Cookies anyone?

Lisa, my sister inlaw, sent me this recipe and I thought I'd give it a try. The recipe said it made 112 cookies. So I quartered it and got 12. ( I think my cookies were a bit larger than they were supposed to be.) I've been feeling rather domestic lately. I even washed the floor the other day. (And if that sounds like a rare occasion, trust me it is!!).

Yay, it's Friday. I rather like these short weeks. I think I should have 5 day weekends every weekend. Maybe I should just have a baby . . .

Chicken dance

. . . by my 2 year old nephew Jerin!! Gotta love it. It's Jerin's birthday in a couple of weeks so I was getting some photos for something I'll share soon. (As soon as I finish it actually!)

We had a fabulous Easter weekend. Will share photos soon as well.

I wish . . .

. . . you could hear the sounds from these photos. Leah is such a little tease. That is actually Chewy's new birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa B. He never got a chance to play with it. We threw it for him but he acted a little disinterested so off Leah ran and played with it all afternoon. It has a little squeaky toy inside and all you hear is squeak, squeak as she runs around the house. And if she happens to come close she'll start to growl to let Chewy know that she has his toy and that he should chase after her!! And sometimes he does. Other times he just couldn't be bothered. My dogs are just amazing. They literally play tag around the house, up the hill, through the garden, around the water tanks. They bring such joy to my life. I could learn a few lessons from my doggies!!

80's wildchild

We've got a few weddings coming up in the next few months and with those comes a few hens/bucks parties. Last night was a hens night (bachelorette party) for Kim. It was 80's bridesmaid theme and off to karoake we went. Don't you love the makeup!! Here's photos with me and Mel; and then Martina, myself and Mel. Totally rad dude!!

A wedding to remember

Last weekend we attend the wedding of my friend Natalie Grieve to Clinton North. It was an absolutely gorgeous wedding!! As expected. Here are a few photos of that beautiful bride and her bridesmaids (and of course me!!)



Told you they were gorgeous!!!

So it's been awhile . . .

As I'm trying to edit a few more photos and changing things to allow you to comment, here is a flower from my garden. Nice eh?? I did change things to allow you to comment, let me know if you can't.

Birthday boy!

Our Dog:

• never fails to see the exciting side of life
• acts so pleased to see us when we come home from work
  
• knows a good thing when he sees it
• will guard and protect me
• loves lightening storms as much as I do
• will share his fetching toys with me (compulsively)
• prefers privacy when needed
• likes to greet visitors with enthusiasm
• not fond of carrots but loves watermelon
• is 4 today.

Happy Birthday Chewy. Love Mommy, Daddy and Leah xoxoxo

Lucky to have us!

That's us. We are officially members of the New South Wales Rural Fire service. Pretty fancy or what?? We had a weekend full of training. It was the beginner fire fighting course. Interesting. I thought I'd share some photos.

Thanks for your patience in waiting for my return to blogworld. Can't promise I'll be blogging all the time. But perhaps from time to time. When anything happens to be interesting!

Until next time . . .

Email update

If any of you are wondering why I haven't replied to my emails it's because we no longer have email accounts. You may still write to Colin on his work email, but I won't have email access until mid November. Something with living in the country and we can't get fast internet connection until then. You'd think we lived 500 km away from civilizations instead of 3km! I'll be in touch when it's up and running! Until then, you can keep commenting on my blog. Thanks:)

Been doing some painting.

No photos yet. And they may not come for awhile. Didn't realize how long it's going to take to paint my house:
1. First got to gap fill all the holes.
2. Wait to dry.
3. Sand.
4. Then sugar soap.
5. Wait to dry.
6. Then prime (since all the doors, frames and skirting boards are unpainted).
7. Wait to dry.
8. Then paint with semigloss paint.
**Careful not to drip on wood floors or walk in paint.**
9. Wait to dry again.
**Sit down to rest and watch Bathurst 1000.**
10. Then paint second coat of semigloss paint.
11. Then begin to cut in and paint walls.
12. Wait for wall to dry.
13. Paint second coat.
BEAUTIFUL JOB WELL DONE!
(and that is only for the entrance way!)

See what I mean??

That's about all that we've been up. Or I should say I've been up to. Colin's been busy digging holes, moving sprinklers, cleaning sheds, and everything else around the house. I tried to do some gardening yesturday. Got a bit of a jungle going on. Stepped on sprinkler. Oops. Colin was able to fix it. Then stepped on it again and this time broke it. Colin's a little annoyed. Told me to stop gardening. Go inside and paint. So I did. Haven't got to step 10 yet. Maybe next weekend.

I'm now 28

Sunday was my 28th birthday. Wow. And the cool things is that my brother Michael turned 30 on Sept 29. So we're are 2 years and 2 days apart! Happy Birthday to Michael! He got to go to a Canucks hockey game so I'm a little envious! I got to go to the beach! Here are some photos:




And we had a long weekend so it was a delightful birthday!! I just wanted to thank everyone who reads this and that I appreciate everyone of you. Have a wonderful week!!

Oh and my new rooster

After we lost our beautiful rooster, a colleague of Colin's offered us one of theirs. It seems she had two that had been fighting and was pleased to give us one of hers. So here's our new rooster who wakes us at 5 am instead of 5.30 am! We also think he's a little scared of the four hens since he's smaller than they are!

Our dogs have been getting used to living at Maplegum. Chewy sticks around and just begs us to throw him his cong (red ball). Leah is still keen as ever to chase after wildlife, espeically down by our dams, so she can go swimming all the time!

I hope you have enjoyed the photos. I know they don't do the place justice, but it must give you some idea of the place. And if you want to see more . . . well you'll have to come and see it for yourself!

Pictures continued

I was unable to post all the photos on the same post, so here are some more!

Finally some pictures

The driveway:

Guest bedroom:
My craft room (still needs to be organized!):

Sadness at MapleGum

We woke this morning to quietness. A few song birds, but no rooster wake up call. It seems a sly fox crept on to the property and stole our beautiful rooster. He was there yesturday, I"m sure of it. I went in today to collect the eggs and couldn't see him. I looked around and noticed an area of the chicken wire and been pushed in and some dirt dug away. A few stray feathers. And a few more outside the coop. How annoyed, frustrated, upset, and sad we were. We've only been here 4 weeks and already a rooster is gone. And he was a beautiful specimen of a rooster. Shiny coat, perky feathers and the crow of the wild.

We'll be doing some digging and rearranging this weekend. We don't want that sly fox back anytime soon. In fact never. I'll be getting a new rooster, but only once the coop is stronger.

And, we don't even have a photo of him.

We're in.

Sorry no blog for awhile! We've officially moved in and pretty much settled. The dogs have been really good (only one incident of chasing wallabies!!). We love visitors, so please come any time. For those of you on our email list (that's probably anyone reading this!) you'll be getting a mass email shortly with all our details on them. We're are currently changing our internet provider since we live in the country now, and it's not up and running yet. HOpefully soon.

I can't tell you how much I love our new place. We're calling it 'MapleGum'. Why, you may ask? My answer: BECAUSE I CAN!!! I love the quiteness, the serenity, the peacefulness about it all. The kookaburras on my porch, the wallabies on my grass and I even like the rooster call at 5.30am!! Colin and I will probably become early morning risers because of ol' Mister Rooster! I've fresh eggs, fresh lemons and tank water! My fireplace is relaxing and my outdoor spa - spectacular!

Have I convinced you to come and visit??!!

I'll be posting photos soon once our computer is up and running.

I am thoroughly blessed. My husband took on this challenge with me and we're doing it together! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Isn't that what they say??

Stop by anytime!!

phoneless

We've been busy packing. Right now I"m in the midst of packing my kitchen and I have found a few more tea towels than I thought I had! Lucky me. It's amazing what you find when you have to pack a house! Last week I was looking through my husband's box of goodies and I found a diary he kept when he was 13! Oh so cute. We had a good chuckle or two!!

Moving day is in 3 days time. We get the keys in 2 days time. Anyone available on Thursday night and wanna help us move?? We've only got a few heavy things - piano, fridge, washing machine. That's about it. I might even get you some pizza for tea if you stay long enough . . .

Right now I'm logged into my neighbours internet access (I'm sure Scaz won't mind!!) to blog this. It happens that our phone provider (should I mention names!!) disconnected us 5 days early!!! As my husband would say "Mongrels!!" So, if you try to ring me you won't get through. You can try our mobile phones. We do have a new number for our new place, but I"m not sure when that will be connected and I won't be posting it here. I'll be sending a mass email with all our new details. If you don't get one and want to know where I live, you'll have to leave a comment!! Did I mention that you might want to know where I'm moving to since the new house has a hot tub and pool???

You can bet I'll be posting some photos very soon. Grandma - I"m sorry it's taken so long. I'll be posting them as soon as we move in!! My Grandma has been asking for them for ages and I haven't done it yet! Terrible.

Anyways, back to packing my plates. We'll see how much gets broken in the move!! Any excuse to buy new things right!!! Nobody tell Colin of my scheme!!

Update and a birthday!

So . . . no one has nagged me about updating my blog. I bet it's because you've been adoring my house so much and didn't want to see it move! I know that's why. Don't try and hide it!!

Good news. Have ourselves some renters. Thrilled actually. The plan of attack for next week is get keys on Wed, moving truck Thurs and Fri, clean house Sat night in time for renters on Sun. Or so it'll go! I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to heat!! I'll be a new person!

Well, New Zealand was our last trip a few weeks ago. Met my best friend Delena and her husband Dale in NZ and did some driving. Check out photos here:

Landed in Christchurh: (how's my depth of field!!)

Delena and Dale:



The view from the car (which was seen a lot)
New Zealand is known for the sheep. Never got tired of the seeing them.
This was a progression shot and this was the final outcome!

Our rental. Sould I send this photo to Mitsubishi or what??
Mt Cook. The highest mountain in New Zealand. All we saw was fog!

Snowboarded for the first time. A few sore bits still.
Another photo from the car!!

And I also want to tell my dad HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Aug 13 is his special day. Hope is was nice! I love you heaps!

Have a great week everyone!

House for Rent

Our great news is that we've bought a new house. We'll be moving in about 4 weeks time and we've decided to rent out our present home. The property manager has asked for photos. Great I thought until I realized I had to tidy my house first!! So I've spent today doing some organizing and some tidying and took some photos. A glorious sunny day. So, if you know of anybody who needs to rent a four bedroom home with 2 bath (master bedroom has ensuite), formal dining and sitting, living room, lock up garage, carport and shed, then this is the house for them. Oh and it's in Australia if you were wondering!! We'll allow outdoor pets and you'll have wonderful neighbours!! (That's the sad thing about moving: we'll really miss our fantastic neighbours!) Hope you enjoy the tour!

Front of House:



Living Room:

Other view:


Kitchen:

Backyard (the domain of the dogs):


Have a wonderful week everyone!