A Wash Out!

This week has been a total wash out in many ways!
We have had an extra-ordinary amount of rain, causing million dollars of damage in Queensland and Northern NSW. The only positive thing is the once desperate, dry dams are now completely full. We didn't get too affected in the way of damage or anything like that, but the kids school got evacuated in the late morning on Wednesday as the weather conditions were deteriorating and the pathways were flooding and they wanted the whole area to be evacuated as a precautionary procedure. The children were thrilled to bits! I picked them up just on midday and one of the teachers said that they expected the school to be closed for the rest of the week. The weather however didn't deteriorate and it cleared up enough for them to go in for the rest of the week, much to their disappointment. All sporting activities were called off, well for Bailey and Ian anyway. Ian's football wasn't on Friday night and Bailey's game has been called off today. Yaz however still managed to play her soccer yesterday where their team won, 2-1.
Bailey however had two little triumphs in sport this week. On Monday, before the 'wash-out', he had a school sports carnival and he came home with a first prize ribbon and the biggest, proudest smile on his face for winning his 80metre sprint. Then on Tuesday at swimming, he got assessed to go up to the next level and got through, so now he goes into an 'Intro class' as of tommorow, another beaming smile from our little boy. He had a good week.
Tuesday was a school strike as the Queensland teachers stood their ground as they are underpaid compared to the other States in Australia, and so they should as well. The children spent the day at home with me and we just had a relaxing day, in fact I can't even remember what we did. Probably just stayed in our pj's all day...kind of like today. It is 1.30pm and we are all in our pj's still. I love these days! So the kids have had a good week really!
Ian had to battle the rain all week with work though and I must admit I do worry about him driving around, not only in the terrential rain, but the danger of the roads etc...Thankfully he is always O.K. and I am just my normal worry-wort self!
It's been a week where I've been able to watch a couple of dvd's. I have just finished watching 'Australia' for the 2nd time with Yazmin. I am just in love with that movie and cried again in all the same spots. Yaz enjoyed it too but thought it was a bit long...I also watched a dvd that I borrowed from a friend, 'Revolutionary Road'. It was a great movie too, but very sad and tragic.
Thursday night I went to a seminar about another kind of therapy. It was very interesting and I would really like to study it but it's the whole time thing and whether or not I want to stress myself out again and put my family through it too. I didn't realise when I was going through it, just how much pressure I was under when I was studying and working and still trying to run the household and take the kids to sports etc...I can't believe I got through it with my sanity actually. I am at the stage where I feel like I need to venture into something else as there is so much to learn and I think that once you're in this kind of therapeutic industry, you want to know everything there is to help people and I kind of feel a bit bound into just a tiny smidgen of what's out there. I know I can't do everything and I am very content at where my business is at, but I have this unexplainable yearning to do more for people....We'll see what the future brings anyway as I'm sure something will happen if it's meant to!
Friday night Bailey went to his friends for a sleep-over. He had a good night as always and they were up bright and early the next day getting maximum time into the hours they had left until I picked him up.
Last night we had some friends over for an Italian feast. Their daughter Victoria is in the same class as Yazmin, the Italian Immersion program and they will be heading off to Italy with 26 other students next year...can't believe it. I'm glad she is getting this opportunity but I'm not going to want to say good-bye...Anyway, I stayed in all day and cooked! I made a minestrone soup, a traditional lasagne, fettucine bosciaola, chicken risotto and Yaz made her famous and beautiful tiramisu. The only thing that I could really eat was the soup and the risotto as I don't eat pasta, but everyone else got stuck into it. There was so much food and there is still quite a bit left too. It's certainly very filling food! So basically I cooked the food for the girls and their up-coming Italian adventure. The fund raising is just about to begin at the school in many different ways and then everything will get finalised and before we know it, they'll be packing their bags and asking for speding money to hit the shores of Italy!
We are heading up the coast in a couple of weeks over the June long weekend. We are going North about 2 hours up where it's just like paradise. It is our Anniversary over the weekend which is one of the reasons for getting away. The other reason is that Ian hasn't had a break of any sort where as the children and I have been to NSW, so it will just be so nice to have some family time away. Unfortunately we will be missing out on a friends 40th B'day celebration where there are a couple of the girls jumping out of a plane. It would have been great to stand very safely on the ground watching them fall safely to the beach below but I'm sure I will hear all about it afterwards anyway.
I am so looking forward to Mum coming up in a couple of weeks as I'm really missing her at the moment. I miss her all of the time obviously but have been very homesick lately, so she will be welcomed with the biggest open arms and who knows, I may never let her go again!
On a final note, Happy B'day to my dear friend Tanya for the 29th. We wish you all the very best and will be thinking of you and missing you....To all of our family and friends that we are no longer physically around, we love you and really miss every single one of you...please never forget that xxxx

The Circus is in Town...

Yes, the circus has arrived in town and casuing excitement amogst lots of children...including mine...well not Yazmin as she has a thing against clowns and the circus really isn't cool to go to! Anyway, I got some free tickets through work so Bailey and I went along yesterday and had a great time. His beautiful face just lit up and was wide eyed throughout the whole thing. He laughed and got frightened over a certain acrobatic stunt and was truly amazed by the juggler! It was a good afternoon and his first circus too.
During the week I don't really think much happened, just the usual work, school etc...Yaz came home from school sick one day and hasn't really felt right since. There is a terrible amount of bugs/viruses going around at the moment and people are dropping like flies! I probably will end up taking her to the Dr.s soon just for an overall check-up as she does seem to suffer a lot of headaches. Unfortunately she may have the migraine jean that I have and may always be a sufferer but it still wouldn't hurt to get a Dr.s opinion. I have recently found a new Dr. who seems to be very thorough and on the ball and has helped me a lot. Good Dr.s are very hard to find these days. The natural therapies industry is growing quite dramatically at the moment and I can seriously understand why.
A very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to DAD Laslett in England! Hope you had a wonderful day and had the day off work? We were thinking of you, as always xxxx
The weekend was quite busy. Yaz had two parties to go to on Saturday. ONe was a sleepover...again, not a sleepover in the fact that they got NO sleep what-so-ever! The parents were knackered the next morning and planned to snooze the day away, which is exactly what Yaz did. She got into bed at 11.00am and didn't surface until dinner time around 6.30pm, stayed up for a couple of hours and then hit the hay again for a good nights sleep. I guess more and more sleepless nights are going to come her way as she grows up...sleepless for us too when she's finally out on the town in just under 4 years! I'm certain I will be 100% grey by then!
We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night, the first to have dinner with us at the new house. I made some thai food which actually turned out rather tasty! The last time this couple came over I had made a curry and it was disasterous so I think they came with a very open mind but the food was good and everyone enjoyed it. I haven't been able to have a drink for a long time now and I had a couple of wines on Saturday night and I think I'm over drinking. I just don't really enjoy it anymore and I think I consumed more water and coffee than what I did wine! Ian on the other hand made the most of it and him and Mike certainly left a lot of empty bottles on the side for recycling! Still, it's been quite a while since either of us has had an opportunity to drink so one of us had to make the most of it.
Friday night Ian took the night off from soccer and we went to watch the Rugby League at Suncorp Stadium. Yaz didn't come with us...mid you she doesn't come to a lot of things with us anymore...anyway, Bailey and I caught the train into the city and met Ian there. We had a great night getting Maccas for dinner and watching the game. Bailey and Ian went for 1 team and I went for the other so basically I copped it as my team lost. Two against one is never fair! Yaz went to a friends house after school on the Friday and they went to the movies to see 'Angels and Demons' instead.
Tomorrow is a school strike so the kiddies will be at home with me. They are very excited about having a day off.
That's about all I can think of for now. At least I didn't leave it for another week! Take care everyone.
xxxx

Mothers Day x

Today is Mothers Day so I would just like to wish my beautiful and ever-so-missed Mother a wonderful day and I love you very, very much. Your gift was gorgeous thankyou and the little verse made me cry...as always! Happy Mothers Day to all of the other Mums out there too. A very belated Happy Mothers Day to Mum in England as I believe your Mothers Day was a couple of months back and we didn't realise, so this wish goes out to you too. I had a lovely day. Got my pressies in the morning,( a cd, dress, sweat shirt, dvd, chockies and a water bottle from Bailey that he chose from the Mothers Day stall at school...sweety pie!), then went to Bailey's football match, then had a picnic down by the bay. The day was beautiful and sunny and there's just something about being by the water, it's so serene and calming! Thankyou to my family for spoiling me! I love you all dearly!
It's been a fortnight since my last entry as I tried doing it last week...usual story about the bad connection. I've worked out now that the earlier on in the day that I do it the better connection I seem to have so I will try and do it every Sunday afternoon now instead of Sunday night.
Last weekend we had a long weekend. Bailey didn't have any sport but Yaz did on the Saturday so we went down to that game. Saturday night we went to Nicky and Seans for dinner. Sunday night we went to Mike and Charmaynes for dinner and Monday we just stayed in catching up on everything else. Long weekends are great! It aslo makes the following week go extra quick too.
During the week I wasn't that well so I had to go to the Dr.s for a couple fo tests. Today both Ian and Yaz are not feeling 100% either and there seem to be a few people around getting ill. It must be that time of the year for all of the different types of influenzas to hit. I hear Australia had it's first victim of the Swine Flu, coming into the country from a trip to America. How must the poor lady feel about being the first reported case bringing it in to Australia?! Not really something you want to be remembered for!
The rest of the week has just been the same old, same old. Bailey had a friend over and Yaz went to a sleep over...well you can't really call it a sleep over if they don't sleep can you! She's been knackered ever since!
Ian played his usual football Friday night. Click on the link to the left to read the match report. He always gets a good mention!
Great news from overseas...cousin Matt looks like he is coming over in January! I am soooo excited! I think at the moment he will be staying with us for a week, so really can't wait and will give him a week he won't forget. There are so many beautiful places to show him. It's going to be soooo much fun.
What else, what else, what else....this is the problem with doing this after a week has passed because I don't remember everything. Oh well.
Hoping that anyone reading this is well and happy. Bit of a boring entry this week, sorry.
'Till next week xxx

Bad Habit!

I think I apologise every week about not doing this blog...it's certainly becoming a bad habit of mine!...maybe I should just make it a fortnightly event and then I won't have to apologise anymore! Life just seems to be very busy lately but then not much is happening at all...if that makes any sense?! I can't even think of why I didn't do it last week. I know we weren't out and I haven't written in my diary for a while either so I'm relying on memory here and let me tell you there is nothing coming out!!!!
So what have we been up to? If I tell you about the weekend just gone, then maybe I'll get other snippets of the past fortnight I can add on at the end. Well this weekend was ANZAC Day on the Saturday. Normally we get an extra day off during the week if it falls on a weekend but they have canned that this year...such a shame! We love our public holidays!!! Anyway everything closes until about 1pm on Anzac day, so in the mroning we just did a few household chores before heading down to Movie World on the Gold Coast. It was a great afternoon...apart from Yaz making me go on the Superman ride with her which I vowed never to go on again after the last time. It just goes down on the steepest, vertical, face down slope and I just can't stand it, plus it goes at over 100km an hour. The good thing is that the whole ride lasts for less than a minute so I just shut my eyes and hang on for dear life and then it's all over. After Movie World we headed into Surfers Paradise for a cuppa and have dinner. It was such a beautiful night and it was absolutely packed down there. We had a walk around and looked into some shops etc...and sat on a bench over looking the beautiful beach. What a lifestyle! We all just love Queensland soooo much. Our next adventure is to move closer to a beach...
Today we have just spent the whole day at home. Yaz and Bailey both had a fair bit of homework/assignments to do, Ian had some TV viewing to do and I had some book reading to do...very important Sunday stuff! I love these days!
Friday I had a parcel in the mail arrive and it was a personalised, autographed cd from Ronan Keating! My lucky, lucky brother Dale met him at a promo at his work where Ronan performed and met everyone. Dale was so lovely as to buy me is latest cd and get Ronan to sign it for me. I'm just in awe and very envious of Dale. It is such a great cd too. He also got one for Mum as she is a huge fan as well. Mum and I had a whole conversation on the phone for about an hour just talking about how beautiful the cd was etc...Thanks Dale...YOU ROCK!
OK, this is the part where my brain was supposed to have come up with something...umm...oh yes, I had an interview with Baileys teacher the other week and she said,'The only way I can describe Bailey is that he is the perfect student in every way!'...well it can't get much better than that can it? She said some really lovely things about him and how well he is doing and what a lovely friend he is to his mates and everyone in the class and how much he participates etc...Yaz bought home her report and we were very proud of her too as she got some fantastic results in all areas. She seems to be handling this Immersion class soooo well! We are so very proud of both of our children for their achievements and efforts in school. Yaz also bought home her recent art work, it is a canvas landscape painting and it's just beautiful! I tried to take a photo of it just then with my phone but it didn't turn out very well. I'll get one with Yaz's camera over the next couple of days. She certainly has some talent in the art department!
Bailey scored his first try of his rugby league season today. I unfortunately didn't see it as I was at home not feeling 100% but Bailey told me all about it with a huge beam on his face and Ian told me about it too. Their team lost but he didn't care...he scored!
Work has slackened off just a little. I have been waiting for this as everyone is feeling the economy crisis biting a bit. It's still going well, I just had a couple of spare appointments last week and I haven't had that for a while!
I am very proud of my cousin Matt in Felixstowe as he has made it into the top 3 of the Royal Post staff Awards in England. That's an absolutely huge achievement! He is getting interviewed during this coming week and will go to a posh do on London for the awards night. We have everything crossed for him to win, although in my eyes he's a winner and we're so proud of him! Well done Matt!
We have had a pretty decent downpour of rain lately which has been great for our drought situation! I think our dams have now gone over the 50% mark which has been a long time coming. Mind you in some areas of Queensland the rain bought flooding and disaster, always the way isn't it?!
During the week Bailey got bitten or stung by something, not sure what, and his forearm swelled up like Popeyes! It was bright red and ever so hot too. I took him to the Dr.s the following morning and he was put on some anti-histamines and an ointment also. It soon cleared up in 2 days. He wasn't sick or anything with it, we just couldn't believe the heat and swelling!
At the moment, Ramses has about 3 cats after him. Every night they come around our house and meow that low, drawn out meow they do and Ramses does it from inside back at them. The new kid on the block is getting bullied! I hope it settles down soon. Ramses goes outside and sometimes they just sit and stare at each other. No fight has broken out yet, he came close once or twice though.
I think I remembered enough for an entry today! There's always something that comes to me just as I'm about to go to bed and it bugs me that I forgot to put it on here so I suppose that same thing will happen again tonight.Another bad habit of mine is that I lay awake most of the night annoyed about those types of things and then I'm knackered the next day! My mind is alwasy so lively and ridiculous in the early hours of the morning. I wish I knew how to meditate to put myself in a dream-like trance and just drift off peacefully!
Hope you all had a great couple of weeks anyway. Make sure you check out the photo link often as I do update them when I can...it hasn't been done for a couple of weeks mind you but I WILL update them when I can!
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The Move!

Hello to anyone reading this after I have abandoned this site for a couple of weeks now. Well I am still here but have just been way too busy to spend a second on the computer. We have finally moved to the house down the road! For the last couple of weeks, we have been cleaning, boxing, packing and hardly sleeping! We questioned ourselves for a while as to why exactly we were making a move to a house so close by but now that we are in it, we are VERY happy! The storage space is incredible!!!! The whole move went well, no breakages, no arguments, no problems. Ian and I did the majority of it with some help on the Friday from Sean who came over for the afternoon and helped us with really bulky, heavy stuff. He was a great help who had an abundance of energy! Mike also came over to help Ian and Sean with the pool table in the afternoon also. Bailey watched these men in action shifting one big thing after another and commented on how very strong they were. He was very impressed! We basically just bought over car/ute loads at a time and just dumped it in the garage and then back and forth etc...then once it was all over, we headed back to the other house for the final clean-up. It took longer than what we thought, mind you we were very fussy about doing everything immaculately and the house ended up looking cleaner and newer than before we first started living there! It took us a whole week just to get the basics all unpacked. The kitchen was the first thing that we set up. We slept on mattresses for a week too. In the middle of all of this we were both still working our long hours and taking the kids here and there...Now that we are here, we love it! Our wardrobes are double the size of what we had and the rooms are a fantastic size too. Ramses has settled in well also. He was a little wide-eyed and frantic for the first hour but settled in immediately!

It has definitely been worth it. In all of the unpacking, I have been sorting out things as I go and cannot believe the amount of hoarding that we have done over the past two years! I am going to take alot of this unwanted stuff up to a market to try and sell. We thought about doing the whole e-bay thing but we don't have time to sit on the computer and do it all. I am a bit worried that because we have extra storage, it means we can hoard more stuff! I want to stop that habit right from the start and have been quite podantic about where things are going and putting things away properly and getting rid of anything not used at all.

Apart from the move, Yaz had her 14th B'day. It was pretty non-eventful as unfortunately it was in the middle of the move, but we took her and her friend out for dinner and I made her a 'Jack', (from Nightmare before Xmas), b'day cake. She insisted that she didn't want a cake but as if I could let that happen!

Well today is Easter so Happy Easter to you all! Back to work tomorrow, for me anyway. The kids are now on holidays for a week and a bit. I will try and take them out as they have been put on the back burner recently due to Ian and I being busy. We haven't done much this weekend, just still unpacking and relaxing as much as possible and eating really naughty things! The perfect weekend really!

The computer is very unreliable at the moment so I might have to end it here. We apparently don't have much coverage from our provider which we have only just been told about. When we first signed up we were told we were completely covered. When I phoned them the other day to arrange the change of address etc...I was told that the area we are in doesn't have coverage! When I told him that we were only around the corner from the other house, he basically said we should never have signed up in the first place but a bit late for that information!!! We are just seeing how the coverage goes over the next few weeks and may have to change companies...again! So if I am not on here or aren't answering emails like I used to then this is why. On the whole scheme of things though, it's not that bad. We still can use the internet on occasions...briefly... but it's only the computer at the end of the day. There are other ways of communicating that probabaly don't take up as much time and more reliable too!

Dressing Up!

It's always good to dress up, whether it's just in something new and nice or whether it's in character for a party. Well this week we did both! We went to a Murder Mystery night at our friends Nicky and Sean's last night for my birthday. It was a scene out of the 1920's where there was a murder on a train and we were all suspects. I had to go as a renowned French Fashion beauty, Ian was the husband of the victim and was an ex-military guard, Yaz was the American half-sister of the victim and Bailey was a humble Scottish engineer. We had so much fun trying to put on the appropriate accents...Ian kept asking me if I was German...I've never been one to put on an accent...We had a gorgeous three course meal which was just divine. We sipped champagne and escaped reality for a few hours which was so much fun! After the meal and the game had finished, we listened to Sean's music collection, most of it being from the 80's so it was excellent. We didn't get in until about 2am so were all pretty tired today.

So today is my Birthday. 37yrs old! I was woken by a phonecall from a good frined in NSW, then a few phone calls later and a few texts, we just got on with the chores of today...still getting everything ready to move...and then this afternoon we headed into Brisbane where there is a yummy dessert cafe. Ian wanted to take me out for lunch or dinner, but I much rather the dessert part of any meal! We all had something very rich and filling and absolutely delicious! I got some new clothes for my b'day which in the photo you can see one of the items. I love getting new clothes!!! I just had to put on something new today, as I said it's always fun dressing up...So we were going to have a nice steak meal tonight but we are all so full that I think it's just going to be nibblies instead...and I will make sure that I hit the gym tomorrow!

That's the most exciting part of the week, the rest of it is just work, packing, cleaning etc...I just want to say a very big thankyou to everyone who sent me their b'day wishes whether it be by card, phone call, email, text etc...It is all very much appreciated and it all went towards having a great day.xxx

No Time, No Connection...

Once again, I have left the blog for a few weeks due to the fact that the times that I have tried to get on it's the same old story...bad connections continually cutting me off. Or the fact that we have been so super busy lately in every aspect of life that I haven't been able to put aside my 'blog' time. I haven't even really been writing anything in my diary either so I'll be going off my memory...not a good start!

We are currently in the middle of packing things up again and on the move. Still in the same area, just a few streets away actually, just going into something a little bigger with more storage, bigger kitchen etc...I can't wait until we are in there but it's just the hassle and time spent packing, moving, unpacking etc...that I don't like. It will all be worth it though...hopefully. The street is very quiet and backs onto bushland again, so great for Ramses. So for the next few weeks we won't be going anywhere or doing anything exciting.

Today we spent the day down at Seaworld on the Gold Coast. Apart from leaving a little late and hitting heavy traffic, we had a fun day going on rides and seeing attractions etc...So everyone is feeling a little knackered right now, including me and I knew that if I didn't jump on the computer and write this straight away, then it would be another week left untouched!

Bailey has started playing Rugby League and is absolutely loving it. He has had two games so far, unfortunately they lost both but that doesn't matter. His coach is actually one of my clients and an ex-footballer so he is going to be a great influence on Bailey. It should be a good season.

Yaz hasn't actually played any club matches for soccer but had a gala day on the weekend where they played two short matches. She had to step up and play for the women's team as they were short and at the end of the game they asked if she would like to play for them. We turned down the offer, 1.-because Yaz wasn't particularly interested, and 2.-because she has no spare time for extra training etc...

Happy Birthday to Shane for the 3rd and Klaudia for the 11th of this month. My b'day is this coming weekend and my friend Nicky has asked us over for a 'Murder Mystery' night which should be good fun. I think we're all going to get dressed up into character etc...so I'm really looking forward to it. On the actual day, Sunday, we will have Bailey's rugby game and then just probably just continue packing etc...I wasn't too fussed about doing anything this year and if Nicky hadn't made her offer then I probably wouldn't have bothered doing anything at all! I would have just enjoyed completely chilling at home...surrounded by boxes and a list of cleaning jobs etc...yes this move is the most important thing at the moment and we want to get it all done so we're in no rush for when the day comes around which is around 3rd April. Then we have Yaz's 14th B'day a week after mine. Not sure what we're doing yet, probably not much this year due to everything else but I'm sure she'll end up getting spoilt as usual! Still can't believe she is going to be 14!!!

Work has been exceptionally busy which is fabulous! I was kind of expecting it to die down with everyone concerned about this recession but if anything it's gotten busier to the point that my clients can't get appointments for 3 weeks! Never in a million years did I ever expect to be this busy. I'm truly overwhelmed...in a good way! I just have to make sure that I look after myslef and get regular massages to keep me in good condition as it really takes it toll on your body.

Ian is back into the football season too. I went and watched one game and I haven't seen him play for about 2 years and was amazed at just how quick and talented he still is as he is always saying that he doesn't play well etc...He is awesome on the field and really outshines any of his team mates! I have put up 2 links on this blog page on the left hand side which will take you into both Yaz and Ian's weekly football results and write-ups. I'm not sure how Bailey's works at the rugby but if they do write-ups too then I'll put a link up for that too. Again, if anyone has any trouble with my links not working please leave a comment at the end of my blog entry and I will try to sort it out.

It looks like Mum is moving too. The house she has been renting for the past 30 years has been sold we think. She has been offered another place though near to where we used to live in the Blue Mountains so she is very happy with that. We are too as I was concerned about where she would end up. The other good thing about it is that our good friends live practically across the road from her so I know that they will keep an eye out for her.

Like I warned you before, I am trying to rmemeber everything we have done as I have been slack putting things in my diary and so I truly can't remember anything else! The weeks are just flying past and it's hard to keep on top of it all. We are all well and healthy though which is the main thing and hoping that you are too. I will TRY to do this next week, if it's not on here then it's probably the non-connection! Please be patient with me :-) xx