I'm progressing!!  Yip I really am and it feels good.

This morning it struck me that I have often said that I am taking things day by day, but I can now say that I'm taking things week by week.  This past week has been a great week - not totally without tears I'll admit, but a great week anyway.

That doesn't however mean that I don't still live one day at a time, because I do.  I was talking about this week with my sister in law and she mentioned about a card she received from someone saying that that's the way the Lord wants us to live.  God is a God of the present and we see that in His name 'I AM'.  God is not named 'I was' (past tense) nor is He named 'I will be' (future tense) - no He is named I AM - that's present tense, the here and now.  God wants us to live for today cause that's where He is.  Not worry about what has been cause we can't change that, nor should we worry about the future cause He has that in His hand.  What a comfort and what a joy to know that He is with us everyday.  Thank you Lord.

As I mentioned last week I had BIG plans for Monday and I got it done even after a sleep in.  The weather was wonderful so I decided to get stuck into the water blasting.  Firstly I had to de-spider my black gumboots which I probably haven't worn since the last time I did water blasting.  An old plastic bag sure comes in handy for that job because there was no way I was going to put my naked hand into those gumboots.  I'm really not a great fan of spiders.  Give me a mouse or even a weta any day.  My gummies were given the all clear so I donned them and my waterproof gear, fired up the water blaster and got to work.  At first the going was slow, but I soon got into the swing and all the water pre-soaked the paths and then it was a breeze.  The problem I find with water blasting is that it is very hard to stop.  After I'd done all the paths I was very, very tempted to do the concrete deck and the tiled patio as well but when I saw it was already 4pm I thought I'd better stop.  There is a saying that something is so clean you can eat off it, well that was definitely true for my paths.  They look fantastic you could eat off them ;0)  While the paths looked great I  however didn't look so fantastic as I ended up wearing a layer of grit and I was pretty wet too just proving that my wet weather gear was not so waterproof anymore.  Funnily I had a number of Rawleigh customers that day and I must have looked a fright but I just told them I was water blasting.

Here is a before and after photo - the concrete in the after is still a bit wet, but you can definitely see the difference.

While I was busy doing the water blasting a friend came and put up a trellis fence for me and Joel came and mowed the bank.  The new fence looks great and adds a rustic look.  It covers the horrible stuff that the neighbour has up on her side of the fence and will look even better once the passionfruit starts growing up it.  Here is another pic.

I expected to wake up feeling very stiff on Tuesday morning but I felt fine so hi ho, hi ho off to work I did go.  I love, love, love my wee job it is really awesome.  I applied for another part time job via the Work and Income Find a Job website and am still waiting to hear.  I haven't heard anything from the job I applied for last week.  I have also decided to pull out of my course.  I just feel I really wouldn't be able to do it justice what with my head still being so full already, I am enjoying the admin job and may look at doing some 'study' in that direction in the future.  Also the prospect of having to study over Christmas/New Year while everyone is holidaying is a bit of a depressing thought, so I wrote to them and the accepted my withdrawal.  The refund will come in handy too.

On Wednesday I still felt fine with not an achy muscle in sight or rather to be felt.  I spent a wonderful day looking after my very handsome wee grandson - I'm only a little bit biased of course.  On Thursday my sister in law came for a visit and we had an awesome time together, however as the day progressed I started to feel more and more achy esp in my left shoulder blade.  That night it was so bad I could hardly move my left arm because of the pain - boy what I wouldn't have given for a massage, but a wheatsack and panadol had to suffice.  It has taken a few days but now it is pretty much back to normal, although in certain positions the left shoulder blade still aches a bit, but it's more uncomfortable and painful.

This week I have also done a heap of sewing - I have a new product line that I plan to release this week on Moppie - great Christmas presents so do pop over to my Moppie page on Facebook later this week and take a look.

While in my sewing room on Sat I could hear children's voices that sounded very close by.  When I looked out the window I saw 4 young children running full speed down my driveway laughing.  Jack must of heard them too and started barking - I've never seen such little legs move so fast uphill.  It was very funny.  They live 2 doors up, but I'm pretty sure they won't be back in a hurry.

Well that was the week that was.  All in all a great week.  I am sitting here now watching the neighbour's fireworks.  Jack however isn't so impressed, he hates fireworks so it's going to be a rough few evenings for him I think.

Wishing you God's blessing for this week.

Much love
Jolanda

PS: Dad found this Far Side cartoon that I just had to share.  Enjoy :0)