September Letter

Mrs Jo-Anne Meadows

P O Box 253

Warners Bay

NSW 2282

Thursday 13^th September 2018

Dear

Well here I am writing another letter to you, it was great to hear from you again, life here is good more or less. I had a cortisone injection into my left shoulder on Tuesday and it has made a big difference in the pain and movement.

The Monday before last I went and got another tattoo it says “My Blain” and is on my back left shoulder, I had wanted it on my left hand but because of how much I was shaking they wouldn't do it on the hand.

I went back to my aqua class this week because of the new tattoo I had to miss this weeks aqua class .

My brother is still driving our parents car and is looking for another car he has been paid out by the insurance company and as he is using mum & dad's car he isn't rushing to buy a car. My sister still ended up having to pay the parking ticket.

Reading about Paige's accident was distressing, she was very lucky and she is going to have a long hard year ahead of her but she has a loving and supportive family around her.

The Saturday before we left for China I went to Landon's 6^th birthday party I had planned to

take Leo with me but he said he didn't want to go, however, after I had been there for about 5 minutes Jessica rings and said that Leo had changed his mind and now wanted to attend. My sister Sandra & brother Dave went and picked him up and of course he had a ball and didn't want to leave when I said it was time to go.

I wish mum had been able to attend but my siblings didn't think it would be a good idea and told her she had to stay home. I really miss catching up with mum, yes I do still speak to her every night for half an hour or more but I still miss her.

It takes Jessica about 30 minutes to walk from her place to here and around 20 minutes to walk from her house to the shopping centre to meet me on Friday mornings. I do like seeing her on a Friday morning and look forward to seeing her each Friday.

We had a great holiday, although it was somewhat hard on me and Tim kept saying it will be our last overseas holiday as I am not up to doing them, that said I still want to take a cruise to New Zealand, Tim has said if I can lose 20kilos and manage to walk better we can do one. I think he is being unreasonable.

We caught the train to Sydney and spent the night at the hotel opposite the airport. Yes it is expensive to stay there but it's the convenience of being just a short walk from the airport.

When we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City I was able to be pushed around in a wheelchair they had a wheelchair service available that cost us $60 Australian but was well worth it. The lady who pushed me around didn't speak English but was so nice, at the start of the tour I got out and walked down some stairs but when it came to walking up the next set of stairs I fell as I was standing up after that she wouldn’t let me try and instead pulled me up the stairs as well as pushing me down the stairs. Thankfully the steps were only low and not high but I felt terrible, although I do not know how I would have managed walking up and down the stairs.

The next day we went to see the Great Wall, which was awesome I didn't even attempt to climb it, Tim did but he didn't go very far and ended up joining me in the gift shops. We bought some souvenirs and then had an ice cream, well Tim had an ice cream and I had a yoghurt cone which was really nice.

The following afternoon we had a Rickshaw ride and our tour guide was able to arrange for the rickshaw to pick me up at the end of the street saving me a long ass walk. The rickshaw ride was lovely I really enjoyed it, after the ride we went for a meal in a typical family home, how typical it was I do not know but I found it enjoyable, well not the food, the food wasn't to my liking but the experience was enjoyable.

The home was tiny, the bedroom was up a narrow flight of stairs from the courtyard and the kitchen was tiny the size of my bathroom or laundry and they had no toilet or shower those where located in the lane way and shared between the houses in the area.The next day there was a visit to the Beijing Zoo to see the giant pandas but I didn't get to see them as I waited in the bus our tour guide suggested I stay in the bus due to the crowd and our far they had to walk. So Tim took photos for me.

We then took the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai were we where met by another tour guide, our first day with him I attempted to walk from the bus to the lake for a boat ride. I didn't make it and broke down due to the pain and how much I was struggling and ended up just going back to the bus.

Tim got upset because he didn't like to see me in tears and he had a talk to the tour guide and the next couple of days there was a wheelchair on the bus for me to use. This made things easier for me.

The Beijing part of the holiday was super busy the Shanghai part not as much, both tour guides were nice and a bit different. I am glad we went but I was also glad to get home to my own bath and bed.

Thankfully I didn't have to use a squat toilet but Tim wasn't so lucky while using the toilet at a service station he found they only had squat toilets.

The other people on the tour were amazing, the left the front two seats on the bus for me and Tim and many of them told me that they thought I was doing great just being on the tour.

All in all it was a great holiday and I was thankful that I had wheelchair service at the airports, after checking in someone with a wheelchair came and got me and took me to the departure gate and later onto the plane.

When we got off the plane there was a wheelchair there to take me out again, so much easier for me.

While in China Tim noticed that my jaw moves a lot, I noticed it a couple of months back but didn't say anything to anyone about it. I also found a letter here when we got back saying I have an appointment on the 31^st October with the neurologist, this has made Tim happy.

Both mum and dad are home although when I was in China dad was in hospital yet again even though he is home he isn't great and on Saturday when the nurse went to see him she wanted to ring the ambos again but both Sandy & Dave said no as it was Father's Day on Sunday. Dad has been saying he things it would be his last Father's Day but we naturally hope he is wrong.

Although their GP has told dad it is unlikely he will live out the year and has arranged for palliative care for dad and has stressed that he will not survive another serious bout of pneumonia this is distressing but is also a fact of life we all have to deal with.

Also while we were in China Tim's youngest brother John died he was only 31and he died of a heart attack, John was taken into care when he was only 6mths old because his mother was neglecting him.

Even though he was Tim's brother we didn't know him, I had never met him and Tim had only seen him a few times in his life. We both attended the funeral as did his sisters Jenny & Dianne as well as their father.

However, I told Tim he was really more the child of the people who raised him since he was 6 months old, we only knew 6 people at the funeral as pretty much everyone who attended were the family that raised him.

Tim believes deaths come in threes and said after the funeral he wondered who would be next, I thought but did not say it can be your father not mine although my dad isn't well at all and Tim thinks it will be my dad who goes next.

Well that's all from me for this letter, until next time take care and write when you can. I hope I haven't repeated myself, which some times I do if so please forgive me.

Jo-Anne

jn_jm@bigpond.com

joanne62_04@hotmail.com

jnjm62@gmail.com

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Cards for dad

Ok here is the thing, as everyone should know last year we had a big party for my dad aka poppy's 75^th birthday at that time we didn't know that he would get so sick. Next month he will be 76 and we have been told that it will most likely be his last birthday, in fact we have been told that he may not even make his next birthday but none of us want to think of that happening.

So I am asking all those who love him so much and who's life he has enriched by being part of it and who will fill a void when he is no longer with us, to this year spend a little money and by a nice birthday card for him and either send it to him or take it and give it to him next month for his 76^th birthday.

Do this not just for him but also for mum/nanna who after he is gone can look at the cards and be reminded of how much he meant to people. It is a little thing that could mean to much to both dad & mum.

Dad is so proud of his family, he has lived for them and when he was struggling with cancer his family was the reason he kept fighting.

I cannot make anyone do this and if you think it is a silly idea then do not bother with it but if you think like me it might bring some joy to his and mums life please take part.

July's letter

Mrs Jo-Anne Meadows

P O Box 253

Warners Bay

NSW 2282

Thursday 26^th July 2018

Dear..................

Hello my friend, hope life is treating you good, I have had a rough week but things are looking up at the moment. School has gone back this week and both Blain and Leo seemed happy to go back to school. It is a warm day if you are in the sun but it is pretty cold inside my house.

Last Monday the 16^th in the afternoon around 3pm my sister Sandra rang to let me know that she had to ring the ambos for mum as she was suffering delirium again. I then get another call from her at 4pm while I was in the bath, when I noticed it was Sandra I rang her back and she answered but didn't speak, I could hear her talking to someone about resuscitating mum. It was upsetting to hear and Sandy hung up without speaking to me and she rang back a couple of minutes later and all she said was you need to come here now.

I rang Natasha in a state as I had no car and needed someone to drive me to the hospital, as I was crying and a blubbering mess she had no idea what was wrong all she knew was her mummy needed her. She came straight over and drove me to the hospital and I rang both Kathy-Lee and Jessica as well and of course Tim each call I was a blubbering mess.

When I arrived at the hospital they were getting ready to put mum on a ventilator aka life support they had no idea what was wrong with her and still have no idea what was wrong with her. I stayed at the hospital till around 9pm and only left because I was finding it difficult to stay awake and function. The social worker at the hospital was surprised to see 13 people in the waiting room not just that there was so many of us there and that we all seemed to like each other, which we do.

At around 1am she was transferred to a different hospital as the John Hunter Hospital didn't have an ICU bed available. She was on a ventilator till Wednesday morning and the first thing she asked the doctor after they removed the ventilator was when could she go home.

The ICU doctor was amazed to see 10 people in the waiting room on Tuesday morning when he came to explain what was going on with mum and most of the staff were surprised that every day mum had so many visitors. Her kidneys had stopped working and her heart-rate was only 25 beats per minute and her blood pressure was so low it was non-existent that is how sick she was.

On Wednesday afternoon mum was moved to a ward and was starting to get around on her own, she was discharged yesterday and is glad to be home, in the end the doctors thought she may have over dosed on some of her medication. Although they really don't know what caused all her problems but what was most important is that she has gotten better.

Then on Saturday morning Sandra rings to tell me she had to ring the ambos for dad as he wasn't able to get out of bed and was unable to breath when he tried to get up to go to the toilet. So he gets taken to the John Hunter Hospital and for the second time in a week Sandra had give permission to resuscitate a parent.

Dad was in hospital Saturday & Sunday and was discharged on Monday as well so now both my parents are home and continuing to improve, although they both think dad was discharged too early as he still isn't good.

When my mum was in hospital Leo was concerned about how my dad was coping when I told both dad and mum about Leo's concern they were both touched. Leo is a very loving and caring boy.

I didn't attend my sister's 50^th because on the day I was sick as and in fact spent most of the day in bed and I was glad that Tim was home and able to take care of Leo.

Speaking of Leo reminds me his mum has sold her car, she decided to get rid of it for two reasons, one she is trying to raise money for dental work and two her car had an oil leak that she couldn't afford to repair. She was up front with the people she sold it to about the oil leak and was lucky it sold really fast in was bought by the first people to look at it.

Jessica wouldn't drive her car very often with it often sitting in her driveway for a week or two without moving at a time, as during the working week she only goes to and from work, and couldn't be bothered going out anywhere.

So she will either catch a bus, walk or borrow my car which is why she had my car last Monday when mum was taken to hospital. In fact this morning I am sitting watching telly when Jessica walks in she walked her from her place just for the exercise and I drove her home.

Natasha is in talks with a woman about a housing swap, the woman seems to be interested, so fingers crossed it works out. I don't know where this woman lives but Natasha has told me it is within walking distance of my house this will make her happy as she wants to live closer to me.

Last week Tim sent off our visa applications for our China trip but of course he stuffed it up he didn't send a page and of course we had to then email the page with our names on it to them why he didn't send the page is beyond me when he told me the itinerary didn't have our names on it I said it did it the are one the first page and he kept looking at the second page not the first page and he even rang the travel agent to complain and was told our names are on the first page, so I was right and he was being thick.

I mentioned to Sandy that while we are in China I will be worried about Leo, how is he going to get to and from school each day, Jessica is going to be relying on Natasha and I just hope she doesn't let Jessica down.

Well Sandy says it isn't my problem and it is up to Jessica to sort it out and that she should change her shift at work, Jessica drives special needs children to and from school so I have no idea what Sandra thinks she does but there is no shift to change.

Yesterday afternoon while at the school Sandra was telling me our brother's car was found at Warners Bay not far from where I live burnt out, turns out it was taken from out the front of my parents place where it was my brother left it there when he took their car he was having trouble starting his car in the cold weather at 5.30am.

The first anyone knew about his car being stolen was when the cops rang Dave my parents didn't even know it was missing but they haven't been outside since they came home from hospital. Thankfully it is insured but still it is upsetting there is the loss of the stuff that was in the car.

On the 24^th my niece Kelli gave birth to her daughter who has been named Freya Margaret she was 8 pound 9onces, she is Blain's little sister but Blain doesn't seem very excited about having a new sister. Blain met his new sister on Friday afternoon but he didn't seem that excited about it, in fact Leo was more excited about meeting Freya and wanted lots of cuddles and photos taken with her.

With the birth of Freya my parents now have 14 great-grandchildren, my sister Sue now has 7 grandchildren. Our family has been growing pretty much every year for the last few years.

Jonathon has asked Kelli to marry him, so they are now engaged, I don't know what Blain thinks about that, my sister Sue (Kelli's mum) said she isn't that happy about it as she doesn't like Jonathon much but she knows that Kelli is happy and she is happy that her daughter is happy.

Well that's all from me for this letter, until next time take care and write when you can.

Jo-Anne

June Update

Well 2018 is half over and our family has increased by one with the birth of Kelli & Jonathon's daughter Freya Margaret born on the 24^th June at 12.47pm weighing 8 pound 9 ounces this means that my parents now have 18 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

As I write this mum & dad are both in hospital dad has had pneumonia and had a few falls resulting in a cracked rib. Mum has had her hip replacement at long last and is slowly recovering today she managed to get herself out of bed and walked to the toilet on her own with the aid of a walker of course.

Sandra and Sue have been wonderful visiting mum & dad a lot and Sue will move in and stay with mum & dad for a bit till they are able to cope on their own again.

I feel like shit because I am unable to visit them as I would not be able to walk from the carpark to the ward because of the amount of pain I am in 24/7.

Jessica has been getting a lot of weekend work the last few months which means we have been having Leo a lot of a weekend.

Kathy-Lee & Michael recently had to go to Queensland for the funeral of his uncle they had to take the girls with them as I wasn't able to watch them, I feel like I am letting Kathy-Lee down yet again she gets my shopping each Saturday for me but I often feel like I am putting her out asking her to get the shopping because she turns up here in a mood.

Natasha is a secretive as usual because that is the way she is, she shares nothing and keeps us guessing what is happening in her life.

First post of 2018

Well January has well and truly come to an end with us into the middle of the first week of February.

What is the best thing about January for you and yours?

We have a number of birthdays in January, 7 in total.

It is also when school goes back after the big Christmas break children ave around 8 weeks off over Christmas when you count the public holidays and such.

I wouldn't say January is any more special than any other month, for me all months a pretty much the same if I had a favourite month it would be December because I love Christmas.

We only have 3 birthdays in February and Tim and I are not into Valentine's Day, Tim is in no way romantic but that is ok I knew that when I married him.

Here's hoping 2018 is a great year for all my family and blog friends.

July 2017

Here we are at the start of another month so what happened during the month of July the biggest thing was the birth of Noah Lewis to Kirsty and Jacob, so we have a new addition to our ever growing family. Noah is the 6^th grandchild for Sue and the second child for Kirsty and Jacob, he is a little brother for Kelsi, I am sure Kirsty was starting to wonder if he would ever be born since he was over two weeks late.

Also during the month Kathy-Lee's partner Michael bought himself a motorbike after getting his learners licence and naturally the more he rides it the more comfortable he feels with riding it. Now he is thinking about selling his car which I get if he is going to be riding his bike and they have Kathy-Lee's car there is no need for them to have two cars and a motorbike.

I have been using a wheelchair the last couple of Friday's when out shopping and my amazing special girl (Jessica) had been pushing me around this is a bit hard on her as the shopping centre has a number of slight inclines. I am hoping on this Friday to be able to walk a bit like while I go to Woolworths but might switch to the wheelchair after that, I would have preferred to have used a scooter like mum does but they are all booked out.

I do most of my grocery shopping online and Kathy-Lee picks it up for me from Coles at Fletcher or Woolworths at Mount Hutton this is a big help to me. She has also been coming over and doing some housework for me each week.

Leo has recently been very mummified again as in always wanting to be with his mum, of course Tim and I still have him three nights a week but he would rather be with his mum. He is rarely any trouble when I have him and has started ringing his mum of a morning to just talk to her for a few minutes before he goes to school.

The end of July saw Sydney (the place) have the hottest temperature in recorded history during winter 27°c, here in Newie it wasn't that hot but it was a warm day.

Everyone should have received an invitation to dad/poppy's & Sandy's birthday party which will be in October dad is turning 75 and Sandy is turning 40, I hope my siblings have not forgotten that they will need to give me money by mid September.

Mum is in a great deal of pain and walking even a few steps is agony which is why when she goes to Charlie she uses a motorised scooter, which makes it much easier for her to get around. I know that often Sandy & Dave think that mum should just stay home but she doesn't get to go out much and she likes to still fell she has some independence. It would be better if she didn't have to go to the doctors and could instead have the doctor go to her because it takes so long for her to walk from the car to the surgery I think when she goes to the doctors she should be taking her walker and having dad or Sandy push her on the walker from the car to the surgery and then back again it would be so much better for her.

Tim has bought new saddle bags for his motorbike and also a windscreen for the motorbike cost him around $300 all up and yes I am ok with it but a little bit of me is annoyed that whenever I want things he doesn't want to spend the money.

While on the cruise I said I hoped to lose between 20-30 kilos by the end of the year or middle of next year but when I said that I thought I would be able to walk normally when we got home and I am not able to do that at all.

A couple of Fridays ago when I got home I was in so much pain from being on my feet all morning I just wanted to cry so I sat and did nothing but rested my leg.

While I was shopping that day I had a light bulb moment about my weight, more to the point why I am not losing weight as I thought I would. Anyway while I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other and often sliding my right foot as it was too painful to lift it, I thought this is the reason I can't lose weight, I cannot walk.

So I told Tim that night, that, was my thinking and he said nothing just looked at me with a look that said “so” and I said more and he said nothing but then on Saturday morning he said to me that he thinks the exercises I am doing each morning are doing nothing and that I should start walking up and down the driveway and I said I cannot walk and I wondered what part of not walking does he not understand. I don't want to walk up and down the driveway that would involve walking past the neighbours who would want me to stop and talk and I do not want that.

If I could walk I would go for a walk but I can't, I cannot walk from the lounge room to the toilet without a great deal of pain and sometimes not without my cane. I am doing the best I can but nothing I do is good enough, well that is how I often feel.

The ultrasound of my ankle showed that I have tendonitis, which is an inflammation of a tendon, I also have bursitis. Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa. A bursa is a small fluid-filled sac that acts as a cushion between bone and soft tissue (muscles, tendons and skin). A bursa (plural bursae) reduces friction and assists joint movement.

When you overuse or injure a joint, a nearby bursa can become irritated or inflamed. The bursa fills with excess fluid, causing significant pain and restricting movement.

Tim can be so loving and caring at times and at other times he is a right so and so and makes me feel like I am not doing anything good enough.

Let's us move onto Jessica last week Jessica and Leo along with Kelli and Daemon went to visit a friend of theirs who lives around the Casino area they drove Jessica's car there and of course home again and all of them had a great time. However, after she dropped Kelli and Daemon at their home in Cessnock she hit a baby roo it damaged the front passenger side bumper bar, Leo was more worried about the kangaroo then the car or themselves, later that day Kelli drove past it and yeah it was dead which upset Leo.

She has had her car repaired now a mate of hers did it for her so it only cost $200 for the bumper which was good she didn't go through her insurance as her excess is $795.

So who to next, how about my sister Sandra, on Saturday she bought a replacement car as her was written off by her insurance company, a few months back her car broken down and she had to leave it parked down the road from her house, it was only there a couple of nights when someone smashed ever single window in the car. So on Saturday she bought a replacement car this one is a 2005 Ford Falcon Station Wagon she is really happy with it cost her just over two grand.

Recently our brother and his family went on a cruise and for a change Sandra and her girls went and stayed at his house and dog sat, this didn't bother me and her girls loved it they didn't want to leave when it was time to return home. While there Sandy cleaned the oven, shower, bath, toilet, bbq and both dogs a lot more then I would have been able to do.

Dave, Leigh and the girls had a great time on their cruise and really loved it, they didn't take Dawson or Landon as Dawson didn't want to go and to take Landon would have meant getting a second cabin so they left him with his mum, who by the time they returned was well and truly ready to hand him back for a few days.

May & June 2017

Ok here we are at the end of June and I am just realising that I didn't do a post about May so you get a double post here May and June

May saw Tim and myself along with mum & dad going on a cruise to PNG and it was bloody awesome, loved it had a wonderful time, think mum & dad had a good time as well, I am hoping that at the end of next year we can all do a cruise to New Zealand. Tim said if I can lost 20-30 kilos we can do another cruise.

So I am still working out each morning for between 60-90 minutes I get up at 4.30am and work out but as yet I am to lose any weight I have however, not put on any weight, didn't even put weight on while on the cruise.

On the day we left I was in a lot of pain and could barely move but by the Saturday I was getting around pretty much like normal, this was because from the evening of our first night I was pushing mum android on her walker. This helped mum and me as mum wasn't able to walk very far and it took a lot out of her, so I decided to push her around while she sat on the walker a number of times mum said she should have taken her wheelchair.

We all had a great time on the cruise, even though it was difficult mum managed to get off the ship although I still had to push her around on the walker. The first time she got off I pushed and Tim pulled the walker as the ground was gravel and not easy to push her over but she was glad she got off as she enjoyed looking around. The second time it was harder to get off the ship as the gangway was step and she can't walk so two staff members had to push/pull the walker down and up the gangway. However, once off the ship it was easy to push her as it was all cement.

Mum spent a lot of money on gifts and stuff mostly for my youngest sister and brother, I think she spends too much on them but of course she doesn't.

Mum and dad bought me a souvenir of the ship as a thank you for all I did for mum, I was the one who went and got mums meals for her most of the time as there was no way she could go and get her meals, at times dad would get her something but mostly it was me and I didn't mind doing it all.

We of course spent Mother's Day on the ship, although on the day we were docked somewhere but right now I can't remember where, what I do remember is that Tim went ashore on his own and while ashore he did some shopping buying me a lovely necklace and mum a mirror compact which she really likes. We also ordered mum some flowers for Mother's Day which was a surprise for mum and which she really liked they were red Roses which are mums favourite flower.

The Friday we got home we picked Leo up from school and he was so excited to see us giving us both really pick hugs and asking as never to go away again. He really hated having to stay with his Aunty Tasha and even got suspended from school for two days for fighting, another student hit him and he hit the kid back. Anyway when he was suspended Jessica had to ring around trying to find someone to watch him as Natasha said she was too busy to watch him and Jessica was in tears about it all.

So we ended up having Leo from the Friday till the following Thursday after school as Jessica had to work that weekend and he really wanted to stay the Friday night and of course we said he could.

Kathy has started a new job at a day care she works at either Glendale, New Lambton or some other day care wherever she is needed, at the moment it is only between 1 & 3 days a week as she is only casual. Michael has some temporary work as a sander, meaning he is sanding wood at some place no idea how long the job will last but at least they have some money coming into the household.

A few weeks back while waiting at a round about Jessica was rear ended, thankfully no one was hurt and there was no damage to her car as the woman ran into her tow bar. However, there was a fair bit of damage done to the other car, she took photos and got the woman's info and was told that it was the third accident the other woman had in the last week.

Mum/Nanna is really in a lot of pain she cannot really stand or walk more than a couple of steps, even Andrew (Dr Keyworth) has said it is cruel that she has to wait so long for surgery to replace her hip. Although it is not just the hip that needs replacing it is the knees and a shoulder that also need replacing, she is really falling apart and it does at times get her down and as who know mum know she doesn't get depressed or down as a rule but the level of pain she is in 24/7 is taking its toll on her. For those who do not know the wait is about another 8 months and she is so over dad saying how much long will she be like she is or will she ever get better.

The next people to go on a cruise will be Dave & Leigh they leave on the 3^rd July and return on the 12^th July, it is Dave, Leigh and their girls going on the cruise. Dawson didn't want to go and Landon will be staying with his mum while they are gone. Some people may feel that they excluding Landon but if Landon went they would have to get a second cabin and that means more money and

he is only just shy of 5 and how much he would enjoy it I don't know. Anyway they decided to not take him, and I understand why, as I don't think really young children would enjoy it but I may be wrong.

Speaking of Landon since he is turning 5 in August you would think he would be toilet trained by now but no he isn't he goes to the toilet for his wee's but will not do a poo in the toilet he has done but more often than not he will poo his pants. He knows when he wants to go but chooses not to use the toilet, this is very frustrating for all involved in raising him. If he doesn't start using the toilet every time he will not be able to go to school next year as a child has to be toilet trained before they can start school.

The last couple of months his mum (Michelle) has been having him 3 or 4 nights a week she would like to regain custody of him and is taking steps to do just that. She is clean and sober and doing much better she is working again and they (her and her dad) are moving from Belmont to Gateshead next month this will mean they will be closer to mum & dad and this will make things much better for them, well it will mean they don't go through as much fuel and shouldn't take as long for Michelle to get to and from work.

I could tell you about Natasha's life but have no idea about her life she tells me nothing and usually we only see her when she wants something, like her washing done although now she has a washing machine won't even see her for that unless it is wet and she needs to use the dryer. Her amazing sister Kathy upgraded her washing machine and gave Natasha her old washing machine.

Jessica is getting a lot more weekend work lately which is good and she is still going to tafe 3 nights a week although at the moment she is on holidays till after school holidays so we have not had Leo but will have him this weekend on either Friday or Saturday night or both nights if needed while she is working again.

Kirsty is only weeks away from having her second child, how exciting for her and Jacob and of course Kelsi who is going to be a big sister, next month I will be able to tell you about the new baby.

In 2009 we had three members of the family pregnant with three girls born in January 2010 now in 2017 we have three family members pregnant again with Kirsty, Samantha and Brianna all expecting. Brianna is my nephew Tom's girlfriend.

I have had a lot of pain and trouble walking with my right ankle/ achilles tendon area, I am wearing a ankle guard every day which does help and I try to rest the ankle as much as possible, after being nagged by Tim I went to the doctor about the ankle and he told me to rest the ankle and it will just take time to heal, this I knew but of course Tim and the girls thought I didn't know what I was talking about.

Dad's health is up and down, he has days when he is coughing all bloody day and night and he has trouble with his breathing but he will not use the nebuliser because a few years ago some stupid nurse said they were out of date and not used any more, as Sandra says if we knew who this nurse was she would go find her and bitch slap the stupid woman.

On Friday just gone the 23^rd I backed my car into the box trailer which is on the front lawn and of course Tim made me feel awful over it, he says I cannot reverse the car straight and always go over to the left, I think he doesn't know what he is talking about. He went on about his financial stress and how I was costing him so much money, it wasn't like I did it on purpose and the only damage was a broken tail light.

Well that is all the family news I can think of so until next month take care, be happy and enjoy life.