Lightening Online

Just upon waking this morning our house started to rumble and shake.

I’ve never experienced an Earthquake before.

I must admit, I jumped out of bed pretty quickly.

Not because I was worried about the Earthquake but I was worried about what the kids were thinking (whether it was frightening them).

They actually thought it was pretty cool!

We had quite a shake and a rumble followed by an aftershock that rattled the windows.

I haven’t heard yet whether anyone closer to the epicentre experienced any damage.

As it turns out, it was really good timing for Lleyton.  They are studying Earthquakes at school at the moment.

So, that’s our exciting news for the week!!!

Oh, and we won netball yesterday, in the rain.  That was exciting too (albeit rather wet and squelchy).

Well, seeding is progressing rather slowly this year.

Some paddocks are too wet to get the machinery on to (not a bad problem to have).

Some paddocks are giving us grief with stubble issues from overzealous summer weeds (you have to stop frequently to pull it out from around the seeding tines).

And then there have been the grey drizzly days which mean we can’t work.

Still, in spite of the late start and the hold-ups, Farmboy seems to be pretty happy with our progress.

It’s seems to be working well, me being able to do 3-4 hours on the tractor a day.

Makes a BIG difference to our productivity.

Then today I did around 6 hours but with down time etc, I was out there close to 8 hours.

A MASSIVE day for me.

I certainly couldn’t do that every day.

But it does mean we’ll get over quite a few acres today.

And that Farmboy will get home a little earlier than he would if I hadn’t done the extra hours.

Earlier like around 1am instead of 3am. 

When you get the fine weather, you just have to go for it.

Only about 1000 acres to go now.

One thing I love about the blogging community is it’s resourcefulness and willingness to help one another out.

I received this comment on one of my posts today and I’m thinking perhaps someone out there knows the answer to her question:

I have been looking for a recipe i used to make years ago but have lost it, It is a very simple chocolate slice, which the base consists of condensed milk coconut but that is all i can remember. It is a very moist and chewy base. Can anyone help me to recapture what i used to think was the best chocolate slice ever  Lisa

I hope someone out there can help Lisa find the recipe she’s looking for.  Feel free to leave links in the comments to recipes that might fit her description (or you can type the recipe into the comments section if you like).

I wonder how many chocolate slice recipes we can come up with?

I have started a new poll on printer brands.

It’s in the sidebar but I’ll insert it here as well:

 Loading ...

We have owned an Epson in the past and now have a Brother.  I’ve never had a Canon before.

It got me to thinking about what the more popular brands are and why.

If you have anything you’d like to add in the comments section about what printer brand you have and why you do or don’t like it, I’d love to hear from you.

P.S. Please give your honest opinions.  My latest toy gave me the idea for this poll but it has nothing to do with Canon or their current blogging promotion,

Is anyone else having trouble with my blog loading?  I’m finding it REALLY slow and I’m not sure why.  If others are having trouble, I’ll have to see if I can get it checked out.

Fingers crossed I’ll be back to regular posting soon.  Life has been hectic but I feel like I’m starting to get on top of things again now.

We got the dreaded phone call from the school yesterday.

There was an accident on the playground.  They think Trailer Boy has broken his arm.

Ooookkaaaayyyyy.

We’re only an hour and a half away doing some jobs in a regional centre when the phone call comes through on Farmboys mobile.

There’s nothing like the feeling of helplessness when one of your “babies” needs you and you can’t get to them.

Thankfully, Granny (Farmboy’s mum) to the rescue.

We managed to get hold of her and she went to the hospital (one of the front office staff took him to the hospital).

I nearly fell apart when I talked to the little tike on the phone.  Poor kid was being really brave but he really wanted his mum.

We hightailed it back toward our home town, getting progress reports along the way.

Definitely broken.  Have to go to another regional town (an hour and a half from where we live in the OPPOSITE direction to where we were) to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon.

We picked him up from the hospital.  Quick catch up with the nurses (doctor who saw him in town is long gone back to the surgery).  Sign some paperwork.  Find out what has happened so far.  Pick up the x-ray and a letter for the surgeon.  Swap vehicles (thankfully, our other car was in town).  Make arrangements for the older 2 kids.  Head off toward the hospital where the Orthopaedic Surgeon would see him.  Make phone calls along the way to let others know what is going on and make arrangements for the things Farmboy was supposed to do at Footy training ready for Saturday (he’s a team manager).

The poor kid was in a lot of pain, in spite of the pain relief he’d already been given.  I kept trying to distract him in the car.  Was so glad Farmboy was with me to drive while I focused on him.  Eventually he fell asleep and stayed that way until we got to the hospital.

By this time, I am exhausted and brain dead.  Admissions are asking me questions and I’m hard pressed to come up with the answers.

Nurses start rushing around.  Theatre is waiting for him so they want to get all the paperwork done as soon as possible.  They were so good with him.

Poor kid is freaking out.  He doesn’t understand what’s going on.  Doesn’t understand what’s going to happen.

By the time he goes into theatre, we’ve seen at least 4 different nurses, 2 students and 2 doctors (the surgeon and the anaesthetist).

He tries so hard to be brave but it’s all a little bit freaky for a 6 year old, no matter how wonderful the staff are.

Mum gowns up and it takes his mind off it all while he laughs at how funny I look in the all the theatre garb.

The surgeon and nurse start teasing him about putting a pink cast on his arm.

He chooses black.

I thought he’d choose blue but no, he went for black this time.

Into theatre.  Before he knows it there’s a needle in his arm.  He starts to cry and I talk to him, trying to distract him from what they are doing to his arm.  Distract him from the blood pouring out the needle site.

In what seems like seconds, he’s dropped off.  I was shocked at how quickly it all happened.

Back to the waiting area where Farmboy is waiting.

We can see the theatre from where we wait.  He’s out again pretty quickly.  They only needed to reset the bone before putting it into plaster.

He goes into recovery and we wait.  And wait.

40 minutes later they come out.  He’s awake.  We go in.

By this time of night, theatre is closing up for the day.  Just 2 little boys in recovery but the other boy heads up to the children’s ward not long after we enter.

We talk to him.  He’s amazed that it didn’t hurt.  He’s still sleepy but quite chirpy all the same.  He likes that his arm isn’t hurting now.  The nurses give him a balloon.  Tie it to his bed.  He doesn’t like the monitor attached to his finger, keeping check on his pulse and oxygen saturation levels.

Staff call the children’s ward to say he’s ready to come up.  They don’t know anything about him coming.  Thankfully there is one bed left.  They’re busy though so the theatre staff take him upstairs.

He’s hungry and thirsty.  I’m guessing that’s a pretty good sign.

Only problem is, there’s no food.  Apparently because they didn’t know he was coming, they don’t have anything for him.

At least that’s what the first nurse told me.

Fortunately, another nurse seems more on the ball and comes up with jelly and juice for him.

I grab some chips from the vending machine.  Some for him and some for us.  We haven’t eaten in over 6 hours ourselves.

Thankfully no nausea.  The nurses don’t want him getting sick on the way home but it’s all good.

Two hours of observation and we can go.

Almost 9pm but we decide to make the drive home anyway.

Quick stop at the chemist (just made it before 9pm closing time) then the supermarket to try and find something that will actually write on black plaster (found some metallic textas that work quite well).  Final stop is MacDonald’s drive through to get some food.

Back to town.  Pick up older 2 kids.

Get home close to midnight.

A rather more eventful day than we were expecting!!!! 

Everyone had a quiet home day today to recover.  The older 2 are fighting sore throats/runny noses so I figured a day off wouldn’t hurt.  And would help distract Trailer Boy.

Mostly he seems alright but there’s still a little bit of pain.  Apparently that’s to be expected for the first couple of days.

Looks like he’ll have an interesting morning talk come Monday when he goes back to school.

Those  jolly monkey bars have claimed another victim!

My lack of posting has not really been due to lack of time (although that is always a factor).

It has more to do with limited brain power.

Right now, my head feels like it’s going to explode.

That’s what happens when you take on a role like President and the Parents and Friends when you have NO IDEA what the job entails.

I’m on a high learning curve here.

And a lot of it is just little stuff.

Like…

Where’s the cupboard?

Where’s the key to the cupboard?

What do I do when I need to photocopy stuff?

How do letters home to parents work?  Does the Principal need to see them/sign them?

Finding out the best ways of communication with the school and within the school.

Not to mention figuring out how to communicate with parents.  And how to communicate how IMPORTANT parental involvement in the school is.  And how to commuicate that Parents & Friends are NOT just about baking cakes!!! 

Yes, any minute now I think my head might explode.

I sure hope it gets easier than this!!!!

If not, my blogging is either going to be non existent or a bunch of whines about how busy I am and why don’t parents care and why doesn’t the goverment care…etc etc.

Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.  Otherwise I might have a grand total of 3 readers by the end of the year! 

MAN - why couldn’t Zemanta give me an image of a brain exploding.  That would have been kind of cool!

Well the kids went back to school on Wednesday.  The house felt rather empty without them. :(  Mind you, it was very full on when they came home, full of news about their first day and carting all their books and pencils etc to be covered/named etc.  Not to mention forms in triplicate.

Our calendar went from empty to full with the first school newsletter.

*sigh*

Life is no less busy once all your kids are at school.

You just fill it with different stuff.

How many sleeps until the next summer holidays?

I’d meant to do a wrap-up of 2009 and never got around to it so when I saw this on Joyce’s blog, I figured I’d pinch it.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Spent 14 weeks travelling Australia with a caravan (and the family).  The highlight of my life so far (if you don’t count my wedding and the birth of each of my kids of course).

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Did I make any New Year’s Resolutions last year?  Can’t remember.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My sister-in-law gave birth to twins!!!!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Farmboy’s grandfather died.  It was a blessing in a way as he really wasn’t well by the end.  Still, he is greatly missed and has had a big impact on our lives.

5. What countries did you visit?

Australia - it’s an awesome place to visit!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

More energy!!!!  More time!!!!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

July 1st - the day we left for our big trip.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Learning to drive a tractor!!!!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Our finances.  I’ve really let things get out of hand and need to get back on track.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a pretty good year for avoiding stuff like that.  Farmboy did hurt his back (twice) while we were away.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My netbook - has really come in handy!!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Farmboy - he is AMAZING and I’m constantly wondering why on earth he would marry ME????

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Can’t really think of anything significant.

14. Where did most of your money go?

I wish I knew!  That’s the problem!  We did spend a lot on our trip but all of that was pre-saved.  In general, our money has just floated away on impulse purchases and too much eating out I think.

15. What did you get really excited about?

Our trip!

And building our back verandah and decking.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

Here we are in New South Wales (shearing sheep as big as whales).  Because whenever we went over the Qld/NSW border, Trailer Boy kept singing it.  And given we spent a week in Coolangatta, we went over that border a number of times.  It was from a CD of Australian songs from the Cairns Night Zoo and the kids loved it.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? I think about the same.  This time last year I was very excited about our trip.  Now I’m excited about other plans we have for the future.

Thinner or fatter? Hmmmm……

Richer or poorer?
Definitely poorer now that we’ve spent our holiday savings.  But not as poor as I expected to be (fancy coming back with money!!!).  A lot richer in experiences.  And now that I’m earning my own income again, it FEELS like I’m richer (even though the money is allocated).

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Craft.  I get too sidetracked on the computer and don’t do as much creating as I used to.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Staring at a computer screen.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Church in the morning followed by presents at home and a quiet family lunch out on our new deck.  In the afternoon we went down to Farmboy’s parents shack and spent time with them and his sister and her family.  It was a lovely relaxing day.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

I am constantly falling in love with my husband.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

A toss up between NCIS and Master Chef.  The whole family loved watching Master Chef together which was nice.  It was the only show we tried to watch while we were away - and it was awesome watching the finale with a caravan park full of people in the camp kitchen!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No

24. What was the best book you read?

I became a Karen Kingsbury fanatic this year!  I have bought and read so many of her books.  Every single one made me cry at some point!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Chris Tomlin - awesome voice!

26. What did you want and get?

To fulfill my dream of taking a 3 month caravanning trip around parts of Australia.

27. What did you want and not get?

To lose weight (gained it instead).

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I only saw 1 - that was G-Force.  It was okay but from what I’ve heard, not the best out there.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I hit the halfway to 70 mark in 2009.  We were in Broken Hill on the 2nd day of our “big trip”.  We went out for tea as a family which was lovely (although the security guard at the club we went to was not very nice).

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I do wonder if losing weight would have but in reality, probably nothing.  I’m feeling more than satisfied with 2009 as it was.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

I’m starting to wear dresses and skirts a bit more although I still love my jeans and denim capris.

32. What kept you sane?

Being married to a saint.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I can’t say that I tend to “fancy” celebrities or public figures much.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

I prefer to avoid all politic issues although the rubbish going on with global warming is starting to frustrate me.  I hate the way the government are politicising the whole issue rather than doing what needs to be done to solve it.

35. Who did you miss?

My friends while we were away.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

A family we met in Port Douglas.  They’ve become really good friends and we’ve just enjoyed 5 days with them in Adelaide (they live in Adelaide but were doing a trip similar to ours when we met them in Port Douglas).

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

When things don’t work out the way you think they’re going to - go with the flow as often-times they’ll work out even better than you imagined!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

“I am carried in the arms of grace and love divine”.

Leading up to Christmas I had this feeling that if I could survive the 2 weeks following (as well as all the lead up to Christmas) then I could survive anything!!!!

Life has just been WAY too busy!!!

BUT…

I SURVIVED!!!!

Phew!

Yesterday I spent most of the day asleep.

I woke up at around 11am and was asleep again by midday, sleeping until around 3pm.

I don’t tend to sleep all that well so when I sleep that much, I KNOW I’m tired.

Today I am feeling marginally better but not exactly “go get em”.

I’m pottering my way around trying to “de-Christmas” the house.  Sometime I need to unpack and start dealing with post Christmas shopping, find homes for gifts etc etc.  Oh, and bake Singstar Princesses birthday cakes (she wants cupcakes this year).

Farmboy has taken the kids to the beach for a swim so I have a couple of hours to myself.  It’s lovely after 2 weeks of extended family and friends (which was also lovely but very draining at the same time).

We still have 1 Christmas get together to have.  My side of the family is getting together next weekend.  Well, most of us are.

Other than that, I really need the weather to cool down a little so I can do some spot-spraying before the weeds totally take over the paddocks.  Still, the hot weather is forcing me to not get straight back into it and I think that’s a good thing as I need the rest.

P.S.  If I offended or upset anyone with my New Years post, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t having a go at people who have genuinely struggled through 2009.  More making a general comment about people who seem to constantly “whine”.  *sigh*  On reflection, I’m wondering if there are some facebook friends I should cull?  It’s one thing to occasionally have a vent but another to be constantly negative.  Funnily enough, most come from an online group and we probably have nothing else in common (and no, it’s not any of my yahoo groups so you can all relax and stop thinking I’m talking about you).