La Vida Loca

I was going to title this post La Vida Normal but the more I've thought about my day today I came to realise it wasn't.  There is some degree of normality but on the whole it's been a whole lot of busy-crazy - I feel like I've been running around like a headless chook minus the wing flapping and running into things!

It started early with a call from mum who came home from hospital this morning.  All is well - well, as well as can be expected.  The cardiologist has confirmed that her heart is fine - nothing wrong there - so now the hunt is on for the cause of her chest pains.  She has tests, tests and more tests scheduled over the next couple of weeks, plus an endoscopy and a few more tests (!), which will hopefully determine just what causing her troubles.  But her heart is fine and that is some mighty good news!

Monster zucchini and cucumber - plus some normal size ones
from the veggie garden.  Over the back is a watermelon I
found still kicking in the garden. It survived the re-roofing of
the shed so hats off to it!

I then spent most of my day in the shop pricing stock and rearranging displays in the gear-up for Mother's Day (big day for gift shops - second to xmas).  Easterfest is on this weekend which will bring a huge amount of people to town (something like 50,000 from the surrounding districts and as far away as Brisbane and the coast I think the paper was saying).  Needless to say, we will be ready for them and try to convince them that right here, right now is a great time to get mum something special! We can only try!

I have also done all my usual chores at home - unfortunately no magical fairy completed them for me!  Plus baked two loaves of bread (one -cheese and chive - to take to the neighbours tonight for our first French lesson - oui oui!), picked the veggies that have grown to monster proportions from a couple of days rain, fixed up the chook pen fence which had some pretty big chook-sized holes under which they could have escaped (but they weren't that clever!), pulled weeds out of the garden while the ground is still damp and fed my niece and nephew's guinea pigs (Spotty and Milkshake) that we are pig-sitting while they are away camping for the week.  Phew!  

I still have a list as long as my arm to complete (a written list is the only way I remember to get things done!) but the chances of anything else getting done today is slim to none!  No matter, they'll still be there on the list tomorrow!

Right now though, I'm going to kick back on the lounge for 30 minutes before heading across the road for dinner!  Au revoir!

Doing a Monty

When it seems that things seem to keep getting worse or going bad - despite you not thinking they're able to - I see that there are two ways of dealing with it.  Sit in a corner and cry, or follow Monty's advice...

Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad, other things just make you swear and curse.  When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle, and this'll help things turn out for the best...always look on the bright side of life... always look on the light side of life...[sing along if you know the words].

I choose Monty's way (well actually it's Brian's way - as in Life of Brian - but lets not get caught up with little details like facts!).  So even though life at the moment is seeming a little overwhelming, I choose to look at it with rose coloured glasses and focus on the positives.  Also, a little distraction helps wonders too.


Mum is still in hospital - we don't actually know when they will let her out.  She is having numerous tests each day - tomorrow is a stress test which she is not looking forward to.  At this stage the doctors are starting to lean away from heart attack (phew!) but the stress test tomorrow will confirm her heart's condition for sure and whether or not it is her heart that is the problem.  I don't know where they will go from here if it turns out it's not her heart but then I'm no doctor so I guess I'm not expected to know!!  The good news is that she is well at the moment and being looked after by people who know what they're doing.  


In the meantime I'm doing a marvellous job of distracting myself.  Busy hands and all that.  If I keep myself active and doing things I don't have time to think, and I've been very busy this last few days!

I went to the library on Friday (I love the library - FREE BOOKS!) and got out this one - Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss.  I love slow cooking and go on and on about the wonderful flavours, the tenderness of the meat, the delicious aromas that come from cooking food slowly, the idea of getting back to how nana used to cook.....I could go on but the real reason I like slow cooking?  Deep down I'm lazy.  I like the idea of putting dinner on in the morning and forgetting about it for the day  (and producing an amazing meal at the end of it!) and best of all, only having one pot to wash up.  Lazy.

Fresh, fresh market veggies - not in the picture are the onions, sweet potatoes,
carrots and pumpkins - there wasn't enough room on the counter!!!

Anyway, tonight (well, today) I've decided we're having something slow cooked for dinner.  Haven't yet narrowed down a recipe from the book - but that's a minor detail!  I went to the markets this morning - I love the Sunday markets - and got a whole heap of fresh veggies in anticipation - yum!  

My ode to Celia's Zucchini Slice - but using roast veggies instead of zucchinis!  The cut slice is a bit mangled but I was soooo hungry and it smelled soooo good I was in a rush to eat !

I also picked up some organic quinces.  I've never cooked with quinces before but am inspired (as always) by Celia's Quince Jelly.  I'm gonna bite the bullet and give it a go!  I have made her Zucchini Slice a couple of times now - very successfully and with much praise from the LOML - and even adapted it the other night by using some leftover roast veggies instead of the zucchini - very yum as well!

And I couldn't resist these beautiful flowers for mum.  I had to be careful carrying them though - I get an allergic reaction to natives especially grevilleas but an allergic reaction is the price I am willing to pay for my mum!  It was a sight to see as I walked around the markets awkwardly holding the bunch away from me while carrying two greenbags over-full of veggies!  

I ran out of jars so had to use some Fowlers Jars - hopefully they sealed okay....
...if not, I guess I'l just have to eat them!

I've also been madly preserving the millions (slight exaggeration there - the LOML always tells me, I've told you a million times to stop exaggerating!) of cucumbers that the vine keeps producing.  Truly this vine is a miracle.  I expected it to curl up its toes weeks ago when the nights started getting cooler but it is just ploughing on.  I have so many pickled cucumbers, bread and butter cucumbers and cucumber relishes that I think I'll have to start gifting them just to get some cupboard space back!

And I'm learning French.  Why French?  Well I've wanted to learn another language for a while now and had first been interested in Indonesian/ Balinese (we go there a lot) and then last year got excited about Thai (will be going back there as well) and eventually settled on French because it, as well as Lebanese obviously, is spoken widely in Lebanon.  We went to Lebanon (we did a lot of travelling last year!) to search for the LOML's family (and found them - AMAZING story!) so it will be now be a major part of our lives - whether visiting or living we aim to be there every year at least.  When we were there I was always spoken to in English (I am very fair skinned and blonde!) and the LOML (who clearly looks Lebanese) in Arabic so we made a decision once we got home that he would learn Arabic/Lebanese so that he can communicate with his family and friends and I would learn French to cover the rest! 


Today, being such a glorious autumn day, I had plans to get out into the garden but we've had rain and windy-rainy-drizzle (annoying to say the least) for the last two days so I'm making the most of the sunshine by doing the washing and cleaning the house :(  Best case scenario I will get all that done quickly (if I can get myself off the computer!) so can then spend the afternoon in the garden....


Busy, busy, busy! 

Bad things happen in threes

The other day I was telling someone that bad things tend to happen in threes.  You know, like walking under a ladder brings bad luck as does breaking a mirror.


So after I face-planted into a pile of dump mulch the other day and then ended up with blue hands while dyeing my jeans darker the other night, I have been waiting for the third thing.  


I thought the bird falling down the chimney was it, but it wasn't.  


It wasn't even the second bird falling down the chimney the next morning - I know right! What are the chances of another bird falling down the chimney and flying into my windows the very next morning! If I was betting woman I would have made a packet with those odds.


But no, the third thing was a whole lot scarier.  I think I tempted Fate by thinking a bird in my house was bad enough to be the third bad thing.  It wasn't.


I have just got home from the hospital where my mum was admitted earlier today with rather severe chest pains.


Scary.


She's had all sorts of tests and scans and x-rays and such to try and work out what caused it but nothing is showing.  The docs have told her that even though her results are showing nothing, they can't rule out a series of small heart attacks.  Heart attacks.  In multiple.  That's a whole lot of scary right there.  They're keeping her in overnight to monitor her and see if they can pinpoint the cause.  Like I said, scary.  


I don't think I like bad things happening in threes.

Fright, Fight or Flight?

Which one are you? 

If you are in a life-threatening/ scary scenario how do you respond?  Do you freak out and freeze, hoping the big-toothed predator won't see you?  Or do you pick up the nearest tree and throw that sucker?

Or are you like me, fleet of foot in no other time than when your eyes override your brain and tell you feet to get the flock outta there?

I'm a through-and-through flight-er.  When faced with something a bit scary or gruesome, I run.  Fast.  Very fast.  Swearing as I go.

There's only been a couple of times in my life when the flight response has really taken over - but that's enough.  My heart beats a thousand beats per minute, my breathing takes on hyperventilation qualities, and I am able to run faster than the speed of light.  Well, not really as fast as the speed of light, but a WHOLE lot faster than I can run at any other time.

The Love Of My Life knows only too well how I run from danger.  A couple of years ago he had a gruesome accident at home involving a circular saw and his hand.  Gruesome.  I saw the aftermath immediately and was off like a rocket.  I was outta the shed, across the yard, into the house and grabbed the car keys and my phone, and was in the car with the engine revving all while he was still making his way to the house in search of something to wrap his hand in to stem the bleeding.  No time for first aid!!!  We must be off!!!  NOW!!!!

Needless to say, we made it to the hospital in record time. 

If I was on a racetrack I think I would have set all sorts of new land speed records for an automatic 2000 Toyota Camry sedan.

Once I went back home I realised that in my mad panic and rush to get to hospital, I had locked the front door to the house but neglected to shut any window or the back door!  Flight response alive and well!!!