Common Ground Coffee House #116

[Melanie]

Had a marvellous church function a trivia night and dress ups for the letter "G". The Gotham City crowd won the prize for best costume and I was totally repelled by the winner who was burnt on one side....I have worked with burns patients and it gave me the heeby geebies. my team won the quiz but I am lucky to be in a team consisting of math and science teachers and history and geography teachers and keen amateurs. Oh we went as Ghosts but I refused to put holes in what is a good sheet....it would have been even easier to go as Geriatrics but oh well.....a good time was had by all I think.

It is a very nasty day today....howling gales and cold. I am now a "pink lady" at the local hospital which is the volunteer cadre and I shall be doing the flowers in one of the wards. I was pleased to run into an old work buddy who did not move to Christchurch which was when I last saw her....I was so happy for them.

Everyone seems mad on the World Cup footy although I believe the Wales vs. South Africa was worth seeing as the game was one by one point.....

I too have been headachy today but feel it is most likely due to the cold wind more than anything else....

Have a lovely day folks...:flower:

 

[annsni]

Melanie - That sounds like so much fun!! It's great when we can get together and have a fun time at church and "do life" together.

Well, today is far from cold and windy!! We will be in the mid 80s with bright sunshine. This is our second to last day in the 80s for the foreseeable future and so I will be hanging out our bedding to dry on the line today and then doing another load of laundry tomorrow. I love using the clothesline!!

Today is a quiet day around here. Hubby will be going out to dinner with a friend then going on to men's group and I have no where to be so I'll put our first chili of the season in the crockpot, school the kids and get a few things done. I need to go and collect all of the homeschooling books we have to get rid of them and I'll try to do all that today.

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

 

[Melanie]

I was amused by your clothesline sentence Ann. I, to prefer the good old solar dryer which I used today. The weather forecast has been for a rainy week but it has not eventuated....I put a ton of washing out at the priory which is a bit tricky as the chap who put it up is about 5 foot nothing so it is about waist height....I would not like to look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak.

I have borrowed a bread maker to play with as it is not being used by my friend....keep your fingers crossed I don't make a hash of my first loaves.

Spent a small fortune grocery shopping today....everything seems very expensive, apparently this last month saw food prices rise for the 6th consecutive month I think.

Another beautiful and quiet day on Earth for me, thank you Lord.

God bless you all!:flower:

 

[menageriekeeper]

Well, I have survived to Wednesday.

Today I get to scrub the upstairs bathroom in prep for it receiving a new coat of paint (and perhaps a new more efficient toilet). I don't know how its happened but I am finally getting this house almost clean and organized. It's a real puzzle since I wasn't blessed with a cleaning gene. Of course, a clean house means a piled up sewing table so sometime this week I have to play catch up there.

Melanie, groceries are up here too. I can't walk into a grocery store but what I don't come out with at least $20.

Warm, dry and in the 80's here for most of the day and rain tonight.

 

[Melanie]

Ha.....another energising day...walked to the library against the gale so that must count as a workout. I was just thinking about the world wide web, there is a lot of bad stuff on it, but would I ever been in contact with folk living in such exotic places as Alabama, Texas if not for the revolution of computers. True, the contacts are as slight as a wisp of air against the skin but still it is amazing I think.

The cat has been driving me mad today....she does not like her fur to be all ruffled up.....a bad fur day. Finally, she has gone out now it is dark and the wind has dropped. Until I came to New Zealand I did not think cats ever tolerated being wet. In Brisbane, the cats always reacted as if acid had dropped on them, and would madly dash out the other door to the outside and be staggered that the horrible stuff was falling there as well.

New Zealand cats come in quite sodden and muddy, and weasel their horrid dampness around your legs until you dry them off with preferably your warmest and fluffiest towel.

I have been watching some old tv series....currently "Hart to Hart"...anyone remember that show?

Made my first batch of bread using a lent breadmaker machine...it is okay but I could clobber someone senseless with the loaf.....heavy it is!!

 

[menageriekeeper]

LOL on the cats, Melanie! I have one big fat cat that absolutely LOVES to stand at the side of the bathtub and play in the water. Sometimes, if I don't have a plastic cap of some sort for him to play with, he'll steal the wash cloth and waddle off with it dripping between his paws. Last time, he drug the sopping thing up onto my bed. And left it.

We survived till Friday. Gonna go help a friend who is moving into a new house with their "new" swimming pool that sat neglected for over a month. It is greeeeeeen with algae. We started treating it yesterday and I need to go see if there is any improvement.

Ya'll have a good day!

 

[annsni]

It's 51 degrees!!!! It was COLD this morning!!! I LOVE this weather!!

So I'm going to have some breakfast then head off to church. I gotta get the Sunday services done and also set up songs for the ladies' Bible class. We have a car at the shop so we're doing the car juggle for a bit until that is ready and then hubby and I are going out to eat tonight!! Gotta love a man who wants to take his wife out to dinner.

 

[Gina B]

It's 51 degrees!!!! It was COLD this morning!!! I LOVE this weather!!

So I'm going to have some breakfast then head off to church. I gotta get the Sunday services done and also set up songs for the ladies' Bible class. We have a car at the shop so we're doing the car juggle for a bit until that is ready and then hubby and I are going out to eat tonight!! Gotta love a man who wants to take his wife out to dinner.

Me too! It's sooo nice to get up in the morning and walk out on the patio with a nice warm drink in the cool air!

And it's too funny...EVERYONE is going out to dinner tonight! Our church is having an overnight trip for a group of kids so those parents are all going out, we still have the two oldest home but they can take care of themselves and zee babysiteur should be here any moment and we're ZOOM! OUTTA HERE!

 

[Melanie]

It was a nice windless day today and I was able to admire the blossoms on the trees, the tulips,daffodils and the geraniums all saying "look at me.look at me" (or so I thought). The glorious camellia yielded up a bucket of spent blooms, I am amazed it is so prolific....it was so tired when I first bought the house and has positively bloomed since it has been watered and fed.

I am so pleased I do not own a pool, the thought of a green slime monster makes me shudder.

Say a wee prayer for my only surviving brother who is very ill....he has liver failure and although I plan to visit around Christmas....I fear very much I may need to go to Australia much sooner. I am getting a bit choked up about this so I shall bid you adieu...havagoodweekend!!

 

[Melanie]

It has been a quiet week, but I posted on the current affairs thread and boy did that cause some folks blood pressure to go up. It is sad to think that it so easy to rile some folks, but at the end of the day it just goes to show that there is a huge cultural gap....a huge difference in mind sets too I guess.

Made a nice loaf of bread today, which made me proud of a new achievement. It is jolly nippy here despite it being Spring although the bulbs are blooming.

Keep smiling,:godisgood:.

 

[annsni]

Good morning Melody (although I guess it's evening there!) Right now we're doing homeschooling - or are supposed to be. It seems like brains are not working well today and I'm getting a bit annoyed. I need to put together dinner but if I leave the table, things aren't getting done. ARG!!!

 

[Melanie]

When I first left school, I headed of into the backblocks of Queensland as a governess....as the kids on the stations were hours and hours away from schools or even towns, so I homeschooled kids who would be distracted if cattle wandered by,musterers etc....I would just call it quits for mustering as the kids and adults were wild for it...great fun indeed.

Even the sight of a fly could be a distraction, of course any visitors meant automatic school out, you could hear the truck miles away and the excitement would be fever pitched by the time of the vehicle arrival. Even the postman was a thrill.

Ahh the good old days!!!:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Gina B]

What a week! Took the entire week off, just got the fever under control today. Hopefully it lasts.

My child ate my dinner so I'm hungry. LOL Sure wish I had her metabolism! I considered eating hubby's before he gets home from work and then falling asleep before he's back but that wouldn't be nice. Thankfully my appetite isn't back enough to make it worth it to go make something else. Maybe I'll lose an ounce or something. Yahoo!

I should be doing dishes right now but I'm really sick of being too short to put stuff away without hopping and jumping and balancing stuff as I take it down to put newly clean stuff under it and all that. I've been in a home made for people in wheelchairs and loved it because it's just the right height for me. I figured I'd have one build like that one day but now that I married a guy over six feet tall, that probably wouldn't be very nice.

It would be even meaner than eating his dinner. Hrm. In comparison, eating his dinner is very, very minor. In fact, when you put the two side by side, there's really no comparison. So if I don't build the house, but do eat his dinner, he should be thankful that I chose the minor one so I'd actually be doing him a favor.

Think he'd agree? :thumbsup:

 

[Melanie]

Gina your catalogue of woes for the petite struck a chord with me. Where I do my housekeeping, one of the fellows is about 5 feet nothing, the kids love him for that, I guess they don't have to look up to him. Anyhow, I suggested moving the drying lines so that the washing would get SOME sun rather than none at all. The dear fellow obliged but the line is about waist height now....:laugh::laugh:

 

[Gina B]

So true about the kiddos! I'm a LITTLE over five feet (by an inch at least, although I think the extra half inch may have ran away) and am sometimes really shocked to walk into an elementary school and find some students looking me in the eye.
In the usual classes though, I have to hide my intimidation at times when there's a student acting threatening because it never fails that the student is male and a foot taller than I am. One time especially I had kicked him out of the room and he was arguing and yelling about going and got in my face asking why I'd do that to him and I thought he was about to punch me...just calmly told him "I didn't pick how you would behave, gave you options, and am sorry you made the choice to break the rules and have to leave instead of staying for the rest of the class." He looked really confused for a second and couldn't think of a reply and just turned on his heel and left. Which left me breathing a BIG sigh of relief!

I'm definitely investing in a stand alone cupboard for home where I can put things where I can REACH. And maybe I should invest in a step-ladder to stand on in classes. :thumbs:

 

[Melanie]

Everyone has been busy...no posts for a while.

Front page news here.......the local council argie-bargie over deleteing the opening prayer before council sessions!!! More anti-Christian sentiment in MHO.

The son of a friend of mine is in the military in Afghanistan said to his mum when she asked him if he was praying....his response was no-one in his "group" (whatever it is) has an issue with a guy being on his knees even though they may not be prayerful themselves...they recognise a higher fate as they have all come too close to being killed. I thought that was really sweet. May the good Lord preserve him and his mates!!

Gardening this morning and tidying up the linen press at a bachelor establishment....I was NOT pleased to find a pair of dead slippers chucked into the back of the room. MEN... need I say more.

Been helping out one of the women of the church who have gone forth and multiplied....there are scores of kiddies here. Poor love has number 7 and post natal depression.....of course she has also had a guilt trip about being unwell, misses her baby, husband and all. We are so blessed here....the congregation has set up a roster to enable hubby to go back to work, ensure the kids get home from school and supervise until dad gets home, housekeeping and meal preparation. I was thrilled to hear she is going home tomorrow and supports will be in place for several months.

I tottered up to the Emergency Department with chest pain last week, I get angina very occasionally and this incident scared me. My blood pressure was fantastically high, but all was cleared after an incrediblly dull day in the ED. Our hospital has decided the only way to get out of the red is to hack nursing numbers (why are the workers always the ones to get it in the neck?). One patient had been in for 2 days waiting on a bed in house for gallbladder pains, she was sent home and told to represent if the pain recurred...highly likely as she was deemed to be in need of surgery, lucky her!

I was sent home and told I would need an appointment for a stress test, the letter arrived saying I would not be getting one at this time as I fell outside the parameters....another cost cutting measure I guess.

When did Health become a business?

Anyhow, it is all good in beautiful Wanganui! Hope all is good to any who read this:thumbs:

 

[annsni]

Melanie - I guess you have nationalized health care? That worries me!!

Things are good here. I'm car-less today as my car is in the shop getting stupid little things worked on. Usually we go to the local place which is fantastic but these are electrical issues that I felt needed to go back to the dealer. So hopefully by the end of the day, my car will again be able to roll up and down the driver's side window, lock the whole car from the driver's side door, have the fan that blows A/C and heat into the back of the van working again and an oil change.

In a little bit I'm going to head over to the funeral home for the wake of a lovely woman who used to help me in vacation Bible school. She has been in failing health in the last few years and I found out yesterday that she passed away. I haven't seen the family in a couple of years so I'd really like to go and pay my respects. I would not have been able to go except that my oldest doesn't feel well and decided to stay home from college so I can use her car AND leave the little kids.

I hope everyone else is well here!! What's up in your neck of the woods?

 

[Melanie]

Melanie - I guess you have nationalized health care? That worries me!!

????Why????? There is private health cover if you can afford it....it is not usually part of a job package. In my experience private Health is great for elective things but lousy in every other department, particularly if a hospitalisation goes really pear shaped....once the insurance runs dry you get chucked out like so much garbage into the public sphere. Certainly in ICU this happens, and the public ICU is generally better anyhow. Private Hospitals are 95% run as a business. Public Hospitals try....but there is always a political agenda attached particularly at election time.

The reality is I think we get brainwashed where we live....you could not pay me to want to be in the American system.....because it sounds completely soul-less. You will probably say the same about nationalised services.

Truely, no government can really afford superb services and a come one come all attitude. Politically, making decisions on who get what is fraught with emotion. Eg. do we spend a fortune on super prem babies? and deny a thousand people of a lesser costed health opportunity.

In our bizzare and God-less society....we want to live forever, but eat our young by promoting abortion and contraception...thus destroying a new generation of human beings who will work and pay taxes!!!!:tear:

 

[annsni]

The biggest thing that I like about our healthcare is the choice and availability. My son was complaining that he couldn't see well so I was able to take him to the eye doctor within a week. When my oldest was sick, we had a great choice of places that we could go and our insurance even allowed us to go out of network to get the best doctors possible. If I want to see a dermatologist or any other specialist, it's easy to get an appointment. I've heard of friends in England who had to wait MONTHS for appointments which just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Jim1999]

You will always hear stories about every system of health care. One of the problems we face with public health care is that women rush off to emergency for every little pimple their child faces. Years ago, we used home treatment for any things. So, the system is abused. This is true in England as in Canada. The more people on benefits, the more abuse of the medical care system.

Health care is not free. We pay taxes for it. When I had my strokes, I paid not a penny out of pocket. The same was true with my eyes. Also, I didn't have to wait at all and in both cases received the very best of care and top physicians.

I can't afford to even visit the USA as close as it is. I have to buy $400.00 health insurance just to cross the border.

My daughter works in the American system, and she can tell stories to shake your booties. There are cases where she had to provide drugs out of her own pocket to help the patients.

Cheers,

Jim