Amazing Substance

I have always known that Apple Cider Vinegar is good for you.  Splash it on your face for acne, rub it on a sore joint for relief, drink it for anti-oxidant properties.  But I came across this article today which suggests drinking an Apple Cider Vinegar beverage will assist you to loose weight!

I don't know how accurate the science is, but hey, a bottle of vinegar is on a couple of dollars, why not give it a try!  Not much to loose there - except possibly some fat related weight!

Anyway, my eldest is singing in church tonight (assuming he doesn't get stage fright!), so a very exciting milestone for us.  I can't believe he has grown up so fast- it seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital.  How time flies.  I remember older people would always say that time seemed to be going faster and faster, but could never really understand how that could be.  I get it now, that is for sure!

As a duty of care to the author of that article, here is the url again: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/vinegar-clinically-proven-to-destroy-fat/.

Ciao,

Jim

Ice Cream Disaster

In the eyes of children, a disaster can take on many different forms.  The most horrible of which would have to be licking your ice cream, then going to lick it again, only to find the ice cream part is now on the floor!  What a catastrophe.

This very agony unfolded before my very eyes this afternoon when an unsuspecting daddy took his little girl for an ice cream at Wendy's.  They were walking back past my Solahart display in the Gladstone shopping centre, when he stopped to look at something.  When he turned back to his daughter, her ice cream cone was empty and the ice cream sitting pretty in a pile on the floor!

Being the conscientious father, he would not allow aforementioned little girl to pick up and continue eating the offending rainbow.  Now, many children would become hysterical at seeing their precious treat being dumped in the rubbish.  Not so this one.  Her melt-down was the almost silent kind- not a tantrum, more of a cry of anguish.  It was enough to melt even the most rigid heart of stone, therefore daddy dutifully went off to purchase a replacement scoop to go atop the now naked cone. 

I couldn't help but notice, as they once again strolled past, that the little girl had her fingers firmly planted right into the ice cream!  No more accidents like that one, I dare say.

After watching this little drama, I couldn't help but observe closely the spot on which the previous ice cream scoop had landed, expecting someone to go head over heels on the slippery mess that was more like rainbow coloured milk by this time.  The center cleaners took their sweet time in arriving to mop it up, but alas! no one required the assistance of a concerned shop keeper.

Rain Time Driver

Having lived in New Zealand for so many years, I have grown accustomed to rainy day driving.  It rains most every other day over there, so if you can't drive in the rain, you just can't drive.  Rockhampton is not so!

I am not certain that any inhabitant of Rockhampton (especially if they have been here for more than ten years), has ever really contemplated the difference in vehicle handling that becomes apparent when the roads have slicked up!  Really- I have almost decided to start a company- L2DITR2D (Learn 2 Drive In The Rain 2day).  i think I could make a killer profit- except that Rockhamptonians are under the impression that they are fantastic drivers, which they would be, IF THEY WERE DRIVING ON THE ROAD COMPLEELY BY THEMSELVES!!!!

Anyway, now that I have ranted about terrible drivers, I will share some more spectacular news.  The family of six in which I now reside, will immenently become a family of seven.  Without a doubt, this is a wonderful thing, and I am very excited about having a new life within my clan!

As I write this, an electrical storm is blowing in.  Thankfully I have a mostly indoor job these days, and the rain does not affect my ability to work.  However, rainy weather does seem to cause people to think less about buying solar products- roll on the sunshine!!

Jim

Has God Forsaken Our Land?

And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.

 Ezekiel 9:8-9 

It seems to me that every day there is more news about a natural disaster of some description.  Christchurch- a massive earthquake, the same size as the one that struck Haiti, destroys half the city.  Victoria- flooding has placed many houses under water.  Hurricane Igor, and Hurricane Karl, fires, flooding, earthquakes- it seems like a world under attack!  But it's not.  More likely it's a world under judgment.

We are seeing the same attitude in people today that Ezekiel saw all those thousands of years ago in the people of Israel and Judah!  A feeling that God has left the Earth, forsaken it, and does not see or care what it going on.  An attitude that says, "we can do what we like, because God will not see it anyway."

Let me remind you of a passage of Scripture that will show you that no matter what we do, God will see, and he will not be turning a blind eye:

Psalms 139:1-24
1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13  For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19  Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20  For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

God is everywhere, and the time of his coming must be soon.

Jim

Gashed Up- The Final Chapter

I have promised to end this saga soon, and this is it.  The final post has now arrived, so all you dotting grandparents of Christian may finally rest easy.  So, to pick up where I left off...

You should realize, that when I say, "I leaped out of bed" I am talking about a not very comfortable, little green arm chair thingy, that fold out to a stretcher bed about one and a half feet wide.  I tell you, if you think Christian was the one suffering, you have another thought coming- he was being waited on hand and  foot!

Charli arrived right after breakfast (not that we got breakfast, what with the pending operation, and all) with all the siblings to say "hi" to Christian, and pandemonium broke out in the room.  Thankfully we were still the sole occupants.  Just before the bedlam arrived, the surgical doctors all traipsed through to look at and oooh, and aaah, and poke a little at Christians nose.  We were told that a surgery time was not yet known, but, "we will get back to you."

The Nurse came in and gave me a hospital gown- you know, those things that don't close up at the back!  Poor 'ole Christain.  Right after bath time we learned that 10:00 was the most important time of that day.  Charli left the kiddies with Tracy (Perkins), and we sat and waited.  I had to step out briefly, and missed the procession down to the operating theater, but soon found Charl's waiting there.

Two hours.  He was gone two whole hours before we heard the screaming from down the hall, through the "swipe card access" doors.  It didn't take long for the nurse to come and get me to pick him up.  He was screaming "Muuummmama, Muuummmama" but it appears that Daddy would do.

Within an hour of coming out of Recovery, our little bruiser was playing football in the ward, acting like nothing was wrong.  He did finally get to eat though!  Yay!  Everything was great, we were just waiting for the release, then we were going home.

Surprise!  "Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, we think it is best if Christian spends another night here so we can have him under observation."  I guess that a two year old having his first General anesthetic is not exactly a 'do it and get out' sort of job.  But life goes on.

I tried to convince Charls that I would stay the second night, but she wouldn't hear of it.  No way.  So I vacated the little half bed, and went home for a sleep on our nice big bed (with no nurses waking me up constantly), and left Charli to the pleasure of a 'great nights sleep,'

Well, the story pretty much is finished.  His recovery has been great, if it weren't for the be red line down one side of his nose, you would never know that anything had happened to him.  Our Christian is a great little trooper!

Thanks for stopping by, I trust you were enlightened about little Christian and his nose duel.  Feel free to stop by now and then,  you don't have to not come just because Christian is now on the mend.

Jim

Gashed Up- The Saga Continued

At the end of my last post, I promised that I would share the remainder of the story of my son's fight with a concrete path.  So, read on, and you will find the story- as remembered by me, of course!


As soon as the paramedics arrived and looked at him, they said, "this will be a trip to the hospital!"  Now, this is exactly what I was expecting, however, with three other children, the logistics were a little stretched.  Thankfully, we were amongst a group of people who were fast becoming good friends.  My wife and I decided that I should go with him in the Ambulance, as she would be more able to calm the others, so off we went- the first of my children to take a ride in an ambulance!

As we departed the scene, Christian set up a howling that could wake the dead.  Then, after calming down, we pulled up at traffic lights alongside a silver car that looked just like ours.  Well, the little man was convinced that this particular car was housing him mummy, and would not lie still and quiet for some time.  The trip to hospital took maybe around 10 minutes.  During this time, Christian successfully screamed, slept, lay awake, screamed again, and slept again!  All in a day's work.

Once we reached the hospital, the blood was still flowing.  You know head wounds- even the tiniest cut will bleed, and bleed, and bleed!  So here we are, fresh from a Bar-b-Que at which we hadn't had a chance to eat, probably that was a good thing though, and we got to sit in the Emergency Department for a good long time.

We were not given a bed in Emergency- they were kept for the more serious cases- like drug withdrawal sufferers, and people with seriously screwed up broken stuff- we got to sit in the middle of the corridor where everyone could stop and stare at my little child.  I am almost certain that I could see their mind thinking, "how could you let that happen to your child? you terrible parent!"

The poor little guy hadn't eaten since breakfast, now he was basically fasting.  They wouldn't give him anything to eat right away, in case he needed surgery.  So, we waited, and waited, and waited- you know how emergency departments can be, until finally, a doctor came to see us!  Now, the Doctor was a nice enough guy, but he was not content to just look at the wound, no, he had to poke it, and prod it, and pull apart the two halves of it to look right down inside- not easy to watch. Especially when it's your own child!

Anyway, this concludes part 2 of the continuing saga of my son's accident.  Come back later for what should be one or maybe two final installments.  Thanks for coming by.

Jim

Gashed Up

As a parent of four pre-school children, a child crying is a very common noise to me.  When one of my children starts to cry, I do not automatically drop everything and run to their side.  If the child starts out with a horrific, terrified, type of screaming, then yes, I will immediately make a beeline for wherever they are.  But if the crying is that of one who has had a toy forcibly removed from their possession, I am less likely to raise the alert level to above a mild yellow.

Prepping for surgery

It was the second type of crying that greeted my ears this past Sunday.  A crying that did nothing to alert me that something drastic had happened, I nearly didn't respond at all, except we were at a lunch gathering with a whole bunch of people, and I didn't want a major disturbance.  I am afraid that I still had that major disturbance. 

Little Kiddie number Three in Mummy's arms, waiting to see the doctor

The scene that greeted my eyes as I rounded the corner of the house, was that of my little boy with blood streaming down him face.  Now, if it had been coming from a blood nose (actually exiting the nostril,) then I would hardly have been perturbed.  It may have been just a little squabble between a couple of the kiddies, but no.  There was blood exiting from a nostril, but it was the blood gushing from a slash across the nose that stopped me in my tracks!

While a volunteer in the New Zealand Fire Brigade, I underwent intensive emergency response first aid and primary care training, but do you think I could recall what I had been taught- with my own child standing there, screaming, with blood literally all over him?  We did what we could while waiting for the Ambulance's arrival.  Praise God, they were very fast!

To  find out more about what happened, check back here soon for the remainder of the story.

Jim

Continually Dreaming

As a child grows up, they are going to have so many different dreams of what they are 'going to be' when they grow up.  Fireman, policeman, nurse, pilot, astronaut, and the list goes on and on.  How many times has one of your children told you a different profession three or four times in a week?

No different from any other child, I have had my fair number of dreams.  Only, for me, they haven't stopped evolving.  I'm not sure that a week goes by without me telling my wife some new idea, or a new job possibility that comes to mind.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you are my wife), the vast majority of these dream never amount to reality.  So many things that I am certain I could be good at, convinced that I would 'make it' doing, have gone by the junk pile.

I mentioned that I would love to run for Mayor.  I have said this before, with a very luke warm response.  This time, however, she said, "Go for it!"  Wow.  I never thought I would hear that from her.  I guess she has resigned herself to my wandering ambitions.  For real, though, I am seriously considering the jump into politics for the future.  Maybe when I am ready for a job change.