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Michelle was up early this morning because she needed to pick up the kids. I went out shopping with Michelle and Meihana to New World down in Brookfield. I missed our little shopping trips!

After some lunch at home I went for a long walk down to the Nourished Eatery for a vegan mint slice cookie and a bounty hot chocolate! I like all the good stuff! Whilst I was walking back up the big hill Robin from work pulled over and asked me if I wanted a lift. I was planning on doing a long walk today but I also didn't want to turn down a ride so I asked her to drop me off at the top of the hill. Plus she wouldn't be going out of her way to take me anywhere. Shes such a sweet person.

I walked from the top of Sterling Gate Drive all the way to Bethlehem so I could grab a few things from Kmart. Nick needed new underwear because his boxers were thread bare! We also needed some big noodle bowls because I like my big bowls of noodle soup now we've been to Vietnam and experienced big deep ceramic bowls full of hot broth and noodles. I managed to get two bowls for $2 each, bargain! I arranged with Nick to pick me up from Bethlehem shopping centre. By now I had walked for miles with my moon boot on and my feet were killing me! I ended up sitting next to a young girl who was collecting money for charity outside of Countdown. I felt really sorry for her because everyone was walking past and ignoring her so I gave her all the change I had in my wallet and walked to her until Nick turned up.

Back at home I pulled up all the big dandelions in the front garden and Nick chopped up all the roots for me ready to dry them before roasting them up in the oven. I picked all the young leaves from the stems and while Nick was working in the garage on the car I sautéed the weeds with a little garlic and coconut oil and added in some fresh spinach and beetroot leaves from the garden. We had that with some roasted new potatoes and broccoli.  

The kids slept over last night and it was pouring with rain. At some points during the night the windows were rattling! As soon as we got up we started bottling up our kombucha whilst they were watching cartoons on the TV. I was so glad I had today off because Vegan Vibes was on at the Mount today and I'd been looking forward to it for ages.

It was really overcast but the rain had stopped so we decided to head out and try and find a parking space nearby. The event wasn't as big as I was expecting it to be. When it stated on the website that it was going to be held at Soper Reserve I thought it was going to be the whole reserve but there was only a tiny bit fenced off in the corner. I had already bought tickets online and I showed my phone to the lady at the gate. She gave us a stamp on the back of our hands and some raffle tickets. I spotted Robin in the crowds with her husband Paul. They were already on the hunt for some food and there were so many food stalls to choose from! There was a big stage at the back where there was a guy playing the guitar. There were other stalls selling Jewellery, T-shirts, fresh produce, cakes, vegan cheese, perfumes and gemstones. In the middle of everything was a place where the kids could play and there was a big bouncy castle at the back. In one of the other corners was a big tent where they were showing movies and guest speakers had half hour slots. After waiting in line for almost half an hour to get some vegan sausage rolls from a cheese stand we headed out into the crowds for a walk around to see what was on offer. We did pretty well and only ate one slice of raw vegan cake between us. Nick got himself some vegan beer on the way out and by the time we left the line going into the venue was half way down the road. It looks like we chose a good time to go!

Nick stopped off at The Nourished Eatery so we could get a couple of mint slices cookies. The owner there said she had a stand booked at Vegan Vibes but she had cancelled it because the people who were organising the event were not vegan and apparently they were only in it for the money. I was just happy to have my mint slice!

After some lunch at home we took a drive to Te Puna Quarry Park. It was raining but we still went for a walk around the loop track, through the beautiful gardens. We stopped several times to admire the view from the top of the hill and look at sculptures in the gardens. There were so many beautiful orchids and brightly coloured flowers everywhere. Spring is on its way! It as really muddy and slippery on the way back down the hill. I thought it was a brilliant idea to walk around a muddy rocky track in my moon boot!

After taking a drive to check out some more sights we headed home for something to eat. Nick fried some tempeh strips on coconut oil and I made some roast potatoes and roasted carrots with veggies. The kids were staying another night so we all settled down to watch a movie in front of the fire whilst listening to the rain hammering on the roof.

I went to bed at 9:30pm and woke up an hour later in excruciating pain in my back on the left hand side right where my kidney was. I have never had pain like that before and it was coming in strong waves. It got to the point where it would take my breath away and I was writhing in the bed in pain. It got so intense I started to feel like I wanted to throw up. Thinking it might go away I put up with the pain until 2am when Nick decided enough was enough and we needed to go to the hospital. I pulled my clothes on and basically crawled down the hallway. Nick had to put on my moon boot and my trainer and we snuck out in the pouring rain to the car.

Nick dropped me off outside A&E and I struggled to walk to the door. I ended up gripping onto the counter whilst trying to give my details. I was in so much pain I couldn't spell my own surname so I just gave the lady my bank card! A nurse came out and gave me some codeine for pain relief. I was pretty sure it was a kidney stone because I'd read about the symptoms before. Why the hell I would even have kidney stones? Nick looked so tired and I couldn't even sit in a chair with the pain coming in intense waves so I crouched on the floor holding onto the side of the seat rocking back and fourth. Soon I was running to the toilet, dry retching. It was not a pretty sight. We must have been waiting for about 40 minutes before a nurse came out to get me and she took me through to one of the hospital beds. By now the pain killers were starting to kick in but I still couldn't lay on the bed properly. She took my details and insisted I had a cannula put into my arm just in case I either needed intravenous pain relief or something else. I am assuming when she said something else she meant perhaps anaesthetic? The clocks went forward at which meant we had already lost an hour. Whilst I lay in the bed with my hospital gown on and a sheet draped over me poor Nick fell asleep with his head in my lap. I had told him to go home and I would call him if I needed him but he wanted to stay with me.

The doctor came to see me at 4am and confirmed that it was a kidney stone. She said after a urine sample I might be able to go home. They were quick to get the results and it turns out I had a pretty nasty infection too and there was quite a lot of blood in there! Apparently that can be caused by the kidney stone scratching up my insides! Nice! I was prescribed more codeine, antibiotics and some other painkillers to go home with. If I didn't pass the kidney stone in the next few days then I would have to go back just in case it was stuck. She gave me a note and signed me off work for the next three days and by 6am we were able to go.

We snuck into the house and climbed into bed. I was going to see how I felt after a couple of hours sleep. Perhaps I would still be able to go to work? I had already text Michelle when we left to go to the hospital and when we arrived home just in case she got worried but she didn't get the text until she got up. I was in the bathroom when she came down in the morning. I probably looked like death but to be honest I couldn't really remember!

I tried to call work but there was no answer so I decided to try and go in and see how I felt. I was still pretty doped up on painkillers which probably clouded my judgement a bit. Nick dropped me off at work and Tania sent me home straight away! I managed to re stock the snack balls and sort out the tills before Nick came back from the chemist and took me home. I hadn't realised that I still had my hospital wrist band and a bloody cotton swap still on my arm from where they had taken the cannulas out! Oops!

Nick took me back home and I sat and did some work on the website. I have no idea what I did! I went out for a little walk in the fresh air and we ended up taking the kids to see The Secret Life of Pets at the cinema. I had taken some more painkillers just before the movie started so I can't remember what it was about. We were going to take them out for a walk but it was raining so much.

I had to get Nick to sort out dinner because I really wasn't feeling up to it. I managed to stay up until about 8pm but that was it for me. After a hot shower I headed off to bed. Considering I had only had a couple of hours sleep the night before I knew I needed to try and catch up a bit. I was planning on going to work the next day depending on how I felt. I am not the kind of person that just takes time off work for no reason. I would have to be seriously ill to take a day off work!

I was looking forward to a day off! Yesterday we had finished up the kombucha bottling so we had a free morning. Everyone went to church this morning so we were left on our own again. I cleaned up the kitchen and the lounge and we headed out for a walk around Te Puna Quarry Park. We didn't time it right because it started to rain! I put my big scarf over my head and we ran down a muddy hill to shelter until it cleared up and then made our way back to the car. On the way back we stopped off at a fruit and veggie place on the side of the road and got some tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts from New World for lunch. I just so happened to spot some tofu I had bought the other night which went out of date the next day. It was still on the shelf and it was now a day out of date so I went to customer service to let them know and they gave me a refund for mine! Thanks New World!

I whipped up some tofu garlic mayo and some hummus with cumin whilst Nick sorted out some issues we were having with Microsoft on the computer. We had a legitimate copy of windows on our laptop when we bought it but now we needed the codes and we couldn't find them. There was no point in contacting IT City in Thailand so we contacted Microsoft and an engineer took remote control of the laptop and managed to find it for us. I made a salad with tomatoes and sprouts and some raw pumpkin and sunflower seeds and we headed outside to pick some rhubarb, kale and spinach from the patch. We stewed the rhubarb and I cut up some apples and made some crumble mix and we headed out again for another little walk around the base of the mount while the rhubarb mixture cooled down.

When we'd reached the halfway point around the mount we spotted a big seal on the rocks with a little pup next to it! On the way back we stopped off at Pak n' save to get some replacement flour, spread and sugar that we'd used to make the crumble. As soon as we got back I put it in the oven and started to prep dinner. Neither of us were really hungry so we settled for some carrot and swede mash and some broccoli, spinach and kale with a dollop of my homemade tofu mayo with it. Everyone enjoyed a bowl of piping hot crumble for dessert and we finished off the evening with a film.

Just as I opened our bedroom door I spotted Benji on our bed all curled up looking snuggly and warm. I didn't have the heart to move him so I left him there and he spent a while making his dough and walking around the bed before stretching out and settling down for the night. I dont know who was snoring the loudest, Nick or Benji!

Finally a day off! I let Nick sleep in because I was so restless! I ended up bottling the kombucha by myself. Today I had to peel the scobies apart because they were getting too big! It took a while but we got there in the end. While Nick chilled out in front of the TV I went for a walk down to Bethlehem and had a look around the shopping centre. Nick wanted some condensed soup for dinner so I bought him some at Countdown.

I made some awesome sandwiches for lunch! Toasted gluten free bread with homemade hummus, alfalfa sprouts and tomato. I had also whipped up a batch of garlic tofu mayo. Grant came back and Nick helped him out in the garage for a while. We took Michael down to the little garden centre in Te Puna and bought some more plants for the patch. We stopped off at The Warehouse after that and I picked up a crochet hook and some wool to see if I was any good at it!

Back at home the boys went out in the garden and Michelle and I watched a movie. I cooked some roast potatoes for Nick and he fried some tempeh strips in coconut oil. I'd cooked some of our spinach, kale and broccoli from the patch. The neighbour gave us a big bunch of silver beet which we were going to have tomorrow.

I managed to convince Nick to come out for a walk around the pond just to get out of the house and we stopped to talk to the cats on the way up to the house! Benji had got into a fight yesterday and won! He slept for a while after that! He now has a scratch on his cheek but he's still got it in him!

The rest of the evening was spent chilling out in front of the TV. I have felt so tired today and all 'out of sorts'. It might have something to do with the full moon. Nick seems to get affected by the moon too. It was Hunters Moon, a super moon.

We managed to lay in until about 8am. Michelle had gone out early to pick up the kids and Nick and I decided to go out for a run this morning. I had my new fitbit on my wrist and I was ready to go. It wasn't actually that bad.

When we finally arrived home Michelle was there with the kids. Nick and I had a shower and hung out the washing whilst Mehiana showed us where all the spiders were in the garden. Everyone went off to church and we headed out to get a few things from the shop and we had a look around the crystal shop in Greerton before heading back for some lunch. I made a salad and we waited for everyone to get home so we could have lunch with them. After something to eat we headed out again, this time we headed out towards Te Puke and had a look around Matua. Everyone was swimming and having picnics in the sun. We stopped off in Papamoa to have a walk on the beach and got stuck in all the traffic! It was not a good situation.

By the time we got back we were exhausted and we had a quick sit down and a cup of tea before sorting out something to eat for dinner. I stuck on some David Attenborough documentaries and Gracie and I watched a few while Grant and Nick were outside chain sawing some logs. Michelle had to take Meihana and Pascalle to the doctors and she wasn't home until 8pm! We were still watching documentaries by the time kids went to bed. They were loving them! Nick and I decided to watch a movie in bed and we were joined by Benji again! He loves the company!

It was bonfire night tonight but we had no plans. Nick went off to work early this morning and Grant dropped me off to work in his truck.

It was a busy day packing spices and dry goods in the back room whilst serving customers. At least that meant the day was a lot quicker and we finished early on a Saturday! There is no way I could work until 5pm on my last working day of the week! Nick came in after he'd finished work and sat for an hour in the cafe and had something to eat and chilled out for a bit whilst we closed the shop.

Nick went straight to bed when he got home which meant I had time to sort out some washing and prepare dinner. I only made rice and beans with some broccoli and silver beet but he was happy with that and then he fell asleep again!

Michelle and I went out to find the cat because there were fireworks going off, however, Benji was not phased by the fireworks and was laying out at the front of the house wondering what all the fuss was about! We managed to get him inside but it was a struggle!

One of my friends from work was having a gathering down on the beach so we headed down there just after 9pm. There were quite a few people along the beach with fire pits dug into the sand. Darrian was about 300 meters up the beach from the slipway and they already had a fire going and some food! We all sat around the fire pit and a few people let off roman candles into the sky. The party finished early when a child with a bucket of water put out our fire!

Back at home we tried to get the car back in again but he was too busy looking at the fireworks! There is something seriously wrong with this cat!

Nick took me into work this morning because he was finally taking a day off. It was going to be a very busy day today. We had a couple of members of staff on holiday and a couple of casuals covering. I find Saturdays one of the busiest days of the week. Nick came in at lunch time to grab something to eat and get a drink. I was packing some things in the back room when Grant, Gracie and Pascalle arrived. It was a family meeting at Wild Earth Organics!

After work Nick took me to Warehouse to get some more wool and we took a trip to Spotlight to get some proper eyes for my mice that I've been crocheting. By the time we got home I was so hungry. I'd only had a smoothie for breakfast and it was now 4pm. I had to go out tonight and meet some friends for work so I decided to go out for an early run. Big mistake! As I was running something popped deep in my hip/groin and an intense pain washed over me. I had to hobble back home and after a shower I was almost unable to stand up. I had no idea what I had done. I had to cancel all plans for tonight. The only way I could move around was shuffling on my bum or crawling on my hands and knees. I literally could not stand up. Nick had to help me stand up to get on the toilet! Not an attractive look! I felt so bad having to cancel plans for tonight because I was actually looking forward to going out!

Trying to get into bed was a bit of a mission and trying to lay in a comfortable position was impossible. It was going to be a long and painful night and this was supposed to be the start of my two days off work!

It was agony getting out of bed today so I succumbed and took some codeine that I had left over from my kidney stone episode! Even with the codeine and paracetamol I still found it hard to walk! Jared, Bex and Harry came round in the morning and I crawled around the house sorting out my washing and some breakfast. There was no way I was letting this injury get the better of me! Having to sit still drives me nuts!

Nick and I headed out to Palmers garden centre to check out some netting and canes for the veggie patch. I had to use Nick to walk around, holding onto his shoulders and using him to prop myself up. We stopped off at Wild Earth Organics because I really wanted some broccoli but we'd sold out of the decent heads! I managed to pick up some nice sprouts for lunch though and we headed back for some lunch.

Michael and Nick picked some salad for the garden and the kids came round for some lunch. Meanwhile Michelle went next door to watch Harry whilst Jared and Bex went to look at another house. Once the kids had gone home Nick started to pull the old sealant out of the shower and replace it with new sealant and I went out with Grant and Michelle to Briscoes to get some new bar stools for the counter in the kitchen. By the time we got back Nick had a cup of tea ready for everyone and I started to cook some dinner after taking more pain killers. I managed to get a walk around the pond, well, a hobble around the pond.

I was really looking forward to our cauliflower and millet mash for dinner! Nick cooked the tempeh in coconut oil and I harvested the greens from the veggie patch.  Our evening was spent watching Longmire and I started to crochet another mouse. I think we need to get out more!