Day 217 in a Year of my Life

What a dull day.

Overcast with few patches of sunshine.  A few showers.

The tide was out, so it was vast patches of grey wet sand, grey water, grey sky and not even the birds came out to play.

I took a couple of photos in my front garden, before the bird in the photo gave me my marching orders ... he flapped angrily at me and even swooped!  Not too close, but enough to warn me off!

A couple of photos from the Sunny Coast last week...

Yesterday, after Adoring Husband and I went to the movies, we went to JB Hifi where they had a lot of dvds on sale.

Among others, we bought 'Magic Mike', a movie about male strippers.  Big mistake.  Terrible movie ... unless you like to look at nice, young, taut, muscle-bound, male bodies.  That's about all it had going for it.

Bad storyline, bad acting, bad cinematography, just bad all round really.

Tonight was Super Saturday ... which means football on Fox Sports TV and home made pizza!  Pizza was great, but only one game of footy tonight because State of Origin is next week on Wednesday night.

We have our opposing flags mounted at the front of the house.

Adoring Husband supports NSW (the blue team) and I support QLD (the maroon team).  QLD have won seven years in a row.  How many???  Yes, that's correct, SEVEN years in a row.

We are hoping to make it eight years in a row this year.  We have a great team.  Time will tell.

Today, I am grateful for dull days ... they help us appreciate the beautiful days!

Nite all.

Day 216 in a Year of my Life

It's Friday night.

I'm tired.

Some quotes to share...

All just a bit of fun.

I'm grateful for today.  Date day.  A movie and lunch with Adoring Husband.  Most enjoyable and and very relaxing.

Nite all.

Day 215 in a Year of my Life

Another photo from the baby shoot with The Nikonian last week ...

I really love this photo.  It shows exactly how this Mum was, with her new daughter.  So gentle and loving and protective.

There is so much to learn about photography and about photoshop and editing photos.  I wonder if there is anybody out there who knows everything there is to know?  I can't even imagine that it's possible.

I attempted to watch a 2 hour tutorial on basic photoshop today.

I was practising on one of my photos, what they were teaching in the tutorial, so I was pausing the recording often, to put each step into practise.

I expected this process would take a while longer than the two hours.

Three phone calls, three annoying dogs and an oblivious Adoring Husband stretched the first 38 minutes of the tutorial to approximately 4 hours.  That's where it stopped.

So I've bookmarked it to go back another time and continue the lesson.

I am questioning whether having my work area in the middle of the house was such a good idea!

As annoying as it was today, I still like being in the middle of the house and part of the action.  Generally, so far, the energy has been good.  I just have to train the creatures that live in my space, to respect my 'education time'.

It's good to be home.  I love my 'space',  I missed my bed and I feel so much more comfortable in my quiet little town beside the lazy river.  It was nice to see the boys this morning too.

Today, I'm grateful that my lifestyle allows me the luxury of learning more about, and improving my photography, at a pace that is comfortable for me.  I'm grateful to have like-minded friends who are so willing to share their knowledge and their experiences with me ... in particular, the very generous Nikonian.

Now I'm off to watch the best part of 'Dirty Dancing' ... the final ten minutes :)

Nite all.

Day 214 in a Year of my Life

Today, sadly, I said goodbye to my family for another month or so.

It was a full and wonderful three days of quality time with my little Chicklet, and I hope enough of a break for Mama and Dadoo to regenerate a little, after the last difficult few weeks.

I got to the train station very early this morning, as the Bare-chested Chef dropped me off on his way to work.

After we hugged goodbye, I got myself a take-away coffee, and headed over to the train station.

Not long after I got there, a self confessed 'homeless and harmless' man walked through the door, armed with a giant bucket of single pink roses that he was selling for $10 each.  He announced that the money went towards shelter and food for the homeless in the area.

As I was counting my change to buy a rose from him, he pointed to the ground under my seat and said "You are sitting over my bed.  That's where I sleep most nights."

Not long after that, a young man came through the door and needed to know where and when to catch the bus to Nambour that evening.

The homeless and harmless man gave him directions and information and asked if he would buy a rose.  The young man only had $2.65 in his pocket, and he apologised and gave it to the man as a donation.

In another little while, an 84 yr old lady arrived with her luggage.  She had been house and cat sitting for a friend for two weeks and was on her way home to Gladstone.

In the course of the conversation with the homeless and harmless man, he mentioned that today was his 56th birthday.  The elderly lady opened her purse and pulled out $20.  She said "I don't want a rose, because I have too far to travel.  This $20 is for you.  Happy birthday."

We chatted with the man for the next 90 minutes as we waited for the train and in that time, he helped a lot of people with directions and information and times for the trains and buses.

As the time approached for our train to arrive, he showed the elderly lady and myself where to stand for our carriage number.

It's cold and wet in the Sunny Coast tonight and I know that Cooroy has a shelter, so I hope that tonight, for his birthday, he is sheltered and warm.

A couple of photos from my time on the Sunny Coast ...

Today, I am grateful for a lucky life, in which I am warm and well fed and clothed and I know that I am loved by my Adoring Husband, my children, my family and my friends.  Others are not so lucky.

Nite all.

Day 213 in a Year of my Life

Life is all about negotiation ... especially with a two year old in the house!  And also out of the house!

When Vegan Chickie and the Bare-chested Chef took the afternoon off from hands-on parenting, I took Chicklet to the park.

After 3pm is a bad time of day at the park because it's full of hyperactive school kids trying to release pent up energy after the last couple of hours in a classroom.

The park is also surrounded by parents of said hyperactive children, creating discussion circles, and not paying one iota of attention to what their terrors are up to.

Dangerous territory for a two year old.

A couple of loud "You're NOT my friends!!" got it all sorted.

Chicklet attempted to befriend a pelican, which was a good foot taller than her.  Luckily the pelican was friendly, because Chicklet was quite put out when I attempted to lure her to safety.  She was almost touching the bird and repeating "Hello" over and over again, like she was expecting the bird to reply ...

... understandable really, because all of her animal toys at home say "Hello" back when she talks to them!  Let's hope she doesn't get that close to the lion or the alligator when she wants to say hello!

Anyway, we had lots of cuddles and playtime again today.  More treasured memories... even though my camera battery decided to go flat on the way to the park this afternoon!  How VERY inconvenient!

So I have no photos from our day together or the park, but I do have this photo from bath time tonight.  After rolling in, and eating much sand at the park, she was in desperate need of a shower - but she wasn't keen, so once again after some negotiating ...

Eventually, we had a favourable result!

What a great day!

Now, it is absolutely pouring with rain and has been for a good couple of hours.  It should be nice to fall asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.

Today, I am grateful that I was able to get Chicklet home from the park after many failed negotiation attempts.  I love her sooooo much.

Nite all.

Day 212 in a Year of my Life

My day was filled with Chicklet fun today.

Vegan Chickie and the Bare-chested Chef look like a pair of zombies as they recover from various illnesses and overwork, while Chicklet has become a little Tassie Devil in the unit.

Today, between about 6 repeats of Playschool's Dinosaur dvd (that may be a small exaggeration), I ran about 1,842 laps of the couch (that is NO exaggeration) while wearing an elephant mask, all the while chasing Chicklet, who was wearing a pig mask.

We also spent a good portion of the day, creating a friendship group on the couch for all of her animal toys.

Chicklet emerging from the toy area and holding a pig in outstretched arms "Hello! I'm a pig" (in a very deep pig-like voice)

Me "Hello pig.  Would you like join us on the couch?"

Chicklet  "I would LOVE to"

Me "Would you like to sit beside the duck?"

Chicklet  "No.  I want to sit on top of the dinosaur"

Me  "Ok" placing the stuffed pig on top of the stuffed dinosaur.

Chicklet (emerging again from the toy box) "Hello!  I'm a chicken!" (in a very high pitched chicken-like voice)

Me  "Hello chicken.  Would you like to join us on the couch?"

Chicklet  "I would LOVE to"

Me  "Would you like to sit in front of the pig?"

Chicklet  "No.  I would like to sit behind the duck!"

... and so this went on for every animal toy that she possesses.  I didn't count them but it would have to come close to 50!

We read a dozen books ... well, actually, we read the first 3 pages of 12 books.

We played many many games of 'this little piggy' as she squealed with delight.

We drew lots of pictures on the ipad mini with a colourful children's app.

Tomorrow we have another big day planned, while Mama and Dadoo spend some time together and have a nice day out.

Which means, I must get some sleep so that I have plenty of energy to keep up with her!

I'm seriously considering joining a gym, and going on a special energy lifting diet, just to get fit and strong enough to keep up with her!

Here are some more photos from the Children's Festival yesterday.

Hunting for gems with Dadoo

Making a clay rabbit

Playing the giant xylophone

Today I am grateful for every moment, even the energy draining moments with my little Chicklet.  I don't get to see her often enough, so I love every second ... even when it gets to the exhausting ones ... and I wish my head was able to absorb every single bit of it, so that I could replay it like a movie when I get back home.

Nite all.

Day 211 in a Year of my Life

Started the day at stupid o'clock to catch a sunrise with the girls .. but yet another fizzer spoiled our photography morning!

We had a lovely breakfast at the coffee club before I was dropped off at Chicklet's place.

What a beautiful smile and much excitement when she saw me at her front door!  Talk about bringing joy to my heart!

We all then spent 3 hours at the Children's Festival ...

http://www.noosasteiner.qld.edu.au/announcements/childrens-festival

... and what a great day it was.

The weather was perfect.  The atmosphere was happy.  Live music.  Activities everywhere for the children.  Delicious, healthful food available.

Chicklet had a lovely time and here is the first photo to show it ...

I have lots of others to share, but the day has taken it's toll on this poor old body and I need to get some much needed sleep so that I have energy to keep up with Chicklet tomorrow!

I don't know what our plan will be tomorrow, but whatever happens, it will be fun, and you will hear about it.

Today I am grateful for the fun of being a grandparent and seeing that beautiful smile on her face when she sees me for the first time, and the quiet time on the couch when she rests her head on my arm for a moment, or touches my hand to make sure I'm still there or when she looks up at me and smiles and says "Hullo Bozzy Wozzy" with all the love in her voice.

*sigh*

Life is good ... tiring ... but oh so good :)

Nite all.