February 2008 Archives

Signups for the footballs season happened yesterday afternoon and it seems every year it's extra $5. Alex told me a few weeks ago that he didn't think he'd play this year, but as it draws nearer he's more keen to play and was quite happy to sign up again for another season. It starts in two weeks with a pre-season carnival for Rep selections. It happens to be on the same day of Alex's birthday, and the Crusty Demons are coming to Wagga that day and Lauren suggested that for his birthday he could go with Daniel and Zeke. I think he's forego the football carnival for the Crusty Demons.

Tomorrow is the grand final for cricket and this year Alex's team made it. It's the first time in his cricket career that they've played in a grand final and it's also his last year in junior cricket, so it worked out good. I'm running the show tomorrow too. Usually I just help out every week in the canteen but I've got the keys and all the food and drinks so it will be an extra early start. This will be my last day for canteen duty too so I don't mind that I'll be doing it all.

For the past two days I've been trying to write a post to this blog but have been feeling so sick I couldn't get it together.

Saturday afternoon I went over to Wagga and picked up Zeke and Riley to stay at my place. Lauren's working weekends and Daniel wanted to take his new motorbike for a spin, so I volunteered for the babysitting job. Zeke was sick and Riley had been vomiting all the day before but I brought them home anyway. Lauren came out after work so we could see her new car, and Daniel rode the bike over. Emily came over with Scarlett who was also sick, she has her first cold and was quite miserable. I cooked tea and just before they left, Daniel became ill so ended up leaving the bike here and Lauren drove them both home. Lauren spent much of the night vomiting too.

I had a shocker of a night. Zeke vomited nearly on the hour, and Riley woke up about 4 times during the night. I don't think I got any sleep at all. Zeke was very subdued all day Sunday but seemed to be getting better, though he wouldn't eat anything. Lauren came over around 4pm on Sunday and took them both home, Daniel white as a ghost and not looking good at all.

Sunday night I started vomiting and spent much of last night feeling the same. I didn't go to work yesterday, and around lunchtime the high school rang for me to collect Alex, who was also sick. Two other kids from his class were in the sick bay. Whatever this little bug is it seems very virulent and contagious. Headaches, vomiting and diarrhoea. A wonderful combination. Today I'm feeling very lethargic. Alex is still home from school and a friend of his that's staying with us until tonight was up through the night vomiting, so he's home as well.

Carly seems to be the only one that is still okay and she's gone to school. Alex and I both went off to the doctor yesterday afternoon but there wasn't alot he could do. He sent us home saying "Drink plenty of fluids and take Panadol".

While I was there I asked him about the tablets you take to give up smoking, but he wasn't keen to prescribe them until I'm better. He said he needed counselling. I left there shaking my head: apparently its a new pill and he needs to know more about it until he can prescribe it. So he pretty much told me to keep smoking and come back next week. The patches I was using were making me feel quite sick, making my lips and mouth feel all funny and I ended up giving them away. Slowly I'm getting back to where I was at when I first tried to stop. I'll get there though.

It's a beautiful day, especially good for washing sheets so that's what I've been doing in between watching a few cartoon DVDs. Zeke came home with us yesterday to give Lauren and Daniel and break. Lauren's back to work on Monday after over 2 years as a stay-at-home mum. They'll certainly be looking forward to the extra income but it's going to be tough on them all. She'll be doing a 40-hour week that includes weekends. The kids are not going to see much of her and she's already thinking about how much she'll miss them.

She's not the first mother to juggle home and family with a full-time job and I have every confidence that she'll do a great job. The house may not look as tidy from now on but who cares?

Emily went back to work two weeks ago and she's managing just fine. She's rapt to be back, with the money a major incentive. It's so hard these days with a mortgage and other bills to live on one income. She won't be enjoying it for long though, with another baby due in August. Then she'll know what busy is. It's her birthday on Tuesday and lots of good wishes are going her way. Happy Birthday Emily!!!

I've had a busy week as well with lots of late nights at the computer. The Junee Rhythm 'n Rail Festival is only 4 weeks away now and I've had to do a major overhaul on the website. They've finalised many of the bands and exhibitions for the event and I have my fingers crossed that there won't be too many more changes. I'm actually looking forward to it, and since we have 3 guitars here at home I'm going to enter myself and the kids in the Guinness Book of Records record-breaking attempt for the biggest guitar ensemble. The song is "Smoke on the Water" and I'm sure even the most basic of guitarists can play that one. So if you'll be near Junee on the weekend of 7 - 9 March and have a guitar, come along an strum a few bars. They need nearly 2,000 guitarists to pull it off.

Apart from the guitar thing, I plan on going along to the "Wind in the Roundhouse" concert. Last year Mum and I talked about going but never got there. There'll also be lots of other entertainment over the weekend, and for train enthusiasts there's a special treat with the "Tin Hares". Circa 1928 rattlers that will be doing a shuttle service from Wagga to Junee with entertainment on board. I might even talk the family in Wagga to get one over for the festivities on Saturday.

We had a good flight home from Queensland last Saturday, though it was very cloudy with a little turbulence. I felt more queasy on the plane than any of the rides at DreamWorld. From Sydney Airport we needed to catch a train to get to my sister's house where I'd left our car. A nice bloke from the airport helped us and pointed us in the right direction, and we were all lugging baggage. Once we were on the train Carly realised that she'd left her handbag on the seat near the lifts at the airport. I was sure that was the last we would see of it, and told her it would be pointless going back.

Two women were sitting opposite us on the train and one of them said that there were honest people around and we may be lucky, so we got off at the next stop and caught the next train back to the airport (still lugging the luggage!). Alex and I waited at the station while Carly ran back to the airport to see if she could find her bag. I was disappointed to see her come back empty-handed 15 minutes later. She managed to find the same airport employee who'd directed us earlier and he made a couple of phone calls but with no luck.

We waited then for another train and got to Jen's without further incident, arriving back in Junee about 9 pm Saturday night. It had been a long day travelling.

Monday morning I rang the airport "lost and found" but the bag hadn't been handed in. Thank God her phone that was less than a month old was in her pocket, but Alex's iPod was in her bag, along with jewellery that she had bought as a present for her best friend. Her wallet had about $20 in it but I didn't think she had any ID.

Tuesday I got a phone call at work from the airport saying that they'd found the bag and everything was in it. Carly's boarding pass for the plane was in her bag and with that they contacted the airline and got a contact number to ring me. Carly was over the moon when I told her, and I was impressed with the effort that the airport staff went to to try and locate us. They agreed to send the bag COD so it may arrive tomorrow. Alex is also happy to still have an iPod.

So thanks to the two ladies from the train, your faith in the goodness of people proved to be right, and my thanks go to the airport staff who did a great job tracking us down.

For the most part, Carly and Alex and I had a great time in Queensland. We spent the first couple of nights with Anthony and got to meet lots his friends. The kids loved being on the canal and Alex even caught a good-sized Whiting. I think he enjoyed "pumping yabbies" the best, but also the canoe. It was one time that both kids had to get on or they might have ended up in the canal with the bull sharks.

The weather was beautiful every day, even on the Wednesday when we went to Dreamworld when it rained on and off all day. It didn't spoil our fun at all. Carly and Alex went on every ride they could: some a couple of times. I braved the Roller Coaster and the Big Drop, but wasn't too enthusiastic about either. I'm getting too old for the thrill of the ride, these days it's close you eyes and let's get it over. (Like a few other activities that come to mind!!!)

I saw Dad four times while we were there. He's not getting any younger but still manages to do all the things that he likes to do. I saw my Uncle and Aunt who live at Kirra near Dad and they're both looking very fit and healthy, despite being around 70. Same with my Mum's brother, another Uncle and Aunt that we went to visit one Friday. We left there with the intention of one more swim in the ocean: the last opportunity that we had before we left on Saturday morning. It turned out to be very nearly the last opportunity that we had for anything.

Alex and I walked the block to Main Beach and decided to have a quick dip before we went back to the resort. Carly said she didn't want a swim and we never waited for her. Although the flags were way up the beach, there were people swimming very near us so I thought it would be okay. We were in the water only a couple of minutes when I felt the rip taking both me and Alex out to sea. It happened so quickly that one minute we were near the edge, and the next thing I looked back to the beach and it looked like a whole block away. I knew straight away we were in big trouble. Huge waves were pounding us and it took all our strength just to stay afloat.

I yelled for help and put my hand up, and to my relief a fellow on the beach waved and started to run, so I knew it was just a matter of waiting for help to arrive. If felt like an eternity until someone came on a surf board, and no sooner were we on his board then the life guards arrived too. I transferred over to the life saver's board and got dumped a couple of times on the way in by huge waves. I'm pretty sure even they were struggling. I could hardly breathe by the time we got back to the beach: I was so exhausted and probably only 10 to 15 minutes had passed. Carly was on the beach looking very worried but also very relieved that we were okay. It was an experience I won't forget in a hurry.

Alex and I both had massive headaches and my nose dripped for a 2 hours every time I put my head down, but we were alive and that was the main thing. Anthony came over and took us all to Hooters for a last get-together, then we went to Infinity and later walked around Surfer's. It's amazing how quickly the near-death experience faded. That night both Alex and I had a hard time getting to sleep. All I could think about was how lucky we both were and how grateful I was to the Life Saver's and the guy on the beach who risked his own life to come out and help us.