I am so glad it's over.

 

It has been a long day of catching up on dishes left in the sink and washing left in the hamper.  Chris has been unwell and is just starting his antidepressants. Not being able to turn off thinking enough to sleep and other symptoms of depression, the doctor thinks they are warranted.

Because Chris is temporarily unable to drive, I have taken over and it has injured my good knee. Tonight, it is as painful as the one with the meniscus tear.  I have been unable to bear any weight on it. Hence the housework waiting for me.

After three days off the leg, I have just been able to get the dishes washed and the washing caught up between limping back to my couch. Chris was well enough to dry the dishes and put them away for me. As we speak, he is putting the folded clean clothes away.

My BP is soaring, no doubt to the extra pain. My knee pain is just the cherry on the top of a delightful fibromyalgia flare and bout of sciatica. I feel like retiring to my bed and staying there for a week.

But where does a wife who is a carer to her carer husband go for a break? There's no such thing and the most she- I, can hope for is to do my housework in my dressing gown.

Life goes on regardless of fibro or knee pain, or exhaustion or.... whatever.  I have sorted our pills for the next week and given Chris' his as I took mine.  

Xena's been fed and I poured fresh water into her bowl. The electric blankets are on with the promise of soothing warmth for my aching back and muscles. 

So the day is nearly over and my house is in order once again- and I am so glad it's over.

My daily homemaking chores

So that we won't live in a pig stye, I try to keep to this schedule no matter how I feel. It is based on Sharon White's Legacy of Home blog.  I often read through this to motivate me, but for really fibro brain fog days, I have highlighted the chores for quick reading. I have modified it a little for my own home...

WAKE UP: BLOODS, JAB AND MEDS FEED XENA

1.  There is the breakfast hour, which includes tea-time. First we prepare the meal and set a table.  I often set up a tray- table and sit in the parlour before anyone else is awake.  I am an early riser so I have my tea while the sun is just beginning to rise.  I enjoy this quiet time of resting from the brief bit of morning work.

Later, when the family has their eggs and toast, or fresh baked muffins with fruit, it is time to do the dishes.   We wash the table and the counters and do the sweeping.   All the work of tidying and making things neat are part of the breakfast duties. 

2.  Often, during the morning hours, we do the laundry or the dusting and vacuuming. Each day has its special work. It may be Wednesday is for washing floors. Perhaps Thursday is for cleaning the bathroom.  The mid-morning hours are a good time for many of us to do these special duties of making a home look pretty. LIST WORK FOR THE DAY

3.  The Lunch hour is such a wonderful time to stop and rest.  We put out a fresh, clean tablecloth.  I love my white-and-teal checkered cloth.  It looks so homey and old fashioned.  We can set up our plates and napkins. We can do this even if we are just serving grilled cheese sandwiches, pickles, and chips!  It makes the lunch - work like a reward when we sit at that pretty table and rest and eat while we enjoy the family.  Next we do the sweeping and the dishes, much like we did in the morning.  

4.  The dinner hour is such a precious time in the day.  I often start working on the evening meal at 3 in the afternoon. I work slowly and take lots of breaks. Sometimes I peel potatoes and start getting a little casserole ready to bake.  Other times I might do much of the work for a pan of lasagna. I like to put these pans of prepared food in the refrigerator and then just take them out to bake when it is just about dinner time.  That way I get a great deal of rest between all the work.  CLOSE THE BLINDS AND LIGHT THE LAMPS.  BLOODS JAB MEDS 

Sitting with the family and hearing the blessing (or the prayer before the meal) is such a peaceful experience.  It is lovely to just sit and enjoy dinner at the end of a long day.  Then the work of tidying, doing the dishes, and sweeping the floor happens.  We make everything look neat and pretty. But I do not like to rush.  I do not want to just "get the work over-with." I take my time and go at a steady pace.  The work of cleaning and accomplishing the beautiful work of making a neat home makes me happy.  It also brings peace. SHOWER OR BATHE 

These four tasks of homemaking do not take a great deal of effort.  They may seem simple and ordinary.  They may seem mundane.  But if we dress up in something pretty, wearing an apron, and keeping our hair up in a pretty style, we may find ourselves enjoying the work.  I have an old blue-and-white gingham apron that I love to wear. It is getting old and ragged. I will have to make a new one this coming fall.  I need a fresh supply of lovely aprons to wear as I do the housekeeping.

When we look extra nice as we do our work, we can find joy in the labor.  Doing the little tasks of keeping house, each day, with a feeling of contentment, will bring a true feeling of comfort and happiness to the family.  It will help them feel welcome and loved in a happy and simple home.

We need an ark!

THURSDAY NIGHT: We are having unseasonable weather with flooding and high winds. Currently having our tenth power outage in 24 hours with large trees blown over lots of roads and in the parkland opposite our house we are out of our diabetic medicines and we can’t get to the chemist.

We have been advised to stay home for safety. I am so glad we are on a steep slope.

FRIDAY: We managed to get through to our closest chemist so we have our diabetic medicine again! We had dinner at Chris's son's as they had gas to cook with. They live near us! 

We have no heating whatsoever and it's winter and the weather is freezing. My fibromyalgia has come out to play! 

SATURDAY:  So pleased that the power came back on last night. 

SUNDAY AFTERNOON: We have just got the modem back on but the phones are still on SOS only. 

The waters came up very high so that the cows couldn't get any food from their pasture behind our back garden. A farmer asked us if he could go through our back garden to leave some hay bales for them. Of course we said yes and he managed to place some in the small island of land in the middle of the flood waters. 

I don't need food or medicine so it doesn't matter that we can't get out for the moment. 

The farmer who came through to feed his cows was very nice and he said he's lived here all his life and has never seen the weather and floods as bad as this one. The weather bureau said the waters should recede soon.

This is the view today from our back porch. The hay was delivered to the island strip of land because through habit that's where the cows were plodding looking for feed. The farmer's house is in the background.

My focus for today is to wash all the dishes and do some washing... I will be cooking lamb stew for tonight. 

More rain is forecast for the next few days with more flooding. If it gets any worse, we are going to need an ark! 

I am very grateful!

I am feeling excited today because I actually feel human. I even have a few spoons! This is so unusual that I feel like throwing a party! 

The Prednisolone has helped me get over my polymyalgia rheumatica and fibromyalgia flares and I am weaning off them. My blood pressure is coming down too.

It probably is because Chris had a good report from the doctor on Wednesday. Fluid in his lungs, on his legs and feet is gone. Bloods are better as are his sugars. Just high BP but not overly worrying.. He's sleeping in bed again... so. very. grateful! 

Those of us who are chronically ill know that stress exacerbates our illness and it certainly was the case the past fortnight. 

I am keeping up with the dishes as I mentioned a few days ago and I am pleased to report to you that they are still under control.

Today I have done a load of washing and I am presently washing and bleaching all my towels as I have been chucking them in the washer without sorting the wash and they are a horrible grey colour.

With the dryer my spoons will not be taxed too much. I am doing roast chicken, roast potatoes, and vegetables for dinner.

An old hand at pacing myself so as not to burn out for tomorrow, I will be resisting the urge to do more than I should.

In the recesses of my mind, I can vaguely remember that feeling of joie de vie that comes with youth and health. It's almost how I feel today. I am very grateful.

Just keeping my head above water

 

I have copped a double whammy with both a flare of my fibromyalgia and polymyalgia rheumatica.  The pain and fatigue are overwhelming.

No doubt this was caused by Chris's diagnosis of heart failure, my daughter's impending leukaemia specialist test results, my grandson going to prison and the pain this has caused to us as a family.

I am feeling extremely unwell and was hesitant to take the Prednisolone my doctor ordered, but after a phone consult with him today, we discussed the risks v advantages and decided the risk was worth it.

Although I am feeling exhausted, the Prednisolone has given me a high that precludes going to bed for a nana nap. I have just sat up in the loungeroom watching and feeding the birds.

I have a sink full of dishes to do but no energy to do them. The only reason I am blogging now is that I am sitting and it takes very little of my limited spoons.

Recently, adapting to our new normal, our dryer was placed on top of our front loader washer and this has helped me so much with not having to stoop too much with my sore back and hips.

If I was well, I would have hung the washing out to dry as the last few days have been lovely warm autumn days here in Australia. But I have to use the dryer as I can no longer peg the clothes out or stretch my arms above my head.

When I finish talking with you, I am going back to my couch aka "the beach".  I will be doing steak, chips, eggs tomatoes and baked beans for dinner. 

Spiritually I am doing fine, it's just the physical that pulls me down- and I am exhausted just keeping my head above water!

I hope his mother's not nearby!

So I went into my laundry to check on my dryer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move very, very fast from Xena's litter tray area.

Moving the laundry hamper out of the way, I saw a brown baby snake. He looked like a worm but he had a fat head of the snake variety.

I knew it wasn't a worm because he was too fast and as I watched him, he slithered back under the door into the back yard.

Flinging open the door, I thumped my broom to scare him away, but he had already disappeared. Probably under the house.

There's a half inch gap under the back door. Enough for a baby snake to get in. Chris is going to fix a metal door draught stopper strip along the underside of it.

It's made me slightly (much) frightened. Not that I wasn't expecting to run into a snake eventually with living in the country. I just didn't expect that it would be in my home!

I hate snakes and confess to momentarily thinking of moving or burning the house down! But I quickly came to my senses.  I hope his mother's not nearby! 

When I do, I don't!

 

When I was a young woman, I ironed clothes as soon as they were bought in from the line. It was something as regular as clock work.

Gradually as the babies came and later on, spinal problems, it dwindled until I only ironed what was strictly necessary, that is- what was seen.

Twenty three years ago, my iron was kept in the linen press and only saw the light of day for service on a high holiday such as a wedding or funeral! 

As fibromyalgia overtook my life and abilities, my iron was boxed for posterity and now serves as a door stop to keep my back laundry door open when the dryer is in use!

Life for a sacrificial home keeper is difficult enough with what absolutely must be done to keep a home. There are things that must be done daily and goodness knows, there are little enough spoons or energy to do that, let alone lift a heavy appliance and stand or sit to iron clothes.

With sleep a precious but scarce commodity, coupled with tearing sore muscles, we must keep our home making simple. Ironing is simply too taxing on the chronically ill woman to seriously consider as part of a daily routine.

At first, I was particular about how I hung my washing out, in order to leave no creases and so minimise the visual effect of unironed clothes. But over recent years, polymyalgia rheumatica and arthritis vyed with fibromyalgia for first place in pain stakes.

I could no longer lift my arms to peg the washing out, and I was forced to make use of my dryer every time.

By doing just a load of washing a day, it doesn't build up and I find with less clothes in the dryer, that they come out almost wrinkle free. I try to grab them as soon as the drying cycle is over. All they require is a quick shake as I fold them and put them away.

Don't get me wrong! The OCD and perfectionist in me baulks at having to do this, but the practical and pragmatic inner woman says it is OK. It is simply my new normal.

There's plenty of tasks each day vying for first place in sucking on my limited spoons, so when I have a few spoons and I am tempted to drag my iron out of its' box: I don't!

Today's lists are:

• Clean kitchen
• Do a load of washing
• Cook chicken garlic breasts and mashed potato for dinner

She would have made a great mother!

So last night I was watching a FB video on a cat which had recently had kittens. They were squeaking loudly, all trying to latch onto their mother for their milk, and I just watched, enjoying those cute little fluff balls.

Suddenly, Xena jumped up to my computer and parked herself in front of the screen, totally absorbed with the vision in front of her, her ears forward as she listened to the babies and their ear piercing hungry cries.

Just after I took this picture of her, she stood up and frantically looked at the back of the computer, walked around it, sniffing and was totally distraught.

She turned to me in desperation, totally convinced there were kittens there who needed attention. It was sad to see her imploring me to do something. I did.

I turned the video off and comforted Xena. When she had calmed down, I decided that it was not fair to do this to her.  As a rescue cat, she was spayed at 7 months, so she never got the chance to have kittens. 

She would have made a great mother.

Today I have to reserve my spoons as I battle fibro and have some errands to do. On my to do list is:

• Go to chemist again for scripts they had to get in
• Buy some groceries that I couldn't get online
• Do washing
• Cook a shepherd's pie for dinner

Flying with the birds

 

We came home on Boxing Day from spending Christmas Eve and Day with Chris's daughter. Xena was especially glad to see us- almost as glad as she was seeing the birds coming into the back garden to feast on the remains of the nibblies platter I ordered. (I took a photo for you!)  See the kooka on the door mat that the wind blew over?

We had a lovely Christmas with family and it was very relaxing. So much so, that my fibromyalgia flare is lessening. I actually woke feeling refreshed and my muscles weren't feeling like they were tearing like they usually do.

It's been so long since I have had a respite from fibromyalgia flares that it felt strange. Good, but strange. Isn't it sad that one lives on the edge of agony so much that when the pain even abates just a little, you find the sensation agreeable but foreign? Such is fibromyalgia!

I received some nice presents for Christmas, but my favourite gift by far is some spoons or energy! I feel like I have won the lottery! Now if my broken tail bone would hurry up and heal, I would be rapt!

You know too how I said we have a lot of kookaburras around? Well, yesterday I was washing some dishes and I saw a kookaburra on the fence in front of me. I grabbed some offcuts of  beef that were on the chopping board from the stew I was preparing and quietly opened the back door. I pitched the meat towards it and it came down to eat it, but its mother, who was quicker flew down and carried it off, much to her baby's consternation.

She flew off with the beef dangling from her beak and her baby followed squawking in protest. I am sure she would have been a good mother and shared it with him. It made my day. I have found God often treats me with little scenes that delight me like that. I call them Love Glances. Just between Him and I...but I digress..

Having a few spoons has brightened my spirits. I have washed clothes, done dishes, made our bed, cooked lunch and prepared dinner. 

I must hold back and pace myself though or I will crash and burn and be of no use tomorrow. It's a trap that I have fallen into before. But meanwhile, I will pace and plan cautiously even though I feel like flying with the birds! 

A welcome break

 

So yesterday, just after talking about kookaburras being prolific here, I was washing the dishes at my sink, when a baby kookaburra burst out laughing on my back fence.

As it turned out, his Mum wasn't far away, joining him in a chorus of laughter from my clothesline. By the time I grabbed my phone to record this for you, they had disappeared.

We have a very good feeding ground with abundant water and food in our back garden which has meant a lot of breeding goes on here. We love it.

These agapanthus plants have just blossomed and make a beautiful display in the backyard as well as at my kitchen window.  Some are white, but most are deep blue which is my favourite.

My fibromyalgia is so bad today with the inclement weather. Even my fingers are aching. I am just waiting for my pain killers to work. Not that they do much.

On today's to do list is washing and dishes. So far I have done two loads of washing- dried in the dryer and folded and put away by Chris. I usually do a load a day, but Chris's site where he had an abcess removed bled under the shower yesterday and I had to call an ambulance.

While we were waiting for them, I rolled a clean towel up and we applied pressure to the wound. There was a good deal of blood and when we transferred him to our bed to look at the wound, I had to cover the bed in clean towels to protect it. Consequently I had a lot more washing to do today.

Apparently I did the right thing by applying pressure to his wound and by the time the ambulance got here, the heavy bleeding had stopped. He didn't require going to hospital, thank goodness. But it did give us both a fright.

Even though I am mindful of the amount of electricity using the dryer is costing us, I find when my fibromyalgia is bad that it is actually worth it. In comfort and spoons, money sometimes has to be spent.

My bed is clean but unmade today as I really think I will have to give in to my pain and fatigue and take a nana nap later.

Dinner is farmhouse chicken in the slow cooker. I am so grateful for my hand maidens on days like today.

I am hoping to see the baby kookaburra with his mum again today.  They are always welcome at our place and were a lovely break from the dramas of the morning...

A restful reward

 

With the weather warming up, the fabulous bird life has returned from their migration up north. Every day there's a wide variety of minors, parrots, cockatoos, mudlarks, magpies, rosellas and corellas and kookaburras. And of course, there's crows and their cousins, pied corrowongs.

We keep the bird feeder stacked with seed and we also throw our scraps to them and they literally wait for us. In fact, no sooner is that back sliding door opened, than the magpies alight to snatch away the bread we've thrown. They are almost tame and even knock on the door for us to feed them.

This is so restful and when my fibromyalgia is flaring, I often lay on the couch and watch them. 

Lately, my fibromyalgia has been bad and even though I need to rest during the day, I don't necessarily need or want to be in bed, so I have found bird watching to be something I look forward to. Obviously, if I fall asleep, it doesn't matter. But feeding and watching the birds has a calming effect on me and I love it.

Today my to do list consists of washing a couple of loads of clothes and doing the dishes. I didn't get them done last night and they haven't miraculously disappeared. No, they are waiting patiently for my attention. 

With muscles cramping and spoons all used- obviously part of those waiting to be washed- I am meting out my limited energy with a zeal reserved only for survival these days.

I best get it done, even if it is in short bursts of energy. Eventually they will disappear and I have the birds to watch and amuse me as a reward afterwards.

Planning to live

 

As you know, I have had fibromyalgia for over 24 years. It never gets better, but by careful planning of my life, I find I can most times live a balanced life.

There are occasions in life that are unavoidable. Sometimes it is of a medical nature like the time I simply had to stir my stumps and get to hospital for my heart stents. It was literally a matter of life or death. No choices about postponing because of a flare- it just had to be done.

Sometimes it is something we have looked forward to and simply can't miss- like our 10am wedding in Melbourne 22 years ago. You may wake up like a train has hit you, but you have to go or life as you want to live it, would take a turn for the worse. As I said, there are occasions in life that are unavoidable. And sometimes, it's worth the anguish! 

Living with fibromyalgia is very tricky. One does not know how one will feel on any particular day, and often accepting an invitation to a social occasion or  keeping a medical appointment is always on a tentative basis. It depends largely on how intense one's pain is at the moment.

Planning to live with fibromyalgia is very necessary and as seen, it is not for the faint of heart. It is necessary to plan and plot moments in our life to allow certain events to unfold.

If I know I have a special event tomorrow, I will plan my menu for the next couple of days to include slow cooker or easy to prepare meals, or I will cook ahead if I have sufficient energy. Or do frozen TV dinners. Housework is set on the back burner for a few days, with me focusing mainly on just doing a load of washing if necessary- and even so, I will use the dryer to save spoons.

As we Fibromites know, after a day out, the next day or two (or three) can bring on a fibro flare and we will be trying to recover and will not be fit for much activity for those days. So we have to plan ahead to include rest.

If we take care to include days of rest after a day out, we should be able to incorporate days out when needed and in so doing, we will be able to feel that we are actually living and not simply enduring or existing.

Medical matters must be attended to look after our health and happy occasions must be attended in order to make memories. If we fail to plan to live, we will always feel that we are on the inside of the window looking out as life passes us by.

 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.  Psalm 90:12

Help is on the way!

So last week I got a phone call from the Aged care people to inform me that they can send a woman to clean for me. She will be wearing a mask and social distancing they tell me...

She is coming today early in the morning, so I have gotten up, dressed and breakfasted and stripped off our bed for changing. My fibromyalgia is flaring, but I have had to ignore my sore muscles and look to the next few hours when the cleaning lady is here.

You can't imagine the relief I feel as we can't manage heavy cleaning anymore. Vaccuuming, mopping and bath/shower cleaning knock us both out. As I have said to the Aged care people, I can do things at waist level like cooking and washing dishes. 

I no longer use the clothesline to dry my washing which is a shame because there's nothing quite like fresh laundry that's been dried by the sun. However, since my polymyalgia rheumatica bouts, I have trouble raising my arms: it even hurts to brush my hair. Which is why I now wear it short. It's manageable.

Today is the day I refill our medicine containers and that means that later on I will have to get to the chemist to get prescriptions refilled. I also need to buy electrodes for the glucose monitoring machines.

Our sugars are still too high, even though Chris is now on 20 units of insulin twice a day plus his oral medications. I have been put on Januvia 50mg a morning with 2 diamicron tablets. We are not winning this battle against diabetes 2.

So I am looking up dishes to make that are low GI and trying to learn about reducing blood sugar. And although it seems like I am taking steps backward, at least I am winning in the cleaning stakes because mercifully, thanks to Centrelink, help is on the way!

And Baby makes three!

 

For the first time in ages, I have a few spoons and I have been having a few days of respite from my fibromyalgia flare.

It is forecast to rain over the next few days, and the weather is cold, so I probably will find this respite all too brief. But, we live in hope.

I have been taking stock of our pantry and fridge because many abattoir workers have been taken ill with the virus and only one abattoir in Victoria remains empty. Which means that there will soon be a shortage of meat and in particular, mince.

Also here the Covid cases are mounting fast and we have been given stay at home orders. So I will be doing my grocery shopping online. I want to make sure I rotate the food we have and don't over buy on things. So that is my plan for today.

I have some bread dough proofing and I will bake that for tonight. I will be serving crumbed fish, mash and salad with it for dinner.

My washing and dishes are up to date and that makes me happy. In fact, I am very happy up here despite the quarantine.

I love our home here in the country and I feel very happy and grateful to God for giving us this home. If one has to be under lockdown, I can't think of a nicer place to do it.

Xena is happy here as well. It's been cold lately but we have turned the heater off as the sun comes in the back sliding door and warms the lounge room nicely.

Obviously not enough for Xena who spotted Chris's new Oodie on the couch, and so decided to make a little nest in it for herself. 

I have a pink one, Chris has a navy one. Best money I ever spent. We love them and it looks like with Xena, that Baby makes three! 

Another day at the beach!

So today I have been feeling so much pain with my fibromyalgia that I could cry. I am not a sookie-la-la type of person, but a body can only take so much.

I haven't achieved much indoors, in fact I have just done meals, checked our finances, fed Xena and done one load of washing.

My muscles feel like they are tearing-literally pulling and twanging when I stretch my arms certain ways. I am taking paracetamol every 4 hours, using the slow release ones for night time. My doctor doesn't want me on anything else...

I did wash and hang out my Oodie  and the weather was beautiful. This morning was so cold at only 2 degrees C. The water in the birdbath was frozen solid.  I am pleased to say that the Oodie is great these mornings- so great that I bought one for Chris as well.

We are in the throes of selling our fifth wheeler and tow vehicle. It needs to be cleaned inside as I have never been back inside it since coming here at Christmas. 

We are getting a lady to clean it for us, and we are going to get the GMC Sierra detailed. As the pain in my knee is now bearable, I refuse to go up and down those stairs one more time. I don't want to risk upsetting the meniscus tear again.

The sun is shining through the back sliding door. I am going to "the beach" again when I finish talking to you. This is the view I have and coupled with hearing the running stream you can see just beyond the fence, it is exactly like laying on the warm sand listening to the birds and waves...

Watch, pray and wash your hands.

So this Corona Virus is getting serious here Down Under. In our home state, Victoria, people have been dropping like flies after a whiff from the can of Mortein. 

Melbourne and metropolitan towns have been told to stay at home and even  we in the rural areas have been asked to limit our business outside the home.

Masks are becoming mandatory after midnight Wednesday for those in lockdown and we here have been requested to comply. 

We had  a telephone consult about our three monthly blood tests and although Chris's sugars at 9.2 have come down, there's room for improvement. He has to double his Januvia tablets.

My sugars were 8 which our doctor has said was good but could be better. I do have a high GTT on my liver report. Just another thing to worry about, I suppose. Kidney function is good. Cholesterol is fine too.

I don't get much sun as I am inside mainly so not surprisingly, my vitamin  D is low. I am to take 2 Vit D tablets from now on to give it a boost.

Due to comorbidities, Chris and I have been told to wear a mask when shopping etc. I accordingly bought some on ebay today because it is cheaper than the chemist.

I am experiencing some itchy hands from the constant hand sanitisers when we leave the house. I know they are important, and I do use them, but I use soap and water at home.

It's just another cross to bear with fibromyalgia vying for top place in the itching field. My hands usually only itch after I clap my hands. 

But all in all, we have to stay vigilant to stay safe, so I will do as I am told. We have faith in God, but have to have a teachable heart with matters like Corona.

So we keep social distancing, and we watch and pray, and wash our hands. 

Strine's a language all its own.

They say English is the hardest language to learn, but I think good old Aussie slang called Strine, is harder still.

We Australians have a unique language which causes problems to even English speakers who aren't in the know.

It is funny to speak Strine amongst ourselves and we delight in shortening words, names and places.

For example, when speaking of the Corona Virus we call it Rona. The town of Mordialloc is Mordy, Broadmeadows is Broady, and Dandenong is Dandy.

I am having a lot of fun teaching my English husband how to speak Strine. He's been naturalised and has almost lost his English accent and has lived in Australia longer than England now. But every now and then, a new Strine word will come up and he asks me for the interpretation.

"Got a bingle (crash) out in Broady (Broadmeadows)... towies (towtrucks) on site but as a result it's chockers (bumper to bumper or full) in that direction"  There now,can't be any clearer can it? lol

Today I am catching up on dishes and washing. I will be serving chicken parmigana with mashed potato and greens for dinner.

I am so glad that the Bible comes in easy to read language: something that can speak to all of us and not just a select few. I just can't see a Bible written in Strine as something that would minister to all men because as I said, Strines' a language all its own.

Bed: my control centre!

Over the last 50 odd years, health issues have seen me having to take to my bed. It wasn't easy when I had 4 children under 5 years when glandular fever strikes and wouldn't go away. 

Likewise with schuermann's disease ravishing my vertebrae and spending weeks at a time in traction in hospital, I have learned to control my home from my bed.

With my back or heart problems requiring days of rest and my never-ending fibromyalgia flares, I still have to take to my bed at times. And apart from having a few nana naps, I have many hours to fill in. 

It is definitely possible for us chronically ill women to keep our households in order from our bed. Being ill or disabled does not preclude us from serving God or our families. 

With a bit of planning, we can be like that Proverbs 31 Woman.  God loves us regardless of how fast we spin our wheel. 

So today with the heavy rain we have been having last night and today, my fibromyalgia is beckoning me to my bed. There I will take my laptop and organise my finances, work out my week's meals and listen to scripture and worship music.  I will also pray. Blanket prayers, I call it.  And yes, I will be sleeping a little.

I have done a load of washing and it's in the dryer. I will be folding that up and putting it away sometime this afternoon when I get up. God willing: and spoons, of course! 

The dishes are soaking in hot soapy water and can wait. I will do them whilst I am cooking lamb chops, mashed potato and green veggies for dinner.

Not a lot will be done today except some resting up and controlling my household from my control centre: my bed.

Playing with my toys

  

The Australian government gave us pensioners $750 to hopefully help the economy with the Corona Virus. 

I wanted to do my bit, so I spent it on things for my kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It wasn't entirely frivolous because you may recall I gave away or sold most of our things when we downscaled into the fifth wheeler to become grey nomads.

When it all went pear shaped with me tearing my meniscus and becoming housebound, we found we were lacking quite a few things for our new rented house. I decided to spend the money on fixing that.

So the last few days I have been happily playing with my new toys.

It is so nice to have enough saucepans and frypans now. I made a lovely cinnamon and sultana cake for Chris. Later I made zucchini spaghetti and garlic with my spiraliser and last night I fried some salmon portions in the new air fryer.

After that I enjoyed my bath cushion followed by a nice sleep in my new sheets set. 

Today's to do list is to:

1. Make zucchini spaghetti again with salmon for dinner.
2. Fold and put away a load of washing
3. Take a nana nap to overcome my fatigue from fibromyalgia.

The really crappy thing about fibromyalgia is that even good stress like this still uses your spoons. Hopefully, I will have enough spoons left to cook that dinner as I play with my toys.

Home is the new church

So today is Resurrection Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. It is a joyful day in the Christian calendar and one I look forward to each year.

I am so grateful that Jesus saved me from my sins and that when I die, I will be with Him for eternity. That is a wonderful promise to hang onto in these uncertain times.

This year will see many of us viewing online Easter services and I will be doing that later, but today I will be taking Communion with my sister and one of my sons online. We will be FaceTiming.

We did this last week and it was very fulfilling. What better way of celebrating Resurrection Sunday than by worshiping and remembering Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us all?

I have some homemaking chores to do:

1. Make pumpkin soup
2. Fold a load of washing and put it away
3. Clean my kitchen

I will get to this hopefully after Communion today. I will be taking it under our picture of the Last Supper where Christ introduced Communion as a way for Christians to remember His sacrifice. 

It's quite pleasant to be home doing it: like other things we have to accept for the time being: home is the new church!