Happy Birthday to My Man.

Colin has turned 35!
His birthday was 05/06/07!
Happy Birthday to my Honey Bunny!

update to follow

I know it's time to update. Philip and Heather and Carter and Madeline have come and gone. And I've been sad. More photos to follow soon. Promise. Sometime soon.

7 days and counting . . .

This is me. With my new lens. I kinda like it.

7 days until my family arrives!! Very exciting. 7 days until I begin 2 1/2 weeks of holidays!! I'm been scheming over the last few days of activities we can do. Would you believe that there is a huge price difference in the hire for scuba equipment? 90$ at one store and $50 at another!! I"m trying to book a boat dive so I'll keep you posted. But I just realized the room where my grandma will be staying as no blinds. Maybe a dash to Ikea may help me.

Tonight begins our weddings galore. Col's got a buck's night for the groom of the wedding on Sunday. Friday night Col has rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for wedding next weekend. Sunday morning I have bridal shower for wedding in June. Sunday afternoon we have wedding. Next Saturday we have another wedding. Then a 3 week break. Then 3 weddings in 8 days, all in different locations!! Fantastic!! Weddings are good for couples. Wedding sermons mean more to us now that we have been married for awhile. I just kind of smile and nod and say hmmm; how true.

But somewhere in there I've got to get a hair appointment, pick up another bed, make beds, find bassinet, car seats for littlies and make a welcome sign!! Woohoo.

A lovely weekend

We're nearing the end of a really nice weekend. Yesturday went to church and made soup. Corn chowder. I think my favourite. Then got to pop in and see Delena and Dale who were dog sitting for the afternoon. They humoured me and played compatability with me. And as we already knew, we were all compatable!

Then to a night of scrabble and nibbles with my in-laws and friends. The problem with having food at a scrabble game is that I'll nibble away until it's all gone! Then today was a game of tennis and lunch out with the girls. Now I'm doing laundry and preparing for the week ahead.

Not long to go until my family (most of them) arrive for a holiday and I get time off work!!

And I'll leave you with photos of my little doggie!

Early morning rise . . .

This is what I'm been waking to for the past few weeks. Heavy fog and mist among the trees. Cooler mornings but great for lying in bed reading or sitting by the fire. Love the fog. Love the rain. Whenever it rains I sing "I"m only happy when it rains" in my head. I don't know who sings it. If anyone knows, tellme, I'd love to buy the song. Seriously, everytime it rains I sing that song.




Today: off to church. Then I think soup for lunch. It's just that kind of day. And then maybe pizza for tea. Love pizza. Espeically with BBQ sauce. It's the only way we make it now.

Luxuries of life . . .

This was my new purchase last week:



I wanted it for low lighting situations and nice portraits. So I bought it. Why? Because I can!! Then of course I had to play a bit.


Do you interpret Chewy as "C'mon Mom, I'm sooo over this. Enough already"?
(I can't help myself!)
Then on the weekend I had the luxury of flying to Melbourne to visit my dear friend Neda. She had a little bubby almost 6 months ago and he was growing so fast I had to see him. Definately one of life's luxuries is good friends. Friends who laugh at the same things you do, appreciate you and are just special people. Neda is one of those people. I miss you Neda.



This is her son Jalen Jack. Talk about a precious little boy. When he smiles, his whole face lights up and his eyes twinkle!! He's got the most contagious laugh and a content little guy.
We of course had to go shopping at DFO (direct factory outlets). We've got a few weddings coming up so I had to get a new dress. I think it's just a girl thing. We ended up at the shops for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. And Jalen was born to shop!! He loved the bags. And we got some great deals as well.

Now it's Wednesday. A day off for ANZAC day. Delena and Dale are coming up for a FriChick cookoff!! Plans were to go mountain biking, but it's raining. So plan B is hot tub, movies and some good food. Anyone want to join us??

Happy Birthday Ron!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had a birthday party for Ron, Colin's dad. Here's a photo of the grandkids trying to help Grandpa blow his candles out. Today is his birthday. I want to wish Ron a very happy 65th birthday! And no, he has no plans for retirement!!

We had a lovely full weekend. Saturday was delightful as we had brunch with Suzi and her kids. She made us omeletes with screaming seeds. Absolutely fantastic!!! I think I might order some myself. Talk about adding some spunk to plain old eggs!!

Then off to the play for us. Quaint little theatre for young people. Entertaining and Izzy was fabulous in her part as the Mrs Sheep.

Saturday night brought a surprise visit from Colin's cousin Calvin and his girlfriend from WA. I was gobsmacked. I kept looking at him wondering what he was doing there and how he knew we were had moved to. Delightful visit and of course the party was fun. I think Ron was suprised that Leon and Nat came up too.

Sunday morning, Colin had a cricket game against Central Coast and I had a nutrimetics spa party. Basically a reason for the girls to get together and spend money!! Not that we need any reason. THe boys didn't win the game but came back for some R n R in the hot tub:


A delightful weekend. Now it's Tuesday evening and I'm still recovering!! Next weekend I'm off to Melbourne to visit my dear friend Neda and her new bubby (who will be a 2 year old toddler if I don't see him soon!) Looking forward to that.

Also made a purchase today. Will share when it arrives!!

Be nice to me . . .

I gave blood! I hadn't given blood in years. Probably since I was a student at university. Always intended too. Too many distractions. So got my butt in gear and went to donate. Can't believe the size of the needle into your arm. I couldn't look. Overall it went alright. Takes about 10 minutes (so the lady said). Mine took about 14 minutes because they hit a valve or something in my vein and it went slower than usual. But they rearranged it and off we went again.

Do it. Go donate. Safe a life. One day you might need blood. www.donateblood.com.au is the address in Australia. The rest of you - call your Red Cross. Click Canada for the Canadian address or America for the American red cross. Now you have no excuse!!

Busy day today. Heading up to see friends Suzi and her kids for brunch and then seeing her daughter Izzy in Charlette's Web. Love the story. It's my mom's favourite kids book. Then we're having a birthday party for my father-in-law. PHotos to follow.

Check back often!!

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!