Monday...

Sigh...... It has been a hard month so far.

My recent absence has been due to cataract surgery at the beginning of this month, rendering almost blind, they do one eye at a time, tomorrow the second one is to be done, & do what's called mono vision, long distance in one eye, short distance in other. So any close up or even arm length work, craft, ipad etc is a no go, so I sit. Withdrawing from keeping my hands busy has been excruciating. So I apologise in advance for typos. I wish I could say that's it but it continues.

today is my late fathers birthday, whilst it has been 4 years since his passing, it sometimes dawns on me how much I miss him from my life.  

The 2 minions are playing games also at the moment & neither are playing nicely, whic also making life that bit more difficult.

Pain has also lurking around, as well as a general uncomfortableness, which is irritating.

As I mentioned to moor my other eye gets fixed, hopefully not as painful as the last (they don't like sedating me very much understandably) then, Then, I hope to be able do wonders. We will wait & see.

Friday...

Well another week is nearly over, & it's been a pretty busy week. At the start of the week, I celebrated a birthday, only quietly with close family, but it was good. 

It's school holidays here in Australia, & the twin foster girls I care for, are eager to get back to school. They are 8, so I don't expect that eagerness in the coming years. So we have completed the back to school shopping, with all the flurry of smelly pens, millions of pencil cases, erasers in all shapes & colours, it certainly was an experience & somewhat overwhelming for the girls, being that the most important decision they had to make was 'which school bag?'.

I have also been somewhat productive, with my sewing/craft room basically completed. Remember the chalk paint I got, I finished the table top & my kitchen dresser, which now stores my fabric.

Here are some crudish pictures-:

 

Fabric dresser 

My new baby, a Brother QC2000

Overall room

Still alittle unpacking to go, but at least I can use it now, just need to decide what to tackle first.

I fill you in, on how I go, in the next post. Before I go, see the bird hangings on the windows, they were made by the girls for me at school, they were sweet & a good introduction to sewing. Their school is only a little school, but teaches the kids some life skills, like sewing, cooking & gardening with live chooks too. Something most schools don't do, certainly not primary school.  Bye for now.

Saturday

 Why hello.... Long time no see...

Sorry about my neglect, it's hard getting into the whole regular life, and consistently blogging. I wonder if any other bloggers have the same issues upon starting? It certainly would be great to hear other's struggles upon starting a blog.
I can't even blame time, upon getting sick and having to give up work, time has become more abundant now compare to life before sickness or (BS) as I like to refer to my life before, mmm wonder why that acronym looks familiar..

The reality is, I'm limited in my activities, due to my oxygen saturation plummeting upon movement, the easiest way to understand this is to hold your breath whilst running on the spot, keep holding your breath and notice the effects on your body, hard isn't it. So lots of things are really hard to achieve now compared to BS. In turn I'm tired, all of the time, and time and life passes quickly when you are asleep. I have a lot of time on my hands, but unfortunately, it goes by very quickly when you sleep like I do. As envious as that sounds, it is sad and sometimes quite soul crushing. I think I will leave this post here, with the notion that "living life is a blessing" ... Hopefully talk to you soon 

Saturday....

It is a grey miserable day today, no rain & not hot but not cold. Hopefully you have better weather where you are. Lucky me though, has a kid free weekend, when my sister took the girls for the weekend, so they could go & see the Lego Christmas tree & store fronts in Sydney with my niece & nephew. I would love to have gone, but there is no way I could walk around Sydney these days.

As I said the other day, I bought some Porters brand chalk paint in explorer blue & old chuch white, to update some of the mismatch furniture that will be going into my craft room. The advantage with this paint is no sanding or priming. It is that easy. I have started with the table, just an old pine top table win black metal legs. I figured it was the easiest this to replace if I really do a bad job. I was pleasantly surprised just how easy & quick it was. I have completed 2 coats...

First coat, a bit patchy for my liking.

Second coat, a more even finish...

Sorry I forgot to get a before shot. I haven't finished yet, I wasn't able to get the wax the other day & it won't be in store until next week. So between now & then I can decided whether to experiment with some distressing, painted stripes, painting some sort of feature in the middle. I'm not sure. At the moment it is a great expanse of white, but when it's in place, I know my sewing machine etc will break that up. So I'm really undecided. 

Being a kid free weekend, I figured I will take advantage of this, by sorting & wrapping the christmas presents that I have been stashing in my ensuite, away from prying little eyes. I think I am finished all the shopping, but you never know. It's the first year too, that I have bought the girls different things to each other, before they always wanted the same, some things are the same but a lot is different, I just need to make sure it all looks even now. So best I get started.

Talk soon x

Thursday....

Busy day today, for me anyhow. I accompanied mum to an appointment at Katoomba hospital. I still can't get comfortable in hospital, regardless of the amount of time I've spent in them, but mum is always happy to be my support with appointments, I thought I should return the favour.

Mercifully the appointment was really quick, so we were out of the depressive place in no time. I love exploring katoomba, I just hate the hill... The Main Street of Katoomba is a really steep hill, not good for someone whose oxygen saturation drops dramatically with any exertion. I did have my trusty oxygen tank, & had many regular pit stops, so I survived, not that I climbed the entire hill. We stopped & had lunch at a little cafe decked out Art Deco style, it was very dark & moody thanks to the dark wood panelling on the walls. As it was raining & miserable & rather chilly, I really felt likes nice homemade soup, the bonus was the daily special was beef & vegetable soup. It was a fantastic choice, that is until mums order came out, waffles with caramel sauce & ice cream, I mean really, thanks mum.

So we wandered into a few stores, including a cheap bookstore. I am determine to locate some japanese sewing books, the ones with clothing patterns. I have seen them on other blogs and really want to try them out. But no luck.

On the way home, I stopped into Blue Mountains Interior, in blackheath, where I splurged on 2 litres of chalk emulsion. I am going to try to transform my kitchen dresser and a table with the paint. They will then be located into my slowing evolving craft room, I can't wait, I bought myself an early christmas present of a brother qc2000 sewing machine, but I won't let myself use it until I finish setting my craft room & it's dedicated space. It is just taking soooo long, especially when I can only have short bursts of activity or risk a major migraine from the ever changing oxygen levels.

Home now, exhausted, my generous hubby made dinner, girl 1 & 2 are bathed & in bed, & I'm honestly trying to convince myself that it's not too early to go to bed.... The debate will continue....

Talk soon 

xx 

Let the journey begin....

Hi, my name is Nicole or Nik, as my friends call me. This blog will be my online account of my life coping with a rare terminal disease, possible double lung transplant, my interests and hobbies, and generally how I fill my days as I await the call that could change my life. 

Any organ transplant is a massive ordeal for anyone to go through. But when it is your only hope of living, it's something that you wish for but dread at the same time. So I hope you can join me in this journey, and share with me your experiences and opinions.