Last year I finished on a cliff hanger. Would we get fireworks or covid? The answer was mostly covid. JK got symptoms but tested negative on a RAT. So G came and stayed the night on her way back from Tamworth and E planned to come up NYE bringing another RAT. As we packed our picnic for NYE party JK did the RAT and it was positive. So E went back and stayed with my parents, and me and G started isolating for the week. We had a picnic in the backyard which was rather pleasant.
Below if photo of my birdbath, after isolating I went to bunnings and bought a cement tile to stand it on.
Anyway the first week of the year was kind of awful. Having a sick sad friend stay with you but having to avoid each other is bad, waiting and wondering if covid will happen to you. On the bright side, because the weather is so mild and lovely we could have the doors and windows open for ventilation and not worry about the AC; I read some enjoyable books; I went for walks because that's an isolated activity really; I was very tired and I slept a lot - was I fighting the virus, or just run down from the end of the year? I had a coldsore so my body was definitely under attack. I even had a catch up at maitland park with some friends who were visiting from NZ and passing through, and they were already around other close contacts, so I wore a mask and stayed a bit distanced from them. When covid is everywhere and we are taking responsibility ourselves, a bit of safe freedom is OK for mental health.
Next thing that happened was JK needed to move in properly so after isolation we moved house with some of her kindest friends. One big saturday to pack and move everything into my garage and house. We're still making things fit, but on Monday JK and friend sorted and stacked so that I can park my car in the garage so life is mostly normal.
And Sweep joined us. He was originally called Benny, but we changed to Sweep which he actually answers to, it just took us a while to get used to. He's a black cavoodle. He is very smart and trainable.
We hosted Sweeps brother for 2 days but it was too much work and he had bad habits.
I tried to return to work after isolating, but not in a good mood and not much interesting work so I worked 2 days, one in the office then took my stuff home and set up spare room office again. On one of the days off we visited the Singleton family and had a lovely afternoon.
Lucy has gorgeous hair.
A church friend invited me to the live music on the river. They had a pontoon stage. Lovely evening. The weather this summer has really made life nice.
I worked a full week then last week every day except Australian Day wednesday, and JK was up at hawksnest with a family so I went up for the day, we swam at Jimmys Beach, water was perfect.
We had lunch at tea gardens!
THursday was a big day. I had an oral surgeon appt to get blood test results. Turns out the ulcer in my mouth that wont heal is probably Crohns Disease. That was a bit unexpected. I know it is an autoimmune gut disease, but what is it doing in mu mouth. So now I add immunologist to my specialist list.
On Thursday night church had a Paint and Sip event for women, with a good panel discussion on identity/self-worth. It was fun and also fun to see my work friend for the first time in 5-6 weeks I think.
Today I went lounge shopping again! There are good sales at the moment and I've found 2 I like, but I have to also deal with the lounges I already have which is the hard part. So I might miss these sales. But I'm getting closer.
Tomorrow is a long day, doing music for both afternoon services after a 2pm meeting. And then Monday back to work with the first cello lesson of the year and Tuesday home group starts. The full regime. I've been a bit fatigued and achy, life is a bit daunting, but I've done it before and it's all good things so it'll be OK. I think it's been hard getting back into work because the holiday was so bad, and not getting the mental boost from being in the office among other workers. But it's getting easier. I hope you are adjusting back into "regular" life as it is now.
