Why I haven't Been Doing My Blog.

It has been a while since I have logged on and written on my blog.
My second aspire Acer refused to open. Took it to the repair man
and he said it would cost $200. Well this little laptop about 3
quarters the size of the Acer but twice as big as my notebook.

I tried to get by with the note book but some of my e mails would
not open on it so I went to the one day sale at Big W(Sat 8th Nov)
It seems OK to me. They seem about the same size as the Acer.
There was not much on the web about it. Meg came with me and we
had a look at it and she said it would be Ok for my needs.

WE opened it and she change some of the settings for me for a
different screen saver and bigger font. As she said the one being
used was too small for me and I had to agree.

So we will just have to see how it performs as neither of my Acers
lasted longer than 3 years each, for $499 each. So if this lasts
18 months then it is doing as well.

Goo

POOOOO

BING

Baa

Talhia's 12th Birthday.

On Sunday 10th Cliff and I went to Yallourn Nth to celebrate Talhia's
12th Birthday.

I can't understand why Nathan has to come to OUR celebrations of the
kids birthdays when he also celebrates their birthdays with HIS FAMILY.
Kath does not go to his family's celebrations! It really puts a damper
on the proceedings!

Kath cooked the cake she did it in the style of the rainbow cake from
the cheesecake shop in Traralgon and as that cost $45 no-one was going
to buy it even with the $10 discount voucher. Kath's cake tasted
awesome. We all had at least two pieces!

Wednesday 13th August

I picked up Meg from work and took her to Claudia's on the other side
of town for lunch so we ordered lunch and then went to the optometrist.
We picked some frames and there were two I liked that Meg "approved" of.
The lens were $100 and the frames $280. I got only $200 from Medibank.
So instead of the $150 I usually pat it cost me $180! But when I need
new lens it is easier to put them in metal frames than in the plastic
ones I usually get. So next time it should nit cost me anything!

Lunch was ready when we got back. Meg said that she enjoys the food
there better than Café Crème and I have to agree and I much prefer
their Iced Coffee.

We agreed we go next week as I have to pick up the glasses and get
them adjusted.

Busy Day 6th August.

Had lunch with Meg as usual but I forgot my purse so she had to
pay for the second week in a row.

After lunch with her I had a second appointment with Luke.
Unlike last week I had made the booking for the afternoon. I
drove around for nearly ten minutes before I could find a space!
Luckily he did not have anyone booked straight after me so I
still got my full 30 minutes.

I had noticed an instant improvement with my lower back but that
seemed to highlight the fact there was a lot of tension in my
neck and shoulders.

So I had him spend half the time on each. I felt really good!
so I booked another session for the 13th.

As I was on that side of town I went around to the optometrist
to book in for an eye test as now with the diabetics I have to
have one every year instead of every two years.

Too tired to go to exercise group. I have not been all term!
But with getting up early for Lena and then lunch and physio I
was really buggered! I think physio relaxes me so much that I
want to sleep. Something which I have not been doing much of at
night and that is why I am so tired all day long!

Gippsland Phyiso

On the Medibank website the only physios were at the Gippsland Physio
Group in Commerical Road. So I made an appointment for Wednesday
morning on the 28th July.

I had the two free sessions with Luke so I booked in with him.

He is quite young and very nice. But then again there is the saying
you know when you are getting old as all the service people you meet
are so much younger than you! My doctor would be in her 30's and I
would say the dentist and physio are in their late 20's.

Anyway he did my lower back and it was WONDERFUL, but I did not use
the free sessions as yet. I'll use those when I am broke from my
lap band operation!!!

Su Ann Tay

Finally got around to checking out the Medibank Private web site.
The only dentists in Morwell under their logo are at the Clock
Tower practice. So I made an appointment.

The dentist I saw was a young Asian girl Su Ann Tay. Unusual to
have a woman for a dentist. I don't think I could hack looking
in people's mouths all day long. What about bad breath UGH!

Anyway she cleaned them all up and said there was not too much
wrong with them considering I have not really had them looked at
for nearly twenty years.

I had to go to Traralgon and get an X ray so she could see what is
going on in the jaw and bring it to her in about 3 months.

Mr. David Scott

I went to see him about doing my lap band operation. I told him
what Mr. Arthur said about opening the previous incision and I did
not want to do that and he said he has to have a look to see what
is happening so booked me into Maryvale on Saturday 30th August
to see what is happening with my other band.

Maddy's Stay Ends Badly.

On the Thursday after her lesson she asked could she stay at
Aunty Tracey's for four nights and I said Yes.

On the Friday I went to Tracey's to take her the custard
tarts she wanted on Tuesday but hadn't eaten and her aunt
said she had NOT seen her since last weekend. She had lied!

I told Tracey I did not have her number and could she get
Maddy to ring me. By Saturday night Maddy had still not rung
rung so I rang her mother who was still in SA and told her
what happened and asked her to get Maddy to ring me!

Still did not hear from Maddy and I rang Karen who came on
Thursday to pick up Maddy's clothes but she would not take the
flavoured milk that was use by the day before.

It's like I have always said to Meg "It's not like the milk
says 'Opps my use by date was yesterday so I had better go
off to-day!'" I find in some cases the milk is still good
up to three days past the use by date.

Anyhow when Karen came I said that Maddy had still not rung
and Karen said that Maddy had told her that she HAD rung.

So she is now lying about that!

Connor's Birthday.

You have to feel for Connor. Every year his mother takes off to play in
Darts competitions and it is always around his birthday!

She couldn't even miss one last year when it was his 13th Birthday!!

I wonder how he will turn out. Will he be a giving adult putting himself
last when it comes to his children or selfish like his mother putting his
wants about those of his children! Can't really blame Karen as she was
brought up that way. Her mother always bought her smokes and put her
bingo above her 5 kids! You learn from your parents.

Anyway this year he was with dad. I had wanted to take him out again to the
city but as I had Maddy that was not going to happen. We went around and
I gave him the drawing stuff and he seemed happy with that. Especially as
it was from Smiggle (He said that is the expensive store from the plaza in
Traralgon, so he had seen it before and looked at the stuff but had never
been given any before!)

He has finally started to grow UP. He is now getting quite tall (and thin).

Maddy's Timetable.

Maddy is doing abridging course to get her back into school. It
runs for a number of weeks, She is actually starting in the
second week. Her times in the second week are Tuesday 9 a.m.
to 10:15.a.m. Wednesday 1.30 p.m. to 2.45 p.m. and Thursday 12
to 1.15 p.m.

In the second week she is with me the times are exactly the same.

It does not give me time to get two hours of work done with Lena so
I have asked her to come after Maddy goes home.

Maddy Comes to Stay.

Karen Roberts was going to Adelaide to play darts for eleven
days. Maddy asked if she could come and stay with me for that
time and I said it was O.K. if her mother gave me $100 for
the entire time.

Her mother came over on Friday 18th and dropped the money off.

Karen was suppose to drop off Maddy on the Monday night about
5 p.m. However she rang and said that Maddy was with her
friends and she would get a lift later.

I rang her mother at 9 p.m. as she was not here. Then Maddy
rang me to say she would be here SOON.

However at 10:30 p.m. she was still not here. I rang her and
she said she could not get a lift so I had to get out of bed
and go and get her! Great start!!!

We Celebrate Kirsten's 16th Birthday

Cliff and I were going up after the market on Sunday the 20th
to see Kirsten for her birthday. Just as we were about to
leave Morwell I received a phone call from her to bring up KFC.
I asked how many people we were feeding and she said just mum
and me.

So we just got the "Cheap as Chips" deal for $19:95. Which
was a lot cheaper than we usually pay to feed the mob up
there.

When we arrived there was a boy there attached to Kirsten
it seems, but he eats healthy and would not have any KFC.

I gave her the 16th Birthday card.

She showed me were she fell over and really bruised her right
knee, coming out of the cinema the other night. Then last
night (19th) Kath allowed her to drink which I was disgusted
at and as a result she fell over again and bruised her left
knee pretty badly too. Then she tried to jump over the fence
and fell on her bruised right knee and made it worse!

But despite all the trouble she said she had a great time!

Kirsten's 16th Birthday

I had meant to ring her for her birthday. Cliff did not want
to go up after work on Saturday, as he did not want to miss
his races. So we arranged to go up Sunday. She said she was
having a sleep over and there would be about 4 friends. I
asked her if we had to feed the whole mob and thankfully she
said "No!"

But when I thought the first time about ringing her it was
11 a.m. and I figured it was too early that she would be in
bed still asleep.

However the next time I thought about ringing her it was
already after 12 a.m. and thus no longer the 19th!

Ross was home with Cheryl but he did not want to go to tea
with us for his birthday. He said they were going back to
her place and having a quiet meal.

My 65th!

Now I'm officially retired! Ha! Ha!

Cliff suggested we go to the club or R.S.L. for tea, but as no-one
else could come I said why don't we have a nice romantic dinner
alone at some place where we had not eaten before and he said O.K.

We ended up going to the Aura Café. It is located near the
parking garage in Traralgon.

There was only a few people there, so we easily got a seat.

The wait staff were nice.

I saw that they had oysters moray on the menu so I asked Cliff he
wanted to go halves with me and he said "Yes" so we ordered them.

I went to the toilet. When I came back Cliff said "Well I don't
know how you managed to do it but they have got the order wrong."

There were crumbed oysters on the table and the waitress came up
and said they were ? and we could A. Sent them back. B. Eat them
at no charge and not have the ones we ordered or C. Eat them at no
charge and still have the ones we ordered. I opted for C.

I told the waitress that it was O.K. about the mistake as it was my
birthday and that was like a little present.

Well we finished our meal and I was really felling the push to finish,
when the wait staff came out the three of them had a plate with a
slice of cheese cake on it with sparkles on the cake and they sang
"Happy Birthday" to me!! It was lovely.

I asked them to take a photo of me with the cake and they did but
by then the sparkles are gone out. They offered to get more but I
said No as they would most likely cause too much flare I the photo!
I also got them to take a photo of Cliff and myself.

They were really sweet!

All up it was a really GREAT NIGHT!

Ryley Turns Six.

Not only was it Ryley's sixth birthday, but it was also the last
Friday of the month.


So we went to the Morwell club for tea.

Kath was angry with Nathan as he said he was going to make a
special cake for Ryley but he did not bring it to the club. He
said he "forgot".

Cliff and I did not win anything in the raffle. Kath did. John
and Lena did not have any luck either.

Overall the kids were not too bad.

House Rules

I never watched the first series of this, but am enjoying
this season. I usually watch the Wednesday night episode
with Lisa, I was surprised that she does not watch it as
she is so into decorating. This show is partly sponsored
by "Home Beautiful." This is the magazine that I give her
as a subscription each Christmas.

There were 6 couples at first. They decorated each other's
houses and then one team was eliminated. From the first
episode I did not like Brooke and Grant from Tasmania. All
the teams are competing to win the grand prize of having
their mortagee paid off. Three couples Maddie and Lloyd
from Queensland, Candy and Ryan from N.S.W. and Adam and
Lisa from Victoria all want to have their mortagee paid
off so they can get married and start a family. So I
wanted one of them to win. Brooke and Grant between them
have 7 children. She just wants to stay at home with them.
Mel and Bomber have four kids between them and she wants to
stay with them and Carole and Russell from West Australia
want to win so Carole can stay at home and see more of the
Grandchildren. Anyway Brooke was a b...h and he was a
b.....d. So I was pleased when they were eliminated first.

D Day/B day

Meg's Birthday

Kath's Little Surprise!

Mother's Day

I realize that these are out of order but I'm trying to remember
them so much later than when they happened.

Both Meg and Kath came over and gave me cards and presents but
for the second year in a row Don did not.

In fact I am still waiting for my card and present from last year
and have still not got a present or card from this year.

When questioned he said he had worked overtime on the Sunday and
in fact they (Lisa and he) did not even visit her parents.

Though when I spoke to Lisa she did say she went and saw her
mother on the Monday! No such effort was put into seeing me!

Jessica's Surprise 21st.

Angela sent me a message in April saying to keep the 17th open as she
was having a surprise 21st birthday for Jess. Jess is Kim Ford's
youngest daughter.

Kim came down but her mother didn't as Kim no longer lives with her.
Kim has moved back to the Gosford area.

The party was on Saturday the 17th as Jess's birthday is on the 24th
and if the party was on that day she would have guessed it was for
her birthday.

Henry was there but not Bret. It seems that Jess is no longer living
with her father. So he is on the outs at the moment.

She said she is trying to get a job in Melbourne and move down there.

Cliff and I left about 10 p.m. It had started at 7 p.m.

Nothing!

Well it has been a while I have been very slack. But I only have
the one follower and as this blog is only about an average person
there is not much interest in it.

Unlike some "reality shows" where a camera follows a family around
who fight and bicker and all have the same first initial name! None
of whom can sing dance or in any way act but for DOING NOTHING have
made millions. Like Signfeld these shows are about nothing and I
have better things to do with my time than to watch shows about
NOTHING!

Diabeties Exercise Class

I went to the first three sessions and was feeling fine but
then like with the Curves exercise program my back started
to play up and I have now missed three out of the 8 free
sessions! My back has been so bad that I could not even walk
up the stairs to go to the talks. Then Phil pointed out to
me THERE WAS LIFT! I had not noticed it!!!

Easter Sunday

Good Friday

Cliff and I spent a VERY lazy day at his house. We did not
get up till midday! and spent all afternoon watching T.V.
Ross was not home as he had gone to a concert in Melbourne,
with Cheryl. Thus it was a very peaceful and relaxing day!

Don Jr's 40th

Meg and Kath had rung Lisa, in late Feb, about Don's 40th and
she said she was organizing a surprise 40th for him.

Well as the weeks and days dragged on no one heard anything
more about this surprise party.

Then Lisa went to Melbourne as one of her friends was getting
married and she was in the bridal party and this was two weeks
before Don's birthday.

Well the day came and she had not organized anything. In fact
she was not even in Morwell but in Melbourne!

Cliff and I went around after the market and wished him Happy
Birthday. He had worked overtime and only got home about 15
minutes before we came as he had gone to Bunnings and bought
some more things for the reno. He was really pleased to get
the $100 Bunnings voucher! He said it would not go to waste!
Cliff got him a 40th Birthday balloon. Sam thought it was neat!

April Fools Day

Strange that ever since the radio prank played by the Australian
reporters on the English nurse to get information on the Royal
Family and her committing suicide over it (I think there were
other reasons!) I have not heard of one April Fool's prank since.
Not even a local small joke!

In fact I have not even heard of any jokes being played even
between friends and families!

So maybe something good came from that unfortunate incident after
all.

The Zoo

Window Shopping

A Second Bite of the Cherry

Maddy's Birthday (part 2)

A Girl's Day

St. Patrick's Day

Well this year was pretty much a wash. As I was going to Melbourne
with Kath on Tuesday 18th I was not up to having a late night on the
Monday night. I rang Meg to see if see and Mick wanted to come over
to Cliff's for a few drinks to celebrate but she had been at a work
conference in Melbourne all day and Mick had an early start on the
Tuesday so she said they wouldn't be able to come over and as Cliff
and I didn't want to go to the Irish pub we just had one quiet drink
at home. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Maddy's Birthday (Part 1)

As Maddy was suspended it was easy to go and pick her up. She is
15 today the 13th. For her birthday I took her to Melbourne.

Vic Rail is running free trains at the moment for Morwell residents
so we can get out of the smoky conditions for the day.

So I wanted to catch the 9.20 to be in Melbourne by 11.30 and then
get the 3.15 home so Cliff would not have to wait too long for us,
as we are using one car as his is off the road till Steff comes back
from Queensland. He usually closes the shop at 5 p.m. on Thursday
so it was only an extra 15 minutes.

Karen was to drive her into and drop her at the shop at 9 a.m. but
I got a call just on 9 to say Maddy had not come home!I said I would
wait for the next train but I would catch it regardless.

It was 10.15 when Karen rang again to say they were just leaving
Churchill. The train was due in at 9.19 so she said she would take
Maddy straight to Moe. I got on the train and hoped they would make
it. As we passed the Yallourn Nth turnoff I rang again and Maddy
answered and said they were at Gunn's Gully. When we pulled into
Moe I waited at the door. Thankfully Maddy saw me and called out.
She had on a pair of short short shorts and a midriff top and a
jacket. I said I hoped she would not be too cold when we came back!

Anne's Birthday.

Thankfully this year I got myself into gear early enough
to send Anne's card off in time for her birthday. She is 64!
Maybe next year I can go up early to see her for her 65, but
I have to be back the next day as it is Maddy's 16!

Morwell Fire Under Control.

The fire in the coal mine is NOT OUT, but is now under control!
Any change in the weather e.g. strong winds or hot days could
cause the fire to flare again!

Now it is a matter of wait and see.

Valentine"s Day

Cliff bought me some Tatts tickets in the big draw on Saturday
night. I said I would never buy tickets for someone in case they
won as I would never buy winning tickets again and he said but
we are going 1/2.

We only won $11 and I never saw the $5:50!!!

Morwell Burns

The fire has got into the north face of the open cut mine.
The same thing happened 5 years ago and took two weeks to put
out. There is thick smoke over town every day. There are
reports on the news that there is a high Co content in the
smoke so free breathing masks are being given out to all
residents.

Also it has been advised that residents go elsewhere until
the fire is out! The Emergency Relief Fund is giving out
$500 to all pensioners and people on Health benefit cards
to use to leave the Morwell for a week.

Lena got it so I went and applied and got it too. But so
many people were getting it out of the Westpac ATM that
it broke down and I had to go and get it from Midvalley on
the Friday 28th Feb.

Interest

Received my account this week and was surprised to see that I
had been charged $113 interest on it. It said I had not paid
my full account last month by $250! When I looked at the
payments there was one missing for $300 that I made just after
Christmas.

So I rang them and the man who dealt with me said his name
was prince and he looked up the payments and said yes I had
made one on the 27th and my new statement began on the 28th!
So I had paid it one day early.


But it turned out that this man really was a prince as he took
the interest off the account and I only have to pay the amount
on the bill and not everything that is owing and I will not be
charged interest on the next bill. He understood it was an
honest mistake on my part. So I was really thankful.

Garden

I have been having Lena come and do my garden since December.
I have her come on Thursday and she usually does 2 hours.

But when I went up to measure the pool for the new liner I
found the way was blocked by brambles and I couldn't get past.
So I asked her to come and do Wednesday this week as well as
Thursday.

January Last Friday of the Month

Big John, Lena, Kath, Kirsten, Cliff and I went to the raffle
for the last Friday of the month at the Morwell Club.

Cliff spent $25 on tickets. John spent $22. I spent $14.
Lena spent $13. Kath spent $12. So all up the table spent
$86. Usually we win at least one prize, but tonight we did
not even score that!

I rang both Don and Meg and asked them to come. Both said
they would need to speak to their partners. Neither contacted
me to tell me whether they were coming or not. But as they had
not turned up by 7 p.m. I figured they were not coming.

At 10.30 p.m. I got a phone call from Meg who said she
completely forgot to ring and she said she was sorry for not
ringing sooner.

It is now 9.30 p.m. on Saturday the 1st Feb and I still have
not had a phone call from Don about coming last night!!!!

Plants

Last Thursday I bought 15 varied pointsettes at Bunnings
at a cost of $2 each. The girl who served me said that
on the 24th December they were selling for $16:31 each!
They will only last about another six weeks so I guess
that is reasonable value for $2. I just wondered how
long they will last in my footpath garden before they
are stolen.

So it was a week now and I am surprised that all the plants
are still there. About six people have passed by and said
how nice they look and they are still there!

Jasmine Stays

We swapped Talhia and Jasmine on Saturday 25th and
I went shopping with her and Kirsten at Traralgon
Center Plaza. The way she acted I got the impression
that Jasmine had not shopped at Coles there before.

It took her about three minutes to find the light
switch in the kitchen on Saturday night and this is
after being here on a number of occasions with the
family and having stayed here with Kirsten at least
twice before. However she is always eager to help,
which makes up for her slowness.

Talhia and Kirsten Come to Stay

The girls came on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th to stay
at poppy Cliff's. Talhia was helpful and cut up the rock
melon for dessert on Friday night. She got drinks for
everyone not just herself like Kirsten does. She took
the dirty dishes and cups out to the kitchen when they
were finished with them.

As Cliff said it was a pleasure to have her as she is
not always lying on the lounge with the phone glued to
ear.

Kathleen Turns 33.

I drove up to Yallourn Nth. Meg and Mick were already
there. I had the cheesecake I got there about 12.30
p.m. and Cliff got there about 1.20 p.m. He bought
the KFC.

I took photos of Kath.

We had the chicken, but did not get to the cake till
after Cliff left. He left at 2.30 p.m. to go pick up
Ross and we had the cake about 3 p.m.

Mick and Meg were putting together the unit Kath and I
bought for the baby, as I was leaving. Kath said she
and Talhia gave upon it. Mick found that it had put
the wrong number on some of the pieces. There were
suppose to be four NO:2's and two NO: 4's but it had
labeled two NO: 2's and four NO: 4's!!

Talhaia gave Kath the tray and boxes of goddies, from
herself and all the kids. Kirsten gave her the hot
chocolate drinking mug set I gave her the bath set.

Meg said she would go 1/2's in the cheesecake with me.

Don was going to call in on his way home from Drouin.

Shingles (Cont.)

The rash got worse despite taking the medication so I
went to see Dr. Rose. She gave me some Codapane
Forte, for the stabbing pain and some Calamine lotion
for the burning sensation.

It turns out that if you are under 50 you only have a
1 in 1,000 of catching it. But once you are over 50
that increases to 1 in 250.

Also you usually catch it from the chicken pox virus
when you come in contact with it. But if like me you
have been immunized then it eliminates it from your
system except in some cases where one virus hides in
a nerve in the spine just waiting to come out and play.

So with my diabetes it turns out that lowers immunity
as well add the stress of Christmas and the little
devil saw its chance.

The rash can last from two to six weeks. From day
three the itching stops and is replaced with a burning
sensation which lasts as long as the rash. Also
depending on how bad the rash is, depends if I'm left
with mild discolouring of the skin to severe scarring.

But I am very lucky. The nerve could have been near
a vital organ and caused damage to them. Or the rash
could have been in a more visible place like the arms
legs or worse on the face. There have been cases
involving the eye nerve and it has cause blindness!

About day 6 another pain happens. This time it is a
stabbing pain inside along the nerve.

This nerve pain can last for three months in 25% of
sufferers. Up to a year for another 60% of people.
For 15% of sufferers the pain can go on for YEARS!!!

The tablets I am taking is famlovircic and I am
suffering from one of the side effects which is a
generalized itching from the bottom of my feet to the
top of my head. It was so bad last night that I did
not fall asleep till close to 6 a.m. but a fly buzzing
near my ear woke me at 10 a.m.

It did not help that Cliff was snoring, the dogs ran
outside three times from midnight to 6 a.m. barking
and then jumping on the bed, then scratching their
fleas! that a car screeched past at 3 a.m. that some
men were at the mail box talking and drinking at 2
a.m. for about half an hour. The birds sang for an
hour from about 4.30 a.m. till 5.30 a.m.

As I said a BAD night for sleeping! wish I had stayed
home!

Shingles!

I developed this rash on Thursday 2/01/14. Great start to the
New Year. I thought at first it was like the rash I get under
my boobs, which get hot and sweaty. But on Sunday it began to
hurt. It was tender to the touch and wearing clothes which
rubbed on it hurt too. I can't describe the pain when Cliff
threw his arm across my body and hit the rash, (though not
nearly as bad as the pain that shot through my head when I had
my heart episode!)So I went to the Dr. This time I saw a Dr.
Tolu, a female doctor who took a quick look and said shingles.

She gave me a course of treatment (tablets) for it, but nothing
for the actual rash, which had three small patches about the size
of a 50 cent piece running in a line about two inches below and
to the right of my right boob and another patch about the length
of a dollar but half the width about 4 inches below the first
patch.

I started taking the tablets as soon as I got back to Cliff's.

New Year's Eve

A very quiet night. Kept Cliff awake to watch the fireworks,
on Channel 7. But as soon as they were finished at 12.20 a.m.
he was off to bed.

We did not hear one car horn beep at midnight. But we did hear
some fireworks from the local park but did not see them as all
the trees blocked the view.