Category: Mt Beauty

Correction

/ Renae / 2 Comments

In fact, I broke 3 bones in my foot. I went to the doctor in Mt Beauty yesterday to get my cast “upgraded”, so they took off my intermediate cast, and this is what my foot looked like:

What? Doesn’t it look bad enough? How about from this angle?
Still not convinced? Well check THIS out!!? Hellooooooo cankle!!

After having a look at the CT Report, the doctors thought it best that I actually go back to Wangaratta and attend their fracture clinic this Friday so an Orthopod can check it out and decide on a “game plan”.

Why, you ask? (or maybe you didn’t…)

Well, I’ve always been a little contrary. I’ve never done things the normal way. My life doesn’t really “follow the rules”. So when I break bones, I break them good. And as the doctor yesterday stated, I have broken “an unusual combination of bones.” From what I can remember, I’ve broken the 2nd Metatarsal, the 2nd/Medial Cuneiform, and the Cuboid. (See here.) (Hubs is going to correct me I’m sure.)

So yeah, the fun continues! Mum has been an absolute God send these last few days while Hubs has been at work. I’ve just been sitting around, contemplating my navel laptop. And Mum just made us chicken stir fry for dinner. Hubs isn’t a big fan of stir fry but it’s one of my favourite meals so I’m going to be enjoying it with Mum quite a bit while Hubs is in Wang! Yum!

Feeling utterly useless

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We’re home! And that makes me happy.
Chanbe slept all through the night and didn’t wake up until 7:15 this morning. That makes me happy too.
Mum is here to help me around the house while my foot is broken. That makes me happy and grateful.

I can’t do anything useful that doesn’t involve sitting down. That makes me sad. And frustrated.

I like to be doing things. Not all day – I do love my downtime – but to not be able to do my own shopping or washing or cleaning or picking Chanbe up is really hard for me. I know Mum is more than happy to be here to help out, and Hubs has just been a superstar even more so than usual, but it’s so hard not being able to do what I want, when I want. I know this is temporary, and I know there are a lot of people in worse situations that are permanent, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t hard and that I’m not allowed a bit of a whine.

I’m still learning the art of asking for, and accepting help. I’m usually the one wanting to help others. I’m really trying to find the lessons to learn out of this situation. I get my “real” cast on tomorrow which I’m sure will be fun.

My goals for the next 4-6 weeks are:
– to not get lost in self pity
– to enjoy this forced break and make the most of the help that is being generously offered
– to give myself time to heal so as not to tempt a repeat incident
– to catch up on “paperwork”
– to work on my new blog
– to realise that even though things won’t get done the same way I would do them, that’s okay
– to read books, not just things on the internet

Wish me luck!

By request

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I’m a bit excited to publish a post that has been requested by one of my readers! After mentioning my new purse, I have been asked to show it off. I’m also trying to take better photos, so let me know how I go!

Here’s my old purse that I bought at the Queen Victoria Markets on a trip to Melbourne in 2005 to visit my friend Ezza. (Yes, that’s pre-Hubs!) It’s leather and it cost me $35 which I think is a real bargain. Especially since it lasted me almost 7 years!

It had loads of space for all my cards – 14 pockets in all! And you better believe that I used every single one of them, some of them with 2 or 3 cards!
And you can see the blu-tac marks from where I had one of my photos
Enter, my new purse (with one of Nanny’s old coffee cups, as well as one of her crocheted creations!)
This photo was taken before Hubs got home.
And this one was taken after I learned about aperture! (again)
This purse is also leather and it cost me only $15!! BARGAIN!!
The purse doesn’t have nearly as many card slots, but I was looking to downsize the crap cards in my purse
So even though there’s still a fair few bits and pieces of paper, I’m being more diligent about not keeping lots of stuff in my purse. (Although this backfired when I threw out my Coles docket and realised that I’ve bought a bulk 4kg box of washing powder that’s front loader for our top loader machine. Hopefully I can convince them to exchange for me!!)
I chose this colour and pattern as it suggests a level of sophistication, as well as a bit of playfulness. There were lots of colours and patterns to choose from, but this one really grabbed my attention.
It usually takes me a while to adjust to a new purse, but I instantly loved this one. If anyone would like me to purchase one for them, I would be happy to visit the market in a few weeks time to pick one up for you! (Just email me or leave me a comment and we can make arrangements!)

Fireman Chance

/ Renae / 2 Comments

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Mount Beauty market day. Not only did they have some cute stalls where I bought a new purse, but they also had the local volunteer fire brigade looking to recruit members. Chance was kind of keen.

Actually, he was VERY keen…
The firies were ready to recruit him on the spot! Maybe one day son!

Plummeting back down to earth…

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… with an almighty crash. 

This time last week we were surrounded by family and friends and a support network. We were staying in the same house, night after night, week after week. We didn’t have to pack and unpack and pack again every week. I felt relaxed and faced each day with anticipation and excitement, and had such a great time.

It’s hard to come back to our “normal” (I use the term very loosely) life after such stability. I am sitting here with my diary open, planning the next couple of months. 5 days back home in MB, then next week in Wang, then back to MB for a week, then the following week in Wang, then back here and so forth for maybe 2 months. Oh, and a few trips down to Melbourne thrown into the bag just for fun as well. 
I realise the choice to go to Wang with Hubs is mine. But at the same time, it’s not really a choice. If Hubs is going to be away for 5 of 6 days, and he’s going to a place where I have a whole bunch of awesome friends, well… what would you choose? I think the hardest part about this lifestyle is that I don’t know anyone else going through the same thing. So people can say they understand, but I don’t think they do. 
This is why next year, I need for us to go somewhere and stay put for a year or 2. We’ll go on holidays of course, but not every single freakin’ week. It’s already getting me down and we haven’t even started. Man this is going to be a long year.

Keeping up with the Joneses

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I’ve been wanting revamp my blog for some time now, but there are just too many options out there to choose from – so many formats, fonts, colours etc.

I’ve also been wanting to finish unpacking our place in Mt Beauty – I’m still looking for my jewellery.

I’ve also been wanting to send very belated birthday cards from as far back as July.

Oh! And I’ve been wanting to “organise” our house so I can actually find things when I want them, not 2 weeks later after I’ve bought a replacement.

You see, I’m having trouble keeping up with life at the moment. How do people do it? Especially with more than 1 child? I “joke” about having 5, but in all seriousness, I would love to have 5 children. I just don’t know how I would keep up with them all.

I feel like this is all I’ve been talking about on my blog lately – blah blah blah I can’t keep up – but that’s what my life consists of at the moment. This is what I’m living in, and I don’t know when I’ll find a way out. Every time I walk into our house, I feel like it’s a holiday home – like it’s not our home.

And being in Brisbane has just confused me even more. I seriously have to think to myself sometimes “where am I??” Thankfully, since we have had some sort of normalcy the last 2 weeks, Chance is actually sleeping through and even though I’m still pretty tired all the time from the 5am wake ups, I’m so glad he’s sleeping better. I don’t know how I feel about next year, knowing we’ll be moving twice, but I just have to go with it. Embrace the chaos and know that no matter what, we’ll get through it.

2012, here we come.

Living in the country…

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We can do things like have lunch at a friend’s place and feed the local wildlife:

and really get up close and personal!

We can take a walk around the pond and enjoy the valley:

On my way home from my walk, if Chanbe is still napping, I can sit down on the bench around the corner from home and make some phone calls. And enjoy the view!

Or I can do the dishes and enjoy the view! (They were the snow-capped mountains in August.)

Or we can sit on our deck with a cuppa or glass of wine… and enjoy the view…

I’m quite certain that living in Wang and MB has ruined me for city living. Who knows where Hubs and I will end up!

Sconnoisseur

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To say that Hubs loves scones would be an understatement. He loves scones. When our lovely neighbour made some the other week, Hubs devoured them and claimed they were the best scones he’d ever had. So when we had said lovely neighbour over for dinner last night, I asked what her recipe was.

She reminded me of Nanny when she told me she had to recipe. You just start with about 2 cups of self-raising flour, and add the right amount of butter, a couple of spoons of icing sugar, an egg, some very cold cream and chopped dates. Her tips were to just use a knife to stir (handling as little as possible) and use a very hot oven – about 240 degrees. Also, if it’s an electric oven, cook the scones on the bottom shelf, and if it’s gas, cook on the top.

Seeing as how I’d never made scones before, I thought I’d give it a go, as Hubs has his first exam this week and I wanted to do something extra nice for him.

I didn’t have dates so I substituted with craisins. That reminds me of one of our favourite moments in the TV show My Family, where Susan is cooking dinner (she is not known for her skills in the kitchen) and she says “I’m cooking Duck a l’orange. But I didn’t have any duck so I used mince. And I didn’t have any oranges so I used pears.” Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Anyway. Back to the scones. This is how the mixture looked:

It wasn’t until I had put them on the tray that I realised I’d forgotten the egg. And the icing sugar. But I figured they looked pretty good, so I’d give them a go. What do you think?

They were very very light and fluffy and quite delicious, even if I do say so myself! We had them straight out of the oven with a bit of butter and a cup of coffee, sitting on our deck. Chanbe even liked them!

As I was sitting there, enjoying our view, I thought to myself once again how lucky I have been to have had Hubs around so much in the last 12 months. A lot of people say to us how hard it must be with Hubs studying full time, and not having an income. And as much as it sucks not having money most of the time, having Hubs around to see Chanbe’s first year, and to give me sleep-ins and a cooked breakfast a few mornings a week, and to be able to have 3 meals a day together a lot of the time, and and and and… well it’s worth being broke for a while. Hubs has 1 more year of full-time study, and then it will be a totally different ball game. But I’m looking forward to the challenges that will bring.

We made it!

/ Renae / 1 Comment

Here’s cheers to the first year of parenthood! It gets easier from now on, right? 🙂

And here’s cheers to my 600th post! I’m currently trying to make scones for the first time ever. And I just realised I forgot to add the egg. Oh well! We’ll see how they go…