Tag: health

Categories
#blogjune Life Review

Over for another year..

Hello again, dear reader.

This marks the final post for my 2015 #blogjune journey. It’s been different to what I had expected. I had *hoped* that I’d be able to post every day. But, just as in the last five years, that never happened. I still managed 30 posts – but because several days had two or more posts in them. And this post marks the 112th post in the #blogjune category – and that sounds pretty impressive to me 🙂

So, to recap for 2015:

1. On the relationship between libraries, teaching and vocal nodules I lamented my not-going-to-Library-volunteering-due-to-laryngitis day

2. Keeping it at bay – the laryngitis, that is – related my happiness at getting so much editing done the day before, and also re-discovering the five (count them! 5!) folders of research that I’d done for a historical novel ten years ago, before Miss10 came along

3. Looking backwards, looking forwards referred to my experiences with #blogjune (cherubs traditionally picking up vomiting bugs during the first week of June) and my excitement about the #WritingRace I attend every Wednesday evening.

4. So I succumbed – Laryngitis got me, finally. It was the choir rehearsals that did it, I tell you!

5. Ask me why I’m happy – Hubby finished his CPA studies!

6. So it happened again – I was *so* hoping to get away with a vomit-free first week of #blogjune. But Miss7 changed that. Sigh.

7. Smiling – while sick : my 41st birthday!

8. Grateful was a post thanking my peeps for all the birthday love – and I finished reading Stephen King’s On Writing 🙂

9 – 14. The next few posts were a series on how I parent. I regularly get comments on the good behaviour of my kids, so I thought I’d blog about why. Things like Rewards First, Stuff Costs Money (understanding the value of things), Set Expectations, Consistency is Key, Make Milestones Memorable and finished it with a post on Mummy: my kids’ perspective

15. This Saturday looked ahead to the Krav Maga grading I was to sit that weekend

16. whoops – where I realised that I’d missed a day of blogging. My first for the month. So I’d made it through to day 15 before misisng a day! Happy with that 🙂

17. Predicting the game – the State of Origin rugby league match, that’s pretty big on the east coast of Australia during June. And I got it right 🙂

18. Training – Miss10 had been giving me back massages all week, possibly in response to the hard training I was doing preparing for my grading. Which was absolutely beautiful!

19. On dreams – I wonder what “being suffocated by render” means?

20. I passed!!! (Still shaking my head in disbelief, actually…)

21. Sabriel – my thoughts on the Garth Nix novel of the same name, which I’d read that afternoon. Being unable to do much else but lie prone, of course!

22. Conversations with my younger children – in which both Miss7 and Mr6 surprised me.

23. Hat-less: a selfie. These are rare. But I felt that my first day without-a-hat since shaving my head for #WorldsGreatestShave back in March was reason enough to grin and bear that rear-facing camera…

24. four days behind  because I was! And my reason why…

25. On socks and sewing – in which I recounted hopeful improvements in my ‘school socks’ system, and also my woeful sewing skills

26. sore – Some furniture was moved in preparation for the laying of tiles which had been delivered – which we had just discovered were the wrong tiles! (Am still seething over this one…)

27. Feedback from beta-readers – my take on the feedback I’ve received on my book to date

28. Tiles – part 2 : situation resolved (we can but hope) where the correct tiles will apparently be delivered next week…

29. Reading time – where I got to the bottom of why Mr6 refuses to read certain words

30. Over for another year – this one that’s you’re reading right now, the recap post where I’ve reminisced on the events of the past month.

Thanks for reading, and here’s wishing you a lovely day, as always!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Life momentous events teaching Work

Hat-less

A few months ago, I shaved my head for #ShaveForACure. I raised quite a bit of money… but more than that, I raised awareness of blood-related cancers in the hundreds of kids I teach on a weekly basis.

Today, for the first time since I had my head shaved in front of them all, I’m hat-less.

Here goes!


Have a great day, dear reader!

–KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune More about me

Training

Earlier in the week, I mentioned that Hubby and I were doing our gradings tomorrow, for Krav Maga. And that I’d be training a bit this week.

I did.

Two hour training sessions on Monday night, Tuesday night, and last night. Not Wednesday, because I teach violin, then join in the weekly #WritingRace run by Australian Writers Marketplace Online; and not a huge one tonight because I really don’t want t be sore for tomorrow. But I tell you what, I’ve definitely noticed a change in me this week!

For one, I’ve barely had time to sit at my computer and write up a blog post each day – so I haven’t 🙁 And I’ve been sleeping deeper – dreaming again – and feeling fitter and healthier and more confident that I may possibly pass at this tomorrow.

Another outcome of this week is that Miss10 has decided to give me spontaneous back massages. And they’re really, very, very nice!

You see, as a violinist, I have a perpetually sore left shoulder / neck. Because I wasn’t taught to hold my violin correctly, or maybe I got into some bad habits, but basically I use my neck and back muscles incorrectly. Meaning that I have constant knots in my muscles on my left side, especially around my shoulder blade.

And this week, with the workouts, I was worried that I’d overdo it (I’m stupid like that) and strain the muscles even more. But the opposite has happened. Not only did I *not* overstrain my muscles (yay me!) but also Miss 10’s massages have relaxed me more. (New thought: perhaps that’s why I’m sleeping better!)

I’m quite happy with that. Not about the lack of blog posts on Tuesday and Thursday, but the feeling more relaxed, stronger, fitter, etc etc.

Now all I need to do is pass tomorrow.

Wish me luck, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Blogging challenges

whoops…

I woke up this morning and realised that I’d missed a day of #blogjune. More fool me for boasting that I hadn’t yet missed a day, the day before! Whoops!

In my defense, this week has been busy. Hubby and I are grading on Saturday, meaning that Monday night, last night, and Thursday night I have two-hour-long training sessions in an effort to not fail. I’d train tonight too, but I’m teaching violin and have a #WritingRace to attend, so there goes that idea. Plus, I’m pretty sore at the moment…

Which is why my online time has been severely curtailed.

Although I *did* mange to update my Twitter and Facebook profile photos and backgrounds, so I’m happy with that 🙂

Have a great day, dear reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
momentous events my novel-in-progress

Smiling – while sick

Hip hip hooray, it’s my birthday today!

It’s 4.30am. The house is dark and quiet and I’m sitting at the dining table at my computer. I am happy.

I am also sick. I’m guessing that, by the way my body feels, I have a case of pretty much full-blown flu. The tissues keep being moved from their original box on my right, to the bin on my left, getting soggy on the way and making my nose red and more sore in the journey (Note to self: Hubby needs to buy a couple of boxes of Aloe Vera ones today. Maybe a couple of hundred boxes.) My throat is sore, and I think I’m coughing at a rate of twice per minute. Less now that I’m sitting upright, and closer to our very-warm fireplace. But my back and the muscles in my diaphragm are aching in sympathy with each cough. And don’t get me started on the head uncomfy-ness!

But I am happy. Because I set myself a deadline, and today was it. Today, I turn 41. And I desperately wanted to be able to say “I finished my first book at the age of 40”. Finishing it today, or at any other point in the future, would have been too late. Because I can no longer say “I am 40”.

But that’s okay. I made my deadline – weeks ago, actually! In fact, I’m most-of-the-way through editing it, as well! Stoked!!!

So, on a practical note, I’ve updated my ‘About’ page. I’ve also added another short story to my ‘Short stories’ page, for anyone who’s interested.

And have a happy day, dear reader – I know that I’m planning to!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Random thoughts

So it happened again.

It’s early morning. 1.57am, to be precise. June 6. And my house is now vomit free- again.

I’ve blogged before about how the first week of #blogJune has weirdly been marked by kids vomiting. And I was congratulating myself, late last night, on the fact that I’d almost made it through the week, and perhaps it wouldn’t happen again this year… whoops.

So I’ve just spent the best part of an hour cleaning up Miss7. Cleaning up her pyjamas (and singlet and socks). Cleaning her hair. Cleaning the toilet seat and the toilet floor, the hallway (of course, her bedroom is the farthest away, so I mean the *whole* hallway,) and cleaning the carpet in her room. Thank God she’s now 7, otherwise I’d still be cleaning her bedding and her huge collection of stuffed toys… Lucky she’s  now clever enough to know to move, and move fast!

But still, I don’t like cleaning vomit at 1 o’clock in the morning. Especially when I thought that I was going to get out of it this year. But oh well. That’s life, I guess. And hopefully there’ll be no more vomit-cleaning now, until the first week of June next year. (Please, Lord, please!)

Weird how they only vomit this week. But perhaps I shouldn’t say that. I’ll jinx it.

And now that I think about it, maybe cleaning and mopping my floors on Thursday afternoon was perhaps pushing my luck just a little bit??!

Note to self: don’t clean the house until June 8th next year.

Categories
#blogjune my novel-in-progress Reading teaching

Keeping it at bay…

The laryngitis, that is. Well, so far. But I’m teaching for the rest of the week, so let’s just see how that goes, huh? I find that the constant swapping from speaking to singing voice (that’s an integral part of classroom music teaching in a Primary school) is such a strain on it; far more than it ever was in a High school. But maybe that’s just me.

But anyway, on to yesterday. So I edited the first 12 chapters of my book – now the first 11 chapters. And I was pretty happy with that. 30 chapters to go.

I also found some research that I was doing over 10 years ago. For my first ever historical novel. And there’s HEAPS of it – five folders full, in fact! So I’ve been thinking that I might start that piece again. See how it goes, you know? So I read it all through, and that inspired me to continue the research last night. Head back to original sources, back to the Latin versions, etc etc etc. Supremely interesting stuff!

So the plan for today is: not lose my voice. Edit 10 more chapters. And maybe dig some more into the history of Autun. Because I can 🙂

Have a great day, reader!

— KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune family anecdotes my novel-in-progress teaching

On the relationship between libraries, teaching, and vocal nodules

I’ve been teaching ever since I can remember. Well, not when I was 4, or 5, or thereabouts. Of course. But since my early teens, I’ve been earning money teaching. Back then, it was teaching violin to children who’d just started learning, and whose parents wanted private lessons. It was easy enough – I knew how to play, and passed this knowledge on. At 21, I got formal qualifications in the field, and went on to teach kids as young as four, to students older than me, in subjects that varied from English and Music to Drama, Geography, Christian Studies, History, Dance – and there was also a Sex. Ed. semester long unit in the late 1990’s – to a class of Year Ten boys!

My younger brother commented once, “You’re such a born teacher!” He’d been staying with Hubby and I, and all of us were in our late twenties. I’d just finished teaching a private violin student, and was helping her to count out change from the money she’d paid me. Rather than just giving her the money (4 or 5 coins), I had asked her to count it as I put the coins, one by one, into her hand. My brother watched this, laughed and shook his head, and made the comment – which has stuck with me ever since. I realised that, ‘Yes, I am. Teaching is something that I love doing. Imparting knowledge, helping children develop skills, watch them develop attitudes – hopefully positive ones! That’s what I love.’

Back in 2010, I decided to qualify myself as a Librarian. So that, when my children were old enough to go to school, I could return to full-time work as a Teacher Librarian.

Life didn’t work out quite like that. I’m back at work, on a 7-day fortnight, in a permanent teaching role. And my kids are all at school. Those Library qualifications, earned last December, are just that. Qualifications. At the moment.

But the good thing is that I’m only working a 7-day fortnight. Which means that, every Monday for a while now, I’ve been able to volunteer in a Library for a few hours. And I love it!!! In fact, I would love to be heading there this morning. That’s what I was planning to do. And I was planning to blog this afternoon about it.

But again, life intervened. This morning, it was in the form of that annoying nodule on my vocal cords which sometimes decides to make its presence known. I developed it about six years ago, when I lost my voice for over three months. It was pretty bad. Speech therapy worked wonders though – however, at certain points in time, when I’m sick, it must feel neglected or something, and so it flares up. And that’s what has happened today.

I know that if I don’t rest it, it’ll get angrier and angrier, and I’ll lose my voice for longer than just a few days. So, unfortunately, home is the only place I’ll be at today. Home, and quiet. No Library time for me. And that makes me sad. But it can’t be helped.

On the upside though, I guess, I’ll be able to get stuck into that children’s book that I finished some weeks back. The one that I’ve been procrastinating editing. Because all the advice that I’ve read says: ‘leave it for a month’; ‘wait, let it rest’; ‘return to it with fresh eyes’. Or maybe it’s just because I’m scared. I don’t want to edit it! I’ve never edited a full work of mine before… because I’ve never written a full work before! But today’s lack-of-voice provides a perfect opportunity, so I’d best not waste it.

Hold me to it, dear reader! And have a great day yourself!

— KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes teaching Work

Sleeping in

Hubby likes to sleep in. Fair enough – he has an extremely intense job, and he needs his recovery time.

I’m an early bird. I’ve never really enjoyed staying in bed when I could be up and doing stuff. (I go to bed late too, but that’s probably an insomnia thing…) I’m always up and about by 6. Often by 5.30 – and regularly, much earlier.

Our kids seem  to follow my ‘early rising’ habits, which Hubby doesn’t particularly appreciate. But it was funny, the conversation the other morning.

Hubby: “You slept in until after 6.30 this morning, [Miss 8]. Well done!”

Miss 8: “Yes, I’m learning. I like sleeping in! I try to sleep in until 7 o’clock on weekdays, but Mummy won’t let me!”

(It was at this point that I choked on my toast. I laughed, hard, for a long time. We have to leave for school before 7.30 if we’re going to get there on time – and getting them ready by 7.30 only happens when they all are out of bed by 6am.)

It was really a very very very funny moment!

Categories
Life Random thoughts

Self-diagnosis

There’s a small, hard bump under the skin on my eye-ridge, right near the bridge of my nose. There’s another, identical, lump, on the other eye-ridge. These are the points from which the pain radiates. Out across my forehead, and over my scalp, to meet in a large ball of pain at the base of my neck. Down across my cheekbones to throb incessantly.

And when I say ‘pain’, it’s manageable at the moment, now I’ve just woken up from yet another interrupted night’s sleep – but add three children and a Hubby into the mix in an hour or so, and I have a feeling that I’m not going to be the happiest of chappies. And Mr 3 will also be cranky, I expect – he joined me in our nighttime wakefulness. He louder than me (by about a billion decibels) so here’s hoping – but not expecting – that Hubby won’t be too cranky about that one!

I feel for Mr 3 though. If I feel this rotten, and if he has what I have, no wonder he’s so upset with life. I certainly haven’t relished the constant swings from freezing skin to sweating-through-my-clothes, nor the dizziness that comes with sudden movement, nor the sensitivity to noise. I don’t really like the tender ribs and diaphragm from the constant coughing, nor the rapidity at which I’m going through both tissue boxes and, so it seems, the skin under my nose, which in itself is now a rather unattractive deep pink hue.

So all in all, I think I’m going to call it. I’m infectious. LOL. As in, I’m going to self-diagnose a sinus infection, and probably a lung one as well. And yeh, I’ll probably give in and drag myself (with Miss 4 and Mr 3 of course) to the doctor for some antibiotics. Because (with the exception of that strange nausea day a couple of weeks ago) I haven’t been this sick in years. And I haven’t had antibiotics since Miss 7 was still in nappies. So hopefully they’re going to do the trick! At least, I’l be praying that they do, because I don’t know how much more of this I can take!