Tall Stack

It's been almost a month since I last updated. Oh, and what a month it has been!

I ended up getting food poisoning and being quite ill for two weeks, this ended with me deferring one of my exams. I also ended up going off my meds because obviously there is no point in taking them if they just go through you (or potentially make your immune system even less able to help).

Being off my meds has brought on some interesting symptoms though. I've found i'm much more cognitively impaired at times (brain fog) which would mean that is an autoimmune aspect and not a mystery fibro symptom. I've also started developing psoriasis plaques again. Which would mean I do indeed have psoriatic arthritis and no sero-negative rheumatoid (though it's possible that could develop at any time). I've kept off my pharmaceuticals so I can show this to my doctor on wednesday.

I have gone back on my naturopathic medicine, and while I definitely see the benefit in the anti-anxiety and anti-depression herbs (St. john's wart, hops, and valerian with passion flower extract as an emergency for panic attacks), I don't think i've had much help with the saligesic or the herbs that are meant to help with energy. But considering most of my pain is fibro, i'm not too surprised. I also tried taking some magnesium, but it caused stomach upset. My next course of action is to go back to Mark the acupuncturist and see if that will help.

In other news, I am a permanent resident. That actually doesn't mean so much...they can't kick me out as easily. In a year I can apply for citizenship. I can access centrelink if need be (although Bran is thankfully earning a good living, thus I cannot access anything). And I pay domestic prices for uni. But I am not able to get the HELP debt (which is a gov't loan for school which you start paying back once you earn a certain wage). Which I thought I could get... So i'll likely only be going to school part time this year and hopefully finding a job.

I got a new phone. It's shiny.

Finally, i've gone to a few more meet-ups. One of my usual pagan ones, one for a fibromyalgia group, and one for a different pagan group. The fibro one was nice, it was good to be able to talk about things with people who understand a bit more. The other pagan one was quite fun and i'd like to meet up with them again. Quite a lively bunch! We had a nice discussion about crystals, contacting the other side, and a bit about older magic systems. I also had the opportunity to try mead, which I quite enjoyed.

Thats about it for me. I'll try to get back in the habit of regular updates.

Stuff and Things

Ah dear. It was a long day today, and will be a longer one tomorrow. Today was new student orientation (which a total of 5 out of 110 new students went to >.>) and class.  I was also able to get some housework done so that is good :). Tomorrow I have a GP appointment to check out the bump on my knuckle, grocery shopping, class, a meeting with the student assistance head and swimming if i'm not exhausted. I'm tired just thinking about it! Or maybe because I was up at 5:30 am today >.>. Been a while since i've seen sunrise.

My foot has mostly been alright, it's starting to flare up a bit now. I've had to ration my prednisone to 4 mg for the last two days, 5 mg today. But i'll get it filled tomorrow :). My poor doctor, I have a bit of a laundry list for her...

On a lighter note, we had home made pizza for dinner :D I have to say...my wheat crust is much better than my not wheat crust...but thats mostly because I make awesome pizza to begin with (with the help of my happy hubby <3 he kneads and cuts things up :D ).

I also found out that I won't have to sit a test to get my Aussie driver's license! That was super exciting. So i'll be legal to drive (despite not having a car) this weekend or so :) it will be useful on the other hand to have a legal form of ID other than my passport. That also means i'll FINALLY be able to start the name changing process (much to Bran's joy, poor guy has had to wait nearly two years for his wife to have the same name! [not that partners need to have the same name, but it was something we decided on before we got married and he has been very patient :) ] ).

Pain: R FOOT, wrists, hands, elbows, SHOULDERS, R knee, ankles, toes, getting some nerve pain down my R leg which is a bit concerning...

Residency

I am now officially a temporary Australian resident :) which means I can get a job and go to school! I got the e-mail today confirming that my residency has gone through. The only down side is that they will not be fast tracking my permanent residency. That alright though, apparently they start counting the two years from when you first apply, which was last August. So it's been almost a year already and I can handle one more year of waiting (considering they told me last I called that it can take up to another year for just the temp!) So Bran and I are happy campers :D.

On a different note, in about 36 hours, i'll be giving my brother a great big hug :D!!! So exciting!

Drama

So we had a bit of drama at our house today. I went to get a drink of water, and the fridge had died! So I call Bran, and after a few conversations we decide to look into getting a new fridge. Off I go to Harvey Normans, only to find out that I cannot purchase it, I need to get Bran to purchase it as he is Australia and I am not a resident yet :/. But so it is, I call Bran and he decided to check it out after work. Meanwhile, I get back home and re-plug in the fridge just to see what happens, and what do you know, it comes back to life! It's aaaalllliiiiiivvveeeeee! But the lightbulb is out >.>....Well, at least we don't need to fork out the money to get a new one yet!

Afterwards, Bran and I sat down with a nice cup of coffee and started on my latest paperwork from immigration. Hurrah. I need to call my family to get some dates tomorrow, but hopefully I can have it done by then. Alas, no cooking happened today, though I finally washed that weird super slippery blanket that we hopefully wont have to use again.

Of Books and Cooks

I've just started a new book, Sacred Hearts, by Sarah Dunant. I haven't read her before, but I like historical novels and for some reason I like reading about religious people. This particular book is about a convent of Nuns in Italy during the 1570's and so far it's very interesting.

The last book I read, Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, was also good, though drastically different from my current book. Her's was all about the process she has to go through for her and her now husband to be able to live in the USA together. I can sympathise somewhat as my husband and I are going through a 'process' for me to live here, although thankfully we don't have to live in another country while the visa is going through! It was also about marriage and how she came to accept her (slightly forced by the US govn't) place in marriage history. It was a good read, especially for someone like me who is always pondering what exactly marriage means and how the heck I got here. But that is another story :).  


Beyond that I had the rest of my papers printed off, to be filled out tomorrow over a big cup of coffee and much annoyance. So close, yet so far! Bran is going to photocopy our 'proof of relationship' stuff tomorrow including our letters back and forth, our lease, bank statements, internet messages, adoption papers for our dog, etc. etc. Hopefully they will see that we are indeed a happily married couple who has been in a partner type relationship for over three years. Here is to hoping, eh?

Once more, sorry for the lack of pictures. The english muffins are basically gone, so no pictures of them :( i'm considering making more tomorrow though, they are so handy and Bran really likes them. I also may make some tortillas, mmm...tortilla, as I like to make wraps on them. Maybe pita bread instead, hmmm.

On a completely different note, I had an interesting feeling on the way home from the library. I was looking up at the mountains in the distance, and just had a powerful feeling of everything being right and wonderful. I had to stop, and gaze, and be thankful for that moment. To me, those are the moments when you know that God/dess/s are there, listening to you, trying to help or guide you. Those quiet moments where you know you are exactly where you are meant to be in the world. I've been working on stopping and sending out my thanks lately, I know I have such a blessed life. Not to say there aren't bumps, and that I don't throw a fit over those bumps :D but I truly am thankful to have the life and path that I do. And i'm greatly looking forward to what may come next on this path.

Now for bed, goodnight!

Stupid Mistakes

Ever notice that you've done something stupid? Like, really stupid, not forgot to put soap in the washer stupid. Well I just discovered today that the bridging visa i'm on allows for me to be on medicare. Medicare is the public health system in Australia, as opposed to medicare in America which is for low income families in need. After going through all that crap at the hospital, I was really wishing I was in the medicare system, but I thought I couldn't be until I had my proper visa. Thats what you get for not reading EVERYTHING.

For a while today, I was angry that no one had told me I could be on medicare. All the phone calls I made to immigration, the meetings i've had, everyone I talked to at the hospital...But then it occurred to me that it really was completely my fault. If I had paid just a bit more attention I would have known lat year :(.

Other than that I found out my residency visa could take another year to process as there is a back log. Ugh.

Well, thats been my day. I'm a bit grumpy if you can't tell. But hopefully tomorrow will bring some good news, eh?

Of visas and cleaning

Good morning non-existant readers!

So let me start off by saying that it has taken a ridiculously long time to gather everything I have needed to apply for my temporary residency visa. Like, ten months. And I still have however long the processing will take once I hand in everything :/ not to mention the interview I have to do (and Bran? i'm not sure if he is interviewed too but I think so). *sigh* But it's all good. Soon I can go to school and work and go see a doctor about my crazy knee! I feel a little bit like my life has been on hold for about a year, even though in that year I have gotten married, moved, changed my cleaning habits, and improved my homemaking skills exponentially.

Speaking of cleaning, i'll tell you about how I clean. I've been cleaning with vinegar and tea tree oil in a spray bottle for quite a while, around a year now. At least with the vinegar anyway. We just recently gave up all bleach products (we used them in the bathroom to make sure all the nasties were gone) in favor of a hydrogen peroxide solution. I know some people would say just use vinegar, as it is antiseptic, but I feel better knowing that the hydrogen peroxide will get rid of everything in say, the toilet. I'm not a crazy germ-a-phobe but I just feel safer. Plus the hydrogen peroxide is actually getting rid of the icky mould/grout stuff in the shower! Despite how much I tried the vinegar just wouldn't cut it :(. So just today I made a paste of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and a bit of water and scrubbed that in. I let it sit for...at least an hour, I wasn't really paying attention,  then scrubbed off and it looks sooooo much better. Not quite pristine white, but not like it looked like we hadn't cleaned the shower in years.

So here is a before and after shot. I'm not sure how well it will actually show.

Before

After

And this is my cleaning arsenal.

So thats that for today. Tomorrow I am off to the immigration department to hand in my papers and hopefully have my interview. I think I need Bran there for that though. Bye bye.