I Got Inked

As my title says, I've been inked... yep, I got my first big tattoo done. My brother's so proud of me. He thought the little tattoo on my wrist was cool, but then he got a photo of my one on my shoulder and thought they were wicked.

I got Angel Wings tattooed to the back of my left shoulder. Now, I've wanted them for a long time - over 6 months - and have saved up money from my shopping since I got home from Brunswick Heads. 

So, now, I'm here at home a week later waiting for it to heal properly. This means I can't go out in the sun, I'm sleeping only on my right side (which isn't easy) and am wearing my strapless bra - which has an underwire and is very uncomfortable. But I'm surviving it. So long I keep applying the Bepanthan/nappy rash cream to it three times a day, I'll be sweet. I've already washed the sheets twice and changed the pillow cases three times because that stuff gets everywhere!

I am enjoying the quieter life of staying indoors - and thank god I am as it's been such a hot week! I'm hoping to be able to get myself dressing better in the coming weeks; once it's healed better. 

The good thing is that the redness is gone, it's not as itchy as it was on Sunday and it's starting to scab up (which is a good thing). It's been so damned hot over the last week, I can't wait for it to heal up and get better so I can dress normally again. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember I'm always here.

Oh! And here's photo of it the day after it was done: 

Angel Wings - the day after

Making Yoghurt is Easi...Yo!

Last week was busy and fun.

It was a shopping week and so I had that $50 gift voucher for Woolworths to spend - yay! I had a lot of fun looking around Woolworths to see what I wanted to buy that was normally a luxury in my life... and I bought an Easi-yo Yoghurt Maker.

Now, this isn't a plug-in unit or anything, and it's made in New Zealand. It also has a range of sachets you can choose from to make your yoghurt with water! Yes, water! And the sugar content is so much lower than the yoghurt you buy in the stores (so there's a plus right there for me). And don't get me started on the flavours! I picked out 2 mango flavours, but should have picked out more - as they were 2 for $7.00. Why didn't I pick out more flavours? Really, why didn't I? 

Well, I did the rest of my shopping, got it home and made my first lot of yoghurt - as per the instructions. I left the little time capsule-like thing alone for 9 hours and looked at it... and it looked set. So, I put it in the fridge. However, it didn't set properly. There wasn't anything wrong with it, as it tasted like yoghurt. But I found in the instructions that if the water isn't cold enough, it won't set to a good consistency. So, I threw out the watery stuff (which looked like I hadn't put it into the maker at all!) and tried the second satchel of powder with colder water. And this time, I left it for 14 hours - as I started it at 5pm at night.

I have to say that the next morning, when I pulled the little 1kg tub out of its red maker, wiped it clean and opened it, I was pleased! I put it straight in the fridge for a few hours for it to chill and found four hours later that yes! My yoghurt was exactly how I liked it - set solid and yummy, tangy mango yoghurt! That was easi..... yo! I do recommend trying one of these particular makers out. Easi-yo have a huge range of yoghurt satchels in the shops, but a bigger range online. And seeing I bought mine at Woolworths for half price ($11.99 when it normally was $22.99 for the big one and the small one $19.99) I thought it would do me well as I do eat a lot of yoghurt. Just follow the instructions and you can't go wrong! And remember, if you're in a hot climate, make up the mixture with chilled water. I used half water from the fridge, put the satchel in, shook it up, then filled the rest of it up with tap water.
Then, I filled the Easi-yo maker with boiling water from the kettle to the 1kg mark (the higher point in the red section, not the lower point) to make it work, and left it for 14 hours. Normally it's 12 hours, but if you're not going to be awake for the time it's finished, it's okay to leave it for those extra 2 hours. Putting it into the fridge stops it from making more culture.

So, there you are, making home made yoghurt. I never thought I'd do it... Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Busy Sunday

This morning, I woke to a nice coolish day; which is a change to how the days have been lately. After going out for the paper and eating my pancakes, it was time to get in and do some gardening before it started to rain again.

The lawn got a good mowing and I pulled out the weeds that had wrapped themselves around some of the pot plants in my shade area. Then, I did my edges and threw all the bits and weeds in the bin. After putting everything away, I locked up yard again and washed my hands. The garden looks less like a jungle and more lovely - and the birds can get to the lawn grubs better now.

Once inside, I ate the rest of the fruit from breakfast and drank my coffee, packed up all the dishes on the sink and pulled everything out from under the sink and onto the counter again. I thought to put the really big Lazy-Susan under there so the washing up detergents can fit better. I also found that I have more than I need in the way of cleaning up things... so I won't be buying so much at my next shop. This is good!

I took the smaller, home-made lazy-susans upstairs and put them under that sink. They house the some of the cleaning detergents there on the bottom shelf and the containers of refiller soaps on the top shelf and some shampoo that my visitors would use. This has cleaned up some of the shelf space in my vanity. It looks so much better now.

I still have so much more to do in the way of cleaning out bags of paper work; but that can wait for another day. This has been something I've wanted to work on for some time - and now it's all done, I can move onto bigger things to tidy up. In my last post, I have shown you a link to a youtube video on how to make lazy-susans yourself... they're not expensive and fun to do. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Wet Days and Lazy Susans

Last night, I didn't get much sleep. I had some horrible nightmares about demons exploding from my friends' faces and woke in a sweat at 4am; unable to get to sleep all that easily again. 

I put it down to the amount of caffeine I drank and chocolate I ate the night before at Dad's birthday dinner at Runcorn... silly me.

However, today, I got in and started looking at how much room I had under my kitchen sink; and what I could do about it. You see, I have had a wooden box under there housing all my sink stuff since around 2005; and it's high time for a change. 
So, I pulled it out, cleaned up the shelf with the cleaner housed under there and some paper towel and made myself some Lazy Susans from cheap baking tins and marbles. I found the youtube video where there's two ways of making a Lazy Susan - a shallow tray and a deep tray. I have made a couple of deep tray ones so things don't fall over.

I also have found an original one from the 1970's at a charity store for $5.00. Today, in between showers of rain, I sanded it down, painted it with stain and brought it inside just in time for it to pour rain again! I'm waiting for it to dry completely before I use it in my house somewhere... I'm not sure where yet, but it will be good to use it; as it's a large one. 

Well, I do have a box I have to do something with and other things to clean out around the house over the coming year. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Some Like It Hot

It's been a long hot Summer. But over the last few days, Brisbane and Australia has seen one of the worst heatwaves it's ever been through since around 2000. Today, we hit 38 Degrees Celsius (that's 100.4F for you guys in the States and Europe and the UK). We have been sweltering through the nights and really hanging out anywhere there is air conditioning.

For me, it's my home office where there is a window air-con which has been going since around 10am this morning on the refrigeration mode. And do you really blame me? I've quit eating anything because I sweat like you wouldn't believe when I do eat anything; and I've been having 3 showers a day instead of 3 meals a day - just to keep cool.

So, I hope you're all keeping an eye on your loved ones and pets (yep, pets are your family members who can't tell you how hot they are). 

Make sure any elderly friends or neighbours are okay.

Drink plenty of water. And if you're sick of water, drinking Cranberry Juice diluted half with mineral water is a wonderful thing to do; as it's great for your liver and kidneys. And it'll keep you hydrated better than any of those fizzy drinks you're currently drinking (aka: Fanta, Lemonade, Coke, Pepsi). And Pepsi-Max and Diet Coke are included in the bad things to drink in this weather.

Stay cool. Even if you hang out in your shower or bath tub filled with water. I have a public pool (but have never swum in it as it's just not clean! I have seen people bathe in it; so I'm not swimming in that!). So, I'm having cool showers and keeping wet handkerchiefs nearby to put around my neck, wipe my arms and face with and just to keep myself cool with.

Eat when you feel like it, not because you have to. You may not feel very hungry in this heat - and that's understandable. I have eaten breakfast and now I'm not going to eat anything until I'm ready to. The heat makes me feel disgusting and if I was to eat at this time of day (at the hottest time of the day), I'd be sick as hell. Only eat what you feel like and when you feel like.

Rain dancing... okay, this sounds like a weird thing to do. But I've been waiting for the rain to happen. When it does, I go out into it (no matter what time it is of the day or night) and run around in it. For one thing, it's wonderful to have nice cool water from Mother Nature on your face. And if you do it at night, it's nice to go back to bed without having turned on the shower. But wait about 2 minutes before you do this so the first lot of pollution hanging around the air is flushed out... if the rain goes away within that time, well, hit the shower and cool off that way. Yep, I've gotten up and had a 2am shower just to get some decent sleep. 

But then, some people love the heat. If you're one of those people, well, okay, that's great. I hate it. You can't eat anything without sweating your guts out. Feel sick all the time. You can only drink so much water before feeling sick. And you can only take off so much clothing before you offend somebody... anybody. Well, keep cool everyone. If you're in an area of the world where you're under 4 - 6 feet of snow, please send some this way... we really need it. Until my next post, take care, stay cool and safe and remember, I'm always here.

Believe and Trust No-One

I'm so stoked to say that I watched 'The X-Files' movie last night; and it still creeped the crap out of me after all these years. When I first watched it, over 10 years ago, I didn't fully appreciate it. But now, I totally enjoyed everything about it.

And tonight, they're airing 'The X-Files' the mini-series, which is going to kick off the return of the television series again. 

I can't wait! 

And yes, I used to watch the original show way back when it was a dorky little show on channel 10 in the 1990's. We didn't think anything of watching it on a Saturday night and enjoying it for what it was: a great story of sci-fi proportions. I even went so far as to own the soundtrack, a coffee mug with 'The X-Files' on it and yes, I have one of the original t-shirts still in my wardrobe too (and the big 'X' on the front actually glows in the dark. This is something I didn't know until recently when my brother told me he could see me walking up to his house in his backyard and he had turned out the back light - he thought it was creepy as hell and turned the light back on!). So, what things from this show have you guys have (if any)and do you still enjoy the music and talking about it all? Have you read the books written from the shows?

However, Mum and Dad have been taping it and catching up on the old episodes lately and they watched a couple of them one day with me and found that they were really gross and in-you-face. Mum didn't realise how in-depth they were when it came to the details in these shows and can totally understand where I get my fascination for enjoying 'Supernatural' and its horror/fantasy.

Anyway, I'm going to finish watching a sit-com I have on dvd and then ready myself for the wonderful mini-series tonight. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Future Pressures of Being Perfect

I just watched a 2-minute video on Facebook about being a woman in today's world. It was made with women from my parents' generation telling the camera that if they could have their time again, they'd slow down more, take their time to be themselves, hold their babies close and dance longer on the dancefloors before coming home - all while they had the time.

In today's world of everything being perfect, everything happening right now, everything having to be done before a certain deadline of yesterday, women forget that they have to take care of themselves first. 

We forget that there is time to sit down and read those books we've always wanted to. There is time to get in and learn how to sew that lovely dress or make those curtains just the way your Mum or Grandmother used to. There is time where you can tend to the garden you've always wanted... you have to make the time in your life to do those things.

I realise there's other things to get done. There's work during the week, family to care for, bills to pay, kids to take to their sports and activities. However, there has to be time for you and you alone; and if you leave this 'me' time until your children leave home and head off into their own lives, you'll find that you've given away your 'me' time, that you haven't looked after yourself in any way; that the things you've always wanted to do have been pushed to one side and been neglected for so long, you won't know how to get back into them because you may have simply lost interest in them.

Years ago, I found I was the most unhappy person; and because I lived alone, I knew I couldn't blame anyone else but myself for my unhappiness. So, I went in search of my lost happiness. I tried out so many things - and it took me years to find the right things that triggered my happiness - and found that there was my inner child and teenager telling me that I had left them behind. 
At some point, I had become a serious high school dropout who went off to college, found myself a job and was suddenly earning a wage aged 18. I needed to nurture my inner self and allow my inner child/teenager to have the fun I used to have. I started collecting records/vinyls. I started gardening, reading and writing exactly what I wanted to. I stopped trying to please so many people, and my life became better.

This is what so many people have found is lacking. The video on Facebook is what all young people aren't doing. Its message is telling us of the younger generation to slow down and enjoy the world we have, the life we have exactly the way we have it. It's not because once we get old we can't do anything, it's because years fly by and we'll look up from our phones and realise the world has changed too much around us; and we'll wonder why the hell we didn't experience it when we had the chance instead of stressing over the technologies that have us brainwashed into thinking we're supposed to be the perfect humans.

We're not perfect.

We're not supposed to be perfect.

What we are supposed to do is just live life and enjoy ourselves.

Is that so hard to do?

Busy Few Days

I've had the busiest few days, so much so, I haven't had much time to myself lately. Amongst the decluttering of the townhouse - which is going really well - I've been working with my next door neighbours concerning the welfare of both our places due to termites.

Yep, those nasty little critters munched on their place years ago and the people who got the place treated back then didn't repair the house. Instead, they just left it to fall apart, thinking it'd be okay. But it's not.

So, we're talking and working out what to do; seeing my place to be treated as well.

Anyway, yesterday was shopping day and I went out early to the Rochedale Fruit Markets only to have to turn around and come back because I forgot my keycards and money. I hate that. But then, everyone does that every once in a while.
I bought Dad's Birthday gift, paid off part of my vinyl of David Bowie's 'Blackstar' at the music store and then did my grocery shopping. It's been going well.

Then, today, I went out and did some small stuff which turned into big stuff. All I wanted to do was drop off my 3rd Donation Box of goodies to Vinnies, go to Spotlight to buy some more tapestry and check the mail on the way home.
I ended up at Mum and Dad's place, at the mechanic's, at the post office, at the tattooist's... anywhere but finding my way home. Sure, I passed it a number of times, but I didn't get anywhere close to pulling into the driveway for around 5 hours; on a day when I was supposed to be out for only an hour. 

Oh well, I guess the best laid plans do go astray. And this weekend is going to be spent doing something I don't want to do instead of hanging out at home... well, until my next post take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Hot Summer Days

It's only days away from when the kids all go back to school - another year older, another year on in their schooling. Some of them are going onto college and university and some are going into high school, while the younger tots are heading into their first year of primary school.

This year, I've seen a lot for the first month. There's been so much sadness this month; and we all feel as though we've lived a year before the first month has gone by.

David Bowie - our most brightly-coloured of the colour spectrum of singer/songwriters, actors and artists - has left us to make the night sky look so very different in every way. He's even got a star constellation named after him and there's a David Bowie Day now (20th, January - mark that down in your diaries for next year).
Then, Alan Rickman died the next day. What a great loss to the movie world this man was. He wasn't my favourite movie star, nor one of the most attractive ones, but he was a classic star all of his own - a very traditional actor of our time.
And to make things worse, Glenn Frey of the Eagles died. Damn! How much worse could this month get? A mere week after David Bowie, this wonderful guitarist left us without his brilliant riffs to air guitar to; and we all went out to buy Eagles music again and play it all up loud. 

I've been cleaning out the house faster than I thought I could. I'm onto my 3rd Donation Box and it's filling up quickly. I've thrown out a pair of jeans which have a tear in the bum (and I haven't worn them in a year) and so I'm going to look for jeans that fit me this year and give away the size 14 jeans that don't fit me, as they're too big. Why I bought them, I'm not sure, but I will get in and make sure I have clothes I love and will wear all the time. 

This 31-day Challenge has been great. I've done well this year; and have only a few things to clean out before I delve into a couple of drawers around the house and some bags of paperwork, then I'll have a house which is much easier to work with. I don't want to be living in a house filled with so much stuff I don't know what to do with it. And yet, I don't want to be a person who's moving and finding that I have a whole lot of crap I should have gotten rid of moving with me. 

Anyway, this year has been a lot easier to do the first clean-out than in previous years where I struggled with it. This year, I know what I need to throw out, what I need to keep and how to let it go. It's not what my family will think of it all, it's what I think of it all; and that's what counts in the end. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Early Start

It's a Sunday. Normally, I lay about in bed until around 9am and make myself pancakes with my coffee. However, this morning, I was up at 6am and to the paper shop to buy the paper. Since David Bowie passed away, the newspapers have had tributes about him in every paper around. And the Sunday Mail was no different. Richard Wilkins had written a large piece about him and his thoughts about the rock icon; as this man was one of those who met a lot of rock/pop stars.

But I didn't stay up. I went back to bed. I just didn't have the energy to keep going... sleeping in was on my agenda today and so I did just that until around 8am and then, I got myself going. 

Today, I've done well, really well! I got in and did two loads of laundry (and with this warm day and strong wind, it's already dry!). Before I put any laundry out, I mowed the lawn, pulled weeds and threw out my Buddha statue because it was falling apart on me. Pity... it was a nice statue. But then, when I bought it, it was deleted stock - and little wonder why. This is probably why it was. 
Anyway, the laundry was hung out and I went inside to clean up the lounge. As I did, I listened to the tribute to David Bowie - it was a repeat of yesterday's. I had missed half of it, so I sat down with the paper and read what Richard Wilkins had to say about David Bowie and enjoy the music on Triple M. Then, I suddenly got the urge to write a poem! It's been years since I pulled out my poetry books, and I had to go looking for them. To the music on Triple M, I wrote a poem about David Bowie's music, his life and how we're all going to miss him using some of his song lyrics.

I finished reading the paper (and it's still on the lounge) and then made myself a drink and put out the rubbish, added to the 'Donation Box' for tomorrow and then jump online. For the rest of the day, I'm going to do ... not much... because tomorrow is going to be a full day of being out for a couple of hours in the morning before I return home and fill the donation box again. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.