Five Things Friday Oh So Much Pain

Good afternoon all here we are at 1.45pm on Friday afternoon been a pretty good day after a not so good Thursday night so here is this weeks five things.

Crying please make the pain stop

Taking 10 minutes to get off the toilet

Walking to lounge room with knickers around my knees

Phone call to Jessica for help

Jessica coming and pulling up my knickers and then putting me to bed

These things happened to me last night around 6.15pm, I was in bed and asleep by around 7pm today I have been much better slept in till 6.45am this morning and the day has been pretty good.

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Did you know

Today it is bloody cold here, Leo slept in this morning didn’t get up till 7.55am and we left here at 8.10am to take him to school yesterday being the first day of the school term Leo was asking from the time he got here how soon could he go to school, when I asked him how his day was when I picked him up he said great.

Now for this weeks did you know………………………..

The French eat more cheese than any other country in the world…………………………….

I can tell that I like my cheese, as does Tim my youngest daughter Jessica isn’t a fan of cheese unless she is having a cheeseburger or cheese pizza the girl is strange.

School Down Under

Hello everyone, today is the first day of the second school term of the year, I had to go and get Leo this morning as Jessica has no fuel and no money for fuel till this afternoon, since I was up anyway it wasn’t a bother to go get him.

Natasha rang while I was having breakfast and wanted to know if her dad was home, he was and as he was sitting next to me I passed the phone over, she had a flat tyre and needed him to go and change it, which he did because that is what fathers do.

Anyway since it is day one of term two I thought I will talk a little about school down under. Our school year runs from January to December and is broken up into 4 school terms, each term is roughly 10 weeks long. The school day is generally from 9am to 3pm but some schools have earlier starts at different times usually that happens with high schools.

Of course education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 & 17, our schools are broken up into generally speaking primary school and high school, students attend primary from kindergarten to year six and high school from year seven to year twelve.

A number of years back it was introduced that all students she attend school till the end of year 12, when I was at school and when my girls were at school you could leave after year 10 or when you turned 15. I left after year 10 as there was no way I was smart enough to go on to years 11 & 12, Tim left school halfway through year 8 when he got a job and both Kathy and Jessica left school as soon as they were old enough to leave. Natasha stayed till she was asked to leave which was half way through year 11.

Then there is tertiary education at universities or colleges or you can go to tafe if you wish and there is also vocational and training programmes.

We have public (government) schools and private schools with regulation and funding of education being the primary responsibility of the States and Territories but the Federal Government also plays a funding role as well.

Around 60% of all students attend public schools with the other 40% attending private or independent schools. All but one of Australia’s 43 universities are public and the student fees are subsidised through a student loan program where the payment becomes due when graduates reach a certain level of income.

There are also many online tertiary options including doing tafe online, this is popular with people who work and study at night or on weekends, although there are many Tafe courses held at night as well. My youngest daughter attends Tafe three nights a week, which is why we have Leo three nights a week.

Even though school fees are voluntary if you attend a public school there is still a lot of out lay for parents with equipment or book packs stationary items and of course excursions and now there is the added cost of a laptop once your child hits year 5 they are expected to have a laptop to use this can be bought through the school or you can bought elsewhere but can’t be just any laptop has to be a certain type with certain programmes and is generally kept at school.

When I was at school the government supplied everything as in books and pencils and rulers but not any more, also the back to school bonus which was around for many years is gone so really no bloody help from the government with the cost of school now days.

 

 

Lest We Forget

Hello everyone, some of you may have noticed I wasn’t around yesterday, I had to go and help my mum with her shopping as Sandra was feeling sick and not up to helping so me and Dawson helped her. After I got home I just had no energy I sat watched some telly, had lunch then I had a nap after that I still had no energy so did nothing for the rest of the afternoon.

Today is of course Anzac Day here in Aus, the first Anzac Day was way back in 1916 over a hundred years ago and it is still a special day pretty much for all Aussies, many Aussies travel to Gallipoli for the dawn service.

In 1916 the first Anzac Day ceremonies were held on this date the 25^th April across the country and there was a march through London and there was a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt.

Now days Aussies consider the 25^th April as a day of national remembrance, there are commemorative services held at dawn all over the country and there are marches across the country as well. Many young children attend as well with their parents and grandparents, many schools also take pare in Anzac Day services.

Some people thought the threat of terror attacks would keep people away from services but nope not the case.

Now I am pretty sure every man and his dog know that the Gallipoli campaign was a failure but it was the actions of the Australian and New Zealand forces during the campaign that left a powerful legacy. What became know as the “Anzac legend” and became an important part of the identity of both countries.

In many pubs and RSL clubs the game of two-up is played, this game is only ever played on Anzac Day and in some parts of the country it is only legal to play it on Anzac Day.

Two-up is a traditional Aussie gambling game, it has a designated “spinner” throwing up two coins traditionally pennies into the air, players bet on whether the coins will fall with heads or tails up or with one of each which is knows as odds. Pennies are considered the right weight and size for the game, decimal coins are generally considered to be too small and light and they don’t fly as well.

Most shops and businesses are closed on Anzac Day at least for the first half of the day some businesses and shops will open from 1pm.

Anzac Day is also as day many people will buy and eat damper, which for those who do not know is a traditional Australian soda bread, it consists of a wheat flour based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire or in a camp oven.

Just another Sunday

Good morning all here we are on Sunday morning, well it’s Sunday morning here, I have been up since 4.30am as usual and done an hour and a half of exercises, Tim will be up soon he has to go to work today he had yesterday off.

Yesterday saw both of us go out after I hung the towels on the line to dry, oh yeah just remembered yesterday after I did my morning exercises I went out to Kmart to get a yoga mat which I did get only a cheap on it was all I could afford at the moment but it is a bit softer then laying just on the floor. I also bought my self another pedometer again only a cheap one I have had dearer ones in the past but they never last any longer then the $3 ones so why bother paying more.

Anyway this morning I was using the pedometer and what did this silly woman do she reset it accidentally it was at a 1,000 steps and then the next time I looked at it, it said 201 steps so I must have reset it so I am going to have to be more careful tomorrow I want a good idea how many steps my morning workout equals. I also want to wear it when on the cruise because you seem to do a lot of walking while on the cruise.

Today Kathy and Jessica are coming over for lunch and Jessica is going to be doing the cooking, she is doing savoury mince, I just invited Natasha as Tim will be at work they are at loggerheads again over money, longish story not going into it but since he is going to work I sent her a text inviting her to lunch I doubt she will show up though.

Tim just got up so I am going to change out of my shorts as my legs are cold, back again.

I am hoping that when they are here I can get Kathy to get my clothes off the line since doing so really hurts my back, I cannot stand for very long before the pain starts to set in. I am so over all the pain and not being able to move due to pain. Yesterday was a bad day pain wise but not as bad as Friday today so far I am ok only a small amount of pain. I even managed to do some of the bending exercises with very little pain.

Here medical people ask you to rate your pain out of 10 with 10 being the worst pain you can imagine, Friday I would have given the pain about a 8, yesterday was about a 6 and this morning so far only around 4-5. My mum usually rates her pain between 7-12 most days sitting around 8-9 she is in that much pain all the time.

On Friday mum had a visit from a nurse to see if she qualified for home care assistant, some one to come in and clean her house which is what she wants as she is unable to do it any-more and she doesn’t like to ask Sandra who does all the shopping and often mows the lawns and such, dad vacuums most days but cleansing the bath and changing the sheets she has get either Sandra or Sue to do for her. Anyway she does qualify so when we get back from our cruse she is hoping to have heard from someone to get that up and running.

Many years ago after mum had her stroke she had someone come in each week to clean for a few months, that woman was Mrs Simpson, who as it turns out is the grandmother of my grandsons father small world or what.

Also when mum was working back in the 90’s she also did cleaning for home-care clients and now again she is in need of home-care assistant, one day the way I am going I may need it too but for now most days I cope. Although I just had to ask Tim to but my socks on for me I can do it but it is difficult and takes a while if he does it, its done much quicker.

Ok that is all from me for this post I will be back tomorrow sometime with more ramblings.

Five Things Friday

Good morning, on this lovely somewhat cool Friday morning of course being Friday means it is Five things Friday, been thinking about what this weeks five things would be so after some thought I have decided, ok no thought really just listening to the tv and that is how I decided on this weeks five things.

Citizenship tests

Duel citizenship

Immigrants

Integrate

Try to learn the language of your new country

Everyone has an opinion on who should be allowed to immigrate to their country some and all for letting all the refuges in others not so much, most people don’t have a problem with those who apply and go through all the right steps to move to a foreign country but most people also have a big problem with those who turn up in boats and who try to sneak into a country illegally. Also many have a problem with those who do not seem to at least try to learn to speak the language in my case that language is english, I know it’s hard but at least try.

History Wednesday/American Civil War Uniforms

Let us talk a little about the American civil war, we all know that during the war the North wore blue uniforms and the South wore grey but did you know at the start of the war that wasn’t necessary the case.

In fact many soldiers on both sides wore both blue or grey as they wore the uniform of the militia they were part of, as the men of the 5^th Virginia Militia who wore a blue uniform and they had to wear a white strip of cloth around their hats and were told if challenged to place their hand over their left breast and say “our homes”. Like that was going to happen in the middle of a battle or pretty much at any time.

 

Regular U S Army troops wore their traditional dark blue trousers, jackets and kepi caps, to distinguish the volunteers who comprised the vast bulk of the federal armies from the professionals of the regular army.

However, many Union soldiers also wore grey uniforms again because that was the uniform of the militia they were part of. Then there were the men who turned up to fight decked out in baggy trouser usually bright red or striped because their uniform was influenced by French Zouaves of North Africa. I will talk about the Zouaves in another post.

Confederate uniform volunteers were grey kepi jacket and trousers but as the war went on they would fad and took on a light brownish appearance, which gave rise to the nickname “Butternuts” for Southern soldiers.

On both sides artillerymen had red kepis, shell jackets with red trim and depending on rank a red stripe on their pants legs. Cavalry riders had a yellow stripe on their pants and yellow trim on jackets. Other special units had different uniforms the Hiram Berdan’s Union sharpshooters wore green uniforms.

Of course many in command and in Washington thought the whole thing would be over after the first battle, never thinking it would last as long as it did or that so many would die during the war.

The first major battle of the war took place at Bull Run River, now try and picture it a battle fought my mostly untrained soldiers with both sides wearing both blue and grey uniforms and some wearing no uniform at all, it must have been crazy chaos and it was fought only 25-30 miles from Washington. The battle lasted around 12 hours, with between 3,600-4,600 dead or wounded and around 1,200 missing in action.

Question Tuesday

Ok all have a question for everyone comes from some questions I saw on Lauren’s blog,which can be found here for all those who have not discovered her already: http://www.lotfortyeightblog.com

The question is: How often do you doodle?

My answer, pretty often,usually when I am on the phone, if I have a a magazine or note near me I like to colour in the circles in letters like O or the O in a P that type of thing, I also like to draw around the edges on envelopes and such, that is my type of doodling.

I think pretty much everyone likes to doodle when they are on the phone especially if you are on hold, so tell me your style of doodling.

Did you know Monday/Old Ships

Here we are on Easter Monday and since it’s Monday that means it is do you know Monday. So did you know this.

All old wooden-hulled ships had to be kept watertight at the seams, since dry docks were not around a long time ago this had to be done while the boat was afloat. The lowest seam on the hull was called the “devil” and was particularly difficult to reach and was dangerous to work on,hence the expression “between the devil and the deep blue sea” was born.

As said it is Easter Monday here so another public holiday but that is ok I have no plans to go out and sometime today Leo will be here we have him tonight because he wants to have a sleep over not as far as I know not because his mum has any plans.

I am not in much pain which is good although I do feel pretty tired and have a slight headache and yes I did 80 minutes of exercise first thing this morning.

Easter Sunday

Good morning and Happy Easter Sunday to all my friends in blog land, I as usual have been up since 4.30am and have just finished this mornings exercises very little pain this morning. However,since I am doing homemade chicken nuggets for lunch was suppose to be chicken tenders but some silly woman picked up the wrong item got diced chicken instead of chicken tenderloins so it will be nuggets instead of tenders. I have no idea what I am going to have with them but I will think of something.

Yesterday was spent shopping as I couldn’t go on Friday and for the most part my back was fine the pain I had was in the back of my right ankle/calf aka the Achilles tendon that was painful and walking was painful but of course I coped what else can one do.

After Tim gets up I will go and find the Easter gifts and chocolates for my grandchildren, Jessica asked me when did it become the thing to give gifts at Easter time instead of just chocolates. I told her I have no idea, I started to give gifts to the grandchildren when their mothers asked me not to give a lot of chocolate.

I can remember a time when you would find the stores having a lot of Easter Eggs left over and reduced on Easter Monday, not so much any more when I was shopping yesterday I notice a lot of stores had just about sold out of Easter Eggs.

We haven’t had Leo sleep over since the school holidays started and I said to him yesterday something about him sleeping over on Monday night he tilted his head and said “we will see”. I think because we have him so much during the school term both him and his mum think it is right to give us a break over the holidays and I get that, I also think he likes spending so much time with his mum.

Ok that is it for today, I will be back tomorrow.