Christmas, e-readers and allergies..

Christmas for the Sprite family this year will be celebrated at our place. At the beach.  We have decided that we are sick of being the ones to have to travel around the country side to visit people (and to be honest we simply can’t afford it). We have decided to be selfish this year. And why shouldn’t we!? We have a beach, a pool and a lot to be thankful for. The main one being we have made it to another Christmas with Hubby still in it.

Living with a terminal illness that could take you at any moment, kind of makes those special occasions even more precious.

Anyway. Hubby loves to cook. To entertain. But his selfish sister refuses to celebrate Christmas at our place so Hubby can indulge in his passion. Not even once. *sigh* I am actually so glad Hubby is putting his foot down this year and has decided that enough is enough. If they want to see us, they can come here.

So now we are planning Christmas Day being just us. And maybe my parents and Hubby’s Dad plus one. Which will be nice. Hubby will do the main meal and I have all sorts of sweet yummies planned for desert. One being “White Chocolate and cherry macaroons”. Maybe a big strawberry Pavlova as well. After the great strawberry Pavlova wars last year I am NOT going to back down on that one...(for those of you who don’t remember... I was going to make the Pavlova to take to sister-in-laws place. We agreed on it, it was all discussed...then SHE makes one herself! Totally snubbing me, grrr...)

So this year it will be a relaxing, come if you want, kind of day. Which is just the way it should be.

In other news.. My beloved Sony e-reader died. I had to actually continue reading Inheritance with the “real” book..  Anyway, they didn’t fix my e-reader but replaced it with the newest model.. WOOT! It has all these new features, AND.. WIFI! WOOT WOOT!! Hubby is sooo jealous.. Heh. Two things I don’t like about this new one is that it’s stylus is not attached to it (on the old one the stylus slid into a hole on the side) and that its black cover is not dull but shiny. I don’t like shiny. I must clean shiny things, and it annoys me when I get fingerprints on it. I liked the dull, matt finish on the old one. But that’s about it. It does have some cool new features, like the WIFI, and it has a touch zoom feature (like an iPod) and more font sizes, which is good for me with my bung left eye.

My son has his school breakup this year. They have asked us to bring a share plate for morning tea. Now one thing about homeschooled kids is that a lot of them are home schooled because they have severe allergies. So anything we make HAS to be egg and nut free. Alright for Hubby, he is making sushi. But I LOVE to make cupcakes. SO I have had to search the internet for egg free cupcake recipes. Which is not so hard, but I have yet to try a recipe that tastes nice, and won’t kill any children. I am thinking of chocolate cupcakes, with a nice chocolate-butter icing. We shall see.

Stupidity.

So we have a new car..by new I mean a second hand car gifted to us by our brother-in-law. (it’s really nice) As it happens, Hubby’s Dad’s car died and so we are loaning our little Nissan to him until he gets himself a new car. So yesterday we had to drive it to the place where he would be picking it up. Hubby was in the Nissan, and I was travelling behind in our new Ford. Along the highway Hubby got behind me so I was checking in my rear view mirror to see if he was catching up..anyway I notice him going into the passing lane and this green car dangerously swerving behind him. I slow down slightly so hubby can pass me, and this maniac in the green car is so dangerously close to Hubby’s back bumper..(Hubby later tells me he was so close the car was shaking and he had to break)...

He then passes me and comes over into my lane...the maniac then travels beside Hubby, swerving over, making gestures, trying to get Hubby to pull over.. Like on the side of the highway!! WTH?? Meanwhile I am watching all this, freaking out, heart pounding... Hubby is ignoring this fool and so he pulls in behind Hubby again and tailgates him for ages.... I am so mad and ready to ram this guy. Meanwhile some dude in a blue minivan pulls in between hubby and the green maniac. Green maniac eventually gets pissed off and pulls out and passes everyone, almost hitting a speed limit sign on his way past, being all stupid and hoony.

This was all because he didn’t want to do the correct speed limit. He put a whole lot of people in danger because of his stupidity. I was half expecting to see a big accident further up the highway with him in the starring role, but thankfully the rest of the trip was non-eventful. Dumbass...

Boganism. What's with that?

The bogan neighbours next door annoy me.

 I love our apartment block. All of its residents are nice, civilised, and quiet. They respect that they have neighbours living close by.

Not so much the small apartment block next door.

 It’s full of loud mouthed, smoking, drinking bogans. They drive like maniacs with no regard for others safety, smoke with their kids in the car (illegal here), drive with toddlers in the front seat (highly illegal here), sit around till all hours of the morning, playing loud music, keeping their poor kids up (not to mention the whole neighbourhood), drinking and then having domestics..Where they seem to not be able to string a sentence together without every second word being the “F” word. The other night some guy came and had a big argument with one woman then proceeded to do a burnout down the street as he drove off. The black tyre marks are still on the road.

And now today... they swim IN OUR POOL! OUR POOL! Grrr.. not only that, the guy walks into the pool area with a beer bottle in his hand. WTH? (Hubby was straight on to the real estate about it.. hopefully they put a lock on the pool gate) Anyway, the nerve of them. And there is no excuse. We have a freaking BEACH just around the corner. You don’t use a pool that doesn’t belong to you. Ever here of public liability? I don't even want to use the pool now. Not until the chlorine has had a chance to do its thing.. what if they peed in it? ew.. Bogan pee....

I don’t judge people by where they live but seriously, no wonder folks have little respect for people like them when all they do is act like  A**holes. I know I sound harsh but I can’t tolerate inconsiderate boganism.

End of Rant.

Sharing secret moments of hilarity.

My mother and I have a very similar sense of humour, and always find ourselves sharing secret moments of hilarity. Sometimes at the most inappropriate of times.

The other day after the funeral of our friend, everyone was gathered under the nice under covered area, gathered into small groups. Some solemn, others laughing and talking. There were two tables filled with lovely plates full of treats, so given we were hungry, we sort to empty these serving trays of their burdens. I was standing in front of my Mum, both of us clutching our little empty paper plates when suddenly she dropped hers. I bent down to pick it up and the man in front of me just happened to put his foot back at the same time and stood on the plate. I was in a precarious position, bent over with my hand on the plate, and my head hovering near the man’s suit-clad buttocks. I finally managed to pry the plate out from under his foot, and, straightening up, noticed my mother in silent hysterics. So I said to her.. “I thought I was going to have to drop-kick him there for a minute”.. which put us into fits of giggles.

Another time we were at our local restaurant waiting for our meals to arrive. My parents were there, along with Hubby’s Dad and girlfriend. I don’t know how it happened but my Dad put his drink down on the table and it clipped the edge of his fork, sending it hurtling, end on end up over his head and back towards the lady seated behind us, narrowly missing skewering Dad’s eye as it sailed past. Luckily it didn’t hit the lady, who was none the wiser. As my Dad sheepishly retrieved it off the floor, my Mum and I were almost catatonic with laughter. No-one else really saw it happen.

There are times we share that the other wasn’t there to see, but laugh at all the same... like the time all the plastic bags escaped out of the boot of my car and terrorised the neighbourhood..

Or when a duck... a DUCK... SAT on my Mums shoulder. Just because.

None of this is funny to anyone else, but they are things I love to share with my Mum. Things I will always remember with a smile or a giggle.

In other news... I have had my eye appointment. The steroids don't appear to be treating this latest Uveitis, but they still want me to stay on them. I go back in a month, but in the mean time I have to have another electrode test... remember way back when I had to have those wires  ON MY EYE BALLS....? Yes, I have to do THAT again. BLECK! fun times...fun times....

Got my parcel from Amazon. .. a Q&A 5 year journal..

What you do is answer the question on the top of the page, then come back in five years and do the same. It's a really neat way to see how your life changed, if at all, over a five year period...

Anyway...the cover is made of brown paper and I think I might add my own flair to it and do some drawing on it as well.. I'll post pics when it is done.

My ocean is so blue today and it is calling to me, so see you all and have a great weekend. stay safexx

Through my eye(s)

This is a picture I took of Melbourne...

And THIS is how I see it through my left eye...

See why I am scared now? It feels like I am watching a 3D movie without the glasses, all funky and wrong. Makes me queasy as well. 
But still... last night I drew THIS...

Nice hey? it's a zentangle pattern I was trying out for the first time called Purk..lol! and yep, I FINALLY have my scanner running.

I DREW today...

Well my left eye may be stuffed for good and my arm is killing me (although not so much as last night after the injection...WOW that hurt like a SOAB!!), but a least I did something today. Today I DREW... and it felt good (although it was a bit difficult) Anyway here is today's effort...

Here are a few more I've done since the last lot...
This one I drew on the beach..it's a clam btw..

This one reminds me of the spiral shell left over from a sea urchin...

See a theme going on here..? yep. The sea and eyes..lol.
Sorry about the creaminess of the paper, it IS white but I took the pics with my camera as I don't have my scanner set up yet.
So I am going to the funeral tomorrow..I think there will be quite a few people there. Any way. It will be good to say goodbye.


 Hope you all have a great weekend :)


OO! In other exciting news. I can now play "Song of Joy" on the guitar. Not very well mind you, but I was even able to work out all by myself and then play the verse bit that wasn't written in the book.. how's that! LOL!

Spiralling Down...

In a deep spiral of depression. My arm is killing me (I get a shot in it today) my eye doesn't appear to be getting any better. There are two spots now, and they are growing...My worst fear seems to be coming true. I can't see properly. I can't focus on my computer screen, can't draw, can't read.... can't do the things I love that relax and refresh me and throw me out of my funk. I have a 5 minute suduku book that usually takes me two minutes..last night I couldn't even finish it. My head hurts. 
I could just get over it and try to make the most of it. But right now, I choose not to. This sucks and I am going to wallow in my misery for a while.


Oh and I am going to a funeral on Saturday :(

Kleptomaniac Cat.

Kleptomaniac Cat.

Years ago, I had a cat by the name of Celest.  I acquired her when she was only a baby, turning up bedraggled and starving on my back door step one night.  Oh she was all cute and innocent back then. The poor, stranded kitty. Little did we know that as she got older she would turn to a life of crime. If I had of known, back then, I would have tried some kitty counseling. An intervention. Something…

It all started when we moved back in with my parents. Perhaps she was acting out. Maybe it was all an attention seeking thing.

It started with the sock.

One, man’s sized footy sock.

Lying there in our back yard. We had no idea where it came from, so Mum just put it aside, thinking nothing more of it. It wasn’t long before another sock appeared in the yard. The next day, another. This was starting to get serious. Where were they coming from?

Then one day we saw the culprit. Celest was slinking home from another raid on the neighbours house with, yes, a sock in her mouth.

“OMG! Mum ! It’s Celest! She’s the sock-thief!”

Apparently the neighbours next door had three grown boys who were tradies and they wore two pairs of footy socks each with their work boots. Celest thought that these smelly, sweaty, socks were marvelous, and so she felt the need to pilfer. Pretty soon we had a basket of misbegotten socks. It fell upon my mortified Mother to confess to the neighbours about our criminal cat and return the loot. They thought it was hilarious.

Celest’s criminal ways did not stop when we moved to another house. Her booty became more varied, a child’s shirt, a small plastic giraffe, and underwear . But her main love was socks. She was always an odd little thing. She used to wait outside the bathroom door and when the shower was turned off, beg to be let in so she could rub against our wet legs. Odd.

Sadly, Celest died years ago after being hit by a car, but we always have a laugh when we remember our kooky kleptomaniac cat.

This post inspired by Dbs HERE

And here comes the Flood...

I received some very bad news today. A lady I knew was involved in a fatal accident. She was the best friend of my elderly friend who is looking after my cat. We used to live next to her and the lady (who died) used to visit almost every day. I am so saddened by this news. I feel terrible for my parents, staying at our friends place at the moment who received the news and in turn told me. (mum sounded so shaken up on the phone) I am sad for my friend, who isn’t even in town at the moment. (she is down visiting her very sick mother). I can’t imagine the pain she is in right now. Even though I didn’t know her that well, I do remember she was a nice old lady who did just about everything for her family and friends.

I still can’t believe she is gone.

One Lovely Blog Award..and some stuff about me.

Thank you to the sweet Frisky Virgin HERE for giving me the one lovely blog award. Her blog is clever and funny and you should check her out..(LOL) Thanks Frisky! 

*So the rules are, I thank and link the person who gave me the award. Done

*Answer the questionnaire...

*Write seven random things about myself...

*and then nominate 15 people to receive said award...

Questionnaire:

* Name your favorite color: Magenta or Egyptian Blue J (hey I’m an artist, I can be specific…)

* Name your favorite song: Am in love with Adele at the moment especially “Set Fire to the Rain”. It depends what mood I’m in. Happy -“Walk like a man” Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Mad – “My way or the Highway” Limp Biskit. Content – anything by Illapu.  

* Name your favorite dessert: Anything dripping in chocolate

* What pisses you off? Mankind (too general?)

* When you are upset, you: Completely shut down and hide. Sulk.  

* Your favorite pet: Moby of course!

* Black or White?  Am I white with black stripes, or black with white stripes?

* Everyday Attitude: Take it as it comes, that’s the way I roll baby.

* Your best feature: Hubby would say boobs. But I would say my general happy nature.

* Guilty pleasure: Churros dipped in melted white chocolate (a recent discovery). Buying journals, making journals, writing in journals, drawing in journals…

7 Random Things About Myself:

I dislike feathers.

Can’t sleep with the wardrobe door open.

Have to have my meat and veggie portions equal.

All my fingerprints are loops, except for one finger. It’s a swirl.

I am learning to play the guitar, even though I have no idea how to read music.

I love Audrey Hepburn movies.

My favourite food is Japanese

Now to nominate 15 people.. weelll...

You all know I don't play by the rules.. so I'm going to say you all deserve this, otherwise you wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be following you..lol..

So post it if you want, I don't mind, but don't forget to at least take the award and put it on your page somewhere. Because you all have lovely blogs.

It never rains...It Bloody POURS!

As if having Bursitis wasn't bad enough... You all know my problems with my eye... well yesterday I noticed a new blind spot! Right near where the optic nerve is situated... So I had to rush into the eye clinics emergency department today. The doctor in Melbourne told me that if it ever flared up again, to get to emergency straight away.. so I did just that..
Anyway... 5 hours later I eventually get seen by my head doctor and SHE SEES IT! She sees the spot! Then she says "Hmm... I don't like that".. oh..
Not good but at least she has seen this thing when it is active... and so tomorrow I start on a course of the ol' steroids.. yay.. (not)
So I WONT be getting the shot in the shoulder tomorrow.... can't really take a double dose of the roids.. (I sound like some junkie). Hopefully the tablets will treat my shoulder as well.
The side affects are lovely to read... bloating, weight gain, or anorexia, nausea, stretch marks and so on..... hmm... so hard to chose which one is worse.


Meanwhile... 

Sprite down..

My left arm has been sore (for over a month now), so after I couldn't put up with the pain any longer being nagged by Hubby, I finally went to the doctor yesterday. Today I had to have an ultrasound on it and it appears I have Bursitis. Which is inflammation of the Bursa. What is a Bursae you ask? Well it's a little sack located between two adjoining structures, like tendons, muscles and bones, that decrease friction and assist movement of the tendon over the bony surface.
It's caused by a sudden injury (like mine was), or overuse in a particular activity. It can be treated and it's best to do so before it becomes chronic.
Luckily they caught mine in time. But the treatment is not going to be fun. I have to get a shot into the shoulder under an ultrasound (so they can get it in the right spot). I get it on Friday. Meanwhile I have to take anti-inflammatory meds, and pain meds.
It's extremely painful. And I'm not allowed to do ANYTHING. Hopefully this shot will fix it.


Moby Update...
Moby is one SPOILT kitty. Went to visit the other day and he is living it up. He gets brushed every day, and eats like a royal. Sleeps on her bed at night. My friend is quite smitten with him and I got the impression that she would love Moby to stay there permanently. Which is a big relief. I tell you, my cat would charm even the hardest of hearts.