Spring cleaning

Well, we had a scorcher of a day yesterday, into the 90's and not a day for doing anything other than stripping off and getting into the old sarong and chilling out under the fans.

Today is cooler and I decided to tackle the electrical appliance cupboard, out went the juicer, the coffee perculator and the frying pan.  The juicer was around fourth hand and probably only used a dozen times in all - it was passed around friends who never used it, oh well poor thing it can go to the op-shop, the perci was given to me by a neighbour 15 years ago (he later told me he found it at the dump), despire its provenance it works well still but I never use it so its been polished up and it too will go to the op-shop, the electric fry pan, well, that cannot be trusted, the thermostat is not reliable and the bottom has bowed, I've used it once this year so out it went into the garbage, farewell old friend. It must have been about 20 yrs old so its time it was retired off.  I can now fit everything into the cupboard and not have to move things to get at what I want, the toaster can even go in there. Worktops all polished, new runner put down, plant moved to where the toaster used to be. Knives put in cupboard.
Woe betide anyone who comes into my kitchen and dumps their crap on the benches, and I'm the worst offender so I'm going to discipline myself to put things away.
I tidied up the plants on verandah, cutting off dead leaves, swept out, watered and weeded. I then went in anc vacummed the entire house.  The winter bedding got washed and put away and I sorted out the top cupboard in the wardrobe - all the boxes from appliances long gone,  I even found a couple of money boxes up there, the grand total of 25c in them. Better make the most of this energy, ironing next and then I can sit down and feel really pleased with myself over jobs well done.
I wonder if it was the bump on the head I got in the early hours of the morning............

It was soooooo hot last night, i tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, I had the box fan on and I finally fell asleep on the opposite side of the bed than I normally sleep (nearly five yrs alone and I'm still keeping to my side of the bed), next thing I know I'm on the floor, hitting my back and shoulder on the beds wooden edge and the table and then my head on the table. Ouch, obviously I had rolled over and had forgotten i was on the wrong side of the bed.  Either that or unseen forces pushed me off.  I lay there dazed, half asleep and trying to figure out where I was, the dog was sitting next to me and wondering what was going on, then I had a fit of the giggles, thinking how funny it would have looked and aren't i glad i live on my own,  then i dragged myself off the floor, checked for any damage and crawled back into bed on my own side. no bruises but lots of sore spots.

There is the threat of thunderstorms for the next few afternoon, clouds are gathering already but I think we are just being teased. 

J

.........

I can never think of what to put for a post title. I waffle so, nothing seems relevant.

After reading a few blogs yesterday and a new one this morning it seems that you all get into the swing of decorating your homes for the various seasons.  My home always wears the same things year in year out.......and a lot of things are wearing out.  I am so over naked wood. My LH (late hubby) loved his wood, loved to work with it and loved to see it, so my house is full of it, luckily he loved queensland maple which isn't a dark wood and ages to a nice honey colour. I have a dark wood dado rail and dark wood cornices which seem to make the walls look smaller though and two of the walls in the kitchen have boards of various dark woods on which I always wanted to paint either a very pale grey or blue to match the shaker blue and cottage blue on the other two walls.  Being a timber lover and it being an original feature my LH refused to let me.  I am so itching to get the paint brushes out.  But..........I have no money or very little money to waste on paint and my car has just died so I can't get out to the paint shop anyway.  Something to do with the fuses, one went which I had a fiddle with and then POP everything went. It might be something simple, it might not, we will see what the son says. Well, I know what he will say initially but I'm not putting it down here. 
So, what do I do to celebrate spring or the summer that has come early.  It was 33 degrees here yesterday and dry as anything, no humidity, I wilted after midday.  I need bright and airy.  I love so many different styles though - but I am hankering after whites and minimalist (I am the queen of clutter so maybe minimalist is a tad too optimistic)
I need to find a tutorial on painting furniture, what colours are 'in', quick, cheap and easy fixes for a lacklustre home.
Then once my home is springified I can make a start on me  and that definately will be a much bigger job to take on than my home. 
Okay, I am going to go pootle off down the shops to get a few supplies - loo rolls, bread, milk and a newspaper and maybe I might spring to a home magazine and spend the day drooling over other peoples places.  It will be too hot in an hour to walk outside so I've been up early and done all my outside chores in the cool of the day.  It seems ages ago that I was complaining about the rain, we need it so badly, wild fires have been burning, luckily not our immediate area, I've been using the water from the rainwater tank to keep the veggie garden alive and my pots on the verandah but the lawn can suffer, it will soon start growing again when the rains finally do come in.  My two Ivory Curl trees got a good drink this morning, they look so sad, I have three other trees to put in but I'm waiting till the ground is wet - its like concrete at the moment.
Well better get a wiggle on.......Uhru.
Okay, back from the shops, already the sun has bite to it, its now 74F (on the outside one) and 24C on the inside one). The cool breeze that brushed past me on my way down the hill seemed to disappear 15 mins later on my trip back up the hill.  Why did the 'system' go down half way through my transaction at the shop, don't you just hate it when your card is declined, not one card but two and then you mumble something about 'well there was sufficient funds in my accounts yesterday' in embarassment and then do a quick mental sum in your head over your spending, but after checking on the metal mickey outside it said my banks couldn't be contacted.  Of course, it had to be the one day my purse was empty of cash.  Luckily he said I could pay later, which is good cos I really really really needed those loo rolls!  I also bought a Home Beautiful mag - woohoo, with an 86 page decorating and revamp special in it, how serendipitous was that. 
I've decided to do the pine sofa first, (less wood than everything else) and less curvy bits and pieces and if I stuff up I can chuck a big throw over it and stick it on the verandah.
Unfortunately I will have to sand by hand since someone blew the palm sander up, it was a de-walt and had a lot of mileage on it but you could use ordinary sandpaper cut to size in it rather than having to buy the pre-cut shaped stuff, it fitted my hand perfectly and I haven't seen one like it for years.  I need to go cruising round the boys toys, I wonder if they do one in pink.
Jan

.......

I snuggled down for a lie-in, it was no good - the birds had the amplifiers full bore and the sun was shining right onto the bed, by the sounds of the road traffic I thought it must be around 8 so I just had to get up. I pottered around, put the washing on, opened the windows, had breakfast, made the bed and did a quick tidy up, made a list of things to do.  On the way to the laundry to get the wet washing I noticed the kitchen clock had stopped ( a great 50c garage sale find 7 yrs ago) and needed winding.  I went back into the living room to see what the time was and bugger me, it was still only 7 a.m.  So now its 7.50 a.m. and  apart from going to the pharmacy to collect my scripts I've done everything I set out to do today.  What to do, what to do.....I am sure I'll find something to fill my day in.

Yesterday a friend and I went over to Mareeba, first op-shop I found a pretty pink flowery shirt and.........two gorgeous little wall shelves, since we were both looking for something like that it was like christmas, so we got one each.  The second op-shop had decided to close early but the third was open. My friend has dropped huge gigantic humungous hints that she wants a footseat just like mine with the crocheted cover, we split up in the shop and then there she was shouting at me jumping up and down, there was a footseat for $3, it needed a bit of a fill but was perfect for recovering. 

So for the top she wants the purple colour and the rest the same.  We then went to Target and despite there being a sale on we couldn't find anything. The weight is dropping off me now so I'm trying to make do with the clothes I have till after the op and then have a splurge in the run up to christmas sales.  I'm hardly eating anything now - a small bowl of low fat yoghurt and a few blueberries and one small slice of raisin toast for brekkie, lunch is usually two low fat crispbreads with no-fat cottage cheese on and dinner is a small veggie burger with steamed veggies or salad or a miniscule piece of fish or chicken and veggies. Strawberries are cheap at the mo so they are my snack food. Blueberries are also cheap, I'm not really a fan of them but cover them in yoghurt and I'll eat them.  I had a normal cup of coffee yesterday and it was awful, I've got so used to Shape no-fat milk that full fat milk just  makes me sick now. 

Well its a long way off bedtime, better go and find something to fill in those hours........crocheting, reading, gardening, blogg-hopping and quick drive out to the second chance shop out on the highway.

Confusion......

.......hers, theirs, his or mine and maybe yours after reading this.

A close family member has been diagnosed with Alzeimers recently.  Paranoia has been one of the main symptoms which has been causing grief also embroidering the truth, forgetting the details,  imagined conversations causing ripples across the other side of the world from them.  This latest episode involving me. My poor brother got a phone call in which he was told I was dying of a brain tumour and was being operated on today, since he hadn't heard from me for a couple of weeks he was in a panic, emailing and contacting everyone he knew that knew me to try and find out if it was true.  His logical side told him that since the informant had alzeimers that the story could be made up. But she had informed him that another close family member had told her this so he was slightly worried,. This other family member (not blood) has recently been imagining all sorts of things, things she imagines the family are not telling her. Did one of them imagine they had had a convo with the other, or did they both have a convo over imagined happenings or did they have a convo and one of them told the other something she thought was really happening.  So who is the confused one.  For once, it is not ME.  I know I DO NOT HAVE A BRAIN TUMOUR and the only operation I am having will be in November to remove my gall-bladder.   She is not aware she has this horrible disease and can function perfectly normal in her everyday living, shopping, cooking and cleaning and looking after herself.  Do I upsticks here, leave my own family and life and go back to that life I left behind many years ago.  For one, I cannot afford it and I cannot get a loan and I have my own health to look after for my families sake. But they are family also and I owe them such a lot.  If I had still been in the UK it would have fallen on my shoulders  to carry this burden. So why should I feel guilty about the family member who has to now do this. 
On a lighter note, its my day for the grandgirls. Not sure what we are going to do today - definately not the glitter this time.  Maybe nature craft, looking for pretty leaves and rocks we can paint.......too messy maybe.  I've got an hour before I go pick them up so I'll have a quick look through the craft box and see what I have.

Jan

ugh......

Don't worry I'm not going to post the pictures.  I'm a bit of a doubting thomas when it comes to claims like these so I took the photo purely for my own benefit.  When I opened the packet the smell nearly knocked me out, it reminded me of something mum used to use way back in my childhood, it was very strong.  After a few minutes of them being on my feet started tingling and burning slightly, not unpleasant but a bit strange. I put socks on over them because if they were going to be disgusting I didn't want to have to wash my sheets.  I had a really good nights sleep and totally forgot I had them on till I woke this morning at 5.30 a.m.  Ugh, what a sight and the smell was stronger.  The website says use every night till the toxins are all gone from your body, probably three or four nights, thats $24  but I suppose thats cheap if it does its job.  I must say my feet are still tingling, especially where the patches were and the right foot more than the left, which is strange since I had put it over where the reflexology point for the gallbladder and pancreas is.

One more little grub got made last night, this one developed legs. today I really must make that damm elephant or at least work out a pattern for her. 

I found the that tree in a library book, the photo they used was exactly like the one I took and they had a reference to it saying it looked stunning against a blue sky as well.  It is a
Tabebuia Argentea - Chrysantha or Crysotricha, one is more gold than the other.  Since it doesn't grow very tall and isn't a dense tree it might be fine for me to plant them on the bedroom side of the house. They all seemed to have fared well in the cyclone.  Cheryl - the jacarandas are just starting to show their colours, they will be glorious soon. I saw one that appeared to have pink blossoms just coming on.

Jan

PS: Just googled the tree and its part of the Jacaranda family and there is a pink one as well.  No wonder I love it so.

I'm being overrun with llittle grubs......

I think I have finally found out what is making a mess in my craftroom.  These little grubs just seem to be multiplying.  There is two more ready to hatch but they are sooo cute how can I resist them.  If anyone would like the pattern let me know and I'll try and get it down this weekend.  I really must make a start on the elephants and pigs, but these grubs are so addixtive and quick to do. I might make them a little flower basket each with their own little blankies or would that be spoiling them. 

I had to go into town to sort out my Rates, visit the library to find out what that tree was, have coffee with a friend and go for my walk. I went in the op-shop and found this cute little thing, its a bit battered and seen better days but it fulfils my needs and makes me happy.  Its just perfect for putting a mini jamjar of spiderlings in and she sits on the laundry window sill, I must just remember not to knock her flying when I pull down the blinds at night. 

I also bought a pack of Happy Feet from Natural Therapies, has anyone used them, you stick them on your feet at bedtime and its supposed to draw out all the toxins and impurities from your body and in the morning they are covered in a horrible gunky mess.

It will be interesting to see what happens.  I'll be posting before and after piccies tomorrow so if you are of a squemish disposition I would suggest not looking. 

Two in one day.....

I didn't notice your previous post Norma. Well Q'land health is terrible.  The surgeons only come up here once a fortnight, Cairns base has huge waiting lists, their A & E is overloaded and there just isn't the doctors to go around. So we up here either have to go private, go to Townsville or grit our teeth and double up on the painkillers till I get seen up here. I don't get it removed till the end of November and thats not a too bad wait time considering, if I lived in Cairns it would be even longer.
I've lost 6kg so far, I've not had any bad pain for a couple of weeks now, in fact I feel so good I feel like fraud.  I'm tempted to go and splurge on a fat laden meal just to see if I get sick again, but the memory of crawling round the floor in pain stops me before I open the fridge.
I hope I'm one of the lucky ones who can go back to eating everything after the op.  Christmas is going to be so hard if not.  The good side being all this weight I am losing.

Blue skies......

Yes the sky really was that blue and those yellow flowers that bright. I wish I knew what they are, there is a stand of these trees growing in front of BigW in Atherton, I've not seen them anywhere else , not very tall and they appear to get their leaves after the flowers fall. They are so bright and cheerful. I'm going to scour the garden centres and the native plant nursery to see if I can get them.

There I was deadheading the petunias and I found this little grub just begging to be picked up for a cuddle, isn't she cute, good to see she had her sunhat on. I've got a couple of orders for pigs and elephants and I fully intended to make a start on them but somehow
this little girl appeared, she doesn't look much like a pig or an elephant, she's a bit lonely so she might have a little sister or brother by tea-time.

Happy Exhaustion.....

I love my grandgirls to bits, we have great fun together, but, boy, when they have gone and I have collasped into my chair at the end of a very busy day do I know what exhaustion is.
We walked round and round the curtain fig tree, talked to foreign tourists - one who complimented me on my beautiful daughters and wouldn't believe I was their granma. We then visited with my niece at her new business, had icy-poles and a play on the park. The girls are now big enough that they don't need lifting onto climbing frames or helped down from the flying fox so granma gets to sit and rest.
A game of bed tennis developed into a very rowdy game of 'lets see who can whack the ball around the room the hardest'.  Bed tennis involves a very tired granny lying on the bed with one or two grandgirls, they at one end and me at the other, we bat a very soft ball to each other, they run around after the ball while granny lies there resting, occassionally batting the ball out of the room, but then it got serious and competitive. When I bought the ball I bought it because it was bigger than a tennis ball and a lot softer, it makes me cringe just thinking of the damage we could have done with a tennis ball.  But we had fun, granma worked up a sweat and the girls got tired.

The highlite of the day was decorating masks. I'd been to the Reject Shop and picked up a load of cheap craft items and a friend had cleared out a lot of her sparkly bits and pieces so we spent the time; when we were not racing around; in decorating the masks, lots of glitter and fairy dust was used - its amazing just how far two little girls can spread that stuff.  We left them drying on the verandah while we went for our walk and visits and when we'd had our rest the girls added more and more glitter and sparklies.  The little one decided to throw her tanty and I could see she was getting tired and it was time to take them home.

We always have to drive past the horse fields to see the horses and count how many there are, how many black ones there are and discuss the merits of horse poo for the roses (their mums dad has horses and they collect the poo for the garden), its one of our little rituals.  I suppose because I only had one set of grandparents that I didn't see very often and my grandmother had  gone by the time i was 8 that I want to create special memories for my g.girls.  I know I remember every single thing we did and the fun we had and I hope they will remember those times as well,  one day all too soon it will be a chore going to grandma's and they will want to be off doing other things so I don't mind the hours of clean up afterwards, the teenage mutant ninja turtles in my bed (Stacey found her uncles old toys in the cupboard) or the aches and pains these aging bones feel for days afterwards.

Its about time I made a start on the day, it looked like it was going to be miserable today, the grey clouds have parted revealing beautiful blue skies, so the garden needs a good watering and I might put some new veggies in the kitchen garden.  I need to finish off some crochet flower garlands and maybe start a new pig.  I got an order for a set of snowdolls, so I need to work out a price for them and the postage and have some me time and coffee with a friend and I'm not going to get all that done by hanging around in blogland. Better dash........

Its hot, and only a few days into spring

Phew, I had my usual walk by the lake, got my daily dose of vitamin D. Its gonna be a hot dry summer I think.  The garden is as dry as a bone, the grass have given up trying to grow and its not been green for a few weeks.  It only seemed minutes ago we were complaining of the constant drizzle and grey skies.  But its cup of tea time now I think, maybe a chai or a Liptons raspberry, cranberry and strawberry herbal infusion. Sounds good, anyone care to join me.........

Aren't the three little pastel coloured cannisters soooo pretty. I picked them up for $5 yesterday at the markets. I love this little corner of the kitchen, unfortunately though the biscuit and cake tins are empty, no cake or biscuits for me till I've parted company with my gall-bladder.