Winning Grinning and Tearing Up

I can't believe how emotional I felt when the Cronulla Sharks won their final last night, to secure a place in the Grand Final next week. I wished that I could've been at home jumping up and down and hugging and whistling and singing and celebrating with Adoring Husband!

What a great game it was. Stressful, but exciting!

Chicklet and I have had a super superhero kind of day. I was Batman. She was Batgirl. We set up a camp fire situation for all of her superhero lego figurines to sit in a big circle around the fire. We used a big craft book to act as a giant tent for them all to sleep in. We sang many Nursery Rhymes, changing the words to incorporate the superheroes.

I introduced Chicklet to The Flintstones, which she loved, because of all the dinosaurs ... however, it was difficult to convince her that Bedrock is a fictional place and that she can't actually go there. After the Flintstones movie, we watched the Lego Justice League movie, which, at the end, she declared was FANTASTIC!! She decided to change her superhero character from Batgirl to Martian Manhunter.

I swear that there are more superheroes than you could ever imagine and I have never heard of one third of them!

There was no Minecrafting today. We spent about twenty minutes each playing Plants v Zombies and Minions. The neighbourhood kids came knocking on the door at around 4pm, so Chicklet spent about half an hour outside with them, before they all skated down the hill and left her behind. It was ok though, because we had paused the Flintstones movie, so she was happy to continue watching that instead.

Lunch was an alien greeting the rocket ship that just landed on the moon ...

Only two more sleeps til Mama arrives home. Chicklet is excited that Mama will be home, but also sad because I will be leaving.

We have had a great time together. Mama will have 23 manilla envelopes to open, which are full of our colouring in, sticker art, drawings and letters. I don't know if Chicklet will remember these times in the years to come, but I will treasure these memories forever. She has been an absolute delight and her vibrant smile and twinkling happy eyes have melted my heart every single day.

Tonight, just before she drifted off, she pulled my hand to her mouth and kissed the back of it. *sigh*

My little sweetie possum.

Nite all.  

Too Much Pressure

It's footy finals time and Adoring Husband's team, Cronulla Sharks are playing against the Cowboys tonight. I'm watching via the Foxtel app on my iPad and the pressure is intense! Sharks are winning 14 nil at half time, but the Cowboys will not lie down. They will come out fighting in the second half and I fear that the Sharks can be run down from here.

If the Sharks play as well in the second half, and don't spend the entire time trying to defend their score, they should win. Fingers crossed. I'm not sure if my head can stand to watch the second half .. I feel like it's going to explode off my shoulders!!

It's been a quiet day today. I enjoyed a coffee from Zabe Espresso Bar and soaked up some sunshine in the park.

Chicklet and I played Superheroes. She chose to be 'Huntress' ...

... and she selected 'Blue Beetle' for me!

We also did lots of artwork today, with sticker pictures and drawings.

No Minecraft, but we did spend a little time playing Plants V Zombies.

It's been a happy day with lots of giggling and our new giggle trigger is a funny voice saying "ET phone home" with our index fingers touching.

Now, I must go and watch the remaining 27 minutes of the Sharks game and will them over the line. The score is now 20-6 to Sharks.

Nite all.

Blue Skies & Sunshine

I believe that today is the first day since I arrived two weeks ago, that the sky is absolutely clear and blue, and the sun is shining brightly! It truly is a glorious day!

Since the Bare-chested Chef is off work again today, I was able to stay in bed for an extended morning of delicious laziness. I got up at about 10am and made a filling and healthful breakfast of fresh raspberries, plain coconut yoghurt and sprinkled with a generous handful of nuts and seeds and shaved coconut.

The decision to go for a walk to get my morning coffee, was a good one. I thoroughly enjoyed soaking up all of that vitamin D and the exercise, walking fast-paced over the undulating roads and paths. I sat in the shade at one of the tables outside the bakery to drink my jumbo coffee (triple shot!) and watch the world go by for about an hour.

By the time I returned home, with a second coffee for later, it was BCC's turn to leave the house. He packed his camera and headed out for some nature photography, while Chicklet and I played .. you guessed it .. Minecraft.

It's only mid afternoon now, but I plan on watching a Netflix movie tonight, so I'm blogging early.

This is what's sitting beside me on my bedside table (my bed is where Chicklet and I do our best Minecrafting)...

Later ...

Chicklet has seesawed back and forth between BCC and I all day, playing various computer games or just talking.  I'm going to enforce a 'computer game free' day over the weekend and attempt to unfrazzle our brains! Perhaps it's just MY brain that's frazzled!

I found this today. I LOVE lots of colour and I can't even comprehend what it must be like to be colour blind, so this made me feel a little bit emotional and I could relate to the joy and surprise that these people felt when seeing colour for the first time. I can't imagine living without the vibrant colours of the world. 

I'm off to watch my movie.

Nite all.

Out For The Day

I had a lovely day. Just me, myself and I.

I started at Zabe Espresso Bar where I bought myself a take away coffee - Zabe coffee is 'to die for' - but while I was waiting, I noticed that Val was at the piano. The same Val for whom I bought a gerbera to thank her for her beautiful music, about a year ago.

Of course, I had to hang around and enjoy her music, and she had a mate with her, playing the banjo, which added to the fun. It was VERY VERY loud in that small coffee shop, and there were a lot of middle-aged and elderly people in there, all attempting to converse over the loud music, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there.

If I lived in the area, I would sit in this coffee bar every day. I love the atmosphere. The staff are warm and friendly. It attracts a very eclectic crowd. The coffee is divine. The entertainment is delightful. It's my kinda place.

I left there to follow up on some retail therapy. There are two clothes shops that I like in Tewantin and I must have spent about 40 minutes in each of them trying on clothes. Unfortunately (for me) or fortunately (for my wallet), I did not find a single thing that I liked.

There is also a shoe shop nearby. I didn't even get to see all of the shoes, because I found two pairs that I loved within 2 minutes of walking in the door. The shoes are a little pricy, but luckily, one of the pairs was on sale!

After spending my money, I popped into the RSL and while I was signing in, I overheard a woman introducing herself to somebody .. it was a name I recognised. When she stated where she was on holidays from .. Perth .. I realised that I knew her from more than forty years ago. We actually walked to high school together on our first day as high schoolers.

I got her attention and she remembered me too, although, I would never have recognised her to look at. She seemed a lot older, both physically and mentally, than me. I discovered that my mother had still been in contact with her mother right up until the late 90s. We spent more than an hour together catching up and reliving memories of our youth.

We didn't exchange phone numbers or any contact details. While it was nice to catch up, we are very different people, and I can't imagine a future friendship with her. 1972 was a long time ago.

I arrived home in time to see Chicklet before she had a shower and bedtime story with her Dadu.

I had a glass of wine today, on an empty stomach, and I can still, seven hours later, feel the effects of it! That may be because I still haven't eaten! I've had three coffees and a glass of wine all day. Full of healthful goodness and very high in nutritional value - NOT.

Note to self: Eat a hearty and healthful breakfast in the morning. Make up for today's slackness.

A good night's sleep will also help.

Nite all.  

Less Art More Fart

We did nothing in the way of art or craft today.

We did, however, have lots of giggles over the words 'fart', 'pee', 'poop' and 'knickers' ... all day. Not just once or twice. Frequently. Fits of hysterical giggles. She incorporated 'pee' into our story at bed time and 'pee', 'poop' and 'knickers' were her last words before she fell asleep.

Crazy kid.

We rebuilt our castle and spent too much time playing all three games on the iPads. We did dress up as the Flash this afternoon. Chicklet wore the mask and I wore the cape. We flashed around the house and clearly proved that she was the fastest Flash in the whole world!

Lunch was an interesting take on Angry Birds ...

... but she wouldn't eat the bird stating that 'the white bit looks yukky'. It was egg white and she was happy to eat all the other egg white on the plate, along with everything else, so I gave her a pass on the angry bird.

The Bare-chested Chef has the next two days off work, so tomorrow, I will have a day to myself. I think I'll have a pedicure and maybe find a hairdresser to do something amazing with my hair. Some retail therapy wouldn't go astray either.

While Chicklet was in the bath tonight, she said "I miss my Mama". Twice. I think she'll be excited to see Vegan Chickie when she returns next week.

I'm off for some beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Done for the Day

Today, for the first time in a long time, I was worn out by late afternoon! I looked at my watch at 4pm and thought to myself 'can I make it through to Chicklet bed time?'

I realised, as I was emailing BGWLBH tonight, that I filled my water bottle up at 8.30am and it is still half full! That is very unlike me and not good for my body, or my brain, to be running on empty like that all day. I've given myself a forehead slap and will try to be more aware of my fluid intake in future.

We created a LOT of artwork this morning. Mostly dragons and superheroes. We used stickers, felt tip pens and highlighters to create some fabulous masterpieces (no photos), which are now sealed in Mama's envelopes awaiting her return.

That took up most of the morning. We became superheroes ourselves, me as Batman, and Chicklet as Ironman and ran through the house for about thirty minutes until it was time to make lunch. A Catwoman lunch!

We decided to go to the park this afternoon. The weather forecast is not good for the next few days, so while the sky was clear-ish, we walked to the park - Chicklet decided that she was going to the park as a pink puppy, cleverly walking on two legs, until we reached the park, and then she was down on all fours.

This was all good in theory ... except some jerks had broken an amber bottle and a clear glass in the play area and even though I cleaned as much as I could see, I was concerned that Chicklet would accidentally find the one piece that I couldn't see. When I asked her to put her shoes on and to not be a pink puppy any more, she opted to go home and build a castle instead.

Doesn't she look tiny in this pic? Once the castle was built to our satisfaction, we sat inside it and played Minecraft for about an hour, followed by some Plants v Zombies and then very briefly before bath time, some Minions.

She was sound asleep by 7.30pm and I was wishing that I was too! Nah, not really. I got my second wind at about 6pm.

Our new couch was delivered today and Adoring Husband sent me this pic that he took with his iPad. I will take some when I return home to show the wall art and the lovely 'coral' shaped lamp in more detail.

A rug would look excellent, but our old dogs like to use mats and rugs as doggy toilets, so bare floor it will stay, for now.

I'm off for some well earned rest.

Nite all.

Happy Rainy Sunday

Petrichor (n.) a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

There hasn't been any long spell of warm dry weather here on the Sunny Coast .. but that lovely smell still exists. It has been lightly raining on and off all day here.

We left early this morning to attend the Noosa Farmer's Markets and, because of the weather, we expected it to be a small crowd, but it was busier today, than it was when Adoring Husband and I were there a couple of weeks ago on a sunshiny day!

It was drizzling rain for the entire time that we were there, so I rushed around the stalls and bought what I knew I wanted.

Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, 2 bags mixed lettuce, carrots, cucumber, snap peas, beans, red onions, avocados, a tub of mixed sprouted beans, tub of basil pesto feta, a tub of basil pesto, a jar of kimchi (fermented veg), ginger, fresh coriander, 2 whole chickens (pasture raised), organic pork sausages and lamb chops.

That should well and truly feed us for the 8 days that I am here ... and hopefully there is enough colour there to create some artistic lunches for Chicklet!

We built another castle today, much larger than yesterdays. We cut out paper turrets to tape to the chairs, made a flag with the family crest on it and drew and cut out a dragon to protect the castle.

We made a throne, a secret tunnel, a moat with a drawbridge and a stable for the horse (unicorn). We even had a lake where the pink flamingo and a water dragon lived. It was a pretty cool structure and Chicklet decorated it with a book shelf and drawings of dragons.

We ate lunch AND dinner in our castle.

We galloped, cantered and trotted our horses through the house and around the castle.

We swung the cutout flowery dragon from the ceiling fan and watched her fly round and round in circles.

There were lots of pictures drawn today - all of them contained dragons. One climbing up a castle, one jumping over a rainbow, two big dragons chasing tiny dragons from their food source, a super hero dragon with a red cape, a dragon sitting on a mountain and many more.

We played Minecraft (of course) for about an hour before dinner. Earlier in the day we played Minions and Plants v Zombies.

Then it was time for a bath and Dadu read some of Narnia at bed time.

It's been another full day ... which I managed with flying colours! I even baked a chicken in the middle of all that! Chicken and salad for lunch and chicken soup with ginger and coriander for dinner.

Sometimes I marvel at myself!!

Nite all.

Session Two Begins

It was an easy and relaxing morning preparing for my trip back to the Sunny Coast. Adoring Husband provided my morning coffee in bed and there was minimal packing to be done, because I'd left almost everything behind at the Sunny Coast - just my make-up and some odds and ends to come back with me.

The train trip was uneventful and comfortable until Gympie.

There is track work being done somewhere near Caboolture. The carriage staff were very annoyed that this decision had been made for the school holiday period and let the passengers know how frustrated and sorry they were for our inconvenience.

We were offloaded in Gympie and directed to one of four different coaches for the remainder of our trip. I was the luckiest of the travellers, because I only had to spend thirty minutes on the bus. As I alighted, I wanted to turn around to face them all and wish them the best of luck.

The coach was very scary! It squeaked and clunked and the wind was whistling through the cabin. The gears crunched loudly every time the driver changed them and I didn't feel in the slightest bit confident that it would successfully complete it's journey ... judging by some comments that I overheard, nor did many of the other passengers.

The Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet were sitting in the car waiting for me when the bus pulled in at Cooroy more than 30 minutes late, but both with big smiling faces.

By the time Chicklet and I began to play, it was well after 2pm, but we fit plenty in before bed time!

We created some sticker pictures ...

We built a castle ...

It has a moat, a throne ...

... and a dragon cave ...

This was me dressed as a Knight with a face shield, a hand shield, a sword and riding a horse that looks amazingly like a unicorn!

We got a little bit of Minecraft in before bath time and then it was a story before bed. Chicklet was asleep before 7.30pm.

I think I'm done for the day.

We are going to the Farmer's Markets in the morning, so I'm off to get some sleep.

Nite all.

Positive Results

My email to Fantastic Furniture had a very positive result today.

Dee, the Manager of The Bay store, phoned me this morning to apologise for our situation and made me an offer that I couldn't refuse.

I did explain to her that it wasn't the fact that we hadn't receive our furniture yet, but the more serious problem was that FF did not make contact to keep us in the loop. We were the ones always making contact to find out what was happening.

She explained that our choice of fabric was very popular and the manufacturers had run out of stock some time ago. This meant that the waiting list was growing longer by the day, and the length of time that we would have to wait was also increasing. She could not give any guarantees, it would still be weeks until our lounge was ready, and so she made us this offer.

She had three of our lounges available in three different colours - cashmere, turquoise and charcoal. The colour we ordered was black.

Cashmere is a lovely colour, but just wouldn't work with our colour scheme ...

Turquoise is also lovely, but this is quite a bit darker than the blue in our selected colour scheme ...

We decided on Charcoal, and it is much darker than this photo indicates, so it should fit well with our colour scheme.

Our new lounge will be delivered on Monday!

I've booked my train travel and will be with Chicklet soon after 1pm tomorrow! I'm excited to see her again and have enjoyed my week at home very much. I haven't even had a chance to practise Minecraft! Ugh.

Ah well, I'm sure she will enjoy holding the power to all things Minecraft for another week!

I'm watching my team play in their finals game against Cowboys right now. They are losing, but I'm sure they can win! There are 12 minutes left in the game, so I'm off to focus all my positive energy into their game. As I typed those words, my team scored and are now in the lead!! Wahoo!!

I'm off!

Nite all.

Our Personal Valentine's Day

Earlier this year, on the day that the entire world celebrated Valentine's Day, Adoring Husband and I decided that we were going to select our own date for Valentines.

We had three reasons for doing so. Firstly, Chicklet's birthday is 13th February, and because of this I have not spent Valentine's Day at home for 5 years. Secondly, flowers become ridiculously expensive for the week leading up to VD and thirdly, unless you plan well in advance, the best restaurants are booked out quickly

The date we selected was 15th September. That's the date that we met face to face for the first time. (For anyone who doesn't know, AH and I first met in an 'over 40s MSN chat room' on line)

So, today was the day.

A couple of months ago, I bought a free standing plaque that reads 'Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favourite', and at the local markets, I found some hand painted cards and I selected one with a bright red heart in the centre with vibrant colours radiating all around it. Words flowed from my heart when I wrote inside the card and I placed the gift on AH's chair for him to find this morning.

We drove into the The Bay where AH bought me two large photo frames so that I can hang a couple of my favourite photos on the wall.

We visited Fantastic Furniture to follow up on our lounge which still hasn't arrived after seven weeks.

When we purchased our furniture, they advised us on a 5 week wait. The lounge is manufactured in some factory somewhere. 'Apparently' there was a problem with the fabric that we selected (they ran out and had a problem ordering more). 'Apparently' they received the fabric two days ago and 'apparently' our lounge will be manufactured 'soon'.

Still absolutely no idea how long it will take for the lounge to be completed and delivered.

Seven weeks ago, we asked if we could buy the store display lounge, but they told us that wasn't allowed. It was gone today and when we asked about it, they told us that they sold it! That made me angry.

So, as it currently stands, Fantastic Furniture have at no stage, made any contact with us, to advise of possible delays. They cannot give us even an estimate for when the lounge will be ready. There have been porky pies told about the situation - because the elaborate stories just don't add up.

We looked at other furniture stores in town and the prices are more than double for a similar product and the wait time is 8-10 weeks, so if we cancelled our order with FF, we would still have to wait a ridiculous period of time for our lounge.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

This evening I went onto their website and complained in a feedback email. I also sent a private message to whoever manages their Facebook page complaining bitterly - there is nowhere on the FB page to post a public complaint.

Not happy Jan.

We did get to pick up the beautiful bright yellow single chair though, so at least that was a positive to come out of the FF debacle!

By the time we finished with that store, it was lunch time and Adoring Husband shouted me a delicious prawn and mango salad for lunch, which we enjoyed on the water front in the newly refurbished Aquavue Cafe. It's our favourite place to eat in The Bay, so it couldn't have been a more fitting location for our first Valentine's meal!

On the way back to the car, we browsed through an interesting shop where I tried to convince AH to buy me an amethyst crystal cave, but he considered $37,000 too extravagant. Perhaps I should have asked for a Powerball ticket instead!

We decided to look at beds.

Our bed is now twelve years old and the quality really wasn't that great to begin with. It is showing it's age and losing support in the well worn parts of the mattress.

We had a lot of fun checking out various beds, some with vibrating bases and where each end of the mattress could be raised or lowered with a remote control. It's amazing how much pressure is relieved from the spine when the ends of the bed are slightly raised! We spent a lot of quality time in that bed.

The Beyonce bed was pretty spectacular - on sale for $8,500, but INCREDIBLY comfortable.

The racing car framed bed looked like fun, but could only be bought in the single size and two of them probably wouldn't fit in our bedroom side by side. I also liked the dinosaur bedding. This too was only available in the single size.

In the end, we did not make a decision on a bed and are still contemplating our options.

We stocked up on our kombucha supplies, coconut ice cream and yoghurt before heading home.

Upon arriving home, AH collected his cordless drill from the shed and proceeded to put the chrome feet on my yellow chair for me. The chair now sits proudly, but very alone in the family room.

Except for Fantastic Furniture, we have had a most pleasant day together. Since I didn't get the $37,000 amethyst crystal cave or the $8,500 bed, I came home and shopped online to buy a new sandisk sd card for my camera and $150 worth of jewellery pieces that I hope will be waiting for me when I return home next week.

It's now rapidly approaching 1am. I'm off to bed.

Happy Valentine's Day AH xox

Nite all.

Sunrise Surprise

Yes! You may be surprised to know that I climbed out of bed in the darkness, and with my camera, left the house with Adoring Husband, before 5.30am today. He dropped me at the beach on his way to work.

I was hoping for a nice sunrise, and there was actually a touch of mackerel sky, which had the potential to create a lovely sunrise, but alas there was a heavy bank of cloud on the eastern horizon which prevented any colour from appearing anywhere in the sky.

However ... it was still a beautiful morning with a deliciously cool breeze and I thoroughly enjoyed being on the water's edge at high tide as the sun finally appeared above the cloud.

After work, Adoring Husband appeared with our coffee and sat with me on the bench seat to enjoy the view. We had a couple of locals stop for a chat and it was a very pleasant way to start the day.

We returned home and after I freshened up, I rode down to the Seat of Knowledge to see my boys, who were very happy to see me after my long absence. It's been at least a month since I spent time with the boys.

Morning tea with the girls was next on the agenda and the only absentee was Beauty, who is travelling on the road at the moment. There was lots of chatting and laughter and noise from our table and after two hours we said our farewells.

While pedalling home, I received a phone call from Mrs Bucket, who now lives in Gunnedah. I stopped on the side of the road and chatted with her for about thirty minutes. She had lots of news to share, which is nothing unusual for this woman about town!

I arrived home, just in time to start preparing lunch.

What a busy morning.

I spent the afternoon planning a website, which I hope to create upon my return from the Sunny Coast at the end of the month. I have lots of ideas which I mapped out today, and I found some fabulous 'how to' information that makes it look much easier than the last time I attempted this task, which was quite a few years ago.

I'm still very aware that I have to finish editing photos from Rebel Mardi's family photoshoot, and I may be able to get a couple done on Friday afternoon, otherwise it will be the end of the month before I can get to them again. I can't wait to have the time to really focus on those photos and finally shoot them off to the family. Thank you Rebel Mardi family for being so patient :)

On that note, I will leave you with my boring photos and head off to bed. It's 11pm and it's been a much longer than usual day for me!

Nite all.

 

A Perfect Day

What a nice day I've had!

I actually woke at 6.30am to discover a coffee on my bedside table, so I sat up in bed reading and drinking my coffee and easing myself into the day (thanks Adoring Husband).

After showering, I jumped on my trike for a ride around town. I had a delivery for Lady Lynn, the PO Box to check, groceries to buy and The Motivator to visit - to say goodbye to her Mum, who is returning to Sydney, after a seven week holiday.

It was another glorious Spring day. The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze blowing and people were out and about enjoying the weather and eating ice creams. The local ice cream cones seem to be really popular at the moment! Everywhere I turn, there's a group of people eating cones with a multitude of different ice cream flavours.

Suggggaaaaaarrrrrrrr!!! (don't get me started)

I bought four sand crabs from The Motivator and ate half for lunch and half for dinner. She sells them for $15 per kg and I have just calculated that potato chips, when on special, cost $14.30 per kg (when not on special they are $22.85 per kg). If only I could get freshly cooked sand crab all year round! I would replace my potato chip obsession with a sand crab obsession .. a much healthier option and sand crab would come close to being my favourite food.

The remainder of the day was spent quietly relaxing with AH.

It's nice to be home. I wonder what my little Chicklet has been up to today. I hope she is having wonderful adventures with her Dadu.

I was going to share a link to some Minecraft videos, but decided that you probably wouldn't be that interested, so you can breathe a sigh of relief. It ends here.

Nite all.

Cherish

Sometimes, though not often enough, I take a step back, look at all that I have in my life and feel overwhelming gratitude for how lucky I am.

Sometimes, it's easy to focus on the little things that aren't perfect and dwell on those small negative elements until they become bigger than your reality.

Despite the difficulties that life has thrown at us in the thirteen years that we have been together, Adoring Husband and I are so lucky to have found each other and lucky to have had the opportunity to create a life that brings us such happiness.

We have our health. Aside from Adoring Husband dealing with Parkinson's and issues with his back and shoulder, he has overcome other major health issues, including cancer, a heart condition, high blood pressure and gord. We are working on, and improving our health every single day

We have healthy adult kids who seem to be thriving and creating happy lives of their own.

We have a few good, close friends that we know we can rely on in hard times (I hope they know they can rely on us too!) and with whom we've had a lot of fun and good times, creating lasting memories.

We live in a beautiful part of the country that provides peace and tranquility.

We own a lovely comfortable home which we built and decorated ourselves.

We are two very lucky humans!

You may wonder why I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy and sharing it here with you.

I've just had a glorious seven days with my little Chicklet and I cherish every moment that I get to spend with her. Even though she lives only 2.5 hours from here, it's still far enough that we can't have weekly dinners, or do regular grandparent/granddaughter stuff and I only see her once every 6-8 weeks.

I could have had twenty two full days with her, this trip, and that was my original intention, but I missed Adoring Husband, my home and my life so much, that I took the opportunity to come home for a few days while the Bare-chested Chef has a week at home on leave from work.

So, as much as I cherish my perfect little Chicklet, I also cherish the other parts of my life and I've figured out that there are only three things that will take me away from home and Adoring Husband for extended periods of time. The first is time with Chicklet, and the second is my annual road trip/holiday with BGWLBH and the third is when any of my kids are in need.

Nobody else on earth could offer me anything that makes me feel better than home does.

Dorothy was right. There's no place like home.

Nite all.

Return Trip Home

I'm heading back home tomorrow, for five sleeps.

At the end of tonight's shift, the Bare-chested Chef is officially on holidays, so he has planned a few adventures for he and Chicklet over the coming week.

Chicklet is not happy that I am leaving, but I'm sure she will have a good time with her Dadu and will be excited to see me again next weekend. No doubt she will have honed her Minecraft skills by the time I return and she will have some more to teach me.

Minecraft update: I am now a Knight with shining armour and I have a horse of my own! I have learned to gallop around the golden castle, weaving in and out between the forest trees. I have learned that I cannot sleep in my bed 'with' my horse and that I have to dismount my trusty steed first!

We didn't play for very long today. Once again, Chicklet's iPad ran out of charge soon after we began playing. Minecraft uses the battery up very quickly, and she had been creating a new world with her Dadu earlier in the day.

Most of our day was spent at the kitchen table drawing pictures.

Chicklet has created two 'travelling lizard' characters and has drawn a series of pictures with the lizards holidaying in various locations. They have a tent to camp in and today they holidayed on a farm, at the beach, in the forest, in space, on a mountain etc.

She also drew this spider ...

Coloured in Cat Woman from the Day 7 envelope ...

Today's drawing request 'A superhero monkey riding a bicycle on the moon'.

... and finally, for lunch today, a poor attempt at a Minion.

We also played Superheroes vs Joker for quite some time after lunch.

I didn't suggest the park today, because it's Sunday, and I didn't want to have to compete with other kids for the use of the facilities. 

Time for me to sleep. Big day tomorrow.

Nite all.

Footy Finals

Wahoo!!

Up! Up! Cronulla! The boys in the black, white and blue.
Up! Up! Cronulla! The name of the Sharks fit you.
Sharks! Sharks! forever. Go out and play without fear.
Now's the time to see good football, cause the Sharks are here!
Up the Sharks!

That was for Adoring Husband's benefit :) His beloved Sharks defeated the Canberra Raiders tonight in their first finals game! One down, two to go.

As I sit up in bed typing this, the rain is pelting down outside. There are a few storm cells passing over us this evening, but I don't expect it to last for more than an hour or two. I'm looking forward to falling asleep to the sound of the rain tonight.

Minecraft update: We only played Minecraft for about twenty minutes today, when Chicklet's iPad went dead. She'd used up all the charge on her battery!

Right at that moment, she decided that she was starving! So I made her a snack to eat while I prepared dinner.

Our Day 6 envelope contained a Superman lego figurine and the requested drawing was 'Bozzy Wozzy flying a kite while standing on the roof of our house' - I still didn't take a photo of it! I must remember to do that.

The colouring in sheet was the Triumphal Arch (I think). There were cardboard press outs of 'camouflage woman' and 'abracadabra' (I've never heard of them before) as well as a cityscape by night.

For lunch today, I created Wonder Woman (kinda/sorta) ...

Note the star on her headband and the lasso, which is made of a long bean and an egg ring. I never tell Chicklet what it is before I give her the plate. She doesn't even know I'm doing it, til she sits down to eat. She saw the star and knew immediately who it was!

I seemed to play a lot of the Minion game and Plants v Zombies on my iPad, while Chicklet lay on the bed watching and encouraging. The rain prevented us from going to the park, but hopefully we'll have a clear day tomorrow.

Today, Vegan Chickie flew to Vienna ...

She's having a great time and loving every second, although her feet are sore from so much walking and she's quite tired from fitting so much in to such a short period of time.

Tomorrow night, she flies to Amsterdam!

Sleep time for me ...

Nite all.

Mine Mine Minecraft

Minecraft update: Today, she sent me to the other side of our Minecraft world to build my own house. I was happy to do this, because I have not built or created anything yet, due to little miss minecraft's control issues! I was looking forward to the experience and the practise!

So I begin my walking journey, when she snatches my iPad from my hands and begins to build a railway line for me to follow to the other side of our Minecraft world. It took about ten minutes, to build a line long enough that her house disappeared on the horizon behind us.

She hands the iPad back to me and says "There you go. You can build your house there."

I take the iPad from her, keen to finally be able to build something of my own. I put my first building block on the ground, when once again, she snatches my iPad away from me and says "Here, I'll do it!"

She then spends twenty minutes building a house, complete with flowers in the corners, paintings on the wall, beds in the corners, a caldron and a chest to store weapons and food.

You must understand that she has her own iPad and we are both in the same Minecraft world, but using separate devices. Well, 'we' aren't really using separate devices ... Chicklet is multitasking on both of our devices, while I look on in awe and amazement!

Our day wasn't only Minecraft.

Unfortunately, it was too wet to visit the park today, but we spent a lot of time on various crafts instead.

There was some catching up to do from yesterday, when we failed to finish the activities in the Day 4 envelope from Mama. The Day 4 picture request - draw a baby elephant on a tall mountain eating spaghetti. I really should take photos of these drawings shouldn't I?

We coloured in the picture of the 'Louvre Pyramid', completed the 'join the dots' picture of Bad Bot and did an amazing colouring in job of that one too. The word for the day was 'outside', so we practised that.

The picture request for Day 5 (today) was - draw three frogs playing musical instruments in a boat on a chocolate river. The lego figurine was The Joker. The tattoos were Minecraft dogs. We coloured in the Picasso painting 'Girl Before a Mirror' - I feel that ours is much better and brighter and more lovely than Picasso's version! The word for the day was 'dishwasher' so we practised that one too.

Chicklet then had to draw what two people look like when they are NOT superheroes. A picture was provided, of these people in their superhero costumes and Chicklet had to use her imagination to show them in normal clothes. There was a lot of giggling involved in this process.

Next, we painted the plaster seashell fridge magnets.

That was a lot of fun!

By now, it was time for lunch. As Dadu suggested last night, I created a Batman lunch that was incredibly successful.

Finally, and much to her excitement, it was time to play Minecraft!

I am pleasantly surprised by my energy levels since I arrived here. I've made a concerted effort to avoid potato chips and I'm not including white potatoes with meals. I've eaten delicious, nutritious, healthful food for every meal. I start my day with warm lemon water, followed by chicken bone broth with a teaspoon of collagen powder stirred through it.

The Bare-chested Chef has kindly bought me a coffee every morning before he goes to work, so I'm drinking one coffee every day. I'm eating lots of organic green vegetables with a small amount of protein and including half an avocado with each meal.

I'm feeling much more energised and haven't felt sleepy in the afternoon since I got here - which was starting to creep into my afternoon regime because of poor food choices.

So I have kept up well with Chicklet for the entire day every day.

We followed our usual routine from dinner onwards tonight and my 'warm and fuzzies' were brought to the surface with three beautiful expressions of love from my little Chicklet as she fell asleep holding my arm.

Chicklet - "Bozzy Wozzy?"

Me - "Yessy Wessy?"

Chicklet - "I love you"

Me - "I love you too my perfectly wonderful little Chicklet!"

Two minutes later ...

Chicklet - "I love you Bozzy Wozzy"

Me - *giggles* "I love you."

Two minutes later, as she is dozing off ...

Chicklet - *whispers* "I love you."

And with that, she was fast asleep.

Now I shall do the same!

Nite all.

Out to Get Me!

Minecraft update: She trapped me in the outside pen with the sheep, chickens and bunnies until night fell. This is when the creepers, skeletons, zombies and deadly spiders come out to play. I had to fight off a skeleton (with her help) and she finally built a step for me to escape and seek refuge in our house!

I swear this girl has evil within .. and I can't figure out where she could possibly have received that gene.

She follows me around in our new minecraft world that she built today and steals my meat and wool when I kill the sheep (which she thinks is hilarious!). She called me to the door of our house, and within an instant, she broke the door and bricked me up inside what became my own personal tomb!

She is definitely taking advantage of her 'slow to learn' grandmother and has discovered hilarious ways to amuse herself, while causing me no end of confusion and frustration!

I will be happy to see the back of Minecraft at the end of this three weeks!

OR *insert evil laugh here* I will practise until I become so good, that I can beat her at her own game!!

Anyway, my brain hurts.

We had some fun park time today. We played hide n seek - in a park that literally has nowhere to hide - and played 'tag, you're it' .. the only way I could win that one was to run around and around the bench seat. My super power in this game, was that I could run in tight circles, while she ran in wide circles, which meant she had more ground to cover.

Eventually, she threw herself down on the ground and lay flat on her back, huffing and puffing, absolutely exhausted! I laughed a LOT.

We spent about twenty minutes pretending to be robots. Chicklet was Robotic Bird Woman and I was Robotic Whale Woman. She showed good robotic stamina, not coming out of character even once.

There was some REALLY HIGH swinging to be had and some 'follow me' time.

We had so much fun and activity today, that we didn't even get to draw Mama's picture request. We'll have to draw two pictures tomorrow.

Our tattoo for the day was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but The Flash was still looking good, so we decided to wait another day for a new tattoo.

Lunch was a fire breathing dragon ...

The plate was completely bare when she'd finished! We left the adzuki beans off the plate this time.

We read her current favourite storybook about a year on a farm and within thirty seconds, she was sound asleep. 7.20pm and all was peaceful in my world.

Vegan Chickie ticked a few more things off her European bucket list today, one of which was 'eating Belgian waffles in Belgium ...

... how delicious does that look?

I reckon I could almost suffer a bout of my gluten intolerance sickness to experience that gastronomic delight!

It's time for me to rest up for my next big day of Chicklet frolicking.

Nite all.

I Killed a Pig!

Another typically full-on day with Chicklet today.

She slept well, with no nightmares last night, so I got to have a lie-in. I woke at 7.30am but stayed in bed for an hour and eased myself into the day. The Bare-chested Chef was kind enough to buy and deliver my morning coffee before he headed off to work. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the day.

Chicklet and I opened the Day 3 envelope from Mama and found the Wonder Woman lego figurine, two temporary tattoos (Chicklet chose 'the flash' today), a word to find in the house (Vegan Chickie has stuck words over different items in the house and Chicklet is given a word every day that she has to find and match), a colouring in sheet, a puzzle sheet and a letter from Mama with a drawing request, telling us what she will be doing in Europe today and also telling Chicklet how special and how loved she is.

So we put together the lego figurine, adhered the temporary tattoo and matched today's word. We played Minions, then Plants v Zombies, then we created sticker pictures with the superhero stickers. We made a delicious lunch ...

She obviously is not impressed with adzuki beans!

We coloured in the picture from the envelope, did the puzzle and drew Mama's requested picture (draw yourself, dressed as Wonder Woman, in space, with a pet giraffe).

We went for a walk to the park, where she climbed the slippery dip, played on the swings, climbed under, in, and on the cave. We played hide n seek there and took a heap of selfies.

The afternoon session was for Minecraft. I think I have improved by 0.03%, although I did die twice today .. and not because Chicklet killed me off. A 'creeper' got me both times and I didn't even see one of them coming!

I killed a pig and a sheep all on my own! It was to get food and wool .. because I almost died of starvation. Chicklet hid the 22 golden apples, one of which would have saved me, so I had to go murder some animals ... and the worst part, is that they run when you hit them the first time, so you have to chase them to kill them off! Barbaric!

We talked to Mama on the phone. It was only 6.30am in Paris and she was preparing for a tour of the artist Monet's house, among other things. She sounded very sleepy, but happy!

Monet's yellow dining room ...

Vegan Chickie on a red bus ...

After our chat, we played some more Minecraft for a while, until Chicklet's iPad battery went flat.

Next we wrote a letter to tell Mama what we did today. We do this every day on the back of the letter that Mama leaves in the envelope. Mama will have her same 22 envelopes to open when she gets home, containing pictures, letters, words and any other interesting things that we do while she's away.

We had a nut bar for afternoon tea, then a boiled egg for dinner. Tidying up time. Bath time. Story time. Bed time.

When all was quiet in my world, I washed the dishes, hung BCC's work clothes out to dry and did a load of Chicklet and my washing. Gave a very tired Adoring Husband a quick phone call - he'd been working on the lawns all day - and now here I am!

I'm not sure yet what tomorrow will bring.

I found this last night and wanted to share it with you.

I want to be Dr Amy Myers. She is the best of both worlds and is so articulate and intelligent. As a qualified doctor, she knows that modern medicine is failing us .. if only there were more like her. The health of the world would be in a much better place.

She explains it all so clearly. Please watch .. even if you are not a Pete Evans fan, you need to listen to Dr Amy Myers.



I guess that's enough for one night. I need to recharge, so ...

Nite all.