Innehållsförteckning för TAK2409 från Take 5

Every week, we feature stories in the mag where I learn something and it stays with me, and I usually tell everyone I know about it! It could be from one of the inspiring readers who shares their story with us, like Melissa on page 22 this week, who lost her husband when he was 48 and bravely took her life back. I’m in awe of her strength and inspired by her adventures. Then, there’s our health story on page 12 about the valuable life lessons we can learn from our pets! From getting out in the fresh air, to overcoming fears and staying playful, I’m going into life with a new mantra – be more dog! Or cat. Whether it’s about our ourselves, in friendships or relationships, who knew…

Melanie Grimsley, 37. Anurse wearing a mask held me down. “No!” I screamed in terror. “It’s okay, darling,” another one said. “This is just going to put you to sleep.” She placed a mask over my own face as I writhed in fear and agony. It’s my earliest memory, from when I was four. I was having one of the many skin grafts and operations I’d had to endure in my short life after being involved in a horrific fire at age two. It was an April morning in 1988 when my mum, Pamela, went into a shop to buy milk, leaving me, two, and my sister Amanda, nearly three, outside in the car with the windows open. People stared wherever I went Even today, nobody knows what caused the…

Vicky Jones, 33, Dunedin, NZ. I opened the door to see my new boyfriend, Josh, on my doorstep. “Come on in,” I grinned. We’d only been dating for a week, and it was time for him to meet Breeze, my dog. Breeze was a mixed breed who I’d found at a rescue centre a few years earlier. “I’m a little nervous around dogs,” Josh admitted, as Breeze trotted over to him. She nudged his leg, and he patted her awkwardly. “She likes you,” I beamed. It took a couple of weeks, but Josh soon got used to her, and Breeze adored him. Whenever he came over, she bounced around excitedly. We moved in together after six months, and I’d come home to find them snuggling together on the sofa. “Is…

PISCES Feb 20–Mar 20 Anything worth having doesn’t come easily. It takes hard work and sacrifice. This week you’ll have to decide what you’re willing to compromise on and what you are not. Make a list of your priorities and stick to it. ★The success you will find in 2024 begins with this week’s choices. GEMINI May 22–June 21 Big career choices may be required this week. Deciding what your priorities are will take up a lot of your mental energy. Avoid biting off more than you can chew. ★Decide what’s important. Everything else is secondary. VIRGO Aug 24–Sept 23 It may not seem terribly romantic to schedule time to talk to someone you love, but sometimes that is the practical reality of a busy life. Make an effort…

Bella Brady, 23. I sipped my glass of wine and sighed contentedly as I looked at the ocean. “Isn’t this lovely?” I said to my boyfriend, James. We’d gone on holiday together to celebrate me finishing uni. “What did you say?” he mumbled, his eyes glued to his phone. I sighed, annoyed. “Will you get off that thing?” I ranted. “We came on holiday to spend some time together.” James and I had been a couple for four years. It hadn’t always been plain sailing for us. James used to pick on me at school. “He likes you,” my friends would tell me back then. “It’s obvious. Boys always pick on the girls they’re secretly into.” It turned out, they were right all along. By the time James and I…

Lint rollers are great for cleaning the dust off lampshades. Minnie Singh, Wellington, NZ. Freeze leftover pesto and tomato paste in ice trays so you can just pop out a portion whenever you need it. Gretchen Edwards, Narre Warren, Vic. Instead of buying leather cleaners, use vodka to clean your leather sofas. Works like a charm! Jo Kang, Bunbury, WA. Get rid of hiccups by putting a paper towel over a glass of water then swallowing a big gulp through the paper towel. I don’t know why it works, but it does! Pippa Williamson, Geelong, Vic. Our dog hates having his teeth brushed, but we figured out we can spread doggie toothpaste on his favourite chewing rope. Jacinta Clark, Nambour, Qld. If you need to ripen fruit faster, put it…

Taydam Knowles, 23, Adelaide, SA. Hiding behind the door, I saw my dad pour a powder into a clear glass pipe. “Tay, you shouldn’t come here,” my mum said when she caught me. It was 2010 and even at 10, I knew my dad did drugs. He slept all day, was always tired and could never concentrate during a conversation. Strangers visited our house at odd hours and we moved around a lot, without any explanation. Dad often fought with his own parents, but they were the ones who took me and my brothers, John, seven, and Nathan, four, to school recitals and sports events. “You need to grow up,” Grandma said to my parents bitterly one day. “You both need to get jobs.” My father was 16 when I…

For many Aussies, a trip to the Northern Territory is rightly at the top of the bucket list. The iconic sites, including Uluru and Kata Tjuta (also known as the Olgas) are of course must-sees – but another NT destination, Kings Canyon (Watarrka), is well worth the trip, too. View from the top A three-hour drive from Uluru, it’s one of Australia’s – if not the world’s – most spectacular canyons. From the awe-inspiring views from the 100m high Kings Canyon Rim Walk, to the peace of the Garden of Eden waterhole at the base, this special and sacred site is unforgettable – and not just because of the steep ‘Heartbreak Hill’ walk up to the top. Yes, your legs might ache for days afterwards, but it’s worth it! Most…

Sinead Featonby, 33, Darwin, NT. As the twinge hit me, I sucked in a breath and rubbed my giant belly. At almost 41 weeks pregnant, I was overdue and getting contractions every six to eight minutes. “I’ll go to the hospital when they’re three to four minutes apart,” I told my mum, Tracy, and hubby Luke, not too worried. Mum was visiting from Perth to help out with our little boy Jimmy, three, but she was going home in a few days, and I’d wanted her around for the birth. The plan was for it to be a natural birth, with no pain meds. For months, I’d been picturing myself in the birthing pool with essential oils and a playlist of all our favourite songs. “Let’s get dinner on,” Luke…

Melissa J. Scott, 52, Sydney, NSW. I pulled out my buzzing phone to see the name of my husband’s colleague on the screen. It was 2017, and she was working on the Caravan and Camping show with him. “How’s it all going?” I answered cheerily. “Melissa,” she rasped. “It’s Steve.” There was panic in her voice. “What’s happened?” I asked. “The paramedics think he’s had a heart attack,” she told me. I raced straight to the hospital where Steve had been taken. There, I was delivered devastating news. “There’s nothing we can do,” a doctor told me. Steve died, aged 48, leaving behind his three children, Shayn, 28, Conor, 14, and Isabella, 11, from a previous relationship, and my three children, Kurt, 17, Ky, 16, and Dane, 14, who he…