Coffee Break

 

I have really fallen off the blogging wagon lately. Constantly tapping out blog posts in my head but when I finally get a chance to sit down I go blank...or start micro napping. It feels like we've had one flu after another for the last couple of months and Winter lurgies have really messed with my writing mojo.

 

Its a right pain because I've got so much to catch up on...starting with the news that my surgery has finally been locked in for August 7th. I had geared myself up to have it done by April but as is the way, the timeframe I was given came and went and the first half of the year disappeared with me left in a kind of limbo. The stress of waiting has gradually increased and I've found that the longer the wait the more I started doubting my decision to have my left breast removed. Now the wait is over and as much as it grieves me to lose my remaining healthy breast, I still feel that that it's the right decision for me. I'm taking the opportunity to be proactive against this hideous disease. The sadness of losing is deep but the peace of mind from getting rid of what feels like a ticking time bomb balances the loss. The next two weeks will be busy with preparation. Stay tuned folks.

 

For the past six months we've been renovating our rumpus room. It's been a 'fits and starts' kind of affair trying to get things done with two small boys underfoot but we managed to strip it back to the bare bones, insulate, plaster, paint and lay a new floating floor.

 

 

We thought that we'd leave our footprints under the new floorboards for someone else to discover in the future, should they give this dear little cottage another makeover.

 

 

Hubby did most of the hard graft and I jumped in halfway through. I freely admit that I'm a pretty poor plasterer and only a slightly better painter but I think that it has turned out ok given that it was my first big DIY using my dodgy right arm. It does the job, just don't look too closely at the walls.

 

 

With a comfy leather couch, bookshelves, a bench seat and coat hooks, it's become a lovely comforting library and guest room. The house feels complete and we love the space.

 

 

 

The winter school hols were quite eventful.

I managed to escape north for a long weekend with my sister, back home to the Sunshine Coast. It was a wonderfully laid back trip catching up with family and friends.

 

 

There was a LOT of laughing, a LOT of coffee and cuddles and good food and bubbles and a LOT of sunshine and sleep.

 

 

It was just what I needed...time away to regroup and reconnect.

 

 

 

I came home to my beautiful boys and my nieces & sister-in-law who came down for the first week of school hols. Unfortunately the Jackman copped a nasty flu while I was away and his asthma was rife. I knew as soon as I walked in the door that it was going to be a long night and sure enough it was. I found myself taking Jack up to the ER in the freezing pre-dawn hours for some oxygen and steroids because the ventolin just wasn't cutting it. We were home by lunch time and I spent the rest of the week trying to keep him quiet while Margie and the girls took Harry on day trips to places like Parliament House and the Acorn Playground at the Arboretum.

 

 

 

The second week of school hols was fairly quiet with the exception of a day trip north to Goulburn. We took in the Lynley Dodd - Hairy MacLary Retrospective at the Goulburn Regional Gallery which was divine.

 

 

Followed by a tour of the Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre.

 

 

There was an icy wind and it drizzled with rain the whole time but the boys were blissfully unaware...they were far too busy wandering around, in, on and under gigantic old locomotives in the roundhouse.

 

Enough for now...time to feed the hungry herd.

 

xx Em

 

 

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Bust the Budget

 

 

Dear World,

 

Just want you to know how deeply ashamed I am of Australia's current government. I did not vote for Tony Abbott and deeply regret that so many apathetic, ignorant Aussies happily bought into his three word slogans during the election campaign last year to put him in power.

Some have since regretted doing so, most won't admit to it.

 

I am deeply ashamed at the horrific physical and mental harm that our Government is inflicting on the men, women and children who have sought our help and protection as asylum seekers. I am outraged by the sheer arrogance of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison who refuses to keep the Australian public informed and thinks that decent Australians won't question his militaristic approach to this Humanitarian problem. I have one word Morrison...REFOULEMENT!

 

I despair at the bone headed ignorance of this Government as it continues to deny the scientific evidence and economic impact of Climate Change. It disgusts me that a Government so openly tied to the coal industry has the power to send our country backwards when it comes to the Renewable Energy sector. It flies in the face of reason to deny the fact that in a country such as ours, renewables like wind and solar are the most abundant environmental and cost effective energy choices. And despite Abbott's fear mongering claims, the carbon tax has actually done its job in reducing emissions. It angers me that they just don't care about the devastating impact that their choices have on my children's future, let alone their own children and grandchildren.

 

 

 

 

I am sorry that all of the great things about our country, like our universal health and education systems, science and research community and welfare safety nets are being attacked and eroded by extreme right wing ideologues. And for whose benefit? Certainly not the vast Australian population. Certainly not for economic prosperity and certainly not for those most affected by the budget cuts and policy changes.

 

It embarrasses me that our nations leaders are so blatantly...well....stupid. They prove daily that they are bereft of intelligence, logic & common decency. Qualities I would have thought vital when governing a nation. It shames me that Abbott and Co. govern by inarticulate deceit, denial and smug self interest.

 

 

And so, World, I will continue to get off my ass and get out into the streets to protest alongside thousands of other concerned Aussies in rallies like last Sunday's Bust the Budget, until enough of Australia wakes up from its apathetic slumber. When it does, we can kick this hideous mob out, apply critical thinking to our democracy and demand a better standard of Government.

 

 

 

 

 

We want you to know World, that we really are better than this.

Not all of us are ignorant, racist, redneck bogans.

xx Em

 

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