Rixta’s blog

(If what I write here really annoys you, then simply don’t read it!)

December 28^th

Today I received in the mail a check from Westpac Insurances for the insurance I had cancelled two weeks ago. I had stated very clearly that the insurance should be terminated by December 16^th, but again they had ignored that (just the same as the last time I cancelled an insurance with them) and the termination date was December 21^st. They are lucky that I’m too tired to make a hassle over this, but this is exactly why we have moved all our insurances elsewhere. These banks try to get every dollar out of you that they can and when you have a claim on your insurance they just try to do everything not to pay. I’m really glad that this is largely over now. We only have Grant’s income insurance left with them and there’s little chance that we can move that one elsewhere. Anyway, the check is at the bank (also logic: sending a check instead of paying the money straight into your account. Basically another way of delaying a payment) and we should have the money coming Tuesday. It was more than I had calculated myself, so that was a nice surprise.

December 25^th

As I didn’t have anything better to do I sewed another bear this morning, which means I have three again. Only a few more and I have reached the 150. That should be possible for this year.

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

December 25^th

Today is Christmas Day and as usual Grant’s family has a Christmas lunch together. As Grant is off he decided that it would be good to go, but unfortunately I can’t come with him. I’m just way too tired for social events like that. I wouldn’t last 20 minutes. It’s frustrating that even if people allow me to be part of a social event I just can’t go because of my health. I will have to somehow learn to live with it, but that’s tough.

December 20^th

As usual I do things differently again as most people. When last week asked the pharmacist about the side effects of the painkillers I had just been prescribed, he told me that the grogginess should last a few days and other side effects could last a few weeks. Well, the dry mouth disappeared after a few days, but it’s a week later now and I am still very groggy and feel like I could fall asleep at any moment. I also had that when I started with the same medicine at a low dose and it disappeared after some two weeks, so I really hope that it will also go now on the higher dose. It’s nice to fall asleep easily at night, but during the day I wouldn’t mind being a bit more alert.

December 18^th

It’s getting a bit boring, but at the moment I don’t have much else to say than that I have another three bears ready to join their friends in the big bag.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

December 14^th

There’s always space in the bag for a few more, so the bears in the bag get company of three more. December is a bit slow for other craft things, so I have enough time for sewing.

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

December 13^th

Today I saw my GP to ask for a much higher dose of painkillers, as what I had wasn’t closely enough. Considering that she made quite a bit of an issue of even a low dose of opioids I had prepared for a struggle. But first thing she told me was that a pain specialist is going to open a practice in Maitland in January and she will send a referral there, so that I can get in soon. That was great news, as I wanted to see a specialist from the beginning, but there wasn’t one. Then she mentioned again her concerns about oxycodone, but two minutes later she gave me a script for more than double the dose than I have now! I still don’t understand that, but I’m very happy with it. Grant had come with me for mental support and maybe it was his good influence that changed her mind. Or maybe she realized that in two months she can hand the responsibility for my painkillers over to a specialist and that for that reason she didn’t mind prescribing a high dose. I suppose that, not being in the system, I will never fully understand doctors, but this was so double good news that I felt slightly euphoric for a few hours.

December 11^th

Today we went to the local Methodist Church, where they have decorated the whole church with Christmas themes. There was a very nice nativity display at the entrance and the rest of the church was decorated with a lot of trees, each of them being done by a different group. There were also loads of Christmas paintings from Sunday school children, which were very nice to see. The two ladies who did the volunteering were glad that we came in, as the interest didn’t seem to be very big. Which is a shame, as they make such an effort every year again. I took a photo of the display:

(click on the photo to go to the pictures page)

December 9^th

Today I decided that one of our apple trees had had enough time to try to show some green. It never did as well as the other one and now it didn’t do anything anymore, so I threw it into the bin. When we bought the apple trees three years ago we were told that you need two different ones, for cross-pollination. And so we did. When this one didn’t blossom in early spring, and the other one did, we assumed we wouldn’t get any apples. So we were very surprised when one day we noticed that the healthy tree did grow apples! Obviously the bees didn’t care about the opinion of the garden centre employee and had pollinated with whatever other apple tree there is in the area. They look like they will become nice, mature apples, but what they will taste like will be a big surprise. I suppose that that tree will be a surprise every year, as we won’t know what the bees will do. But surprise apples are a lot better than no apples at all.

December 8^th

A few days ago I saw some really nice, wooden garden ornaments in a shop catalogue and a comment about what a shame it was that we don’t have a garden got us a good idea: why not turning our veranda into a piece of green? And so we did. The right hand side of the veranda has the flowers, wind chimes and wind vanes, because that’s the side of the bedroom window and it gives me a nice scenery. But the other side was a bit bare. Now it’s not anymore. We got some fake grass and the abovementioned garden ornaments, plus a few other things and voila: our veranda garden was there. It has become a really nice display. Maybe some people will think we are a bit weird, but I think there will be just as many who think it looks nice. And it’s our house, so we can do whatever we want. Here are some photos:

(click on one of the pictures to go the pictures page, where you can see larger pictures)

December 3^rd

Today Grant and I went to the jeweller’s shop to choose some nice earrings for me. It’s five weeks since I got my ears pierced and that’s long enough. I didn’t give Grant a too hard time, but there were a lot of nice things for sale! He’s lucky that I’m a quick decision maker, for else we could have spent an hour there.J I chose a set of golden studs with a large white pearl. They look really nice, but I keep thinking about all those other things they had. That will be a good idea for my next birthday….

December 2^nd

Here’s another three bears. I’m getting close to 150…

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

December 1^st

It was car trouble day today. When I wanted to leave to get to the supermarket the engine didn’t start. So I called the NRMA and the guy said the battery was flat and I should let the engine idle for 45 minutes and then everything would be OK. So I did, while in the meantime I took Dribbel for a walk. After the 45 minutes I turned the engine off, as I needed a break before going to the supermarket. A while later I tried to start the engine and again: nothing. So I tried to call the garage to ask what they could do for me, as the battery was only 13 months old. But for some reason I just couldn’t get contact. I think they have a problem with the phone there. Anyway, I called the NRMA again and the guy said that the battery was gone and I should take it to the garage to demand a new one, as it’s still under warranty. He could kick start the engine, so I immediately left to the garage. Luckily I always keep receipts, so I could easily prove that indeed the battery was only 13 months old. They didn’t make an issue of it and replaced it immediately. But by then it was 1.15 PM and I was too tired to do anything anymore. I had planned a quiet day tomorrow, but now I need to go to the supermarket. Not something I like to do on Fridays, as then the car park is always full. Oh well, such things happen and it could have been worse. The car should run again without any problems now for at least a year.

November 28^th

The last few weeks I had trouble with Speedy, as it was slowing down and had problems with ramps. I had been to the shop a few weeks ago and then I was told that the batteries had to be checked, but that would take a while and I had to make an appointment for it. Fair enough. I wanted to do that last week, but the whole week it was pouring and rain doesn’t go together with batteries, so I had to wait till today. To my surprise there was a guy in the shop who could check things immediately and it appeared that one of the batteries inside the box (which I thought was one battery) had given up, which explained the problems poor Speedy had. Unfortunately batteries have only six months warranty and I got Speedy ten months ago, so I wasn’t happy with that. The guy at the shop also understood that this wasn’t great and offered the great service to replace the batteries for the wholesale price, which wasn’t too bad. I could even wait for it, as he had the batteries in stock. After that Speedy was running again at the normal speed and got me up the ramp at the post office without any problems (a very steep ramp, which probably is a problem to many people on wheels). So I’m really glad that I got this sorted out, for I would have got stuck soon with just one battery running. Now I just hope that the new ones will last a lot longer, but batteries are weird things and nobody can tell how long they will last. I never understand that Anno 2011 they still can’t make batteries that last a set time.

November 26^th

Three more bears are joining their friends in the big bag. That bag won’t be full till after Christmas, as it’s getting too hot to do a lot of crafting.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

November 25^th

The last two days it has been raining almost non-stop and at times quite heavily and our roof is still not leaking. So we can safely assume that the roofer has done a good job and the problem is solved. Not that I doubted that, but it’s always nice to see it yourself. I’m getting tired of the rain, as today will be another very wet day. It will be difficult to get the laundry dry without a dryer, but so far I have always succeeded with that and there’s no reason to think that time will be any different.

November 19^th

At the Aldi they sell ducks at the moment, with the chickens and turkeys, as a Christmas special. I had only tasted duck once in my life and that was quite a long time ago, so I decided I wanted to see what it tastes like. Today we put the duck into the oven, but we both agreed that it was a little disappointing. It had a bit more taste than chicken, but for the rest it’s quite the same. It was OK, but not worth double the price of a chicken. Anyway, I just wanted to try it and now I know that I won’t need it again. It was interesting to try though.

November 18^th

Today the roofer came to sort out the problems with our leaking roof. I had a few theories, but none of them appeared to be the cause of the problems. The guy explained what was wrong, but in such technical language that I had no clue what it was. But I understood that some part was worn out and had to be replaced. So most probably we won’t get any leakage anymore for a long time, though of course you can never know with such an old house like ours. The price was also very reasonable, so that was all very satisfying. Of course it would be nicer if there weren’t any bills in life, but I don’t mind paying them when it’s about necessary things for the house. That’s the blessing of owning your house.

November 17^th

Yesterday I brought my car to the garage to get some repairs done and we agreed that I would pick it up this morning. That was easier for me than picking it up at the end of the day, because I need to walk up there and at the end of the day that’s really too far for my legs. But yesterday around 4PM I got a phone call. Blah, blah, blah, unexpected things had come up and they had only just started with my car. If it would be a problem for me to pick it up today at lunchtime? Well, yes, actually that was a problem, but what could I do? So today after lunch I very slowly walked to the garage, only to find out that still the work hadn’t been finished. I still had to wait another 30 minutes before it was finally ready. I suppose I had made it very clear that I wasn’t happy with this situation at all, for I got apologies and even a few dollars discount. And as the bill wasn’t as bad as I had expected I decided it wasn’t worth my energy to point out the total lack of service. But I’m sure that if my car had been 1 year old instead of 21 years, that then it would have been ready at the agreed time…

November 14^th

And I keep sewing and sewing. It seems to get quicker all the time to make a bear, so that means even more bears. Well, I better make some more now it’s still not too hot, for in summer it’s easily too hot anywhere outside the bedroom after 10 AM.

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

November 8^th

Dribbel has been to the vet today, for his annual vaccinations and health check. He got a clean bill of health again and a compliment from the vet about being such a brave boy. He didn’t even make a sound when he got the shots. Not bad for a little dog. He just needs to go back to get his teeth cleaned again, as that’s an ongoing problem. It’s not really urgent, but it shouldn’t wait too long. We will probably schedule it for January, as November and December come with some high bills and the vet isn’t cheap either. Dribbel does have some arthritis in his injured leg, but that’s nothing new. And that he slows down a bit during his walks isn’t unusual either for his age. So that was good news.

The vet almost forgot to give our boy a treat from the lolly jar, but luckily she thought about that just in time. After all, that’s why Dribbel likes to go to the vet.J

November 7^th

When we bought our apple trees we were told that you need to trees, for cross-pollination. And so we did. But it happened that the first tree is doing really well, but the other one not so much. The first one this year had already blossoms for the second time, but as the other tree seems to feel for dying we didn’t expect anything. So we were really surprised to see that the bees had had a different idea. They have brought us pollen from wherever and the first tree is carrying quite a few apples! What kind of apples they will be is going to be a surprise. But it means that even if the second tree won’t survive we don’t need to throw both of them out. We can just see what kind of apples we get every year. And hope that the bees will keep visiting us.

November 3^rd

And here’s another three bears, that can start the new bag. I wonder how many bears I will make till I’m sick and tired of it and need a really long break. So far I’m still enjoying it.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

October 29^th

A while ago I got a DVD from the library about cancer, especially skin cancer. It was a kind of documentary, showing the horrible reactions people had got from a certain prescription drug for skin cancer. Then they also told about an ancient remedy that works in almost 100% of the cases of skin cancer (and also often against other cancers that are close under the skin). This stuff is called “black salve” and it’s totally harmless (worst side effect is a slight irritation of the skin). The problem is that… it’s not allowed for sale for human use. Why not? Well, let’s say that Big Pharma has something to do with that. The interesting fact is that it is for sale for animal use, so you can buy it, as long as you say it’s for your dog. But even then it’s not easy to get and quite expensive. But no problem, on the DVD they showed how you can make the black salve yourself. They just didn’t say that it’s quite difficult to get all the ingredients. But I was determined to make this stuff and yesterday I got the last ingredient in the mail (most things I had to buy on line). So today I decided to start cooking. It was quite a hassle, but the end product looked very similar to what they showed on the DVD, so it should be OK. Now I just have a huge jar full of the stuff, enough to cure the whole city from skin cancer. I don’t know what to do with that huge amount, but it will go into the fridge, where you can keep this stuff indefinitely. And then we will see if we can give some of it away.

October 28^th

For some things you are never too old (not that I’m that old anyway). I never got my ears pierced, just because I didn’t. I’m not a jewellery person and never really thought about it. But a while ago at once I started to see all these nice earrings in shops and I decided that it was time to get my ears pierced. I still postponed it for a while, but this morning I got my haircut and at the same place they also do ear piercings. I must say that it looks really nice, though the initial studs are very tiny and just meant to keep the holes open and prevent infection. Once they can get out (after 6-8 weeks) I will buy myself something really nice. I probably will never wear long earrings, or big hoops, but small studs will look nice.

October 27^th

A while ago I sent a little story about Dribbel to Reader’s Digest magazine, for the their “smart animal” pages. Last month I got an e-mail that they would publish it! I eagerly awaited the November issue, assuming it would be in then and it was. But it was a bit disappointing to notice that they had shortened the story by about 50%. I know that everything needs to be edited, so that the pages are filled exactly, but couldn’t they have shortened that other story?J

You can read it on the pictures page.

October 25^th

Today I dropped off a bag of bears at the shelter. First I got a young girl at the door, obviously someone new or an apprentice or so. I had already seen that there was a lot of stuff on the veranda and the girl said that they didn’t need anything and that I could better bring my bears to an op shop. Obviously she thought I just had a bag of second hand teddy bears (lots of people think that their garbage is good enough for other people). When I explained that I had made bears before she got someone else, who did know about my work. I said that if I made too many bears I could stop sewing, but the reactions was “no, don’t stop sewing”. They work together with a project for homeless people and if they have too many bears they will go there. Also my suggestion to get them to another refuge seemed to be taken as a good idea. So I will just keep sewing till I can’t see a bear anymore, or till my large pile of fabrics has disappeared; whichever comes first.

October 21^st

With these three bears the bag is full and I will see if I can bring it to the shelter coming week. I will have to make a good count to see if I’m already close to 150.J

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

October 18^th

Today I got the car registration done and the car also got serviced, which was slightly overdue. I remember that last year they said something about an oil leak, but then it obviously wasn’t much of a problem. But now it has got worse and though it wasn’t bad enough to not pass the rego check, it should get repaired. But I will get that done later, when the numbers on our bank account are a bit better. I did stick a note on my desk though, so that I won’t forget to get it done. As I don’t know anything about cars I wouldn’t notice that there’s a problem and probably forget about it till next year’s check. And that would be a bad idea. Car repairs never come at a convenient time, but that goes for all bills. And we really can’t complain about this car, for in the six years we have it now we have had hardly any trouble whatsoever. Not bad for a car that’s 21 years old. With a little luck it will last another five years.

October 17^th

It looks like the huge sparrow family that had chosen our veranda as their gathering location last year isn’t coming back this year. Maybe they are late because of the cold weather, but it’s very quiet. There seem to be one or two nests though, so maybe they are just late. I hope so, for it’s a real delight to wake up in the morning with a concert of twittering birds.

October 16^th

Today summer has begun. Well, it looks like it. So far it was quite cold (which I really liked), but of course that couldn’t last forever. Considering the weather forecast I think that next week I can get my skirts and shorts out. Let’s just hope that summer won’t get too hot.

October 13^th

And another three bears are ready. I think I’m getting slightly more energy, as I seem to get more things done on an average day. I don’t know why that is, but it’s most likely because of some food supplements I have started taking. And I suppose the fact that painkillers keep the pain under control also helps, as pain is very tiring.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

October 12^th

This morning I wanted to go to the supermarket and again I couldn’t get the car engine started. This time I got so tired of it that I gave up and called road assistance. At the phone I was told the waiting time was up to 90 minutes, but after five minutes the guy already arrived. It was not the oil, as I had assumed, but the battery. That one is still quite new, but as I drive so few kilometres it doesn’t charge enough and so the car gets a flat battery. So the advice was to let the engine run for an hour and off now I should make a longer drive at least once every two weeks. That’s actually not such a bad thing, for then we have a good reason to get out of the house. As we are both such hopeless homebodies we don’t encourage each other to get out of the house and go somewhere. But now we have a reason, for even if we don’t feel for going out, the car needs to. Let’s hope that trick works. We will never become people who make a trip around the world, but you can also exaggerate liking your home.

October 10^th

Today I got a letter from the financial ombudsman about the issue I have with the fees they charge, which I think are far away from reasonable. I had expected a real answer, but instead all they can say is that it’s “outside their jurisdiction”. Where you could go then they don’t mention. But I hadn’t expected a solution, so I’m not disappointed. Most probably we will be able to take away one more of our insurances away from Westpac and that’s the best way to punish a business that doesn’t treat you correctly. And last week we also got a notice from Grant’s super fund that they have requested our GP for information considering Grant’s application for income insurance. That might not mean anything, but the fact that they don’t ask the doctor in Sydney, nor the cardiologist could be a good sign. It would be fantastic if we could also get that insurance away from Westpac. But we will have to wait and see what they will offer us. It probably won’t take too long before we will hear from them, as our GP usually does that kind of paperwork pretty quickly.

October 9^th

Another week has passed, without anything special to mention. But I have made my time useful with sewing another couple of bears. When I have reached the 150 I will give myself a little treat.J

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

October 3^rd

It has been a busy week, but bit-by-bit I have succeeded in finishing another tree bears. The number is getting up and it’s something I feel proud about. I might not be able to do much, and many people will consider me useless, but I can do things that help others. And in the end that might be even better than having a well-paid job that only serves yourself.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

September 30^th

This morning I wanted to go to the supermarket, but when I wanted to start the car the engine caused trouble again. It was the same as last month when it was pretty cold. But today it’s not cold, but there is a very strong, cold wind. I tried and tried and after a little while I gave up and went inside to call road assistance. After the call I decided to give the car one more chance, as after all I know that car. And you guess it, the engine started without any problem. So I went back inside and called the same number to cancel the road assistance. I though it was quite funny and I think I heard the woman on the phone grin as well. But it’s definitely time that this car gets a service and new oil. I will do that next month together with the rego check.

September 28^th

Computer, we all love they if they work well, but hate them if they don’t. Two days ago I turned my computer on in the morning and noticed that no program wanted to start, though Windows itself did work. After an hour or trying all kinds of things I gave up and brought the thing to the shop. The guy thought it was just a virus and he would be able to remove it. But as it turned out it was a new type of virus, that’s especially aggressive. He succeeded in removing it, but then Windows had got damaged so much that a clean install was necessary. Luckily he could save everything from my Internet browser and e-mail program. But when I wanted to get my e-mail today I didn’t get connection. I called the help desk and after a bit of trying I got my e-mail in. But then I noticed that I couldn’t send any e-mail. So I called the help desk again and the guy there was very helpful. We spent about an hour on the phone before he found out that the virus scanner was causing trouble. Obviously both the e-mail program and the virus scanner have a newer version and they weren’t 100% compatible. It was a bit of a nightmare, as installing all your programs again is more than enough work without a problem like this. But at least it got solved and that’s all that counts in the end. Now I hope that I won’t get such a nasty virus again. There’s nothing you can do about this new type, as they just jump on your computer from an infected website, without you doing anything. And a virus scanner of course is always one step behind. So it was just my bad luck.

September 25^th

And here’s another picture for my collection of bears’ pictures. The bear bag is getting already quite full, but there’s space for more.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

September 24^th

Today I realized why I always seem to feel so bad after having used my TENS unit. Of course it’s quite simple: when you have electromagnetic sensitivity, then therapy with electricity might not be such a good idea. If I ever doubted that I have EMS, then it’s not very clear. After 30 minutes treatment I feel really sick for the rest of the day. So I have decided to sell the unit again, for Grant won’t be able to use it, as he has too much body hair and then the pads don’t stick. He can put it on the Intranet at work and it probably will get sold soon. It’s a shame, but life is just like this. You can only try.

September 22^nd

After the sewing of my new clothes had got finished I continued with my bears. And here are three more. The bag is already getting quite full, so maybe next month I can deliver another full bag to the refuge.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

September 20^th

I have learned something about gardening again. One of our lemonade trees had a bunch of fruits growing of about 1 ½ cm in size. But this morning I saw that the whole bunch had fallen off, because they were too heavy. So now I trim every bunch till there’s only one or two fruits left. They will have a much bigger chance of growing till full size. I don’t know if this is something for young trees and that it will get better over time. It could be. Why else would the tree grow it like that? But for now I better be careful. It’s too disappointing to watch those fruits grow, only to see them on the ground later. There will be plenty of fruits anyway, as both trees are full of blossoms and they are supposed to keep flowering all year round. I noticed that the lime tree has the same problem, but the orange and mandarin trees have separate flowers, so they won’t fall off (at least not for that reason).

September 15^th

As Grant has two weeks off he’s really busy doing jobs around the house. We have finally got the courage to really do something about the untidy borders at the front of the house, so we went to Bunnings and got weed cloth and four bags of pebble stones. If we can manage to put that there, then the weeds won’t get a chance anymore and it will finally look good. After 5 ½ years that’s not really early.

September 14^th

We got trauma insurance for Grant at HCF, but unfortunately there’s a 90 days waiting period for several important things, so we will have to wait till December to cancel the insurance at Westpac. And unfortunately that’s a package deal, so we can’t cancel the disability and life insurance yet either. But three months isn’t long. And we had a busy day, for we also went to the optometrist to get Grant a decent pair of reading glasses. The cheap standard ones caused him a headache, so it was time for something better. But phew, I had forgotten how expensive glasses are! Luckily HCF paid a big part of it, but if he wants another pair he will have to wait till next year.

September 11^th

At once I remembered that Grant’s super fund offers income protection insurance. And as a public servant he’s a member of a government super fund, so that’s non-profit. And non-profit insurers usually just pay when you have a claim, without delaying things unnecessarily, just to make some extra money. So I downloaded and printed a long form, filled in a lot of hopeless questions (did you ever have an X-ray and what was the result? On what date did you start taking this medication? etc. ) and put the form into the mail. It will take a long time before we will hear from that, for this type of insurance requires information from all doctors you mentioned in the form and many doctors aren’t very eager to fill in forms for insurance companies. And then we will have to see what they offer us. There’s a good chance that they will exclude heart problems and of course that’s unacceptable. But they might not, so it’s worth a try. We can only wait now.

September 8^th

This morning we got in the mail the new policies for Grant’s life and income protection insurances. And I was really shocked to see how much they have put up the premiums! We pay more than 14% more than last year, while the benefits have increased with only 3%. Of course I immediately got on the phone to ask what the heck this means, but the simple answer was that the older you get the higher the risk, so the higher the premium. That they make a lot of money with young people with low risk obviously doesn’t matter. I checked the original policies and it does say there that premiums are not guaranteed. I could accept a small increase, but 14% is ridiculous. I have now lodged a complaint with the insurance ombudsman and we will have to see what they say about this. But I’m afraid that this isn’t just a Westpac issue, but that all commercial insurers will do the same. So I’m looking into the possibility to move Grant’s life insurances to HCF, a non-commercial insurer where we also have private health insurance. We have very good experiences with them. The only problem is that Grant had heart problems three years ago and “existing conditions” are excluded. So I need to know whether Grant’s heart is still considered an existing condition or not. If not, then I will move the whole lot from Westpac to HCF. The premiums will be about the same, but benefits different, but not necessarily lower. And with HCF we can be sure that if we have a claim they will pay within a reasonable period of time. We won’t need to chase them up umpteen times before we get paid. I’m really mad and tomorrow I’m going to change my own life insurance from Westpac to HCFS. I had already planned to do that, but now I don’t want to postpone that any longer. It’s time for action!

Unfortunately it will be almost impossible to move Grant’s income protection insurance, as it seems that these insurances are only offered by commercial insurers, so we would get exactly the same problems somewhere else. And they probably would exclude heart problems, so that’s not an option. Not enough people take out income insurance, which makes it an uninteresting product for non-commercial insurers.

September 6^th

Today I went to the shop to buy another piece of fabric to make one more pair of shorts. It took me ages! First I had to go through the large piles of fabrics they have there, and again and again, as I couldn’t make my choice. Then I finally had found the perfect fabric, but then it appeared that I wasn’t the only one with plans for a new summer wardrobe. So it took a long time before my fabric could be cut. At least I hadn’t forgotten to bring my walking cane, so that my back and legs didn’t get too sore. But next year I will really, really, really start sooner when I need something new for summer. Yeah, sure…

September 2^nd

I have reorganized the page with the soft toys a bit and now the newest photos are on top, which makes more sense to me. Here are my latest three bears. Now I will give it a short break, for I need to do some other sewing. Winter is over and spring has started, which means that it won’t be too long till the skirts and shorts will be necessary again. And I really need new shorts, so it’s time to do that type of sewing.

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

August 29^th

And another three bears can join their friends in the big bag. I’m really in sewing mood at the moment. I wonder how long that mood will last.J

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

August 29^th

This morning I had an appointment with my GP to discuss stronger pain relief, as I really need it. I had already done some thorough research on the available medicines and actually there wasn’t anything that didn’t show a long list of unpleasant side effects. Some mentioned as the main side effects fatigue and dizziness, two things that are among the last I want, so they wouldn’t be options at all. Luckily my GP made it easy for me and suggested what I also had in mind: a low dose of oxycodone. She did some searching to find the best form of it, as there are many different ways (normal pills, slow release pills, capsules and drops) and I would like something that I can dose myself (slow release pills and capsules can’t be cut in half). She found me a liquid that would last me a while, which is easy as she is going on a holiday for a month. And a liquid can easily be manipulated, so that suits me fine. I have never had a liquid before, but I’m sure the pharmacist will explain to me how to use it. Unfortunately it wasn’t in stock at the pharmacy, so I will have to go back tomorrow, but that’s no big deal. Let’s hope that this will help. I really don’t want a higher dose of any of these types of medicines, but if necessary I will take them. I don’t need to be totally pain free, but the pain must be bearable and at the moment it’s not at most days.

August 29^th

Some people seem to be born masochists. Why would anyone keep reading a blog from a complete stranger, when the contents really annoy you? Any sensible person simply stops reading, but some don’t. And on top of that the odd one then even decides to leave a nasty message in my guest book. It’s really sad for these people, for they must get annoyed an awful lot. And that probably makes them very annoying people. So my tip for these people is simple: if what I write annoys you, don’t read it!

August 26^th

I’m really getting in “bear mood” again, for I have finished another three bears already. But that doesn’t matter. Maybe in a few weeks I will get tired of this again and take my cross-stitch work out again.

(click on the picture to go to the toys page)

August 26^th

This morning I went to the Aldi to get my weekly groceries and on the way back I decided to put some fuel in the tank. No problem, till I wanted to leave. Then the car didn’t want to start. I have had already quite a few times before and I know that waiting ten minutes almost always does the trick. But this time I had a bit of a problem, for it was busy and I couldn’t stay there for ten minutes. But there was some maintenance guy working on one of the pumps and I asked him if he could help me getting my car out the way. It was someone with a lot of muscle, so he told me to get into the car and he just pushed me to the parking spot. But he didn’t accept my explanation about the returning problem and somehow another guy showed up, who couldn’t help himself either. They absolutely had to take a look at the engine, trying the find the problem. But it didn’t work, so I just waited my ten minutes. After ten minutes I turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened. So I got a bit mad and a bit desperate, as I was tired and wanted to go home. So in my desperation I just decided to ask God for help. “Please God, let this engine start.” And then I turned the key and the engine started. If you who read this don’t believe in God or miracles, then I’m sure you will say that there will be a perfectly logical, technical explanation for this. And there probably is. But God gave me that perfectly logical, technical solution just at the right moment. And maybe that doesn’t qualify it as a miracle, but to me it’s an act of God.

August 25^th

I had an appointment with the dentist today and luckily everything was fine, as usual. It’s just funny that obviously I’m the exception, for every time the guy says that it’s so great and that’s he so happy with my teeth. Like I keep them in good condition to please the dentist. I really do it for myself. But I suppose that lots of people on go when they have problems and show up with a lot of rotten teeth with plenty of cavities. Nobody likes going to the dentist, but it’s always a nice clean feeling afterwards.

August 22^nd

I got bored with my cross-stitching and picked up the bears again. I have finished three and here’s the photo. I have recently dropped off a bag of bears, so I don’t need to feel any pressure to make more, but it’s just fun to do.

(click on the photo to go to the toys page)

August 18^th

My pain is quickly going from not-too-bad to pretty severe, so I was wondering if there is a pain specialist in Maitland. I went to the GP surgery, as that’s the place to get such information and as I feared: I would have to go to Newcastle for that and that’s not possible. They don’t want everyone to move to the big cities because they are getting clogged, but when you leave those big cities there’s no health care available. Not that there is any decent health care in the big cities, but at least it’s better than in a rural village like Maitland, with its 70 thousand people. So I’m stuck and all I can do is see my GP when the pain gets unbearable and hope she can do something for me. She’s good, but not a specialist. Hey, that’s why they are medical specialists! Now is the question why they are only available in this country to those who live in the big cities, or can travel there.

August 17^th

Today I finally decided that it was time to buy a new rack with shelves for my craft room. I had run out of space already for a while, but always thought that I would get it “later”. Well, later happened today. I went to Bunnings and hoped to find a rack identical to the one I have already, but of course that didn’t happen. But I found one that looked OK for a reasonable price and it said that it was easy to assemble. Well, I never trust those statements and I was right. I took me more than an hour, a lot of energy and quite a bit of sweating before it was put together. But it looks quite good and now I have storage space again for at least five years. And after that, well, who cares about that?

August 13^th

Today there was a special coffee/tea/food market in the mall and as it was nice weather we decided to go and have a look. But as it was such nice weather we weren’t the only ones who had decided to go. It was Busy with a capital B. But of course that also made it nice and sociable. I had taken Speedy of course, for there’s no way I can hang around at such places for longer than two minutes. I think we stayed for about 90 minutes, but I was worn out when we came home. But we had real fun and that’s the most important thing. I managed to get two helium balloons that I attached to Speedy, which made lots of people smile. I wanted some more, but they were all gone. I suppose they hadn’t counted on so many people, but it’s nice for all those who make a living with markets that it was such a good business day.

August 12^th

The mess at the hospital is getting bigger and bigger and I really wonder how long they think they can go on like this till the whole lot collapses. In the past Grant got rosters which (almost?) always were neatly 40 hours per week. So when you got annual leave that meant you gave up 40 hours per week of your leave (or actually 38 hours, as officially you work 38 hours a week, which means one ADO every four weeks). But since they have started with this new rostering system a few months ago the rosters are a giant mess. Some weeks Grant works 48 hours, other weeks 36, or 46 or 24. Coming month he will have two weeks of annual leave and it appeared that these are exactly two weeks during which he shouldn’t have worked more than 60 hours. So what are they going to do now? Charge him the full 76 hours annual leave, though he actually only takes 60 hours leave? In that case he should plan his leave in the future such that they will be the weeks that he works a lot more than 40 hours. Makes sense to me. I told him to sort this out, as of course this is utterly unfair and actually plain stupid. But I doubt if they can find an acceptable solution, for of course they will have to pay him the full 80 hours. This happens when you make a big mess of everything. At a certain moment the problems will get so big that nobody knows anymore how to solve them. But still many Australians keep saying that this country has one of the best health care systems in the world. Yeah sure, if you don’t look any further than this country that’s definitely true. If you take a look further into the world then this couldn’t be any further away from the truth.

August 4^th

This morning, as so often, I inspected our little orchard, just to see how all the trees are doing and I didn’t see anything special. In the afternoon Grant came home and he asked if I had seen all the flowers on the plum tree. So I went outside and to my big surprise the tree was indeed full of flowers, that definitely weren’t there in the morning! Previous years this tree was also one of the first to blossom, but this is very early. I suppose the trees are early because it has been very sunny so far this winter. July was quite cold, but very sunny. And so far August is very warm and quite sunny, so I have such a feeling that all trees will start spring early this year.

August 1^st

They say that dogs don’t have a sense of time and that’s probably right in the bigger sense of life. But Dribbel definitely knows what time of the day it is! During the years we have developed a good working system for his walks, meaning that I take him for a shorter early morning walk and when Grant has a day off or a late shift he takes him for a longer walk later in the morning (and then of course he still gets his evening walks). Grant always takes him around 9.30. Well, this morning Grant was working a morning shift and Dribbel might have forgotten that I usually take him a bit later for his second walk. But at 9.25 he jumped off the bed and started running around, telling me clearly that it was time for his walk! How the heck does he know that? Can he read the clock? He didn’t leave me much option than to take him out and changing me plans for the morning a little.J

July 28^th

This morning I received an e-mail from my brother that yesterday my father has died, totally unexpected. He was 77 years old, but still in very good health. My parents divorced when I was 8 y/o and I never had any contact with my father anymore till last year, when I decided to get back in contact. Due to the distance (I'm in Australia, he lived in the Netherlands) we never met and due to my poor health we never even talked on the phone so far. We kept contact by letters/e-mails. I had planned to go to the Aldi this morning to buy a camcorder they have on special and I wanted to send him a video message on DVD. It's too late for that now. I'm glad that last year I sent that first letter, for now I don’t need to regret anything. But I feel very sad, as we had expected to have another ten years or so to get to know each other.

July 25^th

Today has been a productive day. This morning I first dropped off another bag with teddy bears at the shelter. The bag was getting in my way and it was already a while since I had brought them the last bag, so I figured they would have space in their storage again. After that we went to the garden centre, where we bought another plant for one of the hanging baskets at the veranda and I’m actually quite optimistic that this plant might survive. But the main reason we went there was to buy another set of wind chimes. The last few weeks we had a lot of wind and the chimes were so nice. And then we got the idea to buy another set, but then with much longer tubes. They aren’t cheap, but we can treat ourselves something nice now and then. I have put them up on the veranda, so now we will have to wait for windy weather so hear a concert. It will be very nice!

July 23^rd

Yesterday Grant came home with the message that they have finally found a new GP at the GP practice where we go. That’s good news, for about two years ago one of the doctors there retired and they hadn’t succeeded in finding a replacement since, which meant a heavier workload for the other GP’s. The interesting thing about this new GP is, that he’s Dutch. That’s all I know, but of course that’s highly intriguing to me. This morning I had to pick up a new script and I took the chance to verify my information and it’s all correct. I even know his name now, but of course that doesn’t mean anything to me. The receptionist just asked me how to pronounce it.J I mainly hope that this guy will stay here permanently and that that means a lighter workload for the other doctors, so that the waiting times will get shorter. For it’s now usually more than a week, which can be very long when you don’t feel well.

July 19^th

As usual the tax office was very quick again with paying us, for this morning we already had a nice amount in our bank account. That will make us feel rich for exactly two months, when Grant’s insurances need to be paid. That’s always an awful lot of money, but we can’t do without. The problem with insurances is that you pay a lot of money for something you hope you will never need.

July 11^th

That the area health service that Grant is employed by isn’t the best and the smartest in the country, that’s nothing new. But they are getting more irresponsible by the day. That they chase nurses away with all kinds of stupid things, so that the ones that are left are constantly asked to change shifts or work overtime is bad enough, but now they don’t even bother doing proper administration! It’s time for the tax return, so they need to get everyone their payment summaries. Every year the employees got these statements at work, so that they couldn’t get lost (for duplicates are not given). But for some unclear reason this year they decided to send them in the mail. That is never done anywhere, unless there’s no other option (like someone who is sick for a long time), because it’s too risky. After all, things can get lost in the mail. And without this payment summary you can’t lodge a tax return, so that would mean big problems. Anyway, this afternoon I found a payment summary in the letterbox, but it was only for six months, as around New Year Grant’s employer officially changed (it was mainly a name change and obviously with that a change for the even worse in about every possible area). First I assumed that the other one would come later, but then I realized that it’s very windy (or stormy if you want) and that maybe the other piece of paper could have been blown away. And guess what? Indeed we found the other one next to the house in the grass. Considering that the weather has been like this in most of the state and that many people don’t have a very rain and wind free letterbox, and that posties aren’t always particularly precise in putting the mail in people’s letterboxes, I wonder how many of these things have got lost and how much trouble this is going to bring to employees. Of course the employer won’t take any responsibility. They don’t do that for anything, let alone paperwork that’s not done properly. Grant will mention it to his supervisor tomorrow, but the damage will already be done. How much I wish he could leave there and get a job at a place where employees are treated in a decent way! Unfortunately there’s not much chance of that. Anyway, the tax return has been lodged and as I expected we get a lot less back than next year. So be it.

July 8^th

Last night it was quite cold, but with 7° it wasn’t THAT cold. Still, when I wanted to start the car to go grocery shopping the engine didn’t start. The battery is quite new, so that couldn’t be the problem and the start motor also worked. So I almost wanted to call road assistance, when I decided to first use all my (very limited) knowledge of car engines. After all, I have started car engines in a much colder climate, so I should be able to solve this problem. So after waiting a few minutes I decided to turn the key one more time and then the engine started! I suppose the motor oil was very thick and the multiple attempts to start the engine warmed it up just enough. But why then did I never have that problem before in Australia? I suppose in colder climates they add something to the oil to keep it thin, but I have only driven this car in this country. So that’s a good question. But with cars I use the same principle as with computers: don’t worry about why something doesn’t work, just find out how to solve the problem. That principle works really well with computers and recently it has shown several times to work with the car as well.

July 7^th

Today I saw my GP for my pain. Luckily she didn’t have any problems with my diagnosis of fibromyalgia. The only problem was how to deal with it. She gave me a sample of anti-inflammatory medicines. I don’t think they will do much, but it’s worth a try, as it’s only for ten days. I don’t like taking that stuff long-term, as that’s not very healthy. I did mention that the muscle relaxant I take for my spasms also help against the pain (and in all the books I read it’s also mentioned as one of the medicines useful with fibro). So she got me a script for a double dose. I will experiment with that a bit, for the stuff makes pretty drowsy and I don’t want to take more than necessary. I also asked for a print of the lab tests I got a few weeks ago, so that I can research my weight problems a bit better. It will help me to exclude certain things, but I’m not particularly hopeful that I will find anything close to a diagnosis. BTW, last week I noticed that my jeans were wider than a month ago, so obviously I have lost some fat again. Very nice, but when I stepped on the scales I saw what I expected: I had gained another kilo of weight. If I continue like this than next year I will be a very slim person of 110 kg. If anyone knows the answer to this mystery, please send me an e-mail!

July 1^st

It’s July already, so time for a new page on my blog. I think I’m doing quite well filling this blog with messages, considering that my life is as boring as can be. But there’s always something to tell if you can look at the small things. This morning I downloaded the tax return program, so I will spend some time on the computer the next few days. I always fill in the whole lot way before Grant gets his payment summary, so when he gets that all I need to do is fill in those details and send it off. Usually we have our money the third week of the month. I don’t think we will be the first, but we are always so early that they pay us quickly, as the system hasn’t got blocked yet. We will see how much we will get back this year.

July 2^nd

I always wake up quite a few times during the night and I’m used to that. And sometimes I wake up very early and that’s no big deal either. But this morning I woke up at 2.15 and couldn’t get back to sleep anymore. Then the night is very long! I did some reading with a small torch and my e-reader and then I listened to Dutch radio programs on my MP3 player and when it was 5 AM I decided to get up very quietly, not to disturb Grant or Dribbel, who were both still sound asleep. It’s going to be a long day, but tomorrow will be better.