Relaxation space

My favourite room in the house

Spare room sorted

The dog thinks this is his room now. I don't blame him. The sun through the window on a winter's afternoon is wonderful.

Furniture mahjong

Just moved and thoroughly cleaned a whole bedroom on my own. No need to workout today.

The BF

So.... I said I'd never talk about my love-life on here, but someone has become a major part of mine and it's hard to keep things separated. I've typed then deleted a number of posts mentioning him which never got published, but today I had to re-jig my schedule to accommodate my BF. Typical. LOL

My darling BF (boyfriend), who is atm in my mind the most wonderful person in the world, lives some distance from me. We have been seeing each other about 7 months now and we've just decided to try and spend our weekends together every week, in sort of a part-time living together arrangement until other arrangements have been made. This does severely impact my study schedule, but for two months I've been trying to get my study all done during the week and it seems to have been working well so far. I've also attended online lectures at his place and studied there as well, and he is so sweet and doesn't mind watching a some revision videos on the couch with me at home. Cute. He totally gets how important medicine is to me and wants to be as supportive as possible and not selfish like so many blokes are.

He is a social worker and works in Child Protection for the Government and is wanting to do post-grad psychology and become a clinical psychologist. He grew up on a farm and has those lovely country good-values and utter brut strength which is so attractive in a man (as well as his pure good-looks). So that is him.

It's all shiny and new and wonderful.

But I digress.

I can either drive or catch the country "fast-train" (in Australia, the fast-train is about 0.30x the speed of the Japanese Shinkansen) to his. Driving is a tiny bit quicker and both probably cost about the same as my car is so economical on fuel. I personally prefer the train because I can study on it, eat and drink, there's a bathroom on board (it's a long trip), and I can even sleep on it if I need to. I find it less exhausting. Remember that I drive long distances for a living!

Anyway, I've had to change my study schedule, but like I said, it is fluid as is life - things are constantly changing.

Also, I'm glad I can talk about my BF now because we are planning to build our sustainable house on his land that he already owns - 5 acres in the bush. The project is moving slowly but we have a long deadline of the end of next year which takes a lot of pressure off. Currently we are up to having it surveyed etc so I am sure I will start another page on here about the progress of the house once we break ground.

And.....lastly, my new housemate is finally sort-of moving in this weekend! Well, she is setting up her room and will be staying here on the weekends I'm away at the BF's, which is two a month. I have to clear out that room (it's currently my guest room. My gym will be the new guest room and the front living room will double as work-out space) today - there's not much in there, just two single beds and extra bed linen etc in the cupboards. She will move in permanently when she sorts out her job and hours etc.

The dog is very excited to have his best friend, my housemate, alternating weekends with his other best friend, my BF.

So, as usual, it's all very exciting! I love my life!

Vase

Oh no, my favourite vase that my friend gave me for my birthday about 6 years ago is leaking :-(

In this photo you can also see; the rose I picked from my own garden, the table ny friend gave me when she upgraded, one of the four chairs I snagged for $8 at the local opshop, the water feature I've had "in progress" for about 18 months, and the small vege patch with dog-proof fencing made from my old boundary fence when it fell apart.

Stealing

The contractors building next door firstly asked to use my power one day (I only allowed them to for a few minutes) and now another group is stealing water from the house across the road (which was repossessed by the bank). I highly doubt they have permission.

My friend said she allowed the builders next to her to use her power when she was at home which she billed them for but one day she came home and found them stealing her power without asking!

I'm glad I told these builders I had no external powerpoint, and that my dog is big and scary, and that I'm home 7 days a fortnight.

Where are the morals? I might have to padlock my taps and powerpoints!

Get the services connected already!

Neuro week 1

I just had my first neuro lecture - 3 hours zzzz. Actually, it's quite interesting. How can one not marvel at the human body, especially the brain?

Thankfully I have today off work because I haven't prepared enough for the quiz which opens....now. This term it is open for three whole days! Wooooowwww! I have tomorrow day off too so I might delay it, but, yes, I run the risk of losing time for my second case study which is on bacterial meningitis, which, along with stroke and trauma, are the only neuro focuses with have in ambulance practice.

It also never ceases to amaze me the level of knowledge we're supposed to have coming into the lectures. It's truly revision only. As students of this course we seem to teach ourselves almost everything. I generally prefer this. In my bachelor degree I preferred to just go home and read the slide notes or whatever. I found the lectures took too long to cover a topic. But, occasionally, I do miss live lectures, which is one of the reasons I think I trawl the internet looking for video lectures where I can, just to break up the reading. You can find a lot of these on my page page tab above called Resources.

---------
My dog is constantly barking at the builders next door. He hates their nail-gun as they put up the roofing frame. Sadly, my road is being developed. But on the other hand it should only increase the value of my own property as the new homes go up. The new neighbours seem very friendly.

---------
I started my Schedule in full today and I don't know why I'm so excited about it. I think it helps alleviate the mind of these stress of trying to fit everything in. Ever since I handed over my book-keeping to MyBudget and now MySchedule in place, my mind feels a lot freer to concentrate on the present task at hand. For some reasons I thought being spontaneous was freeing, but now I see with how far I need to stretch my finances and time, that detailed planning is much more liberating!

My schedule

I've already had to make some changes to my schedule. Firstly, I didn't leave enough time to accomplish the readings. Two days is definitely not enough. Other than that the trial run went well this week and I look forward to implementing it in-full tomorrow morning. I'm also going to limit my bloggings to max 10 minutes per day (it usually only takes me 5 minutes) and my Facebooking the same. The timer on my watch has come in handy a lot this week.

I slept for 19 hours yesterday. I drank two iced coffees and a cappuccino at my mentor meeting yesterday, which went really well btw. Coffee in high-doses (or probably more specifically caffeine) has a paradoxical affect on me. It really knocked me out and my afternoon nanna nap rolled straight into bedtime. Wowzas.

Today I bought a bucket to cart all my cleaning gear around to save even more time. I am really amazed at home quickly some tasks can be done and I'm sure they will be even quicker once a more regular cleaning pattern has been established.

I also put a collar on my cat with bells and reflectors on it to stop her killing. She hates it. I've locked her inside today to keep an eye on her so she doesn't injure herself trying to get the collar off. She hates me now too.

Well that is all. I am now going to try and get through the remaining readings for the neuro case (which is Multiple Sclerosis this week) and prepare for my lecture and mini-quiz tomorrow, and then, a new case!

One week down already!

Home-made

Here is a photo of the spice box I made and one of the lunch bag my sister made for me.

Taking my lunch today...

Time-orientated

Back at work and yesterday was busy again but I did manage to finish reading my case study. It helped a lot that it was a short one. I also listened to more podcasts. I now have the readings to do today.

When I got home from work I watched some Kaplan and generally stuffed around until I decided my new goal would be to stop studying by 9.30pm each night and go to bed (in order to sleep enough before waking at 6am). I stoped at 9pm last night and watched the first two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3 which I just got in the mail. It was good to relax but I don't find watching tv as stimulating as studying so I don't know what's going on with my brain physiology but that doesn't seem normal!

I've also been implementing a new schedule to try and clean for 15 minutes a day during the week. I once saw a book with a similar title (I didn't buy it) and the concept has remained with me. I am keeping a record and will post about it at the end of the week.  The main gist of it is 15 minutes of cleaning a day Monday to Friday, then one hour of a "special project" on Saturday for which I have been thinking about how I want to spend my hour. Right now the top contenders are organising my wardrobe, cleaning the skirting boards, and organising the pantry. I got a bit inspired and made a small tray for my spices in the pantry. I used a shallow box (the one my Kindle came in) without the lid and covered it with fabric I already had using craft glue. I labeled it and it looks kinda good. I can't afford Conformerware right now, so fabric-covered boxes it is! The next one is for the pasta packets.

Anyway, I have been applying the "time-orientated vs task-orientated" theory into practice with the house chores. This is something medical students must learn about studying med. There isn't enough time to study everything so a student must switch their study plan to fit the time they have, rather than the task they have. It seems to be working well for my for housework this week.

Ok to the books now... I brought in Davidson's (Clinical), Robbins (Patho), and Guyton and Hall (Physiol), and a neuro textbook I borrowed form the library which is not the recommended one - I'll have to try and find the Nolte one....

TV for pets (3)

What's happening in the world this morning?

Please excuse my front lawn - it looks like it has the mange. It was all chip bark and I'm starting to seed some grass there. With the weather we are having my garden is starting to resemble the jungles of the tropics that I love so much.

Butterflies

I love butterflies and this warm and humid weather we're having is making them come out in swarms! Beautiful!

I bought this plant when I saw it for sale last year because I noticed it was the same one I had seen butterflies hanging around on my walks with the dog. It grows like crazy and has these strange purple pokers covered in tiny flowers.
-------
I just looked this plant up in my What Flower is That? book and it is called a Buddleia Davidii and it's common name is "Butterfly Bush"!

Revision day 9/10

Well darn work has gotten in the way again.  I was called out until 4.30am this morning so had to sleep until midday today.  Back at work again now.

I really can't be bothered with my revision notes anymore.  I'm seeing flaws in them everywhere and I'm getting really disheartened because of it.  I've been watching some Kaplan videos on endocrine physiology instead which is going well, but there are so many of them to watch and I'm afraid I'm not retaining much.

I found out I am doing neuro next term so I can look at that as soon as I've done my endo exam.  I also looked and I forgot I enrolled in two Masters subjects next term - I don't think I'll do both but I'll wait to access the course materials before I withdraw before census date (cannot miss the census date again!).

My house is an absolute disaster and it's starting to do my head in but I can't do anything about it until after the exam.  I hope none (else) drops in on me unexpectedly before then.

Big weekend planned of fun - can't wait!

Keeping it simple

Having a simple-life, a relaxed home-life, down-shifting, living frugally, living green, and living ethically can sometimes all share a similar thread.  One of the most important things to do, in my opinion, is to de-clutter.

When you de-clutter your home you begin to know exactly what you have and where everything is.  The things you already have you can take more time to look after and repair rather than replace.  You can enjoy and actually read the five novels you have instead of the five-hundred, for example.

I find the food in my pantry is much more likely to get eaten before it expires if I know exactly what I have in there, can see it all, and it is kept nicely in their packets or those plastic containers.  The same goes for the fridge, the wardrobe, the sewing cupboard, etc.  For some reason I buy less new stuff when I am more aware of the stuff I already have.

I'm not a de-cluttering expert, but this is how I do it;

Rubbish - junk that is no good to anybody

• Finally get to use those plastic shopping bags in the kitchen draw.  Take one (or two - for some reasons all mine have holes in the bottom, so I double-line) into each room in your house and don't leave that room until it is full.  I'm forever filling mine with paper and mostly empty tubes and containers of stuff which is well-and-truely past it's use-by date and I'm continually asking myself "Where did all this crap come from?"  The normal answer is that is accumulates over time somehow.
• Take bags straight to your bins and sort into recycling and rubbish, thereby full-filling the minimum green obligations.  If you don't have a recycling service for some reason, dispose of the rubbish in the best way you can.
• Repeat the top two steps as frequently as necessary.

Junk - junk that may be useful to somebody

• Boxes would be handy here. I collect and save cardboard boxes that stuff gets delivered in at work.  The other option is the local supermarket.
• Get those old books you are seriously never going to read because you've had them for 10 years and haven't even read the blurb and put them into boxes and take them to the local op-shop.  
• I tend to keep reference books, like "Vegetarian Nutrition for Athletes" and "What Flower is That?".  These have their own small bookcase.
• Other junk, like crappy old crockery when you already have 20 dinner plates.  Exceptions - keep old cutlery for picnics, keep jars for homemade chutney.  These will be coming posts!  Old bottles can also be handy too. If you do decide to hang onto bottles and jars, it's best to put them in their own box out of the way yet where they can be found when the time comes.  The garage or laundry are good places.
• Childrens' toys - as much as I love my Hello Kitty manicure set, it might be time to give that to the op-shop.  If the toys are too dirty and embarrassing to give to friends/relatives, don't under-estimate the op-shop.  I forever see children leaving there with a new toy.
• Things in this category also might go well at the local trash 'n' treasure market.  I've done a few, but the goal is to get rid of everything, even if someone offers 20c for it.  It's junk to you, remember!

eBayable - junk that probably has some value to somebody on eBay

• Have a look at what stuff you have and never use and ask yourself if you'd rather have it cluttering up your home or $5.
• Things I have found that eBay really well are textbooks (medical and scientific go well for me), Nintendo games (Wii and DS) and some DVDs especially TV series.  I'm guessing other textbooks or well-known books might do well, as would other video games and some DVDs.  I had the Grey's Anatomy series and they sold very well.
• Anything with a brand-name that is normally expensive to buy new seems to do well. I got rid of all my genuine Pandora charms in a flash!
• Things that I find don't sell well are old clothes (unless they have a designer label) and other things that should really be in the above category and taken to the op-shop.
• Remember that eBay charges a small fee (unless you list it without a gallery photo for 99c reserve price) and there is time involved in putting up an item for auction and then organising posting it.  Also, some buyers can be really annoying.  Overall, I've had a good experience on eBay.

Valuable items - things that definitely have an intrinsic value

• Valuable items don't normally fall into the clutter group, but if you find yourself with something that definitely has value, such as gold jewellery or a very nice antique, either display them, store them appropriately, or sell them at the right place such as a jeweller or antique store.  eBay may be appropriate in some instances.
• Taking the time to display something nicely shouldn't clutter your home.
• If you decide to store something should only be for certain special circumstances such as heirlooms.  If you do decide to stare a few things then pack the item appropriately and label the box clearly.  Don't forget you have it!

By now you should be feeling much better.  You might be surprised at how often you have to repeat this process!

Things I like to keep in mind while I'm de-cluttering;

• When did I last use this?
• If this got stolen from my home, would I even notice it was gone?
• If I had to move overseas, would I bother paying to ship this with me or to put it in storage?
• Does this thing enhance my life, or make it more cluttered?

There are some exceptions to the rule, but try not to get trapped here.  For example, I like to reuse sewing fabrics, buttons, and bits and bobs.  I have a sewing/crafting section of my cupboard.  I keep it fairly organised.  I also like to re-use envelopes (I keep the ones banks forever send me junk in and re-use them for my mail - just takes a bit of sticky-tape and white-out) and scrap paper.  I also keep these very organised in their own draws in my study.  I have a friend that is a farmer and keeps old motor parts in his shed, just in case, because he generally uses them eventually.  If you do some of these practices then you need to keep this sort of junk organised or risk getting cluttered. It might be best to set yourself limits such as one draw, one cupboard, or one shed!

You might want to de-clutter a room a week, or I like to do a plastic bag in each room and a box on one of my days off before I start the housework.  The important thing is to start.

Once everything is de-cluttered you can start to organise your remaining stuff!

Good luck!

Big yard

Lots of mowing.


One of my main goals is to get one of those beautiful lawns you can walk on bare foot and not experience pain.  From where I've had it, to where it is now is quite a dramatic improvement, but I still have a fair way to go.

I finally have a mower with a motor in it, but I still like my push-mower and it gives me a good workout.  I like to get out in the garden for about 30mins to an hour after work each day, get some vitamin D and a large dose of allergy-inducing pollen to go with it at this time of year.

We worked past 4am this morning (actually it was quite funny because I attended the same patient at 11am and then 14-hours later at 1am and she was confused as to what sort of shift I was on - I just love explaining that I work 24 hours for 5 days straight.  It gets a great reaction). I got up at 12noon, had a relaxed break, vacuumed a little, and went back into work at 2.30pm.  There I started studying the physiology of the adrenal hormones while simultaneously sorting out my solar power feed-in contract and cancelling my pay TV (seeing as I'm trying to be green and frugal into my future life).  I also got to order a cheap international edition of Guyton and Hall physiology so I finally have pretty much every textbook I need.

At 4.30pm we got paged and I just got back now.

I got home and my neighbour brought me over a plate of dinner - how lovely a surprise!  Very nice indeed.

Now I just want to read more of this physiol chapter before going to bed/getting paged again.

Stress level is about a Code Orange.  Only because I think I can make up ground in revision week as I have a few days off and no other commitments, and apart from last week, I've been keeping up ok.

I read on Gwenyth's GOOP an article by her holistic osteopath about spine pain and it's life "meaning".  Neck pain can be either physical (osteoporosis) or emotional (life overload).  I have neck pain now.  I always attributed it to studying too much, but some times I can study for days on send and get no pain, and other times just an hour will make the pain incredible.  Food for thought, me thinks.  I don;t know how I got onto Goop - it never tends to hold my attention much, but I think a blog directed me back there again.  I don;t mind Gwenny, and she discovered Tracey Anderson which I thank her for greatly, but the Goop articles I normally find a bit dull.

Ok, back to the books.

Overdue

My masters assignment is now one day overdue.  It just didn't get finished yesterday.  It's now 7.30pm in the evening and I've only just started looking at it now.  It really wont take long as I only have the referencing to clean up, checking the 1.5 line spacing and correct font, and finding the coversheet etc to go.  Should be done in an hour.  A day late is about -5% I think.

I spent the earlier part of the day mowing my lawns (got a new lawn mower yesterday!) and installing my washing machine (got a new washing machine finally today).  I also had much fun doing the "preliminary"pack for my trip which is where I lay out everything I'd like to take, and then secondary pack is where I divide the preliminary number of clothes by two. 

Things are getting more exciting now as I was checking the weather in Kathmandu, Lhasa, and Paro.  I already know Taiwan is hot and humid (yay), I wasn't sure about Kathmandu (average of 23oC in September) and Lhasa and Paro are fairly mild at about 18oC.  Of course I got Mt Everest Base Camp which I can guess with much accuracy will be cold to very cold.

I'm also trying to hook up with a fellow ambulance person in Nepal as he has much to do with a few clinics over there despite this trip supposed to be being a "tourist-only" trip as I haven't had a pure "for pleasure" holiday in three years due to study and volunteering.

Sunshine makes everything better

Another glorious day of sunshine here.  I think I have survived another icy winter.  My mood and energy levels are improving exponentially.

I spent the day doing housework and gardening.  I'm now at work waiting for the day shift to return - they wont be long - in order to take over their (better) ambulance rather than take home the "spare".  Of course I was also suppose to write my assignment today but with the weather and the number of chores that needed doing, I couldn't resist getting out there in the garden.  I'm quite pleased with how things are coming along (slowly, slowly).  I feel even better to have done something physical to counter-balance that terribly boring day I had yesterday in the lectures.

I'm still waiting for my grades from last term.  Samoa time yet again is dragging on.  I paid on Thursday.  I allowed a lag of 24 hours, that's fine, for that information to get to all the right people.  Then there was the weekend.  Then Samoa is a day behind.  But today is Monday there.  Oh, I know, I bet it's a public holiday there today.  They seem to have a lot there compared to here, however their culture is a lot more focused on lifestyle than getting ahead.  I think that's why I love it there so much.

Hole

This is the holey dog escaped through today. He's 40kg.

Status quo and spark of motivation

Yes, same ol', same ol' here.  Just working, enjoying freedom from med school, looking forward to holidays, got lots of social plans on my days off etc.

I think my brain is already on holiday.  I don't want to do overtime, I'm finding every excuse to not do my Masters readings, and what PT course?  My house is looking tidy though and I've been flicking throough House and Garden magazine, and I have heaps more energy at work.  I feel sorry for my work colleagues as I've been operating in a constant state of  half-dead, but I didn't really notice that until now.  It's funny how you accept that because you're a med student you just automatically have no other quality of life.

I've been reading the Mothers In Medicine blog a bit lately.  Not because I'm a mother (unless you count my dog and cat), but because other blogs link back to interesting articles about juggling home life and work, choosing the right partner, and some other interesting aspects of being a female that is successful in the workforce.  Anyway, it's given me a bit of much-needed inspiration.

Just had a really sick acute pulmonary oedema patient.  I haven't had a full-field APO for ages.  It was good to do someone that was actually so acutely and time-critically sick.  I was sure he was about to arrest.  Thankfully he didn't and our treatment brought him back in the right direction.  We picked him up from the bush nursing hospital where they rarely do sickies and the staff need a lot of paramedical direction.  I was the treating officer and it kind of felt good asking the other paramedic to do this, the Div 1 nurse to do that, the nursing student to grab me this, and the doctor (GP) on scene if it was ok for her to give a drug that we dont' carry but he needed.  It went smoothly, efficiently, and I caught myself mid-IV cannulation drawing parallels between that situation and what it would be like to be an ED doc running an arrest or similar.  I really think emergency medicine is for me.

And it was just what I needed.  More motivation to continue studying this long, long (and expensive) journey through med school.

So unfit

After just 2 days of manual labour around the house I am so sore, so tired, and feel like the most unfit slug/blob in the whole world. So horrible enough to friggin do something about it.

In bed now resting my aching body.

Must find trackies in the morning. Actually looking forward to it. I have all day spare at home while my fence gets finished.

Goodnight.