It's Christmas!

I'm not going to blame my lack of posts on this. Nope, I'm just damned lazy.

Yeah, that's it. Also I haven't been feeling great lately, either. I've lost a few more friends in the past few months; and just withdrawn a little more - not a good thing to do. But in doing that, I've concentrated on my art, my knitting and my garden.

So, when the time came to head down the coast, I was more than happy to get down there and chill out painting, walking in the early morning sunlight and get some serious photographs. 

It's always good to get your head straight when things aren't going well, isn't it? And the best place for me to do that is away from the city, by the ocean. It's just how I've worked. I got in and read half a good book, started reading another one, and did some painting, finished up knitting something and went out with my Mum to a few places around Brunswick Heads. 
Yep, it was a perfect time away for me. We ate mud crab, had good laughs, watched reruns of 'The X-Files' and Dad thought my night-talking was hilarious (I mumble in my sleep). 

Well, it's coming to the end of the year, and when I came home from the coast, I walked through the door of my house and thought: 'What a completely messy place I live in!' I hadn't unpacked when I started decluttering around my place! I had to, I just can't live like this. There were bags of things I sorted out, a grabbed a box and filled it up and stuck it next to the door and found I was unpacking from the coast and packing other things for the closest charity store at the same time.

I'm really looking at what I want in my house - and it's only days away from Christmas. The good thing is that I've got food in my fridge, the backyard is flourishing, the lawn is finally growing (from seed) and my good friends who looked after my yard for me did a great job. I gave them a lovely box of chocolate for being there when I needed them. And yesterday, I gave away 2 handbags, a set of drawers which sit on the counter, upcycled another set of counter-top drawers and filled a box with old paintings, clothes and other things I no longer need. I'm going to be doing this again this coming week, in readiness for the charity stores opening again. 

And next year? Well, in the first two weeks of January, my house will be cleaned out so fast and well by that time, the place will be unrecognisable. I'm not going to let it get filled up like it has been again. I'm not sure what's happened lately, but I just can't live with the crap around me like I have done in the past two years. 

So, what about you? Are you suddenly cleaning up and throwing things out? Are you doing a big clean out and giving things away? Or is it just me? Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember I'm always here. Merry Christmas and I'll see you in the coming New Year. 

Last Day of the Month

I haven't been in here very much. But there's been so much going on lately in my life that I havent had time.

This month, I did the National Novel Writing Month; and smashed it by a day... with 8 words to spare. Last year I had 16 words spare. I really know how to cut it fine, don't I?

Anyway, last night, I was watching 'The X-Files' on Viceland, when an 8-legged young Huntsman took a stroll across my living room floor. He was very young because he stopped under my kitchen table and waited there for me to get my shoes on and grab the bug spray... normally something like that knows to hide. But I came back, and he was still there looking at me as though we were going to be friends. Yeah, me? Friends with a spider - I think not! I don't know who was more freaked out, me or him... but he's dead now.

Today, I got in and started cleaning up the house. First place was my art area next to the back door. I pulled out everything and reorganised everything, throwing out 3 big bags of crap, tossing out a box of sprung pegs I was hanging onto 'just in case' I needed them. And I also threw out picture frames I didn't want anymore as well... you see charity stores aren't going to use them, so I'm saving them the trouble of throwing them out. 

Well, the table easels were sorted, the calendars were too, and the blank canvases got a home too... I'm proud to say that the boxes by the door were gone through and I now have 2 plastic boxes and that's it. This took 3 hours to do and I stopped for a drink or two of water and an ice coffee... now I just want to go to sleep after something to eat. 

Anyway, in between all of this, I went out and bought my Christmas present to myself: a pair of Instep shoes. I've been meaning to get a second pair. They're just so darned comfy.  After I got home, I was back into the cleaning out... and I got it all finished. 

Before this was done, I did 3 loads of laundry, washed up some of the dishes and put out 2 other bags of rubbish. And after the clean-out, the bin outside is now full to the brim. What a great day I've had. 

Tomorrow, I'll be doing other things around the home office to clean up, and working on a Christmas present; so it won't be so hectic. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

October

It's the beginning half of my birthday month; and so far it's been so busy, I've barely had time to sit still.

I've spent last weekend at my brother's house for my birthday - where we all swapped gifts. And thank goodness we did that! Because this weekend, I've begun losing my voice. On Thursday last week, I was forever clearing my throat, and just couldn't loosen up the frog from my throat in the morning, and by last night, I simply couldn't raise my voice higher than a whisper. 
This morning, I was coughing and sounded horrible. So, off to the doctors I'm going to see what I've caught. I'm feeling fine, it's just my throat which isn't.

Anyway, this week, I had so much planned to do - like heading back to the gym on a more regular basis - but that will have to be put on hold until this throat clears up. Then, my art group will have to be missed until I'm better (yeah, I'm not going anywhere near there until I'm less contagious). 

I've been decluttering my place in big ways again too. I cleared out a big space in under the stairs and it was great to get rid of things I seriously didn't need anymore and get them off to the charity stores. 

But today, I reorganised my back garden too. My Tahitian Lime Tree needs a new - bigger - pot and so does my Ficus, and I'll be buying a the new pot for the Tahitian Lime first. It's trying to put out fruit, so I'll get some citrus mix for it and then a large pot for it too, and repot it by November. Then I'll do the Ficus before Christmas.

This first half of my birthday month has been great - except for my forced silence of my voice - otherwise, I'm going well. So, how are you all? Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here. 

A Busy Time!

I've been meaning to come here and talk, but every time I do, I feel as though I have to wait and see how something in life works out first.

Now, it's Monday morning. Spring is definitely here in Australia and the birds have eaten every berry off the Moch Orange shrubs in my garden... such cuties they are! And I've finally got time to sit and talk here.

My life has been weird lately.

I'm knitting a lot of beanies - more than I did with the commission for the Logan Art Gallery - because I'm doing a demonstration in a few months there; and need to have enough to show while I'm there in November. But I'm also knitting a lot because it's something to do with my hands at night and I really do enjoy it.

I'm painting still too. But I'm not doing it for profit, I'm painting because I love to paint and make lovely pictures. It doesn't matter what I paint, so long I enjoy my work.

And then there's the garden. I've been working in it a lot lately. There's been herbs to replace, the lawn to work on over the next few weeks (because it's just dirt now) and plants to replace because they've died and need to be replaced with lovely new greenness. 
Otherwise I do enjoy being in my garden; as it's my escape from the outside world.

Speaking of escaping from the world... I'm finally getting into my home office declutter. Yay! Yes, it's been a long time coming and I'm working hard on getting rid of the crap from this particular room. So far, I've won a small shredder and gotten in and shredded 2 rubbish bags of paper from the top drawer of the filing cabinet and they've been tossed in the bin outside! Woah! That's a lot of stuff to get done. And my tall bookcase and Grandpa's Desk have swapped places in the office in the first part of the office make-over. 
I'll be getting rid of the saggy bookcase and the desk I'm currently working on - and replacing the bookcase with a good, sturdy IKEA one to put next to the tall one. The tiny one by the window will go where the old saggy one went and then the old desk will be tossed, and I'll get a plain, ordinary student desk with drawers - nothing exciting. This corner desk is falling apart and wobbles all the time. So, it's getting tossed. The filing cabinet is going to be my Dad's, and everything the office will be moved around... I'll have more floor space and it'll be better in every way because I'll be able to open the other curtain in the daytime. 

So, part one has been done, and I'm looking forward to part two and three happening soon. I'm just working on saving up money to buy the desk and other bookcase. I'll need another shelf for the small bookcase... but that's nothing really. Well, it's a lot of news in a post, right? But, that's what happens when you forget to write. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here. 

Busy This Month

It's only a week or two into the new year and I'm busy as hell. I've been cleaning out the house on a really major scale - I've thrown out over 5 rubbish bags of just, well, rubbish. And I've gotten together on bag of items to take to the charity store. 

That's so far. 

I've posted off two parcels overseas in the past week or two and have written two letters for overseas as well. One of them is to my late dear friend, Hannah's Mum, Sue. She wants to stay in touch with me via snail mail; and I do as well. She still sees me as her 'overseas daughter' and I still see her as my 'overseas Mum'. 

But the garden is going well, even though we're not getting the amount of rain as we're supposed to be getting. And seeing Brisbane is a little dry right now, I've been doing laundry every moment I get a chance to and putting it out in the extremely hot days; which is good!

My little greenhouse is going so well, and I'm growing herbs and have to get rid of my tomato vine - as once it fruited in December, well, that was it! it flowers, but doesn't fruit anymore. I hate that. But I might try Roma Tomatoes next ... seeing how many I eat of those every year.
The rest of the garden is still a work in progress. I'm forever moving things, repotting things, throwing out plants I no longer need or buying new little ornaments. It's a ever-changing canvas of growth and I love it. It's most definitely not the same garden as it was this time last year.

I've been looking at selling my car and getting another car - one I can use as a camper. You see, I'm really getting into my landscapes and want to be able to get away and paint what I see. My brother and his girlfriend thinks what I want to do is a great idea! But my folks don't. They think I don't know what is involved in setting up a camper... but how do they know if they've never let me do something on my own? I want to do this and nothing will pull me away from what I want to do. I'm in no rush to get my car sold and to get another one; yep I know this will take time to find what I'm looking for. 

I've been working hard on my art series too. And I had a great win lately. I put out into the universe that I needed some big canvases - but I couldn't afford any new ones. So, I've begun saving up for them. The other day, I was contacted by one of my arty friends who offered up some canvases at their place - they were downsizing as they were moving house. When I got there yesterday, I found 2 big canvases! Woah! How cool was that? I told her about what I was visualising for my art and she said that positive thinking really does work! Well, I've now got enough new canvases to complete my series of work. This is one less stress on me now to do with this series. 

Well, that's me up to date. How has your new year started out? Busy like mine? Or humdrum with school holiday fun and pulling it all together for your kids to get back to school? Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.