2007 - 2008

OK, the last few weeks...... Heather finished year 9 and Abs finished year 7 - she is now finished with primary school and starts at Heather's High School in a few weeks time. She had a cracking last couple of weeks at school. Trips to the cinema, Wet n' Wild, disco, graduation ceremony which was held at a local High School - brilliant evening. Apparently in previous years they have had year 7 formals - 12 year olds in long dresses and going to the event in stretch limos - a tad over the top - cancelled from now on as parents got a bit hacked off with paying out hundreds of dollars for the evening!!!

Anyway, All the kids had to go up on stage in a class at a time and then the 'most improved' 'smartest kid' etc got special awards (they weren't called that, they had better titles) and then each childs name was read out and they were presented with a graduation certificate by their teacher. Then the sports and arts awards and finally a great powerpoint presentation with music showing pictures of all the kids doing the various camps and stuff over the year. I was holding the camera up, focussed and ready for a pic of Abs; she finally showed up and I went to click and Heather nudged me hard and said 'there's Abs' !!!! Thanks for that! First off, I do recognise my daughter and secondly the picture is now rubbish because I got the curtain instead!

So they've finished school and hey, guess what, summer disappeared - who'd have thought it? Not seen the sun for more than an hour at a time for three weeks. Most days have been very very cloudy - lots of rain, not too chilly though but jeans (for me) weather. Probably about 23-24 degrees which obviously to the UK lot is fab but to us, it's not.

Christmas. Was pretty damn good. Shopping here for Christmas is, I think I've mentioned before, is soooooo chilled. Plenty of parking, no humans rushing around like the world's going to end soon, no one buying every toy known to man for their little darlings. I had to nip out Christmas Eve for some milk - parked right outside the entrance, in, got milk, queued for a few minutes and out and home and I couldn't help but remember queuing to get into the car park at Waitrose!

Kevan was first up - as usual, Abs appeared (apparently) at about 7.30, I surfaced at about 8.30 and Heather popped up by 9 - nothing changes. Thank god they were never kids who woke the house up at 3 for pressies. Girls had a Nintendo DS Lite each and a few games, cds, dvds - usual stuff. Kevan got a fishing tackle box, and tools - one of which was a pop riveter with a swivel head - he was very impressed. I got a hairdryer, a George Foreman grill thing and books and cds.

We then went up to Brissie for Christmas lunch. We'd booked for a paddle steamer trip up and down the river with buffet. Fab food - the traditional turkey do, stacks of shell fish, salmon, salad, veg, christmas pud, pavlova, fresh fruit, blah blah blah. Weather ok. No sun as such but warm and dry and not windy which is always good when on a boat with lots of food.

Most of the above tell their own story - how lucky are you guys to get a pic of me!!!! Look closely and you can see that Kevan managed to throw his lunch down his shirt. Panic not. It did come out1 We were on a two storey steamer but it's sister is a three storey. The bridge is the Story Bridge which is a sort of icon of Brissie and you can climb it like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The final pic shows that the sun finally came out briefly as we docked!

Home and flop infront of the TV for Transformers and Harry Potter. All in all a good day, chilled, relaxed, no arguments (except for a diddy one when Kevan couldn't work out the Sat Nav) and lots of fresh air. Sadly no pool because it was too chilly for that.

Kevan's been off since the 21st and goes back to work on the 7th but he had the chance of two days work last Thursday and Friday so took it - you know what he's like. We decided to renovate the laundry so we (he) started that, ripped up the old floor, took cupboards out, relaid floor and old cupboard units back in without doors. We then wanted new doors, worktop and sink but obviously the shops were shut for the break so we (he) were stuck and that's how it's stayed.

Got the washer and dryer back in and started up only to find the washing machine not working properly - pump blocked and therefore water all over the new floor but at least the drain in the floor works. He's been varnishing the new door and scraping paint off the surround the last couple of days. He'll be pleased to get back to work.

Weather wise has been a bit of a nightmare the last few days. Warning! technical speak coming up......... a large low formed out over the Pacific but north a bit (not totally technical speak obviously). Anyway this low moved south and west and it was looking as though it was going to become a cyclone (they're not good). It hit land up at Fraser Island but wasn't a cyclone but was quite nasty. Fraser Island is a fab place - lots of sand and 4 wheel driving on the beaches and THE place to go camping over christmas. Result? Everyone evacuated off the island. Anyway, weather steadily worsened down here, high high winds, torrential rain, no sun - grrrhhhhhh. New Years Eve celebrations on the Gold Coast - cancelled! All the firework displays cancelled. Fireworks are banned from the general public here which is brilliant because if you have the public displays, you don't get fireworks going off for five days before and two months after - anyway, we didn't get any at all!

Heather went up to Wet n' Wild for the outdoor movie and fireworks - came home very wet and fairly wild looking. Stacks of rain and wind and no fireworks. She was shattered and couldn't be bothered to see the new year in, neither could Abs and Kevan had obviously gone to bed at about 9 so it was Billy No Mates here on her own watching the TV and chatting to people on forums/MSN etc.

Texted loads of people to say happy new year. Watched the fireworks in Sydney and went to bed. Just coming out of the bathroom, pitch dark, phone rings, run round the bed, trip over a leg, swear, get phone (still ringing) can't find the answer button in the dark, pressing lots of buttons, (still ringing), finally press the right button - person rung off. Assume it was Debbie and go to sleep - sorry Deb!

Saw London's fireworks on the TV at 10am. Very impressed. Last time I was in the UK, people were told not to go because the fireworks were cancelled or the police didn't want people there or something Ken Livingstone like. Seemed like the London Eye was going to go up in flames at one point but very good all the same.

Weather getting slightly better. Saw some sun today briefly but stacks of rain. On Sunday Abs and I went down to the beach (they've all been closed since Friday or Saturday - too dangerous) to see the waves. Got some great pictures. Only people in the water were jet skiers although one guy went out with his board on the back of a ski but I don't think he tried surfing!

And finally....... The Payne Family Health Blog Spot........ Kevan did something to his knee a few weeks back, got very sore and was limping. A couple of days later the pain and bruise came out in his ankle! He carried on working and it seemed to get better. A couple of weeks ago (may be longer - my memory is rubbish on stuff like this) a huge swelling came up below his knee cap so he went down to emergency room at the hospital and they said he'd split something and got an infection in it. Gave him some antibiotics, strapped it up and away he came. A week later it was worse so he went back and the infection hadn't gone away so the doctor stuck a couple of syringes in it and drew out stacks of gunk - he was very brave, didn't pass out or anything. We think it's now ok but who knows. He was on crutches for a few days.

Me, my shoulder is getting better. Far more movement in it, less pain but I still can't put my arm behind my back or other stuff but definitely getting there.

Heather........ Well here we go.... Couple of weeks ago, Kevan at work, Abs out at a friends, I nip out to the shops, get back inside half an hour and find Heather coming out of a seizure!!! Call up an ambulance who turn up very quickly and off we go, again, to Tweed Hospital. We were told last time that she would have to have about 8 seizures before they would diagnose Epilepsy. This time, we saw a doctor we'd seen before and she said "OK, I'm diagnosing Epilepsy, and will prescribe drugs from now!" Oh bugger!

Us being us, see the bright side of this, being on the drugs now means that providing she takes them when she should and doesn't do stuff she shouldn't, in theory she shouldn't have another seizure. They weighed her and said the amount of drugs she needed - for the first week she was on 100mg three times a day, second week was 200mg, third week - 300 mg up to week 5 on 500mg. Only downside to this is that they gave her lots of 100mg and 200mg so in week five she has to have 2 200mg and 1 100mg three times a day - oh joy! She then has to have a blood test and then a visit to the consultant who will then tell us how much she needs to take from then on.

Unfortunately she has to take them very regularly 8 hours a part so Kevan is having to wake her up at 6am to take the first - Heather? 6am? Oh Shiiittttt! She so doesn't do mornings. Neither do I which is why Kevan has the pleasure! Anyway, it's going well, only forgotten one once.

Her friends are brilliant. Two of them have learnt what to do if she has another seizure and when she's out and needs to take a tablet, they remind her. The boyfriend is cool about it, he thinks she's fairly weird anyway so it's all good. She should be able to drive and live normally - as normal as any of us, anyway!


Abs is fine!!!!!


I think that's about everything for now. Been a fairly eventful month, keeps us on our toes. Be back soon!

Oh, Dawn and John, lovely to get your message. Hope you're both well, pleased you like the blog.

Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2008 is good to you.