Battling Back Pain

Over the last few days. Chris' back problems have been exacerbated, so much so that he now has three problems areas instead of just the lower back one.  This has been caused by holding his back too stiffly to try to lessen the impact.  Unfortunately the strain of holding himself upright has caused muscle spasms further up his back  and into his shoulders. 

So after three nights of sleeping upright on the sofa and sick to death of being in so much pain, we are off to the doctor again today. Please God may we get some relief for him.

The house is an absolute tip and nightmare! LOL - there is stuff everywhere as Danika unpacks and we pack to make room for her things.  It is a manoeuvre of mammoth proportions as we change beds, move rooms and try to do all this while making sure that we get Chris as comfortable as possible and plan an engagement party.

Danika says in a few years we will look back on this and laugh! I reckon it wont take that long, maybe next week :)

The three ladies in the house have all at some time succumbed to the emotions of it all, which was probably inevitable given the circumstances and what we all have just behind us and just in front us to contend with. 

It is all coming together nicely though, yesterday was the worst as we changed the beds over and that involved taking apart and moving three queen sized beds and taking two big chest of drawers down stairs.  Thank God again for Jonathan, moving that about. 

I slept on Danika and Shaun's bed (which was wonderfully comfortable); Emily and Farooq slept on our bed; Chris slept on the sofa; and Danika and Shaun slept in the sewing room.  Jonathan is the only one who slept in his own bed in his own room ! LOL musical beds :)

Today is another lovely sunny day which bodes well for tonight with the engagement celebrations. It will be a lovely time to catch up with friends and family members who are in from interstate. 

More about that tomorrow....or the next day :)

Something to smile about and something not worth the smile

First up I want to say THANK YOU!!

Thank you to each and every one of you who read my little blog posts.  Thank you for taking the time out of your busy days to spend a few minutes here.  This blog is something that I have been wanting to do and mulling over for a few years now but always put it off for a few reasons.

I thought that there would be very little interest in what I had to say and I don't mean that in a fake humble way, I just mean that not every one is like me and has a fascination with the ordinariness of daily life. Even though I find other peoples lives rivetting in their individuality, others may enjoy a more cosmopolitan view of things. 

The other reason is that I was always too busy and or tired.  But that will not change in the near future so best get on with it. 

I wonder too at the value of opening up to the general public a personal insight into my life.

Can it be too much? I do tend to wear my heart on my sleeve (my emotional reactions have always been on my face for all to see) and boundaries are there for the crossing.  Am I leaving a great big vulnerable gap open to inspection that may come back and bite me on the arse. Time will tell, I guess. 

However! Since I commenced to put my thoughts into this online journal, I have had some really encouraging feedback. Better than that, it has facilitated others'  memories of their school days or childhood. So we are both winners out of that.  Long time friends are also reporting to getting to know a side of me that they never knew existed.
Good or bad?? I don't know.

The blog also holds a record of this time; all the joy, the hard grit and what was going on during this huge time of transition for my family.

I started back in October thinking that if only the family reads it, at least they will have an idea of what we are doing. Then I started to digress - hard to comprehend, I know! Me losing track, no way.  Anyway after just 36 posts, yesterday turned out to be momentous occasion.

2000 page views in just under 2 months!!!

WOW! I am so happy; who woulda thought it.  So thank you all. I hope that I continue to write about stuff that you find entertaining and/or relevant. 

 Now for the bad news and disappointment:

As you know I have been looking forward to my husband coming home from Karratha for Christmas.  Well yesterday was to be the big day.  It is a 12 hour turn around from Karrratha to Launceston. It literally takes ALL day to get here.  You could fly into Hong Kong quicker.

So Chris arrives into Melbourne tired and achey (he has a bad back at the mo) to be told that his 7 p.m. flight with QANTAS has been canned because they didn't allow for a flight crew on that particular Qantas Link flight. He had to go over the aerobridge and stay the night at the Park Royal.

I was already tired enough to weep after a really busy day and then to get that on top of it all, I just went to my bed.

The upshot, and there is always one, isn't there? - was that he got to sleep in one of the most comfortable beds that we have ever had the pleasure to lay our weary bones on.  The beds at the Park Royal at Tullermarine are the bomb, divine! So lucky Chris with his bad back, at least he had a good nights sleep.

Today it is a gorgeous sunny, light breeze, blue skies kind of day ~ perfect for flying down the river. So with a fair breeze and a good handful of grace and hope, we will pick him up this afternoon some time, if Qantas can be bothered, I suppose :)

In other good news, Daughter D and SIL to be made their way safely to Coober Pedy last night, so they are getting closer each day.  It is an awful long way from Jarlmadangah in the far northern Kimberley to Launceston, Tasmania. They have sent home some amazing photos, thanks to Viber and Facebook - but that is their story to tell.  I am just thrilled that they are on their way. That first smooch is going to be a beauty!

I hope that all your Christmas plans are falling in line with your level of enthusiasm and time frame and that you are not too frantic in the Pre-Christmas rush.