I just got caught unawares

I could hear Mike feeding Molly and Bo and said he was feeding them a bit early didn't he think? And he looked at me blankly because it was normal time. I looked at my computer time seeings I was playing here and my computer had reverted back to normal time from day light savings, even though we haven't changed back as yet until next week. I was thinking it was still 5pm and it was actually 6pm. Any other Aussies confused? I was thinking I still had an hour up my sleeve to play, I haven't even started dinner!

I have been playing with Sharon's seriously fun flowers and foliage and popped them on an engagement double page for our family album. We're so lucky to have these photos, and yes, this is how my dad actually proposed to my mum, ROFL. Some men just don't get the romance do they? ha. For the web view I've taken some detail out, but I was able to scan the original newspaper announcement also. I love how the two pages have come up. Hope you enjoy. Gotta love the glasses!!

Credits here.

And I urge digi scrappers to check out the Garden Delights 2 for the flowers and foliage. The leaves are the best I've used!

Now ... off to go put dinner on.

My mum has broken my dog!

Well not exactly broken, but she has spoilt my furbaby rotten. In fact I'm trying to post this one handed because Molly now believes she must be patted and stroked and scratched behind the ears every single moment you sit down, and even when not sitting down too. Yikes! Give me strength.

I have had a lovely few days with mum down here. A quick jaunt down the street the other day ended up taking 2 hours after I ran into everyone I know in this town so we talked to them all, LOL. Now mum thinks I *do* know everyone in town, ha. If only. We went for a nice drive round the countryside, shall show you a few of the pics so you can see our part of the world here.

She left today when my brother came down to pick her up, really at peace. She was very uneasy leaving the house, even she's not sure why, but this was her first overnighter in a long long time, way before dad even got ill. And it's really great that my husband gets on really well with his MIL too. We took her out for dinner for a real slap up meal too which she felt well and truly spoilt. Mum and dad used to go out every Friday night for dinner until he got to the stage he couldn't eat properly without assistance, so she's missed that lovely feeling of dining out.

I think this visit has shown her that yes, life has changed, it will never ever be the same again, but it doesn't have to be worse, it can just be different, which is okay too.

Here's some pics of our flitting about the countryside. Welcome to our world over here.

PS : Tracey, I know you're going to know EXACTLY where these pics were taken from, LOL.

Getting excited

Yes I'm getting excited, mum is coming to stay a couple of days from tomorrow. Sounds silly doesn't it? Here I am '40-something' and excited about mum coming here. But I've lived in this little town for nearly 4 years now and mum hasn't been here very often, perhaps twice, maybe pushing it three times. When dad got sick he gave up his drivers licence and then was too sick to travel anyway, mum wouldn't leave him for the day either, besides which she doesn't drive. So I *am* excited. I want mum to share my little town here too, and when I talk about things I want her to be able to picture it, or even make some friends down here too. Plus a change of scenery will do her good.

But having said that, I've run round the house like a screaming banshee, cleaning, tidying, making sure all looks good. LOL. No matter how old we get, we're all still a bit like that when it comes to our mums aren't we? Please tell me I'm not alone.

Now, my other very exciting news. I FINISHED MY MONKEY SOCKS!!!!!!!!!! Here they are, I'm so proud.

The yarn is The Knittery in Berrybliss colour. It looks even better up close, really sweet coloured, if that makes sense.

And it has been a time of accomplishments for me this week. I ALSO FINISHED MY SHUTTERFLY BOOK!!!!!!! I am full of exclamation marks at the moment, LOL. It's been sent away for printing and I am now hanging out for it to arrive. I can't speak more highly of this company, the books are superb. This is the one I have made for my mother-in-law for mother's day of all her grandchildren. I hope she loves it as much as I've enjoyed making it.

With that being said, I shall share another layout I made for it. Youngest stepson from before I knew him, cute as can be. My father-in-law gave me this photo, how cute is the knotted hankie on his head?!?

Credits here. (I even made my own lady bug!!)

Can you please tell me if I'm showing the layouts too big now? I forget that not everyone has a honking big rectangle screen like I do. Just want to make sure that it's appearing okay at the other end viewing it.

Night all!

Yawn !

Feeling more than a little tired right now and it's only just gone 8pm. We were up at 6am to head down to the lake for the dawn service for Easter Sunday, an ecumenical service held by the various churches in town. It's a really nice tradition we have on Easter Sunday and I hazard a guess that it was the biggest turn out this morning for many years. Afterwards we have a lovely early morning drinking coffee, eating hot cross buns and chatting to everyone. And this morning, despite a big bonfire burning to keep us warm, it wasn't overly cold. Mike played the bagpipes which added some spirit making it a lovely morning for all.

Then I completely forgot I was meeting one of my friends who has since moved to Melbourne but was back in the area over at the next town for a drink this arvo. Thank goodness she rang to tell me she was running late. Errrr... it had slipped my mind completely so I had to make a mad dash using my ever faithful backroads shortcut. I think I must have forgotten because Mike had a "granny nap" on the couch, and well I ended up having a bit of a nap too (well we had gotten up extra early on a Sunday). Well I can blame him any way right?

Good Friday and Easter Saturday I spent at Geelong having some family time with mum and my brother. And I went to see Mike's parents also down the coast. Mike is up to his eyeballs in work so he stayed home and trudged through it.

I've been trying to talk mum into coming down to stay with us for a break or to take her away somewhere but to date she has staunchly denied all pleadings from me. But she's done a backflip now and is coming down to stay for a few days from Thursday!! YAY!!!! Mike is off on a camp with the boys so it will be a great girls weekend for mum and I. And then the weekend after we're going to Melbourne overnight for a big shopping expedition. I am sooooooo happy about this. I want her to get out and about and have some "me" time for herself (with of course me tagging along!! ha) and well just to enjoy herself. And she's now said yes. It's time. I can't wait.

So whilst down at Geelong I caught up with my brother and I was trying to get a half decent picture of the two of us. I really should quit while I'm ahead. This is the end result. Yes, you can imagine, I'm rolling my eyes as I type!

Hey, have I finally worked out how to make my previews bigger? Let's see if this works.

Credits here.

I am really loving these new wires from Sharon. They come in gold, silver and a rusty iron look. Loads of fun. Click on the preview to take you to twolittlepixels.

Happy Easter

Yes I know it's Thursday but I'm getting in early. I'm heading down to stay with family tomorrow and of course back in time for the dawn service on Sunday, but I didn't want to miss anyone who was heading away for the Easter break.

So with no further ado, we (Molly and me) would like to wish you ...

Almost bunny time

And I got this in my email earlier tonight so wanted to share. You've all probably seen it before, but I still laughed as hard this time as I've done every other time I received it.

I haven't shared a "Things" layout for a while so will dig into the archives for one you haven't seen.

As for the pic, don't ask. It's just too strange. Credits here. (You will be able to read it better if you click for the credits).

Night all.

I've become a broken record

I'M HOT!!!!! Didn't I just say that yesterday? And the day before that? LOL I am so OVER this heat. I want the cool change right now. Feeling so lethargic, hey but I'm on holidays now right, so I can do nothing if I want. ha.

So let's talk cooking? How is your recipe collection? I'm not talking about books, but the pages from magazines you rip out, the old family recipes written on scraps of paper, the snippets from the cooking pages in newspapers? If you're like me they're stuck in a big plastic bag and every now and then I might (note: MIGHT) go through them and cull. But the bag does seem to get bigger and bigger.

And what about the recipes you try and really like, they're bound to become family favourites, what do you do to preserve them never to be lost again? I did start typing all my favourite recipes in a Word document and pop them in plastic sleeves in a binder. But it looks very amateurish.

I've also made a cooking book or two in the past. One for my best friend for her shower tea, she didn't want presents so I gathered recipes from all the people attending and made a book for her. And I made another book once which we sold as a fundraiser for band, a little A5 spiral bound one. But all quite "home made" looking.

But lay your eyes on these little beauties. Sharon has made a fabulous Simple Set in three different layout sizes - either A4 or A5 where your recipes can feature the picture also and look really spiffy, ultra modern and very professional.

What a nice idea for a gift, a mother to a new daughter-in-law, or perhaps for the son about to venture out for the first time away from home or just a really nice way to preserve your own family favourites.

Now if you've followed along with this blog you'll know that we (or I should say Mike) is a big lover of pavs and it's become my speciality. So I've popped my pav recipe on a card here for you and yes this is a pic I took of the finished product. If you want the original, there's a copy of it in the Simple Set as a bonus, along with other tasty recipes from the creative team. Click on the simple set image to take you to twolittlepixels.

Now one of the reasons I decided to put my pav recipe down was because I got a "help me" email from my friend Lisa Beth's daughter, Mary Grace. She had tried my pav recipe and told me when she got the pav out of the oven it looked good and "poofy" LOL, but she turned her back for an instant and it ended up as flat as a pancake. Mary Grace, I have NO IDEA what you've done, so to help you along, I took pictures at intervals when I made this little beauty above.

This recipe is so easy, first it all just goes into a mixing bowl like so... (too easy)

Then you beat the living daylights out of it...

Until it stiffens up like this...

Then you just arrange it like so on the baking plate. Most people use a flat one, I don't have one, so this one with a slight lip works fine for me...

Then the finished product, but cool it in the oven turned off with the door slightly ajar. I have no idea why, but why argue with the recipe books right? And don't worry about the cracks, the cream covers it!

Then decorate however you like, like my picture on the card, mmmmmm.

Hope that helps Mary Grace.

Something about a car race?

LOL. You're either loving it today or not. The Grand Prix is on. Can you even imagine being in those racing car suits on a day like today in Melbourne, urrrrgh. If it's anything like this here it must be horrendous. I actually thought heck, Mike is really getting into this, he's still in front of the TV watching, I was surprised, until I just went in there. Yes the telly is going, the cars are whizzing around, but he's zonked out asleep on the couch with the fan blowing on him, ROFL.

My brother has been going to the Grand Prix each day, he's loving it, but it's been so hot and he's extremely sunburnt. Plus he has Kiss concert tickets for tonight. I'm so glad he's finally letting his hair down too, after such a harrowing few months for us all. It's his turn to have some fun.

Now I just have to work on mum, hmmmmmm.

Hey, and in this weather, I just checked, it's still 35 celsius out there, you can hereby tell me I'm a fool but I actually have a roast lamb cooking in the oven. Lordy Lord. Way to make the kitchen even hotter. But I really fancied a roast dinner tonight so a yummy roast lamb, veg, roast potatoes, mint jelly with gravy. I'm already licking my lips.

Plus of course I'll make absolutely way too many veg so it will be bubble and squeak all round tomorrow. Yummo.

Layout to show you today is one of my nephew at the play ground at the start of the year. Yes, it did seem like a good idea at the time - he started down the slide and realized just how HOT HOT HOT it was. He was all very brave, smiles for the camera all round. Until he came to the bottom and then there were tears.

Credits here.

Hope it's cooler in your part of the world. I think I'll go jump in a cold shower now to try to cool off a bit.

I'm melting !!!!

It's still over 20 degrees out there and almost 10pm. It's been too hot today. I'm never happy though am I? Soon enough I'll be complaining about the cold.

I ended up falling asleep on the couch this afternoon with the fan blowing on me. I woke to find Molly asleep laid out almost identical to me on the floor in front of the couch so the fan was blowing on her too. It really did make me giggle. What do they say about owners being like their pets?

I had a fairly solitary day today as Mike was down the coast with family who had some illnesses and me with this head cold can't really go near them for fear of them catching it too. So I just pottered.

Another layout I'll show you for my mother-in-law's mother's day album. I think my stepson will hate me for it, but I couldn't resist !!!!

Credits here.

No more sleeps to go

Are you still waiting to find out what I was counting down to??? Huh? Huh?

Well as of today I am on holiday leave from work, long service leave to be precise for ... wait for it ... FIVE WHOLE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yahhhhhoooooooooo. Not that I dislike work, but I'd rather not be there than be there, oh and get paid for not being there too.

I'll be heading back home a number of times over the next five weeks. A few months on now and mum is taking two steps forward and often one step backwards. I want to be able to do some fun things with her, she doesn't drive, so get her out of the house and further afield even perhaps. I'd love to do a road trip with her but she doesn't feel quite up to that at the moment ... hmmmm but you know how persuasive I can be. We'll see.

It has been so hot here the last few days, even at 6.30am this morning it was 20 degrees according to our temperature gauge outside. That's quite unheard of down south. Plus a fire on a farm only 10 minutes up the road. With the dry conditions, that can be quite scary if the wind is blowing this way towards town.

Gosh I have a not so little girl beside me (Molly) who is putting her paw on my knee with a view I think to clambouring up. Errr, I don't think so. I really feel for the animals in this heat.

Okay before going to bed I will post one of my layouts I recently did but have not shown you. You know how my husband plays bagpipes. Well this is my little friend which I've played for over 30 years now. Alas I'm not in any band any more up here, there's no brass bands within an hour from where I live. But I still have my little friend here to pick up and play when the whim takes me.


Credits here. Isn't that the yummiest colour paper? Almost an exact match to our old uniform jackets. Yes, definitely a fashion statement! LOL. The Garden Delights paper pack really is just scrumptious.

Night all ... from the new lady of leisure !!

One more sleep

Yes, one more to go. I wonder what for? Hmmmmmm. You'll have to come back tomorrow when I'll be jumping all over the place to find out what. LOL

Stepson number 1 now has his driver's licence, actually got it just after his 18th birthday. Now the worrying really begins right? Well he's still bussing it to work at the moment as he hasn't got a car. He surprised us one day whe he borrowed his mum's car and headed down to see us. Now they are the surprises I like !!


Credits here.

Fly By Posting

Whooooosh! Now you see me, now you don't. On my way to bed but wanted to share this first. I'm just loving the butterflies that Sharon has been spinning out.

If you like butterflies too, hop on over to twolittlepixels and check out Garden Delights. It's scrumptious. I used the freebie (amongst a few other things) for this layout.

Credits here.

A few mentions in my comments about how I've been letting my hair down of late. And yes I have and you know what? It feels good. Still taking it each day as it comes, mum is obviously still doing it hard, but one foot in front of the other, right? And when you have great friends on your side, you can't lose.

Priscilla

Oh my! Oh my oh my oh my! I did mention I was seeing Priscilla the stage show in Melbourne on Saturday night, a fabulous gift my bestie gave me to go see the show with her, girls night out in the big city!! Wooo hooo.

We had a fabulous evening. A lovely Thai banquet which was really really yummy. Then on to the Regent Theatre. It is such a magnificent place, I was in awe.

The show - OMG the show! It was incredible, loud, vibrant, colourful, funny, exciting, brilliant. I'm going to run out of words here. I laughed till my sides hurt, I had a huge smile on my face all night, I sang, I tapped my feet, I didn't know where to look, I didn't want to miss out on one single thing. It was absolutely a spectacle.

Then ......... are you ready for this? They came out after the interval for the second half of the show and were doing a number "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", lots of singing and dancing and then all of a sudden about 10 or 12 dancers ran off the stage and grabbed someone in the audience to go up on stage with them.

Yep, you guessed it. Me ... sitting on the aisle in the second row. Yikes.

So I did the hoedown with the dancer that had grabbed me, singing and dancing round the stage, absolutely loving every minute, almost crying I was laughing so much. Then at the end they took all our hands and we stood in a big line at the front of a stage for a big bow. Too too funny. All in front of hundreds of people.

My bestie I think had nearly wet her pants by this stage laughing, thank goodness there were no cameras allowed in the theatre, whew!

I didn't regain my breath I think for at least another half hour, LOL.

All in all an absolutely amazing night. Thank you S. I love you to bits.

A good time was had by all

Well the weekend road trip has been and gone and I've never laughed so much in all my life. Our 'famous couples' fancy dress was hysterical - we had Diana Ross and the Supremes (because we were a trio), the Blues Brothers, Kath and Kim and ... ready for it ... the most famous couple of all ... french fries and tomato sauce !! hahahahaha

Here is a pic of our fabulous act. I'm in the middle.

This weekend is a Long Weekend in Victoria as Monday is Labor Day. Trust me, I don't intend to do any laboring at all! Saturday I'm travelling to the other side of Melbourne to visit with my best friend and we are going to see the Priscilla Queen of the Desert stage show. This was her Christmas gift to me, what a beautiful best friend she is.

Only till the end of the month to finish my monkey socks to include them in Southern Summer of Socks. Arrrrrgh! Hope I finish in time. Best get knitting.