Tis the Season

We are less than two weeks away from Christmas, so I thought I would post something 'Christmassy' every day until Christmas day.

I love this family. They look like they are having such a great time and getting right into the Christmas spirit!



I also was interested in this list of inspirational movies about extraordinary women.  You've probably seen a few of them, but maybe you'd be interested in the others.

I decorated our tree today (finally) and will take a photo tomorrow (because I'm too lazy to do it right now).

This morning, our local markets were held for the final time this year, and I picked up some nice gifts for Christmas. One of the stall owners was very excited when she noticed my new teeth and rushed to my side of her stall to hug me and congratulate me!

The Motivator arrived home from Sydney yesterday and I stopped briefly at her place to say hello. She has been gone for almost a month, so we've got some catching up to do.

We've had some fabulous rain today. Nice heavy, steady rain for about three hours.

The rain made a good excuse for Adoring Husband and I to plant ourselves on the couch and watch movies all afternoon. We watched 'Definitely Maybe' (Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Bresolin), 'Ant-Man' (Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas) and 'Boyhood' (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke).

Now, I'm watching, for about the 50th time (and that is no exaggeration), 'Crazy Stupid Love' (Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore and Emma Stone). I'm only waiting for my favourite Ryan Gosling scene before I head off to bed.

I might do some housework tomorrow .. if only I could wake up with the right level of motivation!

Nite all.

Meals

Lady's lunch today was delicious.

Twelve of us met at Arkarra Tea Gardens for lunch. Even though it was a very hot day, the breeze blowing over the lagoon and through the trees, was absolutely perfect, and the food was wonderful.

I ordered the King Prawn and Mango salad, and for dessert, I had the strawberry tart.

There were a LOT of people seated at the tables, which were scattered throughout the gardens, so it took quite some time for our meals to be served. I think it was an hour between when the last person at our table ordered, to when it when the meal arrived at the table.

It was so worth the wait though, and I look forward to taking Adoring Husband and my camera to the gardens next time.

I arrived home with about 40 minutes to get ready for the club tonight and I was lucky enough to have Adoring Husband accompany me tonight!

Neither of us was lucky on the pokies or the raffles or the keno and at the end of the night, quite on the spur of the moment, we decided to eat dinner at the restaurant.

I ordered Chicken and King Prawns with salad and chips. I was pleasantly surprised! I haven't eaten at the club restaurant for at least 6 months and I knew that there was a new chef. I hadn't heard any rave reviews, so I wasn't expecting much.

We have a date with 'The Sex Therapist' and a bunch of other people, on 18th December, for dinner at the club, so I am looking forward to that now.

I've been very spoilt today with food and friends.

It's only 10.30pm and I've only had 3 glasses of wine tonight, but I feel quite tired, so I think I'll have an early night. There are a few storms about and some heavy rain heading in our direction. Adoring Husband has to be out of bed early to work at the markets with SES.

It's been a great day and I will lay my head on the pillow with a smile on my dial.

Nite all.

Bring on the Warm and Fuzzies

You know that scene in the movie 'Shall We Dance' where Richard Gere appears on the escalator wearing that beautiful smile and that delicious suit and carrying that long stemmed red rose *swoon* and then he dances with Susan Sarandon while her work colleagues take her rose and stand there shedding a tear?

I love that scene.

Yes, I just watched that movie and now I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy.

Adoring Husband set up our Christmas tree this afternoon and there is a giant box of decorations sitting in the lounge room waiting for me to find the motivation to decorate both the tree, and the house.

I don't think I'll have time to do it tomorrow because I have a lunch that I'm looking forward to and then it's club night .. so maybe on Saturday.

I even bought some new baubles today. A quick trip into The Bay to buy some organic chocolate chunks and peppermint extract turned into a much more expensive episode with a new car booster seat in preparation for Chicklet's visit at Christmas, some clothes, some pyjamas and some underpants for her, along with a bucket of Christmas baubles!

Adoring Husband and I are dangerous together when it comes to shopping!

Did you know that Kirk Douglas turned 99 years of age today?

Wow!

It's almost midnight, so I'm off to bed. Short and sweet tonight.

Nite all.

A New Light

An interesting article about dentistry ... No Drill Dentistry

Check out these amazing photos ... Stunning Photographs

Today, I decided to take my first official 'smiling' photo to share publicly .. including on facebook. I set up the tripod and camera in my study and used my remote shutter to take photos of myself sitting in my pod chair, using the natural light from the window.

I know that Vegan Chickie will be disappointed that I photoshopped my moles out of the pic, but the rest is all me, wrinkles and all! I then changed it to black and white, and I softened the background because the three different patterns and textures behind me, were very distracting, and added some grain.

I'm pretty happy with it.

Now I need to sign off and spend some time in the kitchen .. Adoring Husband has been sleeping soundly in his recliner chair for the last two hours, after a long day of training and assessing with the SES. He usually stacks the dishwasher in the evening, but I think he may be 'done in' for the day, so I'll let him off tonight.

Nite all.

Happy and Sad

This short video actually brought a tear to my eye. The looks of genuine shock or disbelief when the person who created the video tells them they are beautiful, triggered some serious emotions in me.



It reminded me of our last dinner party when I asked our guests to name something that they loved about themselves, and they became very uncomfortable and struggled to come up with a response.

Admittedly, it was not a planned question and while I was interested in what our friends had to say, I hadn't thought about my own response, and I too struggled to find an answer!

So I found some questions that I'm going to answer and perhaps you could think of your own answers...

1.  The world needs?  More kindness.
2.  My first concert was Johnny Farnham 1972 (my second was The Jackson Five 1973)
3.  What song reminds you of your childhood? 'Red Roses for a Blue Lady' which my father played over and over after he got caught having an affair and my mother left him, and my brother and I, for 6 months.
4.  What is your favourite memory of your father? Fishing with him, two months before he died, and catching my first edible fish.
5.  What do you want your friends and family to remember about you? That I am happy with my life.
6.  If you could say something that the entire world would hear, what would it be? "Be kind to each other."
7.  What are you excited about in your life right now? Having my teeth fixed to improve my oral health, which I hope in turn, will be the final key to improving my overall health.
8.  If someone made a movie about your life, what would the title be?  "The Great Escape" because for decades, my life was a series of escapes from the wrong people, stupid decisions and bad situations.
9.  What is the hardest lesson you've had to learn?  Opening your mind means that life and beliefs are ever changing and developing and growing. Nothing is set in stone.
10.  What do you like to do first thing in the morning?  Spend thirty minutes alone before facing the world.
11.  If someone gave you $100 today, what would you spend it on?  As much as I want to say 'something to help the less fortunate' .. I would spend it on professional cleaners to spring clean my house!
12.  Who made you smile today and why?  My girls over morning tea ... talking about life.
13.  What do you know for sure?  The only truth that I can know for sure, is my own truth.
14.  What is your favourite smell?  Fresh .. all things fresh .. fresh new baby or puppy, fresh herbs, freshly ground coffee beans, fresh lemons, fresh air etc etc.
15.  What belief do you have, that you feel has held you back? That I'm not enough.
16.  What is your favourite memory of your mother?  When I was 17, she defended me to my father, who thought I was too young and stupid to make the right decision about a boy I wanted to go out with. She told him that I was a smart girl and that they had to give me the freedom to grow up.
17.  If you could choose any career, what would it be?  Healer.
18.  What's your favourite colour?  Yellow.
19.  What is your biggest regret?  Believing that I wasn't enough.
20.  What do you wish you possessed?  A better memory for names, faces and knowledge.

Some of that was a bit intense! Let's lighten the mood!!

I think I might go for a walk along the beach tomorrow and collect some driftwood to make this gorgeous tree to hang in the outdoor area. Such a clever idea!

Nite all.

Childishly Christmas

I've always admired Annie Leibovitz's photography .. but this is just wonderful and awesome and perfect ... thank you to The Nikonian for bringing it to my attention!



As promised, here is some photographic evidence of our Christmas lights that Adoring Husband worked so hard to set up yesterday.

Because I have nothing else to say today ...

Nite all.

Christmas on our Lawn

I think my taste buds have changed since I had my teeth fixed, because I haven't enjoyed a coffee since I returned home. I even asked if they had changed their brand because it tastes so different, but apparently not.

I may just have to quit my caffeine addiction .. it's no good if I can't enjoy it!

Adoring Husband began to set up our outdoor Christmas lights this morning, but discovered that the plastic clips that hold the light strands to our guttering had become brittle, so we headed into The Bay to buy some replacements.

While we were there, we purchased a couple of new items for the Christmas display. We like to make one new addition every year, but this year we got two.

We also found some gifts for Chicklet. I'm permitted to buy two Christmas gifts for Chicklet this year, so I've created a craft box full of fun crafty stuff as one gift .. she loves craft and activities!

We haven't figured out what the second gift will be yet .. as much as I wanted to buy the giant inflatable jumping platform with an inflatable slide into an inflatable pool! I have some ideas that I'm working on.

I got a cover for my new phone, which I'm very happy with.

We returned home and AH spent about 5 hours in the front garden putting up all the decorations and lights, setting the timer to turn on the lights at 6pm and turn them off at 10pm. It is now 10.31pm and the lights are still flashing!! I guess I'll be flipping the switch off before I jump into bed.

Tomorrow night I'll take a photo of the display. The new decorations are solar powered and they didn't quite have enough time in the sun to generate the power to shine brightly tonight.

I watched this short TED talk today and thought you might find it interesting too.




Oh! The lights just turned off - 10.45pm!

That's my sign to head to bed.

Nite all.

Christmas in Town

Adoring Husband arrived home before midday, but was here just briefly before heading off to fulfil SES duties for the town Christmas party.

I had been asked by the Progress Association to attend the event and take photos. My heart really wasn't in it. It gets tiresome when so many volunteer or town groups request photo shoots of events, only offering credit for the photography.

I think I might have to create a minimum fee for these groups, because the shoots are rarely fun and I have no control over where the events within the events take place, so the lighting is often harsh and difficult to work with, which then requires time to edit the photos to look presentable. It's a real chore and takes time that I resent losing.

More than two hours of my valuable time was spent waiting for something worth photographing, to take place.

At least I caught up with a few locals that I haven't seen in some time. I won a frozen chicken, which I donated to an elderly couple because it wasn't GF and we wouldn't be able to eat it.

Here are a couple of photos from the event.

Lamb shanks were on the menu tonight and I had them in the slow cooker for some time and served them with mashed sweet and regular potato, cauliflower, zucchini and a tomato and onion gravy. It was quite delicious and there's plenty left over for tomorrow's lunch.

It's now after 10pm and I'm ready for bed.

Nite all.

That's it from me.

Here it is 7.45pm and I am feeling quite done in.

Admittedly, I have spent a couple of hours at Woman of Many Talents' house and enjoyed a wine or two ... or three.

I believe, looking at the evening's TV that is on offer, tht I am going to be in bed incredibly early .. like in the next thirty minutes!

I have shown off my new teeth all over town today and the discussions that have ensued have worn me out completely.

My sincerest apologies to everyone who hoped for more from me tonight.

Nite all.

Home and Smiling

What a day!

The Bare-chested Chef drove Vegan Chickie, Chicklet and I to Tewantin, where we girls shuffled into Zabe Espresso Bar for our morning coffee and some breakfast.

This cafe is a bit retro/nostalgic where the decor is all mismatched furniture, old lounge chairs that look like they came straight from Grandma's house, old leather sofas, distressed timber tables, wireless sets and radiograms from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, record players, timber cabinet stereo units and an old upright piano in the corner right in front of the window.

The numbers for the tables when you order are old 45 vinyl records in their covers. The walls are plastered with old news articles from every decade that you can imagine, one wall covered in different music sheets, while the floor is polished concrete.

We ordered coffee, a bacon and egg frittata for me and a reuben toasted sandwich for Vegan Chickie.

It was quite busy, so the only seats available for us were a couple of old two seater granny lounge chairs that were backed onto the music sheet wall and were separated by a small round timber table. It wasn't very conducive for chatting but was reasonably comfortable.

The coffee was DELICIOUS (just as it was the last time I was there) and the food was nice too, but I am unable to chew at the moment - having lost all of my back top teeth and the gums still stitched up.

Apparently, chewing with the front teeth covered in porcelain veneers is not an option - taking a bite is ok, but chewing is not, so I attempt to soften and mash my food with my tongue and the roof of my mouth. My food options are limited and it's quite possible that I will lose some weight over the next few weeks until my mouth is filled with usable teeth!

There was an elderly man sitting across from us who drew our attention to an even more elderly lady, who had just seated herself at the upright piano. He told us she was 94 years old and there she sat in a blue pants suit and a white crocheted beret with her granny trolley parked beside her.

Her first song was 'Keep Your Sunny Side Up' from way back in 1929 and almost immediately, my eyes filled with tears .. I have no idea why she affected me that way! Her next song was 'It Had to be You' and still I felt emotional.

She was so old and frail and hunched over that keyboard, yet her hands and fingers just glided over the keys so naturally.

I thought I remembered that there was a florist next door to the cafe, so as we left, I was relieved to see that I my memory hadn't failed me. I stepped inside and with Vegan Chickie's help selected the biggest brightest, sunniest yellow gerbera from the bucket. The woman behind the counter wrapped it in clear plastic and tied a bow around it and I returned to the cafe, waited til the old lady finished her song and then presented her with the gerbera.

I thanked her and told her that she played beautifully and that she had brought me such joy and had made my day (mind you, I said this fighting to hold back my tears!).

She was so pleasantly surprised and thanked me profusely, telling me that 'I' had made 'her' day. She told me that she almost hadn't made it there today because she had a terrible night of cramps in her legs. She said 'Lucky I don't need my legs to play the piano!'

We then walked across the road to a little boutique where Chicklet began to try on all the lady's shoes that were at her level. Vegan Chickie started to tell her to leave them alone, when I said "Leave her alone! That's MY girl!" (I'm passing on my shoe fetish!). Chicklet then piped up very loudly "Yeah Mama, leave me alone! I'm Bozzy Wozzy's girl!"

Every time she tried on a pair she would announce "These ones look good on me!"

So after a little retail therapy - read - buying Chicklet a thousand and one stickers from the cheapie shop - we headed up to the park that was being redesigned and constructed for three weeks, six weeks ago! It's still not ready!

We sat down at a picnic table and called the Bare-chested Chef to come pick us up.

There before us, slowly gathered a group of middle-aged people with musical instruments. Banjos, guitars, ukeleles etc setting up their music stands with iPads and soon they were all playing and singing together. There were about ten of them.

We gave them a round of applause at the end of their first song and them climbed into the car to head home.

The rest of the day was spent playing games with Chicklet, watching the 'Bolt' dvd, creating pictures with the newly acquired stickers.

The Bare-chested Chef drove me to the train station and kindly waited with me until the train arrived (5 minutes early!) and I had a very peaceful and relaxing trip home with only 5 of us in the end carriage.

Adoring Husband was waiting, as always, with open arms and now I am home safe n sound.

Boy, I sure fit a lot into three days. It's now 1am and I NEED to sleep!

Nite all.    

Feelin' Done In

It has been a long, stressful, tiring two days of dentistry.

Happy that it's over. Happy with the results so far. Need to learn how to both smile, and talk, again.

Right now, I need to sleep.

So here I am in all my 'straight from the dentist' glory (I softened the pic to reduce my ragged look) ...

Now I really need to sleep.

Nite all.

A Bit the Worse for Wear

Yes, after two hours in the dentist's chair and after the needles wore off, I'm feeling quite a bit the worse for wear tonight.

A complete clean and scrape, removal of some infected gum, two full teeth extractions and two surgically removed broken teeth roots and then a flushing cleanse of the gums. Five stitches and about fifteen needles later, I walked out feeling on top of the world!

I can't say that it was a pleasant experience, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was bearable and she was kind and patient and tolerant and understanding. She gave me a stress ball to play with at about the halfway mark after I held both of my hands up and they were trembling uncontrollably.

She was quick and efficient and kept me informed of everything that she was doing while letting me know as each tooth came out ... I couldn't feel a thing from the bottom of my eyelids to the bottom of my chin!

Just as I thought I was in the clear she asked "Will you still be here tomorrow?"

I told her that I was booked on the afternoon train to go home and she said "I've had a cancellation tomorrow afternoon, so I could fit you in for the next part of your plan."

I asked her if she thought my mouth and body would cope with so much work in such a short space of time and she told me that because I have removed gluten, dairy and sugar from my diet, my mouth and body will heal much faster AND because there is so much infection in my gums, getting rid of it as soon as possible will help my body to thrive.

That made sense to me, so I decided to change my travel arrangements and will return to the dentist's chair for a FOUR HOUR visit tomorrow (or today, as you are reading this).

I bought a bottle of very strong colloidal silver from her (because I left mine at home), and it was very reasonably priced at about half the price that the chemists charge for weaker strength. So I've been flushing my mouth with that and I've taken my Reserve which is full of antioxidants and my super strength vitamin C to promote healing.

Despite all of that, there is some swelling, tenderness and discomfort tonight. Vegan Chickie has given me a sheet of Nurofen Zavance, so if the pain gets worse during the night, I've got that to fall back on, but it will have to be pretty bad for me to resort to that.

I've already had a couple of naps that lasted about an hour each and hopefully by morning I'll be feeling ready to cope with the next leg!

I can't quite believe that I'm doing this!

I can only have cool fluids - nothing hot, and I have to stay out of the sun for a day because heat increases blood flow and can induce bleeding in the wounds. So I've had a fresh watermelon, pineapple and mint juice, courtesy of Vegan Chickie, some room temperature bone broth and lots of water. Surprisingly, I don't feel hungry.

My Chicklet family are taking very good care of me.

Now I need to sleep it off.

A big thank you to my friends and family for their messages of encouragement and support .. you know who you are. I truly appreciate you and you need to know that you helped keep my strength and determination on track.

Warm hugs to you all!

Nite all.

Train Travel with a Difference

It was a fairly hectic morning, although I was able to do everything I needed to do, with time to spare.

I batched up about a dozen containers of chicken bone broth and then used the remainder to make a casserole for Adoring Husband, hopefully to keep him fed for the two nights that I'm away.

I packed a small backpack with some make-up and toiletries. I have almost everything that I need permanently based in my second home now, so I can travel light from now on.

I showered, washing, blow drying and straightening my hair and applied make-up .. all of which are fairly epic tasks that require about an hour to complete.

We arrived at the train station with about 15 minutes to spare, but the train arrived ten minutes early!! Unheard of!!

It was the old diesel train, which takes three hours to travel the same distance that it takes the tilt train two hours to complete.

This train is quite dark and dingy, with no TV screens for entertainment and quite a bit less leg room with their seats. I was seated beside a young man who was feasting on a train meal heated in a foil container, which smelled delicious but looked pretty dodgy.

I decided to head to the front of the train to get my free coffee, using the voucher that they issued when they checked my ticket. When I finally got there (and it's a hell of a hike along 5 carriages, opening four doors between each carriage and stepping over the old wobbly carriage connections), the club car was only partially filled, so I took ownership of a booth and set myself up with my ipad and settled in for the trip.

It was very spacious and very comfortable with big windows that let in plenty of light. I was having a wonderfully peaceful time, when the queue to the kiosk suddenly seemed to grow longer snaking through the carriage, past me and reaching the door at the other end. Everybody was talking and it was noisy and much less comfortable. The people standing in the queue had trouble keeping their footing as the train snaked around some tricky bends.

A woman, I guess in her late 60s (her oldest child was a 44 yr old son), requested permission to sit at my booth, just until she ate her meal. I welcomed her and even offered her the cake that came with my coffee, which she accepted with gratitude.

She was a woman 'of God' and her job was to assist recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. She had recently returned from six months working in China in an orphanage and had sole car of eleven children with Cerebral Palsy. One of her sons was a Pastor in the church (I'm not sure which religion) and she had many a tale to tell.

Once I got over my initial dread that I had to endure this woman for the entire trip, and opened my mind to what she was talking about, she really was a very interesting woman. Every so often she would preach a little and tell me about how the "Lord provides for us all" or "Lord heals us all" or "Lord blesses us with something special every day" etc etc etc., but generally she kept it about her experiences with broken young people and described many success stories and the sort of work that she does.

I was impressed with her enthusiasm and positive outlook (considering her work) and how strong her faith was. When it was time for me to disembark, I shook her hand and told her what a pleasure it was chatting with her. She promised to pray for the Lord to heal Adoring Husband of his Parkinsons .. so I expect his complete recovery by the time I return home on Tuesday!

The Bare-chested Chef was waiting for me at the station (he picked me up during his break from work) and I arrived at the house to find a very excited little Chicklet laughing with delight that I had returned so quickly. I got thirty minutes of chat in with Vegan Chickie, before it was time for Chicklet to get my undivided attention.

We had a lovely afternoon playing with the giant spider that I'd brought with me (a leftover decoration from Halloween). Vegan Chickie had made a delicious meat and veg casserole for dinner and after we ate, there was more play, bath time, story time and then sleep ... but only after Mama came to the bedroom!

Vegan Chickie and I then had some time together and now I am ready for sleep. Oh and VC fixed my new phone with all of my contacts and email!! It took her less than two minutes .. honestly *rolls eyes* .. it was so simple, I feel like a right doofus!

Tomorrow is the big day, and now I'm starting to feel nervous and anxious. Wish me luck!

Nite all.  

Damaging Weather

So it seems that last night's storm caused a bit of damage on the river ...

This particular boat broke from it's mooring and wiped out three other boats which also came away from their moorings. The other boats were retrieved and had varying degrees of damage, but this one came off the worst for wear.

When I left, there were three cars on the river bank, all with ropes attached to the boat and all attempting to get the boat upright. I doubt that they would have been successful.

We've had another storm tonight, so it will be interesting to see or hear the outcome of this little debacle.

The other interesting thing that happened by the river today, was seeing a family of galahs teaching their babies how to get seeds from pods in the trees.

This little one seemed very curious about me and wasn't at all afraid.

He didn't move until the rest of the family took flight very loudly and rapidly, so he followed close behind.

Adoring Husband bought me an early Christmas present yesterday .. a new Apple iPhone 6 Plus. I spent this morning trying to back up my old phone and restore it to the new phone, but I was only partially successful and I can't seem to get my contacts or my email restored.

That is frustrating!

I'm counting on Vegan Chickie to press a couple of buttons for instant success when I get there tomorrow.

Luckily, I had organised to spend some time with Woman of Many Talents today, so I was able to ease my frustrations with some wine and a good old girlie chat for a few hours.

It was quite late when I finally made my way home, so I cooked a quick dinner and then made up a batch of dog food.

I leave at lunch time tomorrow for the dreaded dental trip to the Sunny Coast. I'm looking forward to my appointment, but with some trepidation .. I doubt that my long time fear of dentists will ever disappear completely, no matter how good the dentist is, but I haven't felt comfortable smiling for a long time now and my crooked loose front tooth has limited my food choices, so I'm excited about getting it all fixed and my mouth being healthy again.

This appointment is going to be the longest two hours of my life!

It has just ticked past midnight, so I'd best get some sleep!

Nite all.

 

Counting Down

Just four more sleeps til the beginning of my oral adventure!

I booked the return train trip to the Sunny Coast this morning.

It's been a quiet day for me. Just some cooking and a little housework.

I am very distracted tonight! I have no idea why!

Nite all.

The First Step Toward Christmas

Today, the question was asked "What is the difference between Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease?"

According to the National Institute on Ageing (NIA), Dementia is a brain disorder that affects communication and performance of daily activities and Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that specifically affects parts of the brain that control thought, memory and language.

I hope that satisfies your curiosity.

Today was a perfect day to travel across the river on the ferry to attend our Christmas version of the lady's luncheon.

We were, however, a little disappointed to discover that one of the club buses had broken down, so a group of us had to wait at the ramp while the first group was taken to the club in the bus and then it returned to pick up the second group.

The club did not disappoint. It was warm and welcoming, the staff were friendly and the food was good. 

We handed out our Christmas presents (we had to take a gift to the value of $10 - but I'm certain that a few of the gifts were more than that - also some of them were much less!) and the Speckled Hen made us sing a line from a christmas carol to receive our gift.

We all ordered our meals.

We sang happy birthday to Lady Lynn.

We got to play the pokies for only 20 minutes, when the first group were called to the bus for the trip to meet the ferry.

It was a nice ride back across the river. 

The day seemed to go so quickly!

Adoring Husband couldn't come to pick me up, because the workers were still at our house and their van, which they were working out of, was parked in the driveway. So I walked to the shops, where I bought some meat for dinner and ordered coffee.

Some friends, who had just arrived home from Brisvegas, pulled up in the carpark and offered me a lift home, which I accepted, but suddenly my phone rang and there was Adoring Husband telling me that the workers had gone and he could come get me after all.

I couldn't wait to get home and check out the new blinds.

We now have exterior blinds fixed to the Western side of the house covering four windows. They are slatted and have the winding mechanisms inside the house so that we can open and close the blinds from the inside.

I cannot believe the difference they make to the temperature of those rooms! The rooms are at least ten degrees cooler!

Our bathrooms are so hot in the afternoons from about 2pm onwards, that it's impossible to get dry after stepping out of the shower. It's like being in a sauna and it's very difficult to put on make up while the heat causes you to perspire. Many times I've brought the pedestal fan to the doorway of the bathroom, so that it can blow on me while I apply make up.

These new blinds don't just make a difference to those rooms, but also to the entire house. I've been raving about them all afternoon and I believe they are our best investment into this property so far. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them and I'm so pleased that AH suggested getting them. Best idea EVER!

Once again, it is rapidly approaching midnight, so here I sign off.

Nite all.

The Life of Me

This is SO 'me' and Adoring Husband can vouch for it!

I've been watching the final of XFactor Australia tonight and I'm pleased to say that my pick Cyrus Villanueva won. He seems like a lovely boy (19), very humble and he has a great voice.

Let's see if he fades into obscurity, just as all the other XFactor winners have in the past!

I've had a lovely day today, starting with sitting at the Seat of Knowledge with my boys, followed by morning tea with Mardi, Beauty, Maid Marian and the Reality TV Queen and then I invited myself to a day in The Bay with Reality TV Queen.

The day included a visit to Bunnings.

Everybody knows how I detest Bunnings and when Adoring Husband needs to go there, I demand that he drop me at a different shopping centre before he goes. I avoid it all costs.

So, as I was walking towards the entrance with my friend, I literally bumped into one of AH's SES colleagues! I made him promise to NOT tell AH that he saw me voluntarily entering the Bunnings premises and he agreed, but I don't trust him, so I had to confess my sin when I returned home.

AH was shocked and stunned!

My day also included another shop that I have only ever entered once and that is the Chemist Warehouse behind Aldis.

We had lunch at the RSL Club and then visited Dr Dan (Dan Murphy's) before returning home.

I was home before 3pm.

Tomorrow is going to be a great day because our lady's lunch group are having their Christmas party at Woodgate, which means a ride across the river on the ferry and the weather forecast is good. There should be 23 of us wreaking some havoc at the local club. I'm looking forward to it.

Today was the 18th anniversary of my father's passing. I can't believe it's been that long. It still feels like it was just a couple of years ago.  How time flies.

Happy birthday to my little sister, who turns 43 tomorrow (25th). She will be celebrating on Magnetic Island where she arrived a couple of days ago and spent some time catching up with our cousin. This is me catching up with him last year ...

Last, but definitely not least, a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the lovely Lady Lynn. We will be celebrating with her at the Christmas lunch, so wine will definitely be on the agenda!

Once again it's almost midnight, so I'm off!

Nite all.  

Movie Date

We were so looking forward to watching the final movie of 'The Hunger Games' series.

Even though neither of us had read the books, we've really enjoyed each movie as it was released and we were hooked from the very first viewing.

But I have to say that today, I was disappointed.

I really hated the last ten or fifteen minutes of the movie. The ending was really weak and left me feeling flat. My inner dialogue was 'Really? That's it?'

After the movie, we had an hour to kill before we were to attend an appointment with Elston, so we got some groceries from Nana's Pantry and Coles, attended the appointment and headed home.

We were sitting on our couch at 2.45pm eating a quick light lunch made with leftovers from last night.

It's almost 1am!! How the hell did that happen!?? Time flies when you're having fun!

Apologies for the short post tonight. I lost control of my evening.

Nite all.

Slovenly Sunday

Yes it was pretty slovenly.

Not a lot got done, apart from me cooking three meals.

We had a big breakfast.

Protein and a tossed salad for lunch.

My favourite was dinner. Butterflied lamb leg with creamed garlic cauliflower, bok choy and mint sauce.

The mint sauce was a made up concoction.

I took a handful of mint leaves and put them into the mortar and pestle, added a pinch of himalayan salt and a pinch of coconut sugar (the grains of these help pulverise the leaves and balance the sweet and sour flavour), a drizzle each of olive oil and maple syrup and pulverised until it was smooth and runny.

It only makes a couple of tablespoons of mint sauce, but it's just enough to drizzle on the lamb and add that delicious minty flavour that we all love.

Dessert was blueberries, strawberries and chocolate cream.

I think I've eaten more today than I have for the last month!

We watched the Amy Schumer movie, 'Trainwreck' today, and though I felt it started a little slowly, I really liked it.

We are going to the cinema tomorrow to see 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II'. It will be the beginning of a very busy week for me and I'm looking forward to it very much.

In the next two weeks, I have a couple of Christmas parties plus the town Christmas party for which I've been booked as official photographer. I have two days on the Sunny Coast for my first dental visit and Adoring Husband will have a trip to Sydney for his annual visit to Mum.

The Motivator and I also have a Jeunesse presentation planned for the first week in December.

So it's all happening.

... and now I lay me down to sleep.

Nite all.

A Little Disturbed

Something disturbing (to me anyway) happened during my day of medical assessments at the Sunny Coast last Wednesday.

My eye was poked and prodded by both an Optometrist and an Ophthalmologist. They lifted my eyelids and touched the insides of my top and bottom eyelids and stretched the skin around my eyeball, as well as putting drops of dye in my eyes and touching the dripping liquid as it fell from my eyes.

Neither of them used gloves at any time.

I didn't see either of them wash their hands before they began the consultation .. which is not to say that they didn't wash their hands .. they may have done so before entering the room, but at the time I felt a little uncomfortable and perhaps I should have asked them.

My eye has much improved, without medical intervention, although yesterday (Friday), a couple of people asked me if I was okay, because of the redness in and around my eye, but it improves more and more with each passing day.

I've spent today doing very little except cooking a delicious roast chicken, veg and gravy for lunch and watching movies with Adoring Husband.

We watched the start of 'The Minority Report' with Tom Cruise, but got bored with that so we switched channels and watched my old favourite 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion' (I never tire of that movie and it makes me feel good every time I watch it), then we watched the 2014 version of 'Godzilla' which was typical American rubbish and we are currently watching 'Winter's Tale' with Colin Farrell, which is a little tricky to follow .. it's one of those movies that you have to watch every minute, otherwise you easily get lost.

I also watched this today .. Adele pretending to be an Adele impersonator .. which kind of moved me.

Finally, as we edge ever so closer to the Christmas season, I thought most of my friends would enjoy this little game ...

Have a happy Sunday!

Nite all.