update

Lots going on lately and emotions are swinging all over the place.

Dad hasn’t been good. He’s having lots of bad days and has been to the doctor and hospital a few times recently to get his pain under control. We worry that we will lose him before Christmas – we are all planning to be home for Christmas, something that doesn’t happen often enough because we are so spread out and most of us have our own families and in-laws to divide our time between.

Dad is very keen to see his children home with him before Christmas so we are all heading home the weekend after this one. I dearly hope it’s not the last time I see him out of hospital. Even though I know that day has to come it’s still hard to face up to.

Swinging to the other side is that I’ve been asked to perform two weddings soon!  I’m very excited about it, one is a family member and the other is a friend so it will mean an enormous amount to me to do it.  I haven’t got my celebrant business off the ground, I’m only just managing to keep my other business going and do everything else that I need to do whilst still being available if/when Mum and Dad need me. I haven’t been able to face taking or more and making commitments that I may not be able to keep if Dad goes downhill and I have to be at home at short notice. These couples both understand that I may be called away and they are prepared to change dates or get a stand-in at short notice if needed. I’m very grateful for their understanding and that they still want me to be involved so intimately in this very very important day of their lives.  The planning is making me happy.

Miss A has officially joined Guides. I’ve sent all the papers in this week and she is so happy! At the moment she has swimming for her last lesson on a Monday, then Guides that night so she is quite tired and a bit grumpy on Tuesday.  She’s home this morning with a temp and headache. I suspect it might be partly because she’s adjusting to the new routine and is tired.  I’ll let her rest today and see how we go.

school holidays

Well we are into the second week of school holidays and we are having a lovely time. Last week I worked for a couple of days then we spent Wednesday out at the airport spending time with my parents who were on their way home from visiting my sister and had 2hrs between flights. We watched the first dust storm while we were there and it prevented flights from landing for a good half hour or more.  It was eerie watching the runway and parked planes disappear as the dust storm moved across. I have a couple of photos on my mobile which I must download and post.

Thursday to Sunday we spent out at the in-laws place. We took the bus out there and it was Miss A’s first time in a coach so she enjoyed the trip. T came and got us so I only had to suffer the coach one way LOL. I spent too many years travelling up and down the Qld coast on coaches when I was younger for it to be fun anymore.

It was lovely and relaxing. MIL is lovely and is a fantastic cook who refuses every time I ask if I can help. I did washing up most of the time but got shooed away sometimes too. They dote on Miss A so she spends the entire visit being made to feel like a Princess and gets spoiled rotten. She is their only grandchild so we just let them go.  Fortunately she knows that she doesn’t continue to be allowed to do whatever she wants after she gets home.

This week I’ve been trying to remove the dust from the house. It’s in everything and is driving me crazy!  Every room is getting a mini-spring clean, I’m not doing all the cupboards but everything else is getting a pretty thorough going over.  I’m about to do the bathroom and floors this afternoon and we should be back on track after that.

The rest of this week is being taken up with a friend of Miss A’s coming over for a sleepover (we picked up craft supplies for some activities this morning); we also want to go and see Up in 3D and catch up with another friend who I haven’t seen for a while. Then it will be the weekend again and I think my brother and his family are coming over for lunch, hmm I must confirm that.

Oh and very exciting news!  My niece is getting married in Cairns and wants to fly me up to marry them!  Yay! I’m very excited and just hope that the date they settle on doesn’t clash with a couple of conferences I have coming up, I’ve already paid for them and don’t want to lose the money or miss attending them. They want to get married very soon so I’m just waiting for a date from her and then I can forge ahead with designing the ceremony. I haven’t spent a lot of time on my celebrant business and haven’t promoted it anywhere so this will be my first wedding. Exciting and nerve wracking!

That’s us for now, back to cleaning up dust!

Friends

This was a tag on a blog I read today – I read a lot today but I think it was Skip’s blog I read it on, apologies if I’ve got that wrong. Anyway, I’m supposed to give some tribute to my friends, here goes..

The first few will be easy, first and foremost is Tom, my husband and my best friend for a very long time.  We have been together for 9 years this May and I’ve never been happier. I’ve shared house with different people and had various issues. He is easy to share with, we don’t let the little things bother us. We laugh at the same things and we love each other passionately. We love to quote The Simpsons so I’ll end with a quote from Homer “our differences are skin deep but our sames go right to the bone“.

Leisel - my gorgeous, compassionate, heart-of-gold, beloved friend. My heart swells when I think of you, I love you so much, you are a real treasure in my life. You and your partner are a wonderful couple and I truly feel lucky to be part of your circle, I love spending time with you and your family. You and I have had so many deep and important chats, I think we really get each other and we have both used each other’s shoulder’s when the going got rough. I’m so very glad to have you in my life. We have known each other for about 10 years now.

Rachael – we have been friends for almost 20 years and I adore you. We have many things in common but enough differences to keep it interesting. I love you and your family, in fact your family is mine, I love your Mother like I do my own and your children are just like my niece and nephew. Your partner holds a special place in my heart because I know he’s really a softy My dear friend, we have been through heaps together and I can’t imagine not having you in my life. I love you to bits.

Jane – I met you at work about, hmmm, 14 years ago? Gee that’s terrible, I should know that!  We formed a bond through our love of dogs and craft and it grew into a special friendship that has lasted over all these years. I’ve seen your children grow and your divorce and sad death of your Dad. You’ve seen me go through stages of marriage, motherhood and much more. One of the things that I love about our friendship is that we can not speak for months and then just pick up the phone and chat like it was yesterday, I love that about you. I love your spirit, your bubbliness (is that a word?!), your passion for what you do. I feel better knowing that you are there to talk to when I need you.

Debbie and Sher – my sisters. What can I say – you are all of the above and more.  You are my family and nothing is better than that (sometimes nothing is worse than that but fortunately that does not apply to you two!). We are so much the same but again, have enough differences to keep it interesting. Sometimes words are not necessary, we just know what’s going on, I love that, it’s remarkably special. I love you guys with my whole being and I’m even shedding a little tear just thinking about it. Dad has really raised us to appreciate the value of family hey girls.

Rod – my brother. We have an interesting friendship. We get on so well but can also antagonise each other! I think as adults we’ve learned to respect what is good about each other and not dwell too much on the things that bug us   I love you and admire so much about you, I admire your confidence when you know you are doing something well, I don’t think I have that and notice it in others. I know how much you love your family and I love that. I think that sometimes you need to learn to appreciate the little things and worry less about the big picture but hey, that could be one of the things that bug you about me LOL!

Peter - my brother. You used to be one of my best friends and we had such fun together. I hate that we can no longer talk. I miss you so much. I love you always. I wish you would come back to us. Maybe one day? I remember so clearly the day you said to me that you could cut the family out of your life if it meant not putting up with shit. I wish to God that I’d known how close you were to doing it, I might have said something different in response, I might have been able to say goodbye. So much more I could say but I’ll leave it there, too sad.

I’ll go with honourable mentions now, people that I don’t see a lot but probably wish I did!

Christine – I love to talk to you, you make me smile and you make me laugh.  We shared a wonderful working life since what? 2000?  I’m so thankful we have remained friends after I left.

Monica – we met in late primary school and became firm friends. I’ve lost touch with you in recent years and have tried to find you to no avail. I love you and I’ll keep looking for you. I know we’ll find each other again my gorgeous friend.