Saturday, February 24, 2007

A great weekend.

Yes its been a really good one. One that make me super happy to be a part of a great family. We may be small, we may be isolated from our family, but we are a great team. I'm finding my place here in Newcastle, I'm happy here (except for the mugginess). I would return to Melbourne in a flash, but there would be things I'd miss now. Two months ago, I would not have found one. I have friends now, a good bunch of friends. Jamie has heaps of friends. Mark is settled in school.

Anyway our weekend.

  • A 10km bike ride with Jamie - found out the teeth on the gears are stuffed, that is why its SO HARD to ride up hills and the fact that the chain CLUNKS all the time is very unnerving. I quite like the feel of riding a bike, I like the sailing down a hill (not too fast), I like the idea of riding a bike as well. I know its so good for me that I will make the effort - once the gears are fixed - to ride regularly
  • Had a lovely heatlthy dinner of salad and chook YUM
  • Watched Better Homes and Gardens and now want to build a shed made out of doors - it looks so cool, but Jamie says we can take the same principal and make a nice shelter for the puppies.
  • Did some gardening. My whole front garden is trimmed and weeded, the soil (or should I say sand) has been turned over. Now I want to plant some bright and happy flowers for near the front door. I felt hot, dirty, wet and satisfied... never thought gardening would do that for me.
  • We had another healthy lunch of salad and chook - does that sound like leftovers.
  • Went in our 4WD to the Stockton Dunes. It was great fun, put the dogs, boogie board and some towels into the "forby" and off we went. We decided to take the slightly longer, but less steep track - its the one you went along mum - but we rounded a corner and we could see two cars stopped in front of us!! Jamie got out to see if he could help. According to those drivers there was a car completely bogged in the very soft sand and there was 15 cars in a line waiting. We then decided to go the shorter/steeper track again there was a slight holdup. 5 kids (18-24) in a really cool open topped 4WD could not get up the hill. Jamie and another bloke got out to help - Mark and I stayed in the car. The sand was BURNING hot. Marky and I were chatting when out of the corner of my eye I saw about 10 people all dressed in black shorts and tshirts one of then carrying a baseball bat. Oh dear I thought we are in for a rumble. Instead these 10 people helped move the red car and then they decided to go home. So a very sheepish, new, red 4WD drove past us int he opposite direction to the dunes with its tail between its legs. We got up the hill in one go and our huge sand tyres were at 15psi, that is REALLY low, what you would normally call a flat tyre. Then we went swimming.

I'll finish this post tomorrow, I'm just about to fall asleep and I'll make heaps of mistakes.

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day

Stupid stupid idea. Forcing love on a particular day. Florists make a killing.

But I got a lovely bottle of wine!

Doing a little happy dance about that.

Thanks.

To my mum!
Where would I be without you? Thank you for listening to me for an hour on the phone this afternoon. Blathering about my boring life.
I know that I'm worth it.
I know that I'm special.
I know that I'm a good mum.
I know that I deserve to have a full nights sleep.
I know that I am good at my job.
I know that I'm as good as a $20 note.

This is the email that mum sent me to cheer me up. Keep going with those inspirationals mum.

A speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?"
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.
My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you.
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE.
You are special - Don't EVER forget it."

Count your blessings, not your problems.
Remember: amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.
If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Scrap for a good cause.

To the Victorians out there: There is a blog for it here.

Friends of mine are are having an All Day Crop to raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. We would love for this to be a huge event within the Victorian Scrapbooking community and hope that you can all help us achieve our goal of donating a sizable amount to this very worthwhile cause.

Crop for Kids
The Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal

When: Friday 6th April 2007
Where: Mulgrave Community Centre
355 Wellington Road, Mulgrave
(MelRef 80 D1)
Time: 10am - 5pm
Entry Fee: $25

We hope to reach our goal by holding raffles, auctions and competitions throughout the day. Please check back next week as we start to add some very exciting news about the event. Also if anyone has any ideas or would like to help out please contact us at cropforkids@iprimus.com.au

Thursday, February 08, 2007






Some other photos of my life.

Its so muggy here at the moment, that all my photos of Jamie are topless. Should I put them in???

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Mental photos.

This is a photo that Mark not only took, but completely set up. He looked like a professional photographer adjusting the distance the camera needed to be and how it all looked in the viewfinder. I think it looks pretty cool as well.
This is an extremely tired me. Yes I have a spout. It was hot, hair was getting in my eyes, so for the photo a day comp I decided to show a "this is really me" photo. Usually its only Jamie and Mark who get to see me like this, but now its out there for the world to see.

Friday, February 02, 2007

General stuff.











Good afternoon,

I'm really just here to put up some photos. I'm doing the Photo A Day Competition being held by Blue Bazaar, not so much a competition, but a challenge. First week is all about me or my style.
So again, wondering what the heck blogger will do with my photos.
I have taken a self portrait, feel a bit strange about it, but its me and that is what I look like.
I have also taken a photo of something the ladies out there might be familiar with, the pregnancy test.... alas still negative. This will be that last photo of something like that, I won't be announcing it to the world the day the stick turns blue.
Then there is my Marky, he crashed his old bike on the weekend, so we got him a new Repco one with gears and what Mark calls hydrolics but really they are shock absorbers. Its gorgeous and he's VERY happy. This is him trying it out at about 8.30pm last night!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Third Day of School




Forgot about photos on the first day back.
Mark is now is in Year 3. Looks like his teacher might be Mrs Millar, not sure what that means, but Mark likes the idea. Here are some photos of the kid in his uniform and new school bag.