A Day In my Life- Monday

I enjoy reading these kind of posts so  I was inspired by Libby from Life is a Journey not a Destination to do one myself.  So here is my day.

Woke up at 5.50, Tony always makes a me a cup of tea, got up and did a quick tidy around the house and threw on some washing.  Woke the girls up at 7am, usually they are up at 6 and leave for the bus at 7 but Tess has been missing the early connection bus to Tafe so I have been driving them most mornings.  Made breakfast, Hash browns for Tess and a peach smoothie for me.  I prefer to use fresh fruit and didn't have any silken tofu which really makes it creamy and smooth but it was still nice.

Dishes done and we were out the door by 8am.  I don't get to drive much any more Tess has driven over 30 hours already (that’s with 3 driving lessons).

a self portrait by Lucy lol.  I dropped Lucy into town to meet up with her friends and then they walk to school.  I was able to talk Tess into going and getting me a coffee from Michelle’s while I minded Milly.

Dropped Tess off at Tafe.  Not the best photo I was taking a lot of these photo’s with Lucy’s camera as it is small.

On the way home I stopped at the post office, Mapleton doesn't have mail delivery lol. I'm glad I did because it was a good mail day.  My Jenni Bowlin monthly kit arrived oh my goodness such beautiful goodies.  If you

want to check out these kits you can here.  Enough procrastination I had a heap of bookwork to do.  It’s hot today so only last about an hour and decide to go for swim.  I let Milly into the pool yard as she doesn't like swimming and will run around the pool poor Fred cant come in because once he gets in the pool you cant get him out.  Every now and then Milly slips in and today was one of them.  She’s not happy

After a swim I'm feeling peckish so had marinated tofu and a boiled egg.  Despite it’s appearance it was very nice.

Got a fair bit done but the heat got to me so back to the pool .  Time for lunch and doing some menu planning for the week.

Pick Lucy up at 3pm then headed out to the fruit shop a 15 minute drive toward the coast.

There was no way I was taking a photo out of the car (that’s why I borrowed Lucy’s camera) there was a lady parked right in front of me that kept looking at me funny if she seen me taking photo’s I think she would have called the police lol. 

I had Lucy all lined up to take a photo of the fruit shop as I pulled up in front a rather large man stripped of his T shirt right in our way so this is the best she could do was the little sign on the front gate lol

We rushed back to Nambour to meet Tess at 4, she had a driving lesson and was being dropped off at the supermarket.  Lucy took this photo of Tess

Shopping done and this is what greeted us as we walked outside. It was only 5.15pm.

It poured down but Tess still wanted to drive I must admit I was nervous but she has to learn to drive in all conditions.  That’s it for photo’s got home, cooked dinner and had an early night (I don't watch tv but did watch Underbelly)  That was my day

Bye for now

Jackie

Life Rolls Along

I started this blog post a while ago.

It amazes me how quickly the weeks fly by It’s a bit scary really.  I haven't done anything interesting lately I had promised myself the last two weekends that I would get some craft time in but that didn't happen.  I'm definitely going to try in the next week or so.

All week we watched in horror as the massive cyclone Yasi made it’s way to North Queensland, one of our friends evacuated and another was going to wait it out, he owns a sugar cane farm I'm not sure how that held up. More flooding in Victoria and horrible bushfires in WA, what is going to happen next.

I dragged Tess down to the local park for some photos we compromised  she could drive if she let me take photos.  I like this tree it has interesting bark, I wish I could find the photos of the girls when they were young in front of this tree I wanted a then and now.

She has been driving a lot and is doing really well she has already done over 10 hours and that’s just short trips, she went to Texas this weekend I told her to do a fair bit of the driving to get her hours up.  She will have to tow the trailer (I'm not sure if she is even allowed to do that).

Then later   it was Lucy’s turn

I like this one, Tess was in the background being a pain in the rear and Lucy was giving her one of her drop dead looks.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before I'm doing Ali Edwards One little Word at Big Picture.  My word for the year is HEALTHY so what have I done to work toward being more Healthy.  I started Body Trim, it’s not a diet it just changes the way you eat.  We have always eaten well but I've been overweight for years, lack of exercise doesn't help nor did the way I ate carbs, lived on them.  Ate like a top athlete but didn't exercise like one lol.  Body Trim is high protein, low carbs so we didn't have to make huge adjustments just eat more protein and eat more often.  I'm never hungry and the foods is delicious .  I find Body Trim easy the only thing I struggle with is breakfast, I have never been a breakfast eater so I've been having this smoothie, I try not to have it every morning but it’s to die for.

It has a lot of things I don't like soy yoghurt, protein powder but mixed with silken tofu, strawberries, and lecithin it is seriously one of the nicest smoothies I have ever tasted and the great thing is you don't feel hungry for hours.

I also want to give up smoking so have started taking Champix I have been taking it for two weeks and today is my last day of smoking.  I'm not keen on the tablets as the make me fall asleep and it’s like I have morning sickness, something I rarely had when pregnant but I will keep taking them and see what happens.  Had a scare the other morning I had a tablet half an hour before I left to take Tess to Tafe she drove there and I was falling asleep in the passengers seat I dropped her and Lucy off and was driving home it’s a 15- 20 min drive I could hardly keep my eyes open and I said to myself pull over, then talked myself out of that. I was going through this rather winding cutting, next minute my eyes flew open and I'm heading towards the bush, squashed the guidepost with a really loud bang lucky I went that way and not the other way as there were three cars heading towards me.  I tell you THAT woke me up, so what did I learn when a medication leaflet says do not drive as it may cause drowsiness, take note because it may just be so.  Very little medication makes me tired I guess that’s why I didn't take much note.  It’s funny because Champix can cause sleeplessness, not on me it doesn't lol.

Anyway to finish off I thought I would share I project I finished a few weeks ago.  I have been meaning to make a bus destination board since last year.  Found the frame at the Op shop for $10, when ever I went to print the destinations I never had enough ink lol but it’s finally done.  I wish I had mixed up the fonts a bit more but I guess if it really annoys me I can print it again.  I saw a large canvas of these at a shop in Bangalow for $800.00.  You have got to be kidding me even the smaller ones are hundreds of dollars, just ridiculous.  I did consider stencilling onto a large canvas but I knew that it would never happen so it was quicker to print them.  I do live on the Sunshine Coast so I could have put the beaches but as I live in the hinterland I thought our bus service would be more appropriate as my girls use this bus all the time.  Not a good photo as the light was not good.

Bye for now

Jackie

Thank Goodness it’s Friday

Even though I don't go out to work (I do our businesses books at home ) I'm really glad it’s the weekend.  It’s been a busy week and I'm looking forward to relaxing and doing some crafty things this weekend, although it will probably just be catching up with some scrapbooking projects, that I have quickly got behind in doing.

  I had great plans for today, get up early, give the house a really good clean, do the washing and ironing, then start on my stuff tonight.  Well it’s nearly 5.30 and I've done some washing, that’s it lol.  The day started well up early but I made the mistake of lying down to watch the morning news, well two hours later I woke up.  Then I spent the next couple of hours on the phone to Telstra as I had no internet since last night.  I was going to leave it until this afternoon to do as I knew it would be time consuming, wished I had.  Anyway Tess drove us to Montville as she had to go to work, I'm not liking giving up the drivers seat much, not that it’s a reflection on her driving, not at all, she drives really well considering she has hardly driven a car at all but I like to be in control of the car lol.  Got home another couple of phone calls, finally connected then disconnected again another call and finally connected for good so it seems.  I'm ready to start the house work then I get a phone call from the school, Lucy’s not feeling well could I come and get her.  Oh give me a break she’s only been back at school three days.  I immediately thought okay what subject does she have on this afternoon, sport (she hates it) or she has had a fight with one of her friends but it wasn't any of those and she swears she felt sick.  I might add she seems alright now.  Finally get home (after an hour) and twenty minutes later Tess phones, she has finished work and wants me to pick her up so she can drive home. I really didn't want to as she can get a lift home but being the nice mother that I am went and picked her up.  So it’s getting later and later, get home then Mitch (Tess’ boyfriend) and Tony turn up, they are all going away this weekend so it was a bit chaotic while they were throwing things into the car at this stage I'm about to give up so I'm going to write a blog post, get Lucy’s dinner which is already cooked, feed the dogs, then clean the house. As I write this the dog has decided he’s hungry and is just sitting next to me, willing me to get up and feed him, well he can wait.

Monday was the last day of the school holidays for Lucy.  Now we get fine weather it rained for most of the holidays, lucky she spent two weeks in Wagga and it was fine there the whole time.  We decided to do something with Tess (friend) her two sons and niece so we went to Buderim Falls.  It’s amazing to see this and it’s right in the middle of suburbia.  We entered through the easier way to walk to the falls but didn't get too far as one of the walkways had been washed away in the recent floods so we had to drive up to the other entrance and walk down a really steep and muddy walkway, thank god I wore my Mongrel Boots (these are the most comfortable shoes I own, they are work boots I got when I worked in the bakery but yes I wear them as much as I can) This was the beautiful view we were  greeted with.

I was standing at the waterhole looking up and the bridge that crosses the creek.

Actually took my camera out of auto and played with the shutter speed settings, have no idea what I'm doing but was rather pleased with it.  I'm having some lessons soon and I know I will look at this in a few months and say what was I thinking lol but I guess you have to start somewhere.

 

Almost underneath the falls it was so lovely and cool

We had our picnic lunch on the rock that the sun is shining on.

Another view from a different vantage point.

Because of all the recent rain there were little waterfalls everywhere.

We had a great day I took few photo’s of the kids and 400 photos of the waterfall lol. It’s well worth the effort, such a gorgeous place.

Tuesday saw Lucy back at school much to her disgust.  I cant believe she is in year 10 now and because of that had to buy all new school shirts this year.

I must have been asleep when I took this because I have only just noticed the little bugger changed out of her brand new skirt and into this old creased one, Why? because I haven't hemmed up  her other skirt and if she thinks it’s going to be taken up as short as this one she is mistaken, that skirt was from year 8 and she has grown a touch since then.

Come on Lucy you could look like you were a little bit excited to be going back lol

Wednesday was Australia Day and we didn't actually do anything as the girls both had to work, they work at the same place but had to start at different times so we were running back and forth.  At least I got to listen to the cricket.

Thursday was a most exciting day for Tess, her first driving lesson.  She was horrified that I was going to take photos so they were rushed and not that good and I also had the wrong lens on.  It was a momentous occasion so naturally I was going to take photos.  We had to meet her instructor Robbie, at Main Roads in Nambour.  Tess is having lessons with Phase Driving School.

Why is she hiding behind her purse.

That’s as good as it got.  That’s it for now, Dogs are fed as I got sick of them looking at me.  Have a great weekend

Bye for now

Jackie

Summer may be here.

It seems summer may be with us again, the last few days we have actually had no rain.  It’s only 33 days until autumn and for those of us that live in Qld know that the horrible summer humidity and heat can last well into autumn.  This year has been odd it has been raining for months, we had record winter rains, it rarely rains in winter and that's when we usually have to buy water for our tank.  We had record spring rains and it has just gone on from there.   As much as I dislike summer even I felt the need for some sun, however once that humidity hits I will be wishing for the cooler weather again.  We were fortunate and although we had amazing rainfalls over 300mms in 24hours we didn't get the damaging floods that everywhere else got but we did have the usual trouble spots.  Nambour has parts that go under every time we get heavy rain the main creek that runs through town runs at the bottom of the primary and High school, more than once we have had the call from school that they are evacuating as their ovals turn into rivers.  Fortunately it’s school holidays.  Our two supermarkets are right next to the creek and the water flowed into the car parks forcing them to be closed for a week.  Parking’s bad enough, it was chaos.  I went to the supermarket today and noticed the shortage of vegetables, no lettuce and what lettuce they had which was really tiny and was $4 for one.  They had very little choice in fresh herbs, I was really wishing now that I had my veggie and herb gardens up and running I need my veggies.  Anyway there are a few shots of the flooding in Nambour  on my other blog (see link in the sidebar) that was the Monday afternoon following the downpour of 300mms on the Sunday so it had gone down some buy the time we got to Quota Park.  When I got home I drove a few kms out to Mapleton Falls I have never seen it flowing like that in the fourteen years since we have lived here, there were three waterfalls.

A very cloudy view from the lookout across the Obi Obi Valley

Two of three waterfalls

The dogs were sick of being indoors and we were sick of having them indoors so as soon as it stopped raining we took them to Mudjimba beach.  Rain clouds were threatening but as night fell it had cleared up and has stayed that way for the past few days.

Milly taking Lucy for a run

 

Reflections

Night time approaching.  Notice the two guys taking photos.  It was good light but disappeared way too fast.  This is looking from Mudjimba toward Maroochydore

 

My favourite photo of the day, no way perfect and definitely blurry but I'm learning how to use my camera and the sad thing was it was still in auto.