Hair, hair, hair, long as God can grow it, my hair....

Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair.

Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen,

Give me down-to-there hair, shoulder length or longer,

Here baby, there momma, everywhere daddy daddy.

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair!

Flow it! Show it! Long as God can grow it, my hair.............

Well, that's what I think Jack will be singing on the evening of March 16. You see, 16 year old Jack has decided to shave his head for the "WORLD'S GREATEST SHAVE" fundraising campaign this year. For any one that knows Jack, they will realise that this is quite a momentous decision for him to do this. He has been wearing his decidedly unkempt 'do' for sometime now, and has many a 'discussion' with his school principal in regards to his "suitability as a representative of his school". You see, Jack has been a student representative on the school council since year 7, and last year was elected as Year 11 Prefect, much to the disappointment of the school principal, who had actually tried to discourage Jack from running, going so far as to tell Jack that he would advise others not to support Jack as "he does not fit the mould of a leader"....

Bah Humbug I say to you Mr Principal!! This child has a good heart and you had better cough up some money as a result of you finally being granted your wish! Of course, maybe Jack will look even more like a rebel with a bald head. What do you think?? Maybe he will look even less like a leader then....... OR NOT!!!

I can't quite imagine what my lovely boy will look like with no hair, and I'm not clever enough to photoshop him to see.......

If anybody would like to donate some money to support Jack in his fundraising efforts, please let me know; any contribution would be gratefully received and forwarded to the Leukeamia Foundation. This is an unashamed request for sponsorship.......... Any amount will be receipted. And it's tax deductible.

You can let me know via this blog, or email me;

cka51325@bigpond.net.au

Thank you.

I'll post the "after" shots for your viewing

Cheers, Cyndy ;0)

Isn't She Lovely....

Isn't She Wonderful!!!!

This treasure was in amongst an email that was filled with pictures of fruit, vegetables and natural objects that resemble genitalia.........

I deleted everything else ... I kept this one......

<3>

Starry,Starry Night, Paint Your palette Blue and Grey.....

G'Day Bloggers.

Mother Nature has a way of making you stop in your tracks sometimes. She can make you awestruck. Humbled. Reminded of the tiny space within the universe that we take up.

On Friday, I had to rise a little earlier than normal to attend a course at the John Hunter Hospital on Dementia Care Nursing. 4.30am actually. I didn't realise just how dark it is at that time of day. I might wake up for a wee walk, but my eyes are usually only half-open, and I don't have to go outside (well, not anymore, anyway now that we have a bedroom in the house). So, I walked into the bathroom, turned on the hot water heater (because that's what we have to do for hot water for a shower here in Blogmuggle Nirvana), turned off the light and stepped oputside into the completely dark and quiet yard. Two steps later, I stopped dead in my tracks. I had looked up. The sky was full; literally bursting with beautiful, twinkling stars. The Milky Way at its absolutely breathtaking best. I just stood there and absorbed it for a while, wishing that I had time and a blanket, so that I could just lay on the ground watching the sky like I used to when I was a kid.

But I didn't have time. Blah. Plurgh...... A cup of tea and vegemite toast, a nice hot shower and it was time to leave. But it was a good morning, and my show didn't stop there. My drive takes me through some lovely rural areas, and as I rounded the top of a hill, there was the sunrise, in all it's breathtaking glory! Could I do it justice with a description? I don't think so. The colours were so divine; red to pink to orange to an incredible grey mauve, to blue. No I haven't done it justice. But wished that I had had a camera with me; I would have stopped and tried to capture this. As usual, i didn't, so onward I went and picked up my workmate and together we had a great day. We go back for day 2 next Friday. I'm looking forward to it.

I've made sure that I've stopped and had a look out at the sky each night, but I haven't managed to get the blanket out yet, with binoculars, but I might try it tonight. It was equally beautiful this morning; it's still delightfully dark at 5am. I've got to get ready for work; the water should be nice and hot for a shower (last night I was too slow, which resulted in a cool shower for me), and I need to get a shuffle on as I need to get to work by 6.30, and it's already 6am. Have good day, and remember to try to just stop for a while, and just be......

Love, The Blogmuggle xoxox

The times, they are a changing

Well, she's gone.

GG moved down to her Nan's on Sunday. Moving really sucks, doesn't it. She has taken the entire contents of her room with her, minus the stuff she wants sent to the opshop and stuff put in the bin. Lots of this. Guess who's job this will be??? She only left an empty wardrobe behind, and some PJ's, socks and undies. She even took the blu-tack off the wall. We've moved into her room, so for once, it's neat and tidy. It's lovely having a room again. We've been living in curtained off space in the living area since August 2005. Beloved is blissfully reclaiming one third of his shed as ...... shed space... Some amazed ooohhhhss and aaahhhhss here, please..... It's lovely to have the extra room, but if GG had to leave for that to happen, then the cost is too high. Although it didn't stop me remarking to Beloved that if they all left home, then we'd have oodles of space........ The ellyflat looks really good, and she's very excited about her new life.... Yep, the times they are a changing. My Mum is happy, too. And Dad. They both have had a dreadful time with the flu that we left them with. Mum was hospitalised last Monday night, and again on Thurdsay. They've got someone to fuss over again, and it just happens to be the favourite one at that. It must be something about being the first grandchild. Dad even drove her to uni today; insisted on it , in fact. I don't think he ever drove me anywhere... I had to catch a couple of buses when I worked at the uni... I had to leave at 6.45am to be at the uni for a 9am start......

I've spent the 1st full day I've had at home in weeks in the thrall of an extensive spring clean (I know I'm late, but then again, I always am. Or perhaps I'm early...). The overflow from GG's room had a domino effect on the rest of the house. I have washed and washed today; no real rain up here in walnut grove. Everyone has a crispy-fresh bed. I love clean sheets...... really. I think I've mentioned this before. Of course, I will have to spend more time at home now, so my house will be cleaner...... Because GG has a car and I don't..........Arggggghhh!!!!! .... I think I'll die!!!!!!! .... I can feel the cabin fever coming on..... Oh, hang on...I've got to go to work in the morning....... it's a nice walk.....

I had a major win yesterday. Last year, I bought Scorpaboy a timber double bed head, foot and rails from our local church's bargain bazaar for $15.. WOW! I thought. We have a few double bed mattresses at home, so no problem. Except that, when we assembled the bed a little while later, it's a queen-size........ SO anyway, on the message centre on the work intranet, I found a queen size mattress for sale for $80. Before we left GG at Nananpop's, I phoned about it, and it was still available, and at Marylands on the way home ( sorry Jen, we didn't have time to call in). The seller was selling up her entire household as she was travelling overseas for two months, and had to let her house go. I couldn't imagine selling up all my belongings and starting again after only two months. I've got some of the same stuff as I had when I was 16........ Anyway, the mattress is almost brand new, and Scorpaboy has the best bed in the house....... for $80... I don't have any linen that fits it though...... I think I'll have to manifest some......

As a result of the February spring clean, today I washed 62 socks...that is;

• 19 pairs of white
• 1 pair of yellow
• 14 odd white
• 8 coloured odds

Weird, hey? It isn't that I hadn't washed through the previous week. In fact, the clothes baskets were empty in the middle of the week. And that 62 didn't include football socks or work socks...... I think they finally wanted to be found, especially the ones from GG's den.........

Why is it, do you think that we are so afraid of change? Fear of the unknown, ease with familiarity, or simply liking the state of things, maybe. But we resist change even when change would improve our situation. But as humans, we are unfailingly adaptable. If we weren't, then we'd still be shacked up in caves. I think we're still being hit on the heads, but it's more metaphorical than physical these days, and mostly, we do it to ourselves. I thank those with the courage to initiate change and think outside the square, even though they often put their lives on the line on the way. As they said on "Sunrise" last week;

"Change is inevitable; you should always expect it, except from a vending machine"

Well this is a bit of a disjointed post, isn't it? Garbled thoughts, not much of a pattern or process, here. I have been enjoying reading lots of other bloggs; I'm not reading any books at the moment, unless you count the book detailing Hazel Hawke's journey with Alzheimers Disease that I started reading in August........ or the book by Slim Degrey that lives in the toilet filled with short, light-hearted stories from his time in Changi Prison. What a group of wags he talks about, and the antics that they got up to in Changi were so uniquely Aussie...

Enough for tonight. I will blog again later. No, really, I will..... My girl is gone.......... You'll all have to listen to me whine.... she may even turn up at Rose Cottage...

Love to you all,

The Blogmuggle :0)))))))

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


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Thank You GG & Beloved.......And everyone else....

Hello Everyone; It's lovely to be back!!!!!!

As lovely Laihnabeth reported, this week sees the Blogmuggle very challenged in various areas on the homefront. First of all, Christmas Eve saw the family wagon developing some internal flow issues. This hasn't been solved, but the car is going, and we will change the fuel filter, and see what happens. We couldn't make it to Newie for Boxing Day, so my brother and his family came up here to us......How lovely are they!!!!!

Next, the box that is the heart and soul of the computer decided that it no longer wished to share it's contents with us; not booting up at all, and the CD-drive won't open at all now, when previously we could coax it open. GG tried to install bigpond on her laptop yesterday, but had no luck. Beloved, who must have been feeling very internet deprived, actually had a go, then spent half an hour on the phone with the helpline...so that's how I'm here! What a clever Beloved!!!!!!! We will have to try Alex-Computer-Whiz to see if he can get the big one going again, and if he can't, then it's off the the fixit shop.........

Then our favourite telly decided that we could only watch it if we could imagine what was happening on the screen by watching the single flashing line in the centre of the black screen whilst the sound was completely normal...........I think it decided to go on holiday as a direct result of 2 new TV's finding their way to our house this Christmas. Lucky for us that we have a spare to watch...and it's even larger than 34cm.......My eyes are not so good these days..........I want to get my knee fixed before I get some glasses......and some dental work done........YE GODS!!!!............ I'M FALLING APART!!!!!!!

Anyway, other than this, we're all good. Christmas was good; we caught up with people we hadn't seen for while and the kids loved their presents. So I've put Bah Humbug back into the cupboard for another year. It actually saddens me to see how empty the house looks without all the Christmas decorations everywhere. We will test out the car on Saturday with a drive to Newcastle to visit the family, but we have to be home in time for the kids to party on Sunday night. GG has about 4 parties to attend, and has nominated herself as Designated Driver for the night. Which is good; very responsible of her.......and bad.......all those idiots on the road, out and about......It's a really hard thing, waving your baby off in a car...on her own...or with her friends......

Oh, and I'm not working again until Jan 2........happiness is........

But I'd best go. I had better not abuse GG's good graces..I want to keep on using her laptop......And I have to keep on re-making a dress for her to wear to her friend Bethany's 18th birthday party tomorrow night. It's a cocktail party, and we found a cute frock at the bargain bazaar for $1.50. So I'm re-working it to suit her..I spent $13.40 on ribbons today....go figure....it's still a cheap dress. She wants to get dressed up, and is adamant that she won't be one of the many vomitus party-goers as a direct result of the cocktails.....It won't look right if she did, she reckons.....

Thank you all for your wonderful wishes and good thoughts. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to reciprocate. I certainly missed my blogging. But for now I'm back.....as long as I'm nice to my daughter.........

Love to you all!!!!

Cyndy xoxoxox

Hello Y'All; Welcome to the Yule........

Good Evening!!

Tonight.................

Ray Martin hosted Christmas carols on the tv.

I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped.

There are lots of presents around and under my little tree.

There is a fridge full of festive fare.

I saw the excitement on GG's face when BestiePat brought around her gift.

And the look of frustration when he told her she couldn't open it until Christmas.

I revelled in the excitement of Vegeboy due to the act that it's Christmas ...TOMORROW

The Santa sacks are on the lounge and chairs.

I ate Christmas pud, icecream and custard.

I listened to Beloved snore quietly in the only available lounge chair whilst I plodded on with the usual Christmas stuff.

Christmas must be here.

It's quiet here and not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse.

Except for Clover, who is snoring contentedly on her rug on the floor.

1.38am.

I'm not going to Newcastle tomorrow. I won't be seeing my family on Boxing Day. The family car is off colour, and I'm feeling guilty as hell that I've decided not to go. Beloved and the kids don't mind at all. I'm tired. And driving for 2hrs tomorrow night after work, only to rush around like a mad idiot on Tuesday, then rush home so everyone can go to work on Wednesday has lost it's appeal. I'm seriously unhappy about telling Mum, Dad and my brother's family that we're not coming...........We can go down on Saturday afternoon, and may even spend New Year's Eve there..........


OH MY GOD!!!!!!!


THE SANTA SACKS!!!!!!!!


HE'S BEEN!!!!!!!!!


Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!!!!!!

Love & Best Wishes to All

<3>

Blue, with a touch of pink..........

*The UAI's are in, and GG isn't all that impressed.*

70.

Lower than she expected.

But my GG is a resilient girl. She's looking through the Uni book at other options to achieve her goal...which would be good if she really knew what it was. But her short term plans include an Arts degree at Uni, and she will get there...even if it means a slightly circuitous route, or a move further away from home.

Gods, she's wonderful.

I love my girl.

She's even looking at Anchell's Institute of Higher Learning choice for her daughter.........

I'm going to miss her............

But she needs to stretch her wings........

And fly.............


Damn those 14000 High Achievers and their 90 plus marks.......pushing down the UAI.............



<3>

Look Out World; Here She Comes!!!!!

GG's Had a great Day!!!!

Her HCS results are excellent!!

Community And Family Studies....... 86....Band 5

Hospitality....... 84.... Band 5

Science....... 82.... Band 5

Drama....... 76.... Band 4

Extension English....... 75.... Band 4


and then...................


SHE PASSED HER DRIVING TEST!!!!!!!!!!


So She's Happy, happy, happy!!!!!!



University Admission Index tomorrow..........then we wait for the Uni offers to roll in in January!!!!!!!


YEE HAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Want to feel good?

Check out the "Free Hugs" video on U-Tube; it really should help you feel a little warm and fuzzy.......We really are a physical lot...........There should be more of it.........And maybe less presents........So hug someone today.....or lots of someones........ A long, all-encompassing, wrap-around hug helps.........


Have a good day!!!!

Time flies when you're having fun........

.....or so they say.

G'day Bloggers.

I must have been having a wow of a time, because it's been a week since my last posting. It's 12.32am on Monday, and this is the first time that I've had enough time to sit and collect my thoughts. I've read and commented on blogs, but not actually posted myself.

Nothing of any real note has happened this week, things just seem to need to be constantly done. Beloved went to Pacific Park for a long weekend with Scorpa Boy, and they will be home on Tuesday night. The remaining kidlets have just come and gone all weekend, with the necessary chauffering provided by moi. I haven't cooked a meal since Wednesday....I think....We had a barbeque with the owners and residents of the caravan park across the road on Friday night, and much fun was had. The owners, Rod and Gaynor, have been friends of ours for years, and were a great help to us during the 10 months that we resided in the van park over the last year.

I made a couple of decisions this week.

The first was that I think that there is no way that we will get any of the major work done to the house that requires a builder until, most likely, the middle to the end of next year. I contacted 5 builders in October/November with a view to a quote for the additions, which will cost in the vicinity of $120 000, so it's nothing to be sneezed at. One said he would call me in 2 weeks (I haven't heard from him). Two haven't bothered to return my call. Another, who was leaving for holidays, and that I called upon his return, came out the day after I phoned him 3 weeks ago, but we haven't received his quote yet. The last was very helpful over the phone, but will charge $300-$400 to prepare a quote. I can understand this; a lot of work goes into the preparation of a quote, and time is money. At least he discussed what we wanted, and gave me a price per square metre, so that we would have an idea of what we were looking at cost wise. Thanks to Spunkle Marc the Builder, we had an idea of the ballpark figure, which was much the same as Mr Costly Quote. This is the busiest time of year for most builders, so it was probably unrealistic of me to expect anything else. The other things is that most of the builders around here are booked well into next year....... So, I decided that we needed to make our living space more user friendly. So to this end, I have re-arranged the shed living space yet again. Now, at least, all the kitchen stuff is in the one area, and everything's clean. Poor Beloved; when he comes home, he won't be able to find anything. But then again, he used to this; he quite often arrives home to find things were not how they were before. It's a good thing he's adaptable. So I finally posted some pictures of the way we live, and now I've changed it. You'll be pleased to know that the Christmas tree no longer resides on the microwave; it has pride of place on a table with some nattily wrapped presents and other Chrissie assortments around it. When we first started this reno job, we envisaged having it completed for GG's 18th birthday, which we thought was not unrealistic, and gave us 2 years to complete. Now I'll be happy if it's finished for Scorpa Boy's 18th in 2 years time, or even GG's 21st.........

One of the reasons that we're still living in the shed is because we haven't done the required renovations in the house. Nor have we completed the jobs that we have started. We're in one of those never-ending circles now. We need money to get more things done, but we can't get the money until a builder can provide the bank with a quote and plans, and we can't go to the bank to get the money until the jobs are done. Time and money, money and time...blah blah..We have been constantly too busy, so now we're paying for it. We spent way too much money on rent while we were waiting to "find the time" (we probably could have paid a builder to work for us instead), and as usual, the costs were more than we budgeted for. So this week I decided that the holiday was over, and I was committing to finishing off some stuff. So Vegeboy has been sleeping in his brother's room while he was away, and he's just going to have to sleep in the lounge room on a mattress on the floor until I finish off the painting. Then it's a little bit of painting in Scorpa Boy's room. Next, I'm not sure; I've a little time off between Christmas and New year, so I'll do another biggish job then. There's lots to be done.

The other decision was that my lovely nails, that I have been spending ridiculously large amounts of time painting, repainting and making beautiful, have had to go. There is an infection control policy as work that we are bound to that requires staff to have short, clean and unpolished nails, and that acrylic nails were not allowed due to the potential threat of cross infection. So tonight I filed and filed and filed and filed until my nails are now fingertip length, and natural coloured. I don't want to get them removed, as it will ruin my own nails as well as being a painful process, so I'm going to try and grow them out. Well, so what, you say....big deal... The deal is that I have loved having these beautiful, girly nails. I'm not a particularly feminine or glam-looking woman, and have never suffered from the pretty gene. I am extremely low maintainence...having pretty nails, for some reason or another, made me feel more girly and attractive. It also reminded me of my Nanna, who always had beautifully maincured and painted nails. And she wore red lipstick. Even in the last throes of her cancer, Nan had to draw on her eyebrows and make sure that she looked as good as she could. So, I'm not happy.

But I'm adaptable..... and a realist......Bah Humbug! Enough blogging for one night. At least you know where I've been. And where I will be later...

Just a couple of quotes to finish..........

"Joy is not in things, it is in us"
Richard Wagner

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people"
Victor Borge

Well it's 1.30am, so I'm off to bed. Love to all, and goodnight. xoxox
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Monday, Monday, be good to me.........(As in 'The Mamas & the Papas')

You, Rylah, are indeed the Queen of Blogging!!!. I'm back to 'composing' my blogs. Obviously, I had changed it somewhere, somehow, sometime. I wondered where all the things (very technical term) had gone. Yep, I am a blogmuggle......

My weekend was a good one. Dad had a very quiet birthday celebration with just Mum, my brother, his family, my boys and me. After whining and complaining that he didn't want to go out, he had the temerity to ask my sister-in-law why we weren't going up to Jewellstown for tea!!!!!!

Poor Beloved worked most of the night, then drove town to the Twin Service stations on the freeway to meet me and take the boys to Pacific Park for a bike demo day. Scorpa-boy is staying there for a week a part of his Year 10 work experience programme, learning about leisure park management, the tourism industry, and environmental management. Well that's what the school was told. In actual fact, he's going to help maintain the park, do a bit in the canteen, and spend the rest of his week perfecting his riding skills and improving his fitness. Beloved will be going to pick him up next Saturday, but will be staying until next Tuesday evening as there are riding schools on that have been organised by the Park owner and Scorpa-boy's sponsor. By the way, if you ever stop at the servos fer a break, avail yourself of the toilets in "Olivers"; very clean, modern and surprisingly pleasant, unlike the ones in the Maccas/Coolibah complex, which are usually messy and have a line-up. I didn't get much of a chance to have a look, but "Olivers" professes to have a very healthy fresh food menu, so I think I'll give them a go next time I'm in the area.

I waved the boys off, and headed up the freeway to visit some friends at Nords Wharf. Or that's what I thought, and so did they. Instead, driving along, enjoying the peace, quiet and joy of my own company, I went to my happy place instead. I had forgotten how quickly the turn-off came up, completely missed the signs, and recognised the road winding up the hill on my far left with an ache in my heart. There was nowhere to turn around until I reached Morriset/Mandalong Road. Then the first exit off the freeway took me on a lovely tour through the enticingly named Lakehaven and Charmhaven. Lots of new, crowded, tiled roof, generic brick houses, and accompanying hardware and homeware retail outlets.........My 15 minute journey ended up taking over 30minutes.......BUT.... I did manage some good coffee and porridge, and fab company and gossip whilst sitting on their deck overlooking Lake Macquarie....just a divine way to spent a Sunday morning.

Next on the agenda was an exciting (or a bit excruciating) shopping trip with Mum so she could finish off her Christmas shopping. We decided that Glendale was a little more manageable than Charleytown, but, sadly, there is NO CALENDAR CLUB THERE...hint hint...Undies and placements from "Less then Best", and a porcelain doll from "Homeart". A nice slow walk apund past "Target" when Mum decided that she needed food and drink....... in the middle of nowhere.....we couldn't possibly have been further away from the food hall. "Starbucks" was around at the end of the mall area in the way we were walking, so we v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y wandered around.......2 frappas and a pice of gingerlaof and carrit cake each, we headed off into K-Mart. DVD's and then a trip tp the toilet was required. So off to the check-out we went, then off to find the loos. That job done, it was back into K-Mart, kids' toys this time, then "Strandbags" for an 18th gift for GG's friend, Jess. Enough for one day!!!! Just out of interest, I HATE SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I left Mum sitting in the shade outside "Starbucks", and found her in her very quiet "happy place" when I returned with the car. Mum's illness results in her blackingout when she is stressed physically or emotionally. It was a common occurrence a few years ago, but thanks to medication and her "I'm not going anywhere I love my chair in my loungeroom" lifestyle, she doesn't blackout too often these days. I'm glad that no-one else realised that she was actually unconscious, or her handbag may have disappeared.........

Then Clover and I headed off to pick up GG from BestiePat's on the way home...or so I thought. I was driving GG's car, which she has named 'Coco'. I stopped at a rest stop at Rixs Creek to give Clover a walk and blow out the cobwebs, then back into the car and off we went again, and as we headed off up the hill, I heard a funny popping/crunching noise, and thought I had run over something. But I couldn't see anything. Then ALL the lights came on on the instrument panel and wouldn't go off.......Then the heat gauge was HOT...there is nothing around but coal mines on the roadside.....I decided to nurse the car a little further along the road to Ravensworth where there is a large Boral truck Depot, which is mannned 24hrs a day..it was already 6.45pm. A truckie stopped and advised me to see the mechanics in the truck depot if I couldn't sort it out. He must have been impressed with my can-do, professional manner of lifting the bonnet, topping up the coolant with a bottle of water, and NOT removing the radiator cap....Another guy, named Geoff, who was on his way home to Singleton turned around, stopped, surveyed the engine, which was now cooler and I had removed the radiator cap, walked over to the depot, filled up his water bottle which he proceeded to empty into the radiator, then left it with me ( he said I needed it more than he did), and I continued nursing my car home. It should have only been a 15 minute trip..... On the last hill before the power stations, I decided to stop again...there is no phone reception, or a safe place to stop for about another 10ks...so over onto a grassy triangle I stopped, and called the NRMA. They were quick..Michael would be 20 minutes, he said, and would tow me back to Singleton....then we could organise a towtruck back to Muswellbrook at our own cost....."No thank you" said I...."Can you give us a ride into Muswellbrook instead?"..So, Clover and I waited....A bloke with his kids on the way back from skiing on Lake Liddell, asked if I needed help.....A lovely young couple on their way back to Sydney turned around to help me out..they had been up to Inverell to look at a property to buy, but added that their parents didn't like the idea..my suggestion was to do what feels right, so who knows????? Micheal duly arrived just before it was totally dark, and we had a lovely ride to BestiePat's place..Michael asked if I could leave Clover behind, please..........I HAD LEFT POOR LITTLE COCO ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, IN THE DARK, IN NO-MAN'S LAND....
BestiePat's mum drove us home; a big thing for her; letting my dog into her brand new Hyundai Getz.... I had instructed GG to make sure that Clovers' occassionally dripping nether region (she's still in season; day13, only 6 more to go...) remained on her black-skirted lap at all times...... then when Beloved arrived home, I shared the good news.......9.30 by then....everybody was yawning.....

Monday dawned with me off to sort out boy's rooms with a view to finish off the trim painting this week, and 4 lovely loads of washing. We still have no milk, or anything for tea. The good news is that it looks like just the fan-belt broke on Coco, and he bought a new one for less than $20, which is really good, since I checked out the bank balance, and it's not so flash....

More later.......I have to go with Beloved to buy food!! ;)))))