Happy Saturday

I woke up feeling much better today. Stomach cramps gone and plenty of energy to take on the world and Chicklet!

We had a happy day with lots of laughter and playing. Whenever her energy levels looked like getting out of control, we would take some 'quiet time' and bring things back to a sane level.

The Batman and Friends figurines got a workout today and we played hide'n'seek with them for a good couple of hours. The 'Zombies v Plants' game app also got a good workout. I downloaded a version of it onto my iPad and we swapped games competing for the championship. She is definitely her Grandmother's Granddaughter ... so competitive!!

She showed me lots of apps on her iPad and explained how to play each one, which was fun.

We read three stories tonight and when I told her to curl up like a dragon ready for sleep, she rolled over and without uttering another word, was asleep within five minutes.

I calculated that we received about 60mm of rain overnight and today. The wind didn't get too bad and the room that I'm sleeping in, on this visit, is much quieter in the wet weather, than the back room. I noticed that the weather was coming from that direction, so it was quite loud against the windows.

The Bare-chested Chef was surprised that I slept so well because, as he stated "It was a loud night!"

I'm missing watching the football with Adoring Husband tonight, but keeping an eye on the scores. It's Super Saturday and three games are being shown live on Foxtel. I'm disappointed that my team lost against the Auckland Warriors tonight.

Looks like it could be an early night for me .. ready for a big Sunday .. final day of babysitting, and the weather will be much improved, so we might get to the park and have some outside play time.

As always, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with Chicklet. She's crazy and fun and clever and a real joy to be with - exhausting but wonderful!

Nite all.

Struggle Street

I am struggling with some kind of gastric bug at the moment. I've had some very mild stomach cramps for the past 48 hours, which were noticeable, but not uncomfortable or painful. I thought my body was doing a good job of fighting off whatever was trying to attach itself to me.

The cramps have been much stronger, although very intermittent, and quite painful this afternoon and evening.

Only one other brief symptom to go with the cramps, so I guess my body is still doing a good job of fighting it ... and it may explain why I slept so much yesterday afternoon and last night.

I just hope that I don't pass it on to the family .. especially to Chicklet!

We had a big shopping spree today!

Vegan Chickie will be pleased with the new 'noisy' toy that has joined the household. A walking, roaring Tyrannosaurus Rex! Ten Batman figurines with suction cups to attach to a special story book. Zootopia stickers and activity books. New highlighter pens and textas. Some silver angel costume wings, which have been renamed 'dragon wings'. A Bat pen. Dinosaur stickers.

We still have two full days of play left and one day that we won't be able to leave the house due to inclement weather .. which has the potential to turn into a serious weather event .. so it was important to have plenty of activities to keep us occupied.

I had some 'time out' in my bedroom before The Bare-chested Chef went to work, so my body had a chance to rest a bit before the onslaught of full-on Chicklet play!

She didn't want to go to sleep tonight and claimed that she wasn't tired. She wanted to have a staring competition, but when I told her that the winner would be the first person to fall asleep, she changed her mind. She then suggested a counting competition, which I won, because I counted so loud and so quickly, that she kept losing count! Then I suggested a competition to see who could be quiet the longest - she spoke first to declare that it was a tie! Then we had a competition to see who could keep their eyes closed the longest, but she spent the entire time asking me if I had opened my eyes yet.

Finally, I suggested that she curl up like a dragon - because dragons are always exhausted from flying and breathing fire and rescuing people - and then she might find it easier to fall asleep. So rolled onto her side and curled up like a dragon, pretending to curl her long tail around herself, and she was sound asleep inside five minutes!

So I'm off to sleep now, hoping to wake tomorrow, cramp free and fighting fit enough to take on a crazy Chicklet and a possible serious weather event.

Nite all.

It Eluded Me

After watching an exhausting State of Origin game last night (which, as you can tell by the above pic, my team won!), the adrenalin took too long to subside and I could not relax enough to sleep.

It was after 1am when I finally drifted off to sleep and for some strange reason, I woke up more than twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off, so I was wide awake again at 4.20am. Ugh.

Thank goodness I put yesterday's coffee in the fridge when I wasn't able to drink it all. I heated it up this morning and drank it on the way to the station. At least that kept me alert for most of the uneventful trip.

The Bare-chested Chef was waiting on the platform for me and we drove home in time for me to give Vegan Chickie a hug and wave goodbye as The Bare-chested Chef drove her to Brisvegas for her flight to Perth. I'll be gone before she returns, so I won't get to see her again until July!

I had a lot of fun playing with Chicklet for the next five hours. There was lots of dinosaur play, hide and seek, creating pictures and stories with stickers and pencils on paper, lunching and playing Angry Birds on the iPad.

By the time The Bare-chested Chef returned, and struggling to cope on 3 hours sleep, I was out on my feet, so as a good tag team does, I left Chicklet in his capable hands and climbed into bed for a nana nap. That was at 2.30pm.

I woke at 4pm and used the bathroom. I was going to head outside to the living room, but I could hear Chicklet and her Dadu chatting away and they sounded so relaxed and happy together, that I decided to lie back down on the bed and listen to them for a while, without disturbing them. Listening to them made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Next thing I knew, it was 6pm! I had drifted back to sleep and this time, when I woke up, I could hear them talking to Vegan Chickie on the speaker phone. She had arrived safely and Chicklet was chatting away, so again, instead of disturbing them, I decided to wait until the phone call was finished before making my way out.

Next thing I knew, it was 7.40pm!!! I had drifted off to sleep AGAIN!

By now, Chicklet was in bed and The Bare-chested Chef was cleaning up in the kitchen.

So my day has consisted of 2.5 hours of travelling, 5 hours of playing and 5 hours of sleeping!

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, but I'm still feeling very relaxed and drowsy, so after a few pages of my book, I believe I'll be back in dreamland before long.

I should certainly have plenty of energy for a full day of play tomorrow!

Nite all.

One More Sleep

I'm very close to being fully packed. I just need to put into the suitcase, the make-up and toiletries that I'll use to get ready in the morning, so it's all good! I am surprisingly well organised.

I enjoyed morning tea with the girls today. As predicted, they all had fabulous holiday stories to tell and they obviously had a great time on each of their trips away. There were six of us until The Speckled Hen and her daughter and grandson appeared, so our table was very full and very loud!

It was quite late in the morning, by the time we all went our separate ways.

I cooked up a big batch of beef ribs, some in the slow cooker and some in the oven. That was our quick easy dinner in preparation for State of Origin tonight. Yes, it's that time again! The first of three State of Origin games! I even delayed my trip away, so that I could watch the game with Adoring Husband.

It's our thing.

He supports NSW and I support QLD.

This is where I get to brag that since we've been together, his team has only won three series' and my team have won nine. Yay us!

I need to go now and get my State of Origin gear on. Adoring Husband has been wearing his blues gear all day and is fully prepared already.

Talk to you from the Sunny Coast tomorrow night.

Go QUEENSLANDERS!

This is a photo that I posted yesterday of a sunset on the river here...

I thought I'd show you the 'before' photo. It really wasn't much of a sunset and this is straight from the camera (actually this photo was taken ten seconds before the top one, but is identical except for some space on the right) ...

I'm just a rookie photoshopper and have no idea how to use anything but the basic tools in the program.

So now you know.

Nite all.

It's Oily

It's a habit that I still have feelings of guilt about, but I continue to laze in bed every morning, for as long as I feel it necessary. This morning, it was well after 9am when I climbed out from under that warm bedding.

Because I can!

After I bought my morning coffee, I decided to accompany Adoring Husband into The Bay. He only needed to buy one thing and I wanted to get some Black Seed Oil from Go Natural, across the other side of town.

While we were there, we stocked up on coconut ice cream too!

I hear you asking "What is Black Seed Oil?"

I'm glad that you asked!

Black seeds come from the Nigella Sativa flower, and it’s origins are from North Africa, Mediterranean/Europe, and Asia, but are grown all over the world now. Black Seed Oil is known as one of the most effective natural remedies in world, for many different ailments.

Cleopatra used it as part of her beauty routine, King Tut had a bottle of it with him in his tomb because he wanted to take it to the afterlife and the Muslim prophet Muhammad stated that black seeds can cure everything but death.

It's known as 

• Anti-bacterial
• Anti-inflammatory
• Anti-oxidant
• Anti-fungal
• Anti-cancer
• Anti-asthmatic
• Anti-histamine
• Anti-viral
• Anti-coagulant

It promotes heart health. Lowers blood sugar. It strengthens your immune system to fight colds and flus. Reduces high blood pressure. It promotes natural deep sleep and has been known to eliminate insomnia. It prevents and eases muscle cramps. It has been an effective treatment for convulsions. It can lower anxiety and help with depression. It improves liver health and also digestion. 

There are lots more uses for it and there has been success with various cancers and protecting from the harmful effects of cancer treatments. 

You can read more about it here. 

AH has some spots on his arm that I will use this oil on .. I will report back with the results.

I enjoyed a couple of wines with The Blond Bombshell and Reality TV Queen this afternoon and I'm very much looking forward to catching up with the girls at morning tea tomorrow. There have been a few trips away, so there should be lots of stories to listen to!!

Nite all.

Happy Monday

How cold was it on Sunday night!? I was sleeping on top of the doona and under the light duvet and spent half the night shivering, but couldn't bear the thought of exposing my body to the cold air long enough to get under the warm bedding! Crazy.

The temperature got down to 7C this morning, which is very cold for this part of the world, however, once the sun rose, the weather warmed up quickly and it turned into a pleasantly mild day. Mild enough for me to comfortably wear jeans!

On my way to get my morning coffee, I bumped into Reality TV Queen, who was walking two borrowed dogs and she invited me to accompany her into The Bay while she bought a new toilet seat and some accessories for one of her borrowed dogs.

I eagerly agreed, even though she intended on visiting my least favourite shop in the universe .. Bunnings!

We also shopped in K-Mart, which is one of my favourite shops for reasonably inexpensive goodies. I got some more tea towels to replace my turmeric stained cloths, a new bed for Ruby and a clothes stand for when I do my ironing.

The RSL Club was our lunchtime destination and it was there that we discovered Chef Pat who was having an early lunch, and then while we were looking for a table to sit down, we found Shazzam with her husband, so we sat with them to eat, which was very pleasant!

A quick flutter on the pokies and then we were off to the supermarket for some groceries and we were home by 3.30pm. It was a good day and it's always nice to spend some quality time with Reality TV Queen. She's a crack up!

I sold the fourth of my five text books today, through Gumtree, so I'm pretty happy with that kind of success inside one week. I still have one book remaining, which is the most expensive of the books, but time will tell.

I hear a warm doona calling my name tonight! I will climb under there immediately, so that I don't have to think about it again before morning. Cosy and comfy straight away.

Nite all.

Last Sunday of Autumn

I don't know if you've seen this before. I saw it for the first time, a few years ago, and was amused, amazed and entertained, so when I saw it pop up on my Facebook feed today, I thought I'd share it here for your enjoyment.



I did what I do best on a Sunday morning, and stayed in bed, reading and playing on my iPad til after 10am. I did this while Adoring Husband was working his butt off, whipper snipping and mowing the shop lawns and then doing our lawns.

While he was finishing our lawns, I went for a ride in the glorious Autumn sunshine to get my morning coffee. I rode the long way and meandered along the river path, playing my music really LOUD through my earphones and stopping to chat with a couple of the shop owners before I decided to head home.

Off in the distance, I watched a Whistling Kite climb high in the sky and then dive bomb so fast toward the tops of the tall trees, it was a spectacular dive! I stopped, watching and waiting for it to fly back above the trees, to see what it had caught.

It never came back up, but not far to the right of the trees, I saw my favourite bird, the White-bellied Sea Eagle, soaring in slow motion and forming a V with it's huge wing span. Suddenly from nowhere, two Whistling Kites began dive bombing it! It quickly flew over my head and towards the river, with the two kites close on it's tail.

THEN, as it got closer to the river, a second WBSE appeared, and the kites, even though they were less than half the size of the eagles, began bombing both of the eagles! So I turned around and I hightailed it towards the river (even though I DID NOT have my camera with me), so that I could watch the action.

As I got close, I lost sight of them through some trees and by the time I got to the river's edge, there was no sign of ANY of the birds, in ANY direction. Disappeared into thin air! Ugh!

It's probably a good thing, because if anything more exciting had happened, I might have been really sad not to have my camera with me!

Most of today, I spent at my lovely clean desk, looking at some old photos and found this one ...

It was a neighbour's birthday cake covered in fresh frangipanis. This happened in January this year and looking at the photo today, I remembered how poisonous and toxic the sap from these flowers is! Luckily, nobody was affected, but I'll make sure I tell them to avoid using fresh frangipanis for decoration on food in future.

This was our dinner tonight. I did duck breast with orange butter sauce, served with bubble'n'squeak.

Now I'm off to bed. It's going to be a big week for me!

Nite all.

Not So Super Saturday

What I dislike about State of Origin time, is that there are less games of regular footy on TV over the weekends.

This week, instead of one game on Thursday night, one on Friday night, three on Saturday, two on Sunday and then one on Monday .. we only get one game each day from Friday to Monday.

I'm pretty sure that everyone in Australia, who dislikes sport, probably enjoys this time of year, which proves that 'you can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time'.

Sadly, my team lost last night by one point. I'm not feeling confident about my choice for tonight's game between St George Dragons and QLD Cowboys either. It's been a 50-50 decision by all the tippers in our club tipping competition, so I guess the game could go either way.

This was my delicious breakfast this morning ...

A whole punnet of fresh raspberries (very sweet) with plain coconut yoghurt, macadamia nuts, pecans, shredded dark organic chocolate, and drizzled with raw honey.

I cooked up last night's winnings for lunch (leg of lamb).

Adoring Husband and I watched a couple of movies today. 'Trainwreck', 'The Ugly Truth' and 'Fried Green Tomatoes' (always a goodie).

Now we are all set to watch the footy!

So it's been a while since I've shared some quotes and memes...

Nite all.

Friday Frenzy

Well, what a quiet night at the club it was tonight! Only three of us, from our group, in attendance and we all won something in the raffles! Thank you Leggy Blonde for pressing the button which brought my number up to win a leg of lamb!

I had a lucky night on the pokies and I haven't checked my keno ticket, so I could be a winner there too!

Our group keno ticket had won $9 from last week, so I replayed that which only won $1, so I added our $16 and replayed it 17 games (for all of our ladies who weren't there this week and wondered if we were millionaires yet). We could be millionaires by the time we check the ticket next week!

I had a terrible night last night. I was in bed by 8.30pm and asleep before 9.30pm. Adoring Husband came home from SES training at some stage and woke me up because I guess he was worried that I was in bed asleep already (I'm ALWAYS up waiting for him, no matter what time he arrives home).

Then he was carrying on like a pork chop because he'd lost his glasses.

I went back to sleep and was woken by the dogs at 1.05am because they needed to go out to pee, so I got up and took them outside.

At 1.45am, Jack decided he needed to go out again, so up I got.

At 2.30am, I was still awake and both Jack and Ruby decided it was time for the third trip outside, except they both just stood at the back door and looked outside. Ruby had a drink and they both came back to bed.

At 3.20am, I had actually dozed off to sleep when Jack woke me again!  I took him outside. Ruby stayed in bed. Jack actually went out to the yard this time.

At 3.45am, I was still wide awake and unable to fall back to sleep, so I decided to sit in the lounge room for a while. There was nothing on TV, so I checked Facebook (as you do) until I felt like I could go back to sleep some time after 4.30am.

Just as I was dozing off (at about 5am), Adoring Husband's alarm went off, for him to get up for work! Ugh!

Finally when I was in a sound sleep, Adoring Husband returned from work (I'm guessing it was about 5.40am) and set the dogs off barking and woke me up yet again.

I was attempting to sleep, but I could hear voices and music, which I assumed was AH watching television in the lounge room, but figured out it was the builders across the road, playing their radio really loud.

I gave up at 7.45am and climbed out of bed to start my day, feeling very cheated and very cranky, and threatening to take the dogs to the vet!

The Nikonian shared this on FB today and I was amazed by these beautiful voices. I knew you would love it too.



Right now, I'm watching my football team lose to the Wests Tigers. There is still 12 minutes left in the game, so I haven't lost all hope, but I know that Number One Son will be sitting on the edge of his seat down in Wagga, hoping that his team beats my team!

I expect that I will be in bed in about 15 minutes attempting to catch up on last night's lost sleep.

Nite all.

Date Day

'Alice Through The Looking Glass' was a great movie .. but I think it needs to be seen on the big screen to appreciate all the affects, the colour, and the magnificence of it.

There was only one other person in the cinema to share the experience .. an elderly lady with a walking frame, so it was almost a private viewing!

Adoring Husband slept through a good portion of it! It didn't 'grab' him apparently.

After the movie, we lunched at Kondari (3rd time in three weeks for me!) and we both had the pork belly. Two big sections of pork belly each. Soft tender meat topped with crunchy tasty pork crackle on a bed of slaw and swirls of chilli plum dressing. Adoring Husband filled his side plate with vegetables and I filled mine with mixed salads. Again, I couldn't finish my meal.

Later, we grocery shopped, bought some replacement fresh yellow flowers for my desk vase, picked up the FROG box of goodies and arrived home a little after 3pm.

Because we had such a big lunch, I didn't have to worry about cooking before AH left for SES training. If he's feeling peckish when he gets home, he can have some of last night's leftovers.

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of Mum's passing. The day was not a sad one for me but I just wanted to acknowledge it. I've mentioned before that because she passed away at the end of the first State of Origin game in 2005, and she loved State of Origin so much, I always feel more emotional about her passing, at the end of that first game every year. The game will be on 1st June.

It's not even 8.30pm and I am going to bed to enjoy some silence and some reading until AH returns home.

Nite all.

Lovely Lunch

It was a great day with the ladies today, but numbers were down. There were some away on holidays, or with sick husbands, or themselves ill. We usually have more than twenty in attendance, but today there was only about eleven or twelve. It was still a cozy number and we had a good time.

The food was especially nice, with a wide variety to choose from the menu, good sized meals at reasonable prices, and they also had a good selection of salads and vegetables to choose from at the 'serve yourself' bar, which is included with every meal ordered.

This is the second time that I've eaten at Kondari, and both times, I was unable to finish everything on my plate.

We have a big day planned for tomorrow, including going to the movies for the first and early showing of Alice Through the Looking Glass. I'm excited!

I'm also excited about 'Finding Dory' which is released next month!



I got my hair cut a week ago and she cut about 15cm off the bottom, which was much more than I asked for, however, it needed a good healthy chop and of course it will grow quickly - it always does.

How unusual for me to be signing off before 9.30pm! I think I may head off to bed to read for a while!

Nite all.

Caught Up

We caught up with the family for lunch today and spent two hours talking about the new property, family stuff and future plans.

The lunch itself wasn't very fulfilling and it's possible that the Cattleman may have gone looking for more food after we went our separate ways. In future, we need to think more carefully about where to eat, so that everyone can be satisfied. Adoring Husband and I are not big eaters these days, so a light salad with a bit of protein is enough for us, but not for most people.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the gang and hope to see them more often now that they live close by.

I think I've convinced Adoring Husband to take me on a movie date on Thursday!! (not that he needed much convincing)



Tomorrow is the monthly lady's luncheon, so I'd best get to bed for a decent night of sleep. It's 11pm and I think I can squeeze in twenty minutes of reading before I send out the ZZZzzzzzs.

Nite all.

Catching Up

Tomorrow, we are catching up with 'Best Cousin in the World',  her husband 'The Cattleman', and my niece 'Rainbow Dory'. I'm sure that I've mentioned my niece before, but under a different name ... only I can't remember the name I gave her, so I have renamed her 'Rainbow Dory' (she does a great impersonation of Dory impersonating a whale!).

I've probably mentioned 'The Cattleman' under a different name as well, but you know, as we go through life, things change, so my nicknames for you will change too!

We've agreed to meet for lunch at one of the nicer pubs in town - Adoring Husband's idea, so I can blame him if the food is bad.

Even if the food is bad, the view will be great and that should make up for it.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. It's been a couple of years since we caught up.

This morning, I had coffee with 'The Whinging Pom' and 'Fit as a Fiddle'. We had deep discussions about the deficiencies of the medical profession.

This afternoon, AH and I went for a bike ride. We checked out the progress of the new boat ramp, road along the path beside the river, did a loop of some more established streets in town and then stopped for take-away coffee before heading back home.

I came home and grabbed my camera, because it really looked like a beautiful sunset developing, but as usually happens here, a bank of dark cloud covered the sky in exactly the position where the sun was setting and muffled everything that could have been.

It was a fail.

I returned home to cook dinner and was excited to watch 'House Rules' and 'The Voice' and 'Seven Year Switch Reunion', however, Foxtel was playing up tonight and it froze halfway through House Rules, it failed to record The Voice and it froze for the first twenty minutes of Seven Year Switch. Very frustrating!

I'm excited that 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' begins in cinemas this week. Not sure how or when I'm going to get to see it, but I certainly plan on seeing it on the big screen. Might try for a date with AH on Thursday.

Once again, it's almost midnight!

Nite all.

Silent Sunday

I sat silently in my lounge room with all of the windows closed and the blinds pulled, watching movies. I did put in some effort in the kitchen, when I prepared a lamb neck casserole for dinner, but otherwise, it was a quiet and silent Sunday for me.

The people I know, in this world, have a wide variety of interests and these are some of the activities that they enjoyed this weekend.

• Digital graphic art
• Photo editing
• Attending the v8 super car racing in Winton
• Drinking at the pub on Magnetic Island
• Taking kids to participate in a soccer tournament
• Taking kids to participate in an AFL tournament
• Playing 'tourist' in Italy
• Attempting archery
• Completing a First Aid and CPR course (and I don't mean Adoring Husband)
• Shopping in Sydney
• Oil painting
• Surfing
• Quilting
• Having a Hen's party
• Branding cattle
• Taking the kids to the beach for a picnic
• Gardening
• Psychic reading
• Playing guitar
• Attending a wedding
• Buying a new car
• Caravaning to Yeppoon
• Babysitting the grandkids
• Going to the footy
• Fund raising for charity
• Hiking through a National Park
• Watching superhero movies
• Model motor boat racing

 ... and that's just to name a few!!

Obviously, everyone else in the world had a much more active and interesting weekend than I did! I'm pretty sure that I enjoyed my quiet Saturday and silent Sunday just as much as everyone else enjoyed their exciting activities!

I'm off to bed for an early night and a little bit of reading.

Nite all.

The Long Wait

I've had a quiet day at home, while Adoring Husband has been at the SES shed attending a full weekend First Aid Course.

When the course runs in Burrum Heads, we go to dinner at the local pub, with the trainers, and tonight was no exception. There were eight of us and unfortunately, about 88 others all seated in the restaurant, celebrating somebody's 60th birthday!

AH and I arrived at 6.30pm and we placed our orders at about 6.45pm. They told us there would be a one hour wait for our dinner. Almost two hours later, our orders began landing on our table.

By this time, we were all so hungry, that all conversation ceased while we ploughed into our food.

I was disappointed because I was told that the menu had changed since the restaurant was revamped, but it was exactly the same as it always was. Even after 8 years, the menu remains the same. Very limiting for anyone with dietary requirements. It has to be at least a year since I ate there and I won't voluntarily return there for a meal.

Sometimes our lady's luncheons are held there, but the last time, I ate before I went to lunch and I joined them just for the social aspect.

It was doubly disappointing because AH and I wanted to watch his team play against Manly tonight, and by the time we got home, there was only 5 minutes left of the game. Thankfully, his team (Cronulla Sharks) won by eight points, which puts them firmly on top of the ladder!

Some more sad news from the world of celebrities ...

Alan Young (Wilbur, from the TV show 'Mr Ed') passed away today, of natural causes, at the ripe old age of 96!! I think that's a pretty good innings.

Have a happy Sunday everyone!

Nite all.

A Good Hearty Chuckle

Vegan Chickie shared this on FB today and it had me laughing so hard, I had tears. Watch it to the end and I guarantee that you will feel those endorphins surging through your body.



It was just in the nick of time because I was sad to see my Broncos team lose by one point to the Cowboys tonight, but instead of crying sad tears, I shed some happy ones!

Nothing of any significance happened today. We had planned on attending the Maryborough Show for the first time ever, but after the car played up yesterday, I decided that I didn't want to drive in it until it was checked out. Especially out on the highway.

We started our quiet day with a cooked breakfast.

Adoring Husband had a little bit of work to do at the SES shed in preparation for the two day course this weekend, and while he was gone, I did a search for a movie that I've been looking for.

It was a movie that I watched about half a dozen times when I was seventeen years old. I remembered that it was an Australian movie and one of the main characters (who I had the hots for) was American. I remembered that there was a really fast car in it, like a Porsche or a Ferrari (it was actually a Corvette) and I remembered that it was based on the Gold Coast somewhere.

I started looking for it about two years ago, without success.

Today, finally, I found it!!!

It's called "High Rolling" and it was released in 1977. The American actor was Joseph Bottoms and Grigor Taylor was the other lead male actor. This was actually Judy Davis's first movie as well. Other actors in the movie were Wendy Hughes, Gil Tucker, Terry Norris and Gus Mercurio.

You can watch the preview of the movie here.

If you have the time and want to watch all one hour and twenty two minutes of the movie, go here!

I watched it while AH was out and I enjoyed it almost as much today, as I did 29 years ago! The Joseph Bottoms of 1977 still looks pretty hot to me and he is still acting today, but I'm not so smitten with the old Joseph Bottoms (call me fickle).

Young Joseph Bottoms ...

Old Joseph Bottoms ...

Anyway, I relived a little bit of my youth today and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nite all.

All Good Now

Well, thank goodness I recovered from my queasiness and woke up feeling more energised and happy this morning, and ready to take off on the road to the Sunny Coast for my appointment.

We left bright and early. I shouldn't really say 'bright' because the sun wasn't even up properly as we drove off. We had to stop and go back inside because I heard all three dogs barking and shrieking and howling! I ran through the garage and banged on the door to the house as loud as I could (probably woke all the neighbours!). There was instant silence, so I opened the door and yelled at them to behave.

It was quiet as we drove off the second time .. hopefully it stayed that way!

We stopped at Sexie Coffee (of course) for our first morning pick-me-up coffee.

We arrived at our destination an hour early, so we sat in a little coffee shop while Adoring Husband had his second coffee for the day. He left to do his own errands while I attended what I thought would be a two hour appointment, but it actually only took my dentist 15 minutes to do the job and the appointment cost me nothing!

So that was my final appointment for all the repairs that had to be done to my mouth and in future, it will be just the 6 monthly clean and maintenance.

*happy dance*

Afterwards, we drove to Kunara Organic Markets and spent up big on some bulk items. We were surprised at how much cheaper they were, compared to what we spend in The Bay for the same product.

We also sat down in the cafe and Adoring Husband had his 3rd coffee for the day. We each ate a GF chicken and rosemary crepe which was absolutely delicious - but we should have bought two each!

I shouted myself a little 'finished with the dentist' gift before I left Kunara ...

Once we decided that we were too broke to go anywhere else, we drove to Noosa Civic and bought some GF petit fours for Chicklet, AH and I to share, a lemon meringue pie for Vegan Chickie and take-away coffees all round (Number 4 for AH). My coffee was lukewarm and not very nice, so I left at least half of it, which AH consumed (Number 5 almost).

Two hours of playing with Chicklet and talking with Vegan Chickie and it was time to return home. During the drive, AH complained about his tremor being quite bad, to which I replied "It may have something to do with the 5 coffees you've had today!!)

The car began flashing some unfamiliar dashboard lights as we got close to home, so tomorrow, AH has to take it into The Bay to have it checked over. The manual gave strict instructions to do so!

We pulled in the driveway, safe n sound, a bit after 5pm.

The Psychotic Dogs were very happy to see us, that's for sure!

AH was pretty 'done in' after experiencing some pain during the day and still having to drive, so he headed off to bed early.

It's only 9.20pm and I think I'll head off to bed to read for a while. I may sleep well tonight too.

Nite all.

  

Below Par

Just a quickie tonight.

I woke up this morning feeling a bit queasy, but I pushed through it and went to morning tea with three of the girls.

By the time I returned home, I had relapsed a bit, but did some washing and folding and bed making, while Adoring Husband vacuumed.

It was well after 11am when I decided to lie down and read for a while, hoping the 'queasy' would eventually pass. It didn't.

So I've remained in bed all day. I got out of bed to heat some soup for lunch, to greet Lady Lynn when she made an important delivery, and then to grab a couple of mandarins for dinner.

I'm hoping that by resting up, I'll be ok for the trip to the dentist on the Sunny Coast tomorrow.

I have no idea what's caused this queasiness, but hopefully I will wake up tomorrow with renewed energy and feeling a whole lot better.

See ya tomorrow.

Nite all.

Great Aunty

Yes, I know that I'm a great Aunty!! But I'm actually going to be a Great Aunty!

Squirt (my little sister), announced on Facebook yesterday, that her oldest girl and her boyfriend are expecting a baby, due in December.

I feel a little disappointed that she didn't phone me with the news before announcing it on FB, but I honestly can't remember how I told her about Chicklet! It's highly likely that she is giving me a taste of my own medicine, so I can hardly complain!

Today, I made up a little gift pack, wrote on two cards - one for the Nana-to-be and one for the parents-to-be and sent them off in the mail.

This is how it was announced to her ...

... and also how she announced it on FB.

Crazy family.

I've been de-cluttering, and in the last two days have delivered five bags of books to the local craft store, including self help books, recipe books, novels, autobiographies and books on health. I have about 100 more recipe books that I'm going to take down there as well.

There is still plenty more de-cluttering to do.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Chicklet family on Thursday, which is the day that Adoring Husband and I drive down to the Sunny Coast for my dental appointment. Just a day trip this time, but I'll be babysitting for four days in the first week of June, so that will be fun!

Well, it's 11pm and I'm off to do some more reading.

Nite all.

Best of News

The good news is that the Professor is happy with Adoring Husband's health as far as the Parkinson's is concerned and also there is no sign of the bladder cancer returning. AH's health is as good as it can be, all things considered. *happy dance*

We have really focussed on improving our health and lifestyle, hoping to fight off the diseases that threatened us, so seeing and feeling the continuous positive results is inspiring and encouraging.

I'm actually proud of AH for keeping the faith and maintaining such a positive attitude.

This weekend he spent quality time, between appointments (3 days), with his Gold Coast family, and even got to play Poppy to his two little grandbabies. He and his son enjoyed watching their beloved Sharkies annihilate the Knights 62-0 together, so it really was a very successful weekend all round!

I cooked up a baked dinner to celebrate AH's return home and followed it with the celebratory apple and walnut muffins for dessert.

Before lunch today, I had a hair appointment. It's been about eight months since I've had my hair trimmed, so I asked for a fair chunk to be trimmed off today. It feels VERY short (for me) and is just a bit longer than shoulder length.

In between all of that, I submitted my photo for one of the flickr challenges this month. The theme is 'Patterns of Nature'.

The difficult part of this challenge, is that it's the third time we've had this theme, so trying to figure out a different way to interpret it, is a challenge in itself! I won it last time with the bees on the honeycomb.

There is another challenge themed 'Nature's Image' for this month too. I hope to get to that one later.

It's creeping up to 11pm so I'm off to bed for some reading. Five pages is about my limit before I start to fall asleep, so I think it might take me a while to finish this book!

Have a happy Tuesday!

Nite all.