Chicklet Heaven

She's funny, smart, imaginative, creative, artistic, thoughtful, loving, confident, assertive, encouraging, tech savvy, crazy and an amazing problem solver. She has a pretty positive outlook about most things and her attention to detail when she's focussed, is surprising.

Two days isn't very long, but it's about quality, not quantity.

Today, we started with her whispering a secret request for dinosaur lego, followed by instructional tutoring in Minecraft.

We played dinosaur cards - which came with one of four dinosaur books that I brought with me. We built our castle and played dragon vs knight ...

We watched 'Chicken Little' and while I read a few pages of my book, she watched some of 'Hotel Transylvania'. When I wasn't feeling well this afternoon, we played Plants vs Zombies while I lay on the bed. We coloured in and made some pictures in a playground app. When her iPad went flat, she built a Minecraft world for me on my iPad...

We had dinner time, then bath time and then story time .. which was a book about Poo at the Zoo.

Tomorrow, it's time to go home, but I'll be back in a few weeks. It's been short, but very very sweet. I love her so much xo

It's almost midnight, so I'm off to sleep.

Nite all.

Grey and Gloomy

Well, I must say that the Gods were not kind to us for this photo shoot.

With yesterday's 40kph winds and stifling heat making it impossible to get any type of decent shot, except for a couple deep in the bush where the wind couldn't reach us, and then this morning when we woke at the crack of dawn to catch the perfect morning light .. only to discover that it was a grey and gloomy day, completely overcast and not at all conducive for beautiful beach shots.

So we gave up.

We will hopefully squeeze in a shoot during my next visit to the Sunny Coast in December and then we will aim for some more time in my town early next year.

A huge thank you to The Nikonian for her time and her patience, the wine, the gifts, the food and the fun. We both have dreadful memories. So many conversations weren't finished because we couldn't remember names or words or what the hell we were talking about.

I forgot to give her the other half of her birthday present and I forgot to feed her breakfast this morning.

She forgot some of her camera gear and all the spare food from her garden that she could have shared with me.

It doesn't matter, as long as we remembered the wine and the camera - probably the two most important items for a good time!

As I type this, I am on the Sunny Coast, sleeping in Chicklet's bed while she camps out in Mama's room.

We didn't get much play time this afternoon, because I arrived well after 3pm, but we had some sticker fun and I had to search for some dinosaur cards that she had placed or hidden strategically around the house. We had bath time and read one of the new dinosaur books before bed.

Tomorrow will be a BIG play day.

Before I sign off for a good night of sleep (the dogs got me out of bed three times during last night, so I am feeling weary) ..

I have to wish Grannymus a very happy birthday for the 10th November. I hope you had a marvellous day and the family spoilt you just a little and that you got to feel some love. xox

On that note, sleep for me.

Nite all.

Hilarity

The Nikonian is here.

I can't believe that it's been so long since we caught up!

I have asked her to do a photo shoot, with me as the subject, so that I have some pics of myself to put on my website. I feel so awkward on the wrong side of the camera and she is working so hard to make me relax .. but I'm terrible!!

She offers fantastic instructions and I'm trying really hard, but I'm very self conscious and I struggle to smile unless I have something in particular to smile about! She sings, she jokes, she makes rude suggestions .. I must be the worst subject she has ever had to shoot!

We were traipsing through heavy bush and long grasses, leaning against blackened trees and fallen tree trunks, climbing gates and sitting on grassy knolls while trying to capture the lovely afternoon light.

Tomorrow morning, we'll be up at the crack of dawn to catch the sunrise and then get some more pics in the lovely morning light on the beach.

I feel very sorry for The Nikonian, but if she can't get many usable shots this time, we will try again in a few months .. one day, I might get so used to it, that I'll actually relax and enjoy the process.

Perhaps I need to practise in front of the mirror!!

Anyway, it's been a lot of fun. We've giggled a lot, enjoyed some wine, ate a delicious dinner, caught up with family news, discussed politics, made fun of each other .. and others .. reminisced about photography friends and suggested a possible future holiday together.

She retired early and here I am, still up at 11pm .. knowing full well that I need to make myself presentable for a shoot at 4.30 tomorrow morning AND I still have to pack to go to the Sunny Coast!

It would be a smart move for me to go to bed now.

So ..

Nite all.

 

Thumbs Up!

I am healthy!

My heart, thyroid, red and white blood cells, liver, kidneys, sugar, cholesterol, magnesium and potassium .. all perfect.

I am, however, chronically deficient in Vitamin D .. so I need to get out in the sunshine more often, with as much bare skin as possible .. this does NOT mean that I'll be in the market for a bikini!

Aside from the obligatory offer of a prescription drug from Doctor Dubious, his advice was to continue trike riding and walking with Adoring Husband on the beach, reduce my coffee intake (I promised to reduce from two coffees a day to one a day) and avoid stress.

I am very happy with this outcome. It is far and above anything I had imagined and now I can concentrate on continuing to be healthy.

I love good news!

Of course, some retail therapy was in order - you know - to celebrate my good fortune. So I bought a bucket load of journals (six if I recall correctly), two tops and two bottoms and three bracelets and Series 13 of Grey's Anatomy.

It was quite late by the time we returned home and we had to stop at the local supermarket and butcher, then on to book my return train ticket to the Sunny Coast.

We came home and ate lunch before I gave one of the psychotic dogs a haircut. Colli is looking very presentable now and I snipped the top of my left little finger in the process, which is now feeling quite tender. I'll bathe it in colloidal silver before bed.

I need to head off to bed because The Nikonian will be here in the morning and I need to look fresh and vibrant for the photo shoot!! It's a terrifying prospect for me because I like to be the one behind the camera, not in front of it. However, I trust The Nikonian and have complete faith in her photographic abilities .. and also her ability to make me look good :)

No pressure.

Nite all.

Results

Tomorrow is D-Day. 'D' being for Doctor. I'm not sure that I want to know the results of the tests, because I'm a true believer that "ignorance is bliss", but I can't fix it if I don't know what it is can I?

If it turns out that the problem is my thyroid, I've discovered a great clinic on the Sunny Coast that specialises in the holistic treatment of thyroid conditions, so I'll be making an appointment ASAP if necessary.

I didn't get to my desk until this afternoon, but I completed another chapter of my ebook today and I'm pretty happy with my progress with that so far. The website won't get touched until next week now because my diary is completely booked until Monday.

I'm beginning to feel a bit frustrated that it's not going as smoothly or as quickly as I want, but you get that on big jobs :)

The Nikonian will be here on Thursday *happy dance* and there will be plenty of photography, plenty of wine, plenty of good food, plenty of laughter and perhaps a little teensy bit of gossip!

Then on Friday, I'm off to see my little Chicklet family on the Sunny Coast for a couple of nights, so it's ALL happening!

Today, I've been thinking of Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver, who spent their first day in the new house down south, unpacking and swimming in their pool. I bet they sleep well tonight! Will miss you at coffee on Wednesday morning (tomorrow).

I'm watching a really really bad movie at the moment .. 'Spice World' starring the Spice Girls. It was made 19 years ago. It's given me the motivation to turn it off and go to bed!

Have a great hump day everybody.

Nite all.

 

Upbeat and Positive

On Sunday, I had such a great day at my desk!

It had been long enough since I properly looked at my website, that I was able to see it with fresh eyes and so I changed a number of things to make it more user friendly.

I partly finished the shop/store and had an easy 'to do' list to get through for Monday. I dared to suggest in Sunday's blog post (which I forgot to publish - my apologies!) that I could have this completed by Monday evening? I was so close, I could taste it!

But I should know better than to get so excited! The next stage was a little more complex than I expected and halfway through it, I decided it was too difficult and chose to amend it and simplify it, which of course took quite a bit longer than I expected.

This is going to take a few more days .. and who knows what other obstacles I will come across in the meantime!

So for now .. just to keep my attitude positive and upbeat, I watched this fabulous TED talk that I know you will enjoy as much as I did!



To my local friends, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the next Progress Association Newsletter, where you'll find this article (which you won't need to find now, because you're reading it here haha).

Time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.