Flip'n Monkeys

Such a simple concept but such an addictive activity. Kingsley was lucky to receive a set of Flip-N-Stack Monkeys for her birthday. The aim is to use a small springboard to flip a monkey with magnetic hands and feet onto the board or onto another monkey. Don't tell anyone but while Kingsley is at school there will be a bit of secret training going on so I am at least competitive when we play together. Thankfully this activity can also be done in a solo capacity giving Kingsley hours of fun.

Another new activity was a variation on a ball called a ZeeBee. Once I have mastered that I will post a blog entry.

A week goes by

For the first time since starting this blog there has been no post for a week. Memo to S- lift your game and get back to blogging! This time of year TeamSAK has a number of family birthdays to celebrate so plenty of ideas for future blogs!

Kingsley turned 8. On Saturday instead of a party she enjoyed a friendship afternoon with a few friends, watched a DVD, ate homemade popcorn and Drumstick ice creams, made their own healthy pizzas for a gourmet dinner followed by the obligatory ice cream birthday cake. We intend to do more of these extended playdate afternoons with more friends before Christmas.

On Sunday morning we celebrated the combined birthday of Kingsley's aunt, twin cousins T1 and T2 as well as her own. Their brother TB joined us but slept on the floor after only getting in from a nightclub at 7 am that morning. Of course the start of daylight saving and putting clocks forward an hour didn't help either. Oh to be young again!

The afternoon was set aside for S's side of the family to celebrate Kingsley turning the big 8. All in all a big weekend of family gatherings and far too much rich food but it was so good to be able celebrate and make the event special for Kingsley.

Vicarious Parties

Missed being involved in person in a lot of things this year and unfortunately yesterday there was another. Weather temperature of 33 C and the effect of 5 days of chemo meant I was left home alone. The son of very close friends turned 1 and the event was celebrated in style with family and friends at a local park. Kingsley and Ahubby represented TeamSAK and partied on from 2 to 5 pm.

There is always a solution to most problems. I attend these functions vicariously and relived the excitement with candid digital photos Kingsley took on my behalf. I even managed to join in singing Happy Birthday as Ahubby called me when the candles were lit.

Happy Birthday dear sweet Aris!! Looking forward to playing with you, your new toys and reading your new books.

If Only

If only my legs were as long as those in the shadow. Shorter torso and longer legs but genetically it was not meant to be. At 132 cm I predict within a few years Kingsley will be taller than me ( a compact 160cm) thanks to Ahubby's genetic input. Don't know the metric equivalent but he is 6ft 2 or 3 in the old school.

In primary school I was one of the tallest girls then the others caught up and passed me. Being a little height deprived has some limitations which is why Ahubby hides the good chocolates on the top shelf of the pantry. It is also why I get to paint the bottom of the fence and get the front row of any family photo.

Someone once told me that good things come in small packages but then added "But- so does arsenic". Happy with how I am but if only my legs were longer!

Amortising the cost of drugs

Never had much to do with doctors, specialists, hospitals, drugs until this year so it was a steep learning curve working our way through the medical bureaucracy with Medicare, private health insurance, chemists and regular pathology and radiology services.

The PBS ( or Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) has finally been of use to us but only because "luckily" I had the right illness. The accountant in me has come out and I found the analysis of the cost of the medication interesting. Without getting too numeric here are the results.

Each of the days while taking chemo I need one anti nausea and 3 x chemo tablets. The full cost of the anti nausea tablets is $120.41. That's for 5 tablets each of 5 mg each equating to $4.816 per mg. Thankfully as it is listed on PBS this costs TeamSAK only $30.70.

The full cost of the chemo each cycle is $2480.05 for 15 tablets each of 100mg. This calculates to $1.6 per mg. Again as it has recently been listed on PBS it only costs TeamSAK $30.70.

I find it amazing that the anti nausea , which I would willing pay full cost for as it appears to work reasonably well, is more expensive per mg than the cytotoxic chemotherapy which is hopefully doing its job on the Big C.

If there are any errors in the calculations let me know- as an accountant I can always make 2 plus 2 equal 5 !

Off with the wheels

Kind of fitting given the emphasis on cycling this month with the Round the Bay , Tour Down Under , Melbourne Cycling Festival and National Ride to Work Day that Kingsley has met another milestone.

Until last weekend and through no fault of her own and despite the fact that Ahubby is a talented cyclist, Kingsley still had training wheels on. She has not been on her bike for nearly 2 years ( due to broken arms last year and our situation this year) and decided that she was going to lose the kiddie wheels before her birthday next week.

Two short attempts later and in her own words Kingsley has "now mastered it"!

Another Inability

Just when I thought it was safe to start re-planning my social life this week when chemo gets in the way. In a perfect world, chemo should have started today but the last few cycles have been delayed by a week due to blood count results. Having resigned myself to another delay the good news is I am back on schedule and restarted today - the bad news is I miss book club tonight and another possible social outing on Thursday. These would have been my first outings since February.

Friends of ours are publicly launching their new venture David Medlow Chocolates at the Melbourne store on Thursday night. A media and PR event with some minor celebrities in attendance and now I miss out on what would have been a chocoholic's dream and a possible chance to be photographed by the celebrity press. Hopefully Ahubby will still attend in case there are any sample bags handed out!

Long Distance Swimming

S is pleased to announce that Kingsley did a PB ( personal best) today at swimming. Between the laps during her lesson and those swum afterwards with Ahubby, Kingsley covered a distance of 1000 metres with a combination of freestyle , back and breast stroke. It would have been further if we didn't need to leave the pool. Next week she wants to swim further and beat the 1 kilometre mark. Watch out Susie Maroney!

The Tunnel

No - unfortunately it is not a fun theme park ride! Today was another MRI tunnel ride for me. While I had fabulous technicians and first rate care at Cabrini, Malvern having a MRI is not really top of my list of things to do on Wednesday morning. It's not the claustrophobic issues of being inside a cylinder that worry me . Have you ever tried to remain completely still for 20 minutes? Today I relaxed so much that I was almost asleep when the procedure concluded.

If you want to learn more about MRI and see a machine check out How Stuff Works. Lucky the current ultra slim version of S fits inside the tunnel with plenty of room to spare!

The Counting House

No wonder the Mint has to make more coins! Ahubby has been accumulating his own personal collection in his coin jar/bin and has taken a lot out of circulation. After borrowing coin bags from the local bank Kingsley and Ahubby started the mammoth task of physically counting all the money. ( The Queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey or so the nursery rhyme goes doesn't it?)

Last time we emptied out the money box we had enough cash to buy a new washing machine and this time it wasn't far behind. With $722 , Kingsley is scheming that there is enough for a new Ipod and some CDs as well! All that needs to be done now is to transport the very heavy loot off to the bank.

Hair today - gone tomorrow!

Part of the back to school routine is the traditional haircut on the last day of holidays. Kingsley has just changed hairdressers and now uses Mal Bradley. We are thrilled with the results. Great staff , good cuts, complimentary cappuccinos and hot chocolates with reasonable prices . Friday's adventure started with Kingsley having a luxurious hair shampoo and head massage while sitting at the basin with all the other big girls.




The start of the comb and blow dry. Kingsley was very excited to be sitting in the big chair alongside other women having the weekly blow dry/set and colour touch up.

Finally the cutting begins.

The finished product and Kingsley leaves the salon 60 minutes later, hair looking fabulous like a model and no longer my little baby that entered the salon with her hair in plaits. Best part was it was only $25 for the star treatment. Thank you Jess for making Kingsley feel so special!

Given Kingsley was looking so "glam" we just had to adjourn to the nearby cafe/bistro for a celebratory morning tea. So why a post on something as basic as a haircut? S is just looking forward to the day ( post chemo/treatment) that she can enjoy the luxury of a haircut just like Kingsley! Amazing what you take for granted and you only realise it when you can't do it any longer.

Bag full of Show

About 8.45am a courier arrived with a rather large box addressed to me. Inside were the infamous Royal Melbourne Show Bags that were part of my Herald Sun prize. I had thought there was 4 ie one for each party on the entry ticket. However, nine bags arrived.

In typical accounting fashion Kingsley and I quickly checked out the website to see what the sale value was. To buy these would have cost around $55 but some claim to have much more than their sale price in value included. In addition we received a family ticket for 2 adults and 2 children to view the new animated movie 'Surfs Up" at the cinema. Full retail value of that is around $50 as well. Not a bad return for one online competition entry.

To top off our day we also won $2 on a Tattersalls scratchie. Kingsley found a dollar coin so we thought we would try our luck and ended up with an extra dollar!.

Handyman Hubby

Ahubby is extremely talented when it comes to his paid employment but owing to time ( and talent) constraints TeamSAK need to outsource many home maintenance issues. One thing we both do at our holiday home is the annual oiling of the balcony and pool decking. This year we outsourced this job due to my health.

However during our recent visit Ahubby repainted the BBQ cabinet which had started to look weathered after 4 years of ownership. He then thoroughly cleaned the entire BBQ and hotplate ready for a succulent dinner.

Have to give full credit to Ahubby. No one can BBQ fish like him. I tend to overcook it but Ahubby gets it perfect every time. We had the most devine, melt in the mouth BBQ Barrumundi served with freshly made salads.

Just my luck!

Sitting on our Queensland holiday shack balcony watching the blue waters of the bay meet the perfect blue sky on the horizon when the mobile phone rang . A very nice lady from The Sunday Herald Sun rang to tell me I had won a prize! A family pass valued at $75 to the Royal Melbourne Show along with a few free showbags. How exciting! What a thrill and what a disappointment! Ahubby and Kingsley had already been and paid for their own admission the previous weekend and the show finished while we would still be away.

S never enters competitions due to privacy aspects and fears of continuous junk mail. After my life changing year I thought I might try something new and entered the competition online (via a new hotmail address of course). Just my luck however that the first time I enter , I win, but can't use the tickets!

Some lucky neighbours with 3 children scored the admission tickets but said the office had run out of the showbags. Received another call today from the Royal Agricultural Society to say my free showbags had not been collected! They are now being posted out to us and will be the subject of a later blog entry. Maybe my luck is changing after all!

Odd Thong Out

Just back from our Sunshine Coast break. Great weather, fabulous food and restaurants, good friends staying with us ( Fairlie and Co) and Havaianas. Actually S was the odd one out with 3 year old pink $5 thongs from a discount store pictured above. Ahubby has his black ones and Kingsley has now joined the trendy set with her white and pink heart ones. Even Fairlie, Poolboy, Queenie and Impossible Princess were in the designer footwear action with Crocs and Havaianas.

After 5 days of being influenced by these trendsetters S finally relented and purchased a new pair of thongs. The $AUD 23 investment better be a good one and if I get blisters from the new thongs you will hear about it!