Not a good start to the weekend ............

Driving home on Friday the car infront of me stopped suddenly. So I breaked hard and stopped with plenty of room, thankfully. Unfortunatly, the white van behind me didn't break. Result one squished car.

Just when you thing things can't really get much worse ........

I don't really like to complain..............but just when the storm clouds are gathering on our horizon and I am trying to buckle down a bit. The washing machine decides to turn up its toes for good. Leaving a ton of soggy half washed washing -

A huge pile of dirty washing.
A sink full of handwashing to do -

And lots of dripping small boys clothes.

On the upside, living in Hawkes Bay, there is a lot of good sunny weather to dry it all. And another benefit of living in New Zealand, the washing machine is not in the kitchen like in British homes. It is out in the washhouse in the garage, where I can make as much soggy mess as I like.

This little piggy

This little piggy hopes it will be fine to go to market tomorrow morning. I tripped on the step into the garage and bashed my big toe. Peter says if it is still really sore tomorrow he will x-ray it for me.

Yo-yo Parcel

This year I was very proud of myself. I was organised in October to send of the Christmas pressies to my brother and his family in France. Usually I realise mid-december that the last posting date was months past. Imagine my suprise when the parcel arrived back at our house again. I had missed out a crucial part of the address, in fact I did not have the crucial part of the address in my address book. I have added a new outer parcel and sent it back again, fingers crossed they might get it in time for Easter. The strange thing is I have sent him parcels to this address for quite a few years. I am wondering did he ever recieve any of them?

Summer Pudding

I was so busy buying the berries, for my summer pudding, I forgot to check that we had any white bread. Hmm. I got started cooked the berries, streched the bread I had to fit the bowl and put a saucer on top to press it all down, keeping my fingers crossed that it would work.
Unfortunatly it didn't. I think this is the worst summer pudding I have ever made, but who cares really it still tastes the same. We had it for breakfast with yogurt.....yum, yum, yum.

Daisy Update

For six months after I broke my ankle I had to take warfarin to prevent me from getting another blood clot. The side effects were tough going, I was cold all the time and tired all the time and my hair fell out.
Now the six months is up I am glad to have my energy back and my hair. The being cold side of it would have been good now that summer is here. But there is one strange side effect of taking warfarin. Not one that I had heard of before, my sense of taste was intensified. Everything tasted so absolutely, incredibly, wonderful. I thought, at first, that it was Peter's cooking. Until I stopped taking the warfarin and my taste buds returned to normal. It was a bit of a shock. No wonder I put on so much weight.
Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with the daisy. Well the answer is nothing. I just thought it was a great picture.

The slow road down hil

Both Peter and I hate taking medicine of any sort. We are not into alternative medicine either, we just like to have a good balanced healthy life. Unfortunately due to recent circumstances I now have a handbag full of drugs to carry around. There is two different types of Warfarin. A little red book to record my INR levels so that the doctor can get my warfarin correct and to let the emergency services know I am on warfarin if I am in an accident. Mega doses of ibuprofen for the pain in my chest and some omeprazol to make sure I don't get stomach problems from the ibuprofen! Hopefully I will get rid of some of this stuff soon. I hate the thought that this is the beginning of the slow road down hill to being past it. I have way to much too do before I get to that stage.
My cast has been removed and I have a lovely large Velcro moon boot to wear. Which is brilliant, I get to take it off to have a shower and at night. It also means I can put my foot on the ground, no more hopping.



Yip I have taken up knitting as I have to spend so much time sitting down. I must be anticipating a cold winter as I have knitted a huge thick green scarf. It should keep me cosy.

Today's Daisies #82

Today I am feeling a bit floppy and past it like the daisies below. On Saturday morning I was feeling not great and had some pains in my chest. I thought they were just muscle pains from using the crutches. Just to be sure we went to see my GP. Who suggested that I should go straight to the Emergency Dept. Peter tried to pay the bill on the way out, no no she said, we can sort that out later. In other words, don't wait just go straight there.
Anyway, we got to the ED and sat about for a little while, while they tried to find my notes. Not helped by the fact that the Doctor had muddled me up with a different Nicola. Peter had to go back to sort out the kids, so he left me sitting in the waiting room. By the time he got back I had be poked and prodded and had blood extracted and x-rays done and CT scan done and ultrasound scan done and was attached to monitors and given oxygen. Don't I look great in the lovely hospital gown.

Because I have a cast on my ankle I managed to acquire a DVT in my calf. Which then disintegrated a bit and moved some of the clot into my lungs. So I got to spend the weekend in hospital.

On the upside I got a bed with a view and watched the sunrise.

I am home now. I have to have daily blood tests to set my Warfarin level and daily injections into my stomach, for a week or so. I chickened out at doing the injections myself, so Peter is doing them for me.

Who would have thought that gardening could be so dangerous.

My Garden Trip

This weekend I have got over my nasty cold and am feeling so much better. My youngest wanted to build a den in the wood. So I cleared some of the undergrowth for him. Being me I got a little carried away and ended up trimming quite a few trees. While I was clearing up the tree trimmings I notice a few potholes where my youngest had been digging. While I was thinking to myself - better fill those pot holes in before somebody really hurts themselves - I fell in one of the potholes and my ankle gave a bit of a crack as I fell. You can see in the snap below how hard it was to see the pot hole. After lying on the ground groaning, among the mosquitos, I realised I had to get myself back up to the house somehow.

Crawling on my hands and knees I set off while my youngest ran off to get the first aid kit, so he could bandage me up! Peter went to get some pain killers. Peter did offer to help but it was just too painful to hop, and he would have dropped me if he carried me.


I dragged myself up the hill.
And up the steps, and across the wet lawn, while the family looked on giggleing. They giggled even more when I insisted that before I went to hospital I had to wash my face and hands and apply some makeup. I am a girl after all.


In the waiting room at the hospital my ankle developed a very large egg, just above the ankle bone. The emergency department was full of motor bike riders who had had accidents at a local Motor Cross meeting. And there was I with a broken ankle from gardening.

If you look closely you can see the bottom of one of my shin bones has been snapped off. All that fuss for such a tiny break.

After only 4 hours at the Emergency Department I was home again, complete with plaster cast, crutches and demanding chocolate. The next 6 weeks are going to be interesting, I am a very active person and hate sitting still. I won't even be able to drive! Work is not a problem because I can work from home. But sitting still, I will have time for sewing perhaps. Mind you the family have already started playing tricks on me, which should if not keep me on my toes, at least will stop me from being bored.

Bathroom Renovation #10

Sorry I have not been blogging much over the last week. I have been busy painting and painting and painting and still painting. The walls are all done, the ceilings are all done and the glossing is under way.

The new look cool and calm hall. It is still a bit empty until I get round to deciding where my pictures should go.

The bathroom is finished, apart from the skirting boards and around the window, theoretically. More about that later.

New taps, sink and mirror are installed.

The new larder is painted and ready for its shelving.

The kitchen does not look so pretty. There is a lot more work to be done in there, before I can get down to the painting.

But there is a major problem in the shower. The tiles leak. Within seconds of us putting water on them, the water went through the glaze and discoloured the tiles. I know it looks like it is the grout, but it happens way to fast for the water to be soaking up from the grout. Also if you run your fingers over the tiles you can feel pits where there is no glaze. Soooooo, the whole lot have to come off. The nice new shower screen has to be taken down, the shower removed, the tiles removed and back to square one again. This time, we bought the tiles, so they are good quality and not porous. One day the new shower will be finished.

Oh and by the way my next post is my 1000th post.

That sinking feeling ......

I've done it again. Did you know that sinks shatter very easily. I didn't. I came out of the shower and picked up glass jar with wet hands and guess what. The glass jar slipped out of my hands into the sink. Ooops I thought, there goes my $3 jar. Unfortunatly the $3 jar survived the fall, but our slightly more expensive sink didn't. There is an up side to this though. We decided a while ago to update our bathroom next year, rip out the bath and put in a big shower. We can move that date forward a lot and update the bathroom now. There is no point in paying to replace the sink in the wrong place and move it again next year. Which means that the house renevations are going to start at last. Will post some before pics soon.

Grounded

Sorry I don't have a pic to go with this post. But I just have to say grrrrrr again. I tried to start my car yesterday, unfortunately the battery was as flat as a pancake. Peter charged it up for me, started the car and everything was ok and ready to go this morning.

This morning I tried to start the car and it turned over but would not start. So I tried charging the battery again, still the car would not start. Time to call Terry down at the garage. Terry arrived an hour later, hooked the car up to his fancy black box. Turn it over he said and it should start now. So I turned it over again, still nothing happening. Hmmm said Terry, that does not smell quite right, I will need to look at this down at the garage, I will send the low loader out to pick up your car. How long do you think it will take to fix, I said. Hmmm probably tomorrow morning, I am a bit busy today, was his answer.

After another hour the guy with the low loader arrived to pick up the car. How he reversed up our narrow drive with its twisted start I do not know. Just climb in and steer and I will winch you on to the truck, he said. Hmmm, I said, think I better get my eldest son, reversing is not one of my main talents. My eldest did a great job and off Cys (that's my cars name, another story) went on the low loader. See you tomorrow I thought. I should have known better.

Two hours later Terry phoned up. Have you been having lots of problems with your car, he said. Nope, said I, it has been running ok. That's very strange, he said, as there is no pressure at all in two of the cylinders. I have no idea what that means, but it sounded serious. It will be Friday at the earliest before I will be able to fix your car. Yikes I thought, school holidays and no car. Is that going to be expensive, said I. Yes, very, said Terry!

So here I am first day of the holidays and I am grounded, there is no escape.

Sometimes you just have to say..........

Why me! and Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Disaster has struck again. Even a simple thing like renting a car seems to go wrong. We booked and paid for our car rental through the travel agent. It will be much cheaper they said. Hmmmm. Today $2023 was charged from Hertz the car rental peole onto my credit card. After a fortunes worth of phone calls to the UK and running around with credit card statements. Hertz say I extended the hire of the car for three extra days from the 27th till 29th, which cost more than the original hire. How can I have done that when I flew out of UK on the 27th, I said. Do you have proof, they said. Fingers crossed they accept the stamped passport, travel itinerary and boarding passes for our flight as proof. Meanwhile our credit card is now over the limit, I have been charged $50 currency exchange, plus interest for the pleasure of using Hertz. Never, ever again. If there is a silver lining to this cloud, please could somebody point it out for me.

Today's Suprise Daisies #45

Today's daisies arrived in a suprise parcel from my Mum. Don't you just love suprise parcels. Mum did tell me there was a parcel on the way, but with all the recent disasters, I had forgotten all about it.
Inside were some really cool daisy fabrics. I can just see them in a quilt with chicken fabrics already.
One of Mum's beautiful cards.

And a patchwork block. The block is called North Wind.

Just what I needed to cheer me up. I am sure it was about this time last year that we had lots and lots of disasters. This year so far - the Dishwasher has broken down again for the last time, the Microwave is attempting to blow itself up with sparks each time it is used, the Tumble Drier has developed a very very loud rattle and on Sunday smoke started to billow out of the Iron. And just to cap it all we had the big scare with my youngest last week ending up in hospital and Peter's Dad is really seriously ill, he has lung cancer. Who says things come in threes, sometimes it seems like they come in twenty threes. Mind you seeing my youngest back home and running around full of energy puts everything else in perspective.

Fireworks

We almost missed the fireworks tonight. My youngest managed to jump off a low wall, land on a rake and make a rather deep puncture in his foot, this afternoon. At first he said it was too sore to go, then after being in bed for 10 minutes he decided that he would be able to hop there. It ended up with Peter carrying him on his back. What a pair they made. Peter with his black yukky finger and our youngest hopping about showing everyone that would look the hole in his foot. Got a couple of snaps with my new camera, the second is a bit wild.

I'm back already

Panic over I am back on line already. Peter managed to get the router going with the reset instructions I found on the Internet and my eldest managed to get the wireless network back up and running. A team effort. Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. Now all we need is an set of reset instructions for our wild middle son. Please leave a comment if you know where I can get some.

Disaster strikes again

This is a very quick post during a break at work. Guess what! My wonderful elder son decided to update the software on our internet router last night. Now we have no internet connection at home. No idea when it will be sorted and if it can be sorted out, and due to current Hubbie's finger problem I really do not want to buy another router (we need to save all the cents we have). So this may be the last post for a while. But I will be back sometime in the future, perhaps when life is not dealing us so many Black Swans.

No More Daisies

No more daisies pics for a while. My camera has disapeared. I had it this afternoon while taking some pics in Dale's garden, put it back in my handbag and now it is gone. I feel very lost without it. I have retraced my steps, phoned the supermarket and had Dale searching her garden with a torch. Fingers crossed that our insurance covers us for lost items. If you have any daisy pics please send them to me so I can have something to post, or any other interesting pics would be welcome. Just leave a comment and I will send you my email address. Or if you happen to find a very battered Sony Cyber-shot lying around in Havelock, please let me know.

I told you the disasters had not stopped. I am usually a "glass half full" type of girl, but the latest run of disasters I think will continue for a while. Peter even managed to break the lid on his favourite teapot today. If you know Peter you would know that this is a big issue for him, he is never more than 2-3 mins away from a cup of tea and usually has a mug of tea attached to his right hand. He has had to resort to using my favourite Laura Ashley pale blue and white floral teapot, not his idea of what a teapot should be. For my part, it is maybe not wise to let him use my favourite teapot that I have had for 27 years. Will post a pic of it when I am able to again and if it survives Peter.

Mr Lovely Legs

Peter today noticed a box of books in the garage that looked interesting. So got out the ladder to have a look at them. And guess what he fell off, now isn't that a suprise climbing a ladder with a broken finger. On the way down he whacked his crushed finger repeatedly. So off we went to the ED to get it checked out. Four and a half hours later, after seeing the doctor for 30 seconds and getting his wounded finger re-dressed we toddled off home. You may wonder why there is a picture of Peter's lovely legs above and below. Can you spot the problem with them. Yep, not only had Peter whacked his bad finger, he had also whacked his knee. The pain from his finger obviously masked the pain from his leg. Guess where we will be going tomorrow if the swelling does not go down. What a lovely way to spend the holiday weekend.

You know, I wonder what will happen next. So far this year we have had - Broken kitchen appliances Fridge, Cooker and Dishwasher. We bought a second hand dishwasher from Trademe for $50, as forking out for three new applicances in one year was getting a bit expensive. It works really well, no leaks and it is really solid. But the dishes actually come out dirtier than you put them in! So we are back to hand washing, or should I say I am back to hand washing. Peter had his credit card number hijacked and maxed out via Internet shopping by some fraudster back in the UK. Our middle teenager has acquired a very interesting girlfriend and is attempting to take irresponsability to record heights. Then Peter fell off his bike and crushed his finger, not a good thing for a dentist. Would you want your dentist approaching your with a fat black yukky finger. What is going to be the next disaster?

Peter's hand

Just had to leave my hubby behind in hospital. He fell of his bike this morning on the way to work. For some reason he landed on the fingers of his left hand. Nothing else was damaged, or scraped, or bruised. Just a couple of fingers squished. At first we thought he just needed stitches. Then it became clear that he would need surgery. The bone in the top of his finger is totally pulverised. So that's where he is right now, at least he has a window bed with a reasonable view.

And if you want to see the pic of his fingers just let me know. He insisted I took one. Infact he even txted a snap to his work collegues, they did not recieve it. So some poor soul is wondering why they have a snap of a yukky finger.