ScooterShell and the Big Fellas: Visits and shopping

As promised, here is another "catch-up" post from all that we've been up to this month.

The week after my brother was here, the Fellas and I drove back to our old town to visit family, for the Big Fella to get a root canal, and to collect the last of our belongings that had been stored in my Poppy's shed.

My grandparents moved interstate when I was four or five years old. As we were growing up, I only got to see them about once a year, and I felt that I'd missed out on something really special because of it.

Then, when the Big Fella and I first moved to Queensland, we ended up living with my grandparents for two or three months. It was hard for everyone initially, but we got to know each other well and became great friends. It is an absolute pleasure to me to now watch my son having the opportunity to know and love his great-grandparents!

Anyway, when we first arrived at my grandparents' place, I had quite a shock. Poppy has just recently had a knee reconstruction and managed to get blood poisoning in the hospital. They didn't pick it up and sent him home. Thankfully he had a checkup with his surgeon a couple of days later, and was readmitted immediately. By the time we got there, Poppy had been back home for a few days and was on the mend.

But walking in and seeing him was a shock! His skin was grey and he looked 10 years older than when I'd seen him in December. Talk about confronting!!!

Thankfully within a few hours he was looking more like himself. I think that the Big Fella had a lot to do with that - they're great friends, which is kind of amazing given that they didn't like each other when they met!

Over the next three days, I noticed that Poppy's knee was less swollen and he was able to do more. So he's definitely mending, which is such a relief.

Okay, lets move on to other things.

The Little Big Fella had such a good time playing with his cousins! He misses them so much, and that really is the thing I feel worst about with our move here. I've no doubt they'll be great friends, but I guess when we lived closer they were almost like siblings.

I've been reflecting a little over the past few months that it would have been wonderful for the Little Big Fella to have a sibling. Unfortunately I wasn't mentally capable and now that he's just about to start school I'm not willing to go back to the baby and nappies stage.

Oh my goodness, this post is getting rather dreary, isn't it???

Let me tell you about the very fun part of our visit! We went shopping!

Now, when I say "we went shopping" I don't mean a little bit here and there. I mean we. went. shopping!!!!

We finally found office furniture that we like (I've been looking for months!!!), and a dining setting/buffet/entertainment unit that we both like. I ordered the office furniture as soon as we got home and it arrived the other day. I'll show it to you when I've got it all together :-) The other stuff will be ordered in a few weeks I think.

We went to the sports store and ended up with two pairs of shoes each, a footy for the Little Big Fella, some extra dumbells and weight plates... I think there was something else too.

The Big Fella went to our old butcher and ended up buying, literally, a deep freezer full of meat! Here comes the jerky :-D

I bought some black beans, which are a little difficult to get here and are expensive to buy online.

Okay, I bought a lot of black beans.

I'd never used them until recently, but I have a recipe from the Dessert Angel for "Belly Fat Burning Brownies". They have no flour and no sugar but are high in fibre and protein, and they taste FANTASTIC!!! Even the Fellas love them! And everywhere I've taken them people have loved them too, and asked for the recipe.

So, I bought a massive bag of black beans :-)

The Little Big Fella and I went to Bunnings. I love that store!!! Apparently there's a little one opening in our closest large town sometime this year. Guess that'll make it heaven :-D

From Bunnings I bought new fittings for the bathroom. I know, we're in a company house! But I wanted fittings that suited our lifestyle and matched the rest of the room so I bought some.

I also got some paint. Our playgroup was getting rid of a few bits and pieces when we moved to the CWA hall at the start of the year, and I decided to keep a stand/rack for hanging up costumes and hats. It needs a bit of cleaning up, so I decided to buy some bright, dark blue paint, which will go really nicely with the Little Big Fella's new bed, and the freshly painted walls. Don't worry, I'll show you pics when it's done :-)

So, obviously, as well as all this shopping we spent time with my family and everyone had a great time. I absolutely love that spending time with my family is fun, not a stress. I feel particularly lucky!

Okay, that's the end of this update! But don't worry, there'll be more!!! :-D

Oh my goodness!!! I totally forgot to put in the photos from our visit!!! I ended up taking my camera, specifically with the CWA photo competition in mind - not because I think I'll win anything, but because it's another way to support what's happening in our local community. I took a bunch of pics of the Little Big Fella playing in the playground, and had a go at some more abstract-style photos.

Anyway, here you go!