Breast Screening

Maybe not a good subject but yesterday I underwent my two yearly mammogram.

The position you have to get into to have this done is quite comical. You stand in front of this big machine (topless), place your breast on a large plate and then the fun begins. You have to lean forward put your arm in a chicken wing position, tilt your head to one side, push out your butt, lean your shoulder in, and get your breast clamped and then they tell you not to breathe.
Needless to say describing this to Steve, he suggested that I put a link to the chicken dance.

Despite the discomfort it is worthwhile having it done for peace of mind. It is very well published that women over the age of fifty can have this done for free but what is not advertised is that women over the age of forty can also have the same thing done for free. If not for my doctor I would not have known this.

Election Day

I forgot to mention tomorrow is election day. How can I put this, great fantastic, if and only if people actually have taken into account the last five years, I don't normally take party sides I am usually very closed mouth on the political front but I can but hope there is a change in the government one I think that will be for the better of all the Australian people.

Money

Who out there does not worry about finances. How are we going to pay the bills? Will we be able to survive in our retirement and so on and so on. Since I was born my family has never had much money but we have always been happy and survived on what we have had. The reasoning behind this entry is because I have always wanted to be an ordinary mother and housewife taking care of the family. But I have found lately that since I have given up my steady part-time position of 32 hours a week that I am looking for hours to work because of my fear of not having enough money to pay the bills. I ask myself why. I know we can survive. So why am I working five days a week at two jobs?

I have found I can not sit at home and not earn a wage. I worry constantly about how we will meet our debts again I ask myself why, Steve assures me we are fine financially. But the nagging in my mind says find work to help out.

I wish I could relax and take each day as it comes but I can't. I feel if I am not helping in the money side of things I will lose some part of me. I have to contribute.

From the early age of I think I was 11 I started my work life. My first job was mowing my neighbours lawn to pay for my dogs food. My second job was peeling prawns in a factory (smelly and very sore cut hands) third job newsagent, fourth job travel agent, fifth job government, sixth job mother and wife. I had six years off to have my two girls then when my youngest turned two I went back into the work force as a night filler in a supermarket very tiring. I always made sure the girls were bathed and fed and my husbands dinner was ready before he came home. I have spent the last eighteen and a half years with the same company working my way up in the positions now to find myself in need of a life jacket as I now have no permanent position.

I have self doubt as to whether I can survive in the academic world learning new things I hope I can and maybe get a better job, one that I will truly enjoy waking up to go to.

Meanwhile I will still get as many possible hours working so I feel I am contributing to the everyday running of the house.

Generations put at risk

Several weeks ago in the news and in some magazine articles there was an issue raised about the use of sun beds as in solarium treatment where you go in and get a tan with out going out into the sun. It was a story about getting a tan that was to suppose to be safe. Wrong a young person has died as the result of this and this week another a young woman died. She was the mother of a very young child (under one year) she was the daughter of a fellow worker and friend. For her family I feel great sorrow, and for her child that will never know her mother and her mother's love.

I question society as it is now. I have two daughters who I worry about all the time. My youngest daughter is always dying, tinting and having foils put in her hair maybe this will not cause great harm but I am thinking when she is my age she will probably be bald.

I look back on the things that have been supposedly great things like diethylstilboestrol (Des) which in the 1950's was a drug many doctors gave to women to prevent miscarriage. But years down the track the daughters of these women have an increased risk of breast, vaginal and cervical cancer. I don't know if it has any risk in the male generation.

There have been many new drugs and new things put out there for people to use and I ask how safe are they. So yes I worry when my children have children what will they be offered. I will say try natural before prescription drugs. Don't get me wrong I don't not take medication but I am starting to question the necessity.

So what new drug or treatment out now are the professionals going to sell and the not so professionals going to push and what harm are they going to cause in future generations.

Men and Sickness

When I first met Steve I had glandular fever I was feeling pretty low, he said and "I Quote" if you are sick the worst thing you can do is lie around feeling sorry for yourself. You just feel worse. I agree when you get moving you get better quicker, it seems to take your mind off how bad you are actually feeling.

I love my husband very much, but at the moment he is sick, " O my god". I know he is sick and so does Sarah and the dog and the cat and the chooks and the possum. I rest my case. He is not complaining, (not much) he is just sick. Instead of going to bed he is in the living room, again I rest my case. You really can't do much when you have a sick husband who is in the living room, for example watch T.V. , listen to music, laugh and please don't talk loudly if at all. I know he is sick. BUT GO TO BED. Love you baby I hope you feel better real soon and I mean real soon.

P.S I know he feels the same way. He would love to be better and back at work.

Baby Mogwai

My farewell to Mogwai

Mogwai My Boy

My big boy is moving on tomorrow he moves on to his next stage, I honestly didn't think I would be very affected by this I have lost lots of little ones lately but he is my first success baby even though we didn't have him from day dot. He has to have been the most affectionate little creature to have to care for. I will miss him heaps. Farewell my big boy give the ladies heaps at Mount Tamborine.

Another Week Gone By

This week is going so quick I seriously think that as you get older time passes so much faster. I have one more day of work this week and then I have a three day weekend YAHOO. But on saying that I have five days next week juggling my two jobs and that is tiring in itself. You finish one and then head on to the next. On Sunday just past we had a little baby pee wee (a bird) come into our care (our success rate on animals has not been great lately) so I thought after assessing its injuries that it would be dead pretty quickly I was wrong it is hanging in there sadly though I think it will have to put down because it has had it eyes pecked out by other birds. So we have a blind bird that is surviving maybe because it can't see us and can't be frightened to death (by us). How ironic is that.

On a brighter note we leave for overseas in seven weeks and am counting down in both days and money. Since becoming casual I am not earning what I used to and am hunting down all the work I can so we can actually afford our trip without coming home with nothing in the bank. I have been saying what if I hadn't quit my part-time job, but if I hadn't we wouldn't be going away because I think they would have taken me away in a straight jacket months ago sad to say.

Lucky Update

Lucky has been moved into his teenage room and I received pay back in full on Sunday night, (stupid stupid) me decided to spend some time with him in his new environment bad move on my part he cornered me, he jumped on my shoulder and peed all down my back then he proceeded to mark his territory not once but three times consequently I have two bite marks on my arm and back (he made me bleed) and three huge bruises and a couple of big scratches. He actually scared me at the time but I have had time to assess what he did and why (what a learning experience).

So my advice for all new carers if you have a possum that suffers from stress and you are mad enough to bath them and put cream on them (basically care for them as some people will tell you to do I am talking about the bathing etc.) DON'T. They will seek their revenge when you least expect it and scare you into having nightmares. Don't get me wrong maybe I am just a glutton for punishment but I have got back in his cage to feed and care for him because bottom line I care and I think that is what caring for our wildlife needs someone who is maybe hurt proof or just plain stupid whatever I won't stop what I am doing I love it. On the same note you really have to assess each animal and gauge what is right for them that will only come with experience.

Mogwai Update

My Boy is just getting bigger and bigger he will move on soon sad to say. I again was pretty stupid the other night thinking he has gone from having lots of exercise to hardly none at all so I got him out to have a bit of exercise on the clothes line (and he had jumped on my head leaving extra holes again) WRONG he had his run and when I went to put him in his cage he jumped onto the top of his cage and proceeded to run up the side of our house (we have a high set house). So I have this teenage possum twenty feet from the ground and wondering how on earth I was going to get him down my immediate thought was his favourite thing of course (food). It worked but I will not do it again.

I know I rave on about my animals but I do get a lot of enjoyment out of what we do and am hoping when we return from England we will have lots more. Our co-ordinator would like us to take a few adult possums before we go to fatten them up for release but I don't want to. Who ever we get to house sit will basically be lumbered with animals they don't know how to care for and or don't want to care for.

No More Complaining

Last night I posted a blog entry and this morning I deleted it. I was not happy with how it sounded. I have had a sad week and my entry last night showed that and I don't want my entries to either be sad or full of complaints all the time (and my last couple have been). So I am going to attempt a more up beat one. How I am not sure. Especially as this is my day off and I get to do the ironing. But I am one of those people who actually enjoys ironing (once I get started that is, getting started is the hard thing). I sort all the clothes put on some nice music and switch off.

On a happier note Steve and I leave for England in eight and a half weeks I am so excited. We have to go to the travel agents this weekend and book our two tours that we are going to do. One tour is up through Scotland and the other one is down through Paris and on to Rome after that we have Eurorail passes so we will be doing our own thing from then on. We have to make the most of it because I doubt we will be able to afford to do it again. Steve was told yesterday that he may only have about nine more months of work and then there maybe redundancy packages offered. Scary but he has not been happy in his job for a long time hence the fact he is doing a science degree in the hope of finding a job he will enjoy. The future is definitely looking different. But I am feeling positive about everything.

Lucky Update

Lucky has actually started to partly trust us again. He is licking and sniffing us again with only little hisses now and then. He came out of his cage the other night for a little cuddle and a hiss so we took the opportunity to weigh him. He now weighs 800 grams which is good but he is still feels under weight. Maybe because he doesn't have much fur but I can feel a lot of his bones which is not good. We will be moving him into his teenage room hopefully this weekend and that will be a telling point because we have to watch him and see if his stress and rash reappear.

Mogwai Update

What can I say he is getting bigger and will be moved onto his next stage in the next couple of weeks which is called a soft release. He will be moved out on to an acreage that a couple of carers own and they will release him slowly. He will still have his drey to sleep in during the day but at night he will be let do his own thing on their acreage like find his own food. We would love to do it but he is to close to us. Steve won't get in his cage anymore because Mogwai has a habit of jumping on his head and running up and down his back and legs and when you wear shorts this can be very painful.
So I have to get in the cage to change his water and foliage. Mogwai loves that because I let him groom my hair (he thinks I am his mum). I got lots of licks last night and a hair full of knots.

Rufus Update

Sadly Rufus died on Monday morning we introduced two mates for him on Sunday night and he was so overwhelmed he died from stress during the night. Sadly the two we introduced also died. Our luck with ringtails has not been good. If one gets sick because of their closeness they will both die. But they are a communal animal so they have to have family around them. We just have to learn how to do it without them all dying from stress and sickness.

Better get back to the ironing.