Sunday, February 22, 2009

Got One Thing Right

Here it is! My home brew! I've accomplished one of today's things (actually, I've accomplished two). Tastes alright too! My official taste tester (aka James) will get to try it when he gets home and I'll pass the final verdict then. But, personally, I'm halfway through my first butcher glass and am feeling drunk already, so I think I'm onto a winner :) Especially considering we've already spent about $225 on alcohol in February alone this year... mind you, we're not complete alcoholics (we've taken cartons to parties where its been byo, but someone seem to have helped themselves to our esky while we weren't looking... grr!). At one particular event, James and I only had 10 stubbies out of a carton between us! Bloody stealers.

Poor Bob :(

I was woken up this morning by vicious screeching and the dogs barking madly, so I stumbled out of bed screaming at them to shut up and found that the outside laundry door hadn't latched quite properly and had opened in the wind. This meant the dogs could now get to Bob and had bailed the poor kitty up. Bob had tucked himself into a little crevice between the washing machine and the wash trough, and was growling quite fiercly for such a little cat! Once I'd shut the door securely, I tried to coax him out, but he was still quite upset and growling, so I thought I'd just leave the inside laundry door open and let him come out when he felt safe. He's fine, and rubbing is head into my arm and purring as I type, but the poor little bugger got quite a fright this morning.

I don't really have much to write about other than that, but thought I'd write down some of the things I'm going to achieve today so that I actually do them - yesterday was a complete waste. I watched Grey's Anatomy on my ipod, did some reading, rehearsed some of my lines, tidyed up the lounge room, spent too long on facebook and SS, and took the dogs for a run (not in that order). I could have achieved a lot more! Today I'm going to do the washing, put all my sewing stuff into the sewing desk I nabbed from my mum's last week, try my home brew (hooray!), put all the rubbish in the bins (long story, but since we're on a rural propert, we take our bins into town to have the rubbish collected - and the few days while the bins are in town, the rubbish seems to accumulate around the house because there's nowhere to put it - so, today I'll be cleaning those bits up). That doesn't sound like much either, but the sewing stuff will be a big job.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Meet Bob

This is Bob :) As you can see, he likes to curl up behind the couch.

Phew

Yesterday I had my implanon rod taken out (for those that don't know what I'm on about, an implanon rod is a contraceptive which is inserted in ones arm via a bloody big needle [after a local anaesthetic of course] and lasts for 3 years). This was the removal of my second rod, making it my 4th local anaethetic injection. Oh, and I'm a great big sook about needles - I've never had a blood test in my life or anything. In fact, before I started using implanon, the only needles I'd had were immunisation ones throughout school.

I hate injections. I hate doctor's waiting rooms. In fact, I get panic attacks. Sometimes pretty nasty ones. So since James is at work, my dear MIL came with me to distract me and hold me hand. I was a bit shaky in the waiting room, then the nurse called me into the little procedure room (I don't know what its real name was). As soon as the door was shut, I burst into tears. Now, being a country town-er, we have a fairly small medical practise, and everyone knows everyone, and the doctors can just about remember everyone's history without looking it up, so my faithful wonderful doctor has seen all my previous panic attacks and knows how to deal with me. So anyway, my lovely MIL was playing her part perfectly, and I was doing my best not to let panic take over, but as soon as I felt that needle go in my arm, I just sobbed like a baby cos I knew when he started pushing the anaesthetic in, it would start to hurt LOTS... But, I think I must be either gaining a higher pain threshold as I age, or I'm just getting better at the whole process, cos I felt him dig around a little bit and push anaesthetic in, and I squeezed my MIL's hand tight and said "ow" quite a bit, but then it was over and I made everyone laugh by saying "oh... is that all?". However, I'm always a bit scared the anaesthetic won't work, so my doctor checks it for me before slicing me open. This time though, he couldn't grab the end of the implant and had to dig around a bit, and then the nurse pushed my arm muscle about to try and make it easier for him, and my MIL said to me afterwards that I'd have a sore arm today - she also said she hated watching it, which is weird because she's a cancer survivor so it no stranger to medical stuff and always watches what is done to her (such as needles going in etc) but she didn't like watching it happen to me. But she's wonderful and I love her and I have a sore arm.

I was glued up, but I went for a run this morning (yay for me!) and part of the glue caught on my sleeve which made me rip open my top to see what the hell was making my arm hurt all of a sudden, so no more glue, but it'll leave me with a scar (which doesn't bother me - probably would have left a scar anyway!). So now I'm on the pill - Yasmin. Not too sure about it. Like, I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to get pregnant just yet (I panic about a freakin local anaesthetic for crying out loud!), but I'm still worried that it'll somehow effect my fertility and make things harder for when we do decide to have a baby. I hated having to take my first pill today. Don't know why, but I really felt bad when I did it. I guess perhaps its just a new adjustment for me and I'll be ok after a few days... Right now I have to concentrate on getting/staying healthy cos we both want me to be as healthy as I can be when I do get pregnant for all the obvious reasons. I swear I've put on about 20kgs while using implanon - I told that to my doctor yesterday and he said that was a bit weird to put on so much, but I've looked at a few forums on the topic and it seems like I'm not alone. I haven't had a period in almost 3 years, but I've stacked on the weight. If I'd known this was going to happen, I don't think I would have used implanon. Oh, and another thing about Yasmin - its friggin expensive!!! $80 for a 3 month supply! My implanon cost me $20 for 3 years! But, I used James's account to pay for the pill hehe :)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I'm Alive

Far out, has my past fortnight been busy or what?! I don't even know where to start...

I got a cat. James named him Bob cos he doesn't have a tail (original or what?). Bob loves to come and see what we're doing when we're on the computer ad promptly lays down on the keyboard. Lets see how far I can get before he pulls that on me...

James has gone back to work. His trip home was full of so many ups and downs. The first night he got home was beautiful - we loaded the ute up with the dogs and esky and drove off to the beach. Had a wonderful night drinking, having fun, and also having a talk about the big things in our lives/future (houses, work, kids etc).

Wednesday (the next day), he just about snaps and we have a massive argument (I don't even remember what it was about). He was still angry with me on Thursday which isn't like him at all - when he gets mad, he gets mad, but its never been for more than an hour or so where he just needs time alone to cool off, and then we make up. Thursday night, I still had no idea what the hell was wrong, and every time I tried to ask him about it, he'd get upset again. I swear he had his period or something *rolls eyes*.

By Saturday, things were better and we were preparing for his step-dad's 60th birthday party. I had a wonderful night, great party, good music and people, all fantastic. It was held at the local golf club, and we'd packed our swag, so at about 2am we drove away from the clubhouse a little bit, and got ready to settle down for the night. Except Mr Shitty Pants cracked it at me again. I wrote it off as a drunken dummy spit which he wouldn't remember in the morning. But he did, and again, wouldn't talk to me about it.

On Sunday, I cracked it at him cos I was friggin sick of his mood, and I drove off. I made it about 1km before I turned around and came back home (as upset as I was).

Things cleared up during the week, all ready for my cousin's engagement party on the following Saturday. Just as we're packing up the ute to get going, I made a comment about how I wasn't really sure if I wanted to camp at the party cos their friends can be real dickheads. For some reason or another, this made James snap again, so we went off to the party in a shit of a mood. The good news was we were the first there (apart from the bride & groom to be), so I vented to her, while he went off with Shane (groom) and we both got our grumps out and all was well again.

The good news is that we've finally sold our old house :) Well, nearly. The contracts are being signed at the moment, but settlement is planned for 11 May, so keep those fingers crossed :) I talked to James's mum about the troubles we'd been having and asked her to try and talk to him if she found the right moment since he wasn't talking to me. She wondered if he was stressed from the house sale because that house is in his name, and our new house is in my name (I'd inherited the land from my dad, and we just hadn't gotten around to adding his name to the title yet, but it was definitely planned). I didn't think that was the reason cos we'd talked about putting his name on the title in the past and were both 100% agreed about it. But I think that was the reason, cos I tried talking to him about the new house title and he perked up immediately. He did apologise at one point and said a lot of things had been stressing him out and he took it out on me, so that was something. Hopefully his next trip home is much nicer.

In the meantime, I'm recharging my batteries tonight cos I'm absolutely stuffed. James has been at me to be more active cos I love my tv and my books and if I can get away with it, I'll sit around all day (not every day, but if I'm in the middle of a good book, or a good tv show comes on, you don't have to twist my arm to get me to sit down). So while he's been at home, I've been doing my best to avoid tv and books in an effort to be more active, and while its worked, I'm fucked. I've been so busy that I haven't been sleeping enough or eating the right foods, so its time for a bit of healthy eating and getting to bed early.

And on that note, I'm off to plonk on the couch and watch Neighbours. Pathetic, eh? :)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Its Crunch Time

Today I've read the book I bought yesterday - Crunch Time by Michelle Bridges. I've been on the weight loss rollercoaster for years now, and I've tried everything, but I never stick to anything, so it never works (hmm, funny that!). However, I love Michelle's 'take no prisoners' attitude, and proudly slogged my way through my first workout today. It was hell for a number of reasons - mainly cos it showed me just how unfit I've let myself get - but god it was good to finish it. I've got a gym membership but just haven't been able to go in the last couple of weeks - they aren't open all the time cos its just the one lady running it, and with the heat, the play commitments, and being crook, I just haven't been. So the workouts in this new book will be great cos I can do some of them at the gym, but I can also do some at home. Its really important to me to exercise every day, so from now on I'll be going to bed a bit earlier so I can wake up a bit earlier and get my workout done for the day - no excuses.

Last year I did Adelaide's City to Bay fun run which is 12km - and I ran it. Well, not all the way :) But I did enter as a runner, and I trained for it, and I loved running. But after the fun run, the lady at the gym advised to take a few days off training to let my body recover. I've now taken about 4 months lol. I'm by no means the gym bunny I sound like - I'm very overweight, and even when I was training, I ate a lot more, so I didn't really lose heaps of weight, but I did have a reasonable level of fitness. Time to get that back :) I wish I'd had my blood pressure checked when I was City to Bay training - high blood pressure runs in my family, and at the age of 23, I've recently had blood pressure readings of 140/80. So while its not time for medication, it certainly is time to fire up my exercise again and look after my poor heart.

In other news, I'm still very concerned about my home brew (and I'm still not sure if that's supposed to be one word or two - homebrew, home brew? Dunno!). According to the instructions, my airlock is supposed to be bubbling. It wasn't. So, as per the instructions, I undid the lid a bit and resealed. Then not long after, I noticed I had a sort of meringue forming on my beer! Not sure if its supposed to froth that much... And then, realised there was no more water left in the airlock, so I poured a little bit in, and upon checking about 20 mins ago, the airlock is bubbling away happily. Go figure. Hopefully it works lol.

Busy week ahead - got a rehearsal tomorrow night, James flies home Tuesday, should be getting an offer on our old house on Wednesday, another rehearsal on Thursday, probably have friends over for drinks on Friday, Saturday is my cousin's engagement party, and on Sunday I should be bottling my beer if its fermented long enough. Whew! I don't know about other FIFO wives/partners, but our house gets a whole lot messier when James is at work cos I just get so lazy and leave crap everywhere. So some time between now and Tuesday morning, I need to have a pick up.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Ahh That's Better

Well after my sook last night and a good night's sleep, I feel better. I got a few things accomplished today and while I feel tired and have a headache, its been a good day.

Sheryn (MIL) and I went for an hour's drive up to our nearest major shopping town and spent money at Woolies, Target, and Cheap As Chips. I've got a new shopping strategy - never take a trolley :) I only used baskets today in the shops and I think it worked cos once I was lugging around a full and sometimes heavy basket, I just wanted to get out of there!

At Target I splashed out on some new underwear (which was marked down, so I saved as well!), a $20 earring and necklace set to wear with a dress I already have for my SFIL's 6th birthday next Saturday, and a book called Crunch Time by Michelle Bridges (aka the red team trainer in the Biggest Loser). The hot weather has made it really hard to exercise because not only does it confine me to inside, it also makes me lethargic and lazy and gives me more excuses. After seeing myself in a few mirrors at Target today, I decided I really need to do something about my weight. Its just not funny anymore (not that it ever was). I've battled with my weight ever since I've had an implanon contraceptive rod put in my arm (5.5 years) and my blood pressure is high (which is disappointing and a bit scary since I'm only 23), and in all honesty, I look gross. I hate seeing my reflection cos I can't hide from it.

But in happy news, I bought a home brew kit today :) I can't wait to taste my first brew. I've made up a canadian blonde mix and I hope to god I haven't stuffed it up! I've decided to brew it in our bathroom because its cool and we don't use it (we use the ensuite). James will probably hate it, but shit happens, and its only for a week until I can bottle it. But, when I made it up at 6pm, it was still hot and even the water coming out of the cold tap wasn't cold enough. The instructions say to have its temperature between 21 and 27 degrees - mine was hovering around 32. The instructions also suggest to add ice if it needs cooling. No ice here, so I flew into town, grabbed a bag, and flew back, taking about 30 minutes, so I hope that hasn't stuffed it up at all. It was before I added the yeast, but after I added the sugar, but I stirred it up again to make sure nothing had settled at the bottom before I added the yeast, so I hope I haven't stuffed it up! Just what I need - something else for James to say "I told you it wasn't going to be good..."

It was hot again today, but last night and tonight have been quite cool and windy. For instance right now its only 23 degrees and there's a massive breeze blowing through the house. Its good though cos it gives the dogs a bit of a reprieve, and it means I can turn the air con off :) I've heard so many stories of people's pets dying in the heat, so I've been trying my best to keep mine cool and they seem to be going ok. I'd hate to lose one!