I'm Still Here

Quite a few of you have noticed I've been absent from social media again. This absence was not planned and was not intended in anyway, especially since I was quite invested in the 100 day project. I've just been doing life.

Heartfelt thanks to those of you who've noticed my absence and those of you who've sent messages asking if i'm OK. I didn't mean to concern any of you and yes I'm doing well thank you.

I decided that writing a blog post would be easier than trying to fit everything into an Insta post. So here goes....

I've had some more health challenges that are still being investigated but needless to say, I'm currently having vitamin B12 injections weekly.

My Aunt has been in one hospital or another for months and almost two weeks ago was transferred to a different hospital again for emergency surgery to have a large portion of her bowel removed. They found a foreign object that had not only blocked the bowel and part of the bladder but had also begun to calcify. I've been either driving my Mum to visit or visiting her myself.

Last Tuesday, I had an accident and poured a pot of boiling (pasta) water over my left hand, down my left side and onto my toes. Thankfully I was close to a tap so I pulled my clothing off, stuck my hand under cold running water before realising I had burnt my toes too. I then went downstairs and stood under a cold shower for 45 minutes. I tried to stay under until the burning feeling eased but it didn't. Thankfully my Son & Mum came to help and made sure I was OK.

I was in so much pain though - as you could imagine. Pain killers weren't even touching the sides so I Googled other options for helping with the pain. The obvious one is aloe vera but I don't have any these days. I then stumbled upon a post about a medical facility that trialled conpression bandages over the burns at the time of the burn, not later. Of course they also used non-stick dressings between but as I didn't have any and it doesn't appear that my skin had blistered - yet - I decided to just go with the compression bandage. I had a snake bite bandage in my cupboard so decided that wrapping it loosely might work. So that's what I did. The accident occurred at approximately 21:15. I had my hand wrapped by approx 22:20. Then tried to go to sleep. The pain kept me awake until I worked out that additional pressure helped. I found this very curious. I slept with my hand under my pillow. By 02:00 the next morning, the burning pain suddenly stopped.

When I woke the next morning I was quite anxious that I might be peeling my skin off with the bandage but to my complete surprise, my hand barely even looked burned. It felt burnt and still does but all I have is some redness between my fingers and on the top of my ring finger and little finger. The palm of my hand feels sore still and for 2 days after I couldn't close my hand but I'm amazed at how well, it's healed. I'm guessing that the cold running water is what saved me but I was also impressed at what the compression bandage did.

I also have an infection under a fingernail on my other hand that is very tender and looks very unsightly, I'm guessing it's likely from the stick on nails I wore at Christmas. It's getting worse so it's likely I'll have to see my doctor about that one too. 🤦🏻‍♀️

On a positive note, I've thrown myself into improving my home - again. I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself after a recent breakup so I've been out in the garden most days. I've been planting seeds and seedlings, organising my tired garden, mowing the lawn twice a week (it's been wet and humid), and doing the edges that haven't been done in years.

I also spent a week helping my neighbours. Long story but the short of it is that their tenants were evicted and left a heap of stuff behind. After all responsible agencies had attended and recovered what they needed/wanted, the owners of the property asked me if there was anything I would like. I netted so much stuff including some brand new raised garden beds - something I've been trying to get my hands on for at least 3 years! I got a couple of chainsaws, a leaf blower, an air compressor, a generator, a potting bench, a watering can and so, so much more. I then spent most of that week helping those neighbours to remove all of the "stuff" from the property, dragging equipment up the embankment and piling the garbage on the curbside waiting for it to be collected.

The following Sunday, Willow and I attended Surfest with my son and his girlfriend to support my niece and her coffee van. It rained all day but was still a very nice day.

It turned out that I pushed myself a little too hard that week and ended up violently ill the next couple of days and unable to get out of bed. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I've spent several days this last week with family at my sisters - which was really nice. We celebrated Good Friday with a seafood feast then we were back again on Easter Sunday to celebrate and enjoyed a delicious roast pork meal, and swam in their beautiful mineral pool. My brother-in-law also revealed his recently restored pool table and we all played pool.

I've begun to restore the potting bench that came from next door and so far I'm really quite impressed with the results, especially since I've so far only spent $5.

The shelving and backboard are just that compressed cardboard stuff and although I wanted to replace it with a weatherproof material like marine ply or similar, it's just not within the budget. I then remembered that I had a couple of rolls of vinyl that I had ordered as photography backdrops so decided to try that. Needless to say, I'm really impressed so far with how good it looks. Of course it won't be weatherproof so I'll have to reconsider where I'm going to set up my potting bench and of course I ran out of vinyl so I'm waiting on an order to arrive with some more. I still haven't decided whether to cover the pegboard. I think I will just because it will look so much better. Sure, it will be fiddly cutting out each of the holes but it's not impossible.

I have also started learning a new skill.

I ordered a service kit to "service" the leaf blower I was given. When I went to replace the filters, I decided the blower was just too dirty. I mean, it was FILTHY! It looks as though the oil has been over filled and leaked out EVERYWHERE and in turn has gathered all of the dust particles into a very thick - up to 5mm thick coating of sludgy gunk ALL. THROUGH. THE. BLOWER!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/bfc452_516a796efdab407ea2f584313bf61160/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Needless to say, what I thought would be a simple service has turned into pretty much a complete restoration/rebuild - but I learnt a new skill. I'm confident now that I can easily maintain, fix, repair my leaf blower. Now on to the next item. What shall I restore next?

1. Electric chainsaw

2. Petrol chainsaw

3. Generator

4. I can't evergreen recall what else I have.

Oh and I also cleaned and serviced a battery powered lawn mower from next door. I had a spend a bit more on it to buy a couple of batteries and a charger but I'm pretty chuffed with myself that I have gotten it working. I've already mown my lawn with it twice!

I was hoping to finish the leaf blower today but the weather has had other plans. It's raining and although I'm working on my new bench on the verandah, not only am I getting wet but so is my work surface, so it's being put on hold. The weather forecast says rain for the next 3 days too - which is not what I wanted to see when I have this whole blower pulled down but I guess you get that.

Edit: my son called over this afternoon to see if I had finished the blower. I hadn't, so he encouraged me and cheered me on to get it completed. Mainly so we wouldn't lose and parts and wouldn't forget how it all went back together. Turns out it wasn't really that difficult.

I've also been concentrating on teaching my great dane, Willow how to communicate using talking buttons. At this stage we're still learning how to press the button but I'm a little surprised at how quickly she's picking it up. We have been practicing twice a day at the moment. I'm not sure how she's going to go moving forward as she insists on using her muzzle to press instead of her paws. I don't know if this will have a negative impact or not as I've only ever seen other dogs use their paws.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/bfc452_5a68eaae2a27415fbbfe040b539d8271/360p/mp4/file.mp4

You may have noticed that Willow pushes the button several times and I don't reward her. She needs to actually make the button "click" to get the reward.

I've also been writing hand written letters to my daughter and her fiance and to some overseas friends.

I'm still squeezing creative moment into my days. I've been doing some abstract paintings for postcards and kindness coins, some leaf, heart and flower shadows in watercolour that I've fussy cut, I've also been crocheting a jacket for my son-in-law and I haven't forgotten my 100 Day Project.

Oh and I've also been participating in some swaps. An ATC swap where I sent out over 20 ATC's for the first time ever and a paper swap for The Roben's Nest.

I miss uploading to Instagram every day. I miss the connection with those of you who've been connecting but I have also been enjoying the freedom to not have to stress about what I'm going to post each day, how I'm going to stage it, record it, edit it etc. I will be back - on Instagram but for now I'm just trying to find my feet again.

EDIT: at the risk of sounding somewhat self important, I must admit that I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for all the work I've been doing lately. For picking myself up and getting on with life and for getting the lawn mower working and for rebuilding the leaf blower. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do anything or you can't learn anything new. If I can do it, you can too 😊

Please leave me a comment and let me know something new you've learnt recently or something you'd like to learn.