Tuesday:
Has it only been two weeks home with the kids? Feels like longer! Jasmine acts as though she’s at school, dividing her day into subjects, chatting online with friends who are in those classes, and taking breaks at regular school times. With homework, she is working 9-5 or longer (she’s in Year 11). She is a little worried about how it will affect her final High School results next year, but overall seems fine.
Aiden, by contrast, sleeps for half the morning and plays computer games the rest of the time. He only does school work when I stand over him with a whip. Maybe an hour a day. I don’t think he’s being given as much work as Jas is, but he’s not devoting much time to what he does have! We go into school holidays next week, which will be easier, but we probably have months of school-at-home to come.
Tim is still working, his office has gone to two shifts and they are completely segregated so if one group gets sick the other won’t catch it. He works afternoons, and is home about the same time in the evening he was anyway, so he is quite enjoying having mornings free. He drives into the city to avoid public transport, now that the roads are less clogged.
I am spending way too much time playing World of Warcraft instead of being productive, but I have started learning piano. My birthday present to Tim was a fancy new keyboard to replace the one he had since he was about 14, and I’ve started using Yousician to learn how to play it. I go grocery shopping twice a week, most things are back on the shelves except toilet paper and pasta, but otherwise I stay in the house.
Australia is still overall pretty safe and healthy, I think we’ve had only 38 deaths compared to hundreds or thousands elsewhere. A big proportion of our cases have come from one mind-boggling incident (now under criminal investigation) where people were allowed to walk off a cruise ship without testing or isolation even though many were showing symptoms.
I hope you are all safe and well.
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Home
Thursday:
Tim is coming home today, yay! I didn't mention my husband was away all week because I don't advertise stuff like that on the internet "defenceless female home alone" or "home vacant for a week while family on holidays", just in case someone tracks down my location. I only talk about it after the event. But he has been away on a business thing since Monday morning and gets home tonight.
Of course I have missed him a lot, but the worst thing has been trying to sleep. You'd think lack of asthmatic snuffles beside me would help! But I get nervous without him here. It's weird because I lived alone for years before we married, and liked it, and didn't get scared at night. I guess I'm not used to it now, or maybe it is having children to protect. The last three nights I've been on high alert, unable to relax to sleep properly. Couldn't shower late at night because I felt too vulnerable. I had to get up earlier, which is fine because I was awake anyway. So after three nights of this I am so tired! My face feels all droopy. But Tim will be home tonight and I'll be safe.
Nigella Lawson seems to be able to feed sixteen people on one roast chicken, with leftovers. I cooked one last night for the three of us, there is one tiny piece of breast left. Aiden ate daddy's share. He is nine and ate half a chicken all by himself! He scrounges for food after dinner too. Growing boy. He is so little (with us as parents he is never going to be tall) with no body fat, but active. Luckily he likes real food and it's easy to direct him to have an apple, or some (homemade) yoghurt. Salad is one of his favourite foods. When he was little enough to fit in a shopping trolley seat I use to give him a whole capsicum (red pepper) to eat as we went around the supermarket and strangers would often comment about it. He doesn't like cheese or potato (except chips) and only recently started liking chocolate. Unusual taste buds.
Tim is coming home today, yay! I didn't mention my husband was away all week because I don't advertise stuff like that on the internet "defenceless female home alone" or "home vacant for a week while family on holidays", just in case someone tracks down my location. I only talk about it after the event. But he has been away on a business thing since Monday morning and gets home tonight.
Of course I have missed him a lot, but the worst thing has been trying to sleep. You'd think lack of asthmatic snuffles beside me would help! But I get nervous without him here. It's weird because I lived alone for years before we married, and liked it, and didn't get scared at night. I guess I'm not used to it now, or maybe it is having children to protect. The last three nights I've been on high alert, unable to relax to sleep properly. Couldn't shower late at night because I felt too vulnerable. I had to get up earlier, which is fine because I was awake anyway. So after three nights of this I am so tired! My face feels all droopy. But Tim will be home tonight and I'll be safe.
Nigella Lawson seems to be able to feed sixteen people on one roast chicken, with leftovers. I cooked one last night for the three of us, there is one tiny piece of breast left. Aiden ate daddy's share. He is nine and ate half a chicken all by himself! He scrounges for food after dinner too. Growing boy. He is so little (with us as parents he is never going to be tall) with no body fat, but active. Luckily he likes real food and it's easy to direct him to have an apple, or some (homemade) yoghurt. Salad is one of his favourite foods. When he was little enough to fit in a shopping trolley seat I use to give him a whole capsicum (red pepper) to eat as we went around the supermarket and strangers would often comment about it. He doesn't like cheese or potato (except chips) and only recently started liking chocolate. Unusual taste buds.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Home again
Monday:
I had originally planned to stay in Sydney several more days to spend more time with mum, but I just could not spend any more time in that horrible house. In future visits I will have to make other arrangements - stay with family living further away, or at a hotel.
I spent Sunday with mum at the hospital. It was like at Christmas, when she was reasonably alert on the first day but barely knew I was there by the fourth. On Sunday she slept nearly all day, only speaking to me a couple of times in the afternoon. She looked much older and sicker. I guess she has good days and bad days, or maybe she makes a big effort to stay awake when she hasn't seen me for a few days, but can't keep it up.
After that fall a few days ago they kept the safety rails up on her bed. But on Saturday night she rolled over and somehow got herself wedged between the bed and the rails. Her leg was quite badly bruised. So now they have her bed lowered right down to the floor, no safety rails, and a mattress each side of the bed in case she rolls off. They have also changed from giving her medication every few hours to a constant drip. Morphine, I don't know what else. The changes are not encouraging.
When I came back from having lunch (stinking hot humid day, I tried to sit in the shade in a park but fled back to air con pretty quickly) she woke up and asked me if I was leaving, which I found a bit confusing. But I think the morphine messes with her sense of time. My Aunty Bev, mum's sister, came in the afternoon. She finds it really hard to see her big sister like that. We had a good chat though. One funny thing, as the self will intrude, was that I was sitting in the huge chair they have for patients if they are well enough to sit up. It was a very deep chair so my short legs were sticking straight out. I felt like a plump six year old. I kind of always feel that way with my aunt anyway.
There are pictures for sale on display in the halls of the hospital, and some of them are quite lovely. I've been thinking of buying one of the several that we all liked, they are only about $200-$250 each.
Sorry if showing you breaches any copyright laws:
I guess if I did buy it, every time I looked at it I would think of mum. Don't know if that is good or bad. Nice, but sad.
Since I couldn't face another night at the house of horrors, when I left the hospital I drove to my brother-in-law's house an hour away, where Tim and the kids were staying. They'd decided to have a family BBQ so the house was full of people, or it seemed like it anyway. Loud and friendly. It was a nice, distracting change; but also quite overwhelming to someone in my emotional state. I joined a board game and had dinner but then retreated to have a quiet lie down, and never really got up again. I was completely exhausted after two nights with very little sleep plus all the emotional stress. I dragged myself up to say goodnight and have a very quick shower, then was in bed at 8:30, before my children!
This morning we drove home. So nice to be home. But also guilty that I am not with my mum. I am trying not to stress about that too much. I'll visit her when I can but worrying doesn't help anyone.
I had thought about putting off dieting until things settled down a bit. But when will that be? There is never a perfect time. So I am starting a new dietbet tomorrow. Maybe that will help keep me anchored. And I'm going to work on the relaxation too - I've downloaded a meditation app that I read about. I'll give it a go.
I had originally planned to stay in Sydney several more days to spend more time with mum, but I just could not spend any more time in that horrible house. In future visits I will have to make other arrangements - stay with family living further away, or at a hotel.
I spent Sunday with mum at the hospital. It was like at Christmas, when she was reasonably alert on the first day but barely knew I was there by the fourth. On Sunday she slept nearly all day, only speaking to me a couple of times in the afternoon. She looked much older and sicker. I guess she has good days and bad days, or maybe she makes a big effort to stay awake when she hasn't seen me for a few days, but can't keep it up.
After that fall a few days ago they kept the safety rails up on her bed. But on Saturday night she rolled over and somehow got herself wedged between the bed and the rails. Her leg was quite badly bruised. So now they have her bed lowered right down to the floor, no safety rails, and a mattress each side of the bed in case she rolls off. They have also changed from giving her medication every few hours to a constant drip. Morphine, I don't know what else. The changes are not encouraging.
When I came back from having lunch (stinking hot humid day, I tried to sit in the shade in a park but fled back to air con pretty quickly) she woke up and asked me if I was leaving, which I found a bit confusing. But I think the morphine messes with her sense of time. My Aunty Bev, mum's sister, came in the afternoon. She finds it really hard to see her big sister like that. We had a good chat though. One funny thing, as the self will intrude, was that I was sitting in the huge chair they have for patients if they are well enough to sit up. It was a very deep chair so my short legs were sticking straight out. I felt like a plump six year old. I kind of always feel that way with my aunt anyway.
There are pictures for sale on display in the halls of the hospital, and some of them are quite lovely. I've been thinking of buying one of the several that we all liked, they are only about $200-$250 each.
Sorry if showing you breaches any copyright laws:
I guess if I did buy it, every time I looked at it I would think of mum. Don't know if that is good or bad. Nice, but sad.
Since I couldn't face another night at the house of horrors, when I left the hospital I drove to my brother-in-law's house an hour away, where Tim and the kids were staying. They'd decided to have a family BBQ so the house was full of people, or it seemed like it anyway. Loud and friendly. It was a nice, distracting change; but also quite overwhelming to someone in my emotional state. I joined a board game and had dinner but then retreated to have a quiet lie down, and never really got up again. I was completely exhausted after two nights with very little sleep plus all the emotional stress. I dragged myself up to say goodnight and have a very quick shower, then was in bed at 8:30, before my children!
This morning we drove home. So nice to be home. But also guilty that I am not with my mum. I am trying not to stress about that too much. I'll visit her when I can but worrying doesn't help anyone.
I had thought about putting off dieting until things settled down a bit. But when will that be? There is never a perfect time. So I am starting a new dietbet tomorrow. Maybe that will help keep me anchored. And I'm going to work on the relaxation too - I've downloaded a meditation app that I read about. I'll give it a go.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Foiled by allergies
Thursday:
Yesterday I didn't have the car and I'm still a bit scared to go outside around my own neighbourhood (hay fever) so we stayed home. Aiden spends a lot of time jumping on the trampoline. Jasmine and I spent several sessions going through her clothes and sorting out which were too small for the coming summer and needed to be given to charity, and what she needed to replace them. We also went through some of the junk on the floor of Jasmine's wardrobe. My goodness. Nothing had been there long enough to evolve into sentient life yet, but it was close. Mainly clothes, toys and books. Used tissues. Broken junk. A towel. Dust. Loose sheets of paper. Pens. Knitting needles. We've got the clothes in the wash and everything else in seven (unsorted) boxes now. Plenty more work for another day.
Today the kids chose a movie as the activity. We saw "The House of Magic" which was suitable for younger children but still enjoyable for mine. Interesting that the villains in both movies we've seen recently were foiled by their own allergy to something! I can relate to that at the moment. The allergy bit, not the being a villain.
Nutrition is a science, eating is a behaviour. Read that today. One of those phrases that drips with significance.
Yesterday I didn't have the car and I'm still a bit scared to go outside around my own neighbourhood (hay fever) so we stayed home. Aiden spends a lot of time jumping on the trampoline. Jasmine and I spent several sessions going through her clothes and sorting out which were too small for the coming summer and needed to be given to charity, and what she needed to replace them. We also went through some of the junk on the floor of Jasmine's wardrobe. My goodness. Nothing had been there long enough to evolve into sentient life yet, but it was close. Mainly clothes, toys and books. Used tissues. Broken junk. A towel. Dust. Loose sheets of paper. Pens. Knitting needles. We've got the clothes in the wash and everything else in seven (unsorted) boxes now. Plenty more work for another day.
Today the kids chose a movie as the activity. We saw "The House of Magic" which was suitable for younger children but still enjoyable for mine. Interesting that the villains in both movies we've seen recently were foiled by their own allergy to something! I can relate to that at the moment. The allergy bit, not the being a villain.
Nutrition is a science, eating is a behaviour. Read that today. One of those phrases that drips with significance.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Spending time with mum
Monday:
I had planned to go to Floriade today but I still wasn't feeling well all morning so I didn't. Apart from a quick shopping trip I just rested at home. Felt a lot better by the afternoon.
My post yesterday got a bit long and I didn't talk much about my visit with mum. She's been sick a bit lately but was feeling well while we were there.
She has finally got her head around the thought of moving to a retirement home, which I think is great. She was really resistant to the idea before - she doesn't want to live with old people! But with inoperable breast and bone cancer she is going to need a lot more care as time goes on. She found that there is a retirement village in an area near a lot of her friends so that helped. Her reasoning behind waiting until next February to move was kind of funny though - she'll be finished with a couple of big institutions by then so she won't have to worry about giving them her new address or losing mail! I kept my mouth shut, I'm just happy she's finally thinking about moving.
Another incident typical of my mother was lunch. She is the worst cook in the universe, and now she is unwell she gets us to pick up something on our way there, which we are delighted to do. We brought a rotisserie chicken and since it wasn't lunchtime yet she put it in the oven to keep warm, uncovered. And she wondered why it was dried out and horrible an hour later! She really needs supervision in the kitchen. It has nothing to do with her age or illness, she just can't cook!
My brother is getting some training as a barista and is really enjoying it. He's basically spent his whole life living with mum and getting unemployment benefits, but I can always hope that this will work out and he'll stick to it.
It was a good weekend, but being home in my own bed was lovely.
I had planned to go to Floriade today but I still wasn't feeling well all morning so I didn't. Apart from a quick shopping trip I just rested at home. Felt a lot better by the afternoon.
My post yesterday got a bit long and I didn't talk much about my visit with mum. She's been sick a bit lately but was feeling well while we were there.
She has finally got her head around the thought of moving to a retirement home, which I think is great. She was really resistant to the idea before - she doesn't want to live with old people! But with inoperable breast and bone cancer she is going to need a lot more care as time goes on. She found that there is a retirement village in an area near a lot of her friends so that helped. Her reasoning behind waiting until next February to move was kind of funny though - she'll be finished with a couple of big institutions by then so she won't have to worry about giving them her new address or losing mail! I kept my mouth shut, I'm just happy she's finally thinking about moving.
Another incident typical of my mother was lunch. She is the worst cook in the universe, and now she is unwell she gets us to pick up something on our way there, which we are delighted to do. We brought a rotisserie chicken and since it wasn't lunchtime yet she put it in the oven to keep warm, uncovered. And she wondered why it was dried out and horrible an hour later! She really needs supervision in the kitchen. It has nothing to do with her age or illness, she just can't cook!
My brother is getting some training as a barista and is really enjoying it. He's basically spent his whole life living with mum and getting unemployment benefits, but I can always hope that this will work out and he'll stick to it.
It was a good weekend, but being home in my own bed was lovely.
Friday, September 16, 2011
The smoke of weight-loss doom
Thursday:
I feel like this whole week is a write-off. Last night a nearby chemical factory exploded. We weren't in the exclusion zone, but all the schools in the area were closed due to toxic smoke so the kids were home with me (again). It was too late to book them into creche, so I couldn't go to the gym, and I still had to try to get some work done.
Of course if you try hard enough you can find a way to exercise. I had the car, I could have taken the kids out somewhere (away from the smoke) active like a walk or bike ride. I could have used my Step and hand weights at home -- I planned to. But I didn't.
And tonight I am going to a trivia night. Everyone will be taking yummy unhealthy supper treats along. I will try to be moderate, but I plan to have something.
So three days out of four will be lots of calories in, not many calories out. Not so good for weight loss and I dread the scales on Sunday. But I am certainly not giving up. The best way of looking at it I ever heard was comparing it to brushing your teeth. If for some reason you didn't brush your teeth for a couple of days, you wouldn't then decide to never bother to brush them again! And if you don't exercise and/or if you eat poorly for a couple of days, that doesn't mean you give up on it. You just start again as soon as you can.
I feel like this whole week is a write-off. Last night a nearby chemical factory exploded. We weren't in the exclusion zone, but all the schools in the area were closed due to toxic smoke so the kids were home with me (again). It was too late to book them into creche, so I couldn't go to the gym, and I still had to try to get some work done.
Of course if you try hard enough you can find a way to exercise. I had the car, I could have taken the kids out somewhere (away from the smoke) active like a walk or bike ride. I could have used my Step and hand weights at home -- I planned to. But I didn't.
And tonight I am going to a trivia night. Everyone will be taking yummy unhealthy supper treats along. I will try to be moderate, but I plan to have something.
So three days out of four will be lots of calories in, not many calories out. Not so good for weight loss and I dread the scales on Sunday. But I am certainly not giving up. The best way of looking at it I ever heard was comparing it to brushing your teeth. If for some reason you didn't brush your teeth for a couple of days, you wouldn't then decide to never bother to brush them again! And if you don't exercise and/or if you eat poorly for a couple of days, that doesn't mean you give up on it. You just start again as soon as you can.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Indoors on the first day of spring
Thursday:
There was a teachers' strike today so my kids were at home and I decided to have a break day instead of trying to book them into the busy creche at the gym. We didn't go out anywhere, we just had a very lazy day of TV and computer and the kids playing inside. Not very inspiring. I feel a bit guilty but the kids have been quite happy. Under the label of TMI; after two days of cranky PMS my period started today leaving me feeling tired and unmotivated. But I know I'll be all good tomorrow. The weather is still lovely (first day of spring today) so I might go for another lake walk after Zumba tomorrow. And then writing in the library, that went well last week.
There was a teachers' strike today so my kids were at home and I decided to have a break day instead of trying to book them into the busy creche at the gym. We didn't go out anywhere, we just had a very lazy day of TV and computer and the kids playing inside. Not very inspiring. I feel a bit guilty but the kids have been quite happy. Under the label of TMI; after two days of cranky PMS my period started today leaving me feeling tired and unmotivated. But I know I'll be all good tomorrow. The weather is still lovely (first day of spring today) so I might go for another lake walk after Zumba tomorrow. And then writing in the library, that went well last week.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Student free day -- for teachers not for me
Thursday
Arg!
Today is a student-free school day so I have both kids at home. My plans for the day included putting them in creche and doing a BodyStep class (high intensity cardio!), then letting them have a swim in the heated kids' pool in the same building.
I lay in bed for an extra half an hour while the kids watched TV (getting up briefly so Tim could help me with my bra before he went to work), then after breakfast I noticed Tim had forgotten to put the bins out. As I was organising myself to do it, he called to tell me he had forgotten the bins (no problem) but also that he had found my keys in his pocket when he got to work. What the? He must have put them in his pocket when leaving the house, but why? He's never done that before. And my keys are always in the same place, sitting on top of my handbag, not somewhere he would usually mistake them for his.
The consequences are that I can't go to the gym or take the kids anywhere else -- no car keys and no house keys. It is also raining, so we can't even go into the backyard. Bummer. It's going to be a long day.
Arg!
Today is a student-free school day so I have both kids at home. My plans for the day included putting them in creche and doing a BodyStep class (high intensity cardio!), then letting them have a swim in the heated kids' pool in the same building.
I lay in bed for an extra half an hour while the kids watched TV (getting up briefly so Tim could help me with my bra before he went to work), then after breakfast I noticed Tim had forgotten to put the bins out. As I was organising myself to do it, he called to tell me he had forgotten the bins (no problem) but also that he had found my keys in his pocket when he got to work. What the? He must have put them in his pocket when leaving the house, but why? He's never done that before. And my keys are always in the same place, sitting on top of my handbag, not somewhere he would usually mistake them for his.
The consequences are that I can't go to the gym or take the kids anywhere else -- no car keys and no house keys. It is also raining, so we can't even go into the backyard. Bummer. It's going to be a long day.
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