My Luck Will Turn Around at Some Point Won't It?

If I told you that this week was better than last week I'd be lying.  I'm not sure why I'm being tested as much as I am right now, but I am and I need to just suck it up and deal.  I'm sure there are more good things coming my way.

Monday I arrived at school to find out that my school has decided to implement morning staff briefings.  For those who know me you'll know that I just love all the meetings I have to attend here.  So now, on top of my two one hour after school meetings a week, my one Friday recess meeting, I now have a daily ten minute briefing before school starts.  You can see the big smile on my face now can't you - NOT!  

On Monday I had to leave work about 15 minutes early to ensure that I got to the specialist in time to pick up my paper work for my procedure on Wednesday.  Kay, the teacher across the way from me was kind enough to watch my kids while they did our version of  "Run Across Australia".  I made it to the specialist with plenty of time to spare and I read over my paper work.  Once I understood all that I needed to do I started to walk home.  My first stop was the pharmacy to get the secret concoction for Tuesday. I then went to the grocery store to pick up allowable liquids for my colon prep.  My next stop was into a shoe store on Brunswick Street.  I was feeling so sad that I just had to buy the cute shoes I saw there. They helped put a small smile onto my sad face.

My make me smile shoes.

When I got home on Monday I was saddened to find out that my phone and internet were not working.  Immediately I got on my mobile phone and called the phone company to find out what was wrong.  They couldn't fix it from a far so they said that they  would send someone out before closing on Wednesday.  "WEDNESDAY!" I said, "you don't understand I have a major procedure Wednesday morning and I really need to be in contact with my friends and family back home in Canada".  The response I got didn't change.  I hung up my mobile and started to cry.  I was  out communication with the home country.

I woke up Tuesday (still no internet or home phone) and started my colon prep.  I won't go into details but let's just say there was no way I could have left the house.  Originally I had thought that I could work that day but thankfully I took it off work.  While at home I tried to download my mail program that has disappeared from my computer.  I don't know what I was thinking because in the process I've locked me out of every microsoft for mac program on my computer.  I can no longer use my powerpoint, word, or excel programs and I'm still with out my mail program. Thankfully my work computer is a pc and I can access those program from there.  But boy is it frustrating as I do most of my work at home on my Mac.  I only do school work on my school computer.  Apparently my work computer tech can help me fix my problem so hopefully by next  Thursday my poor sick mac will be back running smoothly again.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyhow, around 4 pm on Tuesday the telephone people showed up and got my home phone and internet working again.  I swear I could have kissed them.

Wednesday morning I made my  way to the hospital feeling a bit worried and very hungry.  There were some emergency procedures that got in front of me and another lady and so we waited in the waiting room for three and a half hours!  As with any surgery I had not eaten anything since midnight the night before and I hadn't eaten anything solid since the night before that.  I was HUNGRY.  I also read every newspaper and magazine in the waiting room.  Finally it was my turn.  They drugged me up, did the procedure, and I was back eating a sandwich before being taken home by a work colleague.

Thursday morning I got on my bike and road to work.  It was a lot more difficult than usual but I made it eventually.  I was really really sad though, which I later found out was because of the anesthesia.  Thursday was pretty uneventful.

Friday I was told to give the doctor a call to find out the results of the procedure and the tests that were done.  I was told that he was going to give me a call after 5 pm but it never happened.  So as I type this I still don't know what's officially wrong with me. I also received a nice $200 bill for a medical test that I had done. When I had the test I wasn't thinking about what it was going to cost me so when the bill showed up in my mail box my heart dropped.  I love these pricey medical bills that I keep having to pay.  On Friday night I went to a Vodka bar called After the Tears with a friend from work.  The food was great and the drinks were very good too but very pricey.   It was really nice to be out meeting new people on a Friday night.

Saturday I woke up some what early and decided I would try to go for a run to find this local farmer's market I had heard about.  It turns out it was only about 2km away and I found it with little trouble.  I also got to explore another bike/walking trail near my house which follows the Merri river. The farmer's market was at a place called Ceres which is an environment education site as well as mini urban farm.  They grow local fruits and vegetable as they raise chickens.  Everything for sale at the market had the distance it travelled to get to the market, and most items also listed what day and time they were picked.  Needless to say everything was VERY fresh.

Some of the chickens at Ceres

The Organic Market

The view from the sight looking at some of the garden and the market in the background.

I spent a bit of time there and then I continued along the river path before turning around and heading back home.

The River Path (about a 7 min walk from my Melbourne home)

Another view of the River Path

Feeling pretty good about my successful morning I headed home. I caught my dad on Skype and he filled me in with the status of the insurance claim for repairs to the suite below me that my leaking toilet damaged.   The news wasn't good and I think it's going to cost me out of my pocket a hefty sum of money.  Needless to say the news didn't make me all that happy.

But, I had plans to go and see another local farmers market so I jumped onto my bike and headed out.  I've never been to this market either and it's a bit further away but apparently easy to access via a local bike trail.  I haven't had much success finding this trail though so I gave it another attempt.  As I was riding, searching for the trail, I must have been pretty distracted by the news that my dad had given me because I t-boned a street curb.  As you can probably guess I went flying over the handle bars.  Thankfully I wasn't too seriously injured although both my shoulders are quite sore from bracing the fall and my left hand is nicely cut up.  I spent some time fixing the flat tire but I didn't have my bike pump with me (it was in my school bag) and I couldn't get my CO2 to work so I walked to the bike store (about 1 km) and filled up the tube with air.  While changing the tire I also noticed that there was a very good chance that I had sliced the tire so badly that I was going to need a brand new one.  Well, I was right and so I purchased a new tire.  At this point I also realized that I had already punctured the second (new) tube so instead of paying crazy prices for another bike tube I walked home (2km) and did the changing of the tire and tube in the comfort of my home (I had my dad bring over bike tubes for me at a fraction of the cost of the tubes here in Australia).  It was a great way to waste a beautiful sunny fall day.  ;-(  (You'll also notice that I didn't even look at my report cards on Saturday).

Saturday night I was invited out to a games night hosted by another Canadian couple on exchange.  They live about 45 min away by train and bus and I arrived there safely without any trouble.  It was a ton of fun and I met another set of new people.  I came prepared to either spend the night or catch the train and bus back home.  As the night was getting later my train/bus options where getting smaller and smaller.  Although I was able to spend the night with them I really wanted to sleep in my own bed.  In the end one of their guests were kind enough to drive me right back to my home.  It was a super treat and a great way to end a wonderful evening.  

So now it's Sunday early evening.  I've spent most of today either chatting on the computer, dealing with required choirs like cleaning, dishes, groceries, cooking and laundry, or working on my report cards.  The report cards here are much like what we used to write back home before we leaned them down so they are a fair bit more writing then I'm used to.  But they don't stress me out because it isn't anything I haven't done before.  I also know that they will get done, they always do.  

 

Hopefully there is better luck in my future.