What can I say? I have been busy and I have also been slack but it is without a doubt that my intention was to write a new blog entry every day! You are probably thinking, this woman is completely ridiculous however, I plead your forgiveness that I haven't been diligent enough to write something interesting or in this case anything at all!
So, let me update my situation. I have completed my Bachelor of Arts/Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at the University of Ballarat and I am waiting on my results. Three and a half years and I will shortly have my degree. I also run a book club and I write book reviews for
The Courier newspaper here in Ballarat. My biggest achievement this year was to start my novel. I am about eight chapters into my first draft and I am very excited about the characters, the setting, the plot and of course the writing process.
Now that you are aware of my current situation, let's chat about what has prevented me from writing my blog. Well let's see! First I would like to say that no one is to blame except myself as I have been completely overwhelmed with health issues as well as trying to navigate my final year at Uni. One of the most horrible things to have happened to my family this year would have to be contracting Salmonella poisoning! Yes, the dreaded bug entered our intestines and for a whole 2 weeks decided it wanted to inflict the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced; not to mention the vomiting, fever and the fainting! First let me say that I have given birth twice in my short life and I would have to say the pain of birthing is mild compared to this. I was positive in my delirium that someone had broken into my house and hit me in the stomach with a piece of 4 by 2 wood and then proceeded to stab me continuously with a sharp knife in the back.
What was unlucky for us is that we all were going through this terrifying ordeal together; not one of us could help each other out and with that in mind I would like to tell you that whilst the toilet became our saviour, it also became dangerous. Upon my fourth visit to the loo for the night, I suddenly woke to find myself covered in blood and a pool of the red lava surrounding me. I was numb and blinded by the red glow yet as I placed my hand on my injury, I was somewhat surprised to find that I couldn't see properly and that I was even on the floor of my bathroom. Delirious! Once I had gathered my thoughts, I screamed out for help and with that came my drawn and fellow pain sufferer, my dear husband from the second toilet in our house, to find his wife covered in blood. From the one eye I could see out of, was a facial expression like no other. he was distraught at seeing the amount of damage I had done. With that we set about cleaning up the bloody mess and we found that the cut was only about 3 centimetres long just above my eyebrow. Finally I was bandaged up and placed back into bed. Hubby decided it was best to come back to our bed instead of his absent son's (that's another story), just in case there was a repeat of the fainting spell. The next day I was sporting a very large black eye!
So the moral of this tale is that when suffering from a serious case of Salmonella, you should call an ambulance if for some reason you cannot think clearly, are suffering from a severe fever or you bash your head on a tile floor and wake up covered in blood!
You are probably wondering why I am joking about this now. Well, I must say if I don't joke about it I would absolutely cry. I am still recovering from the effects of the poisoning and with that I would like to warn everyone of the possible devastation of eating raw eggs! Now, let me say that we as a family don't just go out and eat raw eggs all the time, what we did was eat them in a wonderfully chocolate batch of dessert mousse. I must say that home-made mousse is always nice but this time round it could have been fatal.
So, I suggest that you do not make home-made mousse any time soon. If you do, you could be taking your life into your own hands because there is no way to detect that the eggs have been contaminated with Salmonella; they do not smell or even look different.
The first thing we thought when the health department rang us was that we had just survived a repeat of the Monty Python skit - The Salmon Mousse! It definitely felt like Death was close by!
My advice is to continue to enjoy the foods you love but be aware of the dangers of raw animal products!
Now that I am back, you will probably hear from me once a week or maybe even twice until I regain my energy!
So until the next time, happy eating, happy reading and happy writing!
