So today’s indestructible creature is the Arctic Springtail, springtails are mostly blind six-legged mini beasts that live in soil and leaf litter all over the world, in fact a dinner table sized patch of soil is likely to have , springtails living in it, what the hell……………. and when it warms up they soak up water and return to their normal size.

Now they mostly crawl around but if they feel threatened they can flick a switch under their bodies and ping themselves into the air to get away………….

Well here we are on Saturday morning, I started this post yesterday Friday the 13^th but then Jessica turned up to get Leo and by the time they left I had forgotten about the post, so here I am finishing it this morning.

Friday the 13^th is considered by some to be unlucky and by some to be lucky, for me it is just another day but I thought I would share my thoughts about some of the things that are supposed to be bring one bad luck. Well only 5 things because it is Friday or Saturday.

Broken mirrors: Yeah they will bring you 7 seconds or 7 minutes of pain if you are unlucky to cut

your self while cleaning it up.

Ladders : Yes these can be unlucky if while walking under the ladder someone on the ladder

dropped something on you.

Spilling salt: They say if you spill salt you should toss a pinch over it put let us be honest here it is

only bad luck if you spill salt when applying salt to something and the lid comes off

and a heap falls out.

Opening an umbrella indoors: Yeah this can be bad luck if when you open it and hit something

breaking it or if you poke someone in the body or eye when opening

it.

Black cats: They say that you are doomed if a black cats crosses your path but lets be honest it

really is only bad luck if you fall over the damn cat or it runs in front of your car you hit

the brakes and swerve and run into a tree.

Ok here I on this Tuesday Wednesday writing about another indestructible creature this weeks creature is the Antarctic Midge. This is the biggest, toughest animal you can find on Antarctic all year round, now you may have thought it would have been a polar bear but they live in the Arctic or maybe a penguin but they have to spend part of the year in the sea. So its this tiny midge which is only 5mm long (0.2in).

How does it do this you ask well the midge larvae (babies) shelter in the soil under the ice, nibbling on moss and lichen. The larvae contain anti- freeze chemicals so even in temperatures of -10°c (14°f) or below they don’t freeze solid. Instead they freeze almost solid kinda like ice cream… In summer the larvae thaw out and turn into adults……

Antarctic midges don’t have wings and can’t fly, if they did the blasts of icy wind would blow into the sea or up a mountain, so they just crawl around.

Hello everyone, it is Thursday here and I have had a somewhat busy week with appointments and shopping.

Yesterday I went to see the movements disorder doctor over at the Royal (hospital) and came away thinking what a waste of time.

He told me he thinks it is a functional tremor and caused by stress because we all know when they don’t have a bloody idea what the cause is it must be stress. He thinks I need to see a Psychologist to explore that side of things.

So really I just need to learn how to cope with it and he doesn’t think it will get worse even though since it started it has got worse and has gone from one hand to both hands and one leg.

He also said that he can see that for me the tremor is real, yeah of course it is real I am not imagining this damn thing, what a stupid thing to say.

So how do I feel, frustrated and somewhat depressed, doesn’t help that my leg has been bad and I feel like I can’t do a damn thing.

I am still exercising each day and I was told that was a good thing, derrrr of course it is a good thing.

Kathy has told me that the following things cause me stress and yes she is right but really these things are just part of life:

Getting Leo to and from school, Having Leo three nights a week,

Worrying about Tasha’s life and her practically ignoring her family,

Worrying about Blain and how he is dealing with the problems between his parents,

Being overweight and feeling I have no way of losing it,

Having Tim tell me he wants to go on better longer holidays and thinking we can’t because I can’t walk very well.

Am I wrong are these things just part of life or not.

Hello everyone who love and care about me, this is a letter from me to all of you about how I am feeling and coping with life lately.

I know many family members and other people are concerned about me so this is to explain things.

I have had a lot of problems with my right leg this year and recently had a cortisone injection into my right knee which has helped. Before the injection I was unable to lift my leg to get in or out of the car or into the house, often needing help from someone to life the leg in or out of the car, due to pain in the thigh, the pain level was usually around a 8-8.5 but is now around a 3.5-4.5 so much better and the pain is now in the knee and not the thigh. Yes there are times I still have trouble getting in or out of the car and house but there is improvement.

The start of the year saw me having pain with my achilles tendon, then it was my right thigh now it is the knee, yes I have bad arthritis in my right knee and my right kneecap has worn away but the arthritis isn’t considered bad enough to see a specialist which is really frustrating.

Let us move onto my tremor, it is as I am sure everyone knows now in both hands/arms and my right thigh and I now have trouble holding a glass in order to have a drink and holding a fork or spoon when I am eating. The tremor in the thigh used to be on and off but it is there most days now.

There is NOTHING that can be done for the tremor or I can do is learn to cope with it the best I can.

I was told that the tremor is a “functioning” tremor, but what does that mean you wonder, well according to Google a functional tremor is the most common type of functional movement disorder in a functional tremor there is uncontrollable shaking of part of the body usually an arm or a leg. It is due to the nervous system not working properly but not due to an underlying neurological disease such as Parkinson’s disease.

Unlike Parkinson’s disease, functional tremor is due to a reversible problem in the way that the nervous system is working.

This means that a functional tremor can improve and sometimes go away completely although there is no “magic treatment”.

Having a functional tremor can be disabling as the movements cannot be controlled.

How about my weight, well yes I am over weight and yes I am trying to change that but no I am not getting anywhere and yes it is depressing but I am at a loss as to what more I can do.

So let’s move on to my emotional state, I could tell you that all is good and I am happy but the truth is that I have a lot of times I just want to cry and hide away because I know my body is falling apart and I feel that it is all too much work and why do I bother. I am told by people who love and worry about me that I am going downhill fast, as if I don’t know that.

I find many days my concentration isn’t what it should be and I am often tired, very tired and it is an effort to do things but I keep trying because that is what I have to do.

I know I am loved and I know my family worry about me but as long as I can I will keep on trying to move and function because as I have told mum I don’t have the time not to get up and do things.

Someone has to get Leo to and from school and take care of him while his mum is studying.

I know I have Kathy-Lee to help me with many of the daily chores and more and more I really need her help but she is not able to drive Leo to and from school so I need to, even if we get him into the OOSH that will only be of an afternoon and maybe Friday morning and afternoon, which might be ok as I am generally ok in a morning.

Honestly I do not know how I would cope without Kathy’s help at times, what does get me down though is Tim saying he doesn’t know if I am able to take overseas holidays any more, even if I am unable to do some off the things I used to do I can still enjoy a holiday.

Hello all and here is another weeks random thoughts………………….

It’s bloody hot and its only spring……………………….

Getting away for a few days in the caravan, so looking forward to it…………………………….

Forgetting to pack long pants because it has been so hot and having cold legs, thankfully I had a blanket in the boot of the car to throw over my legs……………………….

Sitting around doing nothing much and enjoying it………………………

So fed up with my shaking hand it is difficult to hold a glass to have a drink………………..

Tim admitting I was onto something with my doubts about getting a caravan……………….

Tim caught a baby shark………………..and let it go again……………………

Then Tim caught a bigger fish and was so happy……………………..

Coming home to my own bed and a hot bath, so good…………………….

Feeling really tired and not knowing why………………………

Leo here for four nights, while his mum goes to visit a friend, who lives 6hrs away by train……….

Leo going out with papa on the motorbike………………………….

Well as you all should know I have been away for a few days at Stockton caravan park where I had sucky internet, which is where I started writing this.

Stockton is only 30 minutes drive from home and it was a nice park and I had a good time, even though I forgot to pack warm pants.

On Wednesday night Tim and I went for tea at the bowling club, Tim of course complained about the cost of the meals. I got a flake cheesecake to go and that was so nice.

Tim now wants to sell the caravan, because it is too small, doesn’t have air con and we don’t use it as much as he thought we would, all reasons I gave when I wasn’t sure about getting a caravan…….

On Thursday morning while he was fishing he caught a baby shark and it made his day, he was so happy about catching it, he took photos and posted them to Facebook, although he said he would have been happier if Blain & Leo had been with him.

Later on while Leo, Sydney-May & Summer were here Tim caught a Shovel Nose Ray or a Shovel Nose Guitarfish which he was thrilled about as were the kids, not just ours but many kids who saw it on the ground near the van, lots of people came to have a look at it.

Friday saw us up at 7am and packed up and leaving by 8.30am, when we got to mum & dad’s there was a small white car parked across the road and Tim had to go in search of the owner to have it moved so he could reverse the caravan down the driveway.

We arrived home here by around 11am and had a house full of people till around 3pm, four grandchildren, the neighbours granddaughter, two daughters and one niece so the house was loud and full. It was nice when they all left and the house was quiet.

Today it will be just me and Leo for most of the day, although Kathy and the girls will be here later, she is bringing my grocery shopping over and will vacuum out for me while she is here. Tim is at work today.

Here we are at another Monday and its another hot Monday with temps in the high 20’s and it is still only Spring, yesterday we had temps in the low to mid 30’s, we have had a lot of these really warm to hot days the last month or so. Some say this means we are going to have a hot Summer but I don’t know I think every Summer is pretty damn hot but we have air conditioning and with air conditioning I can cope with the heat.

School broke up on Friday for two weeks this made me and Leo happy by the end of the term he is fed up with school and looking forward to a break, I am also going to enjoy the break not having to take him to and get him from school five days a week.

In fact Tim and me are taking the caravan over to Stockton for a few days so he can go beach fishing and I can do nothing much but read, write blog posts and just relax, we leave tomorrow morning and come home Friday. Stockton is only a 30-40 minute drive from our house.

Well it is Monday and I am starting another week of random thoughts………………………….

298 emails to sort through to my hotmail email account, this is what happens when I don’t check them between Friday and Monday……………….

Only 26 emails in my gmail account……………..

Waking up tired and not having any motivation to do anything………….

Still dragging my tired body to the aqua class………………………….

Leo’s school yearly show, they do one a year like many schools, but it is a long day/night for the kids and this nanna as well……………..

Barely able to drag my body out of bed the next day but I did and of course I will go to my aqua class again but didn’t do other exercisers due to feeling more asleep then awake this morning but Leo was up so I got up…………

Monday I was in so much pain I could barely move, Tuesday I get injection into the knee, Wednesday I have hardly any pain at all………………….

Damn some people piss me off, complaining about things I have no control over…………………

Car insurance payments being reduce, that is a good thing, I guess………………………..

Friday saw me in pain again with my leg/knee and feeling unwell around 5pm, so unwell I went to bed early at 5.30pm, Saturday (today) I am feeling much better and the pain in my leg is only so so.

Hello Thursday, a lovely day here today, I went to find clothes this morning being that it is warm day I wanted shorts or ¾ pants and found that I only have one pair of ¾ pants and only two pairs of good shorts not what I call everyday shorts so I going to have to buy more before the hot weather arrives day in and day out.

Had the cortisone injection into my right knee on Tuesday morning and it has made a big difference to my pain and ability to move, cortisone injections can offer fast-acting relief of inflamed muscles, joints, tendons and bursa.

Cortisone is corticosteroids which is also called steroids and is used to treat inflammation, when injected into or around a painful area such has a joint or muscle they can reduce the in the area, this then relives the pain and reduces tissues swelling thus improving function and mobility. Depending on the condition they can offer relief for several weeks up to a few months. I am hoping to get a few months of relief.

Corticosteroids mimic natural hormones produced by the body — specifically by the adrenal glands, which sit atop the kidneys. Corticosteroids should not be confused with male and the steroid hormones, which are sometimes misused by athletes and body builders.

Steroid injections can effectively treat the joint inflammation that is seen in people with rheumatoid arthritis. They can also be used to relieve the pain of osteoarthritis the most common form of arthritis and gout.

The injection can be done by your GP in his office but are often done at a Xray place with the aid of either a CT scan or and ultrasound, mine was done with the aid of a CT scan.