Just a little tutorial.

The future of our garden and health, and an overseas trip!

Well, again it's been a couple of weeks. I'm just gonna NEVER ever say "I'll try to update every [insert time frame] " pfft. Let's face it, I'm unreliable with my blog. I'll be completely honest and say, don't hold your breath for the next instalment ... it might be a while :-/ . Because my posts at times are few and far between, I try to make what I do post, somewhat interesting!!

I read a post on a blog the other day that had me literally laughing out loud!! I hope it's ok that I link to it, but I really think it's an entertaining piece. Be warned there is a few words which some may find offensive... I don't, like I said, I thought it was freaking hilarious!!! Find it here -> Me and my menstrual cup I have used my new one that mum bought me in Finland recently and it is so nice to have a brand new one after ten or so years!! I love how much I've save in $ over the years though!!

We had some very upsetting news about 6 weeks ago. Murray's mum had had a stroke in Invercargill NZ. This meant only one thing... the next few days were going to be a blur! Muz hadn't renewed his passport when it expired in 2011. This meant chasing up an emergency NZ passport, booking tickets, packing for cold weather... it seemed so familiar to us, having gone through a similar event last year. Within two days Muz had his passport, his flight booked for the Thursday next, and he was packed. Finally, it was time to go. I would miss my Muz so very much, but we also knew that I could hold the fort at home while he tended to his mother. A week later we had decided that we were moving to NZ to take care of mum. The kids were ecstatic! Well, not my eldest daughter, she was a bit upset, because she didn't want to come with us, and she didn't want us to 'take her siblings away to another country!" With my parents still in Finland at the time I didn't want to tell them... but eventually I had to and mum was crushed!! Poor thing! as it turns out, Murray's mum wanted to move to Australia to be with us :) yay for everyone! except my second eldest ... she is now 'punishing me' by getting a piercing.  On what planet would putting oneself through pain punishing another?  LOL I said OK go for it, it hurts YOU not me... and it's your teeth it'll ruin, but whatever!! needless to say it hasn't happened yet - mama wins again! lol

So we're back. I went to NZ for 12 days just to help Muz, while my mum stayed in our house to take care of our kiddies and house duties. I sat with his mum while he did some running around and tied up loose ends for his mum. The stroke has done quite a bit of damage, mentally, and physically on the left side. We are very grateful that the outcome wasn't worse, and that she is in great spirits. She isn't a cranky person by nature, and this hasn't turned anything like that around. She's great fun, even if she does forget the name of today. I mean who cares right??? It's nice to have her here, and she is so far from a burden. And even if she was, she would still be here with us, because that's what family do. She spent a good part of her life looking after her son, now, he said, it's his turn to look after her :) and rightly so too!

Right. So in the back yard of the house that Muz grew up were daffodils. the most fragrant and beautiful daffies I have ever seen!! Muz ' father was a keen garden and had a green house (obviously! Invercargill can have temperatures of 18 degrees celsius...on a "hot day" lol ) and in the green house he grew vegetables and salads. I saw photos and was inspired!! Murray said he wanted to build me a green house... to be able to grow vegies here you HAVE to protect them from those furry, four legged, eat-everything-your-garden assholes that piss me off to no end, but I can't say that because one of Muz' mates is a wildlife carer  possums! At the moment I have two tomato plants in an old parrot cage to protect them. I hope they go insane trying to get my yellow grape sized tomatoes!! Anyways, I want to build a green house using recycled windows and doors... Murray said he knew exactly what he wanted to do. I think I will challenge him. It might be fun...and we'll have TWO in the end!! haha. I must remember to take progression photos to share. I have been browsing Pinterest for ideas. I'd like to be able to share our successes and failures (maybe! lol) with the intent of being helpful to someone else on the www :) 

We also have given our bedroom to Muz' mum, which means transforming our formal dining room into our bedroom :) I can't wait for that!!!!! 

well anyways. I do apologise for the mundane post. Dont' forget about me though... xxx If you are reading this, thank you :) and congrats hahaha

Busy in the yard :)

Well this has been a pretty productive week! We had built a big pen to accommodate foster dogs. We have a kennel which is actually three kennels in one, and a 13m x 13m pen, with a gate. This worked well for its purpose, but we have decided that fostering dogs is just not a thing we can keep up with since Murray is sick. He is in and out of hospital, and I end up with the dog chores, which ok, I didn't mind too much at first - I do love dogs I really do, but they are hard work and if it was ONLY that that I had to do then I wouldn't have had an enormous hissy fit while picking up huge mastiff poops, yelling "get rid of these effing dogs Muz I've had it!" complain. We do have four children to tend to as well as our own dogs and Muz when he is sick, on top of normal house duties. It does get a tad much at time. So now to do our part for the foster dogs we are the storage point for the local foster carers - we accept donations that people make to the rescue group ( Qld Staffy & Amstaff Rescue) food, toys, bedding etc. It's the least we can do to help a good cause. Oh while I'm at it, sending you to Facebook, please Like our Jasper's page too Please Bring Jasper Home We are working to help others reunite with their lost pets, while still hoping that Jasper returns to us. 

Onward to what we've done in the yard. The old dog run is now a huge CHOOK RUN!!! Oh how they love it! we started with two chooks - Laverne and Shirley. Then we got four more - George and Mildred (yes, I know... my son wanted to name his chook George, so I named the other similar one Mildred!) Thelma and Louise. THEN we got a black on and a white one...who our 14 year old daughter named... (omg..) Dr Dre and Eminem *rolling eyes* oh well... whatever lol. 

I don't have photos of the new chook yard but I DO have photos of the transformation which occurred last week. I am in love with it, even though it's not quite complete. It's my new garden shed, but we are going to make a fire pit for the Spring! 
Here are a couple of before and after shots (I LOVE looking at before and after photos, how about you? ) 

The gate is staying there. I've since hung a board that I put little terracotta pots onto with spider plants in them. It's looking better everyday, my little garden nook. 

Well anyways. Until next time! 

Tell me what you have been up to in your garden. Link me to your blog :) 

PS - A sad thing happened two weeks ago. A girl at my eldest daughter's school sadly took her own life, just a couple of weeks short of her sixteenth birthday. I am so heavy hearted whenever I think about it. What could possibly be so so bad in a child's life that they feel like the only way to fix it is to end it. There is ALWAYS help, there is ALWAYS someone who will listen. It's just so sad. This is why I have always told my kids never to be nasty to people, because you never know when that one thing you say that hurts them, might just be the straw that breaks that camel's back. ALWAYS be good to others, and if others aren't good to you, then stay away from them, or get help - never be afraid to talk to someone. There is always a way. Like they say - a problem shared is a problem halved. 

OH EM GEE

Well, it has been a while hasn't it? So much for all the awesome updates I was going to do from Finland! It was such a fantastic trip, and all that worry about being just with my brother was unnecessary. We don't have a lot to do with each other, we don't live too far away but we are just very different people and well, that's life I guess. You can't have everything lol. But to be with him for four weeks in his country of birth (yes, sadly, I was born here in Australia ) was so great! It was almost like old times when we did get along, when were actually nearly friends. He really has a good sense of humour we laughed a few times together... one memorable moment of laughter was at a gypsy. The Finnish gypsy women wear these huge skirts that have to hang from their shoulders. They are very heavy too. I said to my brother to have a look if there weren't extra sets of feet under the dress... I thought she may have had her little children shuffling along beside her lol... then my brother tells me no, they have like little swings under the skirt, where she carries her kids lol. In any case, she certainly did not look comfortable, not a bit! an she was waddling, I guess because of the sheer weight of the dress. Poor things! We saw them everywhere too.

We visited Lapland and were in Levi for the opening day they hold each year to start the winter ski season. I was so hoping to see The Dudesons there, because they usually are there on the opening day, but I didn't see them :( boo. We met a lady from Melbourne that was there on a skiing holiday. Was pretty cool to talk to an Aussie in Finland hahaha. Our cousin and her husband live in Turenki but have also a holiday house in Kittilä, just out of Levi.

The snow was incredible!! I had never seen snow in my life before and I was so amazed by it. I was mesmerised I really truly was. To see it float down and then to be able to see one perfect enormous snowflake on the car window, big enough to take a good photo with my iPhone! I was like OMG!

Just so so much to tell about the trip, so I won't really go into the finer details. My grandma's funeral was a lovely service, I bawled typically. I get caught up in the emotion of it all and then I just lose control, I just cry and cry :( even though it was in Finnish, I understood about 90% of it all... it was a Jehovah's Witness service which actually was nice :) very loving. Then we went to a cottage to have the wake. Beautiful Finnish food. There was a sauna there on the lake too but I didn't want to go in. I did go to "savu sauna" though a week after. OMG it was such a different feeling to a 'normal' sauna.

Old Finnish tradition is smoke sauna;SAVUSAUNA, that has no chimney. Wood is burned on a particularly large stove and the smoke fills the room. When the sauna is hot enough, the fire is allowed to die and the smoke is ventilated out. The residual heat of the stove is enough for the duration of the sauna.Finns loves Sauna, they feel so good, it`s great for your skin, relaxes your muscles, you sweat out toxins

And if you lean on the walls you will be BLACK!!! and that black stains hahaha my back was black for at least a week after pmsl. We drank wine in the savu sauna it was gooood. The men drank beers... it was so cool to just put the beers outside into the snow, go into sauna, then come out and have a coldie :) Brilliant!

We stayed at my dad's cousin's place. The best people I have EVER met in my life! So pleased to be related to such great people. I had sauna every night and it was wonderful! The skin on my face was glowing!  I would give anything to live in Finland, truly I would. I learned so much about so many things, and have come to the conclusion that I will end my days in Finland. Even if it's only the last few years of my life. I WILL go there. I am in love with it so much!

OK, so anyways, on our way home, we were supposed to have a 4 hour stop over in Singapore, but for some reason ALL flights into Brisbane had been delayed, still have no idea why though, maybe there was bush fires that affected visibility... probably :( but because of that, we were delayed an extra 8 hours!! so a total of twelve hours in Singapore. It wasn't too bad though, we got free food and hot drinks, and it was unlimited because we went to a buffet type area of the place. Seriously, I thought the airport there was more like a suburb all it's own. HUGE! When it was finally time to board, there was only a handful of people on the plane, it was fabulous!! slept most of the way home everyone on the plane had a whole row to themselves hahaha

When I arrived home it went all down hill. I drove home because Murray was getting sicker by the second. I ended up having to call an ambulance for him that night, which resulted in a two week stint in hospital :( He was in ICU for about four days, I was petrified of losing him. He said he saw his father, and felt him holding his hand... his father passed away more than 15 years ago. :( very scary time. What made it harder for me is the day after I got home, and Muz was taken to hospital, our beloved Jasper went missing, and still to this day is missing. I just couldn't bear to tell Murray, until I absolutely had to. I didn't want him to come him to find out that his best friend was gone... so I told him the day before he was discharged... I figured at least if he has a meltdown the hospital will be able to help. He was ok though, devastated obviously, but he said he expected it to happen for some reason. My parents were on a cruise and were due home on the Sunday after I got home (I got home on Thursday 15th November) They called me from the harbour when they got off the the boat in Brisbane to see how I was, and I broke down. I didn't want to worry them, and I didn't mean to break down but I couldn't help it. They came straight to my house instead of going home first to unpack and stuff. Dad cried with me. I was a total wreck with Muz so deathly ill and then the dog being taken. I love my parents so so much. They are always so loving and caring and helpful, I really am so grateful for them.

Muz had a lung biopsy and we were told that occasionally the lung will collapse after the type of biopsy they were doing... and well, of course, it collapsed, but it was because they said Muz had coughed during the op and they pierced his lung! So back into ICU for a couple of days. And still no positive ID of what exactly was making him sick. At first they thought it was double pneumonia but then it wasn't. Then they thought maybe it's PCP but then it wasn't, as nothing had grown from the samples they took... which is strange to me, considering PCP DOESN"T culture.... and guess what? he has PCP. BUT that jumped on board recently, because they gave Murray immune suppressing drugs to take, because his own immune system has gone haywire, and is attacking his lungs and possibly other organs too. But then when his immune system was being lowered (making him even more vulnerable to catching other viruses etc) this PCP jumped in ... so it was a course of hardcore antibiotics, cut the immune suppressants for a while... now we are finally on a steady paced medication plan that seems to be working weel. He is getting better and better and I am so happy because he is happy :) Up and up from here!!

My eldest daughter has moved back in with us now. It's nice to have her home. She is a really bright girl can be demanding, but what teen isn't at times? LOL I love her to pieces xx

fast forward.

So we decided fostering dogs while waiting for Jas to be returned to us, would be a good idea. Not even! LOL... it's too hard to let them go!! We have two foster failures now, which means we have adopted them LOL. fell in love, it happens! but we successfully found furever homes for a few doggies, so we did a little to help at least. We have now, just this weekend, turned the kennels and dog yard that we'd built, into a free range chook yard. We now have six chookies - Laverne and Shirley (which we have had since last year) Kath and Kim and George (yes, my son named her George LOL I love it!!) and Princess Bubblegum. Love fresh eggs, and having chickens is just a really cool experience I reckon.
Now our role in helping dogs is that we are the drop off/pick up point on the south side for other foster carers - we hold donations of food and other doggie needs - collars, coats, leads, toys etc. It's amazing the faith it puts back into humanity having people turn up with donations for the needy animals :) heartwarming <3 nbsp="" p="">
Today, we destroyed dismantled the old chook run. I've kept the coup part though, I am planning on transforming it into an outdoor reading nook. You know, a place to just chill :) it's going to be so pretty!! When it's completed I will post before and after photos. I always love looking at before and afters, always so amazed at the transformations. It's so inspirational to get out there and pretty up the place :) even if it is only a rental property - we still have to live here and love it, right?

OK, so I'm back in the blog game now. I'm not making daily update promises, but I do hope to at least update weekly... makes for long posts though :-/ meh, we'll see if I can build some interest in my blog... who knows, I might have something helpful for someone out there!! feel free to comment if I have made you smile, or laugh, or cry, or have inspired you  in any way :)
Have a fabulous week!!