Days off at last.

Six days off......how wonderful! After doing 9 straight, its now time to be able to take a well earned break.

This morning I even managed to have a wander around the back garden-I use that term loosely as it's more a mish mash of plants stuck around the fence line-but in the spring they make wonderful photo ops....and those looking at the pics think we have a wonderful backyard.....

What we do have, & one of the reasons I went to the backyard, was birds, lots of birds & the feeders were empty. I love to entice all our native birds into the backyard & living on the edge of a National Park we get quite a variety.

The cockies are a pest...they empty the feeders looking for sunflower seeds & chase the smaller lorikeets & rosellas away until they have had their fill- which normally means all the feeders are empty or tipped out onto the grass. I need a cockatoo proof feeder. I have even tried buying seed that does not contain the seeds they prefer .....well ,that didn't work, they smartly tipped everything out & squawked loudly in the trees to tell me a thing or two!.......for all their faults they are the funniest to watch & have the most amazing antics.

Work this weekend was horrible- if it was going to go wrong, it did. I had a diabetic who had a hypo & had no symptoms & no food in the house-I don't understand relatives who leave their oldies with little or no food. Another diabetic that had a hyper & interfering neighbours who wouldn't listen.....

A gorgeous oldie, who was under the influence & fell &broke a humerus & clavicle-and her siblings say she should be left at home- I feel very sorry for her daughter who must be at her wits end trying to cope.

Another who was wandering the halls of a hostel looking for her DH (deceased) & her 2 DD's who were all staying at the same 'hotel' she was.....a schizophrenic who disappeared on me....and a client who tried to commit suicide.

This is the one I'm having the most trouble with-I feel that I could have done more to avert this from happening. His wife had told me through the week he had said he was going to- I did contact his LMO, but no answer there- they never get back to you-he seemed to pick up on Friday, then on Sunday my colleague said he was flat when she called in-it never crossed my mind he would attempt to kill himself....I should have been more adamant with his LMO-or rung mental health on the Sunday....so now he's in ICU after an overdose. He is also a schizophrenic- with no history of self harm.....why is it that Nurses always feel that they could have done more & we take this sort of incident to heart so much? These 6 days have come right when I need them most.

On a brighter note-

I'm back knitting this week- have started my collar scarf again-sketched out what I wanted & just cast on & started knitting, doing the increases as I thought it needed it-hopefully my gung-ho approach will work. The yarn is a hand dyed pure wool I bought on eBay from the USA- they called it sock yarn but it's so fine I think the socks would wear out pretty quick! It's the colour of pansies,so hopefully it will jazz up a black outfit I have...and more importantly work out!LOL

We have had a run of repairs being needed in & around the house.The saga of my dishwasher continues- I've been without it since Christmas-it was repaired & blew the circuit board again after 2 weeks....these boards apparently have to be shipped from Germany...hence the long hold up waiting. Seems shipping from an over seas country will explain everything....the long & the short of it was that they put in 3 more circuit boards in the workshop & everyone blew up....so they said, no more it's 10 years old buy a new one, which is what I wanted to do 10 months ago-but DH wanted it fixed.

So, the new dishwasher is in its place- looking all shiny & bright- I can't use it- can you believe this- there is a leak in the plumbing (the drip drips right onto my quilting machine in the garage below!) - 3 days we have been waiting for the plumber to turn up to fix it- I have a feeling this could take months.

The side stairs need repairing outside-we've been waiting over a week for him to turn up for a quote. Then on Monday night the tension spring on the automatic garage door broke so now we are getting our exercise walking up the steep drive-he was supposed to come yesterday,but we are still waiting.......what is it about tradesmen never turning up, returning calls or never seeming to want work? Is there some secret trick to getting them to turn up-do you offer them favours if they will turn up? I'm at a loss to know......I'm still waiting.

Friday sees my "Melbourne family" as I've now started to refer to them come for the weekend. DS no1, his wife & our GS who will be 4 tomorrow. We saw our son back in august when he flew up for my birthday, as a surprise & we caught up with our DIL & GS back in July, while we were in the UK-so it hasn't been all that long-but it's lovely to have visitors & especially the little one.

Grandchildren are surely a blessing & you get to give them back!

Not sure what to get this 4 year old- I have a number book for him & a book of pictures taken in space- he is very keen on astronomy- his parents are buying him a telescope.....I thought a trip to the toy store might be fun-although I better have an idea what's allowed & not allowed by his parents. For all his amazing brain power this kid can still throw the biggest hissy fits you ever saw & loves Thomas the Tank Engine....so in some ways he is just like a normal 4 year old (that asks about the speed of light, black light & super novas.....glad I don't have to keep up with him). Of course, he has a pencil roll as well- made by me.....and everyone who I gave them to liked them as well- I like it when what I make is appreciated.