The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Woo Hoo for me! lol I've finished having all of my dental work done for this year! I thought I may have needed more visits, but after my trip this week, I don't have to go back until early January. That's when I'll have one wisdom tooth removed, and a couple of implants put in. I've never had anything drilled into my skull/jaw..... So I'm just going to stay optimistic that it wont hurt too much :o) But I can see the finish line in sight and that makes me happy!! 

So now that I wont be spending every 2-3 weeks in pain, what on earth am I going to do with myself? Well, I still have two rooms to paint and then I'm done. OMG! Done.... The painting was put on hold because of the dental work and the pain... If I had climbed a ladder taking pain medication, I can guarantee I would have fallen right off and landed on my backside lol

My old paint tray has seen better days lol

So starting next week - providing that it isn't too hot, I will paint the last two rooms:- one spare room and the laundry. The laundry is going to be a royal pain in the butt!!! Our laundry is soooo small, you couldn't swing a cat - so to speak. Plus I have to pull the washing machine out, and take the dryer off the wall, and they both weigh a ton! The spare room will be easy as we don't use it and it's empty. I'm hoping to get both rooms done in one week. As you would have gathered, from reading my previous posts regarding me painting the house... I dislike house painting with an absolute passion, so I really want those rooms done and dusted, it's been an epic job.

As I've been painting, we've been having a spring clean as I go, we've given away a lot of stuff to charity and a lot of junk has been put into the garage for council collection. As I will be running my small business from the garage, I am looking forward to finishing the house, as there is one last cupboard in the laundry which is being thrown out. At the moment, my garage is an absolute mess!! Prior to when I started painting and we started piling the junk in there, my garage was always tidy as it diminished the prospects of my ceramic stock being damaged. Plus I just didn't like it looking like a dumping ground....Which is what it resembles now.

Some of my work:- cat themed drink coasters, a knitting bowl and various condiment dipping bowls.

So bring on next week! Fingers and toes crossed that I can get it done in one week, and have the junk taken away. Then I can start my business.... It's been a long time in the planning and there have been a number of starts and stops along the way, but now it's my time.  

A Week Of Flames

Well we've had a shocker of a few days in NSW, fires have ravaged through parts of our state leaving hundreds of people without homes to return to.

In the map above, I have underlined our suburb in red. The pink dot I have added is where the fired started. The wind was blowing the fire towards us...

This is what it looked like from my backdoor. All we could see was plumes of smoke rising into the air.

We were lucky, the wind changed and blew it back the other way. But if you look at the burn pattern and size.... If the wind hadn't changed direction - that fire would have engulfed our suburb.

We have friends in other parts of the state, namely The Blue Mountains area where they are on high alert and have been warned that they need to be prepared to evacuate.

Some of these fires were lit by hot and windy conditions where power lines arced. However, unfortunately other fires were lit by firebugs. The fire in our area was lit by a 26 year old male who was charged with arson, he confessed to lighting 21 other fires. He was also part of the Rural Fire Service! The fire was under control for a period of time, then two 16 year old males were charged with arson after they re-lit the area....

In another part of Sydney a 12 year old girl and a 13 year old girl were also charged with arson after being caught trying to light a fire in a public nature reserve. 

There isn't any rain predicted for a while, and tomorrow is supposed to be hotter with more windy conditions. I can't believe that we are experiencing such fires so early. It's true that Australia has some shocking fires every year due to the large amount of bush land that we have. However, most of our fires occur in Summer..... It's only the start of Spring and we've already had days that have broken temperature records..... I don't want to think about what Summer may bring. 

Roadside Memorials

I saw a video clip this morning on Facebook regarding roadside memorials. It was originally aired on 15/10/13 on Today Tonight, which I don't actually watch. The segment discusses that the state of Queensland will be removing all roadside memorials, and that the Shepparton Council in Victoria would place a 12 month time limit on these memorials. The Shepparton Council has also stated, that if the family of the deceased member wants the memorial to stay in place longer than 12 months, they need to apply for a permit.

I have to say I have always been in two minds over these memorials. . . I don't know if these are just an Australian thing or if families and friends of people killed in vehicle accidents across the globe erect them.

I guess the easiest way for me to explain why I am in two minds regarding these memorials is to list both sides of the coin:-

For The Memorials

- Perhaps to some degree, they do indicate a certain piece of road that is potentially dangerous, especially to drivers unfamiliar with that part of the road....?

Against The Memorials

- I understand that they are erected due to a tragic death. However in saying this, if a family member died tragically or suddenly at home ie drowned in a pool or fell from a roof, would the family of the deceased person erect a memorial where they died in the house or property? I'm guessing not.

- Family and friends who have erected these memorials, say that it's a place to visit and remember their loved one.... I don't want to sound harsh, but isn't that the purpose cemeteries?

- One argument is that they are distracting to drivers. Personally, this has happened to me. I remember not so long ago driving down a local road, when all of a sudden I noticed one of these white crosses had been newly erected, and yes I turned my head, this was my own fault. However, if they want to use the 'it's a distraction drivers' card..... Then remove all of the roadside advertising that drivers are bombarded with everyday.

So I guess I'm more against, than for the memorials. I've never had a family member or friend die in a road accident (and I hope I never do), so it's hard for me to walk their shoes. But if I were to try an imagine it, I couldn't see myself erecting something on the roadside. In fact I would probably do the opposite and avoid driving down that road so that I didn't have to be constantly reminded. 

In saying all of this, yes we all deal with grief in our own ways. Some of us cry, get angry, withdraw, and some people erect memorials. Who's to say what's right and what's wrong? 

This is the Today Tonight video clip if anyone wishes to view the segment. 

No Halloween For Me This Year :o(

This is just a bit of a mish mash of a blog post. As not much has been happening around here of late for two reasons, the first being that I'm on cloud nine from my pain killers, and the second because my wife is working night shift, so she's asleep during the day.

Yesterday my sister got a really cool Halloween cup from Woolworths (An Australian supermarket chain) so I thought I'd duck up to our local Woolworths this morning before my pills kicked in, which would make driving a little dangerous.... Of course they didn't have any of those cups.... What a bummer! They had hardly any Halloween stock at all, it was mostly Christmas stock. I did however pick up this cute little Jack-o-lantern full of gummy body parts lol. :o)

Today's purchase

Every year I have a Halloween party, except I'm not having one this year :o( I have too many dental appointments in October and they will probably stretch into November, and I just know that I wont be in the mood to have a bunch of people over. So I'll just have to have a killer Halloween party next year to make up for it lol Halloween is my favourite time of year, I love it more than Christmas, so for me to decide to cancel Halloween is a big deal.

A photo from our last party

It takes me about two weeks to decorate our house for Halloween lol I don't just decorate the house, but I also build a graveyard - complete with a smoke machine in the garage lol I also buy new props and decorations every year, which I shouldn't - because half of my garage is already full of tubs and boxes of Halloween decorations.

Some graves and a coffin in the garage

I just can't help myself! I see something new or impressive and I just have to add it to my collection lol. It's always funny when we have a tradesman come around or pest control guy, and they see this great big coffin standing upright in the garage lol

Hanging screamer

The little guy above was one of my best buys for our last party!! I hung him just inside the bathroom.... He's motion activated, so when someone opened the bathroom door he would start screaming, his eyes flashed red and he would start thrashing about. It was hilarious! I couldn't wait for people to go the bathroom lol

Anyway, I guess the upside to not having a Halloween party this year is that, I'll have a bit more room in my garage for another year lol If you are having a Halloween party I'd love to hear about it!

Dentists and Shopping

I'd like to apologise in advance if this post is disjointed or makes no sense... well no more than usual lol. I went back to the dentist on Tuesday and the pain killers kind of leave me floating in no mans land, so to speak :o). I had a 2.5 hour appointment at 8am, which meant we got up at 4.50am in order to get ready and get there on time. After the dentist worked on me for just over 2.5 hours, he said that he wanted to get more work done, and asked if I could come back at 1.30pm. So my wife and I wandered down to the shopping centre for a bit, but I had to go back to the car for the rest of the time, as I was quite doped up and feeling uncomfortable.

At 1.30pm we went back into the dental clinic for my second round in one day. In total he extracted a number of teeth and restored and filled six teeth. I can now see some progress, rather than just extraction holes. I didn't need to take antibiotics last time, but this time he prescribed some as the extraction holes were quite large. As a result of taking pain killers, antibiotics and probably not eating enough, I felt quite ill last night, so I will make sure I try and eat some more today. 

My next appointment is in just under three weeks, and the dentist said I will need an x-ray of my lower jaw before he begins, so he can work out which teeth will need extracting and which teeth he can save. Ohhh, more fun and more fuzzy pain killer days ahead!  

Apart from dental stuff, my wife and I went shopping the day before the dentist and bought some new furnishings for the house. One of the things we bought were new cushions for our dining room chairs. The dining room suite looks nice..... But after sitting there for a while, the chairs do get uncomfortable. Naturally when you have cats, they have to try everything out that is either new or has been moved. So Millie decided that she would be the first to test the cushions lol.

I also received a delivery yesterday! I made a ridiculous offer on a 1920's Art Deco Lady Diana lamp on ebay, and it was accepted! I honestly thought the guy would tell me to go jump lol, but hey - if you don't try, you'll never know lol. I had been looking for one of these for ages! The problem is that they were either too ratty and tatty due to their age, or way over priced because they were in good condition. 

I remember when I was in high school, I chose art as an elective subject. However, most of the theory was Historical Australian art. Yes, Australian art is nice, but honestly - you can only look at so many paintings of broken down farms..... One day we went to the Art Museum in Canberra, and that was when I first discovered Art Deco and I was in love! I purchased a couple of art theory books from the museum, and one of them was The Encyclopedia of Art Deco - I read it from cover to cover.

It's one of my favourite books, it's actually the only book I have on Art Deco... I don't know why I don't have a few more lol. I love the imagery, the style... I love absolutely everything about this period in history and art. It was after I read this book, that I wanted a Lady Diana lamp, but I was about 15 years old... Where was I going to find one of those things, let alone afford it..... and yes, when I was 15 years old, there was no internet lol I guess this is why I love Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries so much (which I wrote a little bit about here), as it is set in the 1920's. It's on again tomorrow night, and I can't wait! :o)

My Other Busy Bits

So apart from painting the house, what else have I been doing that's kept me so busy? Well, since my wife was on holidays I didn't spend everyday painting, simply because some days it would rain or it was too hot... Plus she was on holidays, so we used these non-painting days for outings.

We went out for lunch a couple of times, this particular photo was taken at our favourite place called Gnostic Mana Cafe at Woy Woy. These two ducks just wandered up to where we were sitting lol they were quite friendly. It was strange that we had never seen them there before.

                                 

I also purchased some greenware on a day that was just ridiculously too hot to paint. I also stocked up on some more underglazes and glazes for when I start my small business, which I mentioned in this post.

I also had some dental work done.... Ouch! For about 18 months I have been researching dental work... I have shocking teeth. Infact, everyone on my Mums side of the family have dental issues - except my sister, she got Dad's teeth, thanks Dad! lol. My teeth are chalky and break constantly, I have had sooo much work done in the past and I simply got to a point where I wanted all of my teeth ripped out.

I knew it was going to cost a small fortune to sort my mouth out, but I have put up with dental pain for so long, something had to be done. Some people my wife works with, recommended getting the work done in Thailand. So I did some research and spoke to the recommended clinic in Thailand regarding what I wanted done.... After weighing up the costs of two separate trips, plus accommodation x 2, plus the dental work, I came to the conclusion that it would cost around the same to have the work done in Australia..... Plus I could be in pain in my own home afterwards lol

So I went and saw a local dentist who had a look at my mouth and listened to what I wanted done, he suggested that I go to another dental clinic in Sydney where they could offer me the same treatment, but at a lower cost than he could because it was their specialty. How wonderfully honest was he? He joked that he would make a rubbish car salesman for sending work away lol

So off to Sydney we went! We met with the dentist... The downside to him to be quite honest, was that he was a completely arrogant piece of work! At one point I thought to myself "If I hadn't driven so far to see you, I would get up and walk out!!". The upside was that he believed that I didn't need all of my teeth taken out. You see what I wanted was for all of my teeth to be removed and to be replaced with what is called an All-On-Four implant.

I know it sounds drastic, but after years of pain and spending money having broken teeth repaired constantly, I really just wanted them all gone. Anyway, the dentist inspected my mouth and drew up a plan of attack. He advised me that I would need 3-4 sessions, where he would begin to extract teeth that were too damaged to repair and that he would work from right to left. He would also fill any teeth that needed fillings, then after a three month healing period he would insert implants into the extraction sites and crowns on the other teeth. 

Two weeks ago I had my first session of extractions, it took 1.5 hours.... When I was at home and the anesthetic wore off.... Man did it hurt!!! I have my next session in 2 weeks and it will take 2.5 hours. I am dreading the anesthetic wearing off that day!! But I know that in the end it will be worth the pain. I won't be self conscious of smiling, I won't have to worry about what I eat - as I am always so worried that food might be too hard and I'll chip or break another tooth. 

                           

Both of the dentists that I saw explained that I had a high acid level in my mouth, which is what has caused the damage. When you have bad teeth, you're constantly thinking that other people will think your teeth are bad because you don't brush... So I'm glad that I know why my teeth are the way they are.... I just don't know why any previous dentists haven't told me this? The reason I ask this is because, even though I can't stop the amount of acid being produced in my mouth, a treatment plan of special toothpaste which is only available from either a dentist or the pharmacy and surprisingly, a special type of dental chewing gum can counteract this.

Anyway, I'll catch you all again soon :o)