A bit of colour

We've been looking for something to give the long family room wall a bit of zing, but our searching has turned up a big fat zero.

So my incredibly talented other half edited some photos from our Thailand trip of a few years ago and came up with this.  Officeworks printed it up on canvas, and Bob's your Uncle...

Which sits right here...

And the whole room looks like...

Might have to get Loz to work his magic on some more pics to fill the entire wall :)

3 month...

True to their word, Carlisle contacted us just before our 3 month house anniversary to arrange our maintenance inspection.  A really nice guy came out and gave the house a thorough look through, jotting down any of our concerns at the same time...and I'm pleased to say that we had less than half a page of defects and ALL of them incredibly minor;

• a little floor repair
• the expansion joint for the floating floor in the hallway
• a small plaster tear caused by the Jetmaster installer
• some minor cracking to be patched
• laundry door seal
• clips on the gutters

AND THAT'S IT!!!!!

All but the floor has been attended to, and as we came to expect from Carlisle tradies, they were completely respectful of our home and just generally nice, chatty guys. It helps when they ooh and ahh over your home too - but then, we're so proud of it we'd even drag the postie in for a look.

I can't imagine us ever wanting to move from here, but iiiiiiiiiif we did, I'd definitely build again and wouldn't hesitate to go with Carlisle again too. (just hope that whatever they are planning to replace the soon to be closed Monaco display with isn't too much of an improvement over what we have, or that day may come sooner than Loz is expecting...) (just jokes Loz) (???)

How does your garden grow?

Ours has gone crazy considering it's less than 3months old.

Here's some snippets from around the orange house;

The narrow bed beside our driveway has Dianella "Casa Blue" and Climbing Fig which has already started to stretch out on the fence.

The grasses that run either side of our entrance deck have begun to flower.

As has the Blueberry Ash that we have along our northern boundary. They now peep about a foot above the fence line.

I love the way the "Chinese Star Jasmine" has reached up to the first run of wire.

The mass planting of Dianella in front of the stacked stone wall has gone crazy. These little guys have doubled in size already.

So completely besotted with Kangaroo Paw right now.

Put it all together and it looks like this;

Knifed in the back

I've had a dodgy back for somewhere between 4 and 6 years - can't remember when it started coz these things don't always have an exact beginning.

Anyway - I thought I'd been doing a really good job of managing it, especially considering we moved 3 months ago.  So when it flared up again roughly 6 weeks ago, I was so incredibly pissed off as I couldn't see what had triggered it.  In true Reinsey style, instead of listening, I pushed through, ignoring the increasing numbness and then pain in my left leg.

To cut a looooooong story short, I actually went to the GP (rare for me) and he ordered an MRI on my lower back.  I had this done on Monday 31/10.  Mum and I had a quick look at the pics and thought holy crap, there's something in there. Go back to the GP on Wednesday morning and I'm sent immediately to Monash hospital.  By this time my left leg is completely useless and the sensation (or lack thereof) is spreading across my body as well.  Freak out meter = 5/10 but I still drive myself to hospital.  As you do!

See a neurosurgeon and I'm on the list for surgery first thing in the morning.  Riiiiiiight.  So can I go home now, promise I'll come back in the morning?  Nooooooooo.  Freak out meter = 7.5/10.

I was so unprepared for this I barely had any charge left on my phone and work - oh God - there was so much I had to get done!

So here I am 11 days post-op and feeling  better than I have in years.  I can't sit down for more than 3 x 20 minute sessions a day.  The rest of the time I have to be on my feet or flat on my back.  But not too long on my back or scar tissue will form.  Not too long on my feet either.  I've just begun working a few hours a day standing at my PC, but man o man am I dying to go out shopping for browny-greeny-white things!!

Turns out the nerves were completed compressed from a severely bulging disc and they performed a laminectomy on my L5/S1.

The best part...my tramp stamp is still virtually intact.

I've been so blessed to have been visited by some incredibly special people (you know who you are).  A HUGE thank you for keeping my spirits up (and for the grouse house mags Kylie). Mum & Loz - you're both amazing :)

Much love,
Reinsey
xxx