From the mouths of babes....

Today Mr Yakka (he who never shuts up, regardless of what he likes to call himself), spent the afternoon with his Aunty Karisma and some friends at the beach. His mama stayed for a while and then she had to go to work so his lordship stayed behind and kept his Aunty Karisma on her toes.

First he took off into the sand dunes to see how fast his Aunty Karisma could run and to see if she could put her camera down for a few minutes. Turns out she CAN run when she has too, even up mountains!



They then walked along the shoreline splashing their feet in the water, very gradually mind, making a game of it. You see, he had recently watched one of the Land Before Time episodes where one of the dinosaurs drowns. He suddenly became scared of the water and was very nervous being so close to the ocean. By the time they had walked the length of the beach he was very much wanting to play in the water as long as his Aunty held his hand and got wet too.



So while his cousin, Gameboy caught some Zzzzz in the sand. Mr Yakka, Isaac and Karisma all played on the waters edge, running in and out, splashing and laughing and eventually getting very wet and forgetting that the water was scary at all.


All three of them dug a big hole together and watched the water slowly fill a little pool to play in. There was much bravery and lots of fun to be had and by the time Zak and his friends caught up with them, (they had opted to stay and climb the dunes a bit longer) a certain little man was very confident and cocky in his little watery kingdom.



As Zak approached him to look at his pool, a big wave also came in and flooded over him! He looked up and shouted with delight to his cousin "That was a F*#king BIG ONE!"....


Now his Aunty Karisma did not hear it as such as she was standing back a bit taking pictures! But Zak of course felt the need to tell everyone (over and over again) Jake said Effing, Jake said Effing! Not that Aunty Karisma would have made a fuss anyway, unless he said it again! Because lets face it...


To such a brave little man confronting his fears...... it was an Effing Big One! And he stood his ground and faced it! (And as The Book Fairy said later when we were having a giggle over it..."Well at least he used it in context!") So true!

And I mean seriously! Who could resist this face?

Now watch out all, here comes another one!

Hugs and smoochies xxxooxox

A peek into the past week....

This week has been a pretty typical one around here. Very busy. Here a just a few of the things we did that we did not tell you about yet.

We checked out how the weather affects the beaches. They went from being totally calm one day to big messy waves over night!

Dad showed us some tracks in the sand!
We decided they were bird and snake tracks.
Zak tried to find the snake but it was long gone (thank goodness).

Zak make a snake!

Zak made a sword using recycled materials.
(He will show you how he made it later.)

Of course we did lots of other things too!

* We had our friends over to play and for a sleep over!
* We went ice skating!
* We went sliding down the sand dunes!
* Gameboy has been learning how to program using MAC OS in between playing all those online Adventure games.
* Zak remade his bow with better materials and made arrows with bbq skewers (mum said this was great creativity but the bbq skewers were a bit dangerous so he has been trying out lots of other missiles instead! (ones without sharp ends on them).
* TBF started a new job at Coles working in the deli. She wants to work in the bakery but its a foot in the door. She was very sick of her old job.
* TC has finished all her year 11 exams.
* After the big dust storm we had a smaller one on Saturday and then when the dust finally cleared up, someone started a bush fire which took over a day to put out so we choked on smoke instead of dust.
* Mum has been working on her garden and trying to find the house under the mess that accumulated while she was not well.
* Dad has been working hard as usual programming day and night.
* Cameragirl is in Sydney this week doing work experience with Charlie Brown (Fashion Design)
* We played lots of Ping Pong
* Zak built a cubby house in mums faerie garden, in the process he broke lots of the tree's branches and knocked out a few plants. Mum was not very happy about it but once again let him off as he was just being creative. She did however explain to him that tree's and plants are living things so he needs to be more careful in the future. She also told him to build his cubbies up the bush like her normally does! The trees are much bigger and sturdier there!
* We swung around and got lazy in our hammocks.
* We ate lots of cakes!

Hope you are all having a lovely week. Hugs and smoochies xxooxoxox

Will you read with me?

To all you literary types out there, please go and read this.....

Summers Kiss part 3

then come back and tell me what you think! If you like it please leave a little encouragement over there. Barbie is 17 and loves to write. I would be interested to hear what you think of her writing too!

Hugs and smoochies xxxoxoxoxox

Me.me.me its all about me!

Sayre posted this meme and I thought I'd have a go......

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth? Dinner, a lamb and potato casserole and some soup (lentil, rice and wheat). Ok I chased it with water!

2. Where was your profile picture taken? Budgewoi lake! Under the bridge!

3. Can you play Guitar Hero? Well I could play Guitar hero 2 but the PS3 does not have songs I like! How rude!

4. Name someone who made you laugh today? Miko! She always does!

5. How late did you stay up last night and why? 10:30. I was tired. Stayed up late on Friday! LOL

6. If you could move somewhere else, would you? YES! Inland about 10 minutes so I could have some land around me!

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks? Yes

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you on Facebook? Well, there are a few of them. SB, CG, TBF and TC all live in my house and next would be my brother and SIL they live in the next street!

9. Do you believe ex’s can be friends? Yeah why not? As long as you are both fine with it!

10. How do you feel about Dr Pepper? Its gross!

11. When was the last time you cried really hard? A couple of weeks ago!

12. Who took your profile picture? Cameragirl! She took that shot when we were in the middle of a flood, we went out, camera's in hand to take pic's and she took that one of me!

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of? Zak, he is such a poser!

14. Was yesterday better than today? Nah, same old same old!

15. Can you live a day without TV? For sure! But I would miss books if they were not about!

16. Are you upset about anything? Not right now! NO! (except maybe Bella, I hope she gets better soon)

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Oh yeah! I most certainly do!

18. Are you a bad influence? Who me? Of course I am! Don't tell on me now!

19. Night out or night in? IN...night times are so much easier that way!

20. What items could you not go without during the day? Water! Im always thirsty!

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? Well its been years since I visited. Last time we were there was the time CG had the scare with someone spiking her drink! The time before was 3 years ago when Mr Yakka was born! Of course I was there for the main event!

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say? Book club Bulletin...So I am a nerd...sue me already! I just put in an order for the kids for book club and they sent me a message! LOL

23. How do you feel about your life right now? I guess I can't complian but I would so love a holiday!

24. Do you hate anyone? I am not sure that I have it in me to hate! As far as I have been tempted, those who drive me quite that far just have my sympathy! Poor sods!

25. If we were to look in your Facebook inbox, what would we find? An invite for a holiday with family, an invite to dinner and lots of silly crap that I would not even venture into (thats face book for you!).

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Yes. But if you gave me a wine test Im afraid it would be positive!

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? I hope not! I am far from it! I am yet to meet someone who is perfect too!

28. What song is stuck in your head? Well none right now but upon thinking all I could come up with was .....Agga do do do shake pineapple........

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be? Quite frankly, who ever it is! It betta be good! As much as I find it hard to sleep I am not up to visitors at that time!

30. Wanna have grandkids before you’re 50? Oh yes please!

31. Name something you have to do tomorrow: Grocery Shopping and something educational with the boys, then of course there is the usual, cleaning, cooking etc etc etc....

32. Do you think too much or too little? Too much of course! I think, think, think and then don't really know what to say!

33. Do you smile a lot? Yes! It's my motto! Keep smiling!

And then of course there is hugs and smoochies! xxoxoxoxo

Hope you had a good weekend all...............much love xxoxoxox

Poor Bella!

Well among the 50 million other things I tried to do today, I took Bella to the vet as she has been limping. She started a couple of weeks back and seemed to get better then started again. With all my own problems I had not had the time or the energy to get it checked out earlier and as she was eating happy and otherwise normal I did not worry too much about it. But today she seemed to be holding it up a bit too much for my liking so off we went to get it checked.

Now I should of asked for the vet she saw last time but did not think of it when I booked so we saw someone completely different. She was lovely but I think she was a bit inexperienced and she seemed to be one of those that suggests far too many medications etc. without giving you all the options $$$$$ you know.

So anyway she has a quick look at her and then gets her to stand up. She says straight up it is more than likely ligament damage and we will have to operate to find out for sure and fix it up. This will cost $800 +. I immediately said no as a) I can't afford that right now and b) I simply would not put her through that on a maybe. (keeping in mind that if she has the op she will then have other complications such as arthritus for life).

She then started spouting all the different medications we could give her and that I should get shots for a month once a week and then decide once again if she should have the op. She also said that Bella was too fat and we should put her on a diet as this would help. Personally I do not think she is fat. She was a while back but she lost a lot of weight and has regular exercise. She only eats once a day with the occasional bones or biscuits for treats. I really wanted to ask to see the other vet but felt kind of rude so did not.

I told her I would think about it. We had some of the pain meds she suggested at home so I came home and immediately started to look for herbal remedies or natural approaches for this problem. I thought it would not hurt to try and Maxi used to be doped up with all and sundry and no longer is so why not!

I came across a great site ( Robert McDowells Herbal Treatments) and emailed them to ask advice. The reply came back tonight and I am very happy with the assistance given. I felt much better as not only did I get a full rundown on the condition my dog "may" have. But a link to a vets site to read about it in detail. Included in the write up, was that most vets prefer to operate but it CAN be treated with exercise, and some medications along with weight loss if the dog is overweight . As most medications are synthetic versions of natural ones anyway, I am thinking I will go with my instinct here and go for the herbs. I was also informed that the vet should have been able to tell me for sure that this was the problem before suggesting the operation. Maybe that was what she was trying to say but it came out wrong, who knows?

Along with all the information I was sent was a diet to feed my dogs as well. I was advised to feed them raw bones with meat on them, raw chicken necks or wings, fresh raw mince and home cooked vegies and rice. I already mostly feed them home cooked food anyway but they only get the bones occasionally and I cook the mince with the rice etc. So I will have to change that (YUK). All the herbal remedies on the site have ingredients listed which I liked as well.

Those suggested for Bella were

Bone Healing Mix and Anti-Inflammatory. If you click on either it will take you to the explanation for each.

So tomorrow I am going to check Bella out again and see how it looks and then I think I shall start her on the herbs, some reiki and gentle exercise. She will not be allowed to jump or play bouncy games which of course is what she does all day! This is going to be hard! She has to be the wiggliest dog on earth. Unlike Miko who will wrap herself around you for a hug, Bella will give a quick kiss and bounce about as she can't sit still. I will not consider an operation unless she really needs it. I hope she does not. And its not because of the money. I hate the thought of operations in general. I know sometimes its necessary but I much prefer natural remedies even for us.

Anyway I will let you know how it goes!

Hugs and smoochies xxxxx

Look who's 3

Yes! Its me Jacob! Im NOT Mr Yakka, I am Jacob and I am three years old today. What a day to have a birthday, we could not see much outside because it was all orange and dusty. I was going to have a birthday party on Saturday with my family but I caught the German Measles and was very sick so it got cancelled. I also missed out on going to my favourite play centre with my friends. It was a yucky week. But today when I came to visit my Aunty Karisma I got to have a little party after all..... Yay....Will you sing with me?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JACOB
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME...

HIP HIP HOORAY

HIP HIP HOO...

HEY!!!!

Alright! Whats going on! Is this some kind of joke?

This is too funny.....
Pffffftttttt......

MAN! This is making me dizzy and blurry even....lol...
pffffttttt.....pfffffft.....splutter...splutter....splutter....

C'mon.....A little help here guys......

Hooray! Thanx guys! I thought that would never go out!

Now lets cut the cake.....

Get off mum, Aunty Karisma said I could do it......
and Im doing such a fine job, don't you think?

Hands off Zak.....Its my cake......

HEY!!!! MUM!!!!!!
AUNTY KARISMA!!!! MUM STOLE MY CAKE!!!!!

Now for some presents...
Look Zak...Look at my truck...

MUM.....Those are my presents......

I had a nice day after all and enjoyed my presents and the food!
Thanks for dropping by on my birthday!

Hugs and Smoochies xxxooooxx

What a night!

Oh and what a morning too! Last night I could not sleep. I went to bed a little late and watched a movie not realising the time. About 1pm I thought woops better go to sleep but could not. I had a bad feeling. A silly bad feeling. For some reason I suddenly felt sick in the tummy and had the weirdest feeling there was going to be an earthquake. I have no idea where that came from. I thought to myself that it was not very likely but still could not sleep. Eventually of course I did.

We had, had a bit of wind and the dogs were a bit sooky but by the time I fell asleep it was eerily very very quiet outside. My dreams were not so good, the usual weird mix and in one dream there were a lot of animals dying. I awoke at around 6.55 and was stunned that an orange glow was coming through the blinds. How odd.

Got up and could not see outside. I thought it was fog at first but it turns out it is dust. Zak of course went outside to check it out with his dad when I smelled it I screamed at him to get back inside. (The kid gets asthma! And of course now is coughing his guts up!) TC and Barbie are freaking out, they are in the middle of exams at school so figure they need to go but we can't breathe the best inside so are not to keen on them going out in it. I think I shall call the school a little before start time and see what they think.

We keep getting strong bursts of wind so hopefully it will blow away. Its just so weird, we have never had anything like this here before. So anyway, I mentioned to the kids that I had been concerned about an earthquake (we have had two here before) and that I think a dust storm is not as bad. TC looked at me and said "Mum, there were two minor earthquakes down near Melbourne" It scrolled across the bottom of the news apparently. I don't watch the news very often. Especially in the mornings. So I googled the news to see what happened and apparently it was last night at around 6.21 pm. So I was freaking out after the event. Odd. Thankfully it does not seem to have been serious.

Anywho, Im off to grab a morning coffee and get organised for the day. Looks like an inside day so I will have to get something fun organised for the kids to keep them busy indoors. We were supposed to be spending the day at a park with their friends.

Halt! Who Goes there?

Last week after we borrowed a book called "Wizard things to make and do" , by Usbourne Activities. Zak came across an activity to make a wand! He wanted to get started at once and was searching for something to use. Of course he did NOT read the instructions and see you were supposed to use a piece of paper and roll it up! Oh NO not Zak, he found himself a nice stick and got to work and make it completely different to the one in the book! Thats my boy! Always gotta go against the grain!

Anyway, both boys like the book so much, we have decided we better buy a copy. We have lots of the Usbourne Activity and Science books and highly recommend them to anyone with kids. Even those who go to school, these make great holiday fun activities too! All the books come with loads of ideas and lots of stickers to use as well.



Anyway back to the story. While he was making his wand he decided that he would also make the wizards hat from the book and if I would so kindly sew him a new cape with lots of stars on it, he would go trick or treating on Halloween as a Wizard. There has been much talk and planning all week, waiting for mama to heal so she can get to work.



Fast forward to today and while we were at the beach he happened to find this "you beaut" stick that could not wait to be turned into a bow! His little head started ticking again and he came home, made his bow (the second one he has made this week mind you, the other one was much smaller!) remembered that he has been watching "Lord of the Rings" this week and decided that a wizard could indeed carry more than a wand! Five minutes later he came down donned in his old Cape with a sword to boot and exclaimed "Don't worry about that cape mum, I'm going as Frodo instead!" (Complete with all his weapons) But it turns out mum has to sew him a shirt and pants to go under it instead! LOL



Mum won't be rushing! She is sure by next week he will have changed his mind 10 times again! Oh but we will have fun making lots of things in the process!

Sigh!

Well, its been a doozy of a couple of days for me! Or should I say whoozy? After feeling relieved and well on Thursday and early Friday, I thought I had gotten through the worst of it! However, suddenly I was wracked with pain again and back on the pain meds! Needless to say the weekend was not much fun. I spent most of it in bed feeling miserable and trying to sleep. The thing is the pain meds make me feel sick and dizzy so I really don't like to take them but I had to as the pain was a bit much for me.

Anyway today Im feeling a little better and am up although still not myself. Of course the housework is way behind and I have loads to do so probably will not be online much the next few days till I get sorted out and back on my feet. With not doing anything all week it has kind of piled up so I am at the stage where spring cleaning is looking like a great idea! We really have to much crap in this house! Im working on getting rid of things but it always seems that the minute you give something away you need it again! Oh well, such is life!

I hope everyone else has had a more pleasant week than me! Hugs and smoochies xxoooxoxxo

Oh so thankful!!!!!

Well its been a doozy of a week but I have so much to be thankful for.....

• I am thankful that my dentist ordeal is almost over.
• I am thankful for all your positive affirmations and prayers.... THEY WORKED!!!!!
• I am thankful that the surgeon I saw today listened to me and was so compassionate, kind, honest and up front about my options.
• I am thankful that he took into account the past trauma I had been through and understood that the thought of being put to sleep while he operated was far more traumatic to me than having him just do it while I was awake.
• I am thankful that he had already decided once meeting me that he would not leave me in pain and he would do it the next day.
• I am thankful to the person who rang and cancelled their appointment leaving him a window to actually do it right then and there.
• I am thankful that he did not laugh at me when I said, please do, as I might not come back and that he took into account the fact that I don't like taking medication so provided me with helpful suggestions that suited me. (Although he suggested I take the pain meds for a couple of days more anyway! I am certainly NOT arguing with that one).
• I am thankful for his gentle manner and the way he explained everything he did.
• I am thankful to his clever nurse who when I freaked out a little as the anesthetic started to kick in and give me heart palpitations, saw it coming before I panicked and calmed me down very quickly without fuss. Amazing!
  
• I am thankful that I did not feel a thing and it was over very quickly too!
  
• I am thankful to all those who were praying or thinking of me today! Especially those like Anna, who said next month was not good enough and that she would be praying extra hard that I would have it done today! (Thanks for the support, it worked!)
  
• I am thankful to Tamara who told me to tell the dentist about the past trauma as he would take that into account! He did! Thanx Tamara!
• I am also thankful to Tamara for picking up the boys yesterday and taking them to a party because I was not up to going and to Anna for coming to visit me after the party and cheering me up.
• I am thankful that the boys have been so helpful and have been keeping themselves amused this week.
  
• I am thankful to have such wonderful family and friends!
• I am thankful to my sweet SB who has been very patiently putting up with one miserable girl and offered lots of hugs and allowed me lots of time out to recover in peace.
  
• I am thankful to my children for their patience while I have been a bit grumpy and not my usual self. And that they saw the funny side and took it happily when I prewarned them I was NOT taking any shit from any of them this week! (Cameragirl....I promise NOT to pick on your sister...but remember NO picking on your brothers either!)
• I am thankful to the Angels who held my hand in spirit today when I asked for it! You were such a comfort to me! Thank you all!
• I am thankful that I managed to get some soup cooking before the drugs wore off. Speaking of which, I am thankful that those drugs were so much stronger than the ones the regular dentist uses! They are taking far longer to wear off!
  
• I will be most thankful if the pain will stay at a managable level for the next day or so till I am healed. And so I can stop taking meds all together. I really do not like the way they make me feel. I am however thankful that they help!
  
• I am thankful that it is all almost OVER! Hooray!

Okay, thats it, the meds just started to wear off. Im off to lay down for a bit and begin the healing process!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Hugs and smoochies xxxoooxxx

Didjabringyabagalong?

Well its not Monday anymore, its actually Wednesday and once again I missed Fun Monday! My regular readers know why and I would have just let it slide but the subject our lovely friend Chris asked us to write about is one dear to my heart and one that I think everyone should be thinking about. Here is what she has to say...........

Here in the UK we are being encouraged to stop using plastic bags (except for the reusable ones) so for the last couple of years I have been developing my shopping bag collection and have become a real Bag Lady! I'd like to know 'what type of shopping bag do you favour'-plastic or material? How many do you use. You could even show us what's in your bag!

Well Chris, I am also a bit of a bag lady, (who would have guessed hey? as opposed to me being a basket caselady!) and I have been using as a preference material or cloth bags for years. Way back when they first brought them in over here I was hooked and would drag along all my bags each shopping day (much to the annoyance of the shop staff who were not quite used to these new bags that did not hook on the plastic bag holder too easily!) Yes they found me annoying but I used to just smile at them. :-)

These days they are far more common (in fact some supermarkets are making people pay for the plastic bags in the hopes they will change to cloth). And of course lets not forget the new bags for our frozen or cold goods. Pictured here we have on the right two such freezer bags. Both of these a filled with neatly folded, mostly same sized bags some for cold goods the others just fabric.......

(On a big shopping day I would take both of those bags which are full of other bags!)
The one on the left is full of library books.

Most people call these bags "green bags" because the first ones that came out were green! As you can see in the picture below they now come in all sorts of colours. The freezer ones however which are fully lined are blue. The one above on the left I actually bought today as I stopped off at the library quickly while waiting for some x-rays to develop and did not have a bag with me. It will come to good use Im sure.


Most of my friends and family have also adopted the "NO PLASTIC BAGS" rule. Sometimes we can't avoid getting them but we always re-use any we get or pass them on to someone who can. Of course the fabric ones usually get used so we don't end up with too many left over. We also pass the bags around between us, usually full of something and hence end up with different ones all the time.

So, whats in them? Well, usually groceries but then you never know what you will find inside one of Karisma's bags..........

(Here we have a UFO (un finished object) woops! A knitting project. Where did that come from? Karisma really needs to sort out that craft room AGAIN!)

And lookie here....another one of those UFO's .....
this time a cross stitch.....

Okay, we'll call these ones WIP's (works in progress....hehe...seriously I do pull these ones out a fair bit lately, thats why they live on the door! Just went to see what was in the green one, its crochet stuff, the pink and red are both cross stitch kits and I found two other bags hiding behind, one a cross stitch and the other with swimming gear for the kids in it. Woops!)

Now these two lovelies get used a lot! They are taken shopping or the one on the left tends to go to the beach a lot with my bits and pieces in it. (Cameragirl made it for me) The one on the right was a present for helping out at the Stitches and Craft fair and was made by the lovely Nikki from Nikkishell. It is currently harbouring that crocheted baby sling I told you all about before which is finished by the way, I must take a picture! I have been carting it everywhere with me)

Now as for this lot. The black bag I got from Scholastic as I run a bookclub for our local homeschool group and they sent it too me as a present. Its great for carting books around. Nice and strong. The other two are around 20 years old. I have had them forever, I have two of the net ones which live in my handbag so I am usually always prepared. (I say usually because today when I went to the library they were not there! How rude!) I also take along one or two of the following one..........

This was a freeby at a local festival, it came with a tshirt and some other stuff inside. We got a few of them and as fact has it I ended up with two and only use the bags. So my dears I have two T-shirts to give away if anyone would like them. They are Khaki coloured and have the little white dolphin on the left front. Both are adult sized M but would suit an older boy or make a great nightie for a little girl. (If you would like one please let me know in your comment and I will draw two people out at the end of the week).

As much as I like the convenience of all the store bought bags I tend to love the home made ones more and am hoping to replace most of my bags eventually with more personalized ones. Cameragirl makes all her own bags, here is one below she whipped up while we were at the craft fair................(It is made from an old pillow case chopped up and then decorated with different strands of embellishments. A great way to recycle old fabrics.......

which was, of course the purpose of the stall we worked at. But thats another story! So where are all the baskets I hear my regular readers calling? Well dears, I don't take my baskets shopping, too bulky, and besides they are always full of other goodies now aren't they? Two of them are currently filled with sticks and twigs and stuff from the bush! A nature walk you see! But here are a couple more bags that just might make it shopping with me! The pink one does not get much use, might pass that one on but the other one does and especially if I need to cart more than my usual stuff about! It fits lots of spare bags AND my big camera in it too! Ahhh what a nice bag..............

And yes its quite good looking too! I hoped you enjoyed my bag tour! Another thing I use the shopping bags for is to wrap presents in, I hate wrapping paper and quite often if I don't have a bag to recycle will go out and buy one with a kiddie print on it to put a present in. For those of you who enjoy my rants and want to read what I think of wrapping paper, (please click here) for the rest of you thanks for reading my very late post. Hugs xxxxxxx

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Dentist Update....

After a rather painful day and night things have settled down nicely today. I had a call from the surgeons office and they said more than likely all they will do is check me out tomorrow and I will have to wait till the 12th October for the actual operation. At first that really freaked me out! A whole month?????

I am actually okay with that now that I am managing the pain. The nights were the worst as I could not sleep. But this afternoon has seen great improvement! It has reduced to a dull ache and is controllable with aspirin. Kind of feels like I have a really bad bruise along the side of my face and the jaw only hurts if I move it too much. My ear kind of hurts too. I am generally pretty good with pain tolerance so as you can imagine with all my sooking, it was pretty bad the other day. So today I went off for an xray and of course checked it out when I got home. It looks like the roots are fused together to me across the jawbone. I am hoping it will be simple to remove and they will just do it tomorrow but the receptionest was not so sure of that. Apparently it is not the way they do things. A consult is a consult. I guess they want more visits = more money for them! Oh well, we'll see what happens tomorrow. I just hope if they are not going to remove it, that they don't poke it too much! I might just get cranky! LOL! I am not really ready for more useless pain. Thanks for all the well wishes everyone, I felt so much better today!

Hugs and smoochies all xxxooxoxoxoxx

OUCH!!!!!

I am in pain! Yesterday I went to the dentist! Seems innocent enough hey? Well, a few years back I had a terrible experience at the dentist which left me terrified to return. Finally about a year ago, I did return and have one tooth removed without any fuss and thankfully without any after pains. So I thought this time I would go before my bad tooth started to get infected and get it over with.

I was very brave, went in alone and then waited getting a little nervous as the dentist was behind schedule. I finally get in there, she sticks in a couple of needles (thats okay) Then she starts poking around, okay, okay, ouch!!! Woops! She frowns a bit, waits a bit more and then opts to give me something stronger. Next she starts pulling the tooth! Well she tries very hard. Im not kidding she pulled, shoved and shook my head around for half an hour. The tooth did not budge! I was bleeding a bit and she had broken off some tooth but could not get the roots to move. It seems they are welded to my jaw bone! Aha! That is what happened the time before when a piece of my jawbone came out with the tooth. (The weeks afterwards were NOT fun!)

So she decided to stop and send me to a surgeon. I was fine until the drugs wore off, then my god! I spent last night sooking into my pillow and generally feeling sorry for myself. Panadol and Panadeine did not work. I ended up with a cocktail of Panadeine forte, antibiotics and nurofen before I finally relaxed enough to go to sleep. I am scheduled to go to the Surgeon on Thursday which is the earliest they could get me in and the same day I was supposed to meet with the home school inspector.

I am so peeved that this has happened. You don't know how hard it was just for me to actually go there in the first place. Now I have to go AGAIN!!! Except this time they will have to cut me! Im hoping it feels a little better by then. At the moment I feel like I have been punched in the face! All achy but thankfully the meds are working now and it does not hurt quite so much as last night!

Please send some happy healing vibes for Thursday! Im scared! Boo Hoo!

The chicken update...

Well for those of you who do not know already, I thought I would let you know what went on regarding poor Henrietta's sudden demise. Miko we think was actually NOT the culprit after all. We are leaning more towards the fact that it was Maxi (our older dog). While she was in the court yard when we got home, we found a small brown feather stuck to her fur. All the feathers in the back yard were black and had actually come from Drewcilla's tail.

About an hour after I found Henrietta and when I had calmed down enough to go back out there again, I woke up to the fact that if they were really going to kill to eat they would have eaten Henrietta too. There was also nothing there except feathers.

I found a most indignant Drewcilla hiding under the gutters of the back shed and after much persuasion managed to get her back in the coup with the other chickens. She was unharmed other than having no tail feathers and a small patch off her back. Miko and Bella have shown no interest what so ever in the chickens since then although when Maxi went out the back she ran straight to the coup and started behaving very suspiciously. She has a record of going after lizards and birds so we think she was the most certainly the culprit.

Anyway Its like a hot summer day today so we are off to the beach to soak up some sun! Have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xxxxoooxxx

M I K O ! ! !

Tonight there is anger
Karisma is sad
Coz someone round here has
been "dog" awful BAD!

Karisma was out and about for the day
Her animals seemingly left nicely to play
R e l a x a t i o n , no children to heed
it was gone in a blink, quick lightning speed!

She came home to a yard
with feathers astrew!
And quickly surmised
This was pretty TABOO!

She yelled and she screamed
And the dogs they did scatter
But Miko, just smiled and said
"What is the matter?"

I see Henriettas not moving at all
but we played some fun games
and had fun
that is all!

I don't understand why your cranky
My mama
Look Drewsies still here,
shes hiding under the gutter

Oh Miko!
You don't know just how close you came

To joining poor Henry, in sleep and in name

I know you are young
AND I LOVE YOU I DO
But why do you do the things
that you do?

Spring Seed Affirmations

Today we went to one of the local parks, down by the lake and the children made some Rainbow Seed Affirmations to welcome back the Springtime!

The affirmations are filled with lots of different seeds and hung in a tree in your garden. Normally they are made with light fabric but we made them with paper napkins so they will break down quickly in the weather and our seeds will hopefully grow into some yummy herbs.


You can say a prayer or recite your own affirmation while hanging your seeds...Here is the one we used today........

Strolling in the woods,
Dancing in the meadows,
Smelling the wreathing gardens,
Drawn by new life and beginnings...

We WELCOME Spring!

We seek the blazing light,
Of the rising golden sun,
The dews fragrant touch,
Early morning, to brilliant noon...

We WELCOME Spring!

To feel the golden glowing warm,
Shining on our body and hands,
Warming all it touches,
Crystal day and ardent moon...

We WELCOME Spring!

Mother of light and fire,
Nurturing one, greening all the earth,
May we ask for one desire
From the one giving all things birth?

(Now we get to ask for what we would like to achieve this year)

Karisma asked that the sun and rain help us achieve a healthy and abundant garden this year and thanked the garden spirits for their help in advance. Projecting healing energy and love towards all. Hopefully, by next week the garden will be back on track again. Planning on getting in some extra organic soil as ours has depleted a bit in the past few years and then plant lots of new vegies and herbs. The herb seeds from the affirmations will be allowed to spread and grow through the garden.

We had a lovely time at the park with our friends and made some new friends too. The kids played and ran and ran and ran till it was time to go home. Tomorrow the boys are off to hang out with the police force for the day! They are taking part in the CARES "Road Safety Bike Course" and will stay all day with lots of their homeschool friends.

Spring has sprung!

Well its officially springtime down here and as you can see the flowers are blooming and the bee's are buzzing. Like most things in Karisma's world at the moment, the garden is far behind schedule. I should have already planted all the new seedlings but alas have not even got the soil prepared.

We have a few stragglers still hanging out, like this leek (well there are still 5 of them to go).... (better make some soup!)

A few lettuces.....
(Please excuse the weeds, they are now all gone!)

Lots of herbs, we always have herbs, here is some rosemary......

Some asparagus, which will stay as I have been told it takes a few years to get it going properly. It seems to be doing fine thus far..........


And NO we are not trying to grow soccer balls, that would belong to grumpy over here.....(these pictures were taken the other day when we made rockets! Bella was most upset that her ball was in the garden and she could not reach it. The kids would not give it to her as she would then want them to play soccer instead! Poor Bella!)

You will be glad to hear that she was not long after reunited with her ball. Though she was still a bit put out as no-one else wanted to play!

Today we are off to the park to make some Rainbow Seed Affirmations to hang in the trees to welcome back Sringtime! And of course to hang out with our friends under the trees. (or in them!) Have a great day everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xxxoooxxxx