My life in dot points

Its all I can manage... But here are some questions Life has thrown at me lately.

• Is it wrong to expect 24 year olds to silence their girlfriends during sex? Its been going on for 4 months now. When I was a girl I would have been mortified to think anyone would hear my activities....let alone be able to determine exactly how many orgasms constitutes a multiple event. Don't want to repress anyone's sensual life. Teensy bit of pride in son's ... um ... talents. Don't want to engender shame. It wouldn't be my shame anyhow. Just DON'T. Want. To. Hear. It. Any. More. Someone I was lamenting the situation to told me, "Laura, some women will come in a stiff breeze". Yes. So I hear. (sigh). Terse SMS war already on the issue. Repeated approaches to son to keep it down. Will I still be seeing this young woman at family meals with my grandchildren in 40 years time? Son's final university exam tomorrow. Am I a Bad, Disloyal, Enabling Mother? Or am I just being 'dissed'? Discuss.

• Just how much stuff does one really need? Is it in inverse proportion to the amount of floorspace available for the purposes of walking around? (phew, moved out 4 crates of Stuff today, it helps already).

• How long does one wait for midwifery models of care to shift? How does one bite one's tongue at the backroom discussions undermining women's desire for non-interventionist birth? Will I be happier in the long run just going independent and taking the blood pressure pills, being my own boss, and paying through the nose for PI insurance. Should I just move to New Zealand? How long is a piece of string? You get the idea. I'm doing a major review next week to take a snapshot of my career/practice so far. Why does one always feel ready to be shot down in flames. Am I trying to run before I can walk?

• How will we face another major surgery for our daughter? This will be a biggie with the potential to really improve her life, but it won't be easy. It has come as a surprise, sort of. She's had similar surgery twice before, but doesn't remember it. I do. Gulp.

• How good is it to have friends who love and support you? And listen to your whining. And write loving things about you. And share bookclub with you. And paint with you. And go to Vegas with you. I truly am blessed.

• On a lighter note.....How good is this? Now these girls really know how to shop. And I thought I had good op-shops near me.

• Will we all be fit and well enough for our trip? All four of us are limping or crippled in some aspect. This is lame (literally). We are all ready to feel well again. I am certainly sick of keeping the doctors in business, nice people though they are. I will keep taking (all) the tablets. Calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean.

• How will I pack? For 4 people, heading in 3 different directions at the end, for Sydney, Melbourne and Central Australia.

Bearing in mind that one must be alive to complain, and that we live in a well resourced country, with no war, and plentifully stocked supermarkets, and that our children have survived childhood, and that we have careers and sufficient income to service our whining whitebread world, and that I may just delete this whole post because I am so sick of the sound of my whining......answers on a postcard please.

This and that, the update.

Dear blogfriends, please forgive the subheadings, there's a lot to tell.

MIDWIFERY
I made arrangements for me to back up at some planned homebirths early this year. That period has now ended and the score is: Homebirths occurred 3, homebirths attended by me 1.5.

Yeah I know....bummer eh? I was ready, willing and waiting, sleeping with the phone by me and knew they were on. The first I managed to see all the way through as you saw in my previous post. It was stripped back and simple and lovely. The second went into labour overdue by a couple of weeks. The primary midwife attended and was in communication with me, I was ready to leave at a moment's notice, the house was 40 mins from my place. She laboured quietly apparently and was well attended by family. There was radio silence for a while, then an "uuummmm, she went from nothing to pushing and 2 pushes later....ta-da!" So great for her, a first-timer, to birth so well, I'm thrilled for them all, really. But......

The third was a second baby and the first had been really quick. Less than an hour quick! So I was poised to possibly be the first one there as I live closer to her. I am still doing my regular job as well, and we have been trusting to the universe that it will all work out. Phut! The universe clearly didn't get my memo about a late/early split shift last week followed by eight days off which were coinciding with the due date. So when the phone rang at 5.10am I thought it was the alarm gone off early.......Then slammed upright when I blurrily saw that it was the first midwife calling! OOoh, decisions, decisions - she was really quick with the first one, I've got time for her to pop it out and still get to work on time. I committed and dashed out. I got there at 5.27 and she was labouring, but still smiling. Things hotted up, then quietened down, as they do, but my start time was approaching.....I called in that I would be late, and mentally made up my mind that I would stay for now, but that if the birth wasn't imminent at 7.30 I would slip away and the other midwife would call a different midwife to back up. And so it went. Bummer. The baby was born at 9.13am. It would have been too much of a stretch to be that late for work.

So the experience I have gained is of providing antenatal and postnatal care in the community, and also intrapartum care in the woman's own home. I have witnessed one homebirth (my second). It was good. I can see the learning curve before me should I choose to continue to work in this field. I need to gather a lot more equipment. I could easily become used to doing less with women, as they take a lot more responsibility for their own issues than women I usually see through the hospital setting. There is less 'routine' assessment and more reliance on behavioural changes in labour. Spontaneous and physiological, just the way it should be. All the usual assessments are there, just less VEs and when they were done (by the primary MW) they were at points when I would have done them to clarify issues as well.

There is no shortage of work out there. With upcoming changes to maternity service provision by the federal government there are many opportunities for midwives to set up in group practices with Medicare provider numbers and limited prescribing rights, as long as they are deemed 'eligible' (a nebulous description, yet to be fully defined but being worked on furiously) and hold professional indemnity insurance, which will not cover them to birth anywhere but in a hospital. This has recently been released for a cost of $7500 per annum full time cover. Stay tuned! I do plan to become eligible - in fact if I was doing my PD instead of blogging it would happen sooner.

I have also been continuing to work with a group planning the commencement of a midwifery group practice in our hospital, hopefully by mid-year. It has to be signed off by roughly 47,000 people including doctors but I think we're up to 35, 766 signatures and the work is all downhill from here! This would be groundbreaking in this state, and I have seen my name on the sample rosters so it may come true! Can't wait.

HEALTH
Twice this year I have had my life flash before my eyes and prepared for my imminent death.

I wish I was kidding.

What I have learned from this is that my husband really needs a cell phone. So the kids CAN in theory contact him when he is in Sydney for a conference and Mum has died of a stroke. As it was I managed to get an appointment with the GP and get a presciption for antihypertensives just before it blew out any blood vessels in my brain, but I suspect it was close. It was extremely unpleasant. I then developed an attractive rash from the meds and changed them a week later. They remain effective.

The second time was when I was woken by upper abdo pain and thought I was going to throw up. I decamped to the loo whereupon I had an 'episode' of tingling, profuse sweating, pins and needles in my face and arms and extreme lightheadedness and a sense of impending doom. Visions of Elvis abounded and I was convinced I was about to have a heart attack. This was in the very early hours of the morning after our daughter's 21st party, so waking a still inebriated husband was quite challenging, as I swooned on the toilet and resorted to banging the glass screen repeatedly while moaning. After a while I managed to croak out his name loud enough and he stumbled out to find me. An ambulance was called and I was whisked off. It turned out to be a vaso-vagal event (they think) as my heart was fine and my blood pressure was elevated but not catastrophic. Phew. I felt sheepish, but would have felt worse if I hadn't paid attention to it. I have seen someone have a fatal coronary and I felt how they looked....so I did the best I could to get help. It lasted about 10-15 minutes (I think) but it was really scary, and I'm grateful it was something benign.

I have discovered that I am not ready to die.

BIRTHDAYS
My son turned 24. He is a sweetie and good company. Please God, let him pass this last semester at uni. He has a girlfriend. There is much 'noise' coming from his bedroom. There is often another mouth to feed. It is OK.

My daughter turned 21. We had the party we planned except for the fact that the pizza oven was too wide to fit through the gate (or the gate was too narrow for the oven to pass). We were flexible about this and luckily had a wide driveway and a paved frontyard that could be rapidly put to use as the pizzeria. A Good Time was had by all, pizza was made, cooked and consumed with gusto if not in the same square metreage of yard. Tromping through the house was expected anyway. The back patio was gorgeous and people mixed and mingled at the tables we set up. We did two big photoboards for her which were fantastic to do. She received some lovely gifts. People continue to wish her well. This is good.

STORM DAMAGE
The skylight is fixed. A Man came from 50km away to do it. The SES had arrived a few days after the storm and covered and secured it with thick black plastic for which we were grateful. The car remains dented. This PITA is likely to continue to be so for a while as I am too busy to submit a claim.

TRAVELS
WE are taking a family holiday in June to Sydney and Uluru. It will be great! 3 nights in Sydney doing tyouristy things, then a 3 day camping safari around Uluru, The Olgas and King's Canyon. The family will then leave from Alice Springs while I stay there for a national conference. Its all good.

SILVER
Somehow it seems I will have been married for 25 years on May 5th. To the same man. Lucky, eh? Preparations abound for a celebratory dinner. Followed by our trip a few weeks later.

PHOTOS may follow for all the above, but right now I have to go to work. Which was evacuated a few nights ago due to a fire. I wasn't working, but it looked like a nightmare! I'll hear all about it today.

Its all go around here!

Holiday activities

Spend four nights with favourite husband in a cosy and private beach-side getaway. Tick.

Spend a day of getaway baking beloved Christmas cakes. Best. Batch. Ever. Tick.

Play Bingo with hubby. Tick. I still don't win.

Tackle Xmas pressie shopping with a relaxed hubby by my side. Tick.

Get bathroom door and dining room wall painted 6 months after bathroom renovation. Tick.

Attend Xmas parties in blistering heat. Tick.

Host Xmas party in blistering heat, wondering why people say they are coming but don't. Tick.

Eat leftovers. Tick.

Read on FB that a young depressed work colleague has died tragically. At work, with colleagues finding her. Reel in shock. Make many phonecalls to distraught colleagues. Grieve the loss of a lovely young midwife. Sadly, tick.

Value life even more preciously and vows to love and support even more. You betcha.

Happy October

Its the first day of October. How did that happen?

I have two announcements.

First - I missed my blogiversary on September 28th. Gasp! Very few of you would remember this, my first post, two years ago. But looking back at the posts from the end of 2007 they are not too appalling, probably better then the whiny dross I have dished up lately, but with less Wild Women.

This (above) is Marina, she lives with Kelly now. Below is Jaune, who lives with my sister Helen. In response to a question....Jaune is legless, as is Marina if one looks carefully. Thanks Kelly for looking carefully.

If I were better organised I would have a draw or something, with a prize. But as I haven't yet sent the de-stash prize won by Victoria in February- because I never actually DID the de-stash and therefore never identified the said goods- I feel bad, because you couldn't be said to be at the head of the queue. Yes that's right, it means I am still sitting in the same craft room mess (the very same) as I was in February. Was that TMI? Deal with it.

Anyway, I'm sure I could be persuaded to have fun with a creation of a random small gift for a commenter, and whatever it is I will send an identical-ish item to you, Victoria. One that won't clutter up your 'packing to move house' dilemma. Making small items is a pleasure, and is the only way I get to craft much these days.

So, it seems this IS now a giveaway situation (can you see this evolving before your eyes? Yeah, me too) with the leaving of a comment as the entry point.

In other news, as of today I am registered as a midwife in private practice.

I have no clients, have not advertised, and no particular plans, but have assembled some equipment so I can do antenatal and postnatal visits only at this stage, and I'll take it from there. It was out of a sense of solidarity with private midwives that the govt was threatening to outlaw homebirths and claiming it only affects about 200 midwives. Dammit! How dare they remove women's choices like that and ignore the wishes of women to choose homebirth with a known midwife, I thought, I'll make it 201 and stand with them........and besides, it never hurts to ruffle a few feathers. I know the Australian College of Midwives is working very hard behind the scenes to turn this situation around. I truly believe this battle will be won in the medium term. The evidence is just too strong. So . . . I filled in a form to notify the WA Health Department of my intention to practise as a midwife in private practice as of this date. and. sent. it. off. Many others have done similarly with less experience. I have people to guide me. I have trust in my knowledge and women's bodies. Antenatal and postnatal I can do. Its a start.

Gulp.

Correspondent's report

Hi Laura,

Time is flying past. Tom-Tom now 2.5yo. Still cute, fun and full of energy. He's talking very well now.

I hope these don't take too long to download for you.
cheers

love Jo

***********************************************************************************

OOOHHHHHH JO!

Thankyou so much, I actually ACHED with longing when I saw that child in the photos and now I'm in tears cos I miss him (and you, my darling) so much.

I want to get on a plane right now and bring you all HERE!!!!!

Why don't you live next door? Why has my sister moved back to Perth so I don't go through Melbourne or nearby lately!!!!!! Dammit!
I am heading to Adelaide on Sept 21st for the conference, and wish you were coming too. Rats.

We truly need to live closer together so I can smooch your lovely children. (throbs with longing for those gorgeous kids....) Tom is unbearably beautiful, I bet he is such fun chattering away and dragging cats around. The photos of him with Darwin are gorgeous, and Georgie is looking like a mini-you. I'm sure Andy was just moving too fast to be captured on film! I just can barely believe how much I love that Tom-Tom, and am especially thrilled to be the first to have seen his sweet face. This midwifery deal is a pretty special gig.

I have just surfaced today after a stint of night shift so will rejoin the land of the living...the work on LBS at night is very absorbing but can be torrid at times, last night was one of those, just pulled from room to room with IOL left right and centre, and the previous night's ones still lingering and only just producing the goods 24 hrs later, or failing and having CS. I had a nice baby at 5.53am by vacuum, compound presentation which meant the Mum's epidural wasn't as effective while she was pushing - you know how they really hurt that extra bit with a hand as well. OUCH. The Mum was so loving and gorgeous to her baby as soon as she was out, it was beautiful to see. Three minutes later, at 0600 was a birth (with another midwife) to a multip who I had cared for initially that night before being moved, and as I left at 7.40am I stopped by theatre to see another primip who had not gone into labour after a tough 24 hours of trying, and was about to meet her babe by CS. I had been caring for her as well last night, and she headed off to OT just as I was in the thick of things for the vacuum, so another midwife took her up. Its all go I tell ya!

Has it really been 9 months since you moved in? Time flies! Any further midwifery work for you? What else you been up to?- as if those gorgeous monkeys aren't enough to keep you fully occupied.

Anyway...I will call you soon,

Thanks again so much for sending those pics (get Georgie to take one of you too!)

Much love, dear friend, I really miss you

Laura x x x x x

If it quacks like a duck...

THIS is the attention seeking duck. It quacked, and whined, and waddled up and down, and carried on until I took its photo and then it stopped. I'm not kidding. Go figure.

This the annoying, attention seeking duck's friend, who swam quietly without fuss. I took two photos of this one, to reward good behaviour.

This is what my husband insisted was a greater crested grebe.He vowed that it was really rare and we should take a photo of it. So I did. For posterity, in case it became extinct overnight. Funnily enough this 'grebe' had a lot of cousins in Stresa, and on the Borromeo islands.

This is a tree stump on Isola Bella. You can see the attraction, no?

And more of the gardens. You really musn't encourage me.

OK, I'll stop now. Genuine Paris photos next time.

Wild weather = wild women

Its been a while since I showed you any Wild Women. Wanna see the latest batch?

My previous WW are found here and in mid-April archives. The latest girls have been a while coming as I have been quite stop/start with them.

Here is Nymph. You've met her before, but she got finished with some extra floral embroidery and is now ready to take off to her new home.

This is Regina. She is a queen of Rio, and dresses in the colours of the carnival.

Below is Minnie. She took her time to reveal herself, and was bald for quite some time. It didn't suit her. But when she claimed some sorbet-coloured locks she came alive. Her arms and legs are 'milagros' and have a lovely textureand she has vintage crochet lace as her skirt. I think she is doing the Twist.

This is Jaune. Someone I know is having a special birthday soon and guess where Jaune is going to live?

Finally, you have also seen this sweetie before but she was shy and hadn't told me her name yet. She has just whispered it to me...May I introduce Flora. She likes violets.

She was nervous for her close-up, but I think it turned out, don't you?

Notes from Damrak

Hi y'all from Amsterdam

Our first impressions are very favourable. What a laid-back city! There don't appear to be any Beautiful People in Amsterdam but there are a LOT of people having a good time. A large serve of Patates Frites seem to be de rigeur at 4pm. And shouting as one returns drunkenly to the hotel, or rolling one's suitcase loudly on the cobblestones is the go at 4am. Take it from me.

We are staying at a budget hotel on a very busy street and we have a front room with a street view, which also means street noise. The room is comfortable in itself, and we have trams right outside the door that take us in all directions. We are quite jet-lagged and will be hoping to sleep properly tonight without waking at 3 am, or having too much of a nap and sleeping through until 8pm, which is still in bright light. Earplugs are a distinct advantage. Say no more.

So far we have seen the flower market, been on a canal cruise, wandered around the Dam, booked tickets to Delft for Sunday, eaten cherries and grapes, smoked eel, been to the Rijkmuseum, the Van Gogh museum, eaten lunch in the park, wandered the sidestreets and seen the coffeeshops, and after our sleep-in nap had a very nice Thai meal on the edge of the red-light district. We wandered home through the area, a bit underwhelmed and noting that there were a lot of men in Amsterdam everywhere. It was curious

Today we have been to the AlbertCuyper Markts. It was very long, it went for blocks and blocks, but we only bought fruit and chocolate. The trams are very easy to navigate, and everyone speaks English which is extremely handy. We kid ourselves that we're pronouncing the names of places properly, and every now and then locals will butt in and tell us we're heading in the wrong direction! They've saved our bacon heaps of times! Luckily all the trams come so frequently that we don't have to wait too long for the new one in the other direction.

We are also acclimatising slowly to the traffic direction and the bike lanes - I have nearly been squished a few times stepping onto tram tracks and looking in the wrong direction!

Overall it is an immensely pretty place, interesting and old, easy to get around, with good inexpensive food and friendly people. We are suffering slightly from the affliction known as "Museum Feet" but otherwise having a marvellous time. Naturally, photos of interesting places and sights are being taken...but I forgot the USB cable for the camera so you will have to wait. Sorry. It really is very picturesque. Ooh, but we could try this link and see the video e-card we sent to the kids. Its pretty lame but...authentic.

Whats new in your world?

Blondes have more fun

Well, I've been a busy little bunny.

You may have noticed my photo has changed - this one was taken on Friday when I was out at lunch for a retirement do for one of my husband's oldest colleagues. We had a riotous time at a local restaurant I have been to 3 times in the last 2 months - I had a great prawn dish with garlic prawns, coriander and lime sauce. The waiter was a bright friendly guy who joined in our jokes, and kept us discreetly walled off in a private courtyard, so we didn't disturb other diners with our hoots of laughter and loud stories. It was a really good long lunch, with quite a bit of...um...celebrating.

I finally begged off at 3pm to return home and cook for the afternoon tea we hosted yesterday for my birthday. Excuse the red-eyes in the picture below, but its the only photo I have that shows any of the spread.

We had pumpkin scones, vanilla cupcakes(GF), orange and almond cake(GF), smoked salmon rolls and sandwiches, Greek hazelnut crescents, chocolate biscuits (GF), and a chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream, toasted pistachios and drizzled dark chocolate (yum), all washed down with tea and coffee in nice china cups, just like Ladies. When we'd finished being ladies we got stuck into a nice red wine to finish, but it was ostensibly an afternoon tea and I had a great time. It was marvellous to have an excuse to bake and bake and not to have to eat it all myself.

The girls really got stuck into the afternoon tea as well, and polished off the plates nicely, then sat under the table chatting to each other (6" away) via Facebook. It was hilarious.

It was a lovely excuse to dig out the good china. I especially enjoyed the way all the china connected me to women from my past. I had 3 teacup sets from my late Nanna, one I received for my 21st, 2 from a friend's mother that were gifted to me by my friend, a favourite plate from a late aunt of my husband, another plate from friends in Japan, my lighthouse cups, a set of 4 from my sister's wedding china that she gifted me with a few years ago. A silver fold-up tiered what-not from an elderly connection of the family. A china coffee pot that belonged to my late mother-in-law, whom I never met, and a small plate that was hand-painted by my paternal grandmother. She died when I was 15.

I feel very connected to these woman from all facets of my life. The guests included 3 friends I did midwifery with; 3 friends I have known from Mother's camp (one of whom is also a midwife); Lesley who I know from playgroup 20+ years ago, my daughter, two of my sisters, two nieces, Steff's friend A and my Mum. There were a few men present as well, but it was mostly a lovely gathering of women.

Ah, it did my heart good. What a lucky woman I am.

Not to mention the fact that this time next week I shall be in Amsterdam. Then the north of Italy. Then ... (squee) ... PARIS again! Sigh. I'm almost jealous of myself.

In further news...

Look what's finished, and heading to Victoria tomorrow.

I'm really thrilled with it. Its the first really scrappy quilt I have made. There are more than 55 different fabrics in it.

This is Lesley on the phone to Frogdancer having a phone blogmeet the other night. We'd just put the binding on and Les had started the first stitches to turn the binding.

While we were on the phone to Frogdancer she told us Jaryd went to Canberra this week to meet the Prime Minister and to speak to primary schools in the ACT about the impact of the fires on someone his age. Unfortunately some place callled North Korea decided to explode a bomb somewhere and the PM was unable to meet Jaryd, but he did meet a minister or two. He told them and the schoolchildren about the blogging community and the support he and his family had received, along with the support from the rest of Australia through many appeals etc.

This quilt started back in early February when Victoria in eastern Australia experienced the terrible fires that wiped out whole communities. Frogdancer knew someone, Judy, who had lost everything. She and her son were wiped out. House, clothes, books, homework, guitar...the lot.

Frogdancer asked her readers if they had spare copies of books that a 17 year old avid reader might need to restock his library. Books turned up from all over the country.

I didn't have any books Jaryd was interested in but my stash was certainly good for a quilt. I'm really enjoying sharing my non-perishables lately, and the stash is , ahem, quite substantial, so I can't even see where its been taken from.

Frogdancer had more than 65 fabrics in her quilt bundle I sent her. It turns out Jaryd's Mum has that quilt now...which is really great. Widget has about 20 fabrics in the back of her quilt. See Frogdancer's quilt extravaganza page for photos. I'm tickled to think of them being together. I wonder if the quilts will recognise each other as coming from the same fabric stash stable?

I chose a stash of colours I thought he would like and set to work piecing the top. Les was en-route home after living in USA for 3 years, but was lined up to help with the basting and quilting.

There were a few hiccups along the way, but Les put the borders on it and finished the stars, then we basted it. Then Lesley quilted it. Then it got swore at a lot, and got a new back and basted again. Then it came to stay at my house, where it behaved much better, having learned its lesson in what happens to misbehaving quilts. Meek and mild, it submitted to quilting, then finally binding.

Lesley has just unpacked her Harry Potter complete set, and it is about to head to Jaryd along with the quilt.

Its the first big quilt I've made for ages, and has been a nice refresher for the big quilt I plan to make for next year.

Good little quilt. Your two mummies are very pleased with you now.
Off to Jaryd you go, keep him warm, and share a hug or two from us.

So busy (now with photos)

Busy week! Work was good.

Seeing friends from (now) over East and meeting their new baby, Willow. Delightful!
Making a new bag. Very nice too. Great fun. I used some long stashed ingredients.
Attending afternoon tea for a friend. Delicious. She loved the bag.
Dinner party for friends. A great success.
Attending the craft fair. Stash building never goes out of style. Plans abound!

It seems I didn't win the raffle quilt. Sigh.

Bathroom nearing completion. All tiles applied. Oohs and ahs expressed by all visitors, especially after seeing the beautiful marble feature tile, which looks gorgeous after sealing.
This week will include: grouting, fittings, cornices, painting and finally...bathing!

Nearly done

I've been working steadily on Jarryd's quilt this weekend.

It's looking good! It's even got some lighthouses on it!Lesley can have it for quilting soon...(edited - GONE!)

Lesley says hi

Just a quick post to pass on a message from Lesley of Chapter III .

She says to say a big hello to all, and to say that she has moved into a FABULOUS rental house this week, and the internet will be connected on April 3rd. She is well, and has had a trying week or so and can't wait to get back to her computer and bloglife.

I spent the day with her today and she is enjoying settling in and unpacking (a bit) in the house - it really is a great house. The main stuff will hopefully arrive by mid-April. She has lots to tell you all, but I'll let her do that.

I'm as busy as a bee, but was thrilled to have demolished heaps of my to-do list by 8.45am!!!

I was gobsmacked. It helps when you are phoning (twice) the east coast which is 2 hours ahead. But it left me free to get to Les earlier than I'd hoped.

She is living behind where my paternal grandmother used to live. Grandma died when I was 15. Yet today I was near her house, and when Les and I were out driving I saw a very early model Ford Escort, same colour, similar rego to the one she drove at the end of her life. I think she was with me today...somehow.

Off to a meeting now...more minutes.... :(

See ya

Surfacing

Do you want to hear about dentists?

I'm a bit over them myself currently, however nice they are. I'm having a lot of work done at the moment and Monday mornings are becoming a bit of a haze as I regain feeling in my face and jaw. My eyelid sensation was knocked off this morning for about an hour (that was interesting) but at least I didn't cry today. Don't ask. Just don't.

Lesley is back. It is indescribably good to know she is HERE. Within cooee. I have missed her so much, even with Skype and regular blog exchanges. She and Dave came for dinner on Saturday night and we talked and talked. It was a late night, a good night.

My sister is back from living in Melbourne too. We have seen each other on the last two weekends and done each other's hair (cut and colour each). Yesterday we went to the gluten-free foods and allergy expo. It was really worthwhile - except our two GF people didn't attend themselves - but we tried everything and had a good time. Her daughter and her have just returned after a 5 week RTW trip for auditions in USA, Europe and NZ - she was well received but unfortunately too short to join the Joffrey or the Canadian Ballet. What a life. One's career predicated not on prodigious talent but the gene pool that made her 5ft 3in. Anyway, it was a confidence boost to have some positive comments, after 4 years of the approval drought that is rampant in her national training establishment. She has returned to commence a teaching position in her old alma mater, and from all accounts has made a very promising start. Good for her.

I have recently read all four Twilight books. They were really great reads, and I'm delighted to have seen the film too, with a great cast. My daughter has also cottoned on to them and there has been a maturation of alliance from Harry Potter and Zac Effron to Robert Pattinson as Edward, whose large sultry photo has now joined the wall art above our girl's new double bed. We're thrilled to see her reading so much, apparently taking it in and finishing books much more easily than ever before, taking her work train journey as a starting point. Change is everywhere!

We have accepted a quote for the bathroom renovation. Gulp. Can't wait to see it finished. Hope I don't have night shift while it is in progress - could get ugly....although the builder is going to plumb an outdoor hot & cold shower for us to use, down the side of the house. Could be fun, and an unexpected bonus. We've decided to get a new bath too, rather than re-using the old one, and the new one is bigger and wider than the current one. Its gonna be soooo good.

If I can find a tame person to build the base for us, the pizza oven will be going ahead too. We've got some big limestone blocks from the new wall that can be used for the base, but they are too big and heavy for us to manage....I'm sure there's a capable young man out there who will be up for this small but heavy job.

The conference was really good, very interesting. Somehow there were only two midwives from our hospital present. Shrug. We heard some inspiring presentations and innovative solutions to long-standing problems, and I left with a bit of hope that things could change and that I could be part of the change. I am forming a clearer understanding of how to position myself to be part of these approaching changes. This of course ties in with my work with the College of Midwives. It was good to be part of a multi-strata, multi-disciplinary audience exchanging information about health systems, and although I wouldn't say it is my central raison d'etre in this field, it is very helpful to understand the bigger picture nationally and internationally. I was reminded that I used to work in this arena in the 1990s and I suddenly felt a return of confidence that came with my memory of 8 years work in this area. How could I have forgotten this grounding? It just shows how thoroughly my focus has changed since I entered as health professional. Wow. SO I have signed up to be part of a network looking at women's and newborns health policy and issues. In my spare time.

Jarryd's quilt is half pieced. Its coming along nicely, Lesley likes it. I aim to have it finished by late April.

I have hardly had time to read any bloglines daily lately, so there are 120+ when I get to it. Gulp! Maybe I should prune my subscriptions...

Planning our trip to Amsterdam, northern Italy and Paris in late June. Sigh :]. Lucky, lucky girl.

A pile of things to get done by then, starting....NOW.

See ya x

Days whizzing by

Its that time of year where the days DO whizz by.

Last weekend (two weekends ago now) I repaired and enlarged a large shadecloth that we attach to the side of the house - This bit belowIts now 7 m long and 3.6m wide, and attaches to various treees and parts of the fascia boards. I got quotes for some fancy schmancy company to make us one, but it was going to be $4000 and ugly as sin, plus we would have had to take it down in a wind or with rain. No thanks. $60 worth of shadecloth, and two hours later- its great!!! Its less droopy now that it has been tightened up.

The plants love it.
Xmas shopping - at least half done, with ideas for the rest. I did some of last weekend with WIDGET!!!! She is in WA for a holiday visit and we caught up on Saturday. She likes our weather (it has been warm and gorgeous all weekend) and approves of my Power Shopping methods. Step 1- Get idea. Step 2 -Buy it, quickly, while praising the customer service skills of young people who appreciate a decisive customer. Step 3 -Walk out, job done. Works for me!(who is very lucky to now have sufficient income to achieve this method)

Plans for Xmas day - now complete.

Work - I commence nightshift again tonight for three nights, with a further two shifts next week on the 23rd and 24th - which means I finish work Xmas morning at 7.30am. Guess what I will be doing for most of Xmas day? Before we host my family for dinner. Go on, guess.

My sister is back from Melbourne! With her lovely daughter, and we hope they will be staying in Perth! yay, bouncing joy on this one! We hope our niece will get snapped up in an audition soon and get a job (hopefully in Perth) but my sis is likely to stay even if her daughter moves elsewhere for work.

Anyway, must dash - the shower is calling and I clock on in 52 minutes time!