Sunday, April 28, 2019

The package has arrived!


Coming in at 7lbs, 9oz is my second great granddaughter, Riley Kaye and held by her gorgeous sister Clio.  I like babies when they are sound asleep, it's the waking time that does me in.

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Ear worms, nuisance, eye worms, hilarious

You pest, Highriser, you really started something with those T-shirts. Everywhere I looked I would find something that would look great on a shirt for you.  The one above would be from your long past drag days.


But much further down the track (R would agree) this one would just be right.
Actually it could be the bloggers motto from the early days, we're too old and lazy to be psycho these days.

Better to leave the weirdness to politicians.  We're going back to the early days with bushrangers trying to run the country and run with the money. What would you do if a Parliamentarian walked up to you and said, "I'll look after your purse/wallet, you can trust me."  You kick them in the kneecaps and run a mile.
That would be nasty on a T-shirt, Clive in speedos with his hand in the Treasury.

Now I have to go and look for the cat. Jimmy forgot about the cat and brought his dog in the yard and being curious he followed him into the house and spotted the cat's breakfast, didn't see the cat behind him.  The cat is terrified of dogs but so protective of his food that he fluffed up like a giant balloon and started growling. Apparently the dog, a timid Coolee (?) is terrified of cats and couldn't move what with the growling and hissing of the giant snowball.  The dog was picked up and taken out, the cat took one look at the empty plates and stormed off to the sewing room.  That was 3 hours ago, I think he's lost himself.

Down to the last magazine holder and I'll have two shelves empty.  These come from the 70s and what were we thinking about with fashion! Horrible big clunky shoes, almost impossible to walk in and definitely the skinny age of clothes.  There was only one way to hide a big everything, Caftans. I had several, still have two to use as patterns. Forget the shoes, I don't think I'd have the energy to lift my feet from the ground.
No matter how many memories of the glory days of youth, some things should be left in the past.  That includes photos of first boyfriends, I found one and my dear, those unfortunate ears.  I have torn up every letter and photo but there's always one lurking around to question one's taste in men and he was wearing platform shoes and flares but I suppose they kept him from flying off in wild weather.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Another hill to climb

Tomorrow he would have been 48 and wouldn't have needed that beard to look older.  All he wanted was to work in the bush, look after trees and keep the forests intact.  He's holding his eldest daughter here, Laura, who is due to give birth in the next few days to his second grandchild.
I remember his laugh. 

Mum's waited a long time to have another birthday with him.  
 

Sunday, April 14, 2019

I'm missing Autumn


I was putting a few pictures in folders last night and forgot to change back to the desktop background I had.  When I switched on this morning my head went round in  circles and I pulled back in the chair.  It had to have been taken from a helicopter and it felt so real I felt I was almost out of the door into the sea. Memo to self, do not take helicopter ride, anywhere.
It didn't help that I felt dizzy and my throat is sore and I am tired again. I was getting better and had been out walking but a letter from Department of Human Resourses dropped me down again.  I have to pay back the nearly $1000 which they said was not part of mum's estate. Please nobody tell me to fight for it, I haven't the energy and the Catch 22 is that I have to pay up first then fight to get it back.  I paid and drew a line in the sand over the whole affair. I had promised myself I would not be told to do anything I didn't want to, unless there's 'egging' a politician involved. I could be talked into a dozen Xtra large right between Dutton's eyes, I might even take them out of the carton.
I'm not telling the others, nephew needs every cent he has and my sister would want to fight the DHR rather than pay her share.  But I felt myself sliding down the hill again so another day off from dragging furniture and definitely no moving the oven to clean underneath so I could take photos to show the store.
The stove is attached to the gas by an extension hose so I can move it around to clean underneath, great idea until I was suddenly fat and old.  
Now we get to the big question.  What comes first, buy the new stove, same as the last, or buy the plumber to give me a quote to do the gas bit. This new generation just throws everything out so will the plumber know what to do with the fittings I have?  Remember the nice new phones that Telstra gave me? They're still sitting in the box because my other phones had different plugs and it will cost me money for the free phones for a technician to fix up all the different fittings.
I do remember the days when you could walk into the Gas and Fuel shop, pay the bill, order a new stove and a gas fitter came with it. See I was gearing myself up to do this when the letter came and I couldn't be bothered putting on the list of 'do this now', podiatrist, eye test, hair cut, find out about the heart scan, find somewhere that sells bed bases and takes the old one away. 

Maybe it is me but there seems to be too many people to argue with these days. The taxi driver went on and on about electric cars and how he'd be forced to get rid of his precious car.  I politely said it would be years and years before anything happened and off he went again.  I went back this time, told him to remembered when cars became common, the government didn't make everyone rush out and shot their horse and burn the buggy. He didn't get a tip after he told me I needed a new walker. 

Next week's temperatures are all in the high 20s, Autumn weather, dragging furniture weather, painting weather and please,feeling better weather. 

Thursday, April 04, 2019

Centrelink exists so people have something to hate more than Politicians!

This day cost me $1000, $280 for me to stand there holding the box until everything was ready except I ended up to ill to leave the house.  The girls from the Pioneer Cemetary came to the house and collected mother and sent photos of the work but I didn't get the money back. 

It looks very grubby but then I hadn't been there since the bushfire came through and it needs a good polish. I have silk roses for the new flowers but I need a bag of cement. I put the roses and cement in cut down lemonade bottles and they stay in place.  The raggy ones there were some my sister put in after the fire.  Only two rows were hit by the branches from the enormous pine tree that went up in flames and ours was one. The trouble is now that I need the walker, you can see the red brick path isn't walker friendly.
My grandmother was buried here in 1928 and that big sand patch has been there that long, a 6 coffin plot I believe. My father went there in 1994 and they'd just put another filling of sand over the cracked plot, 2019 and another fresh load has just gone in.  Twenty-five years of filling that ground and it's still disappearing. It's a worry and I walk well away from it.
Anyway the sun was shining and my parents were together on St. Valentine's Day.

Now my mother died on the 17th December, 2018 and the internment was January 14, 2019.  On March 4th, I received a letter from Centrelink to tell me that I had taken money that was not mine. This after all the trouble I had to close the estate, including going to Centrelink to fill in forms and show cards and certificates and asking about the pension payment which was still in the bank. Now a single pensioner is entitled to one extra payment to help with funeral expenses and this is what I thought had been put into her bank account but to make sure I left it alone for two more payment dates, it wasn't taken out and nothing put in.  The girl at Centrelink said it probably was the bereavement payment and if it wasn't taken out at the next due date then close the account and the estate.  The official at the bank agreed so everything was split 3 ways and my sister drove me crazy wanting to know how long before she had the money.  
Then comes this letter, the department is going through everything to make sure if I was entitled to this $916 or not. Doc Marvin said to write down every date I could remember dealing with Centrelink and remember what they'd told me about keeping that money.  Fine, except this was when I really went from huffing and puffing thinking it was something I was allergic to but actually really coughing and hacking sick.  The letter also told me to do nothing and another letter would arrive after investigation, the date is now April 4th and I have to keep $1000 in my bank just in case.  I've missed the sales and the chance to get rid of my old oven with mouse, another letter to remind me to have the gas heater checked, $200, ignore and my walker is starting to fall apart.
I only mention this after reading an article in the paper this morning after a mother was sent a letter saying she owed money for a child she didn't have, a child was sitting with her ready to go to school. Apparently someone hadn't ticked a box on a form, the debt collectors were set on her and she got nowhere until a letter to her local member fixed it. I've taken that on board but no doubt I'll get a letter right in the middle of the election fight.
 

Monday, April 01, 2019

When your body says you're sick, LISTEN

Gorgeous vase by Jay Strongwater but I don't like the colour, picky but one in the palest pink would suit me more.  And that's as far as I got for this post and now on the 1st of April I feel like blogging again.  I was so ill I couldn't leave the house for 4 weeks and Doc Marvin came 3 times.  I don't think I've ever coughed so much in my life and the squeaking, wheezing and whistling in my chest drove me crazy.
I couldn't even go to the Cemetary to bury Mum's ashes but the girls came and picked up the box and sent photographs. I really wanted that day as it was 14th February, St. Valentine's Day and it was a beautiful sunny day for mum and dad to be re-united.  After that I really fell in a heap.  Lying down to sleep was near impossible so I slept wherever I could.  It wasn't unusual to wake up with a cup of tea still in one hand and a sandwich in the other or a lemonade icy pole, lovely cold icy pole.
For the first week I was on Solone to get the fluid out of my lungs.  Pharmacy could have put a warning on the box not to take the first ones at night. Up, down, up, down, and everytime I sat up, cough cough cough, pee and repeat.  I ended up putting a couple of towells at the edge of the bed because I'm not that good at cross legs and cough while standing up. It was a bacterial infection in the lungs and lingered on although I didn't feel really sick just so tired I couldn't think or remember what day it was.
The Bear was worried until he worked out I was okay to feed him and then he got sneaky. I'd be heading for the back door to shut it and he would shoot out knowing I couldn't follow but I can't blame him as it was one of those horrible hot weeks.  Karma got him in the end.  Whatever time I woke up, the cough would start so I'd be up for pills and a cuppa, turn on the news after filling his dish.  No Bear appeared and after an hour I really worried. I vaguely remember hearing a faint miouw but I slipped into sleep, so it wasn't a screaming, raging cat fight.  So sick mummy staggered round the yard, went out to check the street for a body, nothing.  Nephew rang to see if I wanted anything and was straight over to look for the precious.  As his car pulled up, the precious strolled out of my bedroom where he'd been hiding and threw his paws round Steve''s leg. You could almost hear the sobbing story of what had happened to him during the night. Never mind me! He had one huge hole in his ear and one large scratch on his shoulder, nothing else except PTSD.
It doesn't end there.  I couldn't figure what was floating around the apple tree until it hit the concrete.  I went out with a stick to poke at it and so help me it was the black fluffy end of a possum's tail, bitten straight through. I'm still trying to work out who got to who first. No wonder he wouldn't come out of the wardrobe and the hole in the ear won't come together to heal, too big and I have threatened to put his registration tag in it.
I must thank "Paws and Whiskers" pet shop who delivered his kibble when I was too ill to go out.
Last week I was well enough to go and get litres of blood taken, a chest X-ray and a CT scan of my heart.  They gave me a dvd of the scan but the Doc is taking a well-earned holiday so I'll see him eventually.  The X-ray showed the heart was the right size but the CT scan was needed to show the tissue or whatever was around it. He said my sugar was up but what can you do when living on lemonade icy poles.
Mum's stuff is still in a pile in the lounge but I am gradually getting it down. My things are going as well, I'm doing that Japanese Lady's method of throwing out, you look at ornament, book or whatever and say, "do you make me happy?" and if it's no then it's gone.  So instead of space I have two huge boxes full of unhappiness.  Next up is the Queen Ann crystal cabinet, going into the sewing room which will involve a bit of shuffling in there but honestly I can't stand the cigarette smell, 40 years of cigarette smoke have been embedded in the wood.
I plan to put quilting fabric in it as fabric can be washed and I can put huge bowls of potpourrie in the cabinet.
I even found a box of Christmas presents that I didn't send two Christmases ago. Not my fault, always there was a crisis near Christmas. Highriser, your present is next only because it's been sitting on the table for so long, the box has faded and looks like an op shop re-gift.
I hope it's not so long before I blog again.