On the list of the many jobs I have to do around the place, or rather the list of things I have for the boys to do is 'clean the paths'. Over time with all the drizzle and wet weather we have had (yes I know we've had it dry recently) the paths go mouldy and very slippy. I bleach and scrub them usually but had asked No.1 son if I could borrow his pressure cleaner to do them, he looked at the back path to the shed and asked why.  I looked and they were spotless, i went round to the front and looked at the front path and steps and they were spotless. The rain was that heavy in those few days that we had the storms it must have cleaned them, I know there was hail in it. So thats one job ticked off the list that I didn't have to get dirty or sweaty doing.  On the other hand all that grass seed I keep putting in as sprouted, even where some spilled out of the box when i opened it, so now I can take down the all string and posts I put up to keep the cats and birds off it.  Its almost knee high now and nearly ready for its first mow.  I finally got the Jaboticaba in the side garden, well if you've got a son (No.3 who lives in Cairns) calling in for a quick hello you might as well get him to do something for you and since he fetched me all his washing  it was only right he should do something for me.  I wonder when he puts his work clothes on tomorrow he'll notice the softness and the perfume of new comfort rose conditioner. 
So working my way through the list, I now have new locks on front and back doors, lawn reseeded, tree planted, paths cleaned, work bench painted, rain water tank reconnected still need the loo flusher thingy fixing, new floor in spare bedroom, new glass in window laundry, old car and broken ride-on mower removed, washing down walls, sanding doors down, floor boards replaced in front of sink and back door, 2 light bulb sockets replacing, living room repainted, back door repainting. Sitting here isn't going to get any of it done, todays tasks are sanding the back door and mowing as much of the lawns as I can, finishing washing the craft room walls and making three crochet felted brooches, finishing the rabbits and sewing up the elephants finally.

Jan

Poor old brain and fingers don't want to co-operate this morning, must be a two coffee start today, only I've just got enough milk left for one, I'd better make it a strong one.
I finally got the paint out this week and painted the work bench, just needs one more top coat and I'm done. I'm even considering sanding down the back door this arvy and putting the undercoat on, its only needed doing for the past 19 yrs. It was one of those jobs that always got left and we were always going to replace it one day so it never got done, but now it has its new lock on and its vintage (1940's) brass knob all polished up I might just get around to it.

I'm making mutant rabbits at the moment. A few years ago I made an amigurumi bunny and accidently sewed him up wrong. He still looked like a rabbit and obviously the person who bought him knew he was a rabbit, but try as I might I cannot get another one to look like the original.  In fact I cannot get any of the amigurumi I now make have the same weirdness about them that the original ones had.  Perhaps my inner neat freak needs to go take a break for a while, sometimes she has this urge to make everything 'just so', no stitches loose, correct spacing between increases and nicely rounded shapes filled perfectly with no bumps and lumps.  To me now, he is too simple, i know at the time it was hard for me to make him, the same with the prim stitcheries I just found it hard to do not do it perfect.  Which is all very strange cos anyone who knew me when I was young will tell you what a messy bugger I was, never neat and tidy, my needlework teacher at school despaired of me ever making anything where the stitches stayed in the first time they were sewn.  Bootees I knitted were always different sizes with loose open stitches.  About ten years ago I made a conscious effort to do everything the proper way, I disciplined myself to prepare my work, and do everything in order, to finish off properly.  Maybe I got too obsessive about it.   Now I need to lighten up a bit and strike a happy medium.  One area in which I am not neat and tidy is my craft room.  I love its disorder, the neat freak gets left at the door and is barred unless invited in when things get a bit too disorganised. My garden is also messy, perhaps once or twice a year I allow the neat freak to take over and she tidies up the lawn edges and gets a family working bee going to make it spick and span, but mostly I just keep the lawn raked of leaves (its exercise) and mow the lawn once the grass is ankle deep (again exercise).  

I've stuffed all the rabbits and all their body parts are laying in a pile ready to be assembled, I'll post a piccy later today, maybe I will try and ditch the neat freak and invite the inner sloven out for a while.

I've got a spy job on this morning and my printers out of ink, so I've got to make notes.  I am so sure my black was two thirds used last week and I haven't printed anything out for days but now its says it is empty.  The Post office is closed on a saturday and I've been to town twice this week so I really don't want to go again since I have to spy in a town the opposite end of the shire and they don't have a place where I can get my ink, occassionally they will have it at the newsagents but not very often and I'm not sure wether my computer man is open on a weekend.  But I've done the job a few times now and I know the brief. Sounds good doesn't it, I always wanted to be a spy when I was little - Violette Szabo is my all time favourite, but unlike her going into the thick of things in war time France I'm just popping to the next town and fighting my way through customers to do a customer service check. 

Jan

oh me poor tootsies.....

I have learnt three things today and yesterday.......you can't change the tv channels with your mobile and you can't use the tv remote to phone a friend. Third thing..........don't break in new shoes and a new bra at the same time.  Scuse me while I go rip the darn things off.
I strolled down to the folk festival and lasted about five minutes, a quick chat with my niece, I looked for a friend I was supposed to meet, couldn't find her and that was me out of there.  I don't seem to have much of an attention span for things like that anymore, besides losing my temper with tourists who stop dead in front of you or wander in your path.  By the time I had walked back up the hill my new Homypeds had rubbed and so had the bones in my stoppen floppen.
 I had an convo with a neighbours hubby on the way down the hill:
Him: Hello there, haven't seen you for ages, you been hibernating, you're looking good.
Me: Yeh, thats right, thanks.
Him: You been out chasing the men.
Me: Yeh, but I can't catch em, they run too fast.
Him: You continue keeping fit like you are, they'll be soon chasing you. 

So by now half the town will know I'm in the market for a new man. 

I got bored last night and painted my nails on one hand in different colours to see which colour I liked best.............just looked at my hands now and realised I didn't take the polish off.  I really shouldn't be let out on my own sometimes.

After the past couple of days busyness in finally getting new locks on the doors I am going to  read books, drink coffee and a bit of stitching.  Maybe stuff an elephant or two.
The music from the F.F. carries up the hill so its nice to sit on the verandah and listen.

No chance of getting anything done now......

.........see that little widget, the one with all the pretty flowers on.  Well I joined the flower garden.  So many pretty blogs and so many pretty flowers and projects. I was going to be oh so busy today sewing the elephants up and making a few more flowers for the garlands, cleaning of course and a bit of weeding.  Then making a start on someones birthday present. No chance, zip, nada, buckleys, a cat in hells etc etc etc.  I'm curled up on my puter chair, with biccys and coffee (healthy biccys) and reading blogs.
The wind is howling outside and its RAINING, we've been thrashed with it, the coast has had 200mm of rain in 24 hours, we had just over a hundred mm, a few areas have flooding. The farmers are doing happy dances, the rains going where its needed.  Its our local folk festival this weekend, plus the markets, lets hope the rain fizzles our by then. I don't think we'll do the markets if its too wet and blowy.  I never go to the folk festival, I did years ago but its lost a lot of its charm, now its all money money money. 
Okay, I'm going out to the flower beds and do a bit of reading.

Jan

...........

We had a lovely storm the other afternoon, thunder lightning and wind which blew the rain horizontal so none of it went in the rain gauge.  The thunder shook the house and bounced a few ornaments off the shelf. The hail was only as big as peas, but I moved the car under cover just in case.  So armed with a few library books and the dog I settled down to an afternoon of reading.
I dragged myself out of the house early saturday and went to a few garage sales, scored a round patio table and two chairs for $10, definately not shabby chic or vintage but it will serve its purpose. I rescued an old work bench from next door, just needs a quick paint job and it will go in the craft room. I had the shock of my life when I went under the house to get it and I'm sure Mandy and her friend when they were clearing up the day before didn't see it, cos I didn't hear any screams.  I actually thought it was an old belt under the bench and went to kick it out of the way, luckily it was dead......yes, it was a snake, only about a metre and a half, couldn't tell what sort it was but not a carpet snake.  We get a lot of browns and taipans around here (both deadly) so I am always careful when going in the sheds or gardening around the buses or near rocks. 
I raked leaves and weeded today, good exercise and I worked up a sweat. I put all the winter clothes away in the suitcase under the bed, hopefully next winter I can throw them all away and buy lots of lovely new clothes, cos I'm gonna be at least 3 sizes smaller by next winter.  Treated myself to a new nightshirt as well on Sunday and that was one size smaller than I usually get. 
I'm  trying a bit more food now, I would love to eat chocolate and chips (not at the same time) and I would kill for a bacon butty but I know it would be a trip straight to the hospital if I did.  I can only tolerate the smallest amount of fat before I start to get pains. But, I keep telling myself 'this is a good thing'. Despite the scales telling me I have lost 7 kgs I would like to know where from, cos me bums still huge.  Though it could be my waist as I had to take in a skirt by two inches on friday, but my trousers don't feel any slacker.  I'm wallowing around on the floor in the mornings  with a resistance band, I'm terrified the thing is going to snap and knock me out or take the dog out along with everything on the shelves.  I can feel it doing some good (if i tell myself often enough I might believe it), I use 5 kgs weights in each hand and sit on my exercise ball and bounce around while watching tele at night, its too hot to go walking anytime after 7.00 am so I exercise whenever I can in the house, under the fans and when the clouds cover the sun I rush out and rake leaves and rip out weeds.  Who needs Curves.

Jan 

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.