Good Morning, yes I know its been a while, no excuses.........but I have been busy busy busy. More volunteer work, this time as a adult literacy and numeracy tutor.  I've had a birthday since the last post, it came and went quietly with the minimum of celebration.

Lots of crochety goodness has been made - a lot of crochety goodness has been made a start on and a few things actually got finished. Mainly the footstool cube.  The first episodes of the x-factor, a few episdoes of Escape to the Country and a couple of reno programmes and a whole heap of yarn that had to be used before I could get the lid on the yarn boxes and she was finished. I'm happy with her, though I could have done one less row so she fitted snuggly rather than loose.  She certainly brightens up the room.  I'm planning something similar for my computer chair seat and back which is looking a bit worse for wear at the moment.

 I can now close the lid on the boxes, just, if I weight them down with other boxes. I'm not going to buy anymore yarn this side of christmas, okay, okay, you can stop laughing now. I mean it, no more yarn.......unless its absolutely necessary of course.  I am going to Mareeba this morning and there is an excellent yarn and fabric shop there that sells the most gorgeous embroidery threads, their over $6 so every time i go over I buy two. Not used them yet, they're my pretties and I just look at the moment.

 I must get my list so I don't double up on them.  I seem to be going for all the heathery colours. 
No.3son got his motor-bike licence and his motor-bike on the road last month.......as if I didn't have enough grey hair already.  The mountain roads up here to the Tablelands from his home in Cairns are long and winding and there have been quite a few bad accidents in recent years but give him credit I  think he will take care on them.  His mothers wrath is more painful than a broken leg.

Better get a wiggle on and get dressed, put the dog out, water the garden, get the thread list done and then get out to town, got volunteeer work this arvy as well. Hardly any time left in the day for me to relax with a book and a glass of wine, I usually fall asleep in my chair around midnight and then I'm up again at 6.00.

Florabella

Here she is in all her glory, back from the show with her mates with not a prize between them. Oh well, I don't think they are quite ready for ami's. The same old same old got the prizes. Having a quick look a round the entries definately need brightening up in the knitting and crochet section. But it was a learning curve and a one off thing for me.  

Its been a wet miserable weekend not too cold though the cloud cover kept what little heat there was in. My new electric blankie has been getting a good workout. 

This handsome little guy/gal was up in a tree next to where we parked the car at Platypus Park. Its a Golden Orb spider also known as a St. Andrews spider because of the way they weave their web.  Okay so its the last photo with the spider. The rest is of saturday at Platypus park when we visited the market there.

The platypous loved the wet weather and made quite a show in the pond.  Bobbing up all over the place it was hard to count just how many there were. The turtles and the ducks got in on the act as well.

Its a lovely spot under the ghost gums overlooked by Mt. Baldy with the historic Hou Wang chinese temple just visible through the trees

Brrrrrrrrrrrr.....

7 degrees this morning (40 something), i'm sat here with my beanie on, fleecey jacket and my fingerless gloves plus the stuff i went to bed in last night.  The sky is a beautiful blue with no cloud in sight. By lunch time it will be in the 20's (between 70 and 80)and i will have followed the sun around as it warms up the house and garden.  Between 9 and 10 it hits the bathroom and the loo is the warmest place in the house.  There is one surefire way of waking yourself up in the mornings and thats sitting on a icy cold loo. Definately a shock to the system.  I tried crocheting first thing yesterday morning (11 degrees) and it was just impossible so i'm not going to attempt it till later.
I decided on a whim to enter some of my dolls in one of the country shows, the level of the work presented has always freaked me out in the past but this year I thought what the heck, hell I've had my designs and work published in a major australian craft magazine so I must be good enough for a little country show.  I am glad I did, with various things that have been going on in the area with the weather and economy less and less people are putting things in, they grabbed my dolls with glee.   But is the little country town ready for bright, strange pink and green bunnies, snowdolls (in the wet tropics) and a purple and pink fairy with very long legs and chunky purple sparkly wings, I had to explain amigurumi to them on a little blurb so we will see what happens.  The fairy actually got designed and crocheted over the past three days, she's the first draft and I am really happy with her. Unfortunately the drive mechanism on the lens on my camera packed in and is irrepairable so no photo's got taken. I did buy a new camera yesterday, my wonderful computer guy had one going cheap so I bit the bulllet and parted with cash but it was after I had taken all the dolls into the showgrounds.  So another first for me.

Life in the information centre is good, I enjoy talking to the visitors and i enjoy being with the other volunteers, I have my own little thing. I run the facebook page for them, I'm on the famils and training team and I help out wherever help is needed. I have no agenda by doing this, I don't wish to be volunteer of the year I just enjoy doing it.  Its a long time since I have been able to say that.   We are a diverse group of people with our own talents that we bring in, in the past I would have shied away from them as individuals because I thought they would have judged me or as a group they would have been very clicky and kept me out  (I am so glad I got rid of that view). But i seem to have fitted right in, they are fantastic bunch of people.  

I've got to find out how to use this camera, luckily it has a smart thing on so I can just aim and click, but it has other functions as well including a little voice recording thing so you can do a voice over on a photo.  Ideal for people like me who forget where they take photo's.  But of course I have to find out how to get into it to use it which means ploughing through the info. I prefer simple things in my life, I want easy, no brainers. I had to buy a new toaster as well this week. I looked at the shelves - $18 cheapy, simple lines, nothing fancy or the $50+ ones - sleek, shiny, polished. Both did exactly the same job and had the same guarantee and both were going to be stuck in a cupboard when not in use so I went for the cheapy one and used the left over money to buy new printer ink and laminating sheets. I like cheap especially when its cheerful (sounds just like me LOL).

On that note, I'm off to see if the sun is over the mango tree yet and find a warm patch to sit in.

Jan

doors closing and opening.......

.......this year seems to be a year of things ending and new beginnings. 

Volunteering has brought me new ideas and thought patterns, this time last year I would have never thought I could be this far out of my comfort zone. I've actually become part of a group, I've always been a loner and never a joiner of things, I prefer my own company, have a couple of really close friends and a few acquaintances and I have been happy with that.  So being in a group and being a part of a whole is a new thing for me.  I've even held my hand up for a few things as well.
 I've let go of trying to make money out of my craft, it just aint gonna work and I really just enjoying creating for the sheer pleasure I get out of it.  I haven't made anything for me for ages, so I'm going to spend a few days not doing anything and seeing what inspiration hits.  I've been so busy making things for other people that the pleasure went out of it.  I want to do more for the magazines, but the christmas deadline is fast approaching and I would have to get it made, get the pattern typed up and the photo done all by next monday.  Perhaps next month i will make the effort, but like everything else i am not going to stress out over it if it doesn't get done.

Sound tracks......

Firstly pop on over to this blog http://abritintn.blogspot.com.au/ and say hello to Jo.  She has such a pretty blog and I love visiting.
Can you hear the music playing. I got to thinking after visiting this morning that if my life was a movie this is the music I would like to playing quietly in the back ground as I go about my day, its so restful and peaceful and relaxing. It would be hard to get angry or stressed out with music like this in the background. 
Ironing would be a pleasure - the repetitive gliding of the iron back and forth as you float along with the music. 
What a nice start I had to my busy hectic day today as I strolled through the pleasant scenary of Jo's blog.  Thank you Jo.

What music would you have as your lifes sound track, what would be on your compilation.

4.45 pm
Well things went a bit pear-shaped this morning, I housekeep a holiday let cottage and had just started to get it ready for new guests, all I was doing was batting down the wayward feather doona and ping, snap like an elestic band or like a sharp electric shock in my lower back, i was in agony, it took me about 15 minutes to get to my mobile phone to call a friend to come rescue me and then the owner of the house to ask if she could delay the guests  arrival time. I managed with the aid of a broom as a prop to get one load of washing in the dryer and another in the machine. I realised it was going to be impossible for me to finish cleaning as I couldn't even stand up straight. The plumber was booked to come later that day to fit a new loo cistern and he would have been quite happy to come rescue me as well, my boss wanted to drive the two hour journey from her home to help even.  My friend arrived and with me doped up on painkillers we managed to get the house ready.  The concerned plumber did a great job of cleaning up after himself as well.  I can't straighten up and the computer chair is the only place I can sit and get out of easily.  I'm saving the really strong painkillers for tonight so I can sleep, the ibuprofen is not even dulling the pain.  I know when this happens it usually takes a few days for everything to settle down, i'm forcing myself to rest and maybe this will give me chance to get a few projects finished off.
I'm hoping a hot shower will ease it off a little enough for me to stand at the cooker and get dinner ready,  though its knocked me a bit sick and I might just have a cup-a-soup.

 Jan

And the rain keeps on coming.....

Okay, I think I've had enough of rain and wind, its more like a wet Whit weekend in Blackpool than the tropical north of Queensland. Just been putting the finishing touches to the holiday let I housekeep - brought all the blankets out just in case they are needed. The guests have young children so I've moved all the breakables out of reach and I think my job is done there now till friday. They check out at ten and the new guests check in at one, so I'm going to be a busy little beaver on Friday. I lost this morning because of two meetings I had to attend, so with the holiday let thats all day I've lost, tomorrow I'm in the info centre and wednesday afternoon as well so with the travelling and other things that leaves me thursday to catch up with some serious crafting  to get ready for market.
I wasn't aware this post had gone into drafts, I thought I had lost it completely after my computer froze.
19/4/2012
The rain has eased off and we've had a couple of nice days, not too hot and just warm enough.  I've done everything I have to do, just got to run into town and do a small job and get some shopping in and then back home and get some gardening done I think and a walk by the lake with the dog. Today is my day I think, peace and quiet and catching up with my reading and gardening and a bit of craft.

Jan

Balance.....

It has taken a while but I finally have balanced my life out.  So far so good until of course until I meet a new man and I will have to shuffle things around a bit to fit him into my life or a new job comes up.   I'm back doing the mystery shopping, not a lot, probably only a couple of jobs a month and I am going to try and put the money earned from that into a savings account.  I used to be such a good saver, before kids and commitments I saved up for the deposit on a house and always had money in the bank.  Then once the kids came along it was impossible to save.  Now its just me on my own again I find it even harder. There just isn't anything left at the end of month.  I know if I didn't craft I probably would be a lot better off, the money I would save by not buying craft materials is far more than the money I get from selling what I make at the moment. 

Some days I just do not feel like making anything and I used to be happy with that, I could quite easily go a month without creating anything (or buying any materials). I know I've waffled on about this before so ignore me if it gets boring.  It just my way of sorting everything out in my head, I'm thinking out loud, well, typing out loud.  What would I do if lack of money wasn't a barrier. Well, if I had money, then I wouldn't need to craft to earn money I could do it as pure pleasure and I probably wouldn't do as much. I would make what I wanted to make and take my time and savour the joy of making.  I would probably create more for the magazines.  But on the other hand, money is really not a problem for me, I either have it or I don't.  I'm not obsessive about having more, yes it would be nice not to have to struggle to pay the bills, but the bills do get paid, it would be nice to splurge once in a while and sometimes I do, though only small pretty things as an occassional treat.

To be quite honest I am happy with my life, despite others saying I should  have more, I shouldn't just settle for how things are.  So I'm just going to pootle along doing what I do, a little bit of volunteer work, a little bit of craft, a little bit of socialising, a little bit of solitude and meditation, healthy eating and exercise, a little bit of work, a tiny amount of gardening,  a little bit of family and then mix it all up and I really have a very good life and I am satisfied with that.

I have been making coathangers and I found a little half finished baby bear hat, unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn left to finish the ears in the original yarn. I did have some leftover yarn from a christmas project that was supposed to be the same colour code as the hat yarn but there was a definate difference in colour, perhaps its just me being my fussy self but maybe someone else won't notice it. I stuck a flower on - I managed to find a tiny amount of the pink in my scrap stash that matched the edging and frogged about 6 attempts at flowers till i finally managed to make a flower that didn't run out of yarn about 6 stitches from the end.  It'll fit a newborn to 3 months i think. I decided that if I was going to make something as naff as coathanger covers then I was going to do them my way and pretty.  I am enjoying making them, everyone is different, once i get bored with them then I'll stop.  I have recently owned up to the fact that I do have short attention spans where certain things are concerned and making these certain things or doing these certain things  lose my interest very quickly.  Thats probably why I have half a dozen projects on the go at once and why I have a very large stash (hidden away) of UFO's, why I can have at least 5 books I am reading and why I never ever quite finish the decorating.  But you know what, I'm happy with that, thats me, I'm not breaking any laws or upsetting anyone, I'm going with the flow, when I need to I can allow routine in and I know sometimes I have to behave like a grown up and get things done the right way.  I spent a few years trying to be in control of everything, trying to get routine into my life, I think because so much had happened I needed to be in control because I was in danger of losing the plot completely.  Now everything is in balance again I can see the areas that need to have routine and the areas I can let go.

I'd better go get dressed, wouldn't look good going shopping in my jami's - very nice jami's, greeny blue with owls all over them.  Boring routine stuff that needs to be done and a quick forage round the op shops thats pure pleasure. 

If you stayed around and didn't fall asleep or leave the room half way through this post I hope you have a wonderful day.

UHRU

Jan

April already

I seem to only get in here to blog now once a month.  Very bad of me I know. Sorry.

I've been busy doing what seems like lots of things but really isn't much.  Two days a week I volunteer at two information centres which I love.  We had  a couple of weeks of sunshine after all that heavy rain. The rain closed down the range road down to the coast because of landslides and we were stranded up here.  Not that I wanted to go anywhere.  Now we are back to rain and wind again. The days perfect for staying indoors and crafting. Except I am full of energy and want to get out into the garden. So I'm in the house cleaning like mad to use up all this get up and go I seem to have.  I've a few crochet projects on the go - mainly kids hats and coat hangers and a few ami's and lots of flowers. I need to do more  bears.  I've been playing around with the new things in Picasa, I like the frames. I made these bears a few years ago, my own design and need to make more, I've made a start and have a few disembodied heads lying around and a few body parts but need to make the effort to actually assemble them.  I make a few and then lose interest pretty quickly so I'm thinking of only ever making 12 in anything, especially the long leg dolls and the curly tops.  I'm having problems with the crochet kids hats with the sizing, what I did as a 3 -4 yr old fitted my 5 - 6 yr old grandgirl who is probably bigger than the average 5 yr nearly 6 yr old.  I've been using a few guides I got off the net but they all seem to be using a thicker yarn than me and a bigger hook. I'm using a 8 ply yarn (australian) and a 4.50 hook since I like it to be not too loose so they don't lose their shape after a few washes and go all baggy.  Just how long should the hat be, I'm working on 7 inches for a 12 month size with no turn back.  I need to borrow a baby from somewhere.  I made a cute little bear one and managed to get a new born to try it on, it looked so cute, it was a bit big but then she was only a tiny little thing, I wish I had asked the parents if I could have taken a photo.

Isn't this sunflower gorgeous, they are only small ones, the flowers were probably about 8 inches across and the plants about a metre tall. Great for a small garden, I just threw the seeds into the raised veggie garden off the verandah and they all grew, I've dried the seeds and scattered again so heres hoping more come up.

The zinnias didn't like the very wet weather and the wind and they are struggling to survive.  They have such pretty colours, I usually grow them from seed but this year I bought bedders and they don't seem to do as well.  Neither did the begonias in the hanging baskets so once this weather dries up a bit I'm going to redo all the pots and baskets. I did them not so long ago, new soil and pruning.  The lipstick plant is doing the best of all, all the cuttings took and they are all in flower and the mother plant is positively blooming. The camera batteries are just about on their last legs and don't hold their charge for very long, usually lasts about 20 piccys before I have to recharge again. I suppose I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy more.  I need to get outside and take some piccys before the best of the garden is over and is ruined by the weather.

I think today I will cook a proper dinner, I've been very lax and have not been eating properly again, nothing too bad but then again nothing too good either.  I might make this bean salad again but open up a tin of tuna or cook up a chicken breast to go in with it

Its lasts me for a few days (if the family don't come round for dinner). Don't the pieces of celery look like caterpillars.  I make a spicy dressing and add whatever i have in the cupboard and fridge. Usually chick peas and 4 bean mix, thinly sliced carrot and red capsicum, celery - it ends up being a very colourful meal. If yellow capsicums are cheap then I stick them in as well. Sometimes I bung some olives and mushrooms in as well if its going to be a meatless meal.  Cubes of fetta as well sometimes get added the next day. I find onion tends to upset my tummy now so I won't be adding any to this lot and I tend not to put tomatoes in either, I have those little cherry tomatoes growing wild all over the garden and its easy enough for people to put their own in if they want. I might even put pasta in tonight - I have some gluten free stuff and it will make it last a bit longer.  I'm off to see what I have in the fridge, I know I need to buy mushrooms and celery and I might have a couple of capsicums ready in the garden.

UHRU

Jan

Wet Thursday

Today is a wet day, as was yesterday and the day before. Not a lot of tourists about but enough to keep me on my feet and busy.  I love working in the info centres.  Yesterday I spoke to people from many places from around the globe. Lovely little japanese exchange students, so polite, so friendly and so happy, a nice young couple from Seattle touring round Oz on the trip of a lifetime, grey nomads, couples spending their kids inheritance on themselves, people who fell in love with the area and now want to move here.  Its a great place to be.  My feet and my throat are a bit sore but I have a few days to recover before my next stint.  Not one person complained about the rain, they loved it - hey we aren't called the Wet Tropics for nothing and living in a rainforest area we gonna get rain.

I am trying hard with these damm australian animal ami's, I sat down with a book of aussie mammals and tried to draw cartoons of them that would work well as an ami doll.  I reckon its best to just sit down with the hook and yarn and just see what eventuates. 
I've started up a wordpress blog, hopefully I will migrate over there soon. You can find me here /http://hookinginthetropics.wordpress.com/. Not a lot on there at the moment but now I am back into blogging again I might put more in there.
Well not done a lot today, I forgot to buy stuffing, I went in to the store to buy toy stuffing and came out with 3 big wands of bubble making liquid, 4 balls of yarn and black printer ink.  It wasn't until I was heading out to the centre that I realised I had forgotten it and by the time I got out of there the store was closed. I have all these little ami's to stuff and I'm not going back into town till next week so I might just rip open one of the new pillows and use the fill from there.  So as soon as I said that I knew I just had to go rip open a pillow and see if the stuffing was okay for ami's, yes it was, but then I got side-tracked and spent 30 mins sorting out my little drawer sets where I keep all my bits and bobs and etceteras. Sorting out my beading supplies and labels and rearranging everything.  So now I am back to finish off here, add a few photo's and have some lunch.

Uhru

Jan

March catch-up

There I was plodding along in the slow lane of life and then wham the universe booted me over to the fast lane.  I'm doing two days a week at the visitor centre both in Y'Burra and A'ton. I've been on 'famils' and met a whole new batch of people, I've been pushed out of my comfort zone, I've got a new housekeeping job a few hours a week and the ideas for new ami's are coming in thick and fast.  Currently just off the hook is what I intended to be a Bilby, but looks more like a bandicoot and our local wonderful librarian (who I have to say is wonderful in case she's reading this) says looks more like piglet.  Whatever it is it looks cute.  Batteries are charging so there will be no piccy of him till they are ready.
The weather is wet and windy, down south are still getting floods and there are a couple of cyclones brewing around the top end and western oz.  I knew I should have mowed at weekend. 

These are some of the goodies I sent to Sue as part of the Flower Bed swap, I really enjoyed making them and its given me a few ideas. I can't wait to see what Sue makes with them, I think her idea of a necklace would look great.

Jan

February update

Middle of feb already.  Things go really slow and then things are speeding up again.

Just finished my first stint at the visitors centre, thoroughly enjoyed it, so much to learn though, especially booking accomodation and tours and the till absolutely terrifies me.
Phone interview tomorrow for another volunteer position in admin and then an interview for a casual cleaning job on thursday which hopefully will keep the hungry wolf from my door.  The craft magazine want more patterns and a young woman down the mountain wants me to knit her the royal family.  Have you seen them - they are really NAFF (do people still use that word or am I showing my age).  So NAFF they are cute.  So things are looking up here.
We are lucky with the weather, despite us being the wet tropics we have not really had all that much rain.  Down south  and southwest have been getting more than their fair share.
It has been really hot here, I usually wilt by lunch time and have to go strip off and lie under the fans.
The oven and microwave is beeping, the dog is pawing me (she knows I've been cooking chicken) so I'd better go feed myself before I waste away (as if).  I might even have a glass of wine with dinner. 

Jan

Still stress free

What a lovely surprise, my ami dolls that were in Handmade this time last year have made it onto the cover of a knitting and crochet magazine Of course it would be nice if I got paid again for them but unfortunately I don't. The snowmen were a bit miffed as they had to share the front cover back in October but Lally Long Legs and Stacey got the front cover all to themselves. The new bunnies and the Little Grub doll are hoping they might have equal fame, but I'm not sure whether I will be submitting them this year. 
As the title of this post say I am still stress free - despite having car trouble yet again and it costing me over $200 to fix. But it was out of my hands and I paid up with no qualms. I didn't even stress out when the car rego came, thats due in two weeks. I was hoping pay for the whole year but it looks like I'll only manage to pay for 6mths, oh well, at least I have the money for it. The sons are getting themselves into strife but they are grown men now and are quite capable of looking after themselves. 
I had a good result when I had my heart check up last week, the doc is really pleased with the bloodwork and my health. I might be gluten sensitive, while I was waiting for my GB removal I stuck to a practically no-fat and no wheat diet. I'm still sticking to it, mainly because I feel healthier on it, but I have started to eat more bread and I've started to get the muscle cramps and headaches at night again, I stopped eating bread and pasta for 4 days and the cramps have stopped, I had bread again and the cramps came back.  I've started using a gluten free bread and pasta and I have had no problems with cramps. The specialist agrees with me that it could be the bread and wheat so I'll have to see my own GP and arrange for tests. My annual Macular test came back fine, no change.  Just waiting for the thyroid and cholestrol tests to come back.
January is nearly at an end already, I've done a few jobs on my to-do list, the back door is half sanded down. I'm back house-keeping the holiday home next door so theres a bit of extra cash to keep things flowing along nicely.  I'm keeping on top of the garden, I've made two more garden beds. The boys had a massive clean out in the sheds and we did at least 5 dump runs. 
Life seems to be running along smoothly, I'm well aware of the occassional pothole and speedbump and can cope.  Not sure where my road is heading, I feel like I am on one of those moving walkways, just moving along slowly and getting off every now and again when I see something I like or need a break. 
Okay, the ovens pinged, my healthy vegetable pizza is ready, I'm going to have that and then settle in for a night of reading, hooking and a bit of tele.

Sticking to my new years resolution

All the ami's I made in September/October/November

I really didn't make any resolutions but I did say I wasn't going to stress out over things not getting done or over things I had really no control over, so today is day four of not stressing out (Despite the phone bill and electricity bill ariving in the post).  Talked with my bro and mum on Skype this morning for over an hour and then with a friend on yahoo so the morning came and went without a thing being done.  The weather is crap, wet and windy (but warm) so the garden jobs will not get done today either.  So I think I'll sit and hook for the rest of the day, one bunny down and one half done.  I might get into the craft room and try and get all my jewelry findings and beads all into one place but no biggie if I don't, I know what I will do and thats bath the dog, even as I type she has picked up my thoughts and is creeping towards the bedroom where she will hide under my bed quivering.
Depending on what the weather is doing at the weekend I might go to market with a few things.  I have no flower hair ties left and they sold really well in the past so that might be tomorrows little thing to do. 
One of the chrissy presents I got was a new laminator, I'm itching to start making small affirmation cards, using some of my photo's edited with an affirmation on them. Its on the list of things to do this month but again no stress if it doesn't get done.  There is also another little idea I have involving crochet and laminating but thats my secret for now.

January is also earmarked for getting at least two patterns down, I've been promising the little grubs and little petals for ages now.  I've started a wordpress blog for crocheting and another one here as well. I'm finding it increasingly hard to use Blogger because XP is out of date and I can only update if I go to 7 or Vista. Its a bit of a bugger getting into Blogger, sort of going round the houses and up through the back paddock and then sneak in over the fence.  But i'm used to it now and I much prefer it to wordpress so I'm hanging in there.

Jan

2012, finally

Snowman Central November/December 2011

So, so glad to see the back of 2011. I handled everything that was thrown at me and came out unscathed.  Well, apart from an empty bank balance and purse thanks to escalating car troubles and being unable to work for 5 months.  The bills are all paid and I made most of the chrissy presents and I didn't stress out over anything. Didn't have a traditional christmas dinner for the first time ever, I just baked a ham and made a potato and  pasta salads and had a panettone instead of a fruit cake, no mince pieces or puds here - it was a virtually fat free christmas, no lollies or choccys even and you know what - I didn't miss them. I was at that stage of recovery where certain foods still turned my stomach when I thought of eating them.

The car died and needed part after part to be regenerated. But she's fixed now (thanks to my wonderful sons) and hopefully will last a couple more years.  Me, well I'm all fixed up as well and I hope I will last many more years. 

Christmas must have been the quietest one yet and new year  crept in with fluffy slippers on, the whole village was deathly silent, nothing stirred...........apart from me, cursing and hopping round the garden blasting cane toads with a spray bottle so the dog could have a pee and poop in safety. 

So here I sat, doing what I love - cruising round blogland, checking up what you have all been doing, I have decided to jump to typepad on a more permanent basis soon, when I discover where I put it.  I'm not sure what direction I'm going in with my creativity, I have so many things I enjoy doing and am good at (toot, toot) but I am not going to stress out over it.  My craft room is all tidy with a new to me work bench in and a slight rearrangement of bookcases - which means I now have to rearrange the living room bookcases to accomodate the books that are now homeless cos I borrowed the entrance bookcase for the craftroom. I spent ages sorting out boxes yesterday looking for the drawings and draft embroideries I had intended for submission, I tidied and threw out as I went along but still didn't find them - doh, they were in the old straw bag I had with the broken handle where I keep felt bits and pieces, I knew that.  So I have my fabric and threads, a clear workspace, a new design on the drawing board and now all I have to do is get out of here and make a start. 

a few of the stocking stuffers I made for everyone, I added a co-ordinated t-towel to go with them.

First though I have to add a few piccys to this post, just check a few other blogs out, check my emails, put a couple of loads of washing on, do the poop hunt, have another coffee, water the garden and hanging baskets, get some chicken out of the freezer, drag the dog out from under the bed, make the bed, get dressed, open all the curtains and windows and 25 mins to do it all in.  Better get a wiggle on then.

Uhru

My favourite little nook, tea or coffee anyone?

Oh yes, and I dyed my hair purple the thursday before christmas as well, but you won't be seeing a piccy of that LOL. 

I'm Back minus the GB

Well that little op wasn't as bad as I expected, I didn't have as much pain as I thought I would have and had my first painkiller free day yesterday.  Saw my GP today who read the surgeons report and it was a text book lap op.  Not eating much, everything cause the most terrible wind and I'm thinking of hiring myself out at the wind farm, I think I could single handedly generate enough power to keep a small town going for a few weeks.  I'm a bit upset about my belly button, as belly buttons go it was quite a nice one, now it looks horrible with a scar running through the centre of it, its a good job I don't parade around in bikini's (boy o boy, now that would be a sight).
The storms that have been threatening us all week finally arrived - the second I walked out of the docs to walk to the other side of town where I had left my car.  Oh well, a bit of rain never hurt anyone.  My car overheated and lights came on on the dash that I didn't even know were there, I was close to home and since I had left my mobile phone on the bedside table I carried on going.  I know I need a new battery and I just have enough for that if tighten the purse strings and don't buy presents for anyone.  I thought about making up gift baskets for family and close friends - garden ones, pamper ones and goody bag ones for the girls, I'm making them a bracelet each and the long legged dolls that were in the mags earlier in the year.  I've been trying to catch up with making stuff for the markets, I missed two this week so hopefully this coming weekend the storms will stay away till the late afternoon and I can get a market in. 
There is so much I need to get done, this year has just galloped away from me no matter how hard I pull on the reins, it aint slowing down.  Bit I have packed a lot in, even so I will be glad to see the back of this year and start the new year healthy and happy.

Jan

new blog

Despite the hiccups I am having with blogger and the fact I can only see half a page here as I am typing I have started a new blog - mainly about the crochet side of my life. http://littlepetalstitches.blogspot.com/.  I will, once I get my finger out post my patterns and ideas.

Jan

Right at this very moment I hate Blogger

What did I do, I really don't know what I hit but I can't do anthing now, it says my browser is no longer supported by Blogger and some parts will not work and you may expereince problems, try Chrome. No I will not try Chrome, I do not want to try Chrome, I want my old blogger back please.  I'm busy trying to get everything back to how it was and I just can't.  So I'm going the long way round and copying all my posts and blog lists into a file and then I'm packing my bags and moving on. 

Jan

Its raining......

I awoke to blue skies very early, workmen clunking and banging away, starting up trucks, how can people be so cheerful so early in the morning.  Too late i was wide awake and no hope of going back to sleep.  By 8.30 the sky was dark and rain had set in, no complaints here, its a bit cooler and the new trees I planted will benefit from a shower and I'm sure the lawn is just soaking it up.

So much for hanging up the hooks for a while, I have orders coming out of my ears, just when I thought it was going to be another frugal christmas.  I'm not going to wait around I'm going to get stuck into them and get them all out of the way asap.  Normally I will procrastinate and dither about but the new me is going to get stuck straight in.

Yesterday I decided to home colour my hair, rather than going for one a shade darker or lighter than my own I chose Mahogany.......... I keep going and looking in the mirror to see if I'm used to it yet. I use argan oil (it keeps the frizzy bits at bay) occassionally and also when I use the straighteners.  I used them this morning and my hair looks like those ads, its all straight and smooth and very shiny. It doesn't look like me but I do love the colour and the grey bits which seem very coarse have gone pink. The highlights which were gold are now a pinky colour as well, overall I'm happy with the result. 

I'm just going to have another look in the mirror and then settle down for an afternoon of hooking.

Jan

Watch this space, I'm going to post the pattern for the little flower grubs soon. They are so addictive and only use a small amount of yarn so are good stash busters.

I told myself that once the rabbits and elephants were finished then I would put away my hooks for a while and concentrate on other things.  The rabbits still need assembly, but I started a few more little grubs last night and some crocheted felted flower brooches and the rabbits lay unfinished. It was be a mind thing - do I really want to put away those hooks and so I am creating more things to crochet before I finish the bunnies.  I even started creating a small crochet christmas tree. I get side-tracked so easily.
On my drawing desk there are 6 designs already to be stitched, christmas stitcheries that were planned for submission a magazine.  I might make a couple up to put on the market stall but I can't see that happening.  They might make christmas in July next year if I get my finger out. 
After a long email to a blog friend I have realised that a lot of what I do around the place are just delay tactics. I might seem busy to you but I do these things so I don't have to do what I have to really do.  But I'm not quite sure what it is I really have to do.  I'm on top of my health thing for now, I can't really make any work plans till after my gallbladders out and I know I am back to normal.  I'm coping with the bills and other expenses. Despite my house needing a few repairs, its serves its purpose as a shelter and protection giver very well.  The only thing I can really think of is selling myself, getting my ideas out there, the occassional magazine project is not going to do that. I need to make the decision to actually make a living at what is now only a hobby.  Well I can't think about that now I have to go remake beds and do the vacumming and dusting and then the ironing and I might make a grub or two.

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.