so that I could arrive on time for my 8am dental appointment.

I got the Bare-chested Chef to drop me at Civic at 5.35am so that I could catch the 6.05am bus, which would get me to Sunshine Plaza at 7.20am. It would be a thirteen minute walk from there to my appointment, so I figured I could grab a coffee somewhere beforehand.

Well, 6.05am came and went, and there was no sign of any public transport so I looked up the timetable again only to discover that the timetable was from 2011!! I found the current timetable and there was no bus until 7.10am which would get me to Sunshine Plaza at 8.17am!!! It meant that I would miss my appt completely.

So I calculated that if I got off the bus at Sunshine Coast Airport and caught a taxi, if all things went to plan, I would only be about 5 minutes late for the appointment.

Of course Murphy's Law dictates that all things do NOT go to plan.

It was 7.57am, there was one taxi on the rank and the driver told me that he could get me there in six minutes. I felt that this was a good sign. Until the first red light .. and then every red light for the entire journey! At 8.07am, the receptionist from the dental surgery phoned me to ask if I was still coming. It was 8.14am when I walked through their doors, after paying $28 for the taxi ride!

I had a nice taxi driver though who told me how he had his amalgam fillings removed about four years ago and his health had improved so much, he took up surfing again. He was 62!

Anyway, my dentist was very understanding after I apologised profusely and she didn't try to rush the appointment. She took photos of all of my teeth and gums from every angle and then took an x-ray with their special machine that emits lower nasties than a regular x-ray.

She then showed me every photo, one by one, explaining what needed to be done with each tooth and in what order she would do it all. She showed me the x-ray and pointed out all the problems in the gums.

I have cracks in two of the teeth with the amalgam fillings and cracks also in the fillings which are dangerous to my health. I have five amalgam fillings altogether.  She explained about the gum disease, which she stated is advanced, but they could fix it and as long as I continued my healthy lifestyle, it would keep the disease at bay. She said it was probably hereditary (my Mum had to have most of her teeth removed at the age of 16 because of gum disease).

She advised me to use coconut oil to clean my teeth and not to touch mainstream toothpaste.

She gave me a dental plan for the first two hour appointment which is in two weeks time, when she can do a good amount of the work in one hit.

She was amazing. I REALLY REALLY liked her. She was not judgemental and she was calm and caring and answered all of my questions in a very respectful way. She is going to make allowances for the fact that I will be travelling so far and try to do as much at each visit as she can.

I am actually looking forward to my next appointment with her! Believe it or not!

So I left the surgery feeling very happy and satisfied that I had made the right decision to see Dr Kluge.

As luck would have it, there was a coffee shop nearby with a very friendly barista who made a perfect extra large latte for me.

I walked on to Sunshine Plaza where I was about to partake in some retail therapy when Vegan Chickie phoned to tell me that they were coming to the plaza and that I wouldn't have to catch a bus home. The day was looking up!

I forgot to mention that I have had a problem with my right eye for the past few days. It felt like some kind of infection in the inside corner of my eye, where some hot oil had spattered from some chicken I was cooking one night, but it had deteriorated overnight and I was in quite a bit of pain this morning, so I decided to visit the Optometrist to have it checked ... if you know me, I don't seek professional help unless I feel like I'm in trouble!

So I was able to see a very young optometrist at OPSM almost immediately. He spent quite a bit of time looking and poking and touching and prodding and shining lights in all different directions and puffing air into my eyeballs and asking me to read letters and dripping orange dye into my eyes.

In the end, he had no idea what it was but was concerned that the pressure in the sore eye was a bit high. He decided that I should see a specialist - Opthalmologist - as soon as possible, so he made the phone call and got me in at 1pm today!

A bit more retail therapy to fill in the time, then a coffee while Vegan Chickie and Chicklet ate ice cream (Chicklet's berry sorbet was delicous!) and soon the Bare-chested Chef dropped me off at the eye specialist.

I gave them my details and sat down at about 12.50pm. Some young kid called me into an office and asked me a heap of questions, filling in a card as we talked, asking me to read some letters on the wall, checking the pressure in my eyes (he said they were perfect) and then told me to have a seat and Dr McKee would call me shortly.

At 2.10pm I asked the receptionist how much longer I was going to have to wait.

She went searching for my card and quite obviously couldn't find it in any of the doctor's cubicles, but told me that I would definitely be next if I could just take a seat again.

I watched as three of them searched high and low for my information card. Five minutes later I was called into Dr McKee's office.

I have to say that for the 90 minutes that I sat there, I could physically feel my eye improving and by the time I sat in his office, the redness had gone and the pain had subsided to 'just noticeable'.

He used his machines to check both of my eyes and asked me some questions, eventually deciding that he could see nothing sinister in my eye and that the inflammation looked very much like an allergy to something. He began to write out a prescription for steroid drops saying that it would help with the inflammation.

I asked if my eye would heal itself without the drops and he said 'Yes'.

I replied 'Don't bother with the prescription then, thanks very much.'

Then he handed me some drops to help with lubrication. He said 'you don't have to use them and they have nothing in them to hurt you, but just in case you need them.'

So $110 later, I walked out at least knowing that there was nothing sinister lurking in my eye.

It was the busiest surgery I've seen for a long time. There were 27 people sitting in the waiting area for the entire time I was there. When somebody left, someone else took their place. All but one of them was over 65 yrs of age.

The Chicklet family had bought the groceries during that time .. I promised to cook a baked dinner before I left, so we had a baked lamb with sweet potato, turnip, potato, yellow squash, beans and cauliflower with home made gravy. It was quite delicious, considering how uninspired I was.

After dinner it was bath time for Chicklet and then story time - my last night of stories before I head home tomorrow.

I've packed my complete new Summer wardrobe in my suitcase and will be ready for Adoring Husband when he arrives tomorrow to pick me up. I have no idea what time he's coming and as it's now 9.30pm, he will probably be sound asleep, so I will be pleasantly surprised when he lands on the doorstep at whatever time he chooses to do so.

I really need to rest my eye now. It's feeling very tired and a little painful, so I believe that sleep will be the key to it's recovery.

Nite all.  

Day Thirteen of Thirteen

I'm so happy that she is home.

All is right with my world again.

I no longer have to keep my imagination in check.

I told her, it will be like childbirth .. give me time to forget about the pain .. and she can then plan her next trip!

Chicklet is over the moon to have her Mama home.

The Bare-chested Chef is equally ecstatic .. though more controlled in his excitement!

Tomorrow I have my dental appointment and have an early start, so this is a short post.

I think my body has hit super relax mode and needs to sleep.

Nite all.

Day Twelve of Fifteen (maybe less)

Vegan Chickie has arrived safe n sound in Melbourne where she will spend tonight and will be home some time tomorrow. I have already shed a tear or two with relief. I can't wait to hug her hello.

Chicklet had swimming lessons this morning and I took my camera ...

It's difficult to tell here, but apparently, swimming is her favourite thing!!

She really does love it and her teacher is fabulous with her and with the other kids for that matter. I have more photos but I don't want to use up all the credit on my Telstra travel data stick, so I'll wait til I get home to edit the rest.

After swimming, I was dropped off at Tewantin shopping centre, for a day on my own. I was only going to spend the morning out, but I really needed it to do something to make the time go quicker .. knowing that Vegan Chickie was on her way to Melbourne .. I needed to do something away from the house and Chicklet, to get my mind off the craziness that I've created within it.

So I was grateful that the Bare-chested Chef had the day off work so that I could remove myself and partake in some retail therapy to partially heal my damaged soul.

I think it's safe to say that I now have a complete new Summer wardrobe and I won't need to spend any money on clothes for a while! There are some nice little boutiques in Tewantin and Noosaville, most of which are reasonably priced and the people are very friendly in this area too.

Delicious coffee at Zabe Espresso Bar. Very bohemian with free wifi and it's an internet cafe with ipads for public use, comfortable lounges in the back area, magazines and newspapers strewn about and it's obviously 'the' place to go, because there was a queue of people standing out the front waiting for their orders.

I sat in the park to drink my morning coffee and watched the birds .. so many birds! Two parent Butcher birds fighting off Magpies while they took turns feeding their young, Mynah birds building nests by pulling long vines and then streaking across the sky with them, a Kookaburra feeding it's young nested in a hole in a large tree on a main road and a baby Magpie getting a feed from the workers who were creating a new children's park nearby.

Of course I didn't have my camera with me to capture any of that.

At the end of my day, I missed two buses .. I don't even know if they were my buses. They had the right number on them, but apparently there are two buses with the same number that go to different locations. I eventually decided to catch a taxi. Today's taxi cost me $16.30 from Tewantin. The other day I caught the taxi from Civic and it cost me $14.80. Not much difference really.

Chicklet was just waking from a nap when I arrived home. Apparently she'd had a meltdown at the library, so was pretty spent from that. We spent the afternoon playing with the new dinosaurs that I bought her (just a little pack of 8 plastic dinosaurs) and creating some more masterpieces with some new stickers.

I bathed her and Dadu read her bed time stories.

I can't believe that it's already 10.30pm as I type this. I guess time will go at normal speed now that Vegan Chickie has her feet firmly on Aussie ground!

I think it's time to sleep .. hopefully peacefully.

Nite all.

Day Eleven of Fifteen

First of all I would like to thank the friends and family who have called, texted and sent private messages over the last 48 hours to comfort and console me during this stressful time. I have appreciated your moral support, although at times you have triggered tears that I wasn't expecting!

Today has been the longest day in the history of mankind and the universe ... and that is not an exaggeration!

I woke this morning to find a text from Vegan Chickie to say that she had been able to book a flight to London and that she was now going to sleep because she had to be on the plane at 7am.

Of course, 7am in Paris is 4pm here! Which meant a very very very long day of waiting, for me. Every minute seemed like an eternity. Every Chicklet activity seemed to take only five minutes to complete. The more I looked at the clock, the more frustrated I was that time was plodding along so slowly.

Even having Chicklet to care for, did not help keep me occupied enough to make the time move any quicker.

Finally, at 6.20pm I received a text to say that she had "landed in London - next step Dubai"

Funny, I really believed that knowing she was out of Paris, it would help me relax, but it had no affect at all. My stress levels are still peaking and now, I can only hope that when she lands in Australia, I will feel more relaxed.

Meanwhile, my little possum, who knows nothing of what has happened, is having a very restless night. She was sound asleep at 7pm, but woke at 9pm and I carried her back to bed and sat with her til she fell back to sleep, but has just now climbed into my bed at 10pm. She is very unsettled and has a bit of a cough, so I hope she's not coming down with anything.

We stayed at home all day today, watching both of the new dvds, coloring in and making some sea creature masks, we drew some pictures of Poppy Barry being afraid of crocodiles and spiders .. even one with a crocodile eating his shoe! We played catch outside for a little while and then came inside and sang happy birthday to Choco the dog (a stuffed toy bigger than Chicklet .. bought for her by Bubbles during her last visit) and we ate half a dozen of the runny chocolate brownies to celebrate.

Dadu came home for his work break for an hour and Chicklet played with him for that time.

We had a bath, ate dinner while we watched the second half of Open Season (we watched the first half a few days ago) and then we climbed into bed for story time.

Dadu has now arrived home from work and is with Chicklet in her bedroom. She may end up in his bed tonight I dare say. Perhaps she ate too many runny chocolate brownies today! Or perhaps she can sense that we are 'on edge'.

Adoring Husband suffered through some nasty storms at home today and was even called out with the SES to help people with damage.

I'm feeling very tired tonight and it's almost 11pm so I think I will try to get some sleep.

Safe travelling Vegan Chickie xo

Nite all.