Sunday

I had a varied and interesting week this week.  A few ups and downs.  The main event of course was my 3rd infusion.  It went well again, no reactions.  The Benadryl given intravenously really makes me tired so I was sleeping through the infusion again, when I was woken from my slumber by a few sneaky people who carted me off to one of the conference rooms for a surprise birthday party!  It was so lovely.  We had a beautiful chocolate ganache cake.  I got to wear the princess crown for the day! 

I had a skype call with my son Ben’s class at Opaki School.  All of the kids sang happy birthday to me.  What a great bunch of kids they are.  What a great school that is.  And thank you to Mr Pallister for allowing me to have a chat to you and the kids via skype, it’s a lot of fun.

For my birthday dinner the OZ and I went out for tea to a place called 101 Downtown.  We were the only ones in the whole restaurant!  I had Chilean Sea Bass on mango salsa.  It was gorgeous!  It was nice to note that they had NZ lamb rack on the menu.  I wanted to try something I had never had before so went for the bass.  They also had Bison burgers!  By the way the lamb rack was $26 for a whole rack, and $20 for a half.  Not sure how that compares with prices in NZ but would be interested to know.

More on the food bent…you have to be on your toes here when ordering food, an entrée in NZ is called an appetizer here, and an entrée here is the main meal.  Tricky!  And the Marmite you get here is NOT like the Marmite you get in NZ!

Jenna and I at my party. 

Jenna is a Physio Therapist at Shands Hospital. 

You may notice that i'm still "mid-infusion"!

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Critter of the week…

Love bugs!  I’m going to have to consult with Wikipedia about these since I have never seen them before and I don’t know anything about them.  But they are all over the place at the moment and just something a little different for someone from NZ.

The lovebug, Plecia nearctica, is a member of the family of march flies. It is also known as the honeymoon fly, kissingbug or double-headedbug. The adult is a small, flying insect common to parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast.  During and after mating, adult pairs remain coupled, even in flight, for up to several days.

This species' reputation as a public nuisance is due not to any bite or sting (it is incapable of either), but to its slightly acidic body chemistry. Because airborne Lovebugs can exist in enormous numbers near highways, they die en masse on automobile windshields, hoods, and radiator grills when the vehicles travel at high speeds. If left for more than an hour or two, the remains become dried and extremely difficult to remove. Their body chemistry has a nearly neutral 6.5 pH but may become acidic at 4.25 pH if left on the car for a day.  In the past, the acidity of the dead adult body, especially the female's egg masses, often resulted in pits and etches in automotive paint and chrome if not quickly removed.  However, advances in automotive paints and protective coatings have reduced this threat significantly. Now the greatest concern is excessive clogging of vehicle radiator air passages with the bodies of the adults, with the reduction of the cooling effect on engines, and the obstruction of windshields when the remains of the adults and egg masses are smeared on the glass.

Well there you go, all you ever wanted to know and more about Lovebugs! 

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Also this week, Mike, whom I mentioned in last weeks blog, has finally gone back to his home state of New Jersey to continue his rehabilitation before going home to his house.  Hopefully he will be HOME in a few weeks time.  How awesome!  He did travel in style back to New Jersey, he took a Lear jet!  Good luck Mike, we will be seeing you soon.

Mike went home all decked out with his Gators stuff!  I hope he didn't forget his "murse" LOL.

Another one leaving, although only for a couple of weeks, was Brad the OZ.  We managed to ditch him at Orlando airport on Wednesday.  He’s left me with the car…I haven’t shifted it out of the car park yet, I’m not sure if I want to either!  Katie, who is one of the beautiful people at the University of Florida, was taking Brad to Orlando so I caught a ride to take in the sights.  I saw where Mickey Mouse lives over yonder.  We went and had a browse around a mall, WOW it was gorgeous.  There were fountains and beautiful things everywhere.  Since we were there so late in the day for the airport, Katie and I had dinner there at an authentic Italian restaurant, and were served by a Spanish guy LOL.  Ah well, the service was great and the food was delicious.

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When Katie and I were driving to the mall after going to the airport, she pointed out this sign. 

Who knew there was a religious theme park!?  Not sure what rides they have, maybe donkey rides?  Anyway, I looked it up online and if you are keen to see what it is all about, here is the web address;

http://www.holylandexperience.com/

Katie says she goes to the Mall at Millenia for her Holy Land Experience!  I have to agree, it was Heaven!

We’ve had a couple of good storms this week.  They all seem to have a name now.  Years ago you just used to have a storm, just a plain old storm.  Now they’re all named after someone.  This reminds me…when I first came here there was Hurricane Irene.  This caused huge laughter among the family back home.  Not because they thought it was funny there was a hurricane coming, but because my mother in law's name was Irene.  And she really did not like me!  So they joked that even though I had come all the way to America, she was still following me around!  Scary for me!

When I was in the supermarket earlier today on Road Runner, an elderly lady in a motorised shopping trolley chased me down in an aisle and asked me all about my scooter.  She thought it was great and wanted to know where she might get one, and what make and model it was etc.  So I wrote it all down for her.  I hope she gets one soon as she seemed very excited about the thought of having one.  I also nearly flattened some poor guy as he walked out of the pet shop this morning while I was whistling past.  In my defense he was walking quite quickly...!  MEEP MEEP!

Thank you to everyone back home, those whom I know, and those I don't know personally, for your continued support and for making this time in our lives so much easier to get through.  I truly feel thankful each day for everything you have all done for us.  Much love to you all.  I dont know how I can ever pay you back, but I can and will pay it forward.

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