Bella and Poppy Time!

One week from tomorrow and the population of our house will more than double!!  

One week from tomorrow is Mother's Day and I will receive the best present EVER!!  My lovely little Chicklet will be arriving from New Zealand and moving into our home with her Mummy and Daddy for a while :o)

I'm a bit excited about this!

Dribbly beautiful little Chicklet (this is not her real name, in case you were wondering!)

This is one of the other kids that lives at our house.  This was the look he gave us for four days after we put his brand new collar on him with the registration tag.  He really hates wearing stuff!

Cranky Jack

This 'look' pretty much epitomises his personality, although sometimes (for about 10 minutes every day) he can be fun and playful.

I imagine that he will give us this same look when he discovers that there is a new little person living with us!  He'll get over it.

This is Colli looking expectantly.  When something new happens, she copies Jack for the first ten minutes, which usually involves growling, barking and looking scary.

  

After she's finished, she gets curious and her look usually reads 'is this my new toy?'  She's a bit dopey.  

I don't have a photo of Ruby, the happy one, smiling.  I will make that my mission.  To capture her smile.  She will be very happy to have three new friends.  She will love them and lick them and jump on them and wag her tail very happily every time she sees them!

So, the transition period for our three kids, might be a little tough on all of us.  I imagine that after about a week, they should settle into a new routine that includes the extended family, and everybody will be happy :o)

Then it will be Bella and Poppy time for a while!  We will enjoy every moment while it lasts and soak up all the Chicklet happiness that we can!  Its' gunna be great!!

Coral and Bill and William and Kate

I would like to introduce to you, to a couple, who are on the shortlist for my Calendar of Characters.

This is Coral and Bill.  Bill turns eighty years of age tomorrow and he was one of twenty children!  They have lived within a fifty kilometre radius of this town for all of their lives.

Coral goes for a walk every morning and they both ride their bicycles to the boat ramp most mornings.  Bill can't walk distances due to arthritis in his knees, but they both still take their little tinny boat out on the river regularly, casting for prawns, crabbing and fishing.

Anything that they don't know about the area isn't worth knowing and they are both respected and well liked in town.  Bill is a real character and is always good for a laugh.  Coral tolerates his cheeky demeanour, but they both love each other very very much and that is obvious.

Coral had a fall about a year ago and although she didn't break any bones, she was very badly bruised and had trouble walking for a few weeks.  Poor Bill was beside himself with worry and took such good care of her until she was able to fend for herself again.

They make me feel all warm and fuzzy and every morning when they arrive at the boat ramp, I call out "Good morning kids!!"  They tell me, it makes them feel young when I say it.  I do look forward to seeing them each morning, along with my other boys.

So there you are.  A first introduction.  I will bring stories and photos of others on my list as the weeks go by.

On the note of love ... I have just watched the royal wedding of William and Kate and I have to say that it's been surprisingly enjoyable!  I thought that Kate looked beautiful and her dress was lovely.  The whole atmosphere in London was so happy and full of love!  Just amazing!

Today, I am feeling the love with Coral and Bill and William and Kate!

Calendar of Characters

I've been mulling over an idea.

Our little town is full of interesting characters.  Some of them are locals who have been here for almost forever.  Locals who have stories told about them on a weekly basis.  Stories from the old days when the town was an even smaller community and every member played an important role in keeping the community on the map.

Some of them are newcomers.  People who have escaped the rat race, were advised to move due to ill-health, people who have spent thirty years of annual holidays here, retirees and other habitual movers.

Others are business owners who have moved here at various stages over the past ten or twenty years and have set up successful businesses that comfortably support their families and who support their community in many different ways.

People who have suffered terrible tragedies in their lives and who have been carried and supported and brought back from the brink by this very loving community.

Strong characters, controversial characters, eccentric characters, loud and funny characters.  Characters who are either loved or hated, but no in betweens.  Talented characters who inspire and entertain.  Movers and shakers, who bring the community together at all the festive occasions during the year.

I would love to acknowledge all of these characters and I'm thinking about creating a 2012 Calendar or perhaps a small coffee table book with their photographs and a short story about their lives.

I don't want it to be a historic or serious book or calendar.  I'm thinking more along the lines of an anecdotal pictorial.  I'd like it to be light-hearted, with a bit of humour and something that everybody wants because they are either in it or know most of the people in it.

I want it to bring happiness and joy to the town and create conversation and laughter.  While doing this, perhaps I could make it a fund raiser and I could donate the proceeds to the local SES or other non-profit organisation or charity??

Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen people who I'd love to photograph and I know there will be many more when I sit down with pen and paper to form my plan.

But right here, right now, this is the idea that I've been mulling over in my head and over the coming weeks I hope to develop the idea further and eventually create my Calendar of Characters!

This time .. the force will be with me!

I feel like I may have gone off track a little bit.

I am referring to number forty-four on my 'fifty-two things to do before I turn fifty-two' list.  Lose five kilos.

It's quite possible that since I wrote the list, which is only a week ago, that I may have actually GAINED five kilos!!

Chocolate, chips/crisps, Oreo cookies, icy poles and rocky road easter eggs.  These have been my downfall over the last week and I can feel the two spare tyres that sit loosely around my mid-section have almost grown into one big, full, tight tyre.  Oh, doesn't that conjure a pretty picture?!

I am generally a healthy eater, but just lately, I find myself making excuses for the bad food that I eat.  The voices in my head say "Just one packet of chips won't hurt." or  "If I have this block of chocolate today, I can make up for it tomorrow." (which of course never happens).

In reality, I shouldn't even be considering this junk food, or I should be happy with one little row of chocolate each day.

What is happening in my life at the moment that is causing me to search out the junk food?

It's not just the junk food either!  Lack of exercise or physical activity is contributing greatly.  I haven't played golf or tennis for almost two weeks because of the weather since we returned from our golfing week down south.  Water aerobics ceases for the school holidays.

I need a plan.  A solid exercise and healthy eating plan!

As of tomorrow, I am going to start a short stint on my cross-trainer and increase by five minutes every day until I reach thirty minutes.  I will do this until I can get back out on the golf course!

No more chips, chocolate or cookies!  I will focus on healthier food choices and I will endeavour to count my calories in the Calorie King website.

My health is of the utmost importance.  I need to increase my energy levels and focus on loving my body again and reducing my waist size.

This will all start with an extra hour of sleep at night!  So it's good night from me and even though I failed to fulfil the statement the last time I posted about my health, I will say it again ... TOMORROW WILL BE THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME!!

Some Kind of Wonderful?

There is a double obsession happening in this household at the moment.

Adoring Husband bought himself a new camera.

So that I would appear loving and generous, it was agreed that this would be his anniversary gift from me!  ***insert smiley face here***

He is 'technically' minded (in a 'Sheldon' kind of way) and is reading the manual from cover to cover.

He also finds it necessary to share this new information with me... notice the glazed look in my eyes @@

Actually, thanks to him, I HAVE learnt some more about my camera, but I can only absorb short, sharp bursts of information.  If there are more than two sentences involved in this information-sharing, then the big black curtain blankets my brain and my eyes glaze over.

"All I can hear is BLAH BLAH BLAH" I advise Adoring Husband.  You can imagine his frustration!

So while he is absorbing all the technical details, I am exploring photographic websites and studying the composition of various award winning photographs and the different styles belonging to award winning photographers.

I'm also researching different photography competitions, while Adoring Husband is researching possible career opportunities and business names.

We spend hour after hour, sitting beside each other on the couch,  clicking away at our laptops, planning and dreaming about our bright futures in whatever industry we eventually choose to enter.

Adoring Husband is the impulsive, jump in the deep end decision-maker, while I am the methodical, procrastinating, think long and hard about it, decision-maker.

You would imagine that if we put both of our heads together, we might create 'Some Kind of Wonderful'!

OR we might create some kind of human volcanic eruption!!!

Is there anybody out there studying Psychiatry or Psychology at Uni and needs Case Study subjects?  ***waves hand in the air*** PICK US!
    

Advance Australia Fair

This is the epitome of being Australian!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiEycVMKoJo

If you're Australian, you will 'get it'.  If not, it might not mean much to you.

To really enjoy this clip, there are three things with which you probably need to be familiar:

1. Adam Hills, the Aussie comedian performing here. 
2. Jimmy Barnes, the iconic Aussie singer (who was actually born in Scotland), whose song Adam is using the music from, for our National Anthem. 
3. The Aussie National Anthem.

In reality, it's a private Aussie joke, that to Aussies, is hilarious!  The clip has been around for about four years, but it gives me a good giggle whenever I see it.  It usually does the rounds through email every Australia Day and every ANZAC day (which is today).

Anyway, just thought I would share that today, along with a couple more photos.  

Tonight's sunset

Lavender flower

Ruby

That's about it from me today :o)

Tooth Fairy

I have had this loose tooth for quite some time.  I think it has been pushed loose by a wisdom tooth.  Yes!  That's right!  It's one of those big teeth in the back of my head.  A top rear left molar.

It's a most unpleasant feeling to have a tooth wobbling about in the back of your head!  It's quite impossible to leave it alone and I often found my tongue sneaking back and wiggling it.

Everybody advised that I should go to a dentist and have it removed.  When I poo-pooed the idea, they responded with raised eye brows and screwed up noses.

Why would I go to a dentist and pay hundreds of dollars to have a loose tooth removed?  Why not wait til it falls out?  It's not causing me any pain or discomfort.  It just feels a bit weird!

Ok, so, aside from my fear of sharks and toads, I am also terrified of dentists!  Adoring Husband is also odontophobic and he flies to Sydney to have his teeth fixed under general anaesthetic!  My phobia prevents me from even doing that.

The last time I went to a dentist, I think, was around 1995.  I had a broken molar and had taken twenty four pain killers in twenty four hours, but the pain did not go away, so, in sheer desperation, I went to a dentist.

It did not end well.  My tooth snapped at the roots, which meant surgery was required and then I experienced 'dry socket' (an incredibly painful condition) which required medication and the whole process was expensive, painful and extremely frustrating.

So, this time,  my loose tooth became looser and looser until it was only attached by what felt like a narrow thread.

Yesterday, I began to feel a dull pain in my gum and last night, it became very uncomfortable and felt like it might be spreading into my cheek.

This, I felt, was a very bad sign and I was just beginning to wonder where I might find a dentist over Easter, who could fix my problem.  Thoughts of infections moving to my brain and irreversible brain damage began to invade my head!  Ugh!

So I went to bed last night, fully expecting to wake during the night, either in severe pain, bleeding uncontrollably or with blood poisoning.  My imagination conjures the most dramatic conditions and we all know that the imagination is ALWAYS much worse that reality!

I woke up this morning with absolutely no pain.  All of the discomfort from the day before had disappeared and I was feeling incredibly relieved that my brain damage would be minimal at worst.

At lunch time I decided to have a watermelon and pineapple frosty fruit icy pole (for which I could very easily form an addiction!).  With the first bite, I felt this strange sensation and when my tongue found it's way to my loose tooth, the tooth came free!

Yay!!  No pain.  No tooth.  No infection.  No problem.

I asked Adoring Husband "Do you think that if I put it in a glass, the tooth fairy might take it and leave me some money?".

He looked at me like I was crazy.  "Probably not." he replied.

Personally, I think the tooth fairy should leave me a small fortune!   I mean, how often is he/she offered a tooth with so much wisdom and life experience?  These teeth are rare and priceless I would have thought!

So, Tooth Fairy, if you are reading this ... my tooth is in the big rubbish bin in the back yard.  If you think it's of any value, please repay me by letting my Oz 7 lotto ticket ring some winning bells when we check it next week!  Much appreciated :o)