Hello Old friends, Hello....

Hi Bloggers.

Sorry about the Neil Diamond reference in the title, but it was appropriate. And what the hell, I'm old. It could've been worse... It could have been Lionel Ritchie.. "Hello....Is it me you're looking for?????"

But I digress...as always........

Life's a bit hectic as usual, but I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking. Well, flailing as usual.

Last week's "Holiday" was probably exactly what I had envisaged. The reno on the ellyflat was virtually a rebuild, inside and out. I came home on Monday evening. My gorgeous Uncle was planing away madly to make the door fit, and promised to lay 6 tiles at the doorway for me on Wednesday so that it would be good to walk on on Friday so we can paint. This man has worked like a trojan over the last couple of weeks. I ever thankful that he loves his sister with the depth that he does. It is for her peace of mind that he does these things. He was supposed to supervise and watch, but he finds this positively excruciating, so we don't ask him to "help" anymore....he just can't help himself; he's in there boots and all running the show from the front, and close enough is never good enough. We are glad of his intervention this time though; without him, GG would have been squeezing into "temporary" space for quite a while.

A virus managed to lay both the boys flat out, then hit me too; no time to lay down though. Beloved came home on Sunday night sneezing and spluttering; a magically catchy virus, that one. He didn't work today, and most likely won't work tomorrow either. Th doctor actually gave him the rest of the week off, but he won't take it. Dad was sneezing and croaky when we left... poor mum..... GG had a toothache that saw me take 3 hours off work this morning to try to sort out her ailing tooth. On my first day back to work after holidays. She has to see the orthodontist as the affected tooth has a band around it (for her braces) that needs removing so that the tooth can be extracted...Friday, maybe, or I'll have to take more time off and drive her to Toukely to the head office...then back to the extraction specialist.... My plans for another 4 day weekend to finish the ellyflat are looking a little shaky....

Vegeboy started year 7 today.... and he enjoyed it! He had to see the doc this afternoon...who told him he needs to eat more!!!!!! He's growing too fast for his body to cope with...he's lost 7 kilos (I think I found them) and has grown about 5cm taller over the last 6weeks....and he has size 10 feet...and more skin issues than the average 12 yr old should have to put up with.....

Oh, and Scorpa Boy is 16 today!!!! A quiet day at home for this little chicken..... before going back to school as a Senior Prefect tomorrow.... And it was only seems like last week that my mother-in-law was stressing about his imminent delivery in her family room..... I kept on assuring her that if it happened, it would happen on her bathroom tiles....... "Are you going yet??????" ...I've never seen a more relieved woaman than when we set off in the car to the Mater.... He was born about 35 minutes later...plenty of time.......

Biggest surprise; finding a broody hen and five fluffy chicks in what passes for our garden; she still has about 5 eggs in a nest, but we think she has her hands full keeping her babies safe from the dog and cats... We're not sure what we will do with her. We want her and her babies to have the best possible chance of survival. We have no idea where she came from. She has been occassionally scratching around since Christmas.

Well, I'm off to bed. I'm still feeling the effects of the flu, and we have a resident celebrating her 100th birthday tomorrow, so I need to catch some zzzzzzzzz

G'night, and thanks for missing me; I know I missed you all ;)

Holiday....Celebrate.....

It's Saturday again, Bloggers.

I've nothing of any real interest to report. GG's life has been full of "Who's in and who's not" in regard to uni; about 20 of her classmates have been offered places; not all will accept them. There are also quite a few others from other schools that she knows that will be attending Newcastle Uni as well, so she definitely won't be alone or lonely.

Holy cow, it's hot, and I just turn into a big soggy mass in this type of weather. I know I'm not alone.

It will be even more quiet than usual on my blog front for the next week or so, as we will be on "Holidays" to work on the ellyflat. Feb 13, GG's starting, date, is disquietingly close, and there's only one more week until the boys return to school! These holidays have just flown!!!


Anyway Bloggers, I'll sign off now, and I'll catch up with all your postings when I come home. As big Sam advices, we should throw a lamb cutlet on the BBQ this Australia Day! Whatever celebration takes your fancy, enjoy yourselves!

Gyprock-dusted hugs and painty kisses
The Blogmuggle ;) oxo


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Take a Bow.......

Hooray, She's in !!!!

GG has found out this evening that she has been offerred a position at the Uni of Newcastle, studying for an integrated double degree in a Bachelor of Teaching and a Bachelor of Arts, which was her first preference. She is absolutely buzzing with excitement. Her boyfriend, Tricky (previously known as BestiePat), has been offererred a place in the Bachelor of Psychology course. So far, only two other friends have been offerred places at Newcastle. Uni Orientation week commences on the 13th of Feb, so we better get our act together and get things ready for her to move down to mumndads!

Prepare for take-off, GG!!!!!

Thank you for all your positive energies and affirmations,

Love, Cyndy <3

Walking Back to me.........

Today I am thankful for;

• GG's safe return home (even if she does resemble a lobster, somewhat)
• The feeling that I get deep down inside me when she puts her head on my shoulder when we are looking at something together
• Having a job where I can bring a smile to the face of another
• The fact that I have a life that is full of emotion and colour, even though it can be painful at times; at least I can feel
• Free will and the ability to make choices

Be safe and happy!

Love, Bloggie ;))))))

Like a bridge over troubled water......

Good evening Bloggers.

Thank you to my friends who certainly eased my mind.

As usual, this evening things don't seem quite as ......grey, sad or whatever they have been over the last couple of days. Nothing much has changed really, except that my very clever Beloved has fixed the DVD/CD stereo and the vacuum cleaner head that was broken..I hadn't mentioned that had I? Now I've got no excuse for the collection of dust bunnies and others that enjoy the freedom of my home......

I also contacted GG's orthodontist with a view to a complete account and letter of continuation of treatment so that I can hopefully receive the $500 that I was told by a Medibank Private consultant that I was entitled to in 2007. I hadn't mentioned to you that a different consultant told me last week that I wasn't entitled to anymore..unless I could provide some documentation, .....Maybe.... that little disclosure saw me having a quiet little cry in the ladies room at Charley Square last week..... We have only been rebated just over $1200 out of GG's $6200 orthodontic treatment. Every consultant has given me different advice........just another nail in the tyre of life.....

Thank you for your positive comments and thoughts. I needed to change my template; I just didn't feel "pink".....Picadilly can have it for herself now; I think it suits her better.....

Jacqui suggested that I take a positive approach;

Today I am thankful for;

• The fact that GG's minor bingle left no-one injured
• BoyfriendPat's (hereafter he will be referred to as "Tricky" because this boy is deep on so many levels, but he is good to my girl) honesty when I was talking to him about the same incident today
• My boys really are quite pleasant
• Everyone enjoyed their dinner tonight
• The cats and the dog are getting along better

I'm sure there will be more good things in store tomorrow.

Love to you all; you DID do something to make you happy today, didn't you???

The Blogmuggle :)))))

Only shades of grey...

Hi Bloggers.

Things seem to have been a little off lately, and it seems to be continuing. I don't tend to blog when things are like this for me, but it seems to be all around at the moment. Those that I care about seeem to be immersed in this grey, sad fog, me included. For myself, I'll blame it on hormones, I know it will pass. But other things add the the bleakness at present. Our run of bad luck is continuing. The DVD/CD stereo player has died. A lovely guy I know lost two of his grandparents last week. He was already struggling with the whole life/death/futility/bad-things-happens-to-good-people stuff as is was. Another lovely friend is dealing with the endstages of her father's journey with mesothelioma. And GG will be leaving me soon.............

The clean-up at mumndads for GG's room was completed over a very huge day, and unearthed fact that the re-furbishment is a lot more work and expense than we had anticipated. My father 's attitude towards this hasn't made the job any easier. He was so pleased that we were cleaning out "mum's junk" as he called it, and started cleaning out another shed, also originally Mum's, that he has taken over, but didn't touch a single thing of his own. My mother coped surprisingly well through all this, only blacking out a couple of times. 12 yrs ago, Beloved and I built a large garage at mumndads complete with bathroom and kitchen, insulation and painted gyprock, that we lived in for 2 years. Mum was very unwell, so we had sold our home in Tamworth, losing quite a bit of money in the process, rented for a year, then sunk the remainder of our money into the garage to live in while we found our feet, and Mum's health returned. As soon as we moved out, Dad moved his gear in, as expected. I have never regretted this time. This weekend I asked him if we could move his equipment into mum's shed for him to use as a workshop to save the time and expense of fixing out yet another shed in their yard. His answer was, of course, no. That would be too hard for him to manage, and one of his cars wouldn't be able to reside in the shed (1974 volkswagon passats, both of them). I am angry with him over this decision. It didn't help that he snickered that he might move in after GG moves out though. Beloved and I don't have endless cash, and the time, expense and effort to fix up the shed seems overwhelming at the moment, especially when there is already a space for GG, if Dad would let her use it. We only wanted the kitchen area and about 6 square metres in the back corner out of his 9 x 6 metre shed. If I'm acting selfishly or in a petty, spoiled way, then I know where I get it from.

GG has gone on her first road trip with a friend last night, and didn't call me to let me know she had arrived...I had to call her at nearly midnight. Not good enough!! The friend she went with had only had her licence for a week...They were travelling 3-4 hours away to visit Kim's Granny at Manning Point..She also had, in her own words, "a very minor bingle" yesterday. She had gone to a party at Scone on Saturday night, and was on her was home when she pulled out of the horse stud where the party had been held, without fully stopping, checking the gear she was in, or judging the speed of the on-coming vehicle corrrectly. This has been a habit of hers that I have not been able to break. Maybe it will be now......Consequently, BANG! Her car has minor damage that we won't even bother to repair. She says that there is very little damage to the other drivers' car, and he has her details (insert our details in here), and he was very nice...but she didn't get any details from him! He's going to contact us. Maybe we will get lucky here...I will go and see BestiePat, who was with her at the time of the accident, and see if he can shed any light on the subject. GG won't be home until Tuesday night; all this info was relayed to me over the mobile phone last evening. Oh...and by the way....BestiePat is now Boyfriend Pat...Anyone surprised here???????

What else.????.....Beloved and I had a big dummy spit on Saturday morning...over changing the toilet roll..guess who's hormonal, and who isn't used to arguing...A very frosty afternoon ensued....We've never argued much, and consequently aren't used to it, so I guess we've never had to put much conflict resolution into practice. Beloved's idea of conflict resolution is to go away or to bed until I/we get over whatever is bothering either of us..This leaves me floundering and smouldering...He relies upon my easy nature and inability to stay mad for long. As I said to him yesterday, things aren't going to get easier in the mood swings department, so we'd better find ways to deal with it...or I might just have to move out for the next 15 yrs or so...The problem with that is, I might just get used to it........We've never even partaken of make-up sex........Have we been ripped off, or what?????

Just to top things off, one of my dearest friends is at odds with her family. It concerns the care of her aging parents. To cut a long story short, she and her family have been the major care providers for her father in law, who lives in a granny flat with them, but is sort of independent. She is angry that his other children have stated that they don't want him to come and live with them. Her parents now need family to help them maintain their lifestyle in their own home, and because she lives 4 hours away, and they all live closer, the care is their responsibilty not hers. She is totally against the idea that she should be involved, and stated that 'If ----sister-in-law (whom she hates & will go out of her way to insult) will look after my father-in-law, then I'll travel to look after my parents"........She cannot see that she is missing out on what is looking to be the twilight with her parents, and that nothing is more important than this time. Her father has very rapidly developed dementia, and is increasingly frail..she thinks that he needs to go to hospital..... this will probably do him more harm than good...her mother has resisted any professional intervention for the fear that he would be placed into a nursing home..she can't bear the thought of being parted from him..... My friend has many unresolved issues and is not very good at reasoning....and bears a grudge for a long time......as a family, they are not nice to each other....

So the last thing I did last night was to upset my friend by suggesting that her parents should be the most important thing at the moment...we have discussed before that she may need counselling where the family is concerned...she hung up on me...... Beloved said I was a bit hard on her. If anything, I was probably just realistic; this is a trait (or fault in some cases) of mine...he didn't hear the diatribe and vitriol on the other end of the phone......... I am a chicken..I sent her a text later on.....

I can't get our houseplans drawn up until we find out the extent of GG's little bingle and the re-furbishment of her room.....there's not enough money..... so here in the shed we stay.....

So here endeth the weekend.

And the blog.....Whew!!!

And that's probably why I don't blog when I'm blue. I'm not even sure if I feel any better. It doesn't matter. I'll get over it. I am the Blogmuggle. See you all later. Do something that makes you happy...please....

Yay!

G'day, Bloggers.....

I've got my computer back!!!!!

AlexComputerWhiz is exactly that!!

And in the next few weeks, he's going to do an up-grade on it too!

But I can't get near it for the kids so I can blog.....

Oh well.......................

If at first you don't suceed........

Try, try again!

Good Morning All Bloggers!!!! This is the new, improved last-night post.......actually, it's the same day, just 8hrs later......... I'm a bit more awake...really......

Here's GG in her "new" cocktail dress that she wore to Beth's 18th birthday on 29th....not bad for a re-modelled deb/wedding dress, hey!!! She was a lone white dove in a sea of of ravens........


First of all, thank you to the lovely Marys for sharing your time with us for breakky on Sunday morning. It was lovely to see you all. Isn't UpDuff looking Fab!!!! I have to say though, I must be a bit spoiled up here in Walnut Grove. Usually everyone at the table in a restaurant is served at once, and I have never, ever have I had to wait so long for a cup of coffee...and I think they must have been waiting for the fruit to grow and the yogurt to culture itself for my fruit salad......Most tables become quiet when the food arrives...not so at the Mary table.........

The bad luck continues for us! GG had two parties up here on NYE, so she had left her car parked at the railway station so she could catch the train home on Sunday evening. She arrived back to find that a rock had been thrown through the rear passenger's side window, and the car rifled through, looking for something of value. Apparently, the only thing of value was a canvas swag that I had given to Beloved a few birthdays ago. GG had left it in the car so that she had somewhere to sleep after seeing in the New Year. Now, I REALLY don't want to know where she slept....she probably didn't bother. We were lucky though; we were able to buy a second hand window from the wreckers, which Beloved was able to masterfully fit on Tuesday night. He then spent the next two nights fitting the car stereo that GG had bought for herself. It's a really natty little thing; the front unit can be removed and put into a little case, which she can then put into her handbag. Let's hope that the robbers don't get that desperate and close......

What else did I talk about?????? Oh..my birthday......
I worked as usual. Due to the time of year, my birthday is usually fairly low key. I usually buy a cake and put in in the staff room, but this year I didn't bother.
In the evening, Beloved took the celebrations in hand. He made the children get the washing of the line, ordered and collected takeaway for dinner, shopped for a mudcake and bought me a gift and card.....himself. This is important, as for the last few years, he has been sending GG to buy gifts for me. I think he must have overheard me whinging to my mother the other night. He even suggested that we have a holiday.....without the bikes next Christmas...or not. I'll believe that when I see it.......His gift was a lovely little pewter dragon trinket box. "Sly" has the most gorgeous ruby eyes...maybe he reminds Beloved of me!!!!!! I received assorted phonecalls and text messages from family and friends..lovely! I had really wanted to attend tonight's Newcastle Jets Soccer Game, but time and money are just not adequate.....We are down in Newie on Sunday/Monday to start the BIG CLEAN on GG's shed at mumndad's..........help...........

NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, we had a builder come and look at our little reno/addition...and he's actually keen. He contacted the draughtsman on Wednesday, who came out the same afternoon, and informed me that he will draw up the plans asap as soon as he receives $500 deposit. Then he told us about the engineers fees, the BASIX expert that we need (I don't think we need this one; I have been extremely diligent with my adherance to BASIX principles as I think they are a great idea)..and the balance of his fee; $500. He doesn't like some of my ideas...he'll have to work hard to change my mind..it's our home, not his. And I'm unfailingly practical (Capricorn), so everything in our plans are there for a reason...........Consequently, I have spent the last two days re-working and shrinking our plans in an attempt make them more affordable without compromising too much, or losing the vision that we have for our home.
I am very good at compromise.........

I saw something interesting the other day...........ScorpaBoy came home from work at the hardware shop looking like the Incredible Hulk after a whole can of green paint tint emptied itself..........Maybe he resembled Kermit the Frog more?...... "It's Not easy Being Green....."

Oh, and I finished reading "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". Now I want Ms Rowling to hurry up and write the final book! It was odd this year, not having a "Lord of the Rings", or "Harry Potter" movie to catch between Christmas and New Year........

What else did I talk about????? Can't have been much.....Never mind; I'll have to get on with my day. Gaynor, my across the road neighbour and I, are going out for lunch today, and I've got another load of washing to hang out, a bathroom to clean etc........and I've got to finish the plans so I can photocopy them and share them with the draughtsman..and my $500..before I go to lunch.......Can' I just stay here????????...Nah.....I'm looking forward to lunch..........


OK then.....Everybody, this is an order; Have a Good Day!!!!!!!!

Lot's of love,

The Blogmuggle xoxoxoxo ;)

Oh Crap........

I just spent ages on a lovely informative post for you all to ooh and ahh over, viewed it...and then pressed the wrong button....Its 1.10am..I'm doughy.....poof!!!! It's gone...plurghhh...I'll try again in the morning...bugger....it was interesting too........

Oh and by the way.....it was my birthday yesterday..but I'll tell you about that later........


I'm still alive...Love the Blogmuggle xoxoxoxoxo