Lazy Weekend

Well while the cat is away the mouse will play, isn't that how it goes?  Mike has been away camping this weekend, chasing the gold stuff.   So for me there were a few MUST DO's.

Scrapping - check
Knitting - check
Watch girly movie - check  (Time Travellers Wife ... very good!)
A bit more scrapping - check
Only a little bit of housework - grudgingly check
And a whole lot of relaxing - a big check!

Mike is now home and I think I can safely say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !

The menagerie enjoyed my undivided attention.   I wanted to practice on Manual.
They obliged by ignoring me.

Then Bo decided to sit on the porch and ignore them.

Every now and then Molly decided to do guard duty and check out who was going past.

But mostly she just slept.

She's old.   That's what she does.  She's earnt it.  Look at those elbows.

While Lucky continued to chew on his toy.

And now Mike is home with a whoop.  Nine hits of gold!

Okay so it doesn't weigh much, they're only small.   But still ... nine hits!

And I decided to gather the Anzac Day photos (and I intermingled a couple in from previous year close ups of the veterans too, for this page, documenting how we spend Anzac Day each year.   He literally does look like a pied piper there with them following him down the main street.

Credits Designer Digitals.

Now off to pack my bags, back to Melbourne tomorrow for work for more training, and an overnight stay.  Which means I get to shop in the city tomorrow afternoon, YAY!   One thing for sure, I won't be upgraded again this time, I'm back to the Holiday Inn again.  Oh well.

We will remember them

Anzac day.  A day off for some, an excuse to sleep in.  Not for us.  I've always gone to Anzac Day parades all my life.   Well a lot of them I have played in a brass band at.  But now I just go to pay homage to the brave men and women.  It's a lot different in a small country town, a lot more intimate, a day when some of the elderly folk of the town are celebrated as the heros they are.   Each year we actually head out of town and Mike plays at Penshurst, a really lovely little parade with less and less soldiers each time.   There looked to be only three originals this year, two of them in wheelchairs, with the rest of the parade consisting of other family members.   Mike is the piped piper leading them along.

And whilst it appeared that the rest of the state was getting a drenching, strangely enough the sun shone at Penshurst.

When Mike marched them back to the hall for the service after the laying of the wreaths, he played "Waltzing Matilda".  It sounds strange, and yet oddly fitting played on pipes on Anzac Day.

We raced back home after the parade to turn on the telly and five minutes later saw Mike's dad marching past as part of the RAF contingent in the big parade in Melbourne.

Then the rest of the day has become a lovely lazy Wednesday.   Back to work tomorrow.

I have scrapped this photograph taken of my grandpa from when he was a young soldier in the war.

Credits Designer Digitals

I wonder what grandpa would think, me scrapping this strapping young soldier with flowers in the background.  I turned the photo into a sticker here, I think it is a really different look.

So on this Anzac Day, we will remember them.

Another Saturday night

And it was curry night at the G House!  Mmmmm it was delicious too.   During the week I have no interest in cooking, I get home 6pm or later, then I cook dinner, sometimes it's past 7pm by the time we eat.   Yes I know, I have a husband who works from home, why isn't dinner ready for me when I get home you may ask?  Well you can keep asking!!

But weekends, I have the time (and the inclination) and I like to make something new.  I remember going to a demonstration hosted by Gabrielle Gate once ... whatever happened to him?  You never see him on telly any more?  Anyone?  Anyway, I remember him telling the audience that to just make once new recipe a week, just one, by the end of the year you have a possible 52 new recipes to add to your repertoire.  I love that he called the every day recipes we make a repertoire!

So after tasting the curry tonight, Mike gave it a thumbs up, so yep, I guess it made it to my repertoire!

On the scrapping front...

I had a play today and scrapbooked the great photo young Nick took of Jenelle, Esther and I, when we had a lovely afternoon together in Melbourne a week back.   I don't usually turn my photos B&W and they certainly weren't when I started this page, but because of the bold blue and green combo I used, the photos worked better in B&W.   I might have to B&W my photos more often.

Credits Designer Digitals.

Miss Molly G...

Okay well we may be having a few new problems with the old girl.   She's had this little pimply type thing in the corner of her eyelid and of course I've been googling and found all manner of horrific photographs, but nothing that looked like this.  It's now clustered a bit, not enough to be annoying to her, and it certainly doesn't hurt her, but it's enough to worry me.  So off to the vet we went yesterday.

We had Dr. Gavin this time, and once again TERRIFIC service at the new vet clinic we're going to in town.  He spent a great deal of time with us, even drawing on the whiteboard what he thought was going on in her eyelid to show us.  He believes she may have another growth.   Not like last time, it's a different eye, it looks completely different.  But that's what he thought.   Or... possibly a ruptured blood vessel, I think that's what he said.  

We had long since said that there's no way we'll put Molly through another operation.  She had her op for the growth on her eyelid early 2010 and it took her so long to get over that.  She was miserable, it took her a while to bounce back, and I think at 13 or 14 it's just not a road we want to go down with her again, it's not fair on her.  

Dr. Gavin said we had two options, to surgically remove it which is easier whilst it's small like this than if it gets bigger and gets roots if it is a growth which it seems to be.  Or leave it.  He checked Molly all over and surprisingly said her heart was really strong, he even felt she may have another 2 to 4 years in her, which isn't unheard of, but she's leading such a good life with us that he felt it was possible.   

Mike and I looked at each other, that put a different spin on things.   What to do?

They only operate on Wednesdays anyway and next Wednesday being Anzac Day there'll be no surgery so at best the next surgery is 2 weeks away.  So we've decided to give it 2 weeks.   If it is a blood vessel he said it could just disappear as strangely as it appeared.   If it's a growth we've decided if it's the same size or larger, we'll go ahead and book in an op for the next available surgery date.  Which apparently will be a minor procedure.   If it's reduced in size, then that's good, we'll just let it keep reducing until it's gone.

I am looking at her now, she's asleep by my side.   I came up here to type this blog post and she followed me up.  Poor Mike has been left to his own devices watching whatever movie he is watching.  Molly definitely is my shadow.  

Happy

Eleven years ago today we had our first date.  

He said I wore too much makeup.   I wasn't overkeen on his funny cut out bit of hair he called a goatee.

Eight years ago today this happened...

Funny how these things happen, isn't it?   :-)

Happy Anniversary Mike, you make me so very happy.

Weekend highjinks

I have had the busiest of weekends, and the funnest of weekends.   Funnest?   Is that a word?  Well it is now.    My friend Esther and I had plans to spend it in Melbourne on a photography extravaganza!    We were the papparazzi of Melbourne, no doubt.

Amongst other things, we did shopping, we conquered the Myki system, we met up with Jenelle one of our scrapping friends from Designer Digitals, we walked, OH HOW WE WALKED! (and my calf muscles are still complaining), we ate wonderfully, we did a night photography class in the city, we were accused of being spies ;-) and were given a private tour on a docked museum war ship in Williamstown before it was opened to the general public.   All in a weekend.   Woah.

I have oh so many photographs and now have to work out how to scrap them, but I'm so pleased with some of the night photography class photos I took.   Everyone had these big bazooka tripods and I had my flimsy one, so I struggled a bit on the bridge over the yarra, being that my tripod wasn't quite tall enough to miss the hand rail, but I'm still pleased with those shots, and I loved the ones I took down on southbank.

Firstly, here's a photograph of meeting Jenelle in the gardens in Carlton.   Never having met 'in real life' so to speak before, it was like we'd been meeting every week for years, we didn't stop talking.   Jenelle's boys are too cute too, and a big thank you to Nick for the fabbo photo of the three of us, using my big girl camera.

And here are my three favourite photographs from the night class. Believe me, I took a LOT of duds too! But now I'm so jazzed, although I'd be lucky to find a car driving up our main street of a night here. I do want to learn more, there's something a bit magical about all the lights.

And this is my very very favourite photo I took that night:   I think if I never take another photograph in my life, I'll be happy that I've taken this one.

More photos during the week of my fabulous weekend!

Now on the scrapping front, if you are wanting a great bargain, Designer Digitals is having their Paper Pack and Template Sale.   Over 3,200 Paper Packs and Templates in the store are now marked down 30% all week except for new releases which are marked down 20%.   The sale ends on Saturday morning the 21st of April.   Go forth and grab some bargains.  You won't be disappointed. 

Four day weekend has come and gone

Well the weekend is over, chocolate has been had, family time spent, how quickly it all went by.

Easter Sunday morning had the alarm going off at 5.30am !  Eeeek.   For once it was easy for Miss 19 year old as she now has a job that entails her getting up at that hour, so she bounded out of bed like it was the easiest thing in the world.  Thankfully it was not a cold morning, so we didn't have to go down the coats, scarves and beanies route.   It was quite mild.

So off to the Easter Sunday dawn service we went.  Mike was playing the pipes and we were joined by around 40 other people.  It was nice.  It's a nice way for the community to come together, although the crowd surely is dropping in numbers.   Afterwards we were treated to coffee and hot cross buns for breakfast and little chocolate easter eggs down by the lake.  A lot of chatting to people, and then home.

Not long after that Mike dropped off on the couch, Miss B was watching telly, and to be honest, I crawled back into bed around 9.30, I felt like half the day had gone by!  I'm definitely not one for early mornings!

And I'm pleased to say, regarding that horrible car accident we came upon on Saturday, there were only minor injuries.  How, I have no idea.   Here's a link to the article in the local newspaper showing the car we saw, not much left of the cabin.  I'm still thankful that we were delayed, even by five minutes, from passing that spot, after reading about the accident, we were travelling in the same direction as the car that the young lass went head on into.

On the scrapping front, my year of scrapping just for the heck of it, I finally downloaded the photos I took with my phone camera when I recently had to stay over in Melbourne for work.  You may recall I mentioned that when I checked in, they told me they had upgraded me.  Woah, if that wasn't enough, it was a five room suite, all to myself.  Such luxury.  Definitely something that NEVER happens to me.  I remember dancing around from room to room on the phone to Mike telling him ... "Now I'm in the bathroom, now I'm in the study, now I'm in the loungeroom..." you get my drift.

Credits Designer Digitals


Love this pop of green as a background paper (Sharon Green perhaps?!?!?), it goes so nicely with the brown and black.   Self portrait in one of the bedroom mirrors!  te he  How sweet it is indeed.

Back to work tomorrow, only a 3 day week for me, I have Friday off.  Yes I know I know, ANOTHER day off?  But I'm doing something extra exciting.  Details to come.

My how times have changed

A lifetime ago PM (that's pre-marriage and when I moved to this end of the state) I played in brass bands.  I spent a lifetime playing in brass bands.   The last 7 or so years PM I played A Grade with the amazing Footscray-Yarraville and each year we would play at the Nationals, at a different city in Australia.   Boy, did I get to travel!

Here I am years down the track and half the time I even forget that Easter and Nationals time go together.  It really does seem like a lifetime ago.  With this year's competition in Melbourne, I have some friends playing with Townsville and they sent me a text message that if I'm not doing anything to hook up to the website BrassBanned and I could catch them on a live stream.   Which I did.  How fabulous.

Now I'm taking such a trip down memory lane watching the rest of the A Grade.  Those big major pieces of work.  Wow.  I'm really enjoying it.  I have had it streaming here, listening to the greats, it's been wonderful.   And it's making me wistful, remembering the nerves, the excitement, the feeling in midst of a piece and the music is swirling around you and you just know you're acing it.  Lots of memories.

The way things happen

Earlier on today Mike and I went into town to visit National Tiles which was supposed to be opened but it wasn't, but that's another story.  We spent five minutes or so speaking to another disgruntled customer out the front before just heading straight home.  Half way home we were getting flashed by cars coming the other way so we just figured that there was a speed camera up ahead.

Not so.

We came around the bend and there were a number of cars, one of which had not taken the bend and had rolled off the road and was upside down and nothing much left of the car.  It is sending shivers up my arms just writing this.  I burst into tears, thankfully I wasn't driving, I just got so upset wondering what had happened, who had been hurt.  And the accident was very fresh, the police and ambulance had not arrived, there were other people from cars who had pulled up tending to the injured.  I've thought about it all afternoon.

If we hadn't talked to the disgruntled customer, we would have come onto the scene five minutes earlier, maybe the car would have careered into us on the bend.  Who knows.  I just kept thinking how life spins on the roll of a ten cent piece, you just never know what tomorrow will bring, where the next five minutes will take you.

A lot of life pondering thoughts today.

Last band is on the feed, so once that is over a wait (usually a long one) but they've promised it will be a short one for the results.  Then bed.   Then the dawn service for Easter Sunday, early start.

Easter Long Weekend

I have been looking forward to this four day long weekend for ages.   Just wanting a break away from work, just to chill, and day one is over.   And chilling is what we're doing tonight!  Brrrrr.  After quite a warm day in which I had the AC on for a while, it's turned really chilly, windy and rainy late this afternoon and tonight I've even got woolly socks and a jumper on.

We have Miss B staying tomorrow night, how nice.  She wants to come to the dawn service on Easter sunday morning with us.  Terrific.  So I'm planning a lovely dinner tomorrow night, and I've made some more "bunny tails" today.  te he.  That's what I'm calling chocolate truffles.

I made some bags recently and they turned out so well, I made up a silly little poem to put on the front.  I don't use my scrapping in this way too often, I mainly just make pages and put them in books.  It was fun.

Credits Designer Digitals

How cute is that little bunny from Lynn's Sugar Rabbit kit !

I hope your Easter is filled with lots of love and happiness and safe times, and hot cross buns!  ;-)  Okay so I have a firm stance that I WILL NOT have a hot cross bun before Good Friday.  I totally blew it this year.  I broke into them a week ago.  Sooooo delicious1

Good bye DLS

Good bye DLS, I will miss you so.  Day Light Savings that is.  This means I'll soon be going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark.  I really hate that.  I feel like I'm a temporary resident in my town when not in day light saving.  No one sees me around except fleetingly on weekends.  It's like I don't exist during the week because I'm not out and about after dinner.

Big week last week and a HUGE weekend.

Saturday I travelled up to Melbourne to catch up with Esther and to meet Lynn Grieveson, one of the fabulous designers at Designer Digitals.  She was passing through Melbourne and we jumped at the chance when she asked if we could perhaps all meet.   The two hours, or actually one and a half for me being that my train got in half an hour after Esther's, went oh so fast.   We all didn't stop talking the entire time.   We had a cuppa and then stretched our legs for a walk down Southbank.  It was terrific.   Quite frankly I was just a wee bit star struck if truth be known.  I do consider Lynn to be one of the premier designers in the Digi Scrapping world.  And I know Esther feels the same, we were both just a tad nervous before hand.  But when we met it was like we'd known each other for years.

Too many dodgy people around for us to hand over our big girl cameras to, so we each took a photo.  I had one of Esther and Lynn.  Esther had one of me and Lynn.  Lynn has one of me and Esther!   We should just put our photoshop skills together and make it like we're all in the same shot!

Crazy huh?  Six hours of train travel just to spend an hour and a half for a cup of coffee and a chat.  And you know what ... worth every minute of it !!   Esther and I made the most of it and had some lunch and I do believe being that Esther's train was later than mine in leaving, that she went home with a lighter wallet but with heavy shopping bags ;-)

Today was another big day.  Mike was playing at a garden party at Dalvui Homestead.  MAGNIFICENT!  I had a lot of fun just wandering through the gardens taking photographs of the flowers.  There will definitely be a layout coming!  

So now, time for bed.   It's nearly 11pm which means it was nearly midnight only a day ago!   I'm half asleep on my chair here.