5:30am

5:30am. That's the time my day started yesterday morning; purely by accident, but it started out at the crack of dawn by hearing somebody screaming, two doors slamming and the sound of the siren of a fire engine and their horn.

The horn got me up. I thought the unit complex was on fire! So, I grabbed the keys, pulled on the dressing down and my mobile and got outside to find there was no big red engine at the gate. So, I raced around the place looking around for which unit might have been alight. None of them were - and strangely enough - nobody was out of bed or their houses to see what the noise was about.
Looking up, I saw smoke coming over the back fence (near Marlow Street) of the complex; and I swore. I wondered if one of the units over the other place had caught fire and the flames and embers were going to jump to our place. But the smoke wasn't dense and black enough, and the smell wasn't of plastic (of the insulation... yep, I've seen a place over there go up, not great as they have no fire walls between their units whereas we do). So, I raced along the units to 39 and climbed up onto the retaining wall which runs along the fence line and ran up to the back fence and peeked between the palings. I watched as one fire fighter was battling to put out a car fire which had started in the back of the car. It had started so suddenly - so quick - that the owner of the car had only enough time to grab their belongings in the front seat and run, leaving the headlights on. By the time I walked back home, still nobody had come out of their homes - not even the care taker of our unit complex - to see what was going on. And what would have happened if that fire had been a unit/townhouse fire and it had jumped complexes? Our care taker wouldn't have given a rat's arse... it would have been all on me because I'd be the first on the scene.

Anyway, I was up for the day and prepared myself to go to the Tolkien Reading Day at the Logan North Library. It was great. I had a wonderful time learning about how the greatest writer of all time - JRR Tolkien - created this whole universe (Gods, Goddesses and all) and how he worked the lives, death and immortality into all was fantastic. Tolkien also cleared up on major thing about Elves: they all have red hair... as which point a young girl next to me squeaked: 'I'm sitting next to a true Elf!' 

Afterwards, I got to talk to Peter Kenny - the man who gave the talk - and we chatted about books of Tolkien, both our collections and he found that I had books he didn't have and he has a huge collection of books I don't have... which is a great way to form a friendship with somebody. 

Today? Well, I took a walk around the unit complex really early - so early it was before anyone was up. It gave me a chance to photograph some of the pretty Autumn flowers and plants that are really going well around here. And for once, on a Sunday, it wasn't raining. 
After I returned home, I made my pancakes, read the paper, drank a really great coffee and looked out at the Moch Orange and made the decision to get in and give it a good hair cut... you know the type I mean - the hair cut you give a shrub before the seasons change. It doesn't look so overgrown now.

Now, I'm just blogging away here, and am hoping to get my nose into 'The Silmarillion' by JRR Tolkien. I can't wait as I have two copies of the book and one copy of 'The Silmarils' by Tolkien - which is a book with cliff notes about what 'The Silmarillion' is about... very interesting. Even more interesting is that it's a first edition! I wonder if Peter has a copy of it... if not, he'll be a little on the green side. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here... and .... what have you been up to this weekend? 

Busy Week

Today is the only day I've got to myself.

Yep, this week has been busy as hell; and next week isn't going to get any better as it's going to be shopping week. 

On Monday, I had craft day and I could sit and do my pin cushions again. After working on a larger needlepoint for so long it was a relief to get my mind onto smaller things than a larger item. I had put the larger needlepoint into the framers to get worked on. 

Tuesday had me picking up the needlepoint - and did it look lovely! I'm so pleased with how it worked out and hope it is accepted into the gallery. There are a few little things that I have noticed about it that aren't up to scratch, but that's all just in learning about how to get things framed... otherwise, it's well done. And the great thing is that I provided the frame and glass; all I had to do was pick the matte for it. 

On Wednesday, I was at the Logan North Library showing it off at the Embroidery Guild. The ladies were very impressed by it; and spotted the same things I did when they inspected it up close. But when they looked at it from a distance, those little things couldn't be seen. So, that's a good thing. I'll be taking it with me to my to the regular craft group on Monday so the other ladies can see it too. 

Tomorrow, I'm off to the doctors to get my right hand looked at, my medical certificate looked into for my driver's licence and then to the bank to see how much money I have left. Yeah, it's just little stuff, but the devil's in the details - and these details don't take long. 

I'm hoping to get my house cleaner than it has been over the last few weeks, so I started today with cleaning up the piano - dusting it from top to bottom - and putting back on the top only the things that make it look lovely and retro. Before I did that, I went outside and mowed the lawn, pulled the weeds and cleaned up the back yard. It all looks so very neat and tidy now... well, until the next time it needs a trim. The flowers on the Moch Orange are now starting to drop and I can then trim up the shrubs for Winter. That will be next week.

Anyway, I have some more tidying to get done around the place: laundry to put away, the bathroom to clean up, the living room and lounge to tidy and the lounge to find (again!)... and then I'll be cleaning out some bags of stuff I have had around the place to see if I can donate them or throw them out in the bin. I'm in my 4th year of declutter, and must say that as the years have passed, it does get easier. I'm onto the smaller stuff now and so I've become better at this. Mum is just beginning on the journey of decluttering and she's finding it harder as it's a big thing to do still; however, it took a good year and half to get through the big stuff before I got onto the smaller stuff (I call it stuff and not junk or crap as a lot of it is just stuff and only a small percentage of it is junk). I have found that it's best to look at something quickly and know if I'm going to keep it or not, put it into the 'Keep Pile' and move on. If I'm not going to keep it, it gets thrown out or donated... I'll look at my 'Keep Pile' more intently when I have time later on in the day; otherwise it will hold me back from doing what I'm supposed to do.

Well, that's my week. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Saving Mode.

I have a list of things I would like to buy this year - and this list of things co-inside with another list of things I want to throw out or give away; so it all pays off.

So, over the last week, I've been looking at my money, how much I can spend, how much food I have in my house and what I'm doing with the crap left over in the place before I start a really big throw-out... and the biggest throw-out is going to be in the office: one of the bookcases is going to be replaced with a bigger, better one.

I'm laybying at a furniture store and looking around at other things that will give my place a nice look to it... on the other hand, I'll be ditching a few things I really don't need around the place - namely some storage boxes and a bit of shelving that has done its time in my house and need updating.

I really don't want to be hanging onto something I don't like and I feel as though I am. So, yep, I'm updating a few things around the place one thing at a time.

Anyway, today was shopping day - a rainy, sultry one - and I got in and did it. While it wasn't raining here in Woodridge this morning, I got my petrol, and decided to go to the Rochedale Fruit Markets to get my lot of fruit'n'veggies. Well! Halfway there it poured rain! So, out came the umbrella and I got half soaked... yay... oh well. Can't win 'em all. I did walk one lady to her car who didn't have an umbrella, and she was parked next to me. She was grateful that somebody was there to help her.
On my way to Logan Central Plaza, I was in traffic when a car pulled up at the lights with the movie character of 'Chuckie's Bride' all over it... you know the one from 'Child's Play'? Yeah that one. A dark blue car with that on it? Yuk! What made it worse was that the dude who owned it had a bride and groom of Chuckie and his bride standing holding hands in the back window. 

Well, I did get my shopping done. There was a bit of time at the chemist, I paid off a layby at Woodys' and then I spent as little as possible at Coles - which ended up being a top-up shop anyway. But I did buy a mop to wash the floors of the bathroom and toilets for just $6.95 ... not a bad deal, eh? Well, it'll help with the floors there and I'll get it done instead of using the vacuum and needing to get on my hands and knees to scrub. 

Anyway, that was my day. I arrived home well before the rubbish truck and now the house is full of food again. It's nice when you've been shopping and you've got food in the house to eat for the next few weeks. I don't know why it's a comfort for me, but it is. I guess it's the way I was brought up - to appreciate that a house filled with food is a good thing to have and to make is last as long as possible. tonight's dinner might be lasagna, I'm not sure yet... but whatever it is, it has to be comfort food as it's still coolish outside. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

A Busy Day

Over the last few days, I've been at Mum and Dad's place helping my Mum with cleaning out their house. for the first day, I just waited to see how she'd do it; but realised that she was moving things from one place to another - without any real progress.

Yesterday, I went to Bunnings and grabbed 2 cardboard boxes and took them to her place to start her off on the Peter Walsh style of decluttering. She was impressed on how it all worked and took to it quickly; and amazed herself on how quickly she filled the Donation Box. 

Today, I was there to help her move a few things around the house while Dad was out. We had our laughs and enjoyed our time of working together. I got some needlepoint done and came home around 6pm.  It was a good lot of work done within a few hours.

Tomorrow, I have to do some work around my place and so I'm staying home to clean my house - yep, it's not a tidy place. I've been working on a piece of artwork so much the housework (except the laundry) has been mainly neglected. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember I'm always here.

Writer's Block

I've felt discouraged from writing lately. Sometimes what people say about what I write can make me feel horrible about how I speak about my life, what I do and how I run my life.

It makes me reevaluate my time and what I should and shouldn't do... and I get writer's block. 

This is never a good thing; and I try to ignore it.

I have never stopped people from writing what they feel is true to their hearts on my blog - unless it's not suitable and I remove it - but when I'm writing my blogs, I try to keep my subjects a cool as possible and on the subject they're about.

My Reading List is about books, authors, publishers and other book-related topics; and I try to make that blog feel as though you - the reader - and I are sitting down at a coffee shop to just chat happily with no stress. It's basically how I speak... mistakes and all.

This one? Well, this is basically an observation of my life and what goes on around me. I know that sounds dead boring, but really a person's personal perspective can be interesting to some and boring to others. Sometimes, it can be a little of both.

Like today - for example. My car was put in to get an oil leak fixed and it turned into something much bigger! The mechanic found so much more to be worried about and it cost me over $100 more to fix it. I talked to him about my front brakes and he ended up having to replace them... thankfully... because they weren't legal by the time they were going to fix them. 
But I had to go out and do a whole lot of the stuff while my Little Green Machine was in the shop. I ended up with Mum's car and took about 4 hours in my day working out where I had to go, getting some things at a charity store, going to the doctors to drop off a World's Greatest Shave poster and checking the mail as well as buying a cool little plunger for my bathroom (yeah, the old plumbing here has a lot to answer for... smelly!). 
When I got home, I found some numbnuts had been at my hose again! This is the second time in three months. This time, they took the screw-on tap fitting and I had to borrow one from my neighbours. So, instead of waiting for this to happen again, I've hidden my hose and taken the tap fitting from them... whoever they are. So the next time they want to take a chunk of my hose (in 3 months' time), they can't. They have to invade some other person's car port to do it.

Things have been going well otherwise...

My tattoo is healing wonderfully. I can almost wear a bra over it (yeah, it's still feeling a little like a sticker; and will for another week or two). My needlepoint is going well. I found a great frame for it for only $4.00 and I'll be getting a framing shop to help me get it all fixed up when I get it finished. And I'm learning to make corn bread... yummo! I love corn bread. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Getting Busy Again

I've decided this year to not do the markets. The reason for this is because I didn't make any money last year; and I want to figure out why. I also want to make new things to add to it when I pull the old gear from it. I'll be saving my money for this year until I have enough money to work with. 

So, this year, I'm going to work on my Bucket List and get in some reading, lose a bit of weight and get my butt back into working on myself. I'm not fat, I've just put on a bit of weight that's all; and I want to look after myself better. Yeah, life is getting better, but I do have a few little things I wish to get done around my place which seem to be held up by my landlord.

I need my kitchen tap fixed and a some power points needed around the place as well another phone line (the latter is a new thing I've only thought of today). I also want to buy another vacuum cleaner because my old one doesn't clean as well as it should and the retractable cord pulls itself in while the machine is going... yep, not safe. So, I've been hunting around for another vacuum - as my Dad's told me to, only to have him turn around and tell me that it's not going to happen.  I hope to get in and work on him to get a vacuum I want instead of one he thinks is good enough. 

Anyway, I've been working on getting back into the arts and am taking part in an art display at the gallery and I'm also hoping to get some work put in at the Logan Central Library - it's a book-based works I hope to sell some of - and then I'm going to my 25 year class reunion. Some of the people who couldn't make it 5 years ago are going to be there. It's going to be so good to catch up with them.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get in and talk to my folks about some things before next week. So, what have guys been up to? Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

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.