Home & Family TO BE FIXED – Page 10

Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Finishes, Finishing, Flatfold, Food, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, sydney flat

Where does time fly? (photo heavy)

30 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Here we are – Christmas is past and the New Year is almost upon us … blimey, how did that happen?!!!

I spent a wonderful few days with Brenda and Nigel over in the northwest suburbs of Sydney for Christmas. As usual Nigel did an exceptional job of Christmas dinner and we dined on turkey breast, baked ham, new potatoes, fresh beans and peas, followed by Nigel’s famous pavlova (the best I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying something as I’ve tried many; it was always my fave dessert growing up). Nigel doesn’t drink, so Brenda and I made up for his allowance, and we definitely imbibed a fair bit over those few days … including a bottle of Iron Gate Sweet Shiraz that I brought back from the Hunter Valley, and now Brenda is in love with it too 🙂

Santa was very very generous to me this year – my flatmate Lisa spoilt me rotten with some yummy chocolate dessert sauces, whisk and tea-towel set, a little tub of Mango Daiquiri mix (ie just add booze and chill), a Frangipani calendar and a beautiful bottle of Chocolate Port from Flaschengeist in a Christmas tree shape … boy she has a good memory, and Brenda and I had to sample it on Christmas Day to complete our Christmas dinner festivities. My other friend (who is about to become my new flatmate – see more below) bought me a beautiful blue and gold necklace and earring set, but I forgot to take a photo of it as I’m wearing it today!

Mum bought me a stunning greenstone (NZ Jade) necklace (I chose it when I was in NZ), with a fish hook shape with a whale’s tale at the end … very pretty 🙂

I also spend my Christmas money on an exquisite piece of glass sculpture – we hunted for the entire day for one with ‘just the right colourings’, and just as we’d given up we found one in downtown Auckland. This is a “Koru”, or Silver Fern frond, and I just adore it to death. Unfortunately the photo was taken without a light shining through it, so you can’t see the beautiful colours … I really must try to get a good photo of it. Brenda really loved this one too. Eventually I want to have a glass display cabinet which will house my stitching smalls, and this will sit on the top shelp with a spotlight on it to highlight the colourings 🙂

Brenda and Nigel gave me something that I will truly treasure always – Brenda does ceramic classes, and she’s done some incredible pieces … and this year she made me a Christmas keepsake that will bring years and years of happiness while it’s proudly on display. Handmade gifts are the best, and I feel truly honoured to have one of her pieces to call my own!! 😀

Talking of exquisite hand-made gifts, I also finally remembered to take a photo of the stunning ornie that Katrina gave me for Christmas, and it’s proudly hanging on my hand-made ornie tree. Thanks again Katrina, I really really love it!

Today I went shopping after dropping my mobile phone off to be sent off for repair, and unexpectedly picked up a new Christmas tree with 75% off at Myer, which means this year is the final time I will have a teeny tiny wee tree … next year I will have a big 2m tall tree overpowering the lounge space … and I can’t wait!! haha. Next year that should mean I can combine my bauble ornies with my hand-stitched ornies 😀

I did take a couple of photos of the various Christmas displays in my wee lounge to show Mum, including my set of 3 tables that the removalists tried to demolish (they broke 3 entire legs off of the largest one) – Nigel managed to glue them back together for me over Christmas, bless him, so I’m thrilled to have my tables back on display again yippee 🙂

Mum, this is the centrepiece display I was telling you about on the phone … I really love it!

And I finally “finished” another piece and put the ribbon around my flat-fold that I made quite some time ago (probably 2 years ago now!) – I love the bright red of the ribbon.

While I was shopping today I also scored a couple of cans of English Heinz Tomato Soup … ah, I’m in heaven! The Aussie version of Heinz soup isn’t quite the same, so I had a wee splurge. Not in the photo is also a bag of lemon sherbet bon-bons and box of Black Knight licorice 😉

I also picked up a couple of other treats … including a “fish on a stick” … this is also a photo for Mum’s benefit! I made a decision after visiting a shop with a marine/ocean/beach theme months ago that I really want to have that sort of theme for my lounge, and have been buying a couple of pieces every now and then (I think Susan set the seed with all of her dream home decor photos months and months ago, and it must have been sitting at the back of my brain all this time!) … first of all I bought some starfish for my coffee table when I had my girlie weekend away with Brenda and friends, and I’m now thinking of stitching some small shells along the edge of my sheer curtains … but now I have my own blue fish on a stick too! I also bought a wee tub of coral and shells to place in a plain glass bowl, but didn’t take a photo.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On a different note, last night I had a right royal treat – Tannia and her OH came to visit and stay the night. Even though it was a whirlwind visit, it was so lovely to see them both again – I miss them here in Sydney! I actually felt a bit flat after they left, and ended up taking the day off work to make up for a day I worked while in Auckland during my annual leave. Hence the reason I spent the day shopping, I think! I did feel really bad, though, ‘cos Tannia was her ever-thoughtful self and brought me some luscious gifts, and I had nothing to give in return … I’m such a bad friend! 😦

Thanks so much again Tannia, I love everything, and I miss you loads! {hugs}

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The final news that I intimated about earlier, is that my flatmate Lisa is heading back to Melbourne at the end of January. Her secondment is up then and she’s not interested in renewing it for different reasons … some job-related and some personal reasons. I’m going to miss having her around the place, as we’d become quite close over the last couple of months especially. All is not lost, however, as Katie is going to be moving in instead – her own living situation isn’t great (her flatmate is a druggie and, although quite good fun, is quite strange!). At least I won’t have to find someone else that I don’t know, and don’t have to struggle to make the rent on my own, which is great! Fingers crossed it’ll all work out, and we find living together OK.

Rightio, I think that’s just about all the news for now … I’m a bit scatter-brained at the moment, so I’ve probably forgotten something! I thought I’d better hurry up and make a post, though, as New Year will be here in 2 nights, and it’s unlikely I’ll be back online until we’re already into 2009!

On that note, I’d like to wish you all a prosperous and wonderful 2009!! 😀

Christmas, Fireworks, Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Sydney

Candles/Carols in the Domain Sydney-style

21 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

We had a lovely time at the carols last night – while we couldn’t see the stage clearly from where we were sitting, we could just see the large screen to follow who was on stage. They had a good line-up of local singing stars including Delta Goodrem, Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll, Paulini, and Brian McFadden plus others. We had a star of our own, though, as we found ourselves joined by a certain ‘Gladiator’ along with his family, bodyguard and nanny … definitely a highlight of the night for me! You can see him in the sunglasses just behind us (I felt uncomfortable taking more photos as he was enjoying a family night out, and I thought that would be too intrusive) 🙂

The great thing about the Sydney event is that you can buy a “Candle Bag” for charity, which has 4 candles with cup-holders to sit them in – it looks so pretty looking out over the event when darkness falls to see all of the candles lit up around the crowds. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a good photo to share though.

There was a short firework display at the start of the show, and another final short fireworks display at the end.

All-in-all it was a fun night – although my head was suffering overnight due to the consumption of too much wine and the excitement of sharing the night with Mr C 😉

Today will be spent finishing the Christmas decorations off, I think, then doing a spot of housework … I bought a new attachement for my vacuum cleaner making it semi-bagless, so I’ll have to trial it to see if it works well … nothing but glamorous stuff for me today – serves me right, I’ve been having waaaay too much fun lately! LOL 😛

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, picture framing

A short post for a change!

20 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

After catching up on all the holiday news, it’s time to settle back into Aussie life once again. This morning will be spent getting my hair cut, then writing some Christmas cards (‘cos I forgot all about them before heading on holiday, which means everyone in the world will be receiving them late – I’m totally useless this year … even worse than last year, and I didn’t think that was possible!!!) … then this afternoon will be spent quickly throwing some clothes and bedding into the washer if I get chance before heading out to Carols in the Domain Aussie-style 😀

To quickly answer Andrea’s question, unfortunately no, the Santas won’t be adorning my tree this year – I have a little half tree that hangs on the wall for my hand-made and special ornies, but it appears that is now pretty full this year, and my actual Christmas tree is too small to really handle a lot of ornies either. My wish for next year is a decent Christmas tree so I can have a mix of glass ornies and stitched ornies together. In the meantime, I have a medium-sized swag that will be hanging from my curtain rail above the lounge window, and I’m going to hang Mum’s Santas from there this year. Here’s a photo of my ornie tree that I took before I went on holiday – this is where I hang my gifts from friends plus a couple of ornies I’ve made myself over the last two years … as you can see, it won’t handle much more! 😉

Talking of gifts, I remembered to take a photo of Karen’s incredible gift – you may remember she handed me her old Janome sewing machine … here it is in all its glory. I brought home with me my old sewing machine feet and various attachments (walking foot, 1/4″ seam foot etc) from Mum’s, as I’d given them all to her when my old Janome died. I’m looking forward to trialling this little beauty out after Christmas 😀

I also forgot to post a photo of my Snapperville piece all framed and on display in Karen’s shop – didn’t the framer do a wonderful job of it? I’m really pleased with the framing of this one, it’s just lovely … he usually tends to favour dark mats, which I think sometimes overpowers the piece, but this one suits it well 😀

Now, I guess I should quickly do a spot of unpacking so I can get a photo of Katrina’s beautiful ornie, then it’s time to start on those other chores for the day …

Art Deco, Auckland, Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Flowers Trees & Gardens, Food, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Mum's stitching, Napier & Hawkes Bay, Pohutukawa, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Napier/Hastings … final part (photo heavy again)

19 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Alas, Tuesday came far too quickly, and it was time to pack up again for the return drive home. We had a leisurely start to the day and didn’t leave the motel until 10am – we started of by driving to the Silky Oak Chocolate factory and museum, where we unexpectedly ended up spending a full two hours! Not only do they have a cafe serving great food (we ended up having brunch there), but they have a really interesting Museum all about the history of chocolate – it was fascinating, and definitely worth the visit! 😀

Eggs Benedict with Bacon

Raspberry & Pear Muffin

Afterwards we drove into Napier township for a visit to the information centre and a wee walk around the waterfront and streets to take some photos of some of the Art Deco buildings – we enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn’t end up leaving Napier itself until 3pm … oops! 😉

One of my fave sculptures – “Pania of the Reef“

Napier waterfront gardens, with Pohutukawa trees in bloom

If any of you are interested in Art Deco building styles, here is a selection for you. For those of you who aren’t aware, Napier CBD was flattened by a devastating earthquake in 1931, and all of the buildings were rebuilt during the same era, giving Napier the reputation of being the capital of Art Deco architecture due to having so many buildings of that style in such a small area.

We finished off our trip to Napier by stopping at a couple of fruit sellers stalls to stock up on beautiful fresh produce. That’s one thing I really love about NZ, there are plenty of local growers selling their fresh produce – and their quality and flavour is far superior to anything you can buy in the supermarkets. My special treats over the couple of days away (as we bought some other fruit the previous day) were fresh strawberries (to die for!), apricots (one of my all-time fave fresh fruits), boysenberries (can’t remember the last time I saw them fresh since moving to Oz), blueberries, and black cherries … oh boy, I’m drooling again just remembering them!!! Sheer heaven – I ADORE summer fruits 😀

We finished off our gourmet couple of days with dinner in Taupo, at the Waterside Restaurant & Bar – here the food was blissful and the service great … yet again, here are the gourmet delights we troughed through:

Chicken Salad for Mum

Lamb Fillet with asparagus, with Greek Tsatziki & balsamic jus for me – drool

Looking back, one of the other things that brought a smile to my face and a lump to my throat was to see all the Pohutukawa trees in bloom – these are affectionately known as the “New Zealand Christmas tree”, and their red bloom is a real delight to behold. Tales say that if the trees bloom before Christmas, we will be in for a long hot summer … personally I just love to see their blooms colouring the skyline.

Other things that I loved being in NZ, was that you can buy L&P everywhere you turn your head … even at the humble pie cart in an outdoor market – ah bliss 😉

It was great to see the Auckland icon, the Auckland Sky Tower, with its impressive bulk shadowing over the CBD.

And not to mention the vast lush “green-ness” of the countryside – unfortunately I didn’t get a great photo of it as it started to cloud over on the way home from Napier, and then rained off and on the entire way home to Auckland 😦

But one of my biggest treats was to spend a week in the warmth of Mum’s Christmas tree – her tree has brought delight to my soul for as long as I can remember, and I made sure my final night in Auckland was spent huddled in the lounge with the warm glow of the Christmas lights … and a rare night of familial bliss as we all sat and watched the Christmas in the Park show on TV, followed by an hour of Aussie and Kiwi stand-up comics … what a great way to finish off a great holiday! 😀

I have come home with many beautiful gifts – but no photos yet as they were bought using Christmas money, so they’re wrapped up under the tree … I’ll share photos after Christmas. What I can share, though, is the wonderful treat from Mum – a set of Prairie Schooler Santa ornies … I just adore these, and will treasure them always! Thanks so much Mum, you’re a sweetheart! 😀

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Friends & Family, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Lavender, pinkeeps, stitching pals, taupo, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Napier/Hastings … part 1

19 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

We had a lovely drive to Napier/Hastings in the Hawkes Bay. It normally takes 5-6 hours driving time from Auckland (not including stops along the way), and the weather was great for driving. We drove via Matamata to Taupo, where we had a wee break and a wee wander – and just a general “wee” at Taupo’s “Super Loo” ;P

View from the shores of Lake Taupo

After we had a cake and coffee at a Robert Harris Cafe, we called up my good pal Katrina to let her know we were on our way to visit … I’ve been very lucky in that every blogger I’ve met to date has been truly lovely, and Katrina is no exception – she’s one of the loveliest ladies you could meet! When I was flying over to NZ I’d already decided it would be nice to get away for a couple of nights to have a mini-break, and Mum agreed it was a good idea – I’d already decided where I wanted to go … Napier to visit the gannet colony again, and double bonus because Katrina is just a short hop further south, and I really wanted to catch up with her again (you may remember we met for the first time in Melbourne a while ago now) 🙂

As we were driving into Napier, we came across Whitebay Lavender Farm on the main road into Napier, and I just had to stop and take a photo or two … I just loved all the rows of lavender growing – just beautiful 🙂

Whitebay Lavender Farm

Unfortunately it took us a while to find a motel in Hastings, but once we found a nice one (Omahu Motor Lodge – we can definitely recommend it) we grabbed the keys and high-tailed it back into the car without unpacking so we could not waste any more time before visiting Katrina. We also had a lovely treat in store, as we had an additional guest visitor of Kath! What a lovely surprise … and yet another lovely blogger! Hopefully we’ll see Kath gracing our shores across the ditch for an Aussie get-together … the sofa bed’s always free for you, Kath and Katrina – you’re welcome any time!

Katrina, me, Kath and Hannah

As well as catching up with my stitching pals, we did of course get to meet in person the lovely Glenn, and the adorable Hannah … who was immediately monopolised by the Dragon haha. We also got to see some of Katrina’s beautiful stitching in real life, and Kath’s latest Christmas tree creation which is gorgeous (check out her blog to see a photo). Thanks again ladies for a lovely visit – I’m just sorry I wasn’t as lively and chatty as normal due to a bit of over-tiredness … let’s just say we didn’t take any rocking to sleep when we got back to the motel – a quick bite to eat and we were both out like a light!

While I was visiting Katrina I gave her a Christmas ornie that I’d managed to finish just in time before travelling, as well as a very belated birthday present (I’m just dreadful at meeting my commitments of late hmmm). Katrina’s photos are much better than mine, so feel free to wander over and have a gander.

I was also spoilt by receiving an ornie made by Katrina – I’d drooled over these when I saw them on her blog recently, not knowing I was going to be one of the recipients. As with all my hand-made gifts, I’ll treasure this one dearly, and may even leave this one out year-round – thanks so much Katrina, I love it! Unfortunately, though, I just realised I haven’t taken a photo yet – I’ll remedy that as soon as I finish my unpacking and will add to a later post! 😀

Auckland, Christmas, Fireworks, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Travel, Travel - New Zealand

Back home again … and Christmas in the Park

19 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Here I am sitting at my computer desk at my little flat – I got home last night, after having a really awesome time back home in NZ. I took oodles of photos so I could document all or adventures, so I may have to spread them out over a couple of posts.

I guess I should start where I left off last time … last Friday we drove over to our closest family friends for a BBQ (including Dad). It was really wonderful to see them again – they are the only people I “have to” see when I fly over, even if it’s just a flying visit I try hard to make sure we call round to visit. They’re just like our family (in fact probably closer than family), and it always feels as though I’ve never been away when I see them, as there is such a level of comfort there. It was great to see Bradley and Danial to see how much they’ve grown up, and of course always lovely to see Heather and John, Tracey and Glenn. I always have such fond memories of our get-togethers. Unfortunately I neglected to take photos, but Tracey took some, so I’ll have to try to get some copies down the track.

The next night (Saturday) we headed off on the train to Christmas in the Park at Auckland Domain. We were very lucky with the weather, as the forecasted rain held off and didn’t show itself at all during the day. I’m so glad we went (Mum and I), as it was a really super show. Unlike Melbourne, these shows are free entry with donations made to a charity on the night by way of buying glow sticks and Santa hats etc. They say Auckland had a record crowd this year, with approx 150,000 people there … can’t say I noticed all the people as we were in our own little bubble enjoying the atmosphere, music and gourmet delights we’d taken along in our picnic hamper (along with a delightful bottle each of red and white wines to wash it all down with!). Following are a couple of photos from the night:

I thought some of you in the Northern Hemisphere might enjoy this one … Santa comes to visit in all his glory in the middle of summer for us – while you’re sat huddled in your jumpers (aka jerseys, sweaters, pullovers), we’re down here in our singlet tops and shorts, but still following traditions with the Santa hats and trees etc 🙂

Crowds starting to fill up in front of Auckland’s Museum – the concert is held in the Auckland Domain, a large parkland which is usually just used for recreation and sporting activities (especially cricket)

And here’s the stage itself as people are starting to fill up the spaces

Lucky last, here is the Christmas tree once the lights have been switched on, and the evening finale of fireworks (which were disappointing compared to previous years, but still awesome to see – and guaranteed to bring the childlike glee from the depths of my soul).

We didn’t get home until just before midnight, and had an early start the next morning, as Mum and I hijacked the car for 3 days and drove to Napier/Hastings for a mini-break … which was absolutely awesome!! That will be the topic of the next couple of posts 🙂

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Two more days then Carols in the Park

11 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve been having a really lovely time here visiting in NZ. Yesterday I got Mum teed up with broadband internet, and we got her a wireless modem which means my laptop also works over here for internet access as well – it rocks!!

So far Mum and I have been spending most of the day shopping, which is very unusual for me. I’ve been getting a bit fed up of public transport and walking but Dad didn’t want me to use the car as the carparking is so bad locally now that you have to pay for parking at Manukau City. Yesterday and today, though, I got to drive the car and I loved it! It’s so much better being able to make a decision where to go and just go there instead of having to walk for miles or waiting for ages for public transport! It’s especially lovely to drive my old baby again – this is my old car from living in NZ that I gave my Dad when I left … my old Mazda 323, ah heaven … 🙂

Mum and I have really enjoyed wandering around the shops and catching up, and my suitcase will be full of cheap shoes on the return trip – Dad has been OK for the first few days, or perhaps I’ve just been more tolerant … until tonight. It’s been pretty good this visit, though – the last time I came over here was 3 1/2 years ago, and I had to leave the room after 24 hours to chill out before I lost my rag with Dad … this visit it’s taken me 5 whole days before I lost my cool and had to leave the room tonight after telling him to get a grip and chill out. I should have remembered all those childhood Thursdays when Mum and I used to vacate the lounge really quickly as soon as 10pm arrived, so we weren’t up to see Dad on his return from a drinking session at the RSA – geez, it’s amazing how quickly those memories come flooding back! Thursdays used to be my favourite day of the week ‘cos Mum and I would hang out together in the lounge – the rest of the week we all spent the time in our respective rooms separately … no “family time” in this family! 😦

Tonight has been the only down time so far, though, and the fun parts will hopefully continue. Tomorrow we’re off to have a BBQ at our closest family friends’ home – time will tell whether Dad will go, as he usually packs a sad and pulls out ‘cos he doesn’t feel like going (for years my friends didn’t think I had a Dad ‘cos he never came to anything), but regardless Mum and I will go and have a good time. Saturday brings the Christmas Carols in the Park – Mum and I used to go to this religiously each year, and I’m thrilled that I’m here for this year’s concert … fingers crossed the rain holds off for the night! I feel like I’m a little kid again when the fireworks start at the end of the night – I can’t wait!!

Sunday morning will see us taking off in the car for a very early morning start, when we’ll be heading off down the coast to Napier/Hastings, when we hope to visit Katrina on Sunday afternoon. On Monday we get to do my choice of the holiday, and visit the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers – we’ve done this trip once before, and I loved it, and I really wanted to see the gannets again and take some more photos. Afterwards we’re probably going to head over to New Plymouth, as we’ve never been there before, where we’ll overnight before heading back up north to Auckland. I then finish off the trip with a day of work in the Auckland office on Wednesday before flying home again on Thursday.

I’ve been feeling quite sentimental about this whole visit – I’ve loved retracing my footsteps among my old local haunts and seeing how things have changed … I’ve also loved hearing all the Kiwi accents without having Aussies being rude about it … it’s surprised me how happy I’ve been to be home and how the smaller things have touched me. For instance, just seeing the sparrows flitting around the garden (we rarely see sparrows in Aussie) warms my heart – and as soon as my feet got out of the car when I first arrived home on Sunday I was thrilled to see big fat bumblebees buzzing around the flowers (I only ever see the little wasp-looking bees at home) … such simple little things, but such simple joy they bring …

Alas Thursday arrived and brought with it the emotional dark clouds, but tomorrow is Friday, and chance to put Thursday behind us for another week … thankfully I will be leaving before Thursday evening next week, so this will be the last one I have to endure for another couple of years! Apparently I have to return in two years time for Mum and Dad’s golden wedding anniversary … better start getting the valium ready now! 😉

For now, however, we have lots of fun to look forward to … then I have to work out how I’m going to get all this shopping home!!! 😀

Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Stitching day at Karen’s

6 December, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

Today I had the most wonderful day in the company of stitchers and patchworkers at the home of Karen of The Stitching Post/Dragonfly Dreams fame. The company was awesome, as always, the food sublime, and the chatter endless and interesting. It was lovely to see some finished works as well … and I was seriously tempted to mug one of the patchworker’s quilts she was paper-piecing – you don’t have to think too hard to guess it was in scrumptious blues!!

As we were saying goodbye at the end of the day we got chatting about sewing machines, and how I really do dislike my el-cheapo one I bought on sale at Spotlight – and that I seriously miss my old Janome machine. You may/may not remember that my old faithful machine I’d had for 20-odd years finally gave up the ghost just as I was putting my belongings into storage … so I splurged on a cheapo one to tide me over until I could afford another good one.

Anyway, Karen then surprised me by saying she had an old spare Janome just laying around and she’d been wondering what to do with it, and would I like it? My jaw just about hit the floor – and the wonderful kind soul that she won’t accept any payment for it, rather that it’s in thanks for doing the model stitching for her. I was seriously gob-smacked (and still am!), and I actually felt quite choked up when we picked it up from the shop on the way home. Karen, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so very very much … I’m actually now looking forward to stitching again with it – I’ve got pile of gifts I’ve been wanting to get finished, but I haven’t grown to love my own machine yet and therefore putting off using it ‘cos I just can’t get the tension right.

No piccies yet, as I really need to get cracking and do my packing for my holidays – my flatmate will be enjoying the peace and quiet until I get home again … and I’ll probably be offline for a while longer. I’ll post piccies on my return, along with some holiday snaps – but I couldn’t go without acknowledging my unbelievable gift! 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Rotation, rotation, rotation

16 October, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

I must say I’m quite excited about my rotation starting – I think I’ve been missing having some ‘organisation’ in my stitching … and I’m quite motivated about it, which is good. I’ve been timing my stitching on Home Sweet Home as my “free choice” project for this rotation … I’ll be so close to getting it finished during the next 4 hours of stitching I’ll probably just keep going if it takes me a bit longer than the allocated 10 hours.

I got a reasonable bit of stitching done on Tuesday, but that was while fighting off a brewing migraine so my stitching was pretty slow, and not as much to show for 6 hours as I would show normally … yesterday, however, not a stitch was done as I woke up to a full-blown migraine that had my flatmate very concerned when she saw me, and myself very fed up when I was heaving up into the toilet bowl … geez I hate migraines that are so bad they make me throw up! Needless to say I just spent the day snoozing and resting and definitely not stitching or playing on the computer.

Today, though, I’m most surprised to see a little red button at the top of the WordPress dashboard – and when I hover my mouse over it it says “add a poll” … when did that little beauty appear? That’s been one of my whines about WP vs Blogger … of course I haven’t tested it yet, so I’m just going to have to test it here to see what it looks like! 🙂

Hmmm, somewhat pretty! I like how you can choose from 19 different layouts … of course I HAD to go with the only blue one!! LOL.

And on that note, it’s time to jump in the shower and head to work … I hate to think what’s waiting there for me after 2 days off ho-hum 😦

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

12 October, 200825 February, 2012 Anne S

What a wonderful, wonderful weekend away I’ve had … this is probably the first ‘real’ girlie weekend I’ve had away – just me, Brenda and Kerrie, and another lady called Rhonda. Kerrie and her husband own a 2-bdrm unit up in Toowoon Bay, and it’s a beautiful setting up there.

On Friday night we sat and had a drink and nibbles before sitting down properly to have tacos for dinner – then eventually Rhonda faded at about 10 or 11pm, and the rest of us chatted until 1.30am … assisted by a few drinks.

Saturday saw us having a relatively early start to the day, and we wandered down to the beach to the Surf Lifesaving Club Cafe where we had breakfast. After a yummy start to the day of bacon and eggs and coffee we headed back to the unit where Rhonda picked up her beach gear and headed back to soak up the sun that had just started to appear from behind the clouds, while the rest of us went and wandered around the two small shops where I bought part of Brenda’s birthday present plus a couple of bleached starfish. Afterwards we headed off to meet Rhonda on the beach where we lay like beached whales for an hour or two, then Brenda and Kerrie headed off to visit Kerrie’s Dad. I continued to blob out on the beach for another hour until the thunderclaps overhead started getting a bit close for comfort!!

Saturday night we took our food over to the local park and heated up a BBQ for dinner … washed down with yet more wine (we’d already been on the cocktails at about 4pm haha) … it was a wonderfully social day, but I to admit we were all knackered by 9pm and hit the pillows early.

I woke up at 7am this morning and lay in bed for 3 whole lazy hours to finish the book I’d taken with me, while Brenda and Kerrie chatted their heads off in the bedroom. The rest of the morning was finished off by a sort walk around the local streets (but Rhonda left us and went straight to the beach), then walked back up the beach … I managed to saturate my 3/4 pants by going into the ocean over my knees and paddling up the beach … it was awesome!! We ended up at the Surf Lifesaving Club again for lunch where we spent the next two hours just chatting and watching the world go by …

I haven’t been that relaxed in absolutely ages – it was an awesome weekend away … and just what the doctor ordered after a relatively stressful week at work. I didn’t put a single stitch into my stitching, even though I took it with me, but I’m thrilled to finally get my book finished (I’ve been picking it up every now and then since December last year) … it was a great book, that I really enjoyed immensely (Tami Hoag’s Ashes to Ashes). I really should get back into the audiobooks again, I really love reading, and I haven’t done any for so long …

Anyway, time to go start thinking about getting dinner ready, and getting my work clothes ready for tomorrow … or maybe doing a bit of stitching … I’m so relaxed I don’t feel like doing chores, so perhaps stitcing will win out … 😀