hey crew...
well i'm back in QLD for xmas etc.. (~2000kms north of melb).... for starters.......... IT'S HOT!!!!!!! my god it's hot..... does anyone else get seriously affected by the heat? i can't make decisions, constantly deydrated... can go from one minute answering the question "are you hungry?" to 30 secs later being so hungry I feel like i'm going to pass out...... weird...

also.... i had a seizure/mini-stroke/TIA 2 days ago, on my left side now... surgeons aren't sure what it is seeing as i'm so far away.... got out of the car, immediately felt like half of my body shut down.... then my left hand/arm started spazzing out.. kinda jerking up and down slowly and out of my control..... stopped after a bit but my mouth and jaw felt very tight and i ended up clenching my jaw/chewing for the next half hr... and spent the rest of the day completely exhausted.....
hmmmmm...

went to a doc here, got my dilantin levels checked etc... turned out ok and i "appeared to be OK" visibly so they said i'll be right... just keep on keeping on until i get back to my docs in melb (which is fairly fair enough seeing as they can't do much from here)... but it annoys me a bit because i recovered from most of my strokes quite quickly with no obvious set-backs... then felt fine... and all of a sudden had a "much bigger" stroke.... there's only so much that "listening to your body" will do...

oh and seeing lots of friends and family that i haven't seen since it all happened.... and hearing far too much of "well you look great!"

hmmmmm we all know how annoying that is.. especially since my once-wicked-hardcore scar has turned into a pathetic little white line... geez! what do i have to show for it!!!! hehe

anyway, merry christmas to all and happy new year and all that jazz... i'll be camping in my kombi in the bush! woo, bring it on!

Hi Lore,

A combi is a car that you can "live in" It's a Volkswagon and has an enclosed back where you can put a mattress etc. Some people kit them out with stoves etc but it is not on the same size as a Winnebago. It is also NOT a SUV  so you can't really drive off road with them.
Hope that helps you picture what it is

Moira

hey lore.....
i'm trying to upload a pic of my kombi so you can see it, she's (Karly) yellow, with a queen sized bed and LOTS of rainbows! hehe

oh and back to work in a week? where'd you get that idea from? i'm not even thinking about going back to work till after all my ops..... so at least 8-9 months from now... and no idea what i'm going to do... been creating a lot, jewellery, clothes, beanies, headbands, car-seat covers!, etc.... starting up my own business - Eljay Enterprises.. hehe.... after i win the lotto next week i'm buying a 2 bedroom cottage and i'm going to be a professional hermit/creator....
that's the current plan anyway..

oh yeah and i went to a doc etc 2 days in a row... i seem to be alright and everything so just take it as it comes i guess..... week long festival in the bush is going to test it.. and it's meant to be 38 degrees celcius tomorrow..... dunno if you guys can relate to that but it's DAMN HOT!

alright i'll give these pics of Karly a go:
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Hi Emily,

I'm not sure where I got that back to work in a week thing. Thought I read it in a post. I could be seeing rainbows?? lol

Karly is really something. Very Nice! Now I could handle that. It really does remind me of the 60's and takes me back a bit in time. Those were the days! Things weren't necessarily easy but they sure were much simpler.

Well, I guess it is really hot where you are. Keep drinking fluids.

I'm glad to hear you did see the doc. Makes me feel better about your episode.

Enjoy the festival and let us know how you fare.

Hugs,

Lore

Hi Moira and Emily,

I live about 10 miles from a city which has about 30,000 people and is the home of Ohio Wesleyan University. I am 25 miles from a major city with over 1 million people.

I live in a "wildlife" area that is protected by the State Department of Wildlife. By the way, I name my critters. Like, Rocky Racoon and Betty Bunny and Woody the Woodchuck, Perhaps I have too much time on my hands? lol

Where I live it is mainly agriculture. There are many working farms surrounding me. In fact, the farmer who farms the fields outside my woods actually owns 2,000 acres of land. There are also two horse farms on my little country road. I have awakened to horses on my property when they where accidentally let loose by someone not tightly closing a gate. They are riding horses so they are tame. They just graze when they get loose. The farmer behind me is also a dairy farmer so he has lots of milking cows. There is another farmer who lives about 4 miles from me and he has 4,000 acres of land that he farms. He alternates planting corn and soy beans.

So I have the best of both worlds. I live in the country but am not far from the city. I feel I am very fortunate to have the best of both worlds. My husband and I both grew up in the country and so the big city is sometimes overwhelming to us. Although we both work in the big city, we know at the end of the day we can go to the country and relax. It's our sanity. lol

We have zoning ordinances here that protect us from being developed by big housing developments or businesses.  I don't know how long that will last as I'm sure the zoning ordinances could be challenged successfully. However, land would have to be for sale here for that to happen. Of course, an offer of multi millions of dollars to a farmer for his land could be very tempting. Even so, a developer would only be permitted to purchase land outside, but up to, the protected wildlife area.  That could be too close for my liking. I can't help but believe that would have an affect on the wildlife.

The snow. Well, it is pretty but really I could do without it. I might feel different if I didn't have to manuver my way through it to get to work. It can be a real challenge sometimes. I have literally gone for a spin. No pun intended. lol Autos were never made to go ice skating. lol Also, shoveling the snow is a tremendous job. My neighbor, the farmer, will put a plow on his tractor and plow my driveway which is 400 feet long. The nice thing about living in the country is the neighbor helping neighbor.

If you get to the U.S. of A, please don't hesitate to come to the country for a visit. I've wanted to visit Australia. Some of my family have visited and they absolutely loved it. They brought me some vegemite. I haven't aquired a taste for it yet. lol So far, I'm sticking to the peanut butter. lol I would love to hear about Australia and the Outback. Is it everything I read and see?

You might find this funny. I asked my husband to name our place "walk-about-woods". Now where did that come from? lol

You take care and have an enjoyable holiday.

Hugs,

Lore   

Hi Lore,
Your place sounds fantastic!!
Thank you for the offer to come and visit - if we are ever in the USA we will be sure to catch up, and that goes for a visit to Hawaii as well!!  My father in law actually bought a time share condo in Orlando (Fl) in Disneyland?(world)? i always get confused with these two - so that we (the kids) could take the grandkids to see the park, but unfortunately the kids (there are 3 other brothers and Tony) never have the cash spare to take them over!!!
Anyway about Australia - I still haven't acquired the taste for vegemite although my youngest and Tony (my hubbie) love it!! There is no accounting for some taste!!
Well We live in Perth, Western Australia which is on the west coast and is a lot smaller than Sydney or Melbourne. We live about 5 minutes inland from the beach and in summer in the afternoons we get the sea breeze in to cool things down. Perth can get extremely HOT with temperatures reaching 40 + and sometimes we can have a week or 10 days of 38 - 42degrees, but thank goodness for airconditioning.
Perth is a lovely city on a beautiful river and it is a great safe place to live and raise kids.
Cheers Moira