.............and off she goes again!

Tomorrow I leave for yet ANOTHER trip! I'm heading off Down Under to the glorious land of New Zea :-)

Even though I have had plenty of time to prepare for this trip do you think I'm anywhere near ready? I'm packed but have lots to do around the house to make it livable for the people I'm leaving behind even though it will be a complete tip when I get back.

Yesterday while out at dinner I broke a tooth. It hurts.

I tried to call my dentist and when I got voice-mail that told me to "hit 5 if this is an emergency" I HIT 5 and was THEN told that I had pressed an incorrect number. You can clearly see how my pain level increased!

I searched the internet for emergency dentists but it turns out that you will only be seen on an emergency basis if you are already a client. Thus I have been in complete pain, agony, misery, torment and tenderness the whole weekend.

I am leaving for the airport tomorrow morning at 10:30 am and will be at the dentist as soon as they open to get this mess fixed.

I am excited for this trip. I will be amongst the first in the world to celebrate New Years Eve, I will get to meet my niece for the first time, I will be traveling around and sightseeing and taking pictures and I will get to see my brothers again.

Oh, and did I mention that it is Summer over there? Oh yes!

I may post before I return but until then.......

Ta-raaaaaaaaaaaa !

From my last trip to see them, July 2006

Two years later, they got me!

We got back from vacation late Friday evening and let me tell you, each person had a 'Top Ten' list of things they were most looking forward to after being away for two whole weeks. It was fun, and I'm sure I'll mention bits and bobs about it sooner or later but for now, I'm just glad to be home.

I came home with some kind of 'head' thing going on. It started on the Wednesday prior to our returning and got steadily worse but after the whole fiasco of my broken ankle, I was hardly going to see a Dr. over in the U.K. about head pain and have a Dr. (or janitor as the case could very well have been) tell me "Oh, it's just a headache" when in actuality, it could have been a tumor or worse.

It is probably nothing more than an inner ear problem but after puking several times and falling over many more, I had to go see my own Dr. first thing Saturday morning. The Dr. then told me that "out of all the people that come in with similar symptoms, you are by far the worst" I had to go to the ER for a CAT scan STAT! (He did! he said it with an apostrophe at the end!!!!!!) We are still waiting for the results however, I'm sure by the lack of communication it can't be anything too alarming. Either that or I'm gonna drop right where I'm at and if that IS the case, it was nice knowing you all.................

I am STILL very dizzy and constantly trying to walk in a straight line but ending up leaning against the wall hanging on for dear life. I'm not throwing up anymore though so that's nice. The Dr. gave me a prescription for both the dizziness (side effects may include nausea - HUH!) and for the nausea (side effects may include Dizziness - I SHIT YOU NOT!!!!) so we shall see how I feel over the next couple of days.

Anyway, I came back to lots of mail - majority of it junk mail but one envelope was rather intriguing.

It was from the Department of Public Safety - oo-er......... Suffice to say that one line in the letter states;

"Therefore, after much consideration, we are recalling the license plate character combination VAH JJ"

This line was preceded by lots of "Obscene" and "Offensive Combination" and such like wording. So there you have it. They finally got me after two years. Now I just have to think of something to replace this with for when I call them and they ask what I want the new plates to be. Right now though my head isn't on right so I'm not worrying about it. I'll probably call them next week.

While I was away we had limited internet access and before the trip I remember thinking "How will I ever survive?" No really, I was in withdrawal, suffering from the old D.T.'s, scratching at the bit, REALLY REALLY worrying whether the internet world would survive without me and vice-versa.

Hhhhmmmmmm yeah, about that. I received 189 e-mails four of which were actually important-ish and relevant. The others, not so much. My Cell phone received 105 messages while I was gone, and the majority of those weren't important really. On those rare occasions where I COULD check the internet, I basically checked e-mail, the odd Gossip Blog, of course blogs that friends have and Flickr but that was it. News-wise bugger all happened that was of any relevance.

So I made a decision. I am going to cut down my internet habit drastically. Checking e-mails only as and when. If it's important, people know how to reach me (as I say this I can hear my cell phone alerting me that I have a text - LOL). I took myself out of most of the groups I was in Flickr - many because I simply wasn't involved and others because the aggro was just too much and causing a strain in my life that I just don't need. I have to be more productive in other aspects of my life such as actually engaging in activities with my kids, doing more with my photography which is really kicking off and things like that. I will of course remain blogging seeing as I have got back into it again!

So there you have it, a change in my life both vehicular and internet wise (with a bit of health thrown in for good measure...... ) Not bad for missing two weeks don't you think?

Oh, my favorite pictures from the vacation? Here you go.

I shall be back shortly with fun and gruesome details about the vacation..........

So, Facebook, that character building initiative you have going? How's that working for ya?.....

Do you have a facebook account? I do ~ 'gotta keep wiv da Kewl Kids n all dat'*

It's fun to play scrabulous, do fun quizzes and to catch up with all the gossip that is going on...... but every now and again, I just have to shake my head.

Facebook has this thing where you 'compare' your friends. Some of the things are quite ridiculous and you get to choose between two friends as to 'who is the most cuddly' 'most bestest friend to hang out with' and stuff like that.

THEN, after a while, you get an e-mail that informs you of your comparisons. Not what YOU have said about others, but what they have said about you!

Yes. Here is the screen grab of my e-mail!



It gives me such a warm feeling down deep to know that my 'weaknesses' are creativeness and likely to succeed. Really, get me some Horlicks STAT!

Luckily, I have thick skin (VERY thick in the soles of my feet region but that's another post another day.....) so I take this with a pinch of salt but you KNOW somewhere out there, shaking a fist to the heavens, someone is sobbing hysterically in a corner screaming "Why, Why don't they love me?"

Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you, so the next time you use your Facebook and begin comparing, think of me that someone, crying, feeling sad and lonely.....

By the way, in the "The Whole New Me" department? I am doing awesomely. While I may still think bad things about people that PISS ME OFF, I keep the thoughts to myself and simply ignore the people (or at the most, banter with small talk and keep it to a minimum). It's actually working out quite well! Who knew?!!!

In other news, LOTS going on and we are busy busy busy..........

Photography wise, things are going great. I did a LONG photo shoot yesterday and it was so much fun - I could only HOPE that all shoots are like this in the future.......

Family-wise, we are all getting ready for our trip to Europe next week. The kids started packing three weeks ago and have since re-packed about 8 times. I will TOTALLY have to check the bags though coz I know they'll be packing swimsuits etc., forgetting it's bloody England and France we are going to! The only swimming they'll do in England is if it rains - which as you KNOW, it does!

In Entertainment news - I CANNOT get this song out of my head.



Did you ever have a song that, inexplicably just remains in your head from the minute you wake up to the minute yo go to bed? That one is the one right now. Last week it was Xanadu and the week before it was a George Formby Classic - "When I'm cleaning windows" so, don't give up on me yet. Comment with a song that is getting on your nerves now and maybe THAT could be new one!

and that my friends is about it for this post. Shit to do, and places to go and people to....... oh whatever. I'll be back before you know it!

Oh, before I forget, my favorite pics..... (you can click on them to take you to my Flickr account to see the rest)

* If there is one thing that bloody well drives me mad is when kids text like this. Actually, strike that, when they send an E-MAIL like that! WTF?** You have a keyboard in front of you and it takes hardly any time at all to actually spell THAT instead of DAT? There is only one bloody letter difference!!!!!!

** Notes the irony of using WTF and LOL ~ so don't bother starting to compose that e-mail berating me.