January...thank goodness it is over!!!!

Usually janury brings a much needed quiet time at work after all the Christmas mail..alas someone forgot to tell the people!!! we are still delivering up to 140 parcels a day as well as all the usual bills etc...please stop I say under my breath.
January has so far had us on the hop...
Aunty Pat is in her final resting place bless her but never forgotten,just days after her passing it is Uncle Johns first anniversary of his passing,Mum does not cope well but she is strong and will rise back up.
Our lovely grandson Eden turns 10.
We have heat beyond our memory and drag ourselves around lol.
Our wonderful Spa breaks down and the manufacturer is away for all of January,just after our bones got used to the wonders of it all.
We purchase a new lap top that to this point does not like my camera...also new,but it will!!!
Bobs Mum becomes very ill and my brother arrives to look after Mum so we can go to her for the long weekend,Joan has a Gall operation at 92 only to find that they have made an error and in two days has 2 major surgeries.We arrive in torrential rain a harrowning trip of 8 hours but we needed to break it up into two lots as we are tired from work and it is too dangerous to drive any further.
We arrive to find a desperately sad but happy to see us lady,we give her hugs galore and tell her she is loved and go away so she can rest awhile,when we return she is in better spirits and emotional,we get messages from our children to make sure great nana knows they care...which we do..we hug her some more..
The town is on flood alert and suddenly by morning it is made clear we have to leave and fast if we want to get back home,we call the hospital and they say come on up,we do not want to leave without seeing Joan again,when we get there there is a smiling happy lady...all I needed was cuddles she tells us...what a lesson!!!!!we spend an hour and have to leave.
On our travels this time we see the rivers rising,we come across an overturned car,stop,check it we can't find anyone in it or near it,it must have happened overnight in the wind and rain,not two klms further we had to stop to try and get a tree off the road,it is too large we cannot budge it so we have to leave it,flicking our lights at oncoming traffic to warn them.We are very lucky as we listen to the radio as we pass through each town they become blocked off after we have passed through..we made it home safetly..whew...we are stressed and tired lol..
My bloods are all a mess again,but we just have to soldier on.
I have my 64th birthday,I was so surprised I had emails from Uk and a card from there and at last I got not 1 but 2 parcels in the mail that day from our son and daughter and their families I was so excited as usually I just deliver them rarely get one,and they were full of lovely surprises.
The new tablet which we purchased in December will still get no service,I have spent endless hours on the phone to Telstra and also to the place of purchase.I have travelled to town 4 times to get it looked at and it is so disappointing.
At last life has made a turn.
Mum is much brighter,her old self almost,my brother travelled home safe as he also had to go through flooded towns,Bobs Mum is home from hospital and although it will be slow with nurses coming twice a day and meals she will be fine.
The Spa man is back off holidays and the new part is in the mail.
Bob took the Tablet back and we got a refund.
The floods in our country are receding but the damage is terrible our hearts go out to everyone,fires and floods an awful month in our country.
Our lovely daughter and her husband celebrate 15 years marriage yesterday.
Lilli has her first day of High School and loves it,our eldest grandson Alex learned to fly gliders in the holidays,very proud of them all.
Specialst rang to adjust my medication,maybe I will have a normal February lol,now that would be very nice.
Care packages will be going to South Sudan this weekend,I did not even know we had troops there,ladies in town have been madly knitting balaclavas and beanies for me to send to the soldiers in colder climates,so far this year we will have sent 30 so that is a wonderful thing for our little town.

This blog sounds full of doom and gloom but not really.
So that is basically our January,we have rolled with the punches,and the good days far outweigh the bad.
I have learned a huge lesson about love,the importance of hugs for healing as I realised it is the heart that is sometimes the more part in need of care than the actual illness.
it is quite easy to get through tough times...just breathe lol.

    








                                         Back to Normal...Whatever that is.....


Thank you for all the lovely comments and thoughtfulness for thinking of us to everyone.

Mum is slowly coming back to her old self,I am not expecting it to be quick as it is huge and must feel so strange for her,but we will keep her wrapped in love and blessedness for the rest of her days,lonely though they may feel.

Having lost my camera full of Christmas makes and family pics I have now a new camera so perhaps just forget it and move on lol...

Some of what has been happening here....

                                                    A little Heart is Breaking...
I was hoping to be back blogging but life is throwing a few curly ones at the moment.I know many of you comment on my lovely Mum and this is just a short blog to let you know her baby sister passed away yesterday morning at 1.30am.
Patricia Alison was 88 and until the later part of last year was vibrant and independant.A fall started the changes in her life ,such as being literally shoved into a nursing home overnight.No goodby to her beloved dog Billy,no gooby to the friends who always checked on her,no goodby to her much loved ocean just down the road or to her things she loved.Straight away far from home into the mist of strangers,she sat a solitary soul until at last peace came and took her from her misery.She was far from her home where folk could have visited her,she has one child  only and we are so sad that she has such a cold herat.
Mums little heart is broken as we sit and talk,Mum now 92 is the last one of her family left,her twin going first 7 years ago,then her sooo loved broher 79  suddenly going almost a year to this date when Aunty Pat has gone now too.She is a tiny little darling her shoulders shake as the tears fall and we cry together,I tell Mum "I am afraid this will pull you down"..."no she replied I won't let it".
My Mum had the hardest journey in life out of all the siblings that had given her strength,be is tiny but robust if that makes and sense.If I can be half the person in my life that my mother has been I have done well.
The following days need to be spent cossiting her as she has to deal with the pain of not being able to travel far away to the funeral,just as she had to bear the same pain when brother John died.We will get through this time as she shows us how to deal with these things we will hold her close and protect this tiny soul.
Rest in peace Aunty Pat,we know your Mum would have been awaiting her favourite daughter( according to Mum lol) and that Mum is worrying that Pat and John will have a fight as they did not get along very well when here on earth   Mums twin Thel would just look on as she was always just in the background no fuss. Mum is feeling very alone right now,yes she has us but her actual family as she knows it has gone and left her behind .So I will be back and I will take some very early in the morning time to keep up with all your blogs but probably won't have time to comment.

                                                                 Thank you
I just popped by to say a huge thank you to everyone for Mums birthday wishes.She had a magical day,all the calls from family and friends and two daughters of Mums twin rang and that made her soooo happy.Then a niece that remembered her from my Dads side( from a divorced family you loose half of those you love in almost an instant.)This girl Barbara remembered her Aunty Joyce and knew it was her birthday Mums joy was just immeasurable I think it made her day complete.
So a huge thank you for adding extra special wishes to her day.
I am replacing my PC over the Christmas period and hopefully I can find you all again when I do the changeover.
Have a Peaceful,happy and very loving Christmas with those you love or if they are far away,I know how you feel but where love is,family is just right there in your beating happy hearts and they will feel the love.
Bless you all and hopefully be in action in the new year,photos and all!.

                                                                   12/12/1920
Joyce Mavis and Thelma May Burrows came into the world weighing 3lbs each.
Leonette and Harry Burrows had to place them in the bottom drawer of their cupboard as they were far too small for a cot,they slept in there for many months .
12/12/2012..Joyce turns 92 today.Happy birthday Mum.
It is a happy day and yet so sad for Mum today,next week it will be 7 years since Thelma may passed away,Mums other half,the twin she shared all those 85 years with and misses so terribly.
As I sit here writing this, I listen for a familiar sound of the walker approaching along the hallway and Mum and Molly coming out for their morning coffee,Molly our pup was given to Mum for her 90th birthday and is her constant companion,Mum talks to Molly all day long,it is a delightful thing to see and to hear Mums soft mumbles when they go to bed is so sweet.
The children all live far away but all week there have been presents and cards arriving from her son, nieces old friends who have remembered,from grandchildren,I hid them as they arrived so she will have a lovely time opening them this morning.
A bunch of lovely flowers are waiting on the table for her,she loves flowers and my friend Marg is coming to visit this afternoon and she will stay and share dinner with us as she is one of my friends and Mums favourite .
Sadly I will have to go to work but Mum will have her cards to look at over and over again and she and Molly will no double look at her gifts over and over again and before she knows it I will be back,and we can look at them together again,the thing is when you are 92 you have the joy of the first feelings over and over as you forget what you did 5 minutes ago lol we call it the goldfish syndrome a memory of 3 seconds.Mind you Mum remembers the things you wish she would forget lol it is a wonderful thing to reach this age,,she is in great health,but often says she wished she had gone at the same time as Thelma as age is not kind to us,we want to do things and can't,you can't catch all that is said as everyone is talking so fast,the world in general moves too fast and you can no longer keep up.
The one wonderful thing is the knowledge that you have and the wisdom,if only all the young ones would sit and listen for awhile.Mum has seen wars come and go,seen her Dad go to war and then many years later her son.
She has seen fashions come and go and come again and now some are back yet again lol how fantastic!
The bread and milk come by horse and cart and then the change to modern vehicles.
The list goes on and on and on.
She tells us of the fun at the dances,having a dance card and all the wonderful innocence of life back then,o'h we could all learn so much no wonder the elderly are just not able to understand "the kids of today".
Happy Birthday Mum, we are so glad you live at our home and we would not have it any other way.We can make the rest of your days comfy and with company,I could not bear it if Mum lived alone in some little flat somewhere.
I will take some pics today and Kath my Pc still won't let me take Picasa off and so I am in a spot that the kids will fix at Christmas for me so then I will invade you all with catch up pics.
Thanks for visiting,wish you could have some cake,as I have been writing this I stopped for a while,I heard Mum approaching down the hall,Molly has been out to the grass for a wee,I have made Mum and I a cuppa,now we wait patiently for Bob to get up so we can open Mums gifts because they are hidden in our room lol it is just 5.30am and already we have been up awhile.
Mums first sight was the flowers, she loved them,Gerbras bright pink and there are deep lilac lillies,I gave her a kiss and said happy Birthday and she said "is it I had forgotten "lol isn't it fantastic!
Bless you Mum,it is selfish but we hope we have you for a while yet sweetie.

 




                                         The Silly Season ,Family and The Queen.


For most Christmas is exciting and for us it is too but more exhausting than exciting.Because of the change in lifestyle for many, internet shopping is a BOOM!!!!and after the purchase of course there is the delivery and for us that is us!!
Each year  we start to deliver 2 weeks before Christmas on the weekends,this year we have been doing it for 3 weeks already!..
I did not join a Christmas challenge this year to keep me on track,I did however give myself a Dec 1st deadline and that was met,so everything was wrapped by then,all the food organised other than the fresh things.
Our son came at the weekend and we had Take 1 Christmas and it was lovely,we will have our daughter and other relies for Christmas itself.

The day has arrived today when we needed to count or Sealed Pots..as you know I was hoping the have $500 in my three pots and I excelled that by a huge amount,we were in shock to find we had saved...wait for it...$2098.90!!!!! we are saving very hard for our fares to the Uk in about 2 years time,now we have just got to save the second fare this 12 months.
I am so disappointed, I took pics of the pots emptied and some of Christmas family timr but I keep getting a message to say I have run out of room for pics yet I have sent them all to a stick and there are only 4 on the PC..I am confused anyway no pics as planned.
So the Queen was in her counting house today,counting her pots and feeling very delighted as it was a hard slog but I am hoping to do just as well next year.
We are so busy at work that blogging has come a very sad last and I am afraid the next couple of weeks will be similar,so Merry Christmas to all and I hope to get some time to catch up ..and post some pic.!

                            A Busy Weekend...You betch Ya!!!!!! Something for Mum and Something for us.


It is a little under 2 years now until we retire,we will not have huge amounts of money to come to us as Bob as his breakdown so we are about 30 years behind in that area of Superannuation,we have some to come but it will have to be careful with it.
We have decided to do some things just for us to enjoy,and of course share with family when they visit.
First up was the little spot where Mum sits with Molly with her paper etc.It is the ugly spot really and has a loose pebbled surface which is not easy for her walker.So we decided to make it a nice place for her to sit.

                                       First job to put a sail up for shade as it is a hot spot,and level out the pebbles.

 Next some artificial grass,this is lovely and soft at the same time easy to use the walker on.

 Then add some little wrought iron table and chairs and 2 comfy backed chairs,a pretty for the wall and some plants.

Here are Mum and Molly   before it is quite finished,they love it...hope you have many hours sitting here Mum.

Next something for us....it has taken all week to do some preparation and we had to wait for a delivery or two but here we go.

 Bob doing the footings and that on the ground is the artificial grass,this will be the floor in our little bit of heaven.

 The hot tub/spa in place ready for the rest of the Gazebo do be put up,it is fully screened for insects and it also has the outer curtaining for privacy or to keep cool whichever.

 Looking from where Mums little spot is and that is Georgies cage and he is in there watching from his perch,there is a little area at the bottom of his cage that is a window and he can look at us in the SPa(better watch what we are up to lol.)

 This is it complete and how i looks closed but it will be just curtained off on the hottest 2 side most of the time,mostly to protect the tub.

And here he is...Mr Wonderful,the water warm enough to get in and to ease the tired muscles,it was devine,no other words for it and we will use this every day,it holds 6 adults and already it is the best money we have spent.We could not afford the $7,000 ones this was all done for about $1,500 although it is inflatable it is like a leather outing and has a top that goes on and padlocked so it child safe  for when we are not watching.
Now we have just some of the garden left to modify and we are done for now.Bob is so wonderful you know,he worked so hard this weekend,we did it together but he is a good man,a cold beer and a warm loving wife is all he asks from life.
Our son called last night and said they are visiting this weekend,we have not seen he and his family for over 6 months,so we are so happy to see them all,they do not agree with us having Mum all the time,but they have to grow up,see that she is so happy here,and accept our decision so at last they are coming to see us.Our daughter comes as often as possible and her support has been wonderful.
Not everyone agrees with the decision we all make all of the time,but respect and support for those decisions is a really important thing.If you can try to support what is happening around you,even if it is not what you would do,ultimately only you have to live with your choices,and although in the past i have been easy to manipulate this time I stood my ground...you know what IT FELT GOOD! and i would not change my mind for quids(money in Aussue talk).
Have a great day,I will think of you when I have a spa tonight after a hard day at work. for the postman every Monday is Manic Monday lol.