After the tornado in January 2013, Adoring Husband became involved with the local SES group and this year in January took it a step further by becoming Deputy Group Leader. This has taken up quite a bit of his time, but he has thrived on bringing changes and improvements to the group, almost tripling member numbers with his recruitment drives. He volunteered his skills on a number of emergencies like land searches for missing people, assisting with traffic control for controlled burn offs in the local area and then heading down to Brisbane after the devastating storm that caused so much damage in November assisting with tarping roofs and chainsawing fallen trees etc.
While he was absorbed with all things SES, I had another fabulous road trip (Our Most Excellent Adventure) with my bestie, BGWLBH. We travelled the roads 'less' travelled and found lots of little 'out of the way' towns, antique and gift stores, markets, cafes, parks and bush tracks. We carried Wizard Mickey with us and he was in all of our photos that diarised our trip.
In February, my beautiful little Chicklet turned 3 years of age and also, I decided to learn more about health and nutrition by studying an Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Medicine with The Australian Institute of Applied Science. Procrastination has been my biggest hurdle and having passed my first semester with an average of 96%, I am now struggling with Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology and more procrastination. I obviously do my best work under pressure.
March brought us three new chickens, but the eggs didn't come til May. A cyclone or two in March and April with lots of rain and wind, but nothing as bad as what contributed to the tornado in 2013. We held a dinner party where I cooked a three course meal for 6 friends and I also celebrated my 54th birthday.
May took me to a Playschool concert with Chicklet. The first eggs appeared from our chooks. A wonderful Mother's Day dinner with Vegan Chickie. A new grandson for Adoring Husband, named Seth.
June was the trip to Bunya Mountains with the flickr group. I was colder than I've felt for years! So windy and icy and wet!! The fabulous company made up for it though!
July and NSW won the State of Origin series for the first time in nine years. The family from down south stayed with us for the third year while participating in a Touch Football tournament in The Bay (something that we always look forward to).
August was the horrible month that Adoring Husband had a low grade malignant tumour removed from his bladder and then we spent three months working really hard on his health and fitness to make sure that it didn't come back before his 3 monthly checkup and to help his body heal properly from the invasive surgery that he endured to fix it. It was a long process, but our hard work was rewarded with excellent results.
We also had a long visit from Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour in August, which was lovely and a welcome distraction from the health issues.
Finally, I completed my first semester of studies with great results.
September, the Chicklet family moved into their new house on the Sunny Coast and I went for a visit soon after. I sat my final exam for the first semester, found the first Tawny Frogmouth nests of the season and had my trip to Magnetic Island with the girls, where I met up with a cousin who I hadn't seen for 37 years.
October was footy grand final when Souths won the Championship. One of the psychotic dogs, Jack, gave us a fright when he became ill with pancreatitis. We had the 'blood moon' which was a bit disappointing. The first Tawny Frogmouth chicks were born. Adoring Husband turned 57.
November, Adoring Husband got the all clear at his 3 monthly check up. I created my vision board. Chicklet fell asleep in my bed for the first time, while I was visiting and there was a massive storm that caused millions of dollars worth of damage in Brisbane.
December has been uneventful, but we are the most organised that we have EVER been for Christmas.
We both took refined sugar and processed food out of our diets this year, so I spent many, many hours in the kitchen making breads, cheeses, yoghurt, tarts and pies, casseroles, sauces, cakes and desserts using all fresh and mostly organic ingredients and cooking from scratch, which I have really enjoyed. I got so carried away that we had to buy a new freezer to store all the soups, stocks, savoury minces, curries and casseroles that I made.
So, looking back, aside from Adoring Husband's health scare (which was pretty stressful there for a while and certainly tested our resolve), our year has been pretty good. Definitely fewer dramas than previous years.
September, the Chicklet family moved into their new house on the Sunny Coast and I went for a visit soon after. I sat my final exam for the first semester, found the first Tawny Frogmouth nests of the season and had my trip to Magnetic Island with the girls, where I met up with a cousin who I hadn't seen for 37 years.
October was footy grand final when Souths won the Championship. One of the psychotic dogs, Jack, gave us a fright when he became ill with pancreatitis. We had the 'blood moon' which was a bit disappointing. The first Tawny Frogmouth chicks were born. Adoring Husband turned 57.
November, Adoring Husband got the all clear at his 3 monthly check up. I created my vision board. Chicklet fell asleep in my bed for the first time, while I was visiting and there was a massive storm that caused millions of dollars worth of damage in Brisbane.
December has been uneventful, but we are the most organised that we have EVER been for Christmas.
We both took refined sugar and processed food out of our diets this year, so I spent many, many hours in the kitchen making breads, cheeses, yoghurt, tarts and pies, casseroles, sauces, cakes and desserts using all fresh and mostly organic ingredients and cooking from scratch, which I have really enjoyed. I got so carried away that we had to buy a new freezer to store all the soups, stocks, savoury minces, curries and casseroles that I made.
Number One Son moved to Adelaide for a new job that he is enjoying very much. Sadly, Bubbles lost her job when her employer went bust. The Chicklet family had some family issues that were a little tough going for a while, but seem to be recovering well.
So, looking back, aside from Adoring Husband's health scare (which was pretty stressful there for a while and certainly tested our resolve), our year has been pretty good. Definitely fewer dramas than previous years.
Let's hope that 2015 is full of love, health and happiness for us and all of our friends and family. I will start the year with a positive attitude and look forward to all the joys that it will bring us.
Tomorrow, I will share some of my favourite photos from the year.
Nite all.
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