End of Easter

I had to rush a photo for this week’s 52Frames theme of “over/under-exposed”

I’ve submitted the worst photo ever, but at least I’m keeping my streak of submitted pics up!

I had some great ideas in my head but no motivation to leave the house to put them into practice, so really, my failure was self inflicted.

After many attempts in all areas of the house and yard, I decided on a section of one my pieces of art and under exposed it as if it was dark under the ocean …

I’m a bit embarrassed to share it here, but you know, take the good with the bad.

I watched two recorded Twilight Zone episodes and last week’s Taskmaster until my quiz shows came on, then I got a quick Harley play in before the football started. 

The football result was disappointing for Adoring Husband and I, but only one person in the tipping comp tipped correctly, so it didn’t have a huge affect on things.

Thankfully, I had made two lasagnas last night, so all I had to do was turn on the oven and top up the leftover salad for dinner.

Farmer Wants a Wife started tonight!

No meditation tomorrow.

Maybe a Bay day???

Time to sleep.

Nite all.

It's Easter Sunday

This is exactly what I was talking about last week …

Today I chose to wash my bedding. 

The 'thing' about washing my bedding, is that what seems like a good idea in the morning, is often a terrible idea by the afternoon.

I've told you before about the real struggle that I have on 'sheet washing day' - pulling off the king-sized bedding, the 6 x pillow cases and 2 x body pillows and the super king-sized duvet.

We have a big washing machine but the bedding doesn't all fit in it so it takes two loads to wash.

It's then a struggle to hang everything on the line, but the easiest part is taking them off the line dry.

While I feel motivated for this chore in the morning, by the time I have to remake the bed in the afternoon/evening, my energy AND motivation levels have reduced considerably so the effort involved is beyond blah.

At the time, it feels almost like I wish it was the end of the world.

It takes at least 30 minutes to remake my bed because my mattress is freaking huge and deep and heavy and putting all of those pillow cases back on the pillows, rearranging 6 x pillows, 2 x body pillows and 5 cushions, plus the duvet and the throw rug.

Ugh.

The reward, however, is that lovely feeling of sliding in between fresh clean sheets.

While I waited for my sheets to wash, I watched the kids movie, "Harold and the Purple Crayon" which I really loved. 

I spent some time in the kitchen making a raspberry/blueberry cheesecake and a lasagna for dinner. The lasagna was easy because I'd already prepared the meat sauce last week. I served it with a garden salad and delicious dressing.

Then the footy was on. It was a more successful day for tipping so I am still 8 points in front.

That was my day and now, after all that bed unmaking and making, I need to sleep haha.

Nite all.

Lounge Lizard

There was NIL productivity today.

I played with Harley, made myself a bowl of fresh tiger prawns with avocado for breakfast and then firmly planted my butt on the couch to watch Netflix movies.

The first was “Runaway Jury” with John Cusack, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman (among others) released in 2003. It was a good movie.

The second was “Rebel Ridge” with Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson and AnnaSophia Robb released in 2024. It was also a good movie - a real “justice” thriller.

Harley got his second play after that movie and the football came on at 5.30pm.

Unfortunately, my footy tipping has failed me today and I’ve only correctly tipped 2 out of 5. Thankfully, everybody else is in the same boat so I haven’t dropped behind.

I did no art.

I did no work on my project.

I was quite unwell for about 30 minutes after the second movie … not sure if it was the prawns 🤔

For all the ‘nothing’ that I did today, I’m feeling quite weary now so it’s “good night” from me.

Nite all.

Who'da Thunk!?

Who'da thunk that the Dolphins would thrash Melbourne Storm so convincingly?!?

What a surprise.

There's always one team that wants to destroy my tipping record each week.

Today was a pretty quiet and lazy type of day.

I didn't even get out of bed until well after 9am. 

I played with Harley, peeled some prawns for breakfast, watched "Landscape Artist of the Year" and "Portrait Artist of the Year" with Adoring Husband and then decided to retreat to my bedroom and start the short manifesting course that I purchased two weeks ago and hadn't looked at yet.

That's how I filled my afternoon until the football started at 4pm.

AH cooked the usual Friday night fare and I didn't think I could stay up for the second footy match at 8pm so Harley and I retreated (again) to the bedroom.

Here it is, almost 10.30pm and it turns out that I COULD stay awake for the footy!

Our only plan for Easter is to stay at home and avoid the Fishing Classic crowds.

I DO need to get a photo for the 52Frames theme this week "Under/Over-exposed".

I like the idea of being down at the river for sunrise in the morning because they have forecast fog - which would be great for this theme, however, I don't think I'm capable of getting out of bed that early using my own free will!

When I HAVE to get up for a purpose, like catching a train/plane for travel or driving to a destination appointment etc., I can definitely do it then, but for a photo opportunity that won't even win me anything other than a possible "top 3" position ... it's just not enough to motivate me.

We'll see what happens over the next few days.

Maybe I'll get a bit arty this weekend OR do some more on my book/journal/affirmation cards.

There has been a helicopter flying around for a couple of hours tonight. Apparently they are searching for a missing man who took his dogs for a walk this morning at around 10.40am and hasn't returned. He was heading towards a nearby creek but hasn't been seen since.

This is the 4th person to go missing in our local area in the last year or so. So far we've been lucky to have successful outcomes. Let's hope this one is too.

Time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.

Some Peace

Today was Thursday.

The day before Easter.

Adoring Husband's golf day.

Morning tea with the art girls.

I had agreed to go to morning tea but while I was playing with Harley in the pool area, I lost all motivation. It was such a lovely day with a cooler temperature, the sun shining, a breeze blowing, the birds singing, the bees buzzing around the passionfruit flowers and the pool water reflecting beautiful Autumn light...

So I messaged the girls and told them I was unmotivated to leave my space. 

BGWLBH suddenly appeared, all dressed up, and said "Enjoy your quiet day" as she walked out the door.

At 10.15am, I received a voice message from The Happy Hippy to tell me that she had brought pumpkins from her garden and to get my butt down to the Lions Park because it was a beautiful day.

So I said goodbye to AH, climbed on my trike and pedalled down to the park, where four of the girls were still gathered around a picnic table.

As we sat there, the fishing club were setting up for the big Easter Fishing Classic Competition, which isn't supposed to start until Saturday. It was a hive of activity.

We chatted for about 45 minutes, I purchased some fresh fish and prawns from the seafood van, picked up two pumpkins from The Happy Hippy's car, then pedalled to the shops to get a few things and check the mail, then rode home.

The house was empty, so I let Harley inside, unpacked my small bag of groceries and made myself comfortable on the couch to watch an old Charlie's Angels movie.

After I played with Harley this afternoon, I chopped up a heap of vegetables to roast in the oven. Potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, red capsicum, red onion and tomato. I sprinkled them with garlic salt, drizzled a little honey over the top and put them in a hot oven.

I made a tahini and lemon dressing to drizzle over the vegetables.

I cooked duck breast and sliced it over the vegetables - oh and added pine nuts, goats cheese, spinach leaves and sliced cooked mushrooms to the mix.

We played trivia afterwards and AH and I watched the football. Very happy that St George won. Only AH and I picked them so I am now 2 points further ahead in the tipping comp and AH has moved off the bottom of the ladder!

Now it's time to sleep.

Nite all.

Got a Bit Done

I finished off the photo editing today and created a musical slide show to go with the pics.

I'm not sure when I'll deliver them. 

A three hour Zoom meeting with The Gypsy filled a good portion of the day followed by watching five episodes of "The Twilight Zone" that we recorded over the last couple of weeks.

For dinner, I got the Butter Chicken out of the freezer, boiled some rice, fried some papadams and made a tzatziki. 

It was quite delicious. Adoring Husband went back for seconds.

Of course, Harley got his two plays, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

Now, it's almost 11pm and I think I need to sleep.

Nite all.  

Editing Frenzy

So yesterday I attended a wedding that I never imagined would happen.

I was hired as the photographer, but ended up being ‘location finder for the ceremony’, director of the bride and groom and music co-ordinator for their entrance, arranger of the cake cutting and first dance while being at the right place at the right time for each photograph opportunity.

I was on site at 2.30pm and home by 6.30pm.

Today I discovered muscles that I forgot that I had.

My shoulder blades are sore from holding 3kgs of camera + lens up to my face for 3 hours.

My legs are sore from 4 hours of standing, walking, running, bending, lowering myself to the ground and dragging myself back up again.

My brain is sore from sorting through 500 photos and editing 200 of them.

They sure got their money’s worth out of me.

So I’ve basically been living, eating and breathing the wedding for the last 30 hours. I even dreamt about it last night.

I’d love to share a pic or two here today but that would not be ethical, so watch this space in the next couple of weeks.

I only missed one game in my footy tips this weekend. If the Broncos hadn’t let me down, I’d have had a perfect round!

I’m now 8 points ahead on the ladder - still bragging because that could change at any time!

Tonight I cooked barramundi steaks with lemon butter sauce and served it with roast pumpkin and spinach salad and pickled tomato and cucumber.

Meditation tomorrow so I need to sleep.

Nite all.