It’s been a while…

Looked at the date of the last time I posted on here and nearly fell off my chair….
It’s been a while – a long while…
Not just weeks…or months but, umm, *whispers*, years!!!
*gulps*
Not sure how I will sum things up briefly except to say that things have been rather eventful and my relationship with the internet has undergone significant changes and become a lot more limited than it had been before.

I do appear on Twitter intermittently…
At one stage I frequented Facebook (then I came to my senses)…
For a long while study was all-consuming – but taking a break from that for the time-being.

I lost my dad – Christmas Eve 2011…his sense of timing was always “great”…

I had what could only be described as a complete meltdown earlier this year….as a result of being in one of the most horrendous situations I’ve ever had to endure…

And now I find myself in a completely new location and actually enjoying life for the first time in a long time.

I have come to the conclusion that sometimes you have to hit absolute rock bottom in order to start fighting back and to have the life that is deserved.

It’s not a New Year’s Resolution but I am determined to resume blogging – starting from now (I have a counsellor who thinks it will be good for me and I do believe I am actually in the right brain space to be able to do it!)

Happy Easter everybody!!

I went to sleep on 2nd January…have awoken and figured I have slept through at least two months.
After all, when one goes into Woolworths and sees Hot Cross Buns on the shelves it must be Easter…

I must admit I grabbed the handful of things I needed and beat a hasty exit for the door with blinkers on…there was no way I was going to go looking to find eggs of the chocolate variety as well…

Well I didn’t get any kitchen appliances

Woohoo – thank goodness for that!!
But – there is always a but and this is a BIG but – I have discovered there are far worse things to be given than kitchen appliances.
*drum roll*
Mr CC obviously put a lot of thought into his gift buying this year and I was presented with the most fascinating looking parcel to unwrap this morning.
Paper removed…
Revealed…
*drum roll*
A steering wheel cover!!!
Woohoo *starts dancing around the room*
WTF??

Yes, I know I should be grateful for any gift.
Yes, I know I should appreciate the time and thought that has gone into purchasing a gift for me.
But a freakin’ steering wheel cover??
A bog standard steering wheel cover at that. Nothing flash. Perfectly serviceable. A nice, mundane, grey colour (interior of my car dark blue so at least it won’t clash too much).
Really not impressed with him at this point in time.

And it’s Christmas Eve

The tree is decorated.
The presents are bought.
The presents are wrapped.
There is a pavlova shell sitting in the kitchen waiting to be filled.
Santa’s “snack” has been put out – he must suffer and consume a mince pie and a glass of port at this house. I did suggest he might need the whole bottle but apparently that wasn’t a good idea…what would a 7 year old know about such things???
There is a carrot on the front steps for the reindeer to share. I had suggested it could be put on the front verandah but apparently that wasn’t a good idea either. You see, Mr CC spent yesterday afternoon giving the verandah a wash with the Karcher and if Miss 7 knows nothing about the consumption of port, she knows what will happen if anyone makes a mess of Mr CC’s nice clean verandah…we don’t want reindeer poo on it do we???
I got ever so excited this morning. Postman came and brought me a whole selection of mail. It took me only a few seconds to realise Telstra and ANZ do not send Christmas cards….
I do believe two girls are finally sleeping…
Almost time for Santa to drop in…
Must remember to feed the carrot to the reindeers…
Won’t forget to deal with the port…

May you all have a Christmas filled with love and laughter – and plenty of good food and other delights.
Stay safe if you’re travelling.

Gotta love the Aussie sense of humour

An absolutely brilliant version of Baywatch – Armatree style!

Crazy week

Gotta love the lead up to Christmas.
At the best of times it can be chaotic – this year it is totally off the scale of craziness.
Would be nice to be able to stop and catch breath for a little while (five minutes now will help!!)
We’ve done the Christmas thing with my sister and her family. They travelled up to my folks’ place on the weekend from Canberra so we spent a few hours doing the usual – eating too much, arguing, dealing with seven kids and three dogs, arguing etc etc etc. Short and sweet – all over until next year….*phew*

Christmas shopping – it hasn’t really happened yet. I tried. I spent half an hour queuing for petrol on the way into town and knew then that things weren’t going to get much better. Another half hour queuing in another store did me in. Called it quits then and there. Am going to have to get organised between now and friday I guess – or we’ll be having Christmas in January.

Oh I finally got my results.
A full set of distinctions.
Still in shock (and awe at myself) at receiving a distinction for the law.
Have been offered a place at uni to do accounting – the results mean I get six months worth of credits for a degree.
Go me!!

Five minutes is up….*sigh*
(though taking a few seconds to share a video – in another post)

Around the garden this morning…

We have what was, this time last year, merely a stick stuck in the ground (thought it was dead).
It started raining last Christmas and it grew some leaves.
The leaves identical to jacaranda ones – ahh, another jacaranda tree. Great – we already have one out next to the driveway.
It’s grown well over the year – all of about 3 foot high, plenty of leaves, surviving beautifully – no longer resembling the mere stick that it was.
This morning I went out there and did a double take.
It was flowering.
Ok…hadn’t noticed flowers on it yesterday and I was right next to it putting washing on line. So they have appeared overnight. (They probably hadn’t, they could have been there for days, but I am usually observant about such things.)
Then…they aren’t jacaranda flowers.
Huh?
The leaves were right.
The flowers most definitely wrong.
OK…google is my friend.
Search: “tree with pink flowers”
Hit images.
Look…ahh – there it is!
Albizia Julibrissin….hmmm ok (never heard of it)
Translated: Persian Silk Tree
Ahhh (still never heard of it) but yes, very beautiful and fully grown will be a wonderful shade tree that will look stunning.
Definitely not a native – it’s native to parts of asia.
Mr CC vaguely remembers buying the young sapling as a jacaranda….he had no idea what it was either once he saw the flowers (his memory tends to be a bit hazy at the best of times though)…whoever sold it definitely got the name wrong.
Loving the flowers….

Oh and we had a snake alert – girls on warning to keep a sharp eye out given the extras heading for drier parts at the moment. Apparently there was one under the orange tree in the mulch.
They totally missed the fact it had legs.

Good to know they are keeping eyes open though.

Awesome news

Have found out this afternoon that my favourite coffee “shop” – The Fast Lane – has survived the floods totally unscathed despite being located in one of the worst hit areas.
Oh how brilliant to have your business in what is, essentially, a building site work cabin – the whole thing was picked up, put on the back of a truck and moved to higher ground.
Dying to get to town for a coffee!!!

Temporary respite

We got out yesterday – WOOOOOHOOOOO!!
At least out enough to go to nearest Woolies and stock up on stuff.
Sometimes timing is really bad – other times it is brilliant. The centre of town is currently under water and supermarkets etc closed. The only Woolies open on the other side of town to where we live and the bottleneck in the traffic for anyone to get through horrendous. Yesterday, the new shopping centre on this side of town opened it’s doors for the first time – a brand new Woolies. Much closer to us than the other two in town, and far more convenient for the whole town at this point in time.
The girls were able to go to school and came home all excited as today their classes have their Christmas Parties and they spent yesterday making decorations.

Alas, the rain began again yesterday afternoon.
The river, which was falling, has started rising again.
We were up this morning.
Ready for school.
Bus arrives.
Bus driver rings me (girls out at road waiting – me standing on front verandah watching from 100metres away):
He’d been advised not to pick up kids on our section as no guarantee they will get home – road going under again.
I now have had an hour of consoling two very upset little girls.
We’re going to spend the weekend making gingerbread and mini christmas cakes and other yummy stuff so they can take some nibbles to school on Monday to share with their classes (and I am crossing everything that they will actually be able to go to school on Monday). Am so so glad I stocked up on all the necessary ingredients a couple of weeks ago.

Oh well, off to the kitchen…time to keep smiles happening…

A few more pics…

There is a common theme these days…

The irrigation pivot down the road – needless to say they won’t be needing to use it for a long time to come…

Yeah, the road still gone – water over the fences.

A visitor last night – appeared in my log on the front verandah.