Back in the Groove

I didn't even know where to begin!

Finally, I got back into my workspace, but it felt like I was starting from scratch and I had so many tasks to complete, my brain completely shut down.

So, the only option for me, was to return to the Leonie Dawson Academy and find some inspiration and motivation from the guru.

It worked a treat and now I'm feeling much better about the next steps that I need to take for the business.

I'm just not sure when that's going to happen!

I seem to have booked myself to the brim and I have four free days out of the next sixteen.

It's about time that I committed myself to this task. It's time that my website became my top priority and I want it launched before my birthday, so that I can have a birthday SALE!

Commitment and dedication to the task at hand. That will be my mantra after Easter.

This weekend I have a three day photography shoot with some fabulously wonderful human beings from the original Flickr crowd. It's been about two years since we all got together and I'm really looking forward to catching up with them.

It means that I need to dust off the old camera. It hasn't seen the light of day for some time and I also have a professional shoot tomorrow, so it seems I'll be back in the swing in no time!

This is where I'm up to with my pottery bust ...

and just before I go ...

Nite all.

Quite a Sunday

As I begin to write this, the clock is ticking over to 11.15pm.

It has been a long day and I'm feeling very weary.

This morning, I visited Mum H's son, The Peacemaker, at her unit. It was emotional and draining and enlightening and interesting and heartwarming. I was only there for an hour but it was quality time and I left there feeling very different to when I arrived. They really are a lovely family.

The Peacemaker gifted me something from Mum H's wall. They were photos of her and I taken at various parties and occasions that she'd had framed. I was surprised and touched, not just by the offer of the gift, but also for the realisation that I meant that much to her.

There is no confirmed date for her funeral, but it could possibly be the Thursday before Easter.

After my visit, I returned home to make a delicious brunch for Adoring Husband and myself. The Motivator kindly gave me a diamond scale mullet yesterday, so I lightly fried it in butter, salt and pepper and then squeezed some fresh lemon juice over it. I served it with a salad and I thoroughly enjoyed eating it while AH finished mowing the yard.

He came inside and showered before I served his brunch.

Next on my agenda, was to groom psychotic dog, Colli.

Before ...

After ...

This took two hours! She is squirmy and cranky and jumpy and hates being groomed. This is a chore that I hate more than ironing!

At four o'clock, I had an appointment with The Motivator for a 'journey' and I didn't get home until after 6.30pm, at which time I had to cook a quick dinner.

It is now an hour later than when I began this post, so I'm off to bed. I think I might sleep in tomorrow morning.

Nite all.

We're Back!

Finally! Phone and internet coverage at last!

This is what I wrote on Thursday night, but couldn't post ...

********

Debbie is angry!

The warnings came out this morning and Adoring Husband was on SES duty at the shed very early.

Cyclone Debbie quickly made her way down the coast - over 1000kms - to reach us, the Sunny Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast today.

Hundreds of millimetres of rain. Winds gusting over 120kph. Incredible flash flooding, property damaged, schools closed, workers sent home before lunch, trees down, power outages, wild storms, sports events cancelled and no end in sight.

Our bad weather began around lunch time.

Right then, I decided to cook our chicken for dinner, just in case of possible power failure. That was a good decision.

We received 80mm of rain in two hours and our wind gusts were around 65kph - at a guess.

I was doing ok until the last hour, at around 2pm, when Higgins Storm Chasers put out a warning about possible tornados.

At the same time, we lost power, so there was no TV or music or anything to drown out the noise of the storm.

The sound of the wind whistling and thumping around the house was too much me me to cope with and I packed all of my fully charged devices into the walk-in robe, JUST IN CASE!

An hour later, the weather cleared, but 7 hours later, we are not only without power, but also without phone and internet service, which we lost at about 9pm!

This post will probably not even get to my blog until tomorrow. It feels weird to not have any contact with the outside world.

Luckily, we have a generator, so we get to watch TV,  have a fan, and the capability of charging the phone and iPad, although right now, that seems pointless.

It's getting late so we'll have to turn off the noisy generator soon.

The skies are clear and the stars are twinkling brightly, but the forecast is for gale force winds tomorrow. I hope they are wrong.

I feel for the people down south. The weather has now reached NSW and Lismore residents have been given an evacuation order. I understand the damaging rain will go as far south as Byron Bay. Scary.

Cyclone Debbie has been on a hell of a road trip!

Good luck to everybody in her path. Stay safe and remember ... IF IT'S FLOODED, FORGET IT!

I think it's time to concede defeat and go to bed.

Nite all

********

So, it seems that we got off lightly in comparison to many other towns and cities in Debbie's path of destruction. She has left a trail of disasters in her wake.

More sad news for our town was the passing of Mum H on Wednesday night.

I wrote on her Facebook page tonight ...

Dear Mum H,

I phoned your home number today, but no-one answered and it went to your voice message. I wasn't expecting to hear your voice and I wasn't prepared for the impact that it had on me.

Your involvement in our Burrum Heads community has been profound, your support for the town charity events has been significant and your tireless volunteer work for the Bowls Club has been remarkable.

You've been the life of many parties and almost always the last to leave. Your energetic and exuberant dancing had us shaking our heads in awe because none of us could keep up with you!

Your cheeky sense of humour and missing filter (as already mentioned by Kayla) should have got you into more trouble than it did.

You were a Jill of all trades, a fashionista, a sporting hero, a karaoke star, a dancing queen, a party animal, beer brewer extraordinaire, barrel girl, seamstress, dog and house sitter, crazy triker girl and I just don't know how much longer Home and Away will survive without your loyal following!

It will be a while before Burrum Heads recovers from the shock of your passing, because we expected that you would outlive us all.

Thankfully, I have an album bursting with nine years of fun memories and each of those memories brings a smile to my face (or an embarrassed grimace lol).

I will miss you, you crazy woman.

May you rest in peace

With Love ... Sweet Pea xo

Nite all.

A Brief Moment

It's 3.30am and we've had no phone coverage or internet for more than 30 hours (but who's counting?).

So in this brief moment when I'm able, I just wanted to quickly let you know that all is well here. Our little town is one of the lucky ones, but I don't know how long it will be until the cyber world is accessible again.

Watch this space.

Nite all

Margarita Success

My day began at 5am.

I don't know why, but for the second day in a row, I was wide awake at 5am!

So I got up, got dressed and got cracking in the kitchen.

I made a paleo chocolate birthday cake with a middle layer of strawberries and chocolate ganache and a top layer of chocolate ganache. Delicious!

I made apple and walnut muffins.

I made a big fruit platter.

I made two cheese platters.

I made guacamole dip.

I made a plate of veg sticks to dip.

I poured some plain chips into a bowl.

I made two jugs of Margarita mix.

I made a non alcoholic punch.

I made Midori Illusions.

I whipped cream.

I sliced limes.

I set up a tea/coffee station.

I set up a mini bar.

I printed out cocktail recipes.

I cleaned my bathroom.

I washed my hair.

It took me 6 hours to do all of that. I met a bunch of ladies at the pub for our monthly luncheon

I was home again by 1.15pm tidying up some loose ends in preparation for my guests.

Forgetful Steph arrived at 1.50pm to set up the Le Reve table, followed by my 7 guests who staggered their arrival.

It was great to have that many guests because 8 out of the 9 people who have standing first priority on my invitation list are currently out of town or committed elsewhere, so I was concerned that I would only have The Motivator and myself in attendance!

We drank Margaritas, Midori Illusions, Champagne and non alcoholic punch.

We sang happy birthday to Arty Cat and she blew out her candles.

It was a very successful party and I received more than $500 worth of products for $131.

I am having another party on 27th April. That will be my last. By then, I will have all the Le Reve products that I want.

It's 10.30pm and I am exhausted.

Nite all.

Just Not Right

There is something just not right.

I am still feeling lethargic and my joints not only ache, but also feel tender when I stand up or attempt to walk. They have felt like this since I returned from Melbourne.

I feel like a very old woman.

My sister has suggested Ross River Virus. She suffered with this last year apparently and her symptoms were the same as mine.

I will try being extra vigilant with my diet, follow the health advice that I received while in Canberra, do some juicing, and hopefully, weather permitting, get some sunshine and do some grounding.

Even though I had so much to do today, I spent a good portion of the day in bed, resting my joints and napping.

So I guess I should get an early night.  That way I can wake up early to do everything that I couldn't do today! If I can get my time management right, there should be no stress involved.

There seems to be some very heavy rain about tonight. I hope the dogs don't decide to suffer PTSD and keep us awake with their crazy stress levels.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Nite all.

Newsworthy

Cyclone Debbie.

Ugh!

This cyclone is a long way from us, but as a consequence, we will probably receive some heavy rainfalls later in the week.

My niece, her husband and their baby are in Mackay and have decided, much to the horror of my sister,  to remain at home and ride it out.

Even though Cyclone Debbie is going to touch land a couple of hundred kilometres north of Mackay, being on the southern end of the cyclone, is the worst place to be, and king tides will cause major flooding which has prompted the evacuation of more then 25000 people from that town.

Still, my niece, going against my sister's pleading, refuses to leave.

There have been many tears.

I also have a cousin on Magnetic Island, north of the cyclone. It seems that the predicted weather in that neck of the woods won't be as bad as originally expected, so I am less concerned about his safety  now.

Mother Nature is ugly sometimes. She is breathtakingly beautiful sometimes too.

This Wednesday, after our lady's luncheon, I am having another Le Reve party. It's going to be a cocktail and mocktail party with nibbles and a birthday. cake, because one of the ladies is celebrating her birthday on that day.

So Adoring Husband and I headed into town today for supplies of the alcoholic variety. The only alcohol I had available was a bottle of SB wine, a bottle of Vodka and half a bottle of Midori. That's not going to make any tasty drinks!

Now, I have Tequila, Bacardi, Cointreau, Blue Curacao, Kahlua, SSB wine, bubbly stuff to have with strawberries and lots of juices and soft drinks and fruits and parasols to make punches and cocktails and mocktails.

I also bought a punch bowl! I needed one of those ... and some cocktail glasses, and champagne flutes. Now I have a drinking vessel for all occasions!

Having done all of that shopping, I have since discovered that most of my friends are currently out of town, so  I'll be lucky to get 4 or 5 people here at the current rate of declines!

This bothered me until just now, when I saw the Higgins Storm Chasing video of how cyclone Debbie is going to travel and develop over the coming week.

It seems that we (as in the Hervey Bay Area) are going to get many inches of rain accompanied by winds gusting up to 100kph by Friday. This does not please me, but at least I will have a house full of alcohol to numb the pain!!

Ugh!

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

Sunday Setback

I woke up this morning feeling like utter crap.

My body ached all over and movement caused me great discomfort. Ankles, knees, hips, back, neck, every step and every twist and turn hurt. I felt like I'd been hit by a bus!

Not only that, but I felt sad and angry and unmotivated and lethargic and frustrated and miserable and completely out of sorts.

To a lesser extent, I have felt like this for three days, but today was much worse. I feel like my body has been building up to today's crescendo.

As tempting as it was to remain in bed and feel sorry for myself, I dragged myself to the bathroom, had a hot shower, got dressed and went for a ride on my trike.

I rode down to the river and followed the path. Because of the recent heavy rains, the river is not as clean and blue as it was when I left town a couple of weeks ago.

Against my better judgement, I decided to buy a coffee before visiting The Motivator. She and The Fisher King were sitting down to breakfast, so I joined them at the table and poured out my misery. I felt guilty for bringing my negativity to their Sunday, but I felt a little better for having done so.

After breakfast was finished, The Motivator and I caught up on our news and before I knew it, it was already after 12 noon!

I rode home and put a boneless leg of lamb in the oven with some vegetables and let them cook while I watched some more Grace and Frankie with Adoring Husband.

I was in no fit state to do any of things I planned for my day, so before, during and after lunch, I remained firmly parked on the couch.

We were invited to a neighbour's house for a barbecue dinner, so at 6pm, we hiked two doors up with our esky full of alcohol and enjoyed a very pleasant evening catching up with these neighbours, who I haven't spoken to for so long, I can't even remember.

I think that my body is struggling right now because of poor eating habits for the last 2 weeks, 6 weeks of travelling and being out of my regular routine, the knowledge that my week is so full that I'm not going to get anything done with my website and having an intimidating 'to do' list that is getting longer by the day.

Anyway, there were some interesting cloud formations this evening as we left for our dinner date ...

They were both taken at the same time. The top one looking East and the bottom one looking West.

... and I really love this quote ...

It's 11pm and I'm off to bed.

Nite all.  

 

Behind the 8 Ball

Sadly, I've missed the last two art classes, so I am way behind everybody else and have a lot of catching up to do.

The other beautiful sculptures have evolved into amazing characters and I am envious that I don't have the time to develop my own bust's character in the same way.

Today, I had to split my head in half, scrape the clay from inside the skull, punch holes into it, rejoin the head, create ears and then begin adding the hair. I decided on dreadlocks, which are tricky because they can easily snap off in the firing process. I had to punch little holes into each dreadlock and then partially refill them. This could be my downfall.

I hope that by next week, this will begin to look more impressive and have more character. The others have Peter Pan, an African Woman and an amazing Witch. They are all fabulous!

We were working/playing for more than three hours and not one of us looked at our watch. We could easily have stayed there all day. Eight hours of clay work would have suited all of us very well. It's very therapeutic.

I love it.

The remainder of my day was spent watching the first two series of Grace and Frankie (third time for me) with Adoring Husband, who had not watched any of it prior to today. I guess series 3 will be tomorrow!

It's been a good day.

It's midnight.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

PS Have a happy Sunday!

Quietly Does It

After so much time away from home during the last 2 months, I'm slowly easing my way back into my life.

Adoring Husband and I spent the day watching all the TV shows that he recorded for me while I was away ... well ... SOME of them anyway.

I did make a conscious effort to pedal to the river this morning before making my way to the shops to check the mail and buy a coffee.

I haven't even unpacked my suitcase yet.

It's sitting on the floor in the dining room.

I've removed my dirty washing and washed it.

I've removed my toiletry bag and emptied it.

That's it.

Even dinner was an easy lamb shanks in red wine, tomato and onion sauce, cooked in the slow cooker. Little effort, but plenty of flavour.

I have my art class tomorrow, which I'm excited about!

On Sunday, I hope to groom the dogs ... they've waited long enough!

On Monday, I hope to sink my teeth back into my new business. Head down, bum up and no more dilly dallying!

I've just watched the first two episodes of the new season of Grace and Frankie. As much as I want to binge watch the entire series, I would like to be bright and awake for tomorrow's art class, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Hell on Rails

My day began so perfectly.

I experienced a delicious night of sleep in a very comfortable bed. The weather was just right, with the window open and the ceiling fan on low.

Upon waking, I was able to spend 20 minutes in bed, enjoying the solitude and easing myself into the day. I showered, dressed and repacked my suitcase so that I was ready to leave at a moment's notice.

I walked out of the bedroom to find Rebel Mardi sitting in the kitchen, so I greeted her with a happy good morning and she offered to make me a delicious 'real' coffee. She made my coffee with lots of love and it was quite delicious!

The Lifesaver shared with me, his junk mail ... oh how I miss junk mail!! All of those lovely catalogues with all of those lovely sales!

Rebel Mardi and I spent a leisurely hour or so sitting on the deck talking, talking, talking and talking (we are pretty good at that).

Eventually, we packed all of my gear into the car and headed of for a morning of adventure.

The Lifesaver took me to a shop that he was certain I would love. He was right!! I could easily have spent a couple of hours wandering around that huge warehouse sized gift store and thanks to his generous offer of looking after a big item that I wanted to buy, and bringing it to me on their next visit, I bought a gorgeous big 'abundance' buddha which is now sitting in a box in the boot of their car!

From there, we drove to my favourite organic marketplace, Kunara, where we all enjoyed an early lunch and more talking. Before we left, I bought 3 delicious sweets to take on the train. I got a raw mars bar, a beetroot chocolate cake and a key lime tart.

Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver were kind enough to not only drive me to the train station, but wait with me until the train arrived. They made me feel very special!

A big thank you for making me feel so welcome in your home and for being so generous with your time. Even though we only had 24 hours together, it was quality time and I really enjoyed myself.

Thank goodness I had such a wonderful start to my day.

I climbed onto the train and had nowhere to store my suitcase. The luggage compartment was overflowing with backpacks, suitcases, folding prams, walkers (for the elderly) and other assorted travelling paraphernalia. The two of us who boarded the train, had to leave our luggage in the walkway.

I walked to the end of the carriage where my seat was located, to discover that it was already taken. There were seats spare, but the people who were sitting there had only gone to the food kiosk which was located about 4 carriages away.

I decided to walk into the next carriage and discovered that there were only 6 people in that one, so I sat in a seat there and made myself comfortable ... for about 10 minutes ... until the conductor came along and said "This carriage will be filled to the brim at the next stop. I'm sorry madam, but you will have to return to your carriage."

So I told him of my dilemma and pleaded with him to NOT send me back to that carriage. He apologised, stating that they were unusually busy today and that all of the carriages were very full. He took me back to my carriage and sat me in a spare seat beside an older lady, who I discovered later, was also going to Howard.

I sat down and was surrounded by young people. There were eight of them in one group, plus a grandmother to one of the babies.

Young people drinking rum and coke from cans.

Young people who smelled of alcohol, cigarettes and sweat (body odour).

Young people who were talking loudly and using language that even made ME blush!

Young people who had young babies - one about 4 weeks old and another about 6 months old.

Young people who were either stalking people in Facebook who they didn't like, or were watching offensive videos in Youtube.

Young people who were bragging about their friends (or 'bros') who drive on the highway at 180kph while texting, or who spin out on roundabouts five times in a row, or who turn off their headlights while speeding down mountain roads to scare their passengers, or intentionally 'drift' on the road in competition with their mates.

Young people who were complaining loudly about Centrelink and their payments, and how they were breached for not attending interviews.

One young man (who I guessed to be 16 or 17, but was buying alcohol, so must have been at least 18) said to his 16yr old girlfriend (with the 4 week old baby) "I'm just going to buy one more rum and coke and then I'll give you the keycard so that you can buy stuff for Bub okay babe?"

She asked him to buy her a rum and coke too and he replied with "No babe! There is only $16 left."

On the trip between Nambour and Cooroy, which takes less than 30 minutes, he drank 4 cans of rum and coke. Who knows how many he'd had before I boarded?

The 16 yr old girl then began talking to her baby. Oh the language and the threats that came out of that mouth. It made me feel nauseous.

Meanwhile, at the front of my carriage, there was another young girl. She looked to be about 18 yrs old. She was sitting on the very front seat with twin babies, a boy and a girl, about 3 months old and she had her top off and was breast feeding them (which is not a problem for me) and she also had two other children. A girl of 4 and a boy 2.5yrs.

The boy was out of control. If he wasn't climbing all over his seat or other passengers, he was running up and down the carriage or he was having a tantrum, for no particular reason that I could tell. This poor girl was doing her best in very difficult circumstances, but didn't appear to be stressed at all!

There were two other men sitting together, one of them with particularly evil looking eyes (in my opinion) and he was playing what appeared to be 'mind control' games with the other. He was chanting in a low voice and clicking his fingers in his friend's face and telling him to repeat certain words and feel certain emotions.

It was at this moment, I had an epiphany! I was feeling so stressed and so uncomfortable in this environment .. and knowing that I was going to be on the train for 4 hours, I couldn't bear the thought of sitting in that seat and listening to this for another moment.

I remembered that these old diesel trains have a club car!!

I gathered up my gear and began walking. It's quite a hike to walk the length of 4 carriages!

Then I saw it.

It was as if the heavens opened and these beautiful rays of light shone down to reveal that beautiful club car with those comfortable booths and the sound of peace and quiet. You know the sound of angels singing? I heard those angels.

Just as I opened the door, a lady stood up and left, leaving just one booth available ... for me.

Oh the relief.

I sat down and opened my little box of sweets from Kunara, then opened my iPad and found Netflix, which automatically opened to 'Grace and Frankie'.

I sat back and breathed a sigh of contentment.

For the remaining 3 hours, I giggled my way through three episodes of Grace and Frankie, shared my booth with an older couple for about 20 minutes and eventually found my way back to my seat for the last 20 minutes of the journey.

That's when I had a conversation with the lady sitting in the seat beside me.

I was SO happy to reach Howard and see Adoring Husband waiting on the platform for me.

I was SO happy to finally get home.

Today, in Australia, it is Vegan Chickie's birthday, but in USA where she is, it's not yet her birthday. So ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY VEGAN CHICKIE! I hope this is your best birthday ever! Big hugs and love from your mother in the Southern Hemisphere!

I think I need to sleep now.

Nite all.    

Terra Firma

Thank goodness my feet a firmly planted on terra firma.

I'm done with flying for a while I think!

I slept very poorly last night.

After the fire brigade arrived at our doorstep with two trucks and sirens sounding, it took a while to settle the nerves and by the time I tidied and cleaned the apartment (to make it look as good as when I entered - as the instruction sheet requested), and by the time I set both of my electronic devices to wake me five minutes apart, I still couldn't seem to settle.

I was so worried that I would sleep through the alarms and miss my flight, that I just couldn't relax!

It was 1.30am when I fell asleep the first time. I woke at 3.30am and my alarms were set for 4.30am and 4.35am, so dozed restlessly for the last hour.

The shuttle was booked for 6am and I had to be waiting on the footpath in front of my building by 5.50am. It didn't arrive until 6.30am.

By the time we picked up other passengers, we didn't get on the road to the airport until quite late. It was raining steadily and the traffic was heavy. The last 7kms took 21 minutes. We were crawling.

Melbourne airport is not as straight forward as every other airport in the land and at first I was a little confused about where to go, but I finally got it sorted and then found myself a morning coffee.

There was nothing gluten free for me to eat at any of the cafes and I hadn't eaten dinner the night before, so I was feeling peckish. The coffee seemed to fill the void and I still had 2 hours until boarding, so I bought myself a magazine and made myself comfortable. This was my view ...

At 8.40am I went to the gate that was printed on my boarding pass, but the TV screen said that it was a Sydney flight boarding there. I went looking for the big screen to discover that I was boarding at gate 5 now and that the flight was delayed by 30 minutes and not boarding until 9.35am.

My flight actually took off at 10.20am.

It was a turbulent flight, like a roller coaster ride and the trolley service was even suspended for 20 minutes because it was too dangerous. I practiced meditation to drown out both the fear and the screaming children. This also made the 2 hours go much faster.

I was very grateful to plant my feet firmly on the ground and even happier that an Uber driver was only two minutes away and was able to drive me directly to Rebel Mardi's and The Lifesaver's home.

And what a beautiful home it is! I love these guys and they made me feel welcome as soon I stepped on their driveway.

Rebel Mardi had to work this afternoon, so I hitched a ride with her, and while she worked, I stepped into the first hair salon that I saw and got my hair washed and blow dried. I hadn't washed it for eleven days!! It really didn't look that bad, but was starting to feel a bit oily on my scalp.

I made up for my lack of shopping in Melbourne, by doing a Boutique crawl in Buderim. Gorgeous little boutiques just waiting for my money. When I was almost broke, I walked to the top of the hill to the tavern and ordered myself a vodka and tonic. A perfectly relaxing way to spend an afternoon!

We came home and made ourselves presentable for dinner at the Creek Tavern. Rebel Mardi and I enjoyed a GF chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto and served on a bed of sweet potato mash with asparagus ...

... The Lifesaver enjoyed a "sensational" Aloha Parmigiana! (sorry, no pics of that one).

Rebel Mardi and I talked and talked and talked and talked and then talked some more, until we were both exhausted and excused ourselves for bed.

Here it is, 11pm and I am in desperate need of sleep!

So ...

Nite all.

One More Sleep

Even though the day started out very rainy, I've had a lovely solitary day in Melbourne.

I've walked a lot (without being lost) and I window shopped. Yes you read that correctly.

'Window shopped'

Not one single solitary thing was bought, except for coffee and food.

I'm considering visiting the casino this evening. I did go there briefly after lunch, but I was feeling overwhelmed by the city and I also felt a little tired, so I've spent the afternoon in my apartment, which has been very quiet and very calming and very relaxing.

My shuttle bus is booked for tomorrow morning and unfortunately the 7am bus was full, so I'm on the earlier 6am shuttle. That will give me plenty of time to play with once I'm at the airport, so I'm ok with that. A leisurely breakfast might be in order.

I'm looking forward to catching up with Rebel Mardi and The Lifesaver tomorrow. It's been FOREVER!!

I'm also looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my own bed.

It's 7.30pm and I'm feeling a bit peckish. I didn't think I would want dinner after a decent lunch, but my tummy tells me otherwise.

I think I will steer clear of the casino and order in .. apparently there are restaurants nearby that deliver!

Have a happy hump day!

Nite all.

Time's Up

Well, Dadu arrived today, to take over Chicklet caring duties.

Chicklet was so excited to see her Dadu, that Bozzy Wozzy was able to leave with a fond farewell - no tears from either of us!

It warmed my heart to see them getting on so well. They were both glowing with happiness and there was laughter and animation.

Chicklet was getting annoyed that I was taking Dadu's attention away from her, so that was when I figured it was my best opportunity to depart without there being a scene.

I left notes regarding everything, as well as explaining everything, but Chicklet has a handle on it all anyway, so she will issue the necessary instructions.

Here I am in a 17th floor apartment overlooking the city, the river and the casino. This is the view from my bed - I was lying in bed as I took this photo.

It's almost midnight on a Monday and looking at the traffic on the road and the people walking the streets, you would think it was the weekend. It's crazy busy down there.

It's almost midnight and I am exhausted.

When I wake in the morning, I will have 24 hours to myself. What to do. What to do.

Nite all.

East is West and West is East

Google maps told me to head East.

I searched for 'Melbourne Aquarium' and Google Maps told me to go East.

So, of course, I headed West.

Why? You ask.

Beats me.

I KNOW which direction East is, from our front door. I have no idea why I chose to go in the opposite direction.

I have no idea why I kept walking in the wrong direction for fifteen minutes!

I have no idea why it took me that long to double check Google maps to discover that I was on the wrong side of town.

Chicklet and I have now named ourselves 'Team Lost'.

We gave up and walked the lesser distance to the Vic Markets and bought some Pokemon miniatures. Then we walked home and played Pokemon battles all afternoon. I believe that made for a more successful afternoon that the aquarium would have been anyway!

Chicket's challenge for the day was to draw a picture of her favourite activity with Bozzy Wozzy for the week that I've been here.

She drew a picture of us having Pokemon battles in the lounge room.

I didn't eat until dinner time today and I'm feeling very weary ... not enough energy going in, for the energy that I used up.

Bed time for me.

Nite all.

The Colour Grey

This is where Vegan Chickie is right now ...

Remind you of Grey's Anatomy? Haha!

Her train ride took her right past the forest where Twilight was filmed!

Here is the bubble gum wall ...

... and that's your little taste of Vegan Chickie's travels so far.

We are having a quiet day today, which is kind of strange, because it's probably the quietest day of all in Melbourne City and it would be to our advantage to be out and about with so few people around!

We've watched an educational video and now 'Puss in Boots' is the movie of choice.

We've talked to Mama on the phone, as well as Poppy B. We've battled in the lounge room with our Pokemon miniatures, we've done some school work - practising the letters K, L, P and Q, as well as some work with numbers and addition.

Tomorrow Chicklet wants to show me her most favourite parts of Melbourne, which should be interesting .. the odds are pretty good that we will get lost .. her sense of direction is as appalling as mine .. must be genetic! Even Google maps struggles to get us out of trouble!

Our neighbouring coffee shop was closed this morning, so we walked further up the street and got coffee from a charming gentleman, whose establishment is usually (and obviously) a bar. He had a very long queue of people waiting for his coffee, which I must say is the best coffee that I've had in Melbourne so far.

He asked me if I wanted a small or medium coffee. I told him that I needed the biggest coffee that he could provide! So he got his secret stash of jumbo cups out. I told him that they were a much more appropriate size for carers of small children! He laughed and then hoped that his coffee did the trick. It did!

It's only mid afternoon and we are about to have some 'quiet time'. I've completed this blog post in spits and spurts throughout the day, hoping that I might get to watch some football this evening on Foxtel Go. It's Super Saturday!

Chicklet required some assistance during the night to find her blankets that had fallen on the floor and then later in the night she pleaded for cuddles. However much I enjoy Chicklet cuddles, I may require a short Nana nap this afternoon to make up for broken sleep.

I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday.

Nite all.

City Life

To each his own, but the city life is NOT for me.

It's busy, dirty, fast and loud.

I see the smog hanging in the air as I look out over the horizon. I hear the constant howl of sirens. I feel the impersonal rush of people in suits in a hurry. My attention is grabbed every time I hear an impatient driver blast his car horn. I am shocked at how many people toss their litter on the ground in front of them. I am saddened by the number of homeless people sitting on the ground with explanatory signs in front of them. I am astonished at the number of people wearing ear pieces and staring at their phones.

I am, however, heartened by the vast number of nationalities living in this city, in harmony. I am warmed by the friendly welcome of shops owners and workers when I enter their establishment. I am amused at the giggles and grins when people look at Chicklet in her weird and wonderful outfits every day. I love the variety of inexpensive cafes and restaurants that cater to my dietary requirements.

BUT ... I will leave here with a renewed love and respect for my little town and it's quiet streets, friendly community, clean river and beaches, slow lifestyle and old people who have smart phones but don't stare at them all day (because most don't even know how to use them!).

Today, was an interesting day.

Chicklet kindly 'allowed' me to sleep in.

She sleeps in the same room as me, but in her own bed and she has a clock that tells her when she's allowed to wake the adult and make morning noises, which is 7.30am. She gave me an extra 30 mins this morning and woke me with the message "I gave you some extra time this morning Bozzy Wozzy".

I was very grateful for that, because I was sleeping soundly at 7.30am.

We had breakfast and instead of heading next door to the coffee shop, Chicklet asked if we could visit Erin. Erin works at another coffee shop up the road and around a few corners. It took a little while to find it because google maps tricked me a bit.

Even when we were close, Chicklet was insistent that we were on the wrong street!

We eventually found Erin and the cafe called 'Larder Section'.

The coffee was wonderful! Chicklet ordered her usual apple juice, but as I went to leave, she gave me a horrified look and said "We NEVER leave Erin this soon! We can't leave yet!"

So I ordered two more drinks and then decided to have an early lunch of a GF Pulled Pork toastie with the house barbecue sauce and coleslaw. It was absolutely delicious but way too big for my belly!

Erin was a delight and gave Chicklet lots of time and attention.

During this morning adventure, we also caught lots of Pokemon! This street was particularly fruitful for us!

It was about 1pm by the time we arrived home and I made some lunch for Chicklet (who didn't want to eat at the cafe) and we made happy hands over lunch ...

 
We also made some Minecraft sticker pictures until 'quiet time'. Following 'quiet time' we went in search of the 7-11 shop to buy a Kinder Surprise, but we couldn't find it, so we walked to Coles instead.

Friday afternoon is crazy busy in Melbourne and I felt quite stressed by the time we returned home!

Dinner time, bath time, story time and bed time.

What a day.

I have the windows open and the city sounds full of life tonight.

My bed is calling me.

Nite all.
    

Footy Fail

Oh the temptation was there!

I am training Chicklet to get excited about the football.

She is "voting for" (as she calls it) the Sharks ... because she LOVES sharks.

Last weekend, she made me change my footy tips from Eels to Dragons (because, YES, she loves dragons) .. needless to say, I dropped two points in my tipping because of it.

She asked if there were any teams called the T-Rexers? Because YES she loves dinosaurs, and in particular, her favourite dinosaur, the T-Rex.

So, despite her Mama trying to convince her to "vote for" the Melbourne Storm, because they live in Melbourne, she has her top three teams in this order ... Sharks  Broncos  Storm.

She is also keen for Tigers, Panthers and Dragons to win.

Truth be told, she doesn't even know what football/NRL is and probably imagines a school of sharks attacking other animals or something. There is no TV in this house, so she would never even see an ad for football.

Yesterday, we discussed attending the football tonight, because Storm and Broncos are playing. She was very keen and her eyes lit up. After some thought, I decided that it might not be a good idea, for a number of reasons.

Her bed time is 7.30pm and the game doesn't even start until after 8pm .. a break in her routine could have disastrous results.

We would be wandering the streets of Melbourne at 10.30pm or later with a bunch of either happy drunks because their team won, or angry drunks because their team lost.

From experience, the language and behaviour of footy fans can leave a lot to be desired and I didn't want to be the one to expose her to that. Not at this tender age.

So I told her a little white lie. I told her that the tickets were all sold out. Sorry Chicklet :) I'm sure there will be opportunities in the future to experience a footy match!

Etihad Stadium is just a 10 minute walk from here. *sigh*

It was a pretty hairy night here, as far as weather goes. 40kph winds and driving rains ... all against the wall of windows of this apartment. The wind whistled through the windows and made loud cracking noises during the night and this morning I woke to the sound of Niagara Falls against the windows.

I honestly thought we were flooding and that a pipe had burst somewhere! What a relief to see the rain pouring down the 'outside' of the windows!

So we made the decision not to leave the house today, except to get coffee mid morning. We enjoyed the usual morning welcome of hugs and delighted laughter. A coffee and an apple juice later, we were snug inside our apartment playing with lego again.

This afternoon, we decided to go searching for a newsagent to stock up on some craft resources. Google told me that the nearest newsagent was about half a kilometre away, but as we walked out of the front door of the building, there, in giant letters across the road, was a NEWSAGENT!

They didn't have a lot on offer, but we got some sticky tape, a glue stick, a sheet of cardboard, some crayon/pens, some Minecraft stickers and a magazine to cut pictures out of, oh and a Kinder Surprise.

Our list of achievements today are ...

• We designed some ads for our magazine that we are going to create.

• We wrote a list of reasons why we love each other

• We started to draw some happy hands.

We have big plans for tomorrow in the way of activities, so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

  

Easy Peasy

Chicklet has owned her Pikachu costume for 36 hours and she has worn it for 35.5 of those hours!

She takes it off to shower.

This morning, when we visited next door for coffee and apple juice, she was very excited to parade her new Pikachu outfit for Kula and Marina (I hope the spelling is correct for those names). They pretended that they didn't recognise her at first and Chicklet giggled crazily when they suddenly realised it was her.

She spun around and danced in her outfit singing Pikachu! Pikachu! Pikachu!

I love sitting at the back of the shop watching the customers come in to get their regular orders and listening to their animated conversations with Kula and Marina. There is Indian music playing in the background and the ambience is warm and welcoming.

We didn't go anywhere else today.

I drew some more Pokemon characters and we coloured in.

We made a lego house for some miniature toys and played in that imaginary world for quite some time.

We watched Pokemon videos on youtube.

We watched Pokemon Minecraft videos on youtube!

We played Minecraft and Plants vs Zombies.

We read books.

It was a nice quiet uneventful day.

I have some ideas in my head for tomorrow, but we'll see how the day pans out.

I slept like a log last night! I hope to repeat that tonight!

Nite all.

Park and the Markets

Well, last night was an epic fail on the sleep front!

I slept from about 11.30pm until 2.30am and suddenly, for reasons unknown to me, I was wide awake. There were no thoughts running through my head, but I couldn't find a sleepy cell anywhere in my body onto which I could latch and wind down.

So I came out to the lounge room and watched the world go by from the wall of windows. I watched the cleaners in the office block across from us. I watched the vehicles in the distance as their headlights weaved between the amber street lights. I listened to sirens blaring from all directions .. mostly ambulances. I heard people calling out to each other in the street below.

I don't believe there is ever silence in the city.

Chicklet staggered out of bed at 7.45am and still I had not slept. I definitely required a caffeine hit to kick start my day.

After a shower to freshen up, we visited the coffee shop next door, where Chicklet was greeted with warm happy and friendly hugs from the girls behind the counter who appeared to be super excited to see her!

We ordered an apple juice and a latte and sat at the back of the shop for a little while.  Chicklet guzzled down her juice, had some more conversations with the girls about dragon tails and danced wildly on the floor space in front of the counter until it was time to return home.

We had some serious colouring in time before we decided to head to the park. It was a miserable walk directly into the sun, so after about 30 minutes playing in the park, swinging, seesawing, climbing and running, we took the short walk to the Vic Markets.

First on the list, was a hat for Chicklet. She informed me that all of her hats were still with Dadu in QLD (this may or may not be true), so we bought a blue hat with a stretching brim that can be tightened or stretched to suit the size head that is wearing it.

We then found the fruit and veg section where I bought some tomatoes and onions. Across the road was the deli section where I found some coconut yoghurt and some fresh seafood. I bought some king tiger prawns and some salmon steaks. A Pikachu costume was a 'must' as we traced our footsteps back to where we entered and a beautiful big bunch of fresh sunflowers for $9.

Our hands were very full and we had to stop for a short break on the way home, but we finally made it without incident.

According to my watch, I've only walked 7kms so that gives you an indication of how close everything is to the apartment.

We made some lunch, coloured in some more and then it was 'quiet time'.

Chicklet watched dvds in the bedroom, while I curled up on the couch and napped for over an hour. It was so nice with the sun on my feet and the air conditioner blowing on the rest of my body.

We played Plants VS Zombies all afternoon until it was time to cook dinner. We chatted with Mama, who had finally landed in Vancouver after one cancelled flight and a delayed flight. I chatted with Adoring Husband as I watched the big storm approaching our home on the BOM.

Dinner time, bath time, story time and bed time ... smooth sailing as always.

I'm not sure if I should attempt an early bed time or not. I think I'll wait until I'm feeling sleepy.

Come to think of it, I am feeling a little weary now.

Nite all.

Monday Holiday

Vegan Chickie left for her world adventure at 7am ... and so MY adventure begins with Chicklet.

Today is Labour Day in Victoria, which means of course, it's a public holiday.

The excitement of having a coffee shop right next door to this building soon waned when we got to the front door and saw the "closed" sign.

Chicklet said "Don't worry Bozzy Wozzy, there is one across the road!"

Also closed.

She dragged me to six more shops on the street, all closed due to the public holiday.

We finally found an open coffee shop two blocks away and around the corner, but so did a lot of other people! We were about 6th in the queue and had to wait about fifteen minutes for coffee. I didn't mind the wait, but Chicklet wasn't very happy about it.

I'd only had three mouthfuls of coffee in the last 48 hours and I am by no means addicted to caffeine these days, so it wasn't such a bother.

Chicklet and I spent the morning being Arty Farty ...

I drew the Pokemons and she coloured them in.

When she got bored with colouring in, she decided to make the miniature lego style T-Rex that I'd brought with me yesterday. I have to say that she did make a solid attempt, but eventually decided that I should do it!

Me! Of all people!

The instructions were painful and I definitely required reading glasses to see the diagrams properly!

In the middle of my construction, Chicklet had a face time lunch date with her Dadu, so I set her up at my laptop and she chatted away while I completed the T-Rex.

I was quite proud of myself for my persistence and the blossoming of this hidden talent!

Once that job was done, and Chicklet finished her call with Dadu, we put our shoes on and went for a walk to Coles, which is only about 5 minutes away. Chicklet was annoyed that I wanted to walk the 5 minutes to Coles, instead of the 2 minutes to the 7-11, but she soon got over it.

What a busy little supermarket that one is! The Asian supermarket directly across the walkway just adds the congestion. It only has four assisted checkouts, the remainder are self serve. I stood in a queue for an assisted checkout, when a young lady came up to me and asked me to follow her to her checkout, which was all the way at the other end of the shop!

I got some unhappy glances from other shoppers who were also waiting in line. I don't know why she singled me out. Maybe it was because I had the only child within a 15 km radius???? She had a lovely conversation with Chicklet as she served us, so perhaps that really was the attraction.

We returned home and munched on some chippies while we did some more sticker pictures, planned our Tuesday and then decided it was time to play Minions in the bedroom. Minions were soon followed by Minecraft until, thank goodness, the batteries went flat on my devices!

By now it was dinner time and bath time and book time and bed time.

Now I sit here at Vegan Chickie's desk, at 10pm, watching people STILL working in the office block across the road and feeling like a fish in a fish bowl. Yes, there are curtains to close, but when everything is shut, I must admit to feeling a little claustrophobic.

When the blinds are open, in the day time, I feel like I'm flying, or floating ... or something. I love that one wall is completely covered with glass. There is so much light! It's long way down from the 22nd floor.

Now I'm off to bed. We have another big day planned for tomorrow.

Nite all.

Happy Landings

I had a fabulous night's sleep in the motel.

I set the air conditioner on 22C AND I turned the fan on low, pulled the doona up to my chin and settled in for a deliciously cozy night.

After about 7 hours of solid sleep, I lazed in bed with my iPad for an hour before preparing for my long day of travel. It was a pretty cruisy start to the day.

When I was ready, the motel manager drove me to the airport, which was a bonus I wasn't expecting!

Sunshine Coast Airport was surprisingly busy. I browsed the shops and saw lots of things that I wanted, but I didn't buy any of it. I think some of my "Journey" work in Byron Bay, may have had a positive effect on my spending.

The plane was pretty packed, and unfortunately, there were a LOT of children ranging in ages from about 6 months to about 12 years. Most of them were loud and cranky for the entire trip.

I tried to drown out their noise by opening the Virgin entertainment app, but it told me that entertainment was not available on this flight .. ugh!

My other dilemma was that my seat was 3 seats from the back of the plane, where the toilet was, so for the entire trip, I had a queue of people standing beside me as they waited their turn to use the dunny. The continual flushing was most off putting.

It was a smooth flight all the way until it was time to land. The pilot warned that the winds were in excess of 25knots, but oh what a ride it was til we hit the ground! I looked along the aisle and saw that at least ten men had their hands firmly grasping the back of the seat in front of them, and the closest three to me, gave an audible sigh of relief when we touched down safely.

While I waited for my luggage to appear on the carousel, I downloaded the Starbus app and ordered a bus that would take me directly to Vegan Chickie's front door. $18 for the 20km trip was definitely good value, even though my anorexic Indian bus driver spent most of the drive looking at his phone or talking on it. I felt less safe in the bus than I did on the plane during our hairy landing!

Vegan Chickie didn't tell Chicklet that I was here and as the lift doors opened and she saw me, I got the best greeting EVER! She yelled "BOZZY WOZZY!!!!" and ran into my arms. What an emotional moment for me!

We had about 90 minutes catching up before we walked to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and ate the most delicious bowl of noodle soup with chicken and beef. So much flavour! Chilli oil on the table and fresh herbs in pots to cut and add to our bowls. So yummy and only $10!

Chicklet and I had a bedtime story and then Vegan Chickie and I sat up talking until 10.30pm. She has to be off early in the morning for her flight, so it's time to sleep now.

I love their little cuddle house. Very small and compact, but has everything they need and there is lots of light and windows and fresh air here on the 22nd floor. I think I'm going to be very comfortable here for the next week or so.

Nite all.