Doctor's office

Image by Sarah G... via Flickr

I went to my GP today to discuss the painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications I need to help control the sciatica and fybromyalgia that I'm afflicted with. After the last visit where I cracked my neck at the poor guy and completely freaked him out, I was greeted with, 'Well, what horrible thing do you have for me today?'. Once I was able to stop laughing I got down to the business of the day. We sorted that out and then he decided to give me my flu injection with the most blunt needle I have ever encountered! Really, it hurt!
So, I thought I'd be responsible and ask if there were any pain management, or if at all possible, pain avoidance regimes that I could incorporate into my life. I went in looking for painkillers and anti-inflammatory tablets and came out with those plus...anti-depressants! Allegedly, these tablets can, in very low doses, help stop the pain so the doc reckons it's worth a go. But come on, anti-depressants? I'm still chuckling now!

It's college night tonight. If the tutor asks us again what kind of animal we'd like to be I swear I will not be held responsible for my actions!

Why do I put myself through these things?

Image by y-its-mom via Flickr

So, I'm home from college. I am beginning my third year of five studying counselling, and embarking on the diploma - now somewhat fancied-up and called a foundation degree. Like any course of study there are ups and downs, but for the most part it has been enjoyable!

Tonight, however, didn't fall under that category! Tonight we were doing interesting things like telling complete strangers your fears, figuring out who the significant people in your life are and then drawing a diagram to show this. We spoke of self-concept, self-disclosure and self-actualisation. All very interesting.

Do you know what the class ended with? The tutor going round us all, one by one, and asking what kind of animal we would like to be, and why!

So, where I normally come home quite enthusiastically and excited to share my thoughts and what I have learned, I came home tonight very tired, bored and extremely grumpy!!! Still, at least I'm self-aware enough to realise it!

Memories of Stake Family Camp

1 - The wind and
the rain

2 - Holding onto the gazebo while cooking

3 - Standing under the gazebo while cooking and holding onto it, wearing my waterproof coat and hat because the torrential rain and howling winds meant that we got wet anyway!

4 - The river running through J's tent!

5 - The mud.

6 - The van nearly getting stuck in the mud

7 - The hike to the toilets that were inadequate for the sheer number of people in the two fields

8 - Porta-potty

9 - Ken's magic van

10 The craic

Finally!

Image by hljavery@verizon.net via Flickr

Finally, after 4 looooong years, we got a very important letter from the first presidency! We'd like to thank everyone who knew about this process and offered us support and love. Curious? haha!

The Shack

Cover of The Shack

A friend loaned me a book on Tuesday night after our Bible study. It was a book called 'The Shack'. I don't know if you've heard of it. I hadn't.

I finished it last night. It's not a particularly long book, but it's subject matter is quite heavy. It talks about redemption, forgiveness and our relationship with God in a fictional setting.

While I found that I disagreed on a doctrinal level with some of the ideas, I was able to enjoy it for what it was - a novel. It also provided me with some things to think about. Like, how my view of the world would change if my relationship with God was all it should be and He was at the centre of my life.

All in all, a very thought-provoking little book.

Old people and nervous breakdowns

Image by cobalt123 via Flickr

Sometimes I love my job. Sometimes I hate it! For quite a small salary I have quite a responsible job which I certainly don't do for the money!
In addition to making sure all the tenants are ok and have what they need, I am responsible for the buildings and grounds. You know, making sure they're kept clean, tidy and in decent repair.
What I didn't know that I had signed up for was keeping my tenants sanity intact around our wee hunter - Sparky the cat! Bless, he is a very good hunter of our other furry visitors. He would catch them, play with them, kill them and bring them back to his owner like a wee trophy! Of course, his owner doesn't see the good side of this because she is terrified of any wee furry creature that's smaller than a cat!
So, this morning, I had to go and pick up my fourth dead rat. Oh the joys! This one was the biggest of them all and you could have heard my freaked out murmurings a mile off!
Thankfully, though, I got there before Sparky's owner or I'd be dealing with a nervous breakdown by now!

Why does it always rain on me?

You know that in Ireland it rains 300 days a year, right? Perhaps that will explain why none of our BBQs are ever dry!

We went with family and friends to the Antrim coast last week and stopped along the way to have a bbq. We had everything you'd ever need - burgers, sausages, mushrooms, onions, ribs, potatoes, crisps, chocolate, cake........Everything, except dry weather! It was dry until we tried to light the bbq and then it rained! Picture the scene - 4 people with umbrellas up trying to protect the bbq from the rain and of course the sea breeze! 1 box of matches and a lot of laughter later, we had fire!!

This reminded me of another time where we ended up having our bbq in a lay-by of a main road. In the rain. As we were merrily munching on soggy burgers the drivers passing by were beeping their horns and laughing at us. Of course, we were laughing at us as well!

Or the time we went up to Scrabo tower in October. Stormy night and the beans and sausages were actually blown off our forks! I can still see the ribbon of kitchen paper as it was blown off the tower and onto the golf course next door!

Or, the New Year's Eve when we went to near Newcastle for a campfire. Hubby got out of the car and announced that it was "a bit breezy!". We got out of the car and straight back in again before the doors were ripped off by the near hurricane winds! We ended up at Helen's Bay with our wee fire!

Memories are made of this.....