running out of vases....

Our house is currently filled with flowers.
Sadly, since most of them arrived for my birthday a week ago, most are looking a little the worse for wear.


* these were from my forum girls (and Brian!)*




* yellow roses from my husband, they have gold glitter smeared on the edges *


*these gorgeous lilliums (?) from my sisters fill the house with their fragrance*

But the best flower pics are these:




The first flowers The Princess has ever received, from the forum girls (and Brian!)
Aren't those pictures priceless???

the popcorn is gone....

We arrived at the hospital, early this morning.

The Princess was given a room and some baggy pyjamas (they were not pink, much to her disgust) and she got a wrist band and leg band with her name on them, which she could read, so that was kind of cool.
For a while she was pretty distracted, but as the time for her procedure got closer she became more and more teary.
The tears dried up momentarily when John, the orderly, wheeled her bed down to the theatre; great novelty, being wheeled about on a bed! But once at the actual theatre, she began begging me to take her home.
"PLEEEASE MUM, I promise I'll be good!", which just about broke my heart, the poor little love.

The staff allowed me to go into the theatre and I held her (I'm telling her I cuddled her, but really I had to hold her to stop her from pulling the mask away) until she conked out. And then I had to leave her there, a tiny little girl in the middle of all that equipment.
I was fighting a huge lump in my throat and had big hot frightened tears in my eyes, but John the orderly spoke to reassure me and I told him that I have already lost a child, and that I was very scared.
And he told me about his little girl, who died in his arms from leukaemia at just 2 years old.

All the way back to the ward, we talked about our lost children, and how hard it is to fight the fear that somehow, we might lose another. He told me how his friends' daughter, who is the same age as his little girl, has recently become engaged, and he choked up telling me how he will never see his little girl married, or hold his grandchildren.

His kindness and reassurance amazed and touched me deeply, and somehow he must have reached The Princess too, because she drew a picture of him when she got home, which we're posting to the hospital.

My friend, who sat with me when my son died, and held me up many times when I needed it afterwards, kept me from panicking, and her understanding and friendship are worth more to me than I can say.
And another friend looked after my son, and I trust her so completely that I could relax and concentrate all my attention on The Princess, knowing my boy was safe and happy.

I am so blessed to have so many amazing people come into my life when I need them. Some are like lightening flashes, there and gone before you really have time to register the light they've given, while others are with you no matter what.

I am so grateful for all the support, the prayers and good wishes, flowers, phone calls, and the comments left on my blog and on Facebook.
I know for some people, it's a bit hard to understand the fuss I've made. The risk was minimal and the procedure a very ordinary one -- but you see, I've had that one-in-a-million thing happen before, and the fear is always with me now.

But today, we escaped. The Princess is alive and well and sleeping in her own bed. I got to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight.

Thankyou friends and family, thankyou nurses, thankyou doctors.

And John, wherever you are, bless you.

fraud and the lack of sleep

Fabio worked a night shift last night. (sort of)
So when my mobile beeped at 1 am, my sleeping brain alerted me to the fact that my husband might be texting me to tell me he loves me. He does that a lot.
But no.
The message was from my bank, telling me that a dodgy transaction had just been declined.
Do I need to say that I woke up FAST? I wasn't sure which account or card it might be, since for a while there, Fabio was collecting bank accounts like other people collect stamps.

I rang the bank on their 24 hour help line, and had a nice chat with a chappie who put a temporary hold on our credit card, with advice to call my husband asap, and ask him if he had tried to purchase anything at 1 in the morning.

Since he was underground, in a mine, in a little village in the middle of the mountainous jungle, I didn't think it was likely. However, I dutifully messaged him, and lay awake till 2:30 or so, trying to fall back to sleep.

Fabio called me this morning, went through both our credit cards, and found odd activity on both. All transactions were made within the last 2 working days -- one for 3 x phones, one for some other thing that cost $500 plus.
He actually keeps a very close eye on our credit cards, which is bad news for me in some ways, but it pays off.

Anyway, after discussions with the fraud team at our bank, our cards are stopped and the transactions are under investigation. Happy me, since (so far) I love our bank, and I'm pretty sure that all will be well.

We are actually very careful with our cards, and with our on-line transactions, and we still got scammed. I guess it goes to show that nothing, absolutely nothing, beats the good old tried-and-true method of going through your statements!

spring is for planting stuff.

Today, we went to Bunnings and bought
a lavender (it's called Boysenberry Ruffles); a pelargonium; a deep red geranium; some kind of pink daisy looking thing; sweet basil; and mint for my mojitos. Plus a shiny black ceramic pot for the red geranium (looks great) and various bags of compost, potting mix, and mulch. And gloves.
Then we dug and watered and planted and watered and mulched and watered and weeded and dragged pots around and re-potted and discovered that we have bindiis in the front yard.
NOT COOL!
So I'll be digging as many as I can out tomorrow, and then spraying the rest. We have a patch a few feet wide but I'm not sure if there are more.

P.S. For our non-Aussie friends, it's pronounced BINDY-EYE.

happy day....

K -- today is a Good Day. My MIL (who used to be a theatre nurse) reassured me strongly about The Princess's upcoming op. My Terror Index has dropped from Outright Panic to Quite Concerned If I Think About It.

Also -- it's my birthday! and my husband bought me cool presents and hid them in the house for me to find! and he rang me first thing this morning to wish me a happy birthday and tell me he loves me! and it's spring! and it's sunny and clear and perfect out! and my GF has told me to be at her house by 10:30 and not to ask any questions! and we're going decor shopping this afternoon!
Could the day get any better?
(maybe if the stupid popcorn kernel fell out of The Princess's ear by itself...)

Pics later -- trust me, you will want to see my presents from Fabio though -- go here and check out Judy Prossers' work. Fabio gave me Under a Dingo Moon; Dancers on the Claypan; and Desert Rap.
Aren't they a delight???

fear

You know how some things are just too big and scary to talk about? It's like the words and their meanings get jammed in your mouth and you can't quite spit them free.
Yeah. Having that trouble now.

I want to cry. I want to run a thousand miles away. I want to go to sleep and wake up and it's Wednesday morning and everything is fine.

Because on Tuesday, my tiny 5 year old Princess has to have a popcorn kernel removed from her ear under sedation and I don't know what's going to happen.
But I am imagining big.

I have kissed a child for the last time and left his body behind in a hospital before. Left with empty arms and broken heart.

And it isn't enough to say "Lots of kids have this done and they are fine" because I've had the freaky one-in-a-million chance of things going wrong before.

I am scared half out of my head and I don't know what to do.

send a man to the shops.....

... and you never know WHAT he might come home with.

One time, Fabio toddled off for a DVD and came home with THIS:



He met a guy in the street who was flying this thing to Perth, and he needed somewhere safe to keep it for the night -- so it wound up in our backyard. You should have seen my face when Fabio said "Look what I brought home!" though.

And then, this week he went shopping for MILK and BREAD and came home with a KAYAK!



We've been talking about doing this for ages, being so close to the beach and with lots of lovely creeks and rivers here. He canoed as a kid, growing up in a RiverTown, but I hadn't ever tried it till we holidayed on a houseboat. The kids love being out on the water, and MrNearly9 likes to try paddling on his own. Great exercise and great fun, even for a landlubber like me.

And yes, he DID remember the milk and bread :)

possum update

In an interesting twist of fate, I rang the mobile dog wash yesterday, as Dog is smelling a bit -- well, doggy -- and discovered it's run by the WILDLIFE WOMAN!
Now looking for another mobile dog wash.

Possum. A tragedy in three parts.

Our dog, who we generally refer to as 'painted on' for her complete lack of movement 99.9% of the day, morphed into a ferocious hunting animal the other night, while we were half-way through dinner.

We heard a tremendous (do you like that word? I do) tremendous kerfuffle and I ran out to see said Dog stalking around the yard with a large possum hanging out of her gob, very proud of herself, for catching this dangerous creature and Defending Her Family.

I did what any self-respecting woman of the 21st Century would do, and called for hubby, while yelling at the kiddies to STAY INSIDE!
As hubs came out, the Dog dropped her catch and it tried to run away, thus proving that possums really DO play dead. Anyway, after some more chasing and scuffling and yelling at the dog, the possum scrabbled up a tree, the Dog collapsed onto her bed, and the Family went back to dinner.

Next morning, as I faffed around at the kitchen sink, I glanced up into the tree, to see Ol' Poss hanging by it's tail from a branch, very clearly not merely playing dead this time, so after the kiddies went to school, Fabio knocked Ol' Poss down and went to bury the body.

Out in the driveway, huddled up next to the fence, he found a tiny baby possum.
AWWWW.
I rang the rescue person, who came out and -- get this -- had a go at us about our dog being out in the yard! Because Possums don't know that it's not safe to go into certain backyards. But apparently, Dogs ought to know that Possums are not for Playing With.
When I pointed out (defensively) that we RENT this freakin' house, and the dog is SUPPOSED to be outside, she PFFFTed and said that SHE rents, and HER dogs are supposed to be Outside Dogs too, but she lets them in anyway and doesn't tell the landlord. Because they are mastiffs and would eat the possums.
Nice. SO GLAD I am not her landlord.

Finally, she drove her self-righteous ass off with the baby possum, and weren't we glad to see her go!
Till we found the SECOND baby possum! Which we had to deliver to her, as she was waiting for something. And we got a second, thinly veiled lecture about our dog, before escaping to go home and hopefully not find any more possums.

Now I don't mind doing my bit for native wildlife, especially when it's cute like baby possums. But seriously, Wildlife Rescue Lady, if you want people to rescue animals, maybe save the self-righteous act for your nearest and dearest. If you have any.

a cherry on top....

I don't normally post twice in one day, but reading one of my fave blogs this morning, Maxabella Loves, I discovered this nice award waiting for me.

For the Cherry on Top award I need to answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

Oh BOY. You have no idea how many times I've wished I COULD do this! But it always comes down to the fact that if I did, I wouldn't have my oldest 3 kids. So IF I could go back in time and change one thing in my life AND STILL get Kids One, Two and Three, I would not sleep with that idiot loser who became my ex, and instead I would wait for Fabio and persuade him with my girly charms not to sleep with The Wicked Witch of the West, and we would instead get married many years earlier and avoid a LOT of trouble and heartache.
And yes, that all counts as One Thing.

Now to pass the award along....

Farmers' Wifey
Jadeluxe
Suger Coat It
A Day in the Wife

I know awards and their attendant questions aren't everyones' 'thing' -- so I'm not expecting any of you to pass the award along, but know that you all brighten my day. You're all funny, thoughtful, brave, creative girls who give great blog.

this is The Day

Today, Fabio finally comes home after 5 long weeks away overseas.

We're all so excited - the kids can't wait to see Daddy, partly I suspect because they know he's bringing presents. They also have a pile of gifts waiting here to give him (so happy he's coming home on Fathers' Day!!) and we have a pinata, and we made a big colourful banner that says WE LOVE YOU DAD. And there will be cake. MMMMMMM, cake...

And after the kiddies go to bed, there'll be LOTS and LOTS of 'Mummy and Daddy cuddles' going on. So don't expect to hear much from me in the next couple of days.

there's a SPRING in my step!

I heart September!

a) it is my birthday month -- and while I am not overly thrilled at the idea that I will be turning 45 in less than 3 weeks, my husband does give the COOLEST presents.

Plus -- you know, CAKE. MMMMMMMM, cake................



b) it's SPRING! and I can tell already because I'm warm! or at least, not freezing. And there're birds everywhere, and the rose bush that I hacked up a few weeks ago has produced at least one bud (with hopefully more to follow) and it's so beautiful living here.

c) I've changed my doona cover from the fake suede winter one, to the crisp white, pin-tucked and pleated spring/summer one.
I love dressing my bed for the seasons, and now I just have to persuade Fabio that it's perfectly acceptable to have 4 different doona covers. He struggles already with the number of so-called 'fripperies' on the bed (we have 2 pillows plus a boomerang pillow each, plus 5 cushions in white, taupe and black, which seems to me to be just the right amount)
Right now, I'm loving this one from Just Bedding



So how about you? do you love spring, or have any little bedroom rituals that you can discuss in polite company?