A Pain In The Side

Three and a half years ago I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in my right hip. It basically shattered my world. But I was glad I finally had answers and could start treatment. I was sick of living in constant unbearable pain.

One of the first drugs that actually worked just so happened to be a steroid based drug. So while I was living pain free I was bloody miserable and gaining weight like crazy! I hated it but I wanted to be pain free. Over the years I've been on and off the steroids a few times and my weight has been up and down like crazy.  

 For the past 5 months life has been good for me. I have found an amazing Physio in town, I've been able to stop taking the steroid medication, I've been exercising and walking and losing all the horrible steroid weight.  

Health wise life has been bliss! 

Friday I woke up to my alarm beeping and rolled over to grumpily get out of bed. Nothing different there. 

But as soon as I put weight on my feet to stand up a horribly familiar pain shot through my hip. The stupid painful arthritis had reared its ugly head again. 

8am Friday I was on the phone begging to see the physio. Earliest appointment is 2.5 weeks away :-( 

Now it's Wednesday and the pain is worse. I'm not sleeping and walking is painful. Carrying Isla around makes it all worse too. 

To say I'm upset is an understatement. I was doing so well this time. It's the longest I've gone without pain. It's the most I've been able to be active for the last 3 years. I've enjoyed so much being able to run around with my kids and play tennis with them. Go for morning walks with Isla in the pram. I've been doing all my stretches and exercises from the physio everyday. I've been working so hard to stay healthy and pain free.

The weight I gained from the steroids made me horribly depressed and self conscious and now that most of that weight is gone I've been feeling amazing. I feel like I'm getting my body back. 

And now to wake up one day and be in this much pain again is devastating. 

Yes I know there are worse things in life than arthritis. I know I should be thankful and grateful that although I'm in pain I'm otherwise healthy. 

But for today, right now, I'm upset and feeling so down and I'm scared. 

Scared of having to take steroids again, scared of upsetting the kids because I can't run around with them like I have been, scared of putting more pressure on my husband because some of the housework is near impossible to do while I'm in this much pain. 

But most of all I'm just pissed off. 

Why me? 

The Cost Of Growing Up

Kaitlyn my oldest is 6 years old, nearly 7. She's a petite little thing although judging by the long legs she's the only one in my family with any hope of being 'tall.'

2 weeks ago we went to our nearest shopping centre 3.5 hours down a gravel track. We stocked up on clothes for the kids and I grabbed a couple things in the next size up.

2 weeks later and Kaitlyn has had a growth spurt! Something not very common in this house! In fact it's so uncommon that my kids have been known to fit the same clothes over a year later.

And of course now we are back in town with no plans to go near a shop again!

This growth spurt seems to be a bit of a milestone one though. Kaitlyn is in size 7 clothes now! And for those with kids you will know that clothing in separated into 3 size categories. Newborn-0, 1-6 and 7-14. My big girl is officially in 'big girl' clothes!
She can shop in the 'pre-teen' section now. I can see my struggle of dressing her as a child is slowly fading. The 1-6 section is all fairies and butterflies and cute kittens on clothes. The 7-14 section is all midriff baring clothes with attitude.
The other big thing I notice is the price!!! Wow!!! I used to be able to find shorts for her for around $5-$8 now it's more in the $15-$25 range. Tops and dresses were $10-$20 now it's more $20-$35.
I hardly spent that kind of money on clothes for myself!!
Kids are expensive. I'm glad Bradley and Isla are so tiny, they've both still got absolutely YEARS until they reach the 7-14 clothing section.

I'm not ready for this stage of life :-( why do kids have to grow up so fast. I swear Kaitlyn was only a baby yesterday!!

Interior Decorator? Or Scrooge With Money?

I'm not the kind of person that goes out and spends a fortune on fancy furniture or homewares.
I AM the kind of person that loves looking through pictures in magazines of beautifully decorated homes.

Since I moved out of home 7 years ago we haven't added much to our collection of furniture. And by that I mean we haven't bought more than a couple of things brand new.

We have added a dining room set (free), new bed frame (free) single beds for the older kids (free) chest of drawers (second hand) tv unit (second hand from Good Sammy's) coffee table (free) second washing machine for work clothes (second hand) computer desk (free) toy storage unit (second hand) computer chair (free) bookcase (second hand) chest of drawers (second hand and repainted) even the cot all three kids have shared was second hand (been through 4 kids before us) and we stripped it back and restained it.

There is very little that we buy brand new. Our lounge suite and white goods are the exception-that was all brand new (well sort of, the freezers came from Rick Hart Seconds).

And that suits us fine.

But every now and then I get the urge to splash out a little and set up our house. Sometimes I wish everything matched perfectly or was in perfect condition.
Most of the time that feeling passes and I am content with what I have.

Sometimes there is a need for something new. When Kaitlyn's chest of drawers fell apart and she needed new ones, but we found some on a local buy and sell page and repainted them ourselves.

Living where we do now in the Pilbara we don't want to be buying lots of brand new things. It's so dusty up here we would prefer to wait.

Today I've started my spring cleaning and along with the spring cleaning came the realisation that the tv unit we have was one we picked up from the Good Sammy's way too long ago. Our old one broke and we needed something to keep us going for a little while until we decided on a 'proper' one for our house. 6 months tops we would keep it. 5 years later I've given up and thrown it out today. In those 5 years we had broken 3 out of 4 glass panes and the leg on one side was broken but we kept it patched up and it suited us fine.
This morning I saw a new tv unit for sale on a local buy and sell page and decided it was time to chuck out the old one. So in came my new (second hand) $50 tv unit.

And then just because hubby has been asking for so long I bit the bullet, jumped on Ikea's website and looked up some better toy storage systems. I'm waiting to hear back on a shipping quote for a new bookcase and storage unit. Wow! 3 'new' things in one day?! Unheard of!!

After this big splurge I would say it will be awhile until we spend any more money on household goods but I will admit I'm quite excited to have something brand new that will 'match' some of our other furniture.

While in Karratha (our closest city) last week it was also time to buy new sheet sets, the kids old ones had no elastic left and were looking worse for wear. So I ducked into kmart and grabbed a couple more cheap sheet sets and even upgraded our tired old quilt cover $70 total for 4 sheets sets, quilt cover and a new sheet set for our bed too.  New sheets, quilt cover and a few new furniture pieces. Wow! It has been a big week!!


What about you guys? Are you buddy interior decorators or Scrooge's with your money? Do you spend up big on fancy household furniture? Decorate your house with fancy homewares and change your decorative pieces with each season?
Or are you more like me? Grab as much as you can second hand, keep it until it's too far gone to save anymore and then upgrade to a new second hand piece?