More Gabrielle Photos

Just had to post this little slideshow of my lovely niece Gabrielle... cos obviously at the moment I am a big fan of making slideshows!  It's because I recently upgraded to iLife '09 - and it has been the best thing!

When Kylie Met Gaby

So tonight, for the first time ever, I got to meet a nephew or niece whilst they were still very, very new - and still in hospital.

It was a wonderful time except for a few things.  Firstly, I am still sick, and I just don't want to risk making my brand new niece ill - can you imagine how bad that would be?  So I didn't get to nurse her - I just can't run the risk.  The doctors don't know what's wrong with me - and no antibiotics have been working - so if she was to catch it, well, that would be absolutely awful.  I would never forgive myself.

The other thing was - is there an unspoken etiquette for visiting a new baby and mum in hospital?  The reason I ask is, when I arrived, there was already a room full of visitors.  Granted, the visitors were Beck's friend and her two children, but the space was tiny, so nonetheless the room was full.  What does that mean in terms of visiting etiquette?  Am I supposed to wait outside, til the previous visitor finishes their visit - or does my arrival herald a 'hurry up, you have to finish up and get out of here'?  

I wasn't really sure what to do - so I did what Beck said, which was come in to the room.  But as I didn't know the lady who was already there, nor her children, I felt uncomfortable and unable to visit properly.  So I had just made up my mind to leave (and come back the next day), when Beck announces she has to feed the baby - which sparked off the other woman feeding her baby - and provided the perfect catalyst to get out of there  - who wants to be in a room where all the other women have their boobs out feeding babies?  I was out of there like a shot!

All that being said, I did get to see my new niece quite clearly, and she is terribly gorgeous.  She will most definitely be a heartbreaker.

The next day I did return, having made up in my mind my own version of baby visit etiquette - which was, if, when I arrived, the room was full of people I didn't know, I would politely announce that I would go away and get a coffee at the cafe, allow the visitors to visit properly with Beck, and then come back later (in the hopes they'd taken the hint and moved on).  And this is exactly what I did.  Fortunately when I returned, the other couple were just wrapping up their visit, and I got a full 20 minutes or so alone with Beck and Gaby.  And this time, I did get to have a nurse (I just didn't breathe!).

How gorgeous is this?

Isn't she just gorgeous?

My two lovely ladies

Big sister Marcella

Welcome to the World - Gabrielle Emily Head

It's official, I am an Aunty again! My sister Beck had a little girl tonight, Gabrielle Emily Head - I would give you all the details like birth weight and so on but I can't remember it - just that she was 8lbs something.

She was not due for another couple of days but apparently she was in a breech position, which meant they had to take her by caesarean - and hey, presto! Here she is...

Bit of a cutie, eh?

You Know You're Tired When...

... you find yourself falling asleep at the wheel ON THE WAY to work!

Seriously, people, this commute from the peninsula to the Valley has got to stop!  Getting up at 5.15am is not normal!  This morning, I actually found myself fully falling asleep on the way to school - and its not like you can pull over and grab 40 winks, no, you have to keep going!

I can see some big changes have to take place.  Firstly, I need to move closer to the city. That's a given.  Secondly, I need to stop treating the weeks like an opportunity to recover from the weekend.  Just cramming way too much in there, I suspect.  Like, this past weekend, although this isn't going to sound like a lot, I had first of all a morning tea / catch up with the NBC women at the cupcake shop, then a spot of house-hunting (looking for a place closer in), then a serious run around looking for someone to fix my punctured tyre (which resulted, as stated before, in a $75 replacement tyre).  Then it was off to Chris and Alison's for afternoon tea / dinner - but in the end I had to pike on dinner as I just wasn't feeling well enough.

Sunday came, and it was out for a lovely brunch and much needed catch up with Lewes and Katie, and their 2 gorgeous little girls.  It was really good to be able to spend some time with these guys, I haven't seen them in 11 years and I seriously thought I had lost all contact for good - until this time last year or so, when Lewes happened upon my blog and left a comment.   I left a reply comment but alas, wasn't able to get a working email address so it took another 12 months and the lovely facebook to finally regain touch.  I'm so pleased too!

Then Sunday afternoon I was supposed to either go to Sue and Tim's or meet them and their children on the Peninsula, but I was just so tired, that I had to pike on that one and just head home.  En route though, i stopped off at the doctors - you'd think that on a Sunday afternoon you could just walk straight in, but alas, its the start of football season and some kid was in there getting his head stitched up.  So it was a little while before I made it home, and literally, just crashed.

I ate more copious amounts of garlic, unfortunately, in my quest to be rid of my illness, but alas, all it did was make me feel infinitely worse, especially as I chewed a lot of parsley afterwards to try to be rid of the smell.  Thus it was then early to bed - so you'd think that with that relatively quiet weekend, I'd be alright enroute to school today.  Unfortunately, no, and I found myself nodding off around Taigum.  The scary thing about that is, there's still at least a 40 minute drive into work from there!

Then once I made it to school, we had the lovely Duhig Cup to attend.  Basically we took all of Yr 8 to go and cheer for the school's swim squad for a day.  Fortunately we won, but unfortunately the screaming of the girls was just a little too much to bear, and I developed a major headache before I remembered I had my ear plugs in my bag and could've warded off the whole thing.

So now here it is, 8.30pm, and I just can't keep my eyes open... and I've got marking to do, lessons to plan, and a parent evening tomorrow...!

Begone, Foul Stench!

As I've said before, I have been sick for several months now.  But in the last few days it has been worse than ever, with the barking cough returning with great vehemence and a renewed sense of persistence.  Thank you very much.

So anyway, I was over my friends Chris and Alison's place this afternoon, supposedly to have a BBQ, but I found myself feeling worse and worse and worse, especially after a somewhat busy day - starting off with yummy cupcakes and a lovely catch up with some of the NBC women, but then fast deteriorating as I went in search of that elusive "tire-fix-it" place who would actually fix it on the spot and not charge me the price of a small third world country's debt.  In the end it was Bob Jane T Mart who came to my rescue.

But anyway, whilst over Chris and Alison's, they suggested that what I needed to do, in order to shake this stupid cold, was to eat raw garlic, preferably in a sandwich with cheese.

Well can I just say, I got home and did just that - and now my breath smells soooo bad that I can't even get to sleep because of the incredibly foul smell!  And it doesn't matter how many times I brush my teeth, that awful, pungent aroma just will not leave me!  I was supposed to be in bed early tonight, trying to sleep off the ill-effects of this persistently devlish cold, and alas, I am being kept awake by my own smell.  I can understand if I was dutch-ovening myself or something - but medicinal garlic?  Give me a break!

I'm supposed to be going for brunch tomorrow with friends - how can I go smelling like this?  Its just terrible!

So here is my word of warning:  Garlic - eat at your own peril!

Flat Tire

This week has been a real challenge in terms of getting to work in the mornings.

First of all, what with having to get up before the crack of dawn in order to be on time for work, coupled with a serious lack of sleep due to copious coughing fits and fluctuations in body temperature (the joys of being sick), it has been seriously difficult to get out of bed when that awful alarm goes off.

Add to that the fact that my home group really don't like me, and are giving me the 'silent treatment' during registration (sorry, I'm in Oz now, its the roll) - which, don't get me wrong, is not a problem, I have handled infinitely worse - but is actually very boring and makes for a dull 15 minutes at the start of the day.  This is something I would rather do without - so I find myself in a position where I am not killing myself to be there early for the roll.

Then factor in the fact that the specialist I saw on Tuesday insisted I have a blood test the next day, and the only time I could do that was before school, thus putting me into extremely bad traffic and making me late for school - the first time ever at this new school.

So, I guess it was only fitting that today, on my way to school, as I pulled up to the lights outside Toombul shoppingtown, a woman in the car in front leaned out of her car to tell me that I had.... a flat tire.

Crap!  So I pulled over, fluttered a few eyelids in the hopes someone would come to my rescue, a damsel in distress, needing a knight in shining armour - and alas, no one would step up to the challenge.  kmuki to the rescue then...

I actually amazed myself.  I managed to change the blasted tire, all on my little lonesome, not having the car fall on me in the process, and not having the wheel fall off enroute to school.

Go girl power!  Alas, the replacement tire cost me an exorbitant $75!  Crap!

QO and the Elgar Cello Concerto

Tonight I got to feel like a cultured individual again.  Tonight, my very good friend Louise and I went to see the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Con with the Queensland Orchestra and a fabulous cellist called Emma-Jane Murphy.  And it was all for free!

You see, Louise's sister Karyn is an avid competition enterer.  She wins quite a few, too!  And she had won these tickets for Louise, who very kindly asked me if I would like to go along.  Yes, please!

I met up with Lou at her place and then we drove into town, to the South Bank, to get a bite to eat.  I was amazed, that area has changed sooo much now, there's lots of lovely little restaurants and cafes and I can't wait to go again to explore them more fully.  After a gorgeous but quick bite, we headed over to the Con for the concert.

I have to say, I thought the Conservatorium Theatre was a pretty impressive little venue - apparently, according to their own publicity, its 'recognised as one of the best concert hall acoustics in the southern hemisphere' - and I guess I'd believe that (what are the other choices - venues in New Zealand, South America, and South Africa - it'd want to be, wouldn't it, with that competition!).  No, actually, they were quite right, and I thought that the acoustic was wonderful, you could hear every note and every nuance.  Made for a glorious evening.

We also got to hear the Martinu Oboe Concerto (H353) and Mozart's Symphony No 36 "Linz".  I thought that the oboist, despite being a little bit too 'dancy' for my liking (it's only an oboe, love, not a sex toy!), actually was very impressive.  Clear, crisp tone, with lovely little frolicky bits.

Then the symphony to finish - just magnificent.  Top it all off with Sheldon's famous latte and a lovely long chin-wag, and there you have it.  A very pleasant evening for all, thank you very much!

The Grossest Thing Ever

Well most of you would know from my previous blogs that I have actually been quite sick for some time now.

It all started when I left England - or actually maybe before, because to be fair, in the whole month of December I only had 2 nights in at home, and was trying to wrap up my job, pack up my life and say goodbye to everyone - suffice to say I was most definitely burning the candle at both ends! It was exceptionally hard, when you consider as well that we were taking 70 odd kids away on a music camp in the middle of all this palaver too. So it was no wonder I started to develop a bit of a cold. I wasn't too bothered about it, I thought that it would go once I got home and settled into holiday mode for a bit.

But I was wrong, and it is now March, and still the cold hasn't gone.  If anything, its got worse.

I have been to doctor after doctor - and at what cost - and still they don't know what's wrong.  I had to see 2 GPs before they would finally give me antibiotics, but they didn't work.  So the GP then referred me for tests for whooping cough - which came back negative - plus I had to go have a chest x-ray.  Then I was referred to an ENT and they found out I have some nasal polyps - after he sent me for a CT scan or something, plus a skin allergy test.  So when I went back to him, he was more interested in the fact that my ears haven't popped for 3 months, so he referred me to an audiologist.  The audiologist discovered that there is no real reason why my ears won't pop - plus my hearing seems to be in normal levels (despite my raging tinnitis).  So now the GP has referred me to another specialist - a respiratory one - but they phoned whilst I was working and didn't leave a message or a contact phone number, so I can't get on to them.  Meanwhile I have another specialist appointment on Tuesday (but this is about another matter).  I've been poked, prodded, pierced, pricked - you name it, they've done it - and so far it has been for nothing.  But it certainly hasn't cost me nothing!

I reckon I've spent easily $1000 since embarking on this medical journey of discovery, and there's still more to go!  The worst of it, though, is the absolutely disgusting, incredibly vile thing that the ENT has got me doing.   As I said, he has discovered some yukky nasal polyps - but rather than operate on them (he says they're too small), he's got me squirting $40 drops up my schnozz - and as if that wasn't bad enough, I have to "wash my nose".  Now that doesn't sound so bad - til you think about it.  How does one wash the inside of one's nose?  Do you need to shove a face washer up there, a bar of soap, what?

No, what it entails is far, far worse.  Firstly, you must boil up some water and then let it cool to a lukewarm temperature (which takes long enough in itself - you try doing this first thing in the morning before going to work!).  Then, pour said lukewarm water into a squeezy plastic bottle, adding a special sachet of white powder (sounds like something illegal, doesn't it? Hehehe...).  Shake bottle to dissolve powder (oops, don't forget to cover the little hole at the top!), then position bottle's nozzle underneath the left nostril, and squeeze!  What do you get?  A nasal enema... how disgusting...

Oh, and did I forget to mention?  You have to make sure your head is titled far forward over the sink, so that the water comes out the opposite nostril - otherwise it goes back down your throat... euwww, gross...

And how long does this little performance have to go on for?  Every morning for the next TWO MONTHS!!!!  Aaaggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!  Kill me now, please........!

Beck's Big Baby Bash!

Tonight my sister Mel co-ordinated and organised a baby shower for my sister Beck. Now as I haven't ever been to a baby shower before (I have been truly blessed), I really wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't really know what the etiquette would be - do you bring a gift and so on (personally I think that's a bit cheeky because everyone knows you already have to give a gift when the baby's born anyway, so this is a way to craftily double-dip) - are there even cards for baby showers? I didn't know. So, I hit my trusty local newsagent and discovered the one and only baby shower card they had there, stuck a bit of money in it, dolled myself up in my glad rags (bit stupid, there's only a load of women been invited, no men! Alas!) and head off to the lovely Sonomas of Sandgate.It was surprisingly a very pleasant evening, despite the fact that I really only knew about 5 people there - including my sisters, my Mum and my Grandma - and me of course...! Hehehe... No, I jest - I knew another 3 people on top of that!

The food, although a bit expensive, was actually quite nice, I enjoyed a lovely seafood risotto with actually fresh seafood, and although they didn't really know how to serve bread and balsamic vinegar (seriously, how hard is that - cut up fresh bread, pour a small portion of balsamic vinegar into a dipping bowl of olive oil, and hey presto! There you have it - rather than the seriously over toasted concoction the girl dished up!), the yummy lemon gelati more than made up for it. I don't know, though, how they think, as they state on the bottom of their menu, that they can cater for 3 - 300 people - we were only 19 people or so, and they still didn't get it right - they kept forgetting food, one table was served much later than the other one, and then there was a bit of confusion once desserts were served.

But on the whole, it was a very pleasant evening. I've made this little slideshow as a gift to Beck - but I should've thought of that in advance, and then maybe I could've saved myself the monetary contribution I gave in the card - after all, I've still got an actual present to buy when the baby comes!

Birthday Bungles at the Bonny View Hotel

Well today was my birthday, and I have to say, it was unfortunately the crappest day ever. Clearly I am not cut out to have a normal life. Or maybe I am, maybe its normal to have foul days for your birthday, its just that for the past few years, my birthday has usually been spent in some exotic location - this time last year I was sleeping on a bed of reindeer skin and ice in the Ice Hotel in Sweden, and the year before I was looking at Northern Lights in Rekjavik. This year my birthday was spent at school, enduring an awful meeting with the Head, a horrible lesson with my Yr 11s and finally, a very challenging meeting with my team after school. Oh well, I thought, I'll put it behind me - the whole family is meeting for dinner, it'll be good. And then, as if that wasn't enough, I then had to endure the complete incompetence of the staff at the Bonny View Hotel, Bald Hills.

I don't know how these people stay in business. I mean, it wasn't like they were rushed off their feet, but their service was, by anyone's standards, absolutely abyssmal. First of all, they 'lost' my booking (read: the dipstick young lad who took my booking over the phone a week ago didn't bother to actually write it down, hence they were unaware we were coming). That wasn't so bad, except that my two sisters both have wee little children, so me, being the thoughtful one, actually managed (by no mean feat, this) to remember that we might need high chairs, so I specifically asked for them. "Have you got that?" I asked the dipstick when making the booking. "Yes" he chorused back. Hm. I'm sure he did have that, but on a piece of paper which he promptly threw away afterwards, because there were no high chairs when we got there - they had been booked for other people. So Mel got up and nicked one that wasn't in use, and then the woman argued with her and said she had to put it back, because those people had a booking. And we don't? How about then, you give me back the money I paid for the phone call I made to make the booking eh?

Secondly, the food was, to be frank, very ordinary. The choice was poor - basically it was only steak - how does that constitute 'international' cuisine, as it states on the website? And also, you had to go up and order it, pay for it there and then move to a separate counter to place your drinks order. That's ok, unless you want to pay by eftpos (switch/maestro for the Poms) - because there's a $20 minimum or some such on cards - and my $3.50 doesn't cut it. How stupid is that? And then once the food arrived, it wasn't the most tasty - in fact, my steak was seriously dry.

About the only thing they didn't cock up was the birthday cake - kind of hard to mess that one up I guess, as they didn't actually make it - Mum brought it along. But I did hear how one year, on Kevan's birthday, the kitchen gave his cake away to another table that didn't even have a birthday, and the blighters ate it all up without saying a word. When Kev's table asked for the cake, all they got was tiny little slivers - they didn't even bring it out with candles and so on for him to blow out, whilst everyone sings and all. So when they enquired about it, that's when they found out the other table had guzzled the lot. Greedy blighters.

Anyway, it was just a relief when the whole evening was over. Although I will admit, there was more than the occasional tear in my eye when Miss Marcella started chorusing "Happy Birthday Tylie" at the top of her lungs! She is such a cutie...

The one good thing about the whole thing was that at least I got to spend it with my family - the first time in 11 years...

With Grandma

With Marcella

Bethany loves to swish her hair!

The cake is cutBethany just loves her hat!