The life and times of Libby Withnall

Okay, so I forgot about doing a day in my life – will try tomorrow. In the meantime I wanted to share the news that I’ve been back scrapbooking again. Yay. I love it and really need to make time for it daily. I’ve being doing LOAD212 with Lain Eihmann and love being given a prompt for each day (in the same way I like being given a sketch to work with). It’s also been fun working with some older photos.

 

 

I’m not even sure where to start with this post. It’s not a happy one. Not an easy one to write as I’m still having a lot of difficulties accepting that I have arthritis. But it’s time. And it is the reason for the lack of posts the last few weeks.

I don’t talk a lot about arthritis on my blog, until about a year I didn’t even know what had been causing the pain in my hands and feet for the last 7 years. I still don’t know what type of arthritis I have (though I suspect it’s psoriatic-arthritis). But it seems to be rapidly escalating and effecting every day life more and more. There is no cure, and no treatment until it’s determined which arthritis it is. I am currently take pain killers morning and night and fish oil supplements(yes, even though I’m a vegetarian – pain makes you try everything ).

At this stage the only things I can do is educate myself, try not to feel sorry for myself (so many are much worse off than I am), alter my expectations, lose weight (less weight on my feet can only help) and try an anti-inflammatory diet (basically a whole foods diet).

In the last few weeks I’ve noticed my joints getting sore and stiff when gripping items – not good . And this morning I had to remove my wedding rings as the swelling in my fingers was becoming unbearable. I’m really not in a great place emotionally at the moment. I miss walking my dogs, I miss being able to clean and organise the house whenever I want, I miss being free of pain and most of all I miss my expected future life. Thankfully I’m not normally a negative person or one to dwell on things beyond my control, so I know I will get past this feeling sorry for myself phase that I’m in right now.

Sorry to be such a downer. Just wanted to let you know what I’m up to and where I’m at. Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with a much happier day in my life post .

Kevin and I aren’t big on Valentines but we’ve taken to having a special family dinner. And this year I even did a bit of decorating – not that you can buy very much in Australia.

This year Amy wanted to make dinner, and cupcakes, so got started the day before….

We all got a cupcake, and she took some for her friends at school. Each was individually designed. Very yummy too. Best vegan cupcakes yet.

There were messages to each other…

and I painted my nails in honor of the occasion….

Just before the girls came home from dancing I set the table, including their gifts from Lush…

then Amy finished off dinner. It’s not the prettiest photo because the sauce was on top the pasta and I wanted to show the heart shaped pasta she made .

Hope you all had, or have, a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

It was a pretty quiet (and wet) week around here but a bit more of an exciting (but no less wet) weekend.

It was the week I got my own pillow pet…the white bunny…

and the week I found mushrooms growing in our front lawn….

It was the week Mum and I braved the horrendous weather to see Ronan Keating in concert….

returning the next night, this time with Christy, to watch the Hawks WIN against the New Zealand Breakers (who are currently ranked no.1)…

It was the week the Powell’s came for lunch….

and the girls had fun having fashion makeovers with Amy’s clothes….

It was the week of crack wraps (I didn’t make up the name) for breakfast….

quorn (not chicken) stir-fries…

and baked veggies for dinner…

It was the week I baked gingerbread muffins…

and Amy made a vegan cake for Sat. lunch….

It was the week Rosie got stuck in the pool area….

Bailey was caught mid-lawn…

and the week Bailey turned green after rolling in some freshly cut grass…

It was also week of late nights as I became immersed in the world of the Hunger Games…. finishing of the 1st book, polishing off the 2nd and making good progress through the last)…. Amy has also listened to them all and Kevin has started as well…. I don’t actually own the books as I read on kindle….great when you finish one late at night and want to start the next…

Just a quick post to share some photos from Ronan Keating’s concert last night. The was the second time I’ve seen him live and it was FABULOUS. I’d been having a bad afternoon with my arthritis and it was POURING (that’s putting it mildly) rain but it was so worth the effort to go.

The support act was Sharon Corr, who was really fabulous.

But, of course, Ronan was the best.

He showed some clips of his upcoming movie – filmed in Sydney – which looks really good.

For the encore he turned into a rocker….and actually reminded me of Ricky Martin!

The last song is my favourite… Life is a Roller Coaster. Here’s a little clip I filmed.

[ http://www.youtube.com/embed/BRpVPKRxl80?fs=1

It was a great concert. Will def. go see him again when he’s in town.

It was the week the girls went back to school…. and Christy got to wear the new school uniform for the first time…

It was the week of too much time spent at the uniform shop and a nice day out shopping with Amy – who didn’t go back to school until Tuesday.

It was the week Amy got her hair coloured…

and the week we celebrated Kevin’s birthday….

It was the week of poolside movies…

and a trip to the local pool so Christy could practice for her upcoming carnival….

It was the week I got my scrapbook desk tidied up and I ACTUALLY used it….layouts coming soon…

It was the week I bought myself this candle…only to move it to the scrapbook room as Kevin didn’t like the smell….

and it was the week of Harry Potter wand accessorizing….

It was the week Amy made a delicious apple crumble for dessert…

It the week of only one funny puppy photo to share with you…

and the week I started, and finished, The Hunger Games. What an awesome book. Thanks to the kindle, I’ve already started book 2 .

A while back Kevin had the idea that we should watch movies while in the pool and quickly began collecting supplies. Last night we had our first poolside movie night.

We had to wait till around 8.30pm so it was dark enough to see the screen. The plan had been to watch from in the pool but it was a little on the cool side. Only Amy was brave enough to start off in the pool.

Ideally we’d have some pool floats so you don’t actually spend the whole time “in” the pool. Looks like we also need some more lounge chairs.

We watched about half of Aladdin before the mozzies chased us indoors. It was definitely a fun event, we just need a few more supplies…. like citronella candles…and some popcorn!

Poor Kevin had to go to work on his birthday but he made time, by sleeping in, to open his present – a pillow pet. He is so hard to buy for but was pretty happy with this. I’m now the only one who doesn’t have one .

After work, which we had to chase him home from, we had a nice family dinner.

Followed by cake.

And no, he didn’t really turn 10, but they were the only candles we had and Christy insisted we have some to blow out.

Gotta love birthday cake….

Can’t believe one whole month of the year has already passed by. That’s crazy!

I was up around 6am. Bailey often likes to lie out in the morning and will come back and wait at the door when he’s ready to come in. Often when I just sat down with my cup of tea!

I have my pain meds and fish oil while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Around 7am Kevin and Amy depart – it’s Amy’s first day in year 8 but I’m not allowed to take a first day of school photo.

After they leave I go up to wake Christy – Bailey helps. She isn’t feeling the best so goes to have a bath.

I then shower and dress, make the bed and collect the girls washing.

Christy requests french toast for breakfast. I have a half a bagel with cheese and another cup of tea.

Time to check e-mails.

I go outside to hang out the washing. Christy is watching a bit of Harry Potter while eating breakfast.

The pups take advantage and lie in the sun for a bit.

I need to use both clothes lines today.

Next is a trip to the chemist to get some medication for Christy.

Bailey has to come along.

Looks like a lovely day.

Shortly after I return Christy decides she’s feeling better and will go to school.

When I return I get started in this room. Mum comes to help me.

And 90mins later it looks like this…

I still have more sorting to do but it looks a LOT better and you can actually walk around the room.

Time for some lunch – my favourite falafel salad.

Enjoyed while reading blogs.

After lunch I take out some scraps for the chickens.

And collect some eggs. We’re getting 2-4 each day now but some are still rather small.

Time to do the uniform shop paperwork and count money while enjoying tea and a choc chip muffin.

At 2.30pm I get changed and make myself look presentable.

I drive into Wollongong to pick Amy up from school…

and drop her off at the hairdressers for her appointment.

When I get back home Mum has just returned from walking the dogs and Bailey has rather muddy feet. I hose them off for him so he can enter the house.

I was chatting with Mum when I realized Christy and Shantel were already supposed to be at dancing so we raced out the door. On the way I got a call from Amy saying she was waiting to be picked up, so after dropping the girls off I went to get her. Doesn’t her hair look fabulous? She’s really happy with it.

Amy got ready for dancing and I dropped her off. Kevin got home shortly after I did. And finally I got to sit and enjoy my naughty afternoon snack.

Then at 6.40pm it was back up to the school to collect the girls.

I was too sore to do much for dinner but we had some leftover pasta so I just heated that up with a jar of tomato sauce. Easy but yummy.

After dinner the dogs had a crazy play session.

And we settled down to watch the last episode of Whale Wars. Such a great series.  And having seen whales up close and personal in Alaska I’m so glad there are organisations like Sea Shephard getting out there and trying to stop whaling.

At 8.30pm I took Christy up to bed for a story. We’re reading another Judy Moody.

I then took off my make-up and did my nighttime beauty routine before heading back down to get a cup of tea and watch a bit more TV.

About 9.45pm we headed up to bed and I started a new book – The Hunger Games. I’ve heard lots of good things about it and it really does seem to be living up to it’s hype.

It was the last week of school holidays. Can’t believe they went by so fast. I’m looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet but I will miss the girls and lack of routine.

It was the week that started with a trip to Sydney to see Amy’s opthomologist where we received the wonderful news that her vision should return to normal given a bit of time. On the way home there was a trip to IKEA to buy furniture for Amy’s new bedroom, which was project of the week….

It was the week of Harry Potter plays…

and dog costumes for a movie project Christy and Shantel have been working on all holidays….

It was the week of multiple grocery shops…

and a very exciting basketball game…. where the Hawks ended up winning by around 20pts. Such an exciting game. My date was Christy.

It was the week of board games…..

and Aussie foods….

It was the week of special drawings….

and gorgeous skies…

It was the week we took the girls to Hangdog….

and enjoyed Thai for dinner on Chinese New Year…. close enough I say….

It was the week of lemon cake…

and cute puppies….