Hi everyone!  
Oscar, I'm really sorry both you and Tank aren't doing so well at the moment!  
I sure hope the new antibiotics work and that you get back on your feet without any funny symptoms!  
Maybe it's time you took yourself to a people doctor to be checked out!  
Fingers crossed you're both back fighting fit asap.  

Right now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Amsterdam.  The last 6 weeks or so have been a nightmare.  Firstly, as you know, I've been really sick since I returned from Australia.  Then, just as I was starting to feel a bit better, I had to start getting ready for my niece and her new hubbie's visit.  My house was ... and still is ... a pigsty as I haven't been around much for 3 years, spending most of that time in Sydney with my mum.  And, whenever I have been home, I've been too sick to tidy up.  Then last Wednesday my latest container stuff arrived from Sydney and the house is totally full of boxes ... you walk into the foyer and there are half the boxes all piled up and you have to walk past them all to get into the lounge/diningroom.  It's a nightmare.

But the past month or so I've been doing as much as I could to tidy up and for the past 2 weeks I've been vacuuming and mopping and sorting everything out and moving things around - including furniture - and doing 12 loads of washing, etc. etc. etc.  I wrecked my back and have been rubbing painkiller cream into my back twice a day.  And you can imagine what effect that's all had on my health.

Anyway, I did what I could before my niece and her hubbie got to my place in the middle of their honeymoon ... 6 weeks honeymoon - 2 weeks in America, 2 weeks at my place, then 2 weeks in Mexico ... can you imagine - 6 weeks honeymoon?  Lucky for some, huh?

I attended their wedding by Skype, which was great.  Now we're in Amsterdam for a few days ... and I thought I was going to die yesterday with sitting in trains all day then 6 hours on my feet, walking around Amsterdam!  My back's killing me, my hips are killing me, my legs are killing me (especially the one I jarred a few days ago when I fell over and landed on a knee), my feet are killing me ... you get the idea.

I've sent the kids off on a trip to the countryside today, visiting working windmills and a cheese factory and a clog factory and a fishing village and a little boat trip - thank heavens the weather's a bit sunnier for them today!  then this arvo we're off to a really old castle that's just a little bit out of Amsterdam ... I've been there before and almost got blown off the ramparts during a winter storm.  So I've got the morning free ... I'll go down for brunch in a bit, then go to Starbucks to get my special coffee, then back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before we head out this arvo to the castle.

Then I think I'll do the same tomorrow - send them off to Anne Frank's house and the neighbouring tower on their own (I've already been to Anne Frank's house 3 times) then we'll catch up later to do everything else ... canal cruise, the bible museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh museum, etc.  Then back on the train tomorrow at 5 pm, home at 10:30 pm, then one day home before I wave them off to Berlin.  So I'll have a few days to recover before they return and we head off to the coast for the day, visiting the tea museum.

When they've gone I can finally collapse.  But it's great to see them as I couldn't get to their wedding and we're having heaps of fun ... well, I am, I hope they don't mind hanging out with their boring old aunty while they're here.

Well, now that I've bored you all with my news, I'd better think about getting ready and getting downstairs for breakfast ... an all-you-can-eat buffet!

I hope everyone's doing really well atm and I sure hope Oscar's doing better, as well as Tank!



 

Good to see you, Stusue. Sounds like they are having a wonderful and long honeymoon!

You're poor, poor, back. I can really empathize with that. I do too much and the same thing happens but things have to be done!

lilyr wrote:

stusue -- It is so very good to see posts from you!  I'm sorry you've been so ill and have had so much to do at your home.  Isn't that always the way, though?  When we have the energy, not much needs doing.  When we aren't feeling well is when we have all the deadlines! Your trip with your niece and her DH sounds tiring, but fun.  I'm glad you're able to send them off and have some time to yourself.  I've missed you, my friend!  <--- nice soft, gentle, but sincere, hugs!

Thanks, Lily!    Ditto!   Big hugs back.  

The kids are off to Anne Frank's house this morning ... they should be on their way there now ... and I've been 3 times before so thought I could miss it and get an easy morning again ... then back here and then we're going to the Van Gogh museum, the Rijks museum and the bible museum.  Then back home tonight.  I'm just about to get ready and go down to the buffet breakfast and see how much I can eat.  Well, gotta get your money's worth, right?


 

lilyr wrote:

stusue -- The "honeymoon package" sounds wonderful!  How very nice of you to do that for them!  Where do they live?

Lily, my sister told Mark's mum about it and she was really happy about it as in Chicago and New York they stayed in apartments, so nothing special for their honeymoon.  Although they've been getting free drinks, etc, wherever they've been once they've said that they're on their honeymoon.  They even got free drinks here ... me, too!



They, like the rest of my extended family on both sides - apart from 2 nieces and a few cousins and all their families - live in Sydney.  They'll be going back there after Mexico, Mark back to his job and Kylie to try and find one as she's now finished her degree in psychology.
 

Hi, Stusue.  It does rather seem like you're overdoing it a bit, I hope you don't have anything big on your agenda after the honeymooners leave.  It's really nice they get such a long honeymoon and are making such good use of it.  A lot of people dream of traveling but they put it off and then it never gets done.  I had always dreamed of going to a different country every winter while I'm off work of the carnival but I've always had pets.  I flew a cat under the plane once, that cat was a really, really tough cat and he peed all over his cage so I know it was incredibly scary for him and I won't do that again unless it really has to be done.  At least I've got to travel most of the U.S.   I've met people who have never been out of the county they grew up in, it just seems impossible to me.  How can you not at least go visit your state capitol building?