Well, I'm back on deck albeit somewhat tired and still coughing. I'm taking Italybound & Acc_Chef's suggestions and have made an appointment with a TCM practitioner. Hopefully that will help.

Now, the wonderful visitor that we have is my grandfather. He went on his first plane flight in 30 years to come across to Perth and he seems to be having a great time. He went on a replica tram tour yesterday and last night could barely keep his eyes open. The tour took him through Perth, then he boarded a boat to go to Fremantle and got to go through the Maritime museum. We'd booked him in for lunch at a hotel and luckily some of the other people on the tour invited him to sit with them. He apparently had a smorgasboard lunch and quite They went for a tour around Freo ports etc before coming back for an afternoon cruise to Perth. He was so excited last night. On Monday he took himself for a roughly 5km walk all by himself in completely unfamiliar area. I freaked when I heard at first, but now I'm thankful that he stayed safe and managed to find his way home.

It is fantastic having him over here. I've really missed my grandparents and have been worried that they weren't getting out as much. Pa's taken us moving quite hard, so he's enjoyed just spending time over here. He's looking forward to going on a few more tours while we're at work and we're scheduling in rest days where he stays home and plays with our boys (or "his dogs" as he refers to Omen & Anoki). My grandmother stayed at their place in Queensland but their neighbours have been fantastic checking on her and we call twice a day to check that she's doing ok.

Other than that, not too much is happening in our neck of the woods. My garden is looking a bit neglected so this weekend we'll spend a bit of time out there and replant a couple of beds that are finished. We're hoping to take Pa to Rottnest on the weekend if the weather's ok otherwise it could be a trip to New Norcia.

Have fun!

Well, the first change is that I've had some sleep - we resorted to really strong cough syrup (ick) and I just feel toxic. It's been good to get to sleep of a night and not have the out of control coughing fits, but the side effects haven't been fantastic. I'm on about 1/5th of the adult dose because it really affected me. My grandmother is also encouraging me to remind people that I was fully immunized as a baby. It would be nice if I'd actually held immunity to something. My white cells haven't really tried to fight this infection, but my inflammation reading is quite high.

The next change is that I got my blood information wrong. I thought that I was O positive, I'm actually O negative. I'm not sure how I stuffed that one up, but the grand change is that it means I'm an Explorer, not a Gatherer. My husband says it fits my personality better (I have no concept of Left or right, am slightly out there and am really accident prone) and it feels more like me. I think I even said to the Singapore Girls that I felt like an Explorer when I initially did it, but then came out a gatherer. Thus, I'm thinking that once I'm over this illness, I'll give the Explorer lifestyle a go. The Gatherer diet never really appealed to me, but the Explorer seems more do-able and I need the liver detox at the moment.

In other news, I visited the next new doctor. This one seems nice enough, but very officious and doesn't seem to take the time that my old doctor did. It's funny, but I really trusted Dr B and worked well with him, the new one doesn't inspire the same degree of trust. Still, I'm having a heap of tests done and we'll at least establish where the baseline is.

Well, I'm still infected with the dreaded lurgy - I've ordered some proberry, more Polyflora O, more ARA Plus and am taking astragalus. Unfortunately, we've had to resort to antibiotics and steroid puffers as apparently I've gotten some bacteria in my lungs. To complicate it, I picked up whooping cough again. Thus, I need to get better by tomorrow otherwise the doctor is resorting to some extreme cough syrup that will knock me out. Whilst it would be nice to get some sleep, I'm really not happy about having to put my body through more. Somehow I think that going to work throughout the course of this hasn't been the best idea.

In good news, my grandfather is coming for a visit and he's extremely excited. We've booked his tickets for him and I think that he's going to have a ball. He loves our boys and can't wait to see them again - I think he'll be looking forward to seeing us as well! The only bad part about it is that my grandmother isn't able to come. She was diagnosed with a heart problem just before we left and unfortunately she can't fly at the moment. We've organised meals etc for her whilst he's away and a nurse is going to check on her everyday. With any luck she'll be well enough to travel at Christmas time as neither of them have ever been to Perth before. Pa's going on a couple of tours during the day while we're at work and he's apparently bringing across a pattern for a cart that he wants Mick to make for the boys.

Cooking-wise, I made Ribbit's Quinoa muffins on the weekend (with blueberries and pepitas). They're fantastic in mini size and I've frozen some of them as well. Mick got quiches for lunches and the puppies now have more home-made pet treats. They loved the amaranth parmesan twists, even though I didn't twist them and they're pretty much amaranth squares. Still, it's healthier than conventional pet food.

It's over!!!!! I sat my exam this afternoon and it feels so good to have it behind me. Next semester I'm aiming to devote more time every week and hopefully it won't be as full-on as this one was. I'm thinking that only doing one subject could help as well.

You'd think that right now I'd be relaxing with a good book on the couch, but no, instead I'm trying to work out how we could precisely afford a dream. The dream being a 500 hectare farm in the middle of nowhere near where we honeymooned. (Before anyone starts thinking that we're ultra-wealthy, let me stop that thought right there. We're ok, but not exactly rolling in it.)

So, my "break" is now consisting of doing some financial modeling to ascertain what this purchase would do to our lifestyle. Thus far it's looking like Mick's taste for gourmet cheese could be somewhat curbed and we're going to invest in a freezer to buy bulk meat. I also somehow think that any thought of an overseas holiday to visit friends is being put on the backburner.

So, why would we do it? Seriously, it's about preserving farming in Australia. Apparently the other people interested want to turn the farm into a motocross track. I'm not against motocross, but realistically feeding people should take precedence over people polluting the land even more. I grew up on farms and have a strong belief that a country needs to be, first and foremost, able to feed itself.

All over Australia areas that were once productive strawberry farms or pastoral areas are being abandoned by the farmers and turned into housing estates. Part of it is the drought, but part of it is also developers who just see land as something to be exploited. I know it seems odd for a 20-something to be really passionate about this, but I strongly believe that we need to support our farmers. Even if things are tough in the city, it's bound to be tougher for the farmers. That's why we can't afford to just keep on distancing ourselves from the producers. The big two supermarkets over here are systematically reducing the variety of produce and meat that we have available. They have driven down the price of meat for producers (you can buy producing cows and calves for $300, however due to the fact that they weren't able to get that price, over 500 animals were shot at saleyards to put them out of their misery). It seriously beggars belief that this has happened in a country once well known for primary production.

On the boards, Brigid was talking about her CSA boxes - in Brisbane we had a similar thing where farmers in the Lockyer Valley would get together and provide boxes to people. You could pick them up from key places around the city and were invited to go and see the farmer and, importantly, the farm. In Perth, I haven't found anything that matches that so, I'm supporting them the other way I know - grow my own and buy local and in-season. Hence, I've gotten to know my local greengrocer really well and quiz where things come from. I think they're slightly over my questioning the origin of things, so now they have it clearly displayed as to whether something is WA grown or not.

The meat side is where I really make sure I avoid the supermarket. I have issues with the fact that they charge so much more than they pay the producers. I've found some local farmers that will sell lamb and beef directly to the public, so we're getting a chest freezer and a quarter of a cow. As a bonus, our puppies will have all of the lamb and beef bones. A whole lamb is coming as well which will be nice. Somehow I think stews will be featuring on our meal plan a little more.

Sorry for the long post, I think I'm trying to justify how we'll afford it and why we're doing it to myself as much as anything. I'm taking some rhodiola to counter the stressiness surrounding me at the moment as well as ARA plus and Intrinsia. I'm going to order some proberry this weekend as I really need to knock this chest infection on the head.

You know how you sometimes have those weeks that you just wish you could skip over in life. This week was one of them.

It started off really well, I got the results back from the IgG testing and now understand that I have reactions to onions (sob), figs, macadamias, linseeds and about 30 other items. Thus, I was planning to feel heaps better due to eliminating those foods and seeing if that gave my stomache a chance to heal some more.

Then I got hit with a virus that took not only my voice but also my energy and pretty much laid me out for most of the week. I'm back at work, even though I'm still feeling dreadful, simply because I'm now just feeling behind everywhere. Hubby has been great though with plenty of offers of food (which I haven't felt like eating) and back rubs to try and release the tight muscles.

So, next week will be better. I have my exam on Wednesday and then go to a different "new doctor" on Friday. This time I got my old doctor to check him out before I made an appointment, so hopefully he'll be great and able to find out what's going on!

Hope that you all have a great weekend. I'm off to make another cup of Dandelion Tea and inhale the steam!