nemo

most of wombat's come from the soft toy section at savers (its actually value village-- the font and colour on the signs, the tags and even the layout of the store is the same and it actually says "value village" on their gift vouchers). last nite i went up there and zac specifically asked me to get wombat a new toy to destroy. i searched thru the soft toys looking for one that wasn't new looking that wasn't more than $1.99 (they start there and the prices go up). i found i small cow that i wasn't too impressed with but i decided to get it. later (i spent an hour wondering in the quiet store), i was wondering thru the furniture section in the back and noticed a large shelf high up FILLED with gigantic soft toys. i noticed one massive bear was tagged $1.99 (it was WAY to big to go on my bike though). i d shuffled a few things around and found a pretty ratty looking nemo and he was only $1.99!!! (and i could squash it in my bag). wombat has never had a toy this big. it's been pretty funny watching her with it.
carrying nemo:

chewing nemo:

resting with nemo:

we gave her nemo at lunch today (before that we just left nemo on the back of the couch and told her "gentle" and "for later". she actually listened (i even left her alone with nemo while i showered 5 minutes after showing it to her and placing it on the couch). nemo is still pretty much intact. a couple of his fins are looking pretty chewed and a bit torn and the eyes are pretty slobbery but i think its actually a bit challenging for her. i think i'll be shopping in the furniture section of savers for her toys from now on.

grey and rainy

after the hot weather, the thunderstorm and the humidity now we've gone to mild, grey and drizzly rain. it'd be good if it would at least rain hard because this drizzly rain is a bit useless.
we had big plans for tonite too. it's my first weekend i'm drinking again (for 6 weeks while i was sick and on medications) and we made plans to go celebrate zac's new job and ending of his old job (which happened a month ago-- the the peak of me being really sick). we were gonna go for a drink after he finished work then head to the morroccan soup bar as soon as it opened at 6 (the ONLY way to get a table there, especially on a friday nite) then we'd meet up with a friend for drinks or something after dinner. the grey sky finally broke into rain just before i left work (but not hard enough rain that i actually wanted to go to the effort of putting on the rain gear i had in my bag). now our pre dinner drinks and meal out have turned to pizza and beer on the couch. hopefully the rain/drizzle will stop and we'll still meet up with our friend later tonite. maybe i should put up the christmas decorations while its nice vancouver-y christmas weather.

what are they doing?

we have some pretty strict water restrictions in melbourne (basically cars can only be washed in commercial car washes that follows restrictions, lawns can only be watered during a 2 hr period, twice a week and not with drinking water.....). after the past 2 rain storms (today and the other day) i've heard the neighbour's back hose spraying (on what sounds like the cement ground they have). why would someone feel the need to water the pavement and why would you feel the need to do it directly after rain? i'm pretty sure they don't have any rain tank (i'm not actually gonna peer my head over our 6 foot fence) which would mean that's good water that's just running down pavement and eventually ending up the the creek.

if you don't like the weather.....

in melbourne they say "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes". if i'd done that today i wouldn't have had nearly as much fun.
in the last 5 minutes of my shift at work we heard a couple rolls of thunder and a few large drops of rain fell. i had taken my rain gear out of my bag at lunch because if it wasn't raining at the end of my shift i was going to the supermarket and i didn't want my bag filled with rain gear. if it was raining i'd just go straight home so it wouldn't matter if i got a bit wet. even though i saw the dark clouds, heard the thunder and felt a bit of rain i decided to take my chance at the supermarket. i was hoping the storm would pass while i was inside. i came out and everything was a bit wet but not like a storm had come thru. the moment i had my bike unlocked and started walking along the covered sidewalk to the road HUGE drops of rain started pouring down. i thought about waiting undercover infront of the supermarket because i knew the storm would pass within 10 minutes but what would be the fun in that (and there was a kid busking with his violin and he wasn't very good-- 10 minutes of that after a day of kids yelling and crashing things wouldn't have made me a happy person). i got on my bike and rode the 5 minutes home thru the storm. i actually really like riding in rain when its warm and i'm on my way home where i can change out of wet clothes. i passed a bike rider going the opposite direction at one point and we both smiled as we passed-- we're definitely having more fun than the people in the cars with rain pelting their roofs, echoing in the inside of their car. i swear, the INSTANT i rolled my bike under our carport the LARGE, POURING DOWN drops of rain turned to a light spring shower. by the time i changed out of my dripping clothes the rain had stopped completely. the photo above is the tail of the storm just after it passed over our house.

up and down

after freezing for most of the weekend and monday (i actually got my winter jacket when i came home for lunch) it was nice and warm again today. even though 25 was the forecasted high i don't think a lot of people really believed it after 3 very grey and cold days. a lot of the kids were overdressed today. i was a little bit warm too(i'd put a long sleeve shirt under my tshirt and was too warm most of the afternoon but never made the effort to go take it off). i definitely prefer being too warm over too cold though.

puppy eyes

unfortunately the focus isn't quite right but she's pretty cute anyway.

winter

just over a week ago it was in the 30s. now its FREEZING (almost literally). i bet its the same temperature in vancouver right now (and just as grey and rainy). i don't mind one day like this in december cuz it actually feels christmas-y but its too early to put up christmas stuff now. its also my first weekend that i feel almost completely normal again and i was looking forward to a big long walk in the sun, coffee and beer gardens (i'm still not drinking but hanging out there with friends is fun anyway). at least we're getting some much needed rain. i wouldn't mind it to be 5-10 degrees warmer though.

its hard to tell in this photo (i couldn't get the camera settings right quick enough) but its raining and hailing and the little white spots over the bins are hail stones bouncing up after hitting the bins:

32 days

i finally went to the supermarket today for the first time in over a month. even though i've been mostly better for about a week i was still getting tired a lot so i didn't really do anything outside of going to work (which i did 6 days last week and 4 this week). today i had my first r.d.o. since i've been back. i've been trying to get things done and relax at the same time (i did pretty good with the first bit, i can't get myself to sit though). i went to the supermarket, the asian grocery store, made vegan "cheese", did some yoga and took the dog to the creek. i wanted to get some laundry done but the forecast was showers turning to rain so i decided to hold off on the pile of dirty clothes that continues to grow. it's been sunny with a few clouds but still hasn't been any sign of a shower. its supposed to be shower-y on and off for the next several days (what happened to summer?) so i think somewhere in there i'm gonna have to do some laundry (and probably hang it inside if i'm not gonna be around to pull it down when the rain starts). now i'm trying to figure out a way to bike to northcote without going uphill (hard considering the part of the suburb we want to go to is right on top of a hill). i don't think my lungs would like me much if i tried to go up westbourne street (a HUGE hill) so i'm thinking its better if i take a long route that just goes slightly uphill.

santa

i was looking at a book with a couple boys at work yesterday. there was a picture of santa and one of the boys started talking about how he met santa once. a girl nearby turns to me and says "i met santa once. i'm pretty sure he was a woman though....."

haven't talked about the weather

i usually mention the weather fairly often. i guess the fact i've been inside most of the last 3 1/2 weeks has meant i don't get to enjoy what's going on outside. its finally starting to be summer-y (only a couple weeks til it's officially summer). we've had some hot days (and nites) this week. this morning was kinda "cold" after 3 nites where it didn't get much below 20C (and days over 30C) but we did get a couple good thunderstorms roll thru with some much needed rain (and now we have a nice sunny mild afternoon). hopefully soon i'll be well enough to fully enjoy the weather (get out and do some hikes) cuz i had a bit of setback in my recovery this afternoon-- ended up having to go back to another doctor (i've now seen 3 doctors at the non-bulk bill clinic who have all been amazing) and on another drug as well as i got a shot of penicillin. i think maybe i pushed things a bit to hard this week so i suddenly started having a chest ache and painful cough from lunch time onwards today. gonna take things pretty slow over the weekend (other than a 1/2 day of work tomorrow morning to meet next year's kids. i'm gonna make sure to not physically do much at the orientation though-- even if it means i'm a bit useless in the setup and clean up for the day).

a taste of home

last week i placed an order with u.s.a. foods. it arrived today!!! i've gone to their shop twice in the past but now they've moved even further away on the other side of town (it was a bit of a trek by public transport or car) so i decided it was worth the petrol or public transport fees and time saved to just pay the shipping costs. i spent a lot less online than i would walking into their shop (after spending close to an hour getting there, i need to justify it with a big bag of expensive food i can't get anywhere else in the city). it's still pretty pricey (like $15 for a box of cheerios!!!) but well worth it (especially since this will be my last box of cheerios before going fully vegan). i also got a coffee crisp (coffee flavour and chocolate together.......mmmmmm), some dark chocolate m&m's (which i didn't know existed but i used to always getting the "mini baking m&m's" which are dark chocolate so i'm sure the big version will be good too) and some cinnamon tic tacs for zac because he loves anything cinnamon flavoured and australia doesn't generally do that flavour (they also don't do chocolate and peanut butter together but zac's makes that for us a lot). i can't wait until after dinner so i can have a nice big bowl of cheerios and a few m&m's.

amazing

i have an amazing husband 8) the past 3 weeks he's had to take care of me, the house and the dog (that's a long time to have to do all that). the first 2 weeks i was sick he was working (his last 2 weeks of work at his old job) but he managed to juggle things around to drive me to the doctors (multiple times) and take care of everything else at home (walking the dog twice a day and cooking meals as well as some cleaning). last week he was off on a break before starting his new job. he spent a good part of the week cooking, cleaning, running errands, taking me to more doctors appointments, helping me be entertained when i started to feel a bit better...... he had yesterday and today to himself before starting his new job tomorrow. today he managed to do 3 loads of laundry and even washed some things i would have never expected him to think of washing (like the bath mats), cleaned the kitchen floor, bathed the dog, cleaned up the computer hard drive (we got an external hard drive a couple weeks ago and he finally got around to finishing moving all the big files on it with our slow usb connection and defragmented the internal hard drive) and he even came out and met me for lunch in the middle of all that. even the one day he got the flu he still managed to make meals for me (i wasn't eating much at the time but i was too sick to actually stand long enough to prepare food for myself). i'm finally well enough to be able to cook a proper meal again so tomorrow will be my first attempt at cooking for us in 3 1/2 weeks (other than a tray of nachos with cheezly and tomatoes i made on the weekend for us). by the weekend i should be well enough to fully help with the cleaning and walking the dog again (my first attempt at walking her will be thursday or friday but it'll just be a short walk around the block because she's pretty fast paced and pully)

recovering

i'm getting there. i went back to work yesterday and so far have made it thru 2 days ok. i got a bit worried on the weekend about going back because saturday we tried to walk about 1km to a coffee shop and i was "panting" (as zac put it) and had to walk really slowly. when we got to the coffee shop and again back home i had coughing attacks. i figured if i didn't improve on that quickly there was no way i could even get to work on monday (even if i was ok enough to be sitting and moving around at work). sunday we got up and walked about 1km again to get coffee and i was fine. then we walked a few kms around the neighbourhood and hung out at a couple pubs with friends all afternoon and evening (i wasn't drinking though). i was fine. other than really struggling with getting to sleep at a normal hour the past couple nites i've been ok too (sunday nite my brain just wouldn't stop thinking-- until about 2:30 am, and last nite i kept coughing when i layed down so i just sat up in bed until after midnite). i go back to the doctor on thursday and i'm hoping he'll realize that i'm gonna need more antibiotics (i can tell there's still a bit of remaining pneumonia). the casual i've been working with the past 2 afternoons just had pneumonia too and is on her 4th dose of antibiotics! (i'm hoping 3 will do it for me).
thursday (if my normal afternoon co-worker is actually back) will be our first day together with our full team in 3 weeks!! apparently last week the morning teacher was the only regular staff in our room for 2 days (meaning she also had to do 10 hr shifts those days since we can't just put 2 or 3 casuals in a room together alone). it'll be good when everyone is well again.

creatures

we've spotted a few creatures in our house in the past week. of course i had to pull out the camera and get some pictures.
zac spotted this black house spider eating a fly:

its a fairly big spider (that fly was a decent sized fat house fly)

i'd briefly seen it a couple days earlier when i walked into the kitchen and the vibration of my foot stepping on the tiles sent it running up its web into the corner of the window frame where i couldn't see it (they're very timid spiders). you could tell it was very wary of me with the camera so close to it but it must have been really hungry cuz it kept working on its meal.
today i spotted a ladybug (or ladybird as they call them here) while i was in the laundry room. it let me pick it up and carry it around the house so i could get the camera and set up a good photo setting (white paper) but then it got all fussy about the white paper and just wanted to crawl on the carpet:

our furry baby

the other day zac took some photos of wombat playing. among the dozens of photos of her using her paws to hold down the toy while she pulled up with her mouth were these 2: about a second before zac took the photo below the brown thing in her mouth(a de-stuffed wombat) was inside the gray thing in the background (a faceless koala). she was shaking her head around violently when zac snapped the photo.

one day i'll have to get a photo of all her toys. she has about a half dozen soft toys from savers-- all of them defaced and mostly gutted (occasionally we stuff her de-stuffed soft toys into the koala for her to pull out again). she has a system when she gets the toy. she rips at its face (always its face) until she gets a hole big enough to pull at its insides. then she pulls out bits of fluff and spits it out into a pile next to her. she never chews or swallows any of the toys or their insides.

she's been very good about me being sick. only once in the past 2 weeks has she asked/demanded a walk from me and that was when i got dressed and brushed my teeth before going to the doctor one day. i walked out of the bathroom and she assumed since i was dressed when i brushed my teeth that it meant walk for her (unfortunately for her it actually meant she was being put in the backyard with her kong toy). when zac was sick yesterday and neither of us could walk her she didn't ask either of us once. poor girl had a very lazy day of sleeping on the couch, her chair and the bed but i think she knew why she was having a walk-less day (i think that's only the second or third time she's ever had a walk-less day when me and zac are around).

getting there

the antibiotics are working and as long as i'm sitting i'm fine. walking is still an effort (after i walk a short distance--like the length of the house-- i'm breathing a lot harder than i should have to).
i got worried the nite before last nite when zac woke me up in the middle of the nite saying he was shivering he was so cold. his skin was soooooo HOT. he had a fever (which is what i started with before it was really pneumonia). i spent the rest of the nite worried that both of us were going to be too sick to do anything. i still can't cook (it's exhausting) and i needed him to be well enough to go to one clinic today to pick up my xrays and then get a flexicar and drive me to the other clinic to get more antibiotics. fortunately after resting all day yesterday he seems to be completely fine and was able to cook, drive and run other errands for me today (he has been sooooo good at taking care of me the past couple weeks).
zac still thinks i need to see a different doctor at the first clinic. today when i went in one of the things i needed him to do was write a certificate for work. he thought about it a minute and said "how bout friday-- do you think you should be able to work on friday?". he knows what i do for a living. i just reinforced that my job is quite demanding and i already got sent home once in the past 2 weeks for not being 100% (i felt way sicker that day than i do now though). so he wrote the certificate for the entire week expecting that i should be able to work monday. i'd love to be able to be back at work on monday but not if i'm not well enough. i'll see how i go this week but if i'm still not well enough monday i'll be going to a different doctor (probably at the non-bulk bill clinic) to get another certificate (the doctor at the non-bulk bill clinic told me i need to spend at least one day at home feeling 100% before i am well enough to go back to work).