Tasteless

The first two days of Covid19 for me were sore throat, head and body aches and exhaustion. Yesterday it moved into a new phase of coughing up the lining of my throat (or that is what it feels like), runny nose, and loss of taste and smell. Strong foods still have some taste - vegemite, pepperoni - but other things I've tried so far I haven't been able to eat they were just so unappetising. And I can't drink my beloved tea, tasteless yet cloyingly milky (I have the tiniest splash of milk). It makes me sad and grumpy, food is usually my friend, but on the other hand I'm already losing weight so there is that.

I haven't actually been tested, I've dragged the kids out of bed twice to go to a drive through clinic but were turned away each time as they were too busy already. Rapid antigen tests are sold out everywhere online. I have all the symptoms tho and am living with a confirmed positive so I'm just going to assume. 

Tim has been sleeping on the daybed in the loungeroom to isolate, but since we became 99.9% certain I have it there didn't seem any point to that so he came back to our bed last night. Didn't last long, with me coughing up a lung every few minutes. He snuck away back to the loungeroom. 

Tim is starting to feel better so I can look forward to that, I am a few days behind him. Aiden seems to be in an earlier phase, and we're not sure about Jasmine. She has a runny nose but nothing else, and she's been trying really hard to isolate from us. She desperately wants to be able to go back to acrogym next week. Half the family members who were here at Christmas are also sick and have now tested positive, although they tested negative when Tim first got sick. 

I've ordered groceries online to arrive today, the only other time I tried that was just before Christmas and it was a bit of a disaster, arriving 5 hours late and with meat due to expire the next day. But I don't have a lot of choices. The virtual shelves were half-empty and then when I got to checkout there were warnings about even more things being unavailable so I'll see what turns up. I think a chicken was the only meat I ended up with. I guess ordering on a public holiday during a pandemic isn't an ideal time. I'll try again in a couple of days. Case numbers are bad, and that doesn't even include all the people turned away from the testing clinics, so a lot of people are sick or in isolation and can't work. Food isn't really a problem, we can always order take-away but none of us are hungry anyway. 

I binged a great show called Smash, about making musical theatre. Like Glee with grownups. Great music and dance numbers, personal dramas. Just finished season one, luckily there is a season two. As a family we've started watching Witcher season one whenever we're all up to being out of bed, I like it but if I didn't have Aiden to explain the completely unexplained timelines decades apart I would be hopelessly confused. And I watch cricket, mainly to nap to as it helps me go to sleep. 

Reading an awesome fantasy series I got for Christmas by Naomi Novik starting with A Deadly Education. It's set in a school for magic but it's nothing like Harry Potter (which I also loved of course). Very inventive. 

Covid New Year

 Or Happy Covid Year? Or Happy New Covid?

I woke up sick yesterday. Pretty sure it's Covid-19 since my husband has tested positive, I'm getting tested today. It feels similar to the flu - but don't forget how awful the flu can make you feel! Sore throat and headache and exhausted and generally yuck. Last night was horrible, all those hours of tossing and turning and sweating. 

Oh and yesterday evening Aiden said he was starting to feel unwell. I haven't seen him yet this morning but I'll take him to be tested with me. 

So now instead of Tim isolating himself from the rest of the family, it will be Jasmine keeping away from us. Although actually it might be better if she caught it now rather than later. Uni doesn't start until February, Acrogym is on an extended break due to Covid (Jasmine's state competition at the end of February, she's just gone up a level and got a new partner, they already didn't have enough time to prepare and now it's a disaster, there haven't been any competitions for the past two years but we were really hoping for this one.)

Tim's cousin Matt who was here at Christmas has tested positive too. It has begun. Tim's dad and stepmother, who both have cancer and are therefore vulnerable, were with her family this Christmas. Looks like they dodged a bullet. And Tim's aunt Vanessa was kept away by her husband, which she resented at the time thinking he was paranoid but turns out not a bad decision. Also, she isn't vaccinated. She plans to get it eventually? When they bring out the vaccine in a flavour she likes or something. 

Looking on the bright side, hopefully this will get it out of the way at the start of year then we won't catch it again. Ever. Right?

Covid

So, my husband has Covid-19. He's been feeling sick for a couple of days, flu-like symptoms. And extremely violent sneezing. The wait for drive-through PCR tests is hours long at the moment but I managed to get the last couple of boxes of rapid antigen tests this morning at only the second place I asked - score! He came up positive, the rest of us negative. They are not as accurate as the PCR tests and he will go and queue for one of those tomorrow, but given the circumstances there is no reason to believe it is a false positive. We are all isolating for seven days, trying to keep Tim separate from the rest of us, then will test again. I think he has to quarantine for 10 days? He started feeling sick on Boxing Day so of course everyone we saw on Christmas Day was here during his infectious period. I'm amazed that the kids and I haven't got it. 

We don't know where Tim got it, he hasn't been out much in the past couple of weeks. There was a case at Aiden's school so we had him tested a few days before Christmas, never got any result, but he has tested negative today at home and no symptoms. 

Tim is actually the first person I know to have Covid. Back in the mists of time when we thought Delta was bad, Sydney got up to around 2,000 cases a day. With Omicron it's 12,000 a day! At least it's supposed to be less deadly. Tim has asthma so we'll be keeping a close eye on him. From a distance, of course. 

November

 Friday:

After a cool rainy spring, summer seems to be here with 30+ C days and cicadas screaming outside. One is clinging to the fly screen of the kitchen window, I can mostly see its belly but I think it is a 'Black Prince', much prized when I was at school due to their relative rarity. 'Greengrocer' is the one you see most often. Cicadas are a huge fat insect, size of a mouse without a tail and rather threatening beady eyes, but completely harmless. Except the for the ear-drum shattering calls. 

Jasmine finally got her L plates and is learning to drive (she passed the knowledge test first time, but we had delayed due to Covid). I do not enjoy teaching, I get nervous with even an experienced driver let alone a complete beginner! I hate not being in control of the car. She is actually quite careful and hasn't done anything bad, but every time she goes a bit close to a parked car or her speed creeps up to the limit instead of super slow I nearly have a heart attack. I'm going to have a stomach ulcer after this. My husband has done most of the teaching so far, but he isn't around after school. We just go round very quiet streets so far.

The pain in my foot got worse, I had an ultrasound and a blood test and the doctor thinks it was gout - I didn't even know that was still a thing but apparently it is quite common. I had a course of steroids - Prednisolone - to reduce the inflammation and that helped a lot with the pain in my heel/ankle but I still have pain and numbness along the outside of my foot. I need to go back and see the doctor but I've been confined with a bad cold (which I got from my family, I didn't get a Covid test this time but they did and were negative) which I don't want to spread to the doctor's office. I'll go next week. 

I'm back on the CSIRO total wellbeing diet, focus on whole foods and lots of vegetables, you count units (3 carbs, 3 dairy, 2 fruits per day etc) not calories and can have one indulgence per day. I lost weight in week 1, put it back on in week 2 with sickness comfort food plus Aiden's 14th birthday, back on track with week 3.

Speaking of Aiden, several days after he'd seemingly recovered from his cold he came home from school exhausted and napped all afternoon. Then the next morning he woke with bad chest pain and a racing heart rate. Our doctor sent us to the ER where we spent a lot of the day - in the children's area they were playing Despicable Me on a loop and didn't bother to change it, we were watching it for the third time when we got to leave - an ECG was normal and he was feeling a lot better by the afternoon. Probably a virus but we don't really know. So that was a worrying day. 

My uncle who had a stroke is almost back to normal he says except for a bit of dizziness, and he won a tennis tournament last weekend so that is great. My poppa is ok at home with regular care visits I think but haven't heard just lately. I want to visit but not with sickness running around the family. Even if not Covid, I don't want to pass it on!

Tim’s birthday

Sunday:

I’ve been having problems with this blog for months, where I can’t respond to people’s comments. So if it looks like I don’t read them or don’t care, not true! It a bit frustrating, i really do appreciate comments.

I guess we’re a bit isolated in Australia, and also “social distancing” is pretty much the norm here - we like a lot of personal space and don’t generally stand close. So Corvid19 hasn’t really taken hold (yet). But i do see that the news from the rest of the world is worrying.

Shopping here has gone in a few weeks from it being difficult to get toilet paper/tissues/paper towels, then add rice and pasta to that list, then I went shopping yesterday and most of the shelves were empty or nearly so. Still plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables - I suppose because they are perishable none hoards them - but meat and lots of other things were gone. I was able to get food for the week, but not necessarily things I would usually buy, and not the things Tim had requested for his birthday dinner. Supermarkets have now restricted purchases to one or two of each thing, which hopefully will stop people being so selfish when stocks do come in.

We didn’t have a family get-together this weekend despite two birthdays. Tim and I are both a bit unwell, most likely not Corvid19 but we don’t want to pass any type of illness on! But the person we want most to protect, Tim’s father who is over 70 and has prostate cancer, wanted to come over and is still going out to restaurants and stuff so he’s certainly not self-isolating. We wouldn’t let anyone come over, and I probably won’t go to work tomorrow.

I gave Tim a really elaborate board game called Gloomhaven, it weighs about 10 kg was over $200. We’ve started that and it seems pretty good. Each session is supposed to take about 2 hours (we’ve taken 5 and haven’t finished, but we’re still working out all the rules) but there is a big storyline and all future sessions will link together so it could take years! Good one for if we’re all in isolation.

Hope your all staying well.

As usual

Thursday:

I haven't had much to write about... life goes on as usual. I've been down with a nasty flu for the past week. Mostly better now except for a lingering cough. I stopped taking Duromine while sick, I hadn't lost any weight since the first two weeks on it anyway, and after a couple of nights the peri-menopausal night sweats came back! Every night since then. So the Mirena obviously hasn't made any difference there, not that anyone said it would, I was just hoping.

The Mirena (IUD that releases hormones, supposed to be safer than "the pill" at my age) is still uncomfortable, the strings jab and jab me. I couldn't get an earlier appointment with my gyno than the 3 month check up, the receptionist told me to see my GP if I needed help. Hmm.

Jasmine has her Year 10 end of year formal (dinner & dance) coming up, we went shopping for a dress today but didn't find anything. Most of her year got their dresses months ago apparently, all very adult slinky things which Jas thinks is inappropriate for her age and doesn't want. She rejected anything low cut or too clingy - not because she doesn't like her body but just because she is 15 and thinks it's silly to dress like that. We did buy a lovely sundress that she would be happy to wear but I don't think it's formal enough for evening.

It's school holidays, and when Aiden isn't on the computer or iPad he's out in the garden creating a bow and arrow out of sticks and vines. After a lot of trial and error it's pretty good! He's always loved sticks, they can become anything in his imagination. I had to make a rule when he was littler: "sticks don't cross the road" because he would try to bring them home from the park and I felt we had enough of our own.

We've also been playing board games and today we bought a jigsaw puzzle as we had all enjoyed the one Tim gave me for my last birthday. This one is of a bookcase (of fantasy books) with little fairies and dragons and other magical things scattered around the shelves. We've done all the edges.

Sluggish

Saturday:

I took the shell off my racing snail to make him go faster - but it just made him sluggish.

It will be my birthday on Tuesday. So I haven't started my diet yet. Or lifestyle change, or whatever you want to call it. My challenge to be healthier by 50. I have a little party tomorrow and then a dinner out on the day. Then I'll start...

Two weeks left at my current workplace, then a week off (it will be school holidays) then I start at the other Library, four weeks on then four weeks off then (hopefully) another 3 months. Another good opportunity has just come up elsewhere that I'm also applying for. It is a great job with the downside of a longer commute. I'm thinking if they offer me the job I will ask if I can go part-time, five days a week but shorter days so I can get home before dinnertime to see my kids - and avoid the worst of the traffic too. We'll see.

A really bad flu has been going around. I had it and was sick for two weeks although I only took two days off work. Then Aiden had it and now Jasmine. She had this whole week off school, very unusual for her. I left her home alone most days but left work early. Today she came with me to do the grocery shopping but had to go and sit outside the supermarket while I finished and went straight to bed when we got home. She started to get sick last Sunday during an Acrogymnastics competition, her trio managed to qualify for the State Final but were definitely not at their best. Luckily it's a few more weeks to the Final, she's missed a lot of training.

The house and yard are shambles at the moment. We get no time during the week, and precious little on the weekends. Welcome to the working world.

Worries

Friday:

I stayed home sick again today. Overall I feel a bit better, but I coughed half the night and woke with a horrible sinus headache, and I’m just constantly coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose. Really not an appropriate time to work in a library, infecting everyone and making lots of gross noises. My little library is closed on Fridays so I was supposed to be back in the main library. At least they had two other staff today!

I had had a worrying phone call yesterday. A hospital was trying to get in touch with my brother Darren about him having a procedure at 6:30am the next day. So he’s put me as a contact, which is a good thing, but I couldn’t pass on the information because I can never get through in a hurry either!  His phone always goes straight to messages, which I don’t know if he even listens to, and it can be weeks before he reads emails. I think he rarely collects his snail mail too. He doesn’t like touching the mailbox. Or anything, really. He has OCD and a phobia of germs. It’s impossible. I could drive for an hour to his house, but I don’t know if he’d even be there or be awake. And it was too late anyway for this, the info included that he had to be fasting and what’s the point of telling him that 12 hours after the fast was to start? They’d probably been trying to call him for a week. After failing to get through to him all afternoon I tried to call the hospital back but I think they’d all gone home for the day. I missed a call early this morning that I assume was the hospital asking where the hell he was... and it will happen all over again when he reschedules.

Of course the real worry is that the procedure was a colonoscopy. Which I assume means a test for cancer. What the hell is it with this family and cancer? My father-in-law just had a biopsy and we’re waiting to hear how advanced his cancer is. And his wife has lung cancer. Both my parents (and Darren’s, obviously) died of cancer five years ago. I don’t have to worry about dying of heart disease, cancer will get me first.

Darren might not be comfortable with me knowing, at this stage. In my messages I didn’t mention that I knew what the procedure was.

He needs a phone that works. Maybe go back to a landline. And he needs to get internet access so he doesn’t have to go to the library to read his email. He needs to be contactable. I couldn’t tell him when Poppa got hurt, or about family functions, or anything.  He retreats further and further away from the rest of the world.

Am I feeding the virus?

Thursday:

I’m sick with a nasty head cold. I’d been dragging myself into work because there was no one else, but yesterday I stayed home and they couldn’t open my little library. I’ll be glad when Linh is back next week so there is someone else with a key and used to that library. I haven’t heard how she is but she’s on the roster for next week so must be better. I’m going in today. It’s really hard getting through the work day when you feel awful. And I have to work until 6. Urg.

I’ve been eating really badly. Comfort food. I was thinking last night about how there is a parasite that lives part of its lifecycle in rats, and part in cats. When a rat is infected, it becomes fearless and I think is also attracted to the smell of cat urine, so its behaviour changes to make it more likely to get eaten by a cat. The parasite gets to move into the cat body for the next stage of its life. The parasite controls the rat! Even though that kills the host! And that made me wonder about how I always eat lots of carbs when I’m sick, even though it makes me feel worse. Am I feeding Natalie, or am I feeding the virus? I’m going to start asking myself that question whenever I want to turn to stodgy food.

Another challenge is working late so often, four nights a week at the moment. Most quick foods I cook, or things my daughter knows how to cook, don’t have the leftovers I need for healthy meals for everyone the next day. But I’ve just rediscovered the slow cooker and since I start late I have time to put something together in that. I need to try some more recipes. I’ve only ever used it for casseroles.

Time to get ready for work. Aloe Vera tissues and hand sanitizer!

Brain fog

Monday:

Well turns out I was getting sick on the weekend. I gradually got worse on Sunday. I went to work this morning but came home at lunchtime. Tummy a bit upset but mainly exhausted and brain fog. My boss wasn’t there when I left - she divides her time between several locations - and I’m not sure if I’m entitled to sick leave yet. I can make it up in flex time, if need be. Not worried about it.

Explains my low mood. I’m actually quite enjoying work. I certainly like seeing other adults and having a purpose to my days.

My co-workers all seem very nice. Rita has only been there a year, and worked in school libraries before that. I can see she would be great with kids. Friendly and helpful. Husband in the army, four year old daughter. We’ve bonded over trying to lose weight. She is quite a large woman, and has her sister’s wedding in six months. The sister has had some form of bariatric surgery to lose weight. I had thought she looked Polynesian, but turns out she is Chinese, she had an ancestry test done and was nearly 100%. Dubravka loves hiking, don’t know much else yet. Stern/caring mother type. Old-fashioned librarian! Linh has been working there for 20 years, single with a garden. Did she have a fiancée who died or did I dream that conversation (or see it in a movie)? Asthmatic, gets a bit wheezy after a flight of stairs. Caitlin started after I did and is part time so I haven’t talked to her much, youngish, unlike me has worked in other libraries. Lives inner-city, a bit rough around the edges.

I made up a table with eleven things to rate a job by (like travel time, job satisfaction, pay) and scored good, medium or bad for each. The current job got 2/4/5 (2 ‘good’, 4 ‘medium’ and 5 ‘bad’). I then thought about two positions I’d apply for if I ever see them advertised and gave my best guesses. One got 6/3/2 and the other 4/1/4 (2 unknown). It helps me clarify my thinking. This job is ok, but not somewhere I want to stay until I retire.

I missed my niece’s 6th birthday on Sunday. This week is Tim’s birthday then sister-in-law Ping’s, so I’d better be better by then!

Sick

Monday:

I lost 0.7kg this week, down to 72.0 and I'm happy with that. I've been sick with a mild flu since last Wednesday (Tim now has it too) which usually encourages me to turn to 'comfort food' ie carbs and fat so I did well. Also this strain of flu seems to be a real mood downer, both Tim and I have felt quite depressed. I have eaten more chocolate than I had been the previous few weeks (it was also Valentine's Day last week) but otherwise have eaten healthily.

I'm feeling in limbo again about work. I’ve been accepted for casual work ‘on nomination’ whatever that means - I assume that they will call if they need me. So I just wait around.... I’m not enjoying the uncertainty at all. Of course I’m still looking for permanent work, but there is not a lot available for someone with no experience, so getting some casual work would really help me get a permanent position. I’m bored and lonely at home alone all day. Or maybe that is just the flu talking.

I have a few projects to keep me busy. We plan to go to France sometime soon (we've been talking about it for years, ever since we did a Contiki tour of Europe on our honeymoon) so Tim and I are brushing up on our High School French. Jasmine has learned some Italian and Spanish at school which are in the same family ('romance languages') as French and is learning with us on the app Duolingo. I plan to take up guitar again, Tim gave me an acoustic guitar years ago and I was doing quite well learning but then stopped. Since then I bought him an electric guitar - which is thinner so my bosom and stomach don't get in the way so much - but when I tried to tune it last week I broke a string. I have also been teaching myself to use Excel spreadsheets since a couple of jobs have mentioned it and it would be handy to have a basic knowledge.

I also plan to create a book of all our favourite recipes to give a copy to each child when they eventually leave home. I have to remember to photograph each meal.

Aiden left for a three day school camp this morning. I'll miss my baby.

Winding down

Thursday:

Jasmine and I have been down for a few days with a horrible stomach bug. As usual, we probably caught it from one of the family kids who was here on Sunday and apparently up all the night before vomiting... 'but he's fine now, really, I wouldn't bring him if he wasn't.' Sigh. On the Tuesday Tim had to stay home and look after us both. Nearly recovered now, although Jas is home from school for her third day and she also isn't going tomorrow as there's an excursion that would get her back too late for another commitment. Nearly a whole week of school missed! But all exams are over and there is only a couple of weeks left of the school year so everything is winding down anyway.

There are a few end-of-year and Christmas parties the next two weeks. For the kids, not me. Aiden has his 'graduation' party tonight for the end of Primary School.

I've done almost all my Christmas shopping, quite a lot online this year, now I need to start thinking about the food - which is pretty much the same every year even though we're doing dinner (evening) this time instead of lunch. We host so I do the turkey and roast veges and a dessert and everyone brings something. The last two years there has been a war over who gets to bring the trifle. I don't even like trifle so I couldn't care less. I told them they can all bring trifle if they want. I'll just have the Toblerone cheesecake that I make! My husband's mother was English, so they all seem to like trifle and ham and mince pies and all that stuff.

Zumba

Tuesday:

I weighed 72.5kg yesterday, same as last week. I have my blood test for gluten tomorrow, so this is my last bread day. Except I might have it for breakfast tomorrow before the blood test, so that will be a half-bread day. I don't intent to give up bread/carbs entirely but eating four slices a day for a month has been more of a trial that you would think. I don't think I react to gluten, but I have been feeling heavier and more sluggish than when I eat mainly unprocessed/lower carb foods.

Jasmine and I were sick yet again over the weekend. It was a weird one, on Friday afternoon my heart rate went up over 100 even though I was sitting quietly, and stayed up for a couple of hours. I could feel it racing, and I felt trembly and weak. I was a bit worried. I blamed it on Duromine, although it's never had that effect before. But the next morning Jasmine's heart rate was over 110, lying in bed, and like me could feel her heart racing. Her normal rate is very low because she is athletic and fit - around 55 I think? My normal is an unfit 80. (We both wear fitness trackers, which is how we know our heartrate.) For both of us the heartrate went down and the illness moved on to headaches and tiredness for a couple of days. Clearly a virus.

I was supposed to start work yesterday, but I emailed them on Thursday (again me contacting them, should have been the other way around!) and they had no news, they still want me if the freeze lifts but in the meantime I should keep looking for other work. Lucky I'm not desperate for work/money! Nothing much else around at the moment, except Library Assistant jobs (below my training, but I'd do it for the experience) who want people who can work evenings, which I can't. Or jobs right over the other side of Sydney, with an impractical amount of travel time.

On the weekend I signed up for a 5 day free pass at my local gym, and received the confirmation by email. I didn't go on Monday because I still felt a little unwell, and they called me to ask when I was coming in! Now that is proactive. I went today, to a Zumba class. It was exhausting but fun. I am very unfit. I used to do some Zumba many years ago, all the routines were different of course. I am good at picking up choreography though. My old gym went more hip-hop, which I didn't like, this one was all Bollywood and Latin which was great. The gym has all the usual Les Mills classes, Body Pump, Body Step etc.

I has poured rain pretty solidly for a couple of weeks (all school holidays) and the garden has loved it after a long dry spell. I think columbines look like little fairy dresses.

Acrogymnastics

Wednesday:

Jasmine had her Spring Cup on the weekend for Acrogymnastics. It's the first competition of the year, a small invitational, with the State Trials starting in three weeks and the State Finals at the start of December. We were a bit worried this year, she did so well in level one last year but she has a new younger partner this year for level two (they compete as pairs or trios, Jasmine is the 'base' doing all the lifting and Becky is the 'top' - her partner of last year grew and is now a 'base' herself). But we needn't have worried - they came first in Balance routine and second in Dynamic routine - first overall! There were about nine pairs in her class, the State Trials of course will be much bigger. 

We are all sick... again. Tim came home Friday with a hacking cough and runny nose, I started to feel ill Sunday afternoon, Aiden yesterday. Jasmine has a sore throat but otherwise is ok so far. It is so annoying, I feel like we've hardly had a well day this winter season. The germs go round and round. 

My weight was much the same this Monday, 72.8 kg I think. 

I'm two weeks into eating four slices of bread a day to see if I react to gluten. So far it seems like I don't (which is great!). I've had stomach pains twice, both times after eating more heavily processed carby foods - 2 min noodles, and chocolate biscuits. My mouth ulcers flared up once, almost immediately after eating half a packet of Mentos (chewy fruit-flavoured lollies). The inside of my cheeks felt shredded. I've always associated it with eating sugar. I'll keep going with the bread, although it doesn't really fit with my idea of an ideal diet, so I can have the blood test and be sure, but it seems like it's not gluten. 

School holidays have started, but with us all sick we haven't done much. Today Jasmine rearranged the games shelves (into age/difficulty levels) and pulled out some board games that she doesn't remember ever playing - some I don't remember playing! We used to buy them regularly and have been given quite a few over the years but play on computers more nowadays or play the same few games over and over. The kids and I played two this afternoon, Mindtrap and Dominion (haven't finished Dominion, it said 30 mins on the box but that was a lie!), both good. Still eleven more in the pile to play - we have a lot of games! About 50 currently on the shelves (not including the 11 + 2), and that is after a cull when we moved here. And several boxes of 'Magic the Gathering' cards. The only one I really dislike is chess. I don't have the patience. 

Medieval

Monday:

I had decided to never buy clothes online again after a couple of unsatisfactory purchases, but then I decided I needed some medieval dresses and it is very hard to find them anywhere else. I chose three, from a costume shop (they are costumes and therefore much cheaper but not as good quality as a real medieval dress would be) with the intent of keeping them all if they looked good but sending back any that didn't. I've learned to base my size choice on my hip measurement, not my waist measurement.

They are all much too long of course, and will need to be hemmed up, but aside from that the fit was very good. The green dress looked great:

The purple dress didn't suit me at all (I sent it back):

The black and red 'vampire countess' looked nice but the weird grey flap hanging from the waist is uneven and I haven't decided what to do about it. It would not be easy to just remove. In the promotional picture it doesn't overlap the red stripe down the front at all, that would have been much better, on mine it goes too far and meets off-centre. But overall the dress looks nice and I'm keeping it.

Why do I need medieval dresses? My family goes to Comicon and places like that and all wear costumes, I've never been but I may go one day. And it's just nice to have a costume ready for any occasion that may come up.

My weight was 72.4 kg this morning.

I came down sick (again) on the weekend. It's been a trying winter in that respect. We had to cancel D&D and family dinner.

Thursday:
I am starting to feel better but Tim came home from work yesterday feeling awful and went straight to bed (very very unusual!) and is home sick today. I have some sores in my mouth that I don't know if they are from this illness, or dry mouth from Duromine (which I've stopped for the moment), or from too much sugar; but there is one on my tongue that is quite painful. It woke me a couple of times in the night feeling like a needle dipped in acid had been stuck in the tip of my tongue. Ouch.

Aiden will be starting High School next year and he's doing an 'Extension Exam' this morning to see if he gets into the top class. Jasmine didn't get the chance as we moved here right at the end of the year just before she started High School so they put her in the second class originally, but she was moved into the extension class the following year. Aiden is very good in maths and science areas and he has a great imagination, but his handwriting is like a five year old and I hope that doesn't hold him back. We've been working on it at home, and at school of course.

Lots of books

Monday:

My weight wandered back up to 71.5 kg this morning. By the time I start at this job it will be the middle of spring, and I'm excited about buying more new work clothes, but I would love to lose a bit more weight before then. I really really need to get exercise consistently into my life - and keep it there even when I start work!

My tiredness of last week morphed into illness on the weekend. Headache and dizzy and backache and jelly legs. Sometimes I was nauseous and didn't eat much, other times I was bored with sitting around and ate too much. I'm feeling so much better today though. I made some lovely chicken soup for my lunch.

I'm back volunteering at my son's school library on Mondays. Last week the teacher librarian was there but as usual was teaching a couple of classes so we don't really get time to talk much. There was a lot to do and I was there most of the morning, when I tried to leave she asked me to help a little longer (which was fine). Today she wasn't there, another teacher who I don't know (maybe a sub) was running the class and only said hi and left me to it, but there wasn't much to do at all and I left after less than an hour (it's only supposed to be half an hour anyway). I realised when I got to the shops that I'd left my handbag stashed under the desk at the library (my car keys were in my pocket, and I often don't carry a bag, just essentials in pockets, so I didn't notice) and I had to go back for it. Luckily not too far.

Tuesday:

I went into the city today to buy some books. Doing the cataloguing revealed some gaps in our collection; sometimes we hadn’t finished buying a series but quite a few gaps were where people had borrowed books and not returned them. I asked around last week but none turned up so I decided to replace some favourites. I went to my two favourite bookshops; Galaxy which specialises in sci-fi and fantasy (12 books) and Dymocks which is more general, and has a three-story store in the city (5 books). Very heavy! When I got home, 2 more had arrived that I had ordered online secondhand! Now I don’t know what to read first - and I was already in the middle of three before I bought these new ones.

Too firm

Thursday:

The website for my TAFE now says my Diploma was 'published' on 30/06 and the transcription done 02/07 so I should receive it soon! I'm thinking about joining a recruitment agency, there are a couple that specialise in Library and Information Services, but was waiting to get my Diploma. And maybe I'll wait to see how the two jobs I've already applied for go. I know the first one has spoken to my referees. The second one (the one I super really want) closes for applications today, not sure how long they will take to review the applications and call for interviews. I should look back and see how long they took last year when I applied there for a Library Assistant job … ok they took about two weeks from when applications closed to let me know I didn't get an interview, they later called and offered casual work which I couldn't take because it was evening. So I should wait around two weeks before starting to wait anxiously for a call.

Sunday:

On Friday our new mattresses were delivered. Ours seems a lot firmer than it did in the showroom, and we aren’t thrilled about that. But I assume it will soften a bit with time (not too much!) It has a swap guarantee if you don’t like it, but they don’t let you swap in the first week, so they must be used to people panicking and sending mattresses back unnecessarily!

Tim’s and I were both sick during the week, but seem ok now. Main symptom was extreme fatigue. I’d sit down and not want to get up again for hours. But I felt all perky today and full of energy. I walked up to the shops with Jasmine to buy a few things, then we made dessert for tonight (lemon cheesecake). Family came over in the afternoon - and this week everyone came. House full of children! So loud but in a happy way. Most stayed for dinner (and cheesecake 😆). V knows I’m trying to lose weight and asked if Sundays are my ‘cheat’ day. I was too embarrassed to say I have lots of ‘cheat’ days! I only said that I prefer to call them ‘treat’ days instead.

V is a bit overweight herself, she was playing on the floor with the kids and Emma said ‘you look like you have a fat tummy’. She just laughed, but when Ping came in V said ‘your daughter just said I have a fat tummy’ and Ping said something like ‘oh sometimes she’s too honest!’ Honest?! I can see where little Emma gets her tact from!

Plague

Wednesday:

When family came over on Sunday, I wasn’t doing dinner so it was just the boys for Dungeons and Dragons, but as usual my brother-in-law brought five-year-old Emma. It was clear she wasn’t her usual self. She lay on the lounge, coughing and whining for daddy, and watched TV for three hours. I was quite angry at Nick for bringing her when she was obviously sick - both for her sake and for ours - (of course I didn’t actually say anything to him, I avoid confrontation like the plague, or apparently even more than I avoid the plague) and guess what, now I’m sick. Not happy!

Oh well, I can’t argue with the timing. I got to enjoy my birthday.

Icy toes

Monday:

The reboot Duromine effect has worn off, I ate very little for several days while sick then ate a lot for several days to catch up... back to normal now. Whatever normal is. Weight bounced back up a little to 70.2 kg, still comfortably under what it was two weeks ago. But I want to get back under 70 kg!

It is so cold at this second workplace. The main part of the library isn't too bad, but the staff office and tearoom are freezing. My feet ache. It's winter here now, icy and rainy, but I think it's warmer outside than in the tearoom! Cold drafts everywhere. There is a tiny fan heater the staff use to try to stay warm. It's a small library, only two staff at a time not including me. But at least six desks in the office!? I had a good chat with Matthew about getting a job, he did the same degree as me a few years ago (same teachers!) and a temp job turned into his current more or less permanent status. He trained as a High School teacher originally, but had a chair thrown at him by a student on his first day. Six months confirmed it wasn't the job for him.

I just lodged my last assignment. Now all I have is my teacher coming out to assess me in the workplace, in two weeks. Should be ok, but I can get flustered sometimes.

I feel mostly better from my flu but my coughing keeps me awake at night. Aiden's got a runny nose now, crossed fingers he fights it off.

Diversion

Wednesday:

I spent yesterday at home, mostly sleeping, instead of going to work. Today I had my last visit to my TAFE in the city, a consultation with a teacher about my big research assignment. I was feeling a lot better than yesterday so I decided not to cancel. Maybe not the best choice. When leaving home, I could hardly get out of our street due to traffic banked up on the main road. It turned out there was a big accident on the nearby bridge (at least one truck and several cars) so the road was closed. Everyone was diverted to next crossing, a long way around with only one lane each way (the usual bridge has three lanes each way). With so much traffic everything was slow, and we also had to inch around a minor bingle (car accident). Getting to the station took me an hour instead of about 15 minutes. And I had to park a long way from the station at that time of day. Of course I don't equate my minor inconvenience with what people actually in that big accident went through!

I was lucky enough to catch an express train to the city, and I walked really fast at the other end, so I ended up only 20 mins late - for a 30 minute meeting. I was rather hot and tired by then from brisk walking while feeling sick! I even have a blister on my toe. But the meeting itself went well. My teacher was happy with my progress on the assignment, which is nearly finished. It was the last time I needed to go into TAFE, ever. I will see my teacher one more time when she comes to visit me at work to assess me there, otherwise I just have some online stuff and finishing work placement. My teacher mentioned they only have one graduation ceremony a year so I think that will be nearly 12 months away! I might just get them to mail it to me.

The trip home was much slower and less stressful, I half-dozed through most of the train journey. Didn't appreciate the icy rain getting back to the car. Very glad to finally get home again.

At least I got some exercise today!