Compostable Kate

I finally have an explanation for why Dexter's right ear has been getting infections again, after about 6 years of good health. It turns out that the ear canal resection Dexter had when he was about 2 - which transformed his natural L-shaped ear canal into a straight line, thereby reducing the opportunities for infections to pool in the bend of the canal - has started to droop. Meaning that the straight line from ear drum to opening now has a bend in it again, which is where the bacteria comes to squat and have rave parties. The vet said that it's natural for everything to start drooping on older dogs (and of course, cats and people); he said we all end up like a Salvador Dali painting in the end! Salvador Dali Spanish 1904–89, worked in United States 1940–48 Daddy Longlegs of the evening – Hope! 1940 oil on canvas, 40.6 x 50.8 cm The Salvador Dalí Museum, St Petersburg, Florida The good news is that there are fewer of the [insert medical information the vet sai...

I have A Plan. It's a plan to help me keep my health on a more even keel, even when going through a bad bout of PMS, as I just have. I've still been finding it difficult to keep eating properly when I get really tired, or have more pain than usual. If I can't find the energy to prepare a decent meal, I end up eating whatever is easiest to get hold of, which is too often not a healthy option. When I was really struggling this week, I decided that I needed More Help. That's quite something for me to admit to myself, let alone put out into the universe (my shrink will be proud of me when I tell her about it!). I've asked some friends to help me with cooking my weekly meals. I'll use their kitchen, which is much bigger than mine (and has a dishwasher!), and I'll have extra helpers to tidy up anything that I drop (ie more furkids) and they have more foxtel channels, so I can have Sci Fi or the History channel on while I cook. My plan is to tick a few bo...

I unexpectedly ended up at the Sporting Wheelies gym the other day, after avoiding it for about a year. I was going out to breakfast with a friend who also used to work there, and she detoured us on the way to drop in and say Hi to whoever was there. It was pretty early in the morning, so only the gym was open, so we went in and chatted to a few people. It was actually quite painless, despite my fears of humiliation and mortification. The Gym at Sporting Wheelies (that's not me!) The main reason I've been avoiding the gym there is not that I used to work there, but that I've put on so much weight over the past couple of years I'm too embarrassed to show myself there. I've also been avoiding other situations, because of feeling insecure about my weight and how I look.  I've been steadily gaining weight for the past few years, and one of the reasons for that is that I've been trying to work more on my health than my weight.  Since I was about 15, un...

It will be 2 years in November since my Dad died. I think of him every day, but there are some things that bring him to the fore more than others. In particular, ugg boots, Sudoku and crossword puzzles (he taught   tried to teach me how to solve cryptic clues) and growing veggies. Dad, my sister and brothers, and little Darren (who is now 11).  Dad's hand-built greenhouse is in the background. The space  behind Dad got filled up with Josie's flowers and Dad's herbs  and veg. As I'm embarking on my first veggie garden in nearly 8 years, thoughts of Dad are inevitable. He used every inch of his tiny back yard to grow herbs and veggies, in amongst my step-Mum Josie's flowers, and even some trees, and made a tiny greenhouse out of reclaimed materials that looked like something out of a fairy story. He had a compost heap and a worm farm, and there were a couple of tortoises in there somewhere (I think there's only one now, thou...

My only chance of being reinstated to uni next semester rests with the “Withdrawal without academic penalty” form I've just submitted. If successful, it means that the fail grades I got for the two units I was unable to complete last semester, which lead to my exclusion, will be removed. This will raise my GPA* to well above what is required to continue with my course. I did submit this form with my appeal against exclusion, but it was returned to me, requesting more detailed information. The medical information I included with my appeal wasn't sufficient to use with my withdrawal application. Fortunately, because I had submitted it with my appeal, I was still able to resubmit it, even after being excluded. This time I included a report from my psychiatrist (this was no time to be shy about my mental health issues, if it could help me get reinstated), as well as from my GP. I'm glad I did, as my GP provided about three lines in a letter, while my shrink wrote me...

I want to thank everyone who has been supporting me through my recent disappointment. However, while I am still devastated to be excluded (ie expelled) from QUT, and am working on being reinstated, I refuse to be brought down by it. Just before all this happened (I got the email telling me that the uni had dismissed my appeal against exclusion last Friday morning, 17th August), I was writing a blog post about how well I was doing lately. It was about the 5 signs that show that my mental health* is greatly improved.: 1. I take care of my health. Whereas I have long been concerned about my weight, I am lately more concerned about my health, which is quite a different thing. I have been cooking for myself, rather than eating ready meals, or junk food, and have been feeling better for it. I have also recently given up soft drinks, of all kinds, including cordial, although I did get some cordial to see me through my recent cold, as water tasted like snot!  I can't emphasise enou...

My family and friends are very accommodating of my playing a few facebook games. They Hide my game posts on their own pages, and only comment occasionally when I start a new one (which isn't very often). I generally play farming games. Over time I have played Farm Town (my first and greatest farming love, mainly because the pigs fall over and fall asleep), where I had four farms, Farmville, with three farms, Frontierville, Country Life, and now Castleville. Monsterworld sort of fits into the farming genre, although it's really raising flowers, and there are no animals. FrontierVille (Rosie won't load!) I really loved Frontierville (which reinvented itself as Pionner Trail), as I had a virtual husband and three children, and we rode horses everywhere. But it got too unwieldy, and I haven't been able to coax it to load for ages. I still play Castleville (I had to stop for a bit, as my old PC just couldn't cope), Monsterworld and Country Life. I occasionall...

Putting it here was the only way I could clip it to Polyvore, for an assignment. It is my favourite one ever, though.

This is Moet, the dog I lost for three days. He was found safe and well, but I will never forget how distressing it was, or ever stop feeling guilty about it. It was supposed to be a simple thing, puppy-sitting little Moet for a few days. I've been looking after other people's dogs and puppies for years, and apart from having to clean up some messes I've never had a mishap. Moet had been to visit before he came to stay, and had a good look and sniff around the unit and the back yard. My yard isn't big, just a patio and a scrubby garden bed, imbued with years and years of dog wee, with shrubs to wee on, and the occasional possum or neighbourhood cat to sniff out. I did have one escape artist previously, but Donny (cocker spaniel) only managed to squeeze himself into the neighbour's yard, through the little gap where the water mains taps are. He couldn't get back again, but he couldn't get out, either, so it was easy enough to retrieve him, and he neve...

WARNING: This is a big whinge. Feel free to skip it. 29.01.12 I didn't sleep AT ALL last night, but it wasn't for want of trying. I went sensibly to bed at 9.30pm - not even staying up to watch the men's Australian Open final - as I had plans for today, but couldn't sleep. It wasn't that I slept intermittently; I didn't sleep at all. This is not unusual; to say that I don't sleep well would be an understatement. I very rarely sleep for more than 5 hours at a stretch, and it's more usually 3 - 4. I know that I do sleep sometimes, because I have lurid nightmares and the most bizarre dreams imaginable. But occasionally, like last night, I don't fall asleep at all. There are various reasons why I can't sleep. Last night it was predominantly pain. My hip joints were burning, and my thigh bones were aching (not the muscle, the bones ) and I had run out of Tramadol, my main pain reliever. I always have pain, but this was more and worse than usual....

I spent all of 2011 trying to get used to the fact my Dad was no longer around, having died suddenly in November 2010. It’s taken a lot of getting used to, and although I’m not altogether resolved to it, I don’t seem to be constantly reminding myself of his absence.  It’s been a long time since I lost a family member, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for Dad to go, even though he’d been ill for a number of years. He was only 65, after all. Dad and Alex, not long before Dad died. They got on extremely well!  Although I was literally incoherent with grief – after being bizarrely calm while my poor brother Damian was breaking the news to me – my awesome friends, Karen and Steve, came and collected me and my furkids, and looked after me for several days while I processed the news. As Dad lived in the UK, and I am in Australia, I couldn’t be there for my family, and I wasn’t able to attend his funeral. However, I was in constant touch with my siblings, and my Mum (who w...