Castles in the air

Thinking about diabetes

2010-11-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking about diabetes lately. I've been reading some interesting blogs by others living with a child or children with diabetes. It is part of our daily life and I am determined it won't rule our lives and yet it does. It is so frustrating to be told be the pediatrician that her averages are to high. Everytime I make a change to the rates on Kitkat's pump it all goes wrong.

Hit home today at liam's IEP. The intermediate were there as that's where he is off to next year. Being a big pre teen and all. We discussed his behavior a lot. It's not great at the moment. The teachers from the intermediate commented on how great it has been having Kitkat at the school. But then gave be puzzled looks when I commented that Liam was my easy child. He is difficult at the best of times but autism is so straightford compared to diabetes where everything Kitkat does affects everything!

I think I need to take a few deep breaths and get over diabetes and on with life.

Spring is here

2010-10-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally arrived. It rained every day in September except one right at the end. But October has started with the promise of a Summer coming. It has been fine for five whole days. I have managed to put in a total of seven small gardens now and do some other tiding up jobs outside.

It makes me smile every time I walk (or drive as most of the gardens are alongside my long driveway) past them. Lots of seeds still to come up but I've got growing:
Raspberries
Strawberries
Peas
Carrots
Garlic
Lettuce
Radish
Beetroot
Broccoli
Potatoes
Onions
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Cherry Tomatoes
Grapes
Blackcurrents
Boysenberries
Plums
Apples
Fejoias
Apricots
Citrus
Blueberries
Herbs
and Guavas

Doesn't look like much in the gardens, they are still mostly weeds but it feels great to look at a list like that.

Rainy Day Gardening

2010-09-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Guess what! It rained today. How unusual, it started with heavy rain and by mid afternoon it was spitty rain. I am think I might have to start making up more words to describe the rain as I've seen all types all of the time over the last month.

As I have to work all day tomorrow, I decided I'd better do a little gardening today.

It's my dad's birthday tomorrow and my mum's on Wednesday so I started the day off with a visit to wish them well. Morning tea turned into lunch and I had an enjoyable catch up with them. We left about mid afternoon and made a quick stop at the warehouse for some seedlings and seeds.

I have decided to plant a lot of my vegetables from seedlings and not grow my own this year. But I have to confess I baulk at buying carrots and corn in punnets. To me these are definitely best grown directly in the garden. I bought radish, beetroot and spring onion seeds, marigold, mini cauliflower, capsicum (even though it's a bit early), two lots of lettuce and red onions in seedling form.

I have been a bit overwhelmed looking at my neglected and weedy garden. I have decided that there is only one way to eat this elephant and that is going to be one metre at a time. While looking for a book for my fathers birthday yesterday I came across One Magic Square.

I have often looked at the one square foot gardening books and thought they'd be good for a read, but when I saw this I just had to have it. I haven't read it all the way through yet but I am liking what I am reading. I think it might be just the ticket to get my garden cleaned up one small patch at a time. So with the principals of this book in mind I planted out the small garden square at the start of my deck and the first section of the garden alongside my driveway. If the sun ever shines I'll take some photos.

One of the best things about this book is it doesn't advocate growing vegetables in straight rows or big mono crop plots. This is not my style either. It also is against killing pests - also my style although I am into total annihilation of slugs and snails (a pet hate of mine).

I'm off to draw up some plans for the next little plot and will try to get it planted over the next week.

It only rained for five minutes today

2010-09-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

The rain continues to be a big issue in my garden. We haven't had more than two or three days without rain since the start of August. Nevertheless as it wasn't raining I decided an hour in the garden would probably go o.k.

I checked on my pea patch and to my delight my peas were all poking through the soil. Most of the very late garlic I put in was growing well. No sign of the carrots yet. I dug over the patch by the passionfruit were I am planting my potatoes. I even got them planted - it's very wet though and I hope they don't rot. I weeded the little garden by the front of the deck, yuck just pure mud.

But at least I achieved some gardening.

Camera Shy Kathryn

2010-09-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Aims Games

2010-09-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

Kathryn has been competing in the Aims Games all week. It has been very busy, but today is the last day. It started on Sunday with the opening ceremony. The guest speaker was Danion Loader. Very appropriate for Kathryn as he is New Zealands only Olympic gold medalist in swimming. The Aims games is the biggest schools sporting event in Australasia. This year 3800 odd 11 to 14 year old competed in 14 sports.

Monday had two games of waterpolo for the Te Puke Intermediate team. We won the first and lost the second. I had managed to get out of work in time to watch the second. Kathryn has never played waterpolo before and I think she is a bit to mild mannered for the game. Then came the swimming. As Kathryn has been sick for the last six weeks we weren't expecting great times. We were wrong, she got seven personal bests out of her eight races. Very well done Kathryn. Tuesday had another two games of waterpolo, both were lost by the team. Wednesday had another three games of waterpolo, two wins and a loss. Thursday had another two games (and I managed to get out of work to watch them both), both were losses giving the team an overall place of eighth.

Well done to Te Puke Intermediate Aims Games Waterpolo Team. Closing ceremony today.

Kathryn is number eight blue

Wraps

2010-09-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

I don't really eat a lot of bread anymore and I've largely given up making my own as the chickens get most of it. So I decided to have a go at making wraps.

Wasn't hard and they were edible. Will give it another go, maybe with some wholemeal flour.

Spring?

2010-08-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

The raspberries are breaking into leaf. Is spring here?

Last year as soon as the plum started to blossom the wind came and blew them all off so we still after two years have not had any plums off the tree

There has been 241% more rain this August than the average

It's rained every day in August. When will it stop?

Four Seasons in One Day

2010-08-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

The title of this post really fit the weather this Sunday. I woke to the pouring rain and the disappointment that once again I'd be unable to garden. It's official that this August is the wettest since records began. By the time I'd managed to get out of bed and down some breakfast the sun had come out and it was warm enough to lose the sweatshirt. I decided to go get wet. I really wanted to build a raise bed to grow my carrots and peas in. So I set to with my unhandy skills.

I think our household is missing a vital gene. In fact if I didn't know better I'd say we were foreigners. The great kiwi ability to DIY is definitely missing. But I do own a rusty hammer and an equally rusty saw. That was enough to knock together the required bed. I then barrowed compost from the bottom of the chicken coop up the slope. Lots and lots of barrow loads. I was sweating buckets by the time I'd finished cleaning the chicken coop and filling the new bed.

I was covered in mud as I finished but boy was I happy I'd finally achieved something in the garden. I collected the seeds to plant. Garlic up the back amongst the black currants (yes I know it late for garlic but I'm going to give it a go), sugarsnap and climbing peas, carrots and a few strawberry plants. Then the heavens opened at it started to hail. I ignored the weather and got those seeds in.

After I finished the lightning and thunder started. Then the rain, then the sun, then the rain, then the thunder and lightning, then the sun - actually I think you are getting the picture. Four seasons in one day.

Eggs

2010-08-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

Eggs for all

I love my chickens. They have such big personalities. They provide me with hours of entertainment for very little care. They are friendly and fun. Best of all they produce eggs.

I'm a strange person to be getting excited over eggs. I've always been allergic to eggs and can't stand the smell of them cooking. What these eggs represent for me is community. My nine chickens keep four families in eggs nearly every week year round. We probably use about eight eggs a week, Kathryn loves them. One dozen goes every week to Irenee, Liam's amazingly wonderful teacher aide. One dozen goes to either my or Craig's parents. The remaining 1/2 dozen to dozen goes to either my grandparents or one of our neighbours.

Home grown eggs are very convented around here and appreciated by the recipients. With the needed backlash against battery farmed chickens, people are always on the look out for free range eggs. And ours are free to others.

Nellie

Rain, rain go away

2010-08-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of the rain. It feels like it has rained for a month. Actually there have only been about five days without rain over the last month. The chicken run is boggy and I can't get the washing dry.

Dryer use is something in this house we could be more restrictive about. I use the dryer about every second or third day. I have a mobile drying rack, an extendable drying rack in the laundry and a rack suspended out over our stairwell. It takes about two days for clothing to dry on the indoor racks. I worry about the extra moisture the drying washing causes in my somewhat damp house. I have been doing a bit of research on this and the amount of moisture drying washing indoors adds is a bit alarming.

I'm not sure of the alternative at this time of the year. I don't have a hot water cupboard and if I hang it outdoors (weather permitted) then it is damp again by the time I get home for work.

It something I'm still pondering.

Surprise

2010-08-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Finally the rain stopped for half a day and I went outside to transplant the raspberry canes to the garden I had prepared several weeks ago with a heaping helping of chicken poo compost.

Look what I found hiding from autumn when these gardens were the pumpkin patch.

Before

After

Those scrawny stick provided so many berries last year from their former position. I hope they do well here. They will be a lot easier to harvest in this position. I just hope my helpers don't get them all first.

Never give up

2010-08-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

Never give up seems to be Kathryn's internal mantra.

This weekend is being taken up with the Bay of Plenty Swimming Championships. Not much fun for the ~~taxi drivers~~ parents, but something she has trained hard to compete in. Only over the last month it has all gone wrong for her and she is very dissappointed with her results.

A month ago she swam in a meet in Rotorua. She had been complaining of a headache for about two days at this point. She had a great meet, all her hard work at training was paying off (she swims about 10kms per week). She not only got all personal bests, qualifing times for the Bay Champs, a first, second, third, fourth, fifth and six place in her heats, but she came second overall in her age group. The very first time she has ever had an age group placing.

During the meet her blood sugars were out of control, super high one minute and crashing to lows the next. By the following afternoon she was in a vicious cycle of highs and lows and feeling miserable. I tried without sucess to contact the diabetes team at the hospital and by mid afternoon she rang me at work saying she couldn't move because of the pain in her head and stomach. Off to the hospital we went. And four hours later and two epidosdes of hypoglycemia in the hospital waiting room we were finally seen. As none of the doctors or nurses at the hospital we were dealing with have every seen and insulin pump before all they wanted to talk about was the hypoglycemia. We went home the next morning with nothing being resolved. I was most unhappy with Kathryn's treatment and have put in a formal complaint.

We struggled through the week, swimming club, netball training, waterpolo training, school and a netball game. She kept going despite pleas from her mother to stay home and take it easy. We did get back better control of the diabetes but the headaches and stomach aches worsened. After her netball match where she shot twenty two goals, she lay on the floor crying. I'd had enough and took her back to emergancy. They still weren't concerned at all and suggested we go home and increase the amount of panadol she was having. I stayed put and insisted they do more tests - blood test normal (mostly), urine test - low level of infection, flu swab (later negative). Go home they said. No I said do more, there is something wrong with my daughter. Luckily they listened and took more blood and a chest xray. Oh they said she has once of the worst cases of pnumonia we have seen this winter. I can't hear anything (she wasn't even coughing) but look at those xrays. Another night in hospital and two weeks on antibiotics for you and shock horror no excersise for a week. Kathryn was not impressed.

As we left the hospital the next morning a nurse came running after us. A specialist doctor needed to see us. Guess what - the kid in the bed next to us was positive for H1N1. Fabulous!
One day after the antibiotic finished - guess what - Kathryn got the flu. But would she stay in bed - NO.

She completed a week of intensive sport education, waterpolo, netball and a very, very limited amount of swimming. So we get to this weekend. She's still sick, no getting around it, not doing well but turning up everyday (there are three) and trying her best. One more swim tomorrow morning, waterpolo tomorrow evening and then away for five days on a sports camp.

She never gives up and never slows down.

It's been such a long time

2010-08-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a very, very long time since I last posted. Wow, how life has changed during that time.

My garden grows nothing of use to me. It's a scrappy mess of weeds. I feel like it reflects my heart.

I no longer have my beautiful dog and I miss him very much.

My mum will receive no more treatment for her cancer, she is now on palliative care only.

Kathryn has her pump.

Craig started a new job this week a year after he was made redundant.

Liam continues to grow and be himself despite anyone else's intentions.

I work full time and have lost sight of what makes me tick.

I have decided to start blogging again to help me reflect on the journey to find myself. Much more is to follow.

My spare hour

2008-12-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

While having a quiet day yesterday to get over some of the stresses in the past week I decided to have a weed/harvest of the oldest third of my vege garden. I harvested, strawberries, the last of the raspberries, the first boysenberry, the only carrots I have ever grown (carrots hate me), a couple of lettuces, a couple of broccoli, the first of the red and brown onions,a cabbage, some sweetpea flowers and the first of the desiree potatoes.

Not bad for a strip alongside the driveway. Then of course I had to do something with them. I decided to give some to our front neighbours and say Merry Christmas.I really enjoy the fruits of my labour and one day hope to have a garden that feeds us, our neighbours, friends and family.

Latte gets his stitches out today and my Mum has her operation and gets hers put in. Busy day.

Trying times

2008-12-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

Sometimes swe focus on the wrong person and forget what is really important.

I am worried about my Mum's cancer and her operation is on Friday so she is a bit freaked out and needs plenty of support.

Of course the kids are really busy with end of year activities. Liam had a beach trip on Monday and school camp Wednesday and Thursday this week.

I of course volunteered to go along - I just like having fun. And agreed to sew more costumes in a hurry for a lady.

What about Kathryn? Don't take your eyes off her. Sadly on Sunday morning while staying at a friends house her friend woke to find her having a seizure. An ambulance was rung, then us and it all got crazy from there.

Kathryn is now fine, probably the seizure was brought about by low blood sugars. I feel wiped out, no costumes, one very upset little boy about his mother not coming on camp as she promised, one sad and still sore bored puppy and a big gardening mess.

We have been told that Kathryn needs an insulin pump. They cost $9000 and are not funded. I imagine that I will spend the first six months of next year fundraising. It seems like such a huge target but if that is what it takes then that is what I'll do.

A homemade Christmas

2008-12-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Latte the hyper pup has been a bit sore after his operation but is now recovering well, helped by his bone which he drags everywhere.

This year I decided that all the gifts I give (but not the Santa ones in our house) I would make. So I have been busy sewing, icing small christmas cakes, making hot chocolate and baking. It has been heaps of fun and I look forward to giving them out over the next couple of weeks.

The garden has been growing well and I had extra cauliflower so I decided to give Piccalilli a go. Easy to make but turned out a bit salty. I have noted on the recipe to use less next time.

I have also started the culture for ginger beer. I've never made this before so am looking forward to bottling it up and drinking it.

Not going to be daddy

2008-12-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

Latte the hyper pup is six months old. Starvingly hungry and off to the vets this morning to have the daddy parts of his anatomy removed.

Poor pup.

Catch Up

2008-12-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Life has been so busy since I last posted, complete with ups and downs. Summer has come and with it the better weather and longer days. I'll enjoy them before it gets too hot.
My garden continues to grow and look good. We have been eating raspberries and strawberries by the dozen. Every morning on her way to school Kathryn picks what she can see - I get the leftovers later in the day when I am watering. We have been eating peas, radishes, cauliflower, broccoli, silverbeet and potatoes. I am continuing to expand the garden and plant more but it has reached the size where I am having trouble keeping up so I probably won't expand to much more.
We have had some bad news with my Mum's skin cancer coming back 27 years later. The started off saying it wasn't treatable but by the end after all the tests they should be able to remove it all - we are just waiting for a date. SO KEEP SUNSAFE EVERYONE - IT KILLS.
Kathryn hasn't had a great year with her diabetes but we have recently changed medication and she is doing heaps better. She has won four first placings and a third in two swimming meets and qualified for the Bay Champs in three events. She passed her ballet exams, got honors in her national character dance and a trophy for passion in ballet. She has several parts in the show Cinderella next April and will be practicing hard for those in the new year.

Liam really, really can't wait until Santa comes and has a huge long list. He is loving swimming starting again, both club, school and home pools are well used.
I'll try to keep posting so you can stay upto date.

Camping Prequal

2008-10-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Last week the kids and I decided to try out a different type of camping and booked into the camping ground at Little Waihi. Little Waihi has a camping ground and about 30 baches lining an estary with access out to the sea and an ocean beach.
The camping ground is pretty basic with about 20 cabins that hold two beds each. I decided that being early spring the tent might be a bit cold and so booked into a cabin. Very one star - actually half a star might better describe it - but you can take your dog and we loved it.
Nothing to do except have the fun you make yourself. We walked for miles, played on the rocks, played on the beach, the kids and Latte swam, dug for pipis (and returned them), played with the little mud crabs and snails, waded to distant sand bars at low tide, flew kites, played games, had fun.
We'll be going back again as the weather warms up.

Camping

2008-10-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

I enjoy camping and so do my children. I don't enjoy the cold as much as they do but I let myself be convinced to take the kids and a couple of their friends to our favourite camping spot for two nights.
We camp at Brann's farm. It is a working farm and forestry block out the back of Paenagroa. They have several camp sites and three huts. Running water and composting toilets. Fire pits and picnic tables. And not a lot else.
It is heaps of fun not having anything to do. There is a small river that runs through native bush. They have developed a swimming hole and provided innertubes to float down the river in. The river is freezing cold even in the middle of summer but the kids brave it anyway - I wait until the middle of summer until I dip my little toe. It is also the only way to get clean so the smell of bodies in the car on the way home gets a little eye watering.
There are plenty of walks through the bush and around the farm. We walk for an hour through the farm and bush to get to a ropes confidence course. The kids love trying out their bravery and impressing their friends.
The kids (but not me) grab the sacks and go grass sliding down the hills. Then I get to deal with the dirt, brusies, scrapes and grass rashes but they go back for more.
We look at the glow worms at night, cook on a camp fire, play games and lie awake for hours in the night listening to the Moreporks.
Great fun, very back to basics, but we have been going back for six years and will continue to do so.
Thank you Jill and Jeff Brann for opening your farm to us and many others.

Hot Chocolate

2008-10-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

It was time to fill a jar for the hoopla stall at the upcoming Fireworks Gala at the school. I hate having to decide what to do so I did a little surfing and came up with hot chocolate.
I really enjoyed making the mix and decorating the jars. These went to the gala but I'll be making some more for gifts.

Sewing, sowing, sown

2008-10-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Some silly person (me) volunteered to sew the costumes for Liam's school production on top of the ones I sew to order.
School holidays and camping trips have brought this to a stand still. So I have taken action and packed the kids off to Nana's for three days so I can get them done.
Liam is an All Black in the production and his teacher has very bravely given him a line to say (I can wait to hear his line turn into a twenty minute monologue as he loves acting). Ahh the unpredictability of children with autism.
Off to sew 10 aliens and 5 spacemen.

Carrots

2008-10-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

How I wish my carrots would grow. I sprinkle seeds, I water, the cats dig them up and who knows what happens to the rest but only a few plants make it. Then they sit there at a few centimetres tall and look at me for months on end.
I need carrots or I am going to go broke buying them.
Liam loves his rabbits, and rabbits love carrots. They need to be feed them a lot (according to Liam) and he does.
I wish my carrots would grow.

Time to clear my head

2008-09-09T19:24:00.001-07:00

Look left!

Look right

Cross the beach.

You are blocking my sun!

While Kathryn was at her Speld assesment today Latte and I headed down to the main Mount beach to enjoy the sunshine.
It is raining heavily now - gotta love spring.

Herding instinct.

2008-08-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful spring day. No storm yet but it is clouding over. Yesterday was beautiful too until about this time when the daily storm rolled in complete with thunder and lightening.
I got busy and got planting. I put in tomato, capsicum, cucumber, celery, passionfruit and corn seeds. I planted out some parsley seedlings that survived the storm. I made a compost holder. A great idea of my dads. He uses plastic netting and makes a circle, cable ties the ends together and fills it with prunings, leaves and other things he doesn't want in his compost bins and then ignores it for a year or two. I have a different take on it. I am filling my smaller ones (about .8 of a metre in diametre) with my weed, scraps and leaves. Mine only stand about .4 of a metre high. When they are full (all four of them) I will move the first filled to a different spot in my garden and refill it. I figure its a good way to keep unused soil covered and improve it at the same time. But we will see.
Latte has an uneasy relationship with the cats. From his point of view he is better than a cat and they should all be rounded up, chased and provide him with hours of entertainment. Thomas and Knight strongly disagree and Doppelganger is prepared to make a truce so long as he doesn't have to be a chew toy. When watching Latte with the cats you can really see his Border Collie instincts.
You will go where I tell you.

Why do you not run so I can chase you. Obey me!!!
Puppy love mummy. (Actually I am holding him down so I can chew him some more)

Disaster 2

2008-08-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

We had three cute little chickens. We have one puppy and three cats who lead the cat council over our back fence. The cat council is made up of 23 cats - which is quite a few.
I built a stronger chicken run. I am not at all handy with tools but it was cat proof.
I have a dog. Dogs are stronger than cats.
I am sure you are getting an idea of where I am going with this post.
Dog is left outside unsupervised. Dog gets very excited by chickens. Dog makes quite small hole in poorly constructed chicken run. Dog gets bored and goes away. Two stupid chickens go exploring. There are some big fat happy looking cats sitting on our back fence.
So there was one. What to do? What to do? I've given up on building chicken runs. We have a nice strong rabbit hutch. Wave my magic wand and the chicken thinks it is a rabbit. They love to sleep in a heap - chicken on top.
All safe for now.

A little disaster

2008-08-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air. My plum is growing leaves, my apricot is budding up.My rabbits are hungry for spring goodies.
If you put rabbit cages close to trees they disappear.
The sister fejoia tree. Now you see it.
Now you don't. Let that be a lesson. And stop laughing!

Disaster

2008-08-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

We had a storm today - thunder and lightening.
We had a storm yesterday - thunder and lightening and heavy rain and a power cut.
We had a storm on Monday - heavy rain.
We had a storm on Sunday - rain and very, very windy.
It was the storm on Sunday that ripped apart all three of my little plastic houses. It broke my largest in many places and destroyed most of the seedling that were ready to plant out. I cried (being already stressed with sick kids).
Today I picked up the pieces and put them back together. I replanting any seedlings I could find. I planted new seeds. Spring is here and I'll soon grow a new lot but it has put back planting in the garden by a month. Thankfully friends have offered me some of theirs to keep me going.

World Famous

2008-08-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Latte is world famous.
Well maybe famous in New Zealand.
Actually only famous to those on lifestyle blocks (or wanting to be).
And who read the Growing Today Magazine.
The photo above made it to the publishing stage in the September addition of the Growing Today. Didn't win but who cares he is cute anyway.

Things really haven't improved much.

2008-08-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Just when you think things can't get much worse - they do. Liam got sick. Really, really sick. Kathryn didn't get any better and my stress levels just kept climbing.
Came to a head last Wednesday when Kathryn went into ketasadosis. I had already spent two days crying on the phone to the hospital that she wasn't getting any better while they tried to reassure me all it took was time. Liam lay on the floor out of it with a temperature of 40.9 and having autism he doesn't do medicine at all. I gave in and rang my doctor - they didn't have any appointments so I took the kids to the walk in clinic. They were too full and turned us away, even though I explained the situation and had Liam unconscious in my arms (he is really really heavy). Then as I was standing there crying in frustration they had a cancellation - but for one only - which one was sicker. In the end I chose Kathryn because medically she was more in danger. Two minutes later I had my referral to the hospital, but still no help for Liam.
So off to the hospital we went. Kathryn's referral got her seen quite quickly, four hour wait to see Liam they said. No beds in wards, no beds in emergency, not even any beds left in corridors, so we got an ambulance stretcher in the ambulance bay (and we were not alone).
I put Liam in the bed as my arms were killing me. He is such a dead weight and hadn't woken yet. The nurses kept trying to give him attention over Kathryn because at least she was up and walking (and very, very sick). Finally Craig got off work and came to get Liam, who was now awake and topping and tailing with Kathryn in the very narrow bed.
Craig took Liam off to a walk in clinic in Tauranga - just in time to have in start power vomitting all over him. There is some justice after all. Ten minutes wait at the new walk in clinic and they were being told it is just a virus go home and take painkillers (ha ha).
Kathryn was finally admitted back to hospital, finally got a bed in one of the adult wards (they had two to a bed space in the children's ward). They sent her home the next evening saying she was better.
It is now a week later and she is still sick. I almost took her back to be admitted yesterday but managed to get our specialists cell phone number and have taken to calling him at all hours for help instead.
Liam has continued to get better and I'll send him to school today because I need a break. I continue to cry at the drop of a hat but am getting through it all.
P.S. We have had a couple of non medical disasters too. It never rains, it pours - all the time, heavily and that is part of the problem. Weather!!!!

Tales of Woe

2008-08-17T01:57:00.000-07:00

For a week that started with promise it went steadily down hill and seems to still be in a slide.
Monday I ran a homeschool sewing class for a couple of friends girls. We had a great time, the girls sewed themselves a pair of pj's and were very proud of themselves.
Tuesday Kathryn stayed home feeling unwell and her blood sugar levels were a bit interesting.
Wednesday I took her to the doctors and told him no hospitals, I'm sure you can fix it. By 3pm we were in hospital and there we remained amongst doctors and nurses, sick kids and stressed parents, blood tests and drips.
Thursday the promised we could go home at 6pm and at 7pm and at 8pm but we were staying again by 9pm.
Friday we came home to a puppy who'd missed us and a Liam who hadn't that much.
Saturday the bloods were going haywire.
Sunday we tried to find a babysitter to go to my parents 'no kids please' housewarming. Plenty of takers for Kathryn but no one wants to look after small autistic boys. So feeling very sorry for myself as I sit here missing probably my only party of the year. I am going to have to make some more friends it seems.

I saw some bright shiny stuff

2008-08-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

It's true! I saw some bright shiny stuff I think is called sunshine. Actually it was beaming in pretty strongly - and I had sewing to do. I only managed one costume before sneaking outside to put up some more bird netting around the chicken run.

I think I banged inexpertly two staples before a friend arrived and made me a coffee. The aforementioned friend's husband is still supposed to be building me a chicken hutch. Before I knew it the morning had gone and I was taking Kathryn's netball team for their exchange with the other local primary school. So off we all wondered and played their best - with very sad results as we were far outclassed. Half way through the game winter came back with vengeance. The local bus company was called to take us all dripping wet back to school.

Once home, changed and drinking yet more coffee the sun decided to come back out. So I abandoned the coffee and went back to the chicken run. I popped the Dixie Chicks out and they loved it. Unfortunately it was not cat proof and the dog had a good go at getting in too. If it is fine enough today I'll see what I can do to make it safer while they are still quite small.

The wonders of the wet

2008-08-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

I am still sewing although I'll take some time of today to take Kathryn's netball team on an exchange with the other local school.
It has been so wet that seeds have germinated in out doormat - amazing what nature does.

Still sewing

2008-08-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

I am still sewing as fast as I can. I have six costumes of the original 19 to complete by the end of the week so I am doing quite well. I could have sold another couple but the time they had to wait put the buyers off - I'm not to sad about that.
My kitten had a sleep on Saturday and woke up without various parts of his anatomy. He seems to be recovering well and is almost back to normal this morning.
And Latte and I finally managed to walk all the way around the block - yay. I can't wait until he can walk just a little further (and faster) and we can go exploring.

When will the storms end?

2008-07-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

Wow what a wet week. I have to feel sorry for those up north and down south but mostly I just feel sorry for myself as I haven't been able to garden.
I have however decided the rain is a blessing in disguise. I make and sell kids costumes on Trade Me to earn enough money for gardening goodies. I sell about one costume a week and this keeps me going. Ooops this week I sold 19. Help I am sewing as fast as I can but have only got 7 done so far.
Poor neglected puppy and my chicks are sitting in a cage in the garage waiting for nicer weather and me to have time to finish making their run.

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails

2008-07-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Not only has my garden been ignored but my poor seedlings too. Due to the wetter than wet weather and my cute little time waster, I've not checked on my seedlings in the better part of a week.
This morning I got a call to say my chicks arrive tomorrow. This sent me into a bit of a spin as I still haven't got anywhere to keep them (and the friend building a hen house still hasn't either). So I dashed out to tidy my soon to be chicken yard starting with shifting my seedlings. Only there was not very many left. My sneaky suspicion is slugs and snails, however now there are even less due to the thing with the puppy dog tail. He thought it was a great game and single handedly destroyed about half of those remaining by jumping excitedly on them much to my horror and annoyance.
That said I shifted them to under the deck and started to put up bird netting to deter the cats and wild birds from my chicken run.
Once Latte stopped destroying seedlings he turned to his next favourite hobby - eating Doppelganger. Soon my poor kitten (who lets him) will have no ears or tail!

All has been quiet.

2008-07-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well things in the garden have come to a complete halt in terms of anything new or me lifting a finger. On the plus side I am eating the first of the winter peas, broccoli, lettuce and radishes.
School holidays and wet winter weather are not my only excuses for being so slack.
After 20 odd years of wanting one I have finally got a puppy. And he is soooooo cute. And sooooooo much trouble. His name is Latte and he is a boarder collie crossed with a husky. Yesterday I was reading in a magazine about the best and easiest types of dogs for a family. It read: the least number of characteristics your dog shares with a wolf the easier the pet it will make. Boy oh boy are we in for trouble because this dog is all wolf. Anyway here are some photos to make you jealous. And hopefully I'll get some gardening done soon.

School Holidays

2008-07-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

Winter and the school holidays have slowed me down a bit. Not a lot of gardening has been happening.
I spent a few hours today transplanting seedlings and putting in a new lot of seeds. My little plastic houses do an awesome job of keeping the heat in and germinating seeds. The biggest problem is room. I have been taking those seedlings which are not frost tender and putting them in the car port. Unfortunately then they get the cold weather and stop growing.

Snail Hotels

2008-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

After a week of horrible winter weather - I mean who'd have thought it bad weather in winter - the sun came out and reminded me I needed to get into the garden and have a bit of a clean up.
After mounding up the potatoes and a quick weed I decided to tackle the last of my pet peve in urban gardens, the horrible, snail sheltering agapanthus. So after a bit of digging and sweating I hauled the last from my vege garden.
Being as I am trying to recycle I did put them aside for my mother in law to recycle into her garden to help retain a bank. She can now go into the snail collecting business.

How does your garden grow

2008-06-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my friend Hay, just to show her even in mid winter after only gardening for two months I can still get things to grow.
The broccoli is my tea tonight - yum yum (I can hear squeals of horror from the rest of my family). Lettuce we have been eating for the last month. Silverbeet for rabbits and in preparation for the chickens. Radishes, carrots and spring onions for winter salads. Peas flowering, I can't wait to eat them and even Kathryn looks interested. Early potatoes sprouting, these for Liam to cut into his favourite food - chips. Parsley for good health. Cauliflower to horrify my family with threats of it being for tea tomorrow. And finally the single solitary lemon on my tiny lemon tree. I can't bring myself to pick it and will content myself with stealing (with permission) the lemons from my neighbours tree.
Enjoy the photo's and ignore the weeds, it has rained and been freezing cold for the last week or so.
Please no comments on the bad photography.

Gardening again

2008-06-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

A beautiful sunny bay of Plenty day once again. After a quick walk to town to look at the Lion's bookfair where I picked up some lovely informative books on herbs and cooking vegetables, I decided to do a little gardening.
I planted my two plum trees I had bought on Sunday from Petal Pushers in Papamoa. This has to be the friendliest garden centre I've come across for a long while. And the prices are lower than anywhere else around this area. I highly recommend dropping in for a look if you are in the area.
Planting the plums was a bit of a challenge as the back lawn is solid clay and after two days rain I have to say it wasn't any easier to dig a hole. After working up a bit of a sweat I tackled the stony corner of the bank in my fruit forest to plant an orange berry (also from petal pushers). This was even more of a mission, first scrap off the layer of weedy grass, the scrape out the gravel only to find a layer of thick foam and polythene. Hack a hole through this and I found some dirt to plant into. I think it is lucky orangeberries are weeds and extremely hardy. If it dies I'll admit defeat for that corner. The Bay tree I traded for some strawberry plants went into the herb garden and the orange tamarillo (also a trade) went in the fruit forest between the fejoia and an apple.
I then set about planting a heap of little lettuce plants from my lettuce bowls that had failed into the garden. The onions I put in last week look great and the peas are starting to flower.
Lots more to do but once again I have run out of money. Off to the markets again on Sunday to see if I can earn some more.

More plants in

2008-06-12T23:43:00.000-07:00

I found a few minutes this morning to do a little more gardening. I put in two fejoias to screen the compost bin. A dwarf orange/satsuma cross and a lime in the orchard (fruit forest). A Chilean guava to start my hedge and red onions in where ever they fit amongst the other veges.
It's a continuation of my big plan and hopefully I can get some more in tomorrow.

Cats can Recycle too!

2008-06-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute photos of my kitten Doppelganger helping me to recycle my waste paper into paper mache for making the bowls I grow my lettuces in.
A great activity to keep the hands busy while watching T.V. Although if you don't pay some attention to what you are doing you just might get a claw in the hand. And from Doppel's point of view he is lucky to still have all his whiskers.

The faces of an eleven year old.

2008-06-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

Wow my gorgeous girl is eleven and what an action packed eleven years it has been. I have loved you through them all but I know at times I have struggled to understand your point of view.
1997 you were born and spent most of the year crying and refusing to eat or be held and I loved you so much and proudly showed you off.
1998 you started to talk, were running around and then forgot how. We thought we found why and you had your operation. It didn't change a thing.
1999 you hated others being near and would cry if you saw your grandparents outside of their own houses. You had a baby brother who didn't exist to you except in the car when you would scream hysterically until we reached out destination.
2000 you started to babble and we found out that dada was you. At daycare you played alone and had to paint stripes down the paper as you entered the building. You never cried or cared when I left you.
2001 you went to kindy and had a few friends. I figured out that suso meant I love you and cried some more. Your brother was diagnosed with Autism and you became our forgotten child.
2002 you turned five and went to school. Over two months you learnt to talk and never shut up. You read and did maths far in advance of your age. You were strongly independent and hated the fact your brother could read better than you. You finally got your wish and started ballet.
2003 you stared in your first show at Baycourt. You had to change schools so you could attend the same school as your brother. It was hard.
2004 you repeated the year at school because you were immature for your age. You started to retreat again.
2005 you still loved your ballet and brownies.
2006 you got sick and I didn't know what was wrong. I nearly went out of my mind trying to find out why. You got diabetes and had to learn to inject yourself and do finger pricks. I cried at how brave you were. You stayed home with me and started to be happy again.
2007 you homeschooled and grew up so much. I was so proud.
2008 we moved house and you went back to school. You are unhappy again and still I love you my funny child.
I wish you a great future on the brightest sky this winter night.

Bags to away the Blues

2008-06-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact it is a horrible day the cold I have been ignoring for the past three days has laid me low. Thank you Liam for sharing, I love you too.
I am aiming to go to the Papamoa Markets on Sunday to sell some more stuff. In keeping with my permaculture practices I am trying to earn a small amount of money in a way I can enjoy. So I have been having a clean out and selling off all the surplus stuff we carted out here when we moved five months ago. I have already been twice and the pile is not getting any smaller despite reasonably good sales.
While I am selling my stuff, I have been developing my products to sell. I have been making paper mache bowls, painting them and planting them with leafy lettuces, then growing them to picking size and selling the whole bowls at the market. The theory behind them is I recycle the paper, the paint comes from trade painters, is free, decorates the bowls and provides stability. At the moment I buy in potting mix but I am composting madly so the soil will be sustainable. The seed I am buying from Kings Seeds organic range and they post it in recyclable postage bags. When the lettuces are grown to a height of about 10 to 15 cm you cut the whole bowl about 5cm from the soil and eat the lettuce leaves, then grow and cut again at least three times before planting in your garden or composting the bowl and all.
I have also been making kids costumes (sewing - me - who'd have thought) out of material I get from the Funky Junk Depot, a store of surplus household and business 'rubbish'. It cost $20 per year to join and you can take as much as you like. The only downfall is it is in Tauranga where I only get to about once a month so I have to take the pickings from those who live nearer.
Today while I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself I decided to sew some cheap reusable bags from left over material to sell at the markets. My hope is people might stop asking for plastic bags to put their purchases in if they can buy a material bag.
Now it's up to the weather and the mood of the crowd on Sunday to see how my goods sell.

First frost of the year!

2008-06-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

I thought it was a bit nippy when I woke yesterday. One look outside informed me to the reason. We had the first frost of the year. Good way to welcome in World Environment Day, at least with a frost the day was lovely. Sent the kids off to school early due to the extremely high levels of fighting and arguing going on. Peace and sunshine followed.
We'd spent the weekend cutting down the only three trees on our section, two camellias and a flowering cherry. I have discovered that the best way to meet the neighbours has to be to start chopping things down. The comments ranged from - How could you, now you can see into my house - to - have you got a minute to cut mine down too. I have to say that Jim is just not that interesting and we now have made some chutney making friends. The mulching pile is still huge, lucky Craig has next week off.
Anyway back to the garden. I had spent the day before stealing strawberry runners from a friends garden and had bought two apple trees on dwarf root stock and a raspberry. I spent the entire morning putting in plants and pulling weeds, planting seeds and planning what to do next.
Today we have no frost only a cold wind from the south and rain. Think I'll stay inside and plan some more.