Bad taste maybe but a common theme this week …..

All the news here is about the swine flu – which so far we have managed to avoid – I am scrubbing Ash’s hands constantly – poor angel. We managed to be late on Saturday night and we missed the baseball game we were trying to get to but in hindsight maybe a good thing as they are saying to avoid crowds. That said, I hope I am not speaking too soon. Mike has had another bad night and is very achey and painy – we will keep an eye on it but we will need to cancel todays Proj Walk session – they don’t seem to be too busy at the moment so hopefully we can get him there tomorrow for a make-up session instead. I am hoping he is just tired and has just a minor infection of some sort that we can fight off. Will keep you posted if anything changes.

Also on the pig front, Ash’s new favourite thing seems to be pigs – despite the train noise we are liking Oceanside a lot and Ash has found a little balloon man who is happy to make her pigs – which she insists on calling oinky and taking to bed — I am just waiting for the boom in the middle of the night. She is also in love with the pigs at one of the shows at SeaWorld (that she dragged us to again on Saturday). She even made a pig candle the other day — very strange, hopefully she is getting in good with the pig gods so that we can escape the ‘epidemic’ as they are labelling it over here.

And on to other things pig – I realised how remiss I had been to not include the latest update in “Mon’s Exercise Regime” – a part of the posts I am sure you are all desperate for! Well since I last included an update i had decided that I must have some kind of disease that causes weight gain ….. you know the ones that include in the symptoms ‘unexpected weight gain’ and then I thought that your average GP would not necessarily agree that 9 months of at best 1 hours exercise a week followed by 6 weeks of zero exercise, lots of peanut butter m&m’s, Easter and plenty of ‘supersize soda’s’ would consistitute ‘unexpected’! I decided to turn over a new leaf and we organised for Mike’s carer to come in 30 mins early 3 nights a week and help Mike out with Ash so that I could go for a walk – very nice to have some time by myself if nothing else! I did that 3 nights in the week 2 weeks ago and felt so great for the fresh air that I decided that if Ash wasn’t up when the morning carer arrived that I would go for a jog along the foreshore. Please note (important disclaimer): I use the word ‘jog’ very loosely! I managed that a couple of mornings in a row last week but thankfully I then hurt my knee carrying the groceries up the stairs so that has put an end to that stupid caper and let’s face it – who can get organised to go for a walk at 6:30 at night! That said, I do wish I had my bike over here …. for a number of reasons. Firstly, it seems very safe – every major and semi-major road has a big, wide bike lane and they are all no-parking (for the bike lane). It is brilliant. Secondly, there is some pretty scenery and some nice rolling hills that would possibly be fun to climb. Third, if I some exercise I would happily enjoy sampling a bit more of the food over here – actually, it has a very mexican influence and is mostly pretty good. Finally, they ride SO slowly over here for the most part that I might even look good! Mind you, we are not exactly out and about watching the packs at 6am so maybe the folks that head out later are just a bit more relaxed! Although, there is one disturbing thing about riding here – helmets are not compulsory – it is mind-boggling to see people riding along a road with a 55mph speed limit without a helmet – can’t even imagine it. Most of the more serious riders do seem to wear them and the 2 kids that we have seen out doing some exercise (ouch, that was nasty) have both had helmets on too so maybe that will change.

Anyway, best get back to the 10 flavours of ice-cream with whatever toppings you like – will keep you posted on Mike’s progress, particularly if he turns out to be really unwell. Keep safe.