February 26, 2009

Remember you!

Do you remember when you were younger, that you couldn't wait to grow up and become someone, you knew where you wanted to go, what you wanted to be BUT then life changes, we change!!! We become girlfriends, wives & mothers and we lose ourselves. Not that that is a bad thing but as women it just happens and we don't even realise it. Since I have become a divorced single mum, I have been asked so many times 'what are you looking for' and 'what do you want to do'???????? And to be truthful, I'm not sure anymore! So much has changed, I've changed, my needs and priorities have changed and it's one of those hard questions to answer. Someone once told me, that until you know what you want you won't find it, as how can you find it if you don't know what it is you want!!!!.....how true is that? Us women need to remember to take time out for ourselves to remember who we are and what we want and not to feel guilty about doing that. I'm now on my new journey of discovering me, myself and I.

February 24, 2009

Oh happy days!!!!


As a wine lover, don't you just love to find these kind of facts out, that drinking wine is good for you and especially for us women! Wine has been linked to a lower risk of dementia in women, says the American Journal of Epidemiology. Swedish scientists looked at 1462 women aged 38 to 60 at the start of a study, and by the end, 164 had developed dementia. Among women who drank wine, the risk was 40 per cent lower; the women who only drank wine (as opposed to other alcohol) enjoyed a 70 per cent lower risk. Now this is the kind of excuse I like, I have to drink wine otherwise I'll lose my mind.....not that having an ex husband and two boys can drive you absolutely mad!!!!!


February 23, 2009

Guest Post


This weeks guest spot goes to Mrs K of www.momfamilychild-help.typepad.com/hanginthere/guilt & sorry.

I have to say I have struggled over the past few days to post anything at all and I work on 3 blogs!...luckily one is really a picture blog for our puppy, sneakypuppy.com, so that's ok....the other is a beauty blog, Paula's Beauty Spot, where I give tips & skincare & makeup advice...and then there is this one, my main blog. I have also been asked to be a Contributor to a new social networking site called sassymamas which is launching soon...what a honor!
I'll apologise ahead for typos and missing words even tho as usual I will proofread, double check, publish and then check again...it's just that in this migrainous state, I'm likely to make mistakes I wouldn't normally make. sorry. that's a word I use a lot when I'm ill. sorry. If i don't use it, then I think it because I feel guilty a lot. guilt. I have a lot of it. I'm not talking about that normal Motherhood guilt we can all experience because we say, work and put our child in care, or guilt because we miss our childs athletics day....I mean I have guilt on top of that guilt because of my bad health and all of it's ramifications.
I think I spent my childhood getting ready for an adulthood full of pain... a series of unfortunate traumas, chemical exposures and bad accidents have culminated in a very broken internal system (mine)...the result of which is ME/CFS, debilitating migraines, chronic lower back pain and severe food & chemical intolerances. The stressful thing is I usually suffer these concurrently, there is no respite, no one at a time, oh no, they all hit me togther.....consequently, I have these charming little stress and pain cortisols running amok throughout my system as well, wrecking a particular kind of havoc of their own. Pain is magnified and tolerance levels are lowered........
This is Day 3 of a 24/3 migraine, with a pain level score from 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, this pain is a constant 12/10. With an amount of analgesics I don't even want to go into this pain reduces to 10/10 for about 3 hours and then climbs back up to 12/10. More painkillers......this could go on for another 4-6 days, and if I'm really unlucky 6 weeks. That would be really bad timing as I'm having the first of 3 back surgeries next week. Not good.
My activity levels because of my chronic lower back pain have been reduced to about 2 hours per day of light activity before I have to rest, reclining on a bed. I can't sit for longer that 10-15 minutes and I defintely can't sit on a hard chair like a dining chair, so no meals with my family. guilt. No restaurant chairs for dinner with Mr K. guilt. I can't sit on an outdoor chair, so no BBQ's outdoors with friends & family. guilt. No school chapel service with Son. guilt. No house cleaning. ok, not so much guilt there, over that and loving cleaner once a week! If I push it and do more than I should or simply do the grocery shopping my back goes into a spasm and I can't move for 2-3 days. guilt. Mr K has to do the cooking. guilt.
So, here's to the success of my 3 back interventions (or 'exorcisms' as Mr K calls them)...if they work, I could have a huge reduction in severity of pain for 6-9 months until the nerves grow back (more on those procedures next week). That's Step 1. Then we can have another go at these damned migraines. to my family & friends-sorry.

The week that was....14/02/09 - 21/02/09



Hmmmmmm what a week it was.....the joys of being single and a mum! Well to start was the dreaded Valentines day! Yep it's dreaded when you are single and dateless but even saying that, from what I hear from other women that are in relationships, it's not always great for them either. I grabbed another single girlfriend of mine and we hit the town (Broadbeach) and what a fun night we had that ended at 7am Sunday morning!!! Tales of this will feature along the way in my blogg! The rest of Sunday was trying to maintain my status as a wondermum and I think I managed that quite well. Monday morning arrived and it was the usual school and kindy rush and the 'don't forgets' and 'please remembers' and hoping that you have been heard. Once the kids had been dispensed to their various places it was grab a quick coffee and home to catch up on the housework that I hadn't done over the weekend. Tuesday morning arrived and what a day that was going to turn out to be...if I had known I think I would have pushed the 'skip the day' button on my alarm clock before waking! I done the school run and then met with some of the other mums at a coffee shop close by and had a good old gossip (yes we all like doing this) mainly about valentines and what the other halfs did or didn't do hehe. After an hour or so I left to go home and do some good, I was sorting out stuff to send down the victims of the bushfires! I had a productive day doing this and hoped that it would help these families out, even if it's just a little bit. I got to kindy later in the afternoon with all the stuff I had packed up, as this was a local drop off point and collected my little guy. He wasn't happy and I was told that he had a little tumble but they had checked him over and he seemed ok....hey kids are kids and are always in the wars as we know, so took him home for the evening madness. Whilst I was bathing my little one, he still wasn't happy and then thats when I noticed he was holding his shoulders funny and with that the mum instinct kicked in full force. The one where you just know that something isn't quite right. So off down to the A & E department of the local hospital and it was confirmed after the x-rays, that yes he had in fact broken his collarbone!!!!! So that was it, the rest of the week went by in a dazed whizz as my little boy couldn't attend kindy until we go to the fructure clinic next week! Welcome to the stresses of parenthood....but would we change it.....nah not a chance!

February 22, 2009

Victorian Bushfires!

Please help the people effected by the Victorian bushfires by making a donation through the Australian Red Cross. Donations can be made online at http://www.redcross.org.au/ or by calling 1800 811 700. This disaster needs continuous support as it will take many months and years to rebuild the communities that have been devastated by this tragedy!

sassysinglemum