Feel better

I woke up really sore from my treatment yesterday with the physio, like really sore everywhere, my stomach muscles, my legs, my back and my legs. Every way I moved I hurt, deep inside....... I scrapped a little and then put it to one side. I had a late lunch and then laid down for an hour before I went to get the kidlets.  I got home, had a cuppa, supervised homework, listened to reading, made a meatloaf, baked a packet cake, jogged on the treadmill - get this for 30 mins straight!! I was so excited. I've not long come upstairs, showered and am having a well earned glass of wine.........  Now I feel so much better. My soreness has eased and my muscles all feel nice and warm.  I did some weights too....... I really need to listen to my body, instead of chastising myself because I didn't exercise this morning.........

I have been watching the Oprah specials which are all about ageing....... Scary stuff, what eating shit food and not exercising can do to you. When you have it all laid out, you realize how you really need to treat your body well. You have to look after your telomeres too.....

http://www.realage.com/StayingYoung/YOUToolsTips.aspx?tip=8

Dinner was delicious tonight and a favourite by everyone. I made a meatloaf, not normally my favourite dish, but I added a tin of brown lentils (couldn’t find red ones), grated carrot, oats, parsley, garlic and onion. I served it with a Caramelized red onion chutney, it was yummo and I will definitely make it again.

Back to Firefox

Sometimes it's too hard to think of a catchy title........

Lots to say - but not in any real order, so dot point format might be in order.
* I have been a Firefox user for about four years now. It's more stable than IE, more streamlined, loads faster, and with all the themes and extensions you can download for it, it's just all round a better internet browser. I was very happy when I bought my imac, that Firefox would still work on it. I had tried Safari, (Macs browser) and wasn't sold on it. I found pages looked smaller and I just didn't like the fact I couldn't customize it to my liking. However when Firefox 3 was launched a few months back, I went back to using Safari almost exclusively. One of my favourite add ons, 'My Portal' wasn't compatible with the new version. My Portal allowed my home page to be all my bookmarks, which I realize now is redundant because you can have your bookmarks as your home page. Another thing I liked about My Portal, is that it made the frequently visited sites in a larger font, so for example blogs were easily found as they stood out from the crowd. Now with bloglines, however, this is no longer needed either. Soooooo............I went back to Firefox this weekend, and it's even better than it used to be. I have even set Firefox as my default browser again, so Safari can go into semi retirement for the time being. I was using Opera for some things too, like the radio, which I'll probably still continue.

* I went to the physio yesterday and am feeling very sore today. Carlie, seems to find more and more places on my body that hurt - actually there's no where on my body that doesn't hurt. She massaged deep into my upper stomach and it hurts like I've been beaten lol.... My legs are extremely sore too. I want to jog today, but will see how I feel later in the day.

* Am currently enjoying listening to gospel music. It's lovely peaceful and uplifting.

* Was supposed to have a lunch date with my bestie today, but one of her Daisy Girls went home with a migraine - hope you're feeling better quickly Suzy. Hope resting today, will help it go away.

* I have been scrapbooking at home - can you believe it. I am enjoying Cathy Zielske's Design your Life class. It's helping me create layouts which don't need too much thought and I'm using photos I wasn't inspired to use, and products which I've had for ages. I am hoping that by the retreat, my stash will be run down enough that I can justify buying new stuff. Actually in the last twelve months I've bought less than in any other year, since I've started scrapbooking - except maybe in the Pre Daisy Chain Scrapbooks days, when I was using Creative Memories.
* Had a quiet weekend, battling a stupid head cold. Still using the nasal spray today, so I can breathe and the sore throat is gone. Eyes still feel scratchy, and I'm still headachey but that could be from the treatment yesterday too.
* Cooked a delicious Moroccan Chicken last night, was delightful, with sultanas, pine nuts, cumin, cinammon, garlic and lemon and lime juice. It was very fragrant and delicous - everyone enjoyed it.

Here are some layouts I've finished in the last two weeks. The colours and straightness are off because I took lousy photos........and didn't want to rephotograph them.

Using up old Sassafras lass paper and embellies, Sammy's and my birthday last year, thought I'd better do it before our birthdays this year.

This one is from Cathy Zielske Design your Life Week 2

This one is also from Cathy's class, PP Basic Grey, embellies - sweetwater, heidi swapp letters, and something else I have no idea......I'm sure there's a knack to keeping credits, but I don't know what it is.......

Time to Chill

I live by lists, and plans and diaries and organization! It keeps me sane, helps me prioritize and keeps me on task. They are the perfect accessory for the Type A personality, the strong anchor for the control freak and the soother for the stressed. I love them, I need them, they help me.

Today was time to chill out! No appointments, no plans, no lists! Bliss.

A little time out is just what I needed. I came home from getting the kidlets to school and hung out a load of washing and then went back to bed! I snoozed and zoned out for about two hours. I just needed to totally relax, not think about anything and just refuel and re energize. I took the phone off the hook too. No pesky tele marketers wanted today. I snoozed and even dreamt and then got up. I felt a bit groggy for a while, and just pottered on the computer. I had left over bacon, pumpkin and pesto pasta for lunch while I watched Dr. Phil and some of Oprah. Then by this stage I was feeling ready to re-enter the land of the living!! I went downstairs and did my workout on my treadmill and weights and then went and picked up the kids from school. I’ve just sat down now with a drink. An Italian Shepherds Pie is in the oven and a salad in the fridge. I supervised the kids’ homework and reading whilst cooking.

Now I can travel along for another few weeks, until the next time that I need to just stop and chill.

Christmas is approaching ........... FAST!

I can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming. The stores are full of decorations and it's a reminder everytime we venture into the shopping centre. I am going to make my tree, black and silver, so I have already bought some new decorations. I couldn't help myself, and I figure that I normally wait and my selection is through everyone else's dregs.....so this year I decided to get in early, and now I don't feel so ridiculous anymore. Ahh, but I digress......we have many family days which we all really look forward too, but Christmas is our favourite. It's a time we all get together, and we imbibe in great food and wine, and the best company.  This year we are going to be all together again, as far as the Schimak side goes. The girls will be here as well as Aunty Ricky and Aunty Dee.  I already have notes on my computer (Stickies widget) with food reminders - and the rough beginning of a menu.  I am going to make Stuffed Chickens - well Peter is going to debone them and I will fill them with a mixture of mince, ham, garlic, seasoning and pistachios.  I will make two of them because one will not be enough and it will go quickly. This Christmas I will have a cold selection - so that after lots of wine has been consumed, I don't have to worry about cooking anything. I love the cooking beforehand, so this will work in perfectly. I am also looking for a terrine or something of that nature - maybe I'll just have a ham, not sure yet. I am going to ask my Mum to make her delicious belly pork dish, which is just divine, and something I haven't eaten in years. I haven't decided on the salads yet either. So - even though it sounds like I still have lots to plan, it's certainly high on my list of organizational priorities at the moment.  The baking list hasn't been confirmed, but I will of course make my Vanilla Kipferln and Linzer Augen.  There would be a revolt, if I didn't make them.......

Dinner is prepped. I have roasted pumpkin for a dish I found on www.taste.com.au  It's a bacon, pumpkin and pesto and pasta dinner - should be yummy.

Kids are all inside and hopefully looking forward to dinner. Their faces are always a little uncertain when I cook something new. 

I stayed up late last night. The return of Californication. It's been ages since something half decent was on TV, apart from Idol anyway. Actually I have never watched and entire season of idol before, I normally watch the first auditions, because it's the best comedy. And then I usually watch the final episode.  This year however, I find the talent line up to be just awesome.  So I am happily watching each episode. Wes Carr and Mark Spano are my stand out favourites. I also believe they are the stand out artists, with Wes Carr being far and away the best on the show.  When he comes to the coast, I will definitely  go to watch him perform. Ah, and Californication, I know it's tripe and trash but I enjoy it. I like watching David Duchovny and it's unlike anything else on the TV, so it's unpedictable......it can be crass, funny and touching all in a matter of a few minutes.....

Okay husband, I am organized, you can come home now.......

Pinktober

I did something today that I have wanted to do all year. I walked in a Breast Cancer Awareness 5km walk. I went with Suzy, and my other friends Trishie and Noela, plus a couple of Trish's friends. We had a great time. It was a perfect Sunshine Coast Day! We left home early 8am!! I was up at 7am, normally something I never do on a weekend.  It was a hot day, but quite breezy which made it bearable. Afterwards we had coffee and then Suzy and I had lunch. We got home at 12.30pm and felt like we'd had the most fabulous day.  

The walk was a celebration of life and friendship. A walk of gratefulness. A walk of health and happiness.

I am heading off for a kip now......

First layout

The Cathy Zielske class has begun. This layout is a pre-assignment. It's virtually a copy of her example, but I love it, and I love how quicky it came together.

Today's Layout

This is from the last assignment on my Type+Writer class.

Holiday Fun

I can't believe it's halfway through the second week of the kids' school holidays.  I am still totally enthralled with the fact that having my kids home now is such a huge pleasure in comparison to when Sammy and Mickey were both tiny. They were such a handful, that having home every single day was quite draining, and a far cry from a holiday. Now they sleep in until 8am, and they get up and quietly watch TV or play.  During the day they are playing heaps, with Legos and their computer games.  Sammy and Mickey playing with the Legos has been great to see, especially as I told them that Santa loves to see kids play, and who knows what they may get for Christmas, if he sees how well they are playing.  Yesterday the TV wasn't on at all and today it was only on for a few hours in the morning.

Sunday week ago, we headed down to Caloundra for our annual family holiday. We had a really nice time. We had a couple of days that were pretty yucky, but we made the most of them. We visited Peter's parents one morning, which was lovely - it's been a while since we'd seen them and she made some yummy morning tea which we all enjoyed. The boys still went collecting yabbies and attempted to fish, which only had the kibosh put on it when they headed to the jetty and the winds were borderline cyclonic.  We spent the week fishing, collecting yabbies, lying by the pool (me) jumping in the pool (kidlets). The hardest decision of the day was what we were going to have for dinner. Sensible eating went out the window for the week, and Bunny and I enjoyed a new Indian restaurant we discovered, plus a couple of fish and chip meals.  I cooked pizzas one night which were delicious, with salami, bacon, capsicum, cheese and onion and pineapple - simple but delicious and much nicer than Eagle Boys.  Even though the toppings were less exotic than I'd normally use they were delicious pizzas and the kids enjoyed them too. Like I said, one highlight was spending a morning with Peter's parents and the main highlight of the week was our last full day.  Because Geelong was in the Grand Final last year, (and we won), it was a little sad that we didn't get to spend the day with my parents, as they were in Phuket.  So, this year, they stayed the night in a motel, and we spent the entire day and evening together. We had a fabulous time. We had lunch and then headed in front of the TV and watched Geelong lose to the Hawks!  But, Mum and I drank a bottle of bubbles each and had a blast.  Then we took them out for dinner at the new Indian restaurant we'd discovered. That was a fun night. One of my favourite times growing up was when my parents would take us out for dinner, and I want the same with my children, although it doesn't happen often due to the fact it's so damn expensive, but I guess the rarity of the occasion makes it all teh more special. After having such fussy eaters, it's really rewarding to see the hard work of cooking different foods for my kids paying off as they will try different foods now elsewhere!  It was a fitting end to a great week.  

As an aside, we will go somewhere else next year though. We decided that $1000 for a week in a modest unit in Caloundra was overpriced.  We are looking at renting a house somewhere next year, and going out of peak season too. We can get a house with a pool for longer and pay less!  Our family's holiday needs are simple, we need to be able to fish, sleep, swim and eat. That's it. We aren't interested in gallivanting around. We aren't interested in theme park type expensive stuff. We just want to chill and enjoying being together. So we will choose something like Tin Can Bay, or Rainbow Beach. It's exciting - we will do a recognizance mission or two to figure out exactly where we will go. 

We got home on Sunday, and I spent the day washing and getting organized and back to normal. Monday and Tuesday of this week, had appointments and also a few errands. I had to take Billy-Joe to the Respiratory Clinic for a lung function test and yesterday I had a physio appointment.  I bought new taps for the bathroom, and some new picture frames, because some of the old ones I'd painted blue were looking rather daggy.  

Today I have spent getting up to date with my online class I started before the holidays. I did two layouts today. One isn't finished yet, because I need photos of when I was a kid, and I forgot to ask my parents for them yesterday so I could scan then and print them out today. So the layouts done, but no pics.  In the middle of all that I had to fix printer problems. My printer wasn't printing, because the computer didn't recognize the refilled ink cartridge, so a trip back to Cartridge World and that was all sorted.  The Epson printer had also run out of ink , so I ordered inks online yesterday and they arrived this morning at 7.30am!!  I love online shopping.  

I have signed up for Cathy Zielske's online class 'Design your life' through www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com 

I have some pre assignment work to finish before it starts tomorrow! I am rather excited about this one. Whereas the Jessica Sprague class was a digital one, this is a hybrid one where I download some elements, but the majority of it is paper scrapbooking, concentrating on learning about design elements. If I had been able to draw, I would have been a graphic artist - for sure. Graphics was one of my favourite subjects during high school, but without the use of computers, I was never going to go far with it all those years ago. Now, however, with the use of image editing programs, I could actually know what I am doing. 

Did you miss me? I am back, I just left for an hour to finish off and eat dinner with my family. We had spaghetti bolognese,which is one of their firm favourites.  

Kids are heading off to bed but have been given a few extra minutes to finish off their games. They are behaving so beautifully - they need rewards.

I will post images soon.

Finished another layout from my class

I did this one based on what Mickey told me yesterday. I love how it turned out, and for the first time I have been able to include one of my many journal entries into a layout. 

Kids' Musical

On Thursday, we headed to the Civic Centre to watch the annual production that the school puts on. As a teacher and a parent, I can totally understand and appreciate the amount of work that goes into these plays. John the producer of each musical has an incredible talent for putting it together. He not only writes the musicals, but produces and directs the production, choosing music and rewriting their lyrics to be pertinent to the show! Sometimes the musicals have the entire school in them - about 400 kids!! This year, it was only the 6s, 7s and 1s. We took the little ones and had a family night out. It was great to all go together and see BillyJoe’s part in his final primary school musical. He didn’t have a major part, but was a dancer as part of a group. I encouraged him to audition for a part, but he was too shy. I’ve seen him dance, when he thinks no one is looking and I think he could do well. Not all parts were singing parts, so he could have auditioned for it. Because he is a ‘good’ kid, I know he would have been in contention anyway..... It was a nice family night. We got home late, the kids got to bed at about 10.30pm, Peter and I still had something to eat and then headed off to bed an hour later. I kept the kids home the next day. It was the last day of term,no need for them to go really......

Mickey's realization

Mickey came up to me yesterday and asked about the other “Uncle Ricky’ - not the one that has Julia and Kiana, but the other one.... I said, you mean Onkel Vikki, ?
”Yeah Mum that’s the one. Where is he?“

”Honey he died, remember. He’s in heaven“

HIs lip dropped and I could see him thinking and I could almost feel the questions which were in his heart.
”Come here Sweetheart. Sit on my lap and tell me what you’re thinking“.

He just buried his little head into my neck and started to cry. It was at that moment, that he realized the finality of death. That incredible split second, where he realized the finality and irreversible nature of death.

I explained to him, that we all die. That people get old and die. I told him that was much better than being sick and young and dying, and how important it was to make the most of all the people we love while they are with us. I told him Onkel Vikki was in heaven and that we would all be together one day.

”Can we breathe in heaven Mummy?“

” I’m not sure we need to Honey.“

By this stage, I was getting a little teary. My grief not that far below the surface for Onkel Vikki’s loss either. I went out and brought in some washing, Mickey headed off with some sense of urgency. He came back to me with a lanyard. On the lanyard was hanging a picture which he’d labelled

‘I love Mum and Dad and Onkel Vikki”

His last actions affected me most of all. He stood in front of the photo of  Onkel Vikki and myself and put little crosses on our hearts and our heads.

Everyday you grow up a little more little man. I love you - and I love the ‘bigger boy’ that you are fast becoming.

I love the softness in my kids and the fact that family is paramount to us all.

I still have the email my Dad sent, telling me of Onkel Vikki’s death. I rarely if ever print out emails, I couldn’t bring myself to delete that email, so I had to print it out. I can’t delete his address in my address book, nor my Oma’s for that matter and she died 14 years ago. Some things can’t be erased.

I never remember the exact date of your passing, dear Onkel Vikki, but tonight, I light a candle for you.

All set up

Handheld iso 1600 shutter 1/25 aperture 3.5

Thank goodness we have the foresight to hire someone to do this job for us. Lenny spent two and a half hours setting up the TV, DVD, VCR, Austar box and put everything including my computer, printer, modem, and speakers through a fandangled gadget which protects everything from fusion and surges of power. He even had to drill a bit out the back of the cabinet because the DVD player didn't quite fit with all the fittings on the back of it........ Stress free and worth every single penny of $125. So my darling Bunny could come home and just see the awesome picture, no swearing, no angst, no anger.........

I got my new camera out, which is calling very loudly to me. I want to study the manual and the controls some more. I am really liking how easy it is to change things like the ISO, much easier than the 300D. Because the reviews said it did a great job at a higher iso, I was keen to try it out. I never had much luck with the 300D, the noise was always quite strong and that was at 800!

Handheld - no flash 

Shutter 1/15, Aperture 3.5, ISO 1600

Another layout

I thought I wrote a lot before, now I'm writing much more. Between my blog, incidental journalling and in MacJournal, I am having a great time. I completed this layout today, using the papers from the kit supplied in the class. I spent too much time looking for papers, and this meant I was concentrating on the techniques rather than looking through my stash. I am really enjoying using the templates. This layout uses a wordle creation as my background paper.

Thank goodness

That today is a quiet day. The last four days have been frantic. Just really really busy with everything coming together as it's sometimes prone to do. I am really happy today, to be home having an extremely peaceful day. I have spent the morning clearing up all the stuff that was in the old TV cabinet and deciding what to do with it. I couldn't get over the amount of user manuals I had, gosh we collect some stuff.  The new cabinet looks lovely, very different to what we had before, as the old one was square, deep and high. This is modern, low, sleek.  And doesn't hold as much crap!!  On the plus side, it's got doors and drawers so the stuff is neatly stowed away.  

The last two days were busy, because as Murphy's Law of supply teaching kicked in again, I worked for two days. Which meant Peter had to get the TV and cabinet yesterday without me. He also took the old one and got $50 for it which will go towards the cable guy who is coming today to hook everything up for us.  Unfortunately Bunny got a flat tyre while doing this, so $25 of it went on having a puncture fixed!! What is it they say about in one hand and out the other! 

On Monday morning before I headed off to work, I had to proof read Billy-Joe's assignment, which we were so happy was all done, and then with the bussyness of the weekend, we'd forgotten to proof read it and it was due in on Monday. I also had to empty the stuff out of the old cabinet, so I got Mickey to help me with that.  I had a great day at work and was promised the same class for Tuesday which was fabulous. As luck would have it, Billy-Joe's appointment was yesterday with the paediatrician at the hospital. It was at 2.50pm, which was impossible to get to after work. My Mum and Dad came in on white chargers and rescued me there. They picked up the other kids and met me up at the hospital. I had to organize another teacher to supervise my students at the bus stop so I could leave early. Then, to add another spanner in the works, Sammy woke up with awfully sore and puffy eyes from his allergic conjunctivitis. Poor little mite, no amount of ice and antihistamine drops was able to settle it before school, so I had to leave him home, and thankfully Peter was only 10 minutes away and he came home and got Sammy and then they did all the running around for the new TV and Cabinet.  

The specialist we saw yesterday afternoon was great. He is incredibly thorough and is looking into Billy-Joe's asthma, as though it's not been diagnosed at all. So he is having all the preliminary allergy tests and lung function tests, so we know what we are dealing with.  My little man was very brave as they took four vials of blood from him.  He didn't even shed a tear, but held my hand all the same.  I went into IGA and bought chickens and coleslaw for dinner. I went up and picked up the other kidlets who were pretty excited because they'd had their first swim for the season. Mum went in too which was awesome. I can remember when my Mum first moved here, her benchmark for the weather warming up was that she always got into the pool on or around her birthday which is on the 8 September. In recent years, that date has been and gone and Mum hasn't gone into the water yet. It's just not hot enough, and we become blase to the glorious weather we have sometimes, and the urgency isnt' so great anymore to go and have a swim. So yesterday was the first time I think she's been in this early in the Spring.  It was an absolutely glorious day, in the high twenties and the kids were rapt to have had an early and unexpected swim.  All the way home in the car they talked about the game they'd played and how they couldn't wait until the pool at the unit next week.  Thanks Mum and Dad for your help yesterday. I don't know what I would have done without you.

We got home at around 5pm. Billy-Joe brought the washing in and I proceeded to clean up the mess from the old cabinet having left. The dust on the floor was disgusting, plus the new stuff was just spread out everywhere - a disaster area, and I can't function with everything in disarray. I cleaned all the cables - far out there must be a thousand cables.......and the dust - just gross.  So all the bits and pieces are clean and dust free, and at least when the cable guy comes I won't be embarrassed because of the dust bunnies, so that was worth getting organized.  Plus I was able to put the new cabinet in its place and put all the lounge chairs back. Last night we put the TV together, which was a bit of a challenge, but it looks lovely and just huge!!

Now I have vacuumed and tidied and I can 'play'. I had nearly finished my class layout on Friday, so I finished it just before and I'll upload it. Love the class.  

A normal evening tonight, and with a new TV to watch. A normal evening meal. No reno, no unpacking, no re organizing, no tidying just chilling out.

Busy, love, lucky and idol

What a busy weekend. Yesterday started with a lie in and a companionable breakfast with my husband. We 'strategized' our day, planned our menu for dinner and then set off on our separate ways. Mr Bunny took Sammy to his footy break up at Top Shots, while I stayed home and dealt with the bottomless pit of washing which descends on our home everyday. Billy-Joe, with is awesome work ethic, set about finishing his assignment of the respiratory system. Mickey harassed me to bits, to wrap the present and head off, even though the party wasn't for another couple of hours.

We headed off to Zone 3, delivered an excited Mickey and then went over to the shopping centre. I wanted new rashies for the kids, and a shirt that I could wear as a cover up on the beach, or to wear when leaving the beach. I found a new bathing suit and a shirt at Rockmans, and with 30% off, I was wrapped. We rushed back to get Mickey and then went home. By this stage it was nearly 4pm.

I cooked a yummy dinner of roasted and grilled vegetables on turkish bread with a pesto sauce - just delicious. Plus we had an awesome evening together. I consumed a bottle of champagne and we laughed and listened to music and had a great time.

Today we got up, we had a nice breakfast together. Mickey and I had pancakes, and Bunny had bacon, eggs, and left over pesto on the left over turkish bread. Looked delish, but too ambitious for me for breakfast.

We went to Harvey Norman today and took advantage of the 50 month interest free program that's on at the moment. We bought a plasma TV and wait for it..............




I got this!

I am the proud new owner of a Canon 450D. I am using my camera class money to pay for it, and I am very excited and very happy. My old camera has taken over 10000 images, and is getting rather sluggish. This is 12.2mp jam packed of features and speed which is just unbelievable. Had we not bought the TV I would have waited until I'd saved some more money than I already had - but with the limit needed for 50 month interest free, I wouldn't have been able to buy it on its own. I feel like I have all my next two years worth of birthday and Christmas presents come at once. The camera is smaller than my 300D, which is good, and means it's also lighter. I find it hard sometimes walking around with it hanging around my neck. I am really excited as we are going away next weekend, and I will get to really try it out - I wonder how many pics I'll take during that holiday!

Our afternoon continued to be busy, as we needed to buy a low cabinet for the new TV too. The ones at HN were too expensive for us, so we had to go to AMART and the HOME centre. We found a really nice one from the same place as where we bought our bookshelf from. By this stage the kids were incredibly cranky, but we were happy as we'd achieved all we'd set out to accomplish. It was an exciting afternoon. Some people are into extreme sports, I'm into extreme shopping! I get such a huge adrenalin rush buying big items like that. I don't know why, it's just exciting, and nerve wracking, and scary and wonderful all at once......

I spent the afternoon reading my camera manual and waiting for the battery to charge up!

DB has the bathroom completed almost and just needs to put the shower screen which he will put in tomorrow.

We are calling this week, our wind down week, and are already trying to focus on being in 'holiday mode' even though Peter has another busy week ahead....

The TV should come home on Tuesday and we will get our cable guy to hook it all up. No need for any extra stress, it costs, but is worth every penny.

I want to work more this week, but hope tomorrow is a day off. I am behind a couple of days on my online class, and I want to ring up about Evenstart, a teaching program which I want to be involved in. I get to work one on one with kids, but still get paid my great hourly rate. I have organization, analysis and reporting and assessing, but it will be awesome to follow a child through and to actually finish something I start. The program has received extra funding for next year, so I am pretty positive I will get some work.

This very lucky girl is signing off .......

Ooops nearly forgot the idol part of my post title. I have never watched idol before to this level of attentiveness and I am really impressed with the level of talent of the line up. I will vote for Wes Carr again, I think he's fabulous.

Family Time

My Dad and I

He's just seen the bait pump

Hugs and Kisses

My Mum and I

The weekend just past was a busy one, full of chores and activities added with lots of family time too. My brother, his wife and my two nieces popped around in the afternoon. It was nice to see them all. It always feels like our time is so short and so snatched, like it’s over before it even started - but was great to have them here even if it was only for a short while.

Sammy and I went to BFC in the morning to buy Bunny a bait pump for Fathers Day. The pathetic excuse of a store in Nambour, was shut!! Unbelievable - naahh, don’t know why I even say that, it’s typical of this town. So many of the business owners have no idea on how to run a business. I don’t know whether these shops aren’t frequented enough because they don’t get the clientele, or whether they don’t get the clientele, because they are never open!! Many shop owners, don’t open their store at 9am, and if it’s quiet in the afternoon they just shut! One shop owner told me he liked to leave early, to beat the traffic!

Sunday morning, I had a sleep in and then got stuck into preparing food for our Fathers Day lunch. I made a potato bake, garlic bread and marinaded the chicken for the ‘chicken sticks’ which everyone loves. Mum brought the delicious home made coleslaw and her marinaded pork spare ribs. The day went really well, washed down with laughter and a Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz!

The kids loved giving their drawings and handmade gifts to their Daddy. Mickey had even drawn a picture for Opa, which I thought was pretty cool. I gave my Dad a cup with ‘Opa’ written on it and a bag of licorice allsorts. Peter was ecstatic with his new Alvey Bait Pump. He was so excited, it was priceless and worth the effort of going down to M’dore to buy it. Love buying that man stuff, he is always so appreciative.

I have been hitting the treadmill fairly regularly which is awesome. I find I am running more and more. I had morning coffee at my parents’ house this morning complete with cake and cream, so will definitely be hitting it again this afternoon. I make sure I take a nurofen about fifteen mins before and my legs don’t seem to feel too bad. I also don’t feel any worse for wear of an evening like I was before. So obviously not walking on hills is helping me greatly. I am looking forward to my physio appointment next week to see what can be done, now that I know there’s nothing wrong with my bones and stuff.

I started the Type+Writer class at www.jessicasprague.com yesterday. So far I am really enjoying it and have written in my new notebook. Liv, the teacher encourages us to write at least fifteen minutes everyday. Like praying and exercise, they are all worthwhile exercises that can get swallowed up in the other day to day stuff, but if we just make a conscious effort, it’s easy to find the time to do these things.

It's raining again

After a warm and springlike start to the week, it's soured into miserable, rainy and cool. We needed the rain, so it's great for the garden. Plus it's nice to be home and organized early and snuggled in my pjs and dressing gown. I've even got the heater on again this afternoon.  

I enrolled into another online class. This time to do Type+Writer at www.jessicasprague.com  Their classes are great, and while I'd love to do a digital scrapbooking one, I am not sure I have the time to dedicate, nor the money for the class at the moment. This one was quite cheap, and only goes for two weeks.  Included in the class 'getting organized' notes, were some 12x12 templates by J. Caputo. I felt like putting a layout together today, and used one of them today.

Personality Type

These quizes are fun and quite insightful. This is what the site had to say about my personality type. 

ISTJ - The "Examiner"

ISTJs are responsible, loyal and hard working. They have an acute sense of right and wrong and work hard at preserving established norms and traditions. Because of their deep sense of duty they are dedicated to everything they do and are very dependable. ISTJs care deeply for those closest to them.

Made some more cards

There is crystal glitter on the Christmas card which adds a delicate touch to it, but can't be seen on the monitor....

I made this wedding card for Ron and Carlie. I have photographed it the wrong way, the card is supposed to be in landscape format, rather than portrait. (I have put the camera away and don't want to get it out again.....) It looks much better the other way.

Feeling better - finally

I have been battling a headcold/sinus infection since the start of term - so nearly seven weeks. I feel much much better now. I wasn't even snuffly when I got up this morning. The weather has been right on cue, and as the first day of Spring, it's a warm day. The whole weekend was lovely. I don't mind the cold weather, but this milder weather is easier to handle. I went downstairs onto the treadmill yesterday and today, which I wasn't doing in the cold weather. There's no sun coming in downstairs so it gets quite cool when it's a frowzy day. I have also decided to get back to exercise as all my tests have shown that there is no problem as far as impingement or bony growth to cause my hip/leg pain. It doesn't take away the pain, but it means I can't do irreparable damage to my hip joint. I will just have to remember to take some painkillers before I hop on. I was really happy to find that my fitness levels hadn't dropped much at all. I admit that jogging on a treadmill is easier than on the road, but it feels much better to me. I am not worrying about uneven ground, or accidentally tripping on anything. I can just jog, and enjoy my ipod and the view from my treadmill. The half hour went fairly quickly. I have been using my Polar HRM watch, and am tracking my fitness that way too. I am working in my training zone for longer than when I was going on my long walks, so that's great. Plus I can have my music much louder than when I walk the streets. I am always aware that if I can't hear anything, because of the loud music, I won't hear anyone walking behind me. Downstairs on my treadie, I don't have to worry, so it's much more fun to have the music loud (and still feel safe).

I had a lovely weekend. We (that's the royal WE - I didn't actually do anything, other than complain about the mess) ripped out the bathroom shower and tiles. It's Monday, and nowhere near finished, but should be by the end of the week, I hope! I am really lucky that we have a shower downstairs otherwise it just wouldn't be doable. I like my two showers a day, and couldn't survive without it. I don't even have the privacy upstairs to have a 'sink bath' in the kitchen as the sliding door doesn't have any coverings on it. I left darling Bunny ripping out shower on Saturday while I took my Mum to Montville for the afternoon. We had lunch and poked around in some of the shops. I got a little something for my Dad for Fathers' Day and tried some Chilli chocolate - which was yummy by the way. We headed over to Maleny, and bougth some cheese at the Cheese shop - a delicious wasabi one which was just delicious. We were outside the cheese shop, enjoying the warmth of the sun, and then we realized it was almost three o'clock. Fortunately the wedding was just up the road, and we arrived there just before the bride. She looked stunning -just gorgeous and her attention to detail was lovely. She was very lucky as it was a glorious day - just perfect for a radiant bride and her handsome groom.

We headed home after the wedding, basking in that warm feeling that you get from witnessing the marriage of two people obviously very much in love. It reaffirms your own wedding vows and was quite touching to witness. I look forward to seeing her for my next treatment in three weeks, as I'm sure she has lots to tell. On the way home, we stopped and had coffee and shared a cake. We spent a lovely five and a half hours together, and it was great. We used to spend so much time together once, when the kids were little. Life is so much busier now, so it's not as frequent, but no less special because it doesn't happen as often. It's also so nice to spend time together 'sans' kids. We get to finish our sentences in one go!

Dear Bunny and I had a lovely evening. We had a cheese platter and sour dough bread as our dinner, and some nice wine as accompaniment. The kids had a great night, they 'camped' in Billy-Joe's room again, watched movies and just hung out together, and were perfectly behaved into the bargain.

Yesterday I took the kids to KFC and we ate it at a park, and gave them a chance to climb the equipment. I took heaps of photos and just enjoyed hanging out with them. Bunny remained home, working on the bathroom. I am working in Kenilworth this Friday, hopefully I'll have at least another day at the special school.