3 Weeks of Sundays, Movies & Errands!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another sunny Sunday afternoon. The weather has been gross and hot all day but was just thankfully, briefly, broken by a flash of a storm, which has brought the temperature down a good five degrees but feels like it's creeping back up. Yuck. And that brief flash of a storm sent the birds into hiding, but they're slowly coming back out. Kona is still under the bed (but it's cooler under there anyways). I managed to get the happily dry laundry just in time........ Yes, just a typical summer Sunday! Have got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes, just had a perfectly ripe nectarine for lunch, and even splurged on a very nice, cool glass of real champagne, my favorite stuff, Cattier (and from looking at their website, I'd love to visit their vineyard and village one day!) Mmmmmm, yes, life is good!

So work. Yep. I'm hoping all is well..... I haven't been in three weeks (hooray for post-surgery recovery!)! Work wanted me to come back last week but I told them my hand therapist said I wasn't quite ready yet, which is mainly true. I'm thinking I may have to go back this coming

Wednesday after I see my Doc on Tuesday, but he'll decide when/if and write the note to say am allowed back to a desk. Bummer dude, but I guess I can't stay away forever! Especially in light of the fact that Ernst & Young, the folks work is paying to help me with my PR application, sent me an email on Monday with a laundry list of things and documents I have to do and get to them. Wow! Holy sheet something is actually happening?! Thankfully I had the week to get that stuff together.... And most thankfully, I had nearly all of it already from my first spectacularly failed attempt a couple years ago. Bummer is, some of the documents have to be recent, so off went the requests for my background checks to three different police, again.... And I have to do the medical check again - bleck, but at least the medical office is directly across the street from work, so when E&Y tell me to go, it'll be quick and easy, again. So how about that? Amazing. 'Course, it's one thing for me to bust my rump getting all this stuff together for them, it'll be another for work to do their bit in a timely manner...... Man, I hope work can get it together before the country shuts down for a month, month and a half around the middle of December for Xmas......... Ahhhh well, I can only wait and see! But wow, E&Y, imagine that. Here's hoping it goes through this time! And, if nothing else, here's hoping work actually wants to keep me, like, for reals this time! Wait and see.............!

And then there were a few weekends in there. Apologies for not checking in last weekend. I can't remember why I didn't............... Chores......... Lots and lots of movies........ I think I had just been to see the hand therapist that Friday and while the brace and bulk of the bandages came off (YAY), I'd just started the physio exercises, which understandably makes the little wrist ache something fierce. So maybe I just didn't feel up to it. No surprise, it'd only been just two weeks (and I shouldn't be typing anyways)!

This weekend has been kind of the same - quiet, movies, laundry..... maintenance issues....... My bathroom sink has always had a great big crack in it that finally grew and now is in danger of coming apart, so yesterday the Owner came around to measure the sink and the pipes, highly concerned that he find one with the exact measurements because he's sooooooo cheap. Never mind that any ol' new sink and tap will probably be fine and just as cheap, and the fact 

that the plumber is going to have to make some adjustments anyways seeing as the sink that's in there probably went in, oh, 50-70 years ago. I also seized the chance to ask him for a mixed tap (it's had the two, suuuuuper old-fashioned, separate hot and cold taps - nearly impossible to use like a normal person) since we were on the subject (and I know they're dirt cheap), but he only said "That depends on the sink we get". Gah. I would almost hazard a guess that sinks these days with the two separate hot and cold taps probably cost more than a dumb ol' basic one with only one mixed tap.......... Sigh. The owners of the Palace, they're a strange, extremely penny-pinching lot without much common sense. So I will somehow have to deal with that sometime this week........ Shame I'll probably be at work.... I like to be here when strangers are roaming around in my little place......... I might just have to lock away the crown jewels and hope for the best.........!

And that's about that! During the weeks have been nice, almost nicer than the weekends - running errands and stuff like a normal person, tho I've noticed most of the people out and about are mainly women with babies and strollers....... Have been to see "Gravity" - it was really gooooood in 3D - highly recommend it! In fact, I may go once more before I have to go back to work.......! I was making a teeny bit of progress on The Screenplay before E&Y derailed my attention with paperwork....... Have met up a few times with my friend Kim, who I used to work with until work let her go (she was actually very happy to go), for lunches and errands. Boy, it's nice to have someone to run around with who doesn't have to work either! It's been good for the most part. Really good. Like, 'I could get used to this' good....... Oh well, it had to end sooner or later........ Tho I did make sure to buy a lottery ticket for the $20 million draw on Tuesday......... Fingers crossed I too may join the stroller brigades (albeit without the stroller or the kid)........!?! 

So there you have it! Wrist is feeling better tho stiff and achy, but then again, it hasn't even been three weeks yet and I've only just been allowed out of the splint and bandages! Otherwise, all is well in these here parts - hope you're all well up there? Shame the summer is finally here...... Oh well, March isn't too far away (tho it is when it's in the mid-90s with 90% humidity almost every day.....), feel free to plan that big visit down here any time around then! And, as always, if you need any planning tips, just drop a line!!!!

BYE!
J!

A Much-Needed Surgical Break!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another Sunday afternoon. Apologies for missing last weekend, but more on that later..... Today we're just happy to have a good breeze blowing - it was meant to be a right stinker today and thankfully with the breeze it hasn't been as bad as predicted. Hot, humid and gross weather bullet dodged there! And, as an added bonus, we're supposed to get some storms this afternoon (which is why I thought I'd try to check in before they arrived, just in case they cut the power as sometimes happens.... But that's if the storms even arrive - lately they haven't), which will hopefully cool things down even more. Ahhhhhhhh - summer in southern Queensland! But here we are, got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes (have I ever once mentioned how much I love SkyFM???), it's a bit early for the lovely, cool stand-by white wine, but it's in there happily chilling away. The birds are all a bit quiet out there - maybe it's because of the good breeze and heat? Kona is at his post, making sure the couch stays anchored to the floor in the little living room..... Yes, life is good!

So work. Yep, it's good. Things have been rather quiet lately, but seeing as I'm the only real, full-time editor they have, I manage to stay fairly busy. Still no word about the job going permanent or the PR application, but that's to be expected. I know, instead of torturing ourselves with what isn't happening with HR (a black hole of functionality if I ever saw one), I'll write when something actually has happened! That'll be way more fun! Otherwise, all is well. Work work work just keeps plowing on until Xmas when we get, I think, a week off....... Ahhhhh a break! 

And speaking of breaks, apologies for not checking in last weekend. I meant to, but the chores distracted me from the time........ Tho

you didn't miss anything more than the usual quiet, chore-filled weekend. Oh, who am I kidding, I did more than just chores last weekend, I sat and worried about my upcoming surgery on Tuesday (in addition to doing the chores of course)! For those of you not playing along at home, I don't know if you remember when I was up there visiting this past July/August, but I've been wearing a stupid wrist brace/splinty thing for my cranky right wrist. Been hurting since the beginning of July. Anyways, after many visits to the Doc, a hand therapist, x-rays, ultra sounds, a zap of cortisone, long story short, I have (hopefully had) De Quervain's Tenosynovitis, translation, wicked tendonitis. No idea how it came about, it just did. So off I went to a

specialist and surgery was declared. And was I ever freaked out. It wasn't like bring a book, shot to make my arm numb and off they go digging around, no. It was the whole cap, gown, stockings, booties, real operating room with a cast of thousands, general anesthesia, the whole nine yards. I totally should've taken pictures but I was way too scared and all you would've seen anyways were two great big eyes. And, as a added freak out, I had to wait five extremely long and boring hours before anything remotely interesting happened, well, more interesting than changing into surgery garb. Anyways, I guess it all went well, I never did see the Doc or anyone other than a few nice nurses who really wanted to chat. And then I finally got to go home! I lived! WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now, the wrist is OK I guess. It aches, as I suppose it would, but it's not too bad. Friday morning my bandages and the shower water had a slight disagreement over physics so off I went to have the Doc change them (my Doc up the road, not The Doc, I see him on the 26th). And underneath is a very colorful wrist - all purples and yellows and blues and even some greens. But hey, the real bandage underneath is just a little thing covered in a square of waterproof tape. The swelling has finally gone down, I can feel more of my thumb today (yay!), and I dare say the anesthetic haze has mostly lifted (YAY!). I haven't needed many of the pseudo pain pills (basically just Tylenol with Codeine) because it hasn't been that bad. I think I've taken a total of four out of the forty. And two of those I didn't really neeeeeed but I thought it'd help tone the swelling down while I slept (don't think it helped actually). So, pretty good really for a big, scary surgery!

Oh, and speaking of pretty good, as a result, have had the whole of last week off work, naturally. Usually after the first day or two I'd go a bit buggy and cabin fevery, but thanks to the anesthetic haze and the warm and muggy days (thankfully it hasn't been tooooo hot), all I've really felt like doing is watch movies, which I've done with glee! I never sit around on weekends doing nothing, so this has been a nice indulgence. I mean, I know my poor little wrist needs it, and I've certainly tried, but seeing as am on my own, well, food doesn't make itself and float to me, nor do the dishes wash themselves (curse not buying paper plates like I meant to)! I am trying tho. 'Course, I probably shouldn't be typing... Hooray for the wrist brace which really stops me from doing dumb stuff!

So there you are. I survived My First Surgery! And boy do I never want to do that again! Hopefully when I see The Doc on the 26th, he'll be happy with what he did and hopefully I won't have done something stupid to screw up the

healing process........... !? Am waiting to go see the hand therapist before then tho who will hopefully reassure me I haven't screwed things up and I can do some exercises.... And hopefully the therapist will also tell me when I can go back to work.......? Not that I'm in a big huge rush to go back..... I still have movies to watch!

Otherwise, all is well. Same ol' stuff really, surgery aside. I hope you're all well up there, getting ready for winter. After all these years down in these here parts, I still can't get used to Xmas in the middle of a stinking hot and humid summer. It's just weird. Weird to see all the faux-snow covered decorations and Santas and reindeer. Weird. But hey, if you ever get the urge to spend Xmas down thisaway, and you really like hot and humid summers, well hell, c'mon down and check it out! It's weird!

BYE!
J!