Typical QLD Miracle

So the girls did it for QLD State of Origin tonight.

What a game! In horrendous conditions! A miracle field goal in the final 90 seconds.

I set my alarm for 4am so that I could watch Alex De Minaur get thrashed by Alexander Sverev. Very disappointing and it was a comprehensive thrashing. 

Let’s hope for a better result at Wimbledon which starts on 1st July.

We had an appointment with a solar panel guy and got a quote for an additional 6.6kw system with converter. Seems excessive at $16,000.

Now we have an appointment on Monday morning with the guy from Solar Hart (our current 4.4kw system is Solar Hart) and I think their quote will be less than half of today’s quote.

BGWLBH and I drove into town for a decent grocery shop, a stop at the butcher, some fresh juice and some lotto tickets.

Adoring Husband had a zoom meeting with his neurosurgeon this afternoon which went well.

We spent the afternoon poring over 12 power bills to calculate our average monthly power costs. It was tricky because we had to take into account the government rebates and then recalculate 6 of the bills. We are paying just under $300 per month! 

Crazy.

I prepared a pot of bolognese sauce and left it on to simmer while BGWLBH took me to work. It was nice and easy to just cook the spaghetti when we returned home.

We played trivia before the women’s State of Origin game.

I’m very tired now, at 11pm. Time to sleep.

Nite all.

Winning Again!

Adoring Husband is healing well and his symptoms are still at bay.

Except for the fact that his NSW Blues team lost so badly tonight. Usually his tremor is really bad during state of origin but it was barely there at the height of his stress.

Winners are grinners!

That’s me!

That’ll teach him for mouthing off all day haha.

I’m sad about Djokovic having to withdraw from the French Open due to injury. He needs surgery on his knee so he probably won’t play Wimbledon either.

Bugger.

De Minaur (the Aussie) plays at 4am our time tomorrow so I’m off to set my alarm and get some sleep before his match.

Nite all.

Another All-nighter

I was watching the Australian, Alex De Minaur, play his match against the number 5 seed Medvedev. I fully expected him to lose, but he surprised me with a very strong win!

Before his match had finished, Djokovic’s match against Cerúndolo started, so of course I switched to that game hoping for a shorter and easier game - not just for Djokovic’s sake, but for mine too! I wanted to get some sleep! 

It was after midnight here when his match commenced.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. He won the first set easily 6-1, then lost the next two sets 5-7, 3-6. I confess that I dozed on and off during those sets so I can’t say whether Djokovic played badly or his opponent played well.

In true Djokovic style, he came good in the end, winning the next two sets 7-5 6-3. His match finished at 5am our time and I tried to snatch a couple of hours sleep before meditation but I just couldn’t relax.

At 5.30am a message came through to say that meditation was cancelled for the day. THAT was a relief!

It was very cold this morning so I stayed in bed until 9am. I couldn’t sleep, but I lay under the covers very relaxed.

After a big Harley play, some breakfast and handing over my ironing to BGWLBH, I climbed back into bed and snatched a couple of hours sleep.

I crumbed some chicken thighs before going off to work.

Crumbed chicken and salad for dinner and an hour of trivia.

Now I’m watching the tennis again but I’m going to put the timer on because I’ll be asleep in about 20 minutes I reckon. I have to save myself for tomorrow nights quarter finals. They will all be big matches!

I might have to pull the doona out this winter. I’m feeling the cold more than usual!

Nite all.

My Hero Wins

Contamination of Covid vaccine 

I woke this morning at 7am, much earlier than usual, so I picked up my iPad to check on the tennis results from the previous evening - only to discover that Djokovic was currently on court!

It was 11pm in Paris and he was at the end of a tight first set so I quickly turned on my TV to watch the match.

He won the first set 7-5 but I have to say that he looked like he was struggling. Struggling to keep up with his young opponent, struggling with his breathing and struggling to find a way past his opponent.

He lost the next two sets 6-7 2-6.

At this point I almost turned the TV off.

Djokovic was not playing to his usual standard, was making a lot of unforced errors and his opponent looked sharp and in control of the match.

Djokovic looked tired and frustrated. It was almost 2am over there and I thought to myself ‘Djokovic is too old to be playing at this time of night. It’s past his bed time!’

He was down 0-2 in the fourth set and I was certain he was gone for all money.

Then his wife appeared in his box with this beaming, loving smile on her face. He said something to her in Serbian and they both laughed.

He suddenly came to life!

He was running well, hitting his shots cleanly, playing smarter and in fast time he won the next two sets 6-3 6-0. He’d played for 4.5 hours and it was after 3am when he hit the winning shot.

His speech was full of praise for his young Italian opponent, Lorenzo Musetti, and he admitted that for most of the match he had no answers to Musetti’s brilliant game play. He felt that it was pure luck that he’d been able to find success in the last two sets.

NEVER give up on Djokovic. I should have remembered that he has come from behind many, many times to break through with miraculous wins. That’s the kind of fighter he is. Never say die.

So it was 11.30am when I finally emerged from my bedroom.

I had let Harley out at 8.30am so he was well looked after and Adoring Husband cooked breakfast for he and BGWLBH.

This afternoon BGWLBH and I drove out to Farm Gate market stall and got some fresh veg and eggs. I checked that the shop toilets were presentable for tomorrow (Monday) and we did a quick shop at the supermarket.

For dinner, I prepared pumpkin, spinach and pine nut salad, sweet potato and potato chips, snow peas and beans, cauliflower and broccoli and crispy skinned chicken thighs.

I’d cooked up a big batch of cauliflower and broccoli so I made a delicious creamy soup with heaps of white pepper, zymil cream, butter, nutmeg, coriander, salt and chicken stock from the freezer. I poured some in a mug and sprinkled toasted pine nuts over the top.

DE-BLOODY-LICIOUS!

It’s 11pm and I’m watching Tsitsipas vs Arnaldi play their third round match at Roland-Garros.

I won’t see the end because I’m tired and need some sleep.

Kevin Costner improves with age … if that’s possible!

Nite all.

Planning Activities

They interviewed the founder of Dubai, *Sheikh Rashid,* about the future of his country, he replied:

"My grandfather walked the camel, my father walked the camel. I walk in a Mercedes, my son goes in a Land Rover, and my grandson will go around in a Land Rver, but my great-grandson will have to walk the camel again...... ”

Why? "

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create hard times.

Many won't understand, but we need to grow warriors, not parasites... “

All is well in our world. 

Adoring Husband is healing well and all the right things are happening.

We drove out to Bamboo Land this morning where we bought a new plant for one the big pots near the pool and a big tin of stain for the bamboo fence, so in a couple of weeks when AH is allowed to get back into an active life, he will paint the fence and plant the plant.

We had a little walk around the grounds which are looking good.

We stopped at Tin & Timber Home Decor in Torbanlea and I bought a big sage coloured duvet for the lounge - protection so that Harley can be on the lounge with me - and two small green cushions with geckos embroidered on them.

We did a little food shopping at the local supermarket and picked up our meat order from the butcher.

AH cooked some snags on the barbecue for lunch and we sat to watch the old movie “The Outlaw Josie Wales” starring Clint Eastwood. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it and I quite enjoyed it.

Apparently there is a lot of rain forecast for our area tomorrow and they’ve cancelled the Howard Markets for tomorrow morning, even though not a single drop of rain has fallen!

I got to watch Djokovic play tennis last night as well as part of De Minaur’s match so it was 3am when I turned the telly off. Needless to say, I’m feeling a bit weary tonight.

Oh I forgot to mention that AH had the 60+ staples removed from his head on Thursday, as well as the 9 stitches where they implanted his battery pack. They did such a good job, it’s difficult to see the scars on his head.

While that was happening, I spent a fortune at Tinkerbell’s on a jewellery layby of a silver cuff bracelet with laramar stones and a matching ring, both hand crafted by a talented silversmith. I’ll take pics when I get them out of layby.

Meanwhile, it’s time to sleep so that I can stay up tomorrow night to watch Djokovic again.

Nite all.

Free of Meds

Adoring Husband went out walking this morning - to the shops and back - because he needed milk for coffee and he’s not allowed to drive for a month.

He could have asked BGWLBH to drive him down there but chose not to and snuck out on his own.

I’m impressed.

He is doing very well and will be having the staples removed tomorrow.

No more drugs.

He still needs to concentrate on his speech because I’ve had to ask him to repeat himself a number of times today and he hasn’t practiced reading the script on the paperwork that the doctor provided.

We watched a great movie on Netflix today called “Fisherman’s Friends” set in Cornwall. I really loved it. I laughed and cried and cheered and grumbled.

We also watched a crap movie on Netflix called “They Live” which was released in 1988. Dreadful acting, pathetic special affects, woeful storyline, the worst editing ever and an ending that made little sense. Don’t watch it.

My parasite cleanse was going along nicely until today when I got a bit out of control and ate 8 dim sims! A friend acquired gf dim sims from the Sunny Coast and I was so excited, I gorged myself and have felt quite uncomfortable ever since!

My belly is packed tight - it’s been a long time since I ate so much in one sitting and my tummy normally fills quickly when I do eat. I don’t know what came over me and I’ve been suffering ever since.

I’ll need some activated charcoal to help clear my digestive tract!

I didn’t eat dinner tonight but made nachos for BGWLBH and soft wrapped tacos for AH.

We played trivia for an hour and AH and I followed up with the 1% Club.

Now I’m lying in bed watching the French Open Tennis.

I can’t believe it’s after 11.30pm.

Nite all.

He’s Baaaa-aaack!

No pics yet, but bald Adoring Husband arrived home at about 3pm today.

The scars on his head are at the front of his skull - I thought they would be at the back - it almost looks like he’s had a lobotomy!

The first thing I noticed was how tall he is. He’s been standing and walking with a noticeable exaggerated stoop for so long and now he’s standing tall and strong. There is a huge difference!

Instead of shuffling through the house, he’s almost strutting. Both arms are swinging by his side where his left arm used to hang straight and still when he walked.

His foot is almost straight when he walks - it used to turn inwards and when he walked it would swing in front of his good leg.

His speech is much better but he needs speech therapy and has speech exercises that he has to practice because he has become lazy, talking too fast with words running into each other and almost slurring. He needs to learn how to talk properly again.

After a 4 hour trip home, he sat up in his lounge chair watching television and talking with me, without immediately falling asleep. Unheard of!

It takes just a moment to stand up from his lounge chair, where before, it would take minutes for him to shuffle his butt forward and then rock back and forth to get the rhythm and strength to lift his body.

At dinner time he finished eating before me! Before the surgery, he would be sitting by himself at the table for at least ten to fifteen minutes after we’d finished, trying to finish his meal.

His tremor is gone. I noticed his restless foot for a few minutes while he was reclined in his chair, but when I pointed it out, he was able to stop it.

Those are the things I’ve noticed so far.

Pretty miraculous!

He took his last half a tablet tonight and will no longer take meds.

All the pain that he had in his neck and joints has gone and he no longer looks like a rickety old man.

It will be a month before he can do his normal day to day activities like driving, working, hanging washing, playing with Harley, mowing etc but BGWLBH and I have that covered.

Needless to say, at this stage, we are very happy with the results.

Tonight for dinner I did another pumpkin, spinach and pine nut salad, boiled baby potatoes in their jackets and bacon wrapped chicken with garlic butter.

It’s been a big day.

Nite all.

Heading Home

Adoring Husband will be on his way home on Monday morning.

His family visited him today, which made him very happy and after tomorrow, he should be drug free. 

I know his tremor has not completely gone yet because I can hear the rustling rhythm when he holds the phone, but it comes and goes.

Today I have been nursing a Harley injury. HE injured ME!

He used my stomach as a launching pad when he heard BGWLBH come out of her bedroom this morning and I have felt very tender with possible internal bruising. It was unexpected so I was not prepared and my soft belly took the brunt of his full weight.

I spent the afternoon in bed watching the footy and dozing on and off.

For dinner I made spinach, roasted pumpkin, haloumi and pine nut salad with leftover chicken wings.

Now it’s time to sleep. We need to go to The Bay tomorrow to get all the things we couldn’t get on Friday because it was a public holiday.

We also need to be home in time for AH’s arrival.

Nite all.