Driving Too Soon

I think I over did it today. I drove to Church this morning which was all good no problems except for taking the hand brake off. It hurt my hand a bit to push the button in. My wrist ached a bit while we were at Church. I could handle that. I taught my little sunbeam class and once the children all went in for swimming time I asked if the Primary President if she minded if I went home. Yes, no problem. The children had a lesson with me and there were lots of others who could supervise the children for the remainder of the time.

The boys and I hopped in the car for the drive home. I reversed the car and tried to steer the car using both my left and right hands (to straighten the car up) when I got this awful pain in my hand. OOPS. It ached like crazy on the way home. Thankfully now it has all settled down now.

I'm thinking I got behind the wheel too soon. That being said I just get so tired of waiting for Mark to be ready to do stuff. He has his own health issues to deal with and by the time he is awake and alert to do the things that I need to do the day is almost done. I hate sounding ungrateful but it is very frustrating when you can't be as independent as you usually are. I just want my hand to get better fast so that I don't need to rely on others so much.

We Have Been Travelling

Dad's all rugged up 

The boys and I drove to Adelaide today. We left at 5:30am and arrived atDads just before 4pm local time. It's been such a long day & it's good to be out of the car. 

I'm not sure how often I will be able to post because I am using my phone & it's a tad awkward typing on it & see what I am writing.

We Went To Lakes

It was foggy in Trafalgar when we drove through just before 7 am.

Mark & I dropped Angus off at work in Morwell yesterday morning and we continued on to Lakes Entrance. Lakes is where Mark's brother and sister-in-law live. What an amazing place to live. It is so pretty there.

It was such a beautiful day to be out and about. I almost forgot that it's meant to be winter with the lovely sunny sky and the mild temperatures. In fact it got pretty hot in the car on the ride home.

The in-laws took us to a cafe along the esplanade for lunch. I had some pretty amazing calamari with a salad. Mark had fish and chips with salad. The SIL had lamb souvlaki and Mark's brother had something from the breakfast menu. We waited such a long time for our food to be cooked but my goodness the food was amazing. The wait was worth it.

Silly me though I forgot to take lots of photos while we were out, oh well. Maybe next time.

Get Off The Road There's A Learner Driver In The House

Now that Mark has my old car he decided that it would be nice to take Brodie out for a driving lesson. He took Brodie to a deserted car park at the soccer/hockey ovals this morning for a lesson. It's a good thing they went early because once the kids started arriving to play sport there would've been no room for Brodie to practise.

Brodz was so excited when he got home. He practised braking, parking and driving in figure eights. Mark said he is getting there.

At least Brodie got some time behind the wheel. He's had his learners for such a long time but due to the fact that we only had one car. If anything happened to it we would be in big trouble and stuck at home. Now that we have a second car it's not so bad. I've often wondered how many hours of driving Brodie should have before I let him drive the family car. I'm thinking maybe 30, 40 or even 50 hours or maybe even when he finally has his P plates ☺

I am so grateful that Mark has the patience to teach him. I don't think I do. I would stress to much if Brodie doesn't listen while he is driving. He doesn't always listen to me at the best of times. I would hate to think that he wont listen when he is behind the wheel. I think I will leave the teaching to Mark and the driving schools.

Day Trip To Hastings

Last week Mark, Angus & I went for a drive to Hastings (its about 80km [that's 50 miles] from our home) so that Mark could pick up a part for one of his laptops. Would you believe he has at least 4 of them? Don't ask it gets complicated but let's just say that he uses at least one of them for the ham radio. I told you that he's a ham radio operator didn't I? He has his foundation license.

 Hastings is on the Mornington Peninsula. It's really quite pretty there. Even though I took my camera we didn't really get out the car and take a bit of a tour. Which is a shame really because I wanted proof that I actually went there so I could do a blog post!

We did however get to see this HUGE thing. I'm not exactly sure if its a wind turbine for generating power like they do on a wind farm. I'm assuming it might be otherwise why else would you put it up? Angus took the photos for me. They're the only ones that were actually taken on our little trip.

It was a such a nice day to be out and about. I just hope that if we head that way again we get to spend some time looking around (and taking photos to share).

I Drove For More Than 3 Hours Today

Gosh it's been a very long day today. I drove all the way into Brighton this morning to take Mark to a Cardiologist appointment. A 178km round trip ( just over 110 miles) which meant at least 3 hours travelling time & yes I drove ALL the way. It's no wonder I feel pooped *yawn* I could use a Nanna nap.

the route we travelled

The cardiologist (a Professor) we saw was really, really nice! I am so glad that Mark's doctor referred us to him. I was very impressed with the way he explained things to us.
He looked at all the test results and the scans that we brought with us. The Prof. told Mark that his heart looked beautiful. I guess that's a good thing for a cardiologist to say. There were no blockages or anything which of course is all good. He explained that the pains in Mark's chest is a cardiac spasm. We were also told that Mark has dyslipidemia which basically means that there are abnormal amounts of cholesterol in his blood & not the good cholesterol either. (it's something I need to watch for too being a diabetic - I didn't know that).

With this in mind it may mean that Mark might need medication to help reduce his cholesterol levels at a later date. For now the Professor is very happy to let the GP handle things & that of course if things change for the worse he can go back to see him.

We were also given some reading material to take home. [Which I will get stuck into when I don't feel so sleepy *yawn* or hungry for that matter (it's almost dinner time)] He also explained to us that Mark is at risk of developing problems later in life if things are left to continue as they are. In other words it wont hurt Mark to lose a little bit of weight, become more active (maybe join me for a walk or go swimming), quit smoking and just generally eat more healthily. (Sorry hon you may need to cut back on all of those noodles you love eating!)

At least we have some answers. & that was exactly what we were looking for :) now we just need to put things into action. Well Mark does. I already have my own health plan to work with :D

Out For A Drive

Mark & I went for a drive towards the city today. Mark bought something on ebay and we decided that pick up would be the way to go this time. It wasn't all that far really (about an hours drive) and it gave us the chance to get out of the house and go to my favourite store on the way home!! Well it wasn't really on the way home but since we were in that general direction :D

My favourite store - we went to Narre Warren this time.

I drove towards Melbourne's outer suburbs. The closer we got the them the more traffic there was. For a Saturday afternoon the roads were quite busy. I would hate to be there during peak hour that's for sure. It was busy enough that I was starting to feel stressed. I got Mark to drive us to Spotlight and then home.

I am definitely a country girl now. Give me the lovely, relatively quiet, country roads and the section of the M1 freeway that is not that busy and I am a happy girl! Next time we need to head anywhere near the big smoke I will just hand the keys to Mark and say "Hon, you're driving!"

On the way home just outside Pakenham

Look at one of the pretty views we had on the way home. We are just so spoilt with all the rolling hills and the green grass everywhere. I just love the countryside :D

Mark encouraged me to buy this stuff :D

While we were in Spotlight Mark totally encouraged me to buy some more yarn/wool. How many people could honestly say that their other half said go ahead buy some MORE stuff to knit & crochet with! I love him soooooo much! He rocks!!
Narre Warren has a lot more yarn/wool to select from than the Morwell store. More than double the stock. The only problem is the traffic. If it wasn't so busy at Narre I would go more often.

Mark told me I should get the baby lustre yarn to put pretty edging on blankets or clothes.

I know that I bought a lot of pink again but I found out yesterday that my other niece who is expecting her second baby in early December is having a little girl. So BOTH of my nieces are having pink babies! There's about 6 weeks difference between their due dates.

Ta Da! Here's that pink baby blanket with the border on it.

I'm thinking that the extra bright pink yarn would make a fantastic entrelac blanket like the one I just finished. Hot pink & white would look great!

Older Drivers

I phoned my Dad up the other day & had a nice chat with him. He was telling me about his 'girl' friend whom he likes to take out for lunch (& sometimes dinner at the RSL club he goes to). I think its really nice that he has someone he can spend some time with after all Mum has been gone for almost 10 years now. That's an awful long time to be on your own.

Dad was telling me how his friend suggested that she catch a taxi to the restaurant they wanted to eat at. Dad got highly offended. Dad told me that he wasn't going to go out to lunch with his friend any more if she didn't think he was good enough to pick her up & drive her there. I can understand where he is coming from. He's 82 years old and of that generation who did the noble thing and picked up your date when you went out.

I can also see it from his friends point of view too. As I mentioned Dad is 82 now. His driving skills are NOT what they used to be. When we were in Adelaide visiting him last year he took us to Salisbury one day for lunch. I nearly had a fit when he began driving down the middle of a two lane road. Granted it was for traffic going in the same direction but he was driving down the middle of it leaving no room for anyone who might have wished to overtake us & we were heading towards a roundabout making me think he wasn't going to be able to stop & give-way. He seemed like he was off with the pixies and not concentrating as much as he should have. I didn't point it out to him at the time. I didn't want to upset him. However I am thinking that perhaps I should have. So I totally understand why his friend wants to catch a taxi.

Dad ranted on a little bit on how he gets his approval from the doctor each year so that he is allowed to renew his license. Well that is all well and good but I am thinking that he needs to have a yearly road driving test. Sorry Dad I love you to bits but you are NO longer a safe driver!!

Next time I talk with either of my sisters I might mention his driving and let them deal with things. They might be able to handle him better than I can considering they at least live in the same state as he does.