What did l do today?

Short answer?

LOTS!!

So l’m away with just my husband, very unusual and very much needed, we can have a whole conversation in one go!

Woke up at 8:45am then stayed in bed till 10:am reading… Why? Coz l could!! So I finished book number 11 in my “Aussie Author” challenge, it was called “Hazel’s Journey” by Sue Pieters- Hawke about her Mothers battle with Alzheimer’s.

 So tick that off this weekends “to do list”  the next item on today’s “to do list” was today’s “lent study” working from the book “40 things to give up for Lent and beyond” by PHIL Ressler. Tick that off the list! 

Also on the list was to get my “snail mail” up to date, a weeks worth which was only 5 letters this week. I wrote one last night and then tonight l finished the others. I forgot my address labels and envelopes at home so l made my own envelopes with the template that my New Zealand pen pal brought me! Luckily also l had my trusty Dymo labeller with me for addressing envelopes.  

Next on my “to do list” was to start lesson one of my first art class for the year it’s called “Paint the Masters” with artist Lucy Chen, http://lucychenfineart.com/ more info there!  Our first piece is my favourite artist “Johannes Vermeer” his painting “The Girl with the pearl earring” is my favourite piece of art. We went to a gallery exhibition and we saw some of his works and l got teary!  Anyways, when I saw Lucy was going to teach us to paint our own version l was in, l could not sign up fast enough, go look at Lucy’s page you’ll wanna join in too!

Lesson one was learning to draw, so we printed off the photo and drew a grid (my darling heart, he drew my grid up on both the print and the blank page) 

  Today l had to draw it onto my gridded up blank page seriously it was nerve wracking to the point l stopped half way and had a shower to think about why l was stressing so much… I didn’t want to ruin Vermeers great work, l know right, as though he will see it!! Plus l didn’t want to let Lucy down, so back l came and did some tweaking, shared the photo on the Facebook group and got some GREAT advice from Lucy and viola! Done!!  

Next step is to transfer that above version onto my board, l love this drawing yay!! 

So ticked that also off my “to do list” which left only one more thing to do! Paint the pug! A few weeks ago “Star Son” told his Grandmother that he would do a painting for her wall at her “Retirement Village” room. He chose the photo and l did the back ground and transferred the drawing into the board, he painted the first layer of cream paint and decided “I suck at art!” And took a break, two weeks later l am finishing it because l had a “feeling“(occasionally l get that feeling and when l do l run with it)  it was going to be good, even l didn’t think it’d be this good though!! I love it!! But l don’t love pugs!! 

It’s been sitting here on my mantle piece for three hours now and every time l look up its watching me l just really love it!!  

 

So that was my day! I got a weeks worth of “stuff” done in one day, plus journal I really think it’s been a great day!! 

 

Happy Anniversary!

• Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

  You registered on WordPress.com 4 years ago!

  Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging!

  Now how did that happen? Four years? really.. wow..

  On the subject of Anniversaries… on the weekend I got to meet one of my pen pals. Janine and her Husband Aaron, they are from New Zealand and came to Australia (a short 3.5 hours flight) for their wedding anniversary which was yesterday 17th February. I was so lucky to get to spend the day with them on Saturday, we went on a double date for Valentine’s day!  Janine and I have been pen pals for about 2 or 3 years now, actually it’s more than that because I remember her writing when her daughter left home to go to University and that was 4 years ago.. so probably 5 years. I knew that by the sound of her husband that our Blokes would get on well and they did, and of course Janine and Aaron worked on the Bloke along with me to help him decided we are now going to New Zealand for a holiday… probably Easter 2016.

  We (Star Son and I)  were hoping for this year but we have the Big Lap Mark two in September till November this year and so we need to save some more money for the New Zealand trip. Janine and Aaron caught the train up to Sunbury, and we met them at the Station, brought them home to meet the family, since Janine hears so much about them and of course the photos all over Facebook, and then we did some “touristy” stuff, we went to “Living Legends” homestead, where the Melbourne cup retired horses live and we walked through the historic homestead and enjoyed the garden and the birds, which Janine tells me are all very similar to home, see she gets me.. when I go travelling, I love to look at the plants and the birds and the flowers and  wish we had those at home.

  Our Next stop was Lunch, we all agreed (another thing in common!) that we hate to “waste” money on food we would rather do “stuff” than eat at fancy places, so we went to the Sunbury Bowling Club which is one of our regular haunts, they have yummy affordable meals and we, well, three of us, had Chicken Parma, chips and salad, the Bloke ever the rebel had fish and chips and salad.

  After Lunch we visited “Rupertswood” the birth places of the Ashes (if you are into cricket you’ll understand what that means/ here’s a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupertswood

  

  It’s not far from our home.. and then we spent some great chatting time, talking up a storm, I was so glad the Blokes got on as well as they did it really helped for me to be able to convince the Bloke we need to go to NZ and we are now in the process of planning a trip, where to fly into and where to drive and visit. Janine and Aaron have very similar interests so walking, photography, culture and nature and all those kinds of things so they were able to suggest places we should see on a trip to NZ, besides visiting them of course!!

     Earrings my Darling brought me for Valentine’s day to go with the string of pearls I got from my Mother-in-law

  

  My New Zealand Pal Janine and I before they left to return on the train to Melbourne

Day three of our pre christmas getaway!

Today was our lazy day, I got all my mail done and then we walked down to the post office box and mailed it. Today the Bloke walked with us, so we all got an ice cream and walked along the pier, but again the wind was really chilly so we didn’t stay long. We didn’t even take any photos!

I didn’t even make my 10,000 steps target today, I’ve only managed 6,511 steps which is just 4.43 kilometers.. You know what? I don’t really mind too much, I have been eating “Daniel compliant” so it’s all good and I had 4 bottles of water so that’s 2.4 liters of water, more than yesterday it’s all good, I’m on holidays!

Here’s a little bit of what today looked like…

NaBloPoMo December is Joy… Pen-pals! and NOT feeling sad.

I’ve written about Pen pals somewhere in my blog I just know I have and it’s funny because they give me so much joy. On my worst days a letter will come and sometimes I’ll rip it open and read through it and then if I am inspired I’ll reply right away, or I’ll carefully fold it all up and put it away until I have time to dedicate to it.

Some pals you click with instantly and others are a slow drawn out affair, and others still, no matter how hard you try, there’s no connection there.

Through NaBloPoMo, I have found a blogger who was writing about Snail mail… read her post here: http://myantidepressantlife.com/i-love-the-swirl-and-swing/

In the bottom of her post “Lady J” said this “Do you still write letters? What’s your favorite part about sending or receiving them?” So of course I had to reply to that. I wondered if “Lady J” realized what a can of worms she was opening, suddenly everyone wants to be pen-pals with her. I think it’s awesome and I hope that she finds some new life long friends as I have my first pen-pal is in Germany and we are still in touch regularly, We have been pals for 12 years. WoW!! So I received an email from Lady J and I will be sending her mail. I am hopeful that we will have enough in common that we want to write to each other again, because I don’t have a pal currently in the state of Oregon.. maybe soon I will!!

Thursday, December 4, 2014
Who do you like to be with when you’re feeling sad?

Today’s journal prompt is very apt to the Pen-pal discussion, because when I am sad, I take myself away and I write, I usually have time to concentrate on my pen-pal letters, when I am sad I retreat to my bedroom and journal and “get over it” this could also include spending time writing letters because seriously by the time you reply to all the things your pal has written you’ll soon find yourself feeling much better.

I always try to skim over the sad parts, and if the particular pal wants more info she’ll ask me and I’ll tell her but by then whatever made me sad in the first place has ceased to matter so it’s all good.

NaBloPoMo 2014- Lazy weekend.

 

Well, internet connection is really horrible, so please excuse this short post, with no photos apparently.

That is one thing I really hate, when your internet doesn’t work well, technology is great when it works.

We are at out holiday place, it’s an on site caravan that stays permanently here at St. Leonards a small sleepy little seas side town.

My in-laws and sister-in-law brought this van many years ago and my Father-in-law did all the cosmetic works, and re painted and fixed and cleaned and I just love it. We were able to stay here a few weekends while the In-law’s owned it and fell in love with it. It’s a pared down life, very limited internet, limited cooking facilities, limited TV channels, and yet its perfect, down here I get caught up on my life, my reading, my pen friend mail, its sit, drop and relax time.

When my Father-in-law died, my Mother-in-law Tanny didn’t feel that she could face coming down here with out him, so she was going to sell us her share, and my Sister-in-law decided to sell her share also because she wanted a van that they could tow and go away. So we juggled money, sold a car and brought ourselves an onsite caravan. We just love it down here, its safe for the kids, its quiet and its less than 4 minutes walk to the beach.

We named our place “Bel Far Niente” because I had read in the book “Eat Pray Love” that it meant  “The Art of doing nothing” art and nothing seemed perfect for us, but as I wrote to my Italian Penpal she told me it is wrong it is “Beautiful doing nothing” stupid me should have known Bel= beautiful and Niente = Nothing. The name is still perfect because when we come here the most strenuous thing we do is drag ourselves across the road to walk along the beach, where we walk, paddle, splash, skip stones and just talk. Great big deep heart to hearts we have at this beach.

This is the place I found out I was going to be a Grandma! This is the place that I have brought my beautiful babies on several occasions. This is the place I get to catch up on my reading and writing letters, and we just relax and unwind from life. Star Son and I usually spend a few weeks down here each year on school holidays, he runs free like a wild child, riding bikes, and playing football or basket ball or riding skateboards, he comes home when he’s hungry and thirsty and when its dark, as long as we know where he is it’s all good. This is the place where art is created and board games and dice games are played. This is my favourite place!

We used to come down most weekends and stay Friday night through to Sunday morning, but since Star Son plays football so most of winter is gone, and I have withdrawals because it is beautiful down here even in winter. As part of our fees we get one hundred days per year, and tonight is only night twenty-one, so that shows how many I’ve been missing out on. Plus now with Grandbaby sitting, its not as easy to escape for a week, his Mum hates me to take him away even if she’s  not there.

So today I was awake at 8:30am but I stayed in bed till 10:30am, reading, doing my bible studies and just catching up on that! Then we did little else all day. I caught up with my Jelly Baby journals, and felt happy about that. I also started working ona Zentangle piece, so some art was done. We also went for a nice beach walk, all the way down to the yacht club and back again, is there anything more perfect than the waves gentle lapping at your ankles while the sun beats down on you, perfect day, no words needed, just deep cleansing relaxing breaths. I love Bel Far Niente!!

NaBloPoMo 2014- Day 19- I’m A-N-G-R-Y!!

Tonight I am angry, and my family will tell you it takes a while to get me really angry, but tonight I am and last night I was, last night Will was playing basketball with his friend and smashed the window, boy did I lose it?! I rang my husband to tell him to organize a glazier and he said “Oh it’s OK no big deal we’ll fix it” I was ANGRY!!..is this a side effect of the detox process maybe? I don’t know maybe my hormones are outta balance with the new routine, I don’t know but I am ANGRY!!

Today I went downtown for two reasons A– I was bored and I needed to get out of the house and B- My Cousin Lee told me about these blank cards she brought and after we did our Zentangle art class last Saturday I thought I’d design my own Christmas cards and make a few for special people.

So I set “run keeper” and off I went Id arranged to meet Amber and Scarlett down there and get lunch. So I decided to go to Lincraft and see if they had the blank cards there, Lee couldn’t remember which shop she got hers either Big W or Target.. well, I found them in Lincraft, 10 cards with envelopes for $2.99 and different shapes as well, so I got a rectangle and a square set and I also found a rubber stamp with “Merry Christmas” so I was happy, I found them quickly and easily, paid for them and went outside.. and that was the last time I saw them *insert sad face*

I “think” I got Squishy’s bottle and settled him down for a nap, and I “thought” I had put my shopping bag under the pram in the basket with my purse…All day I’ve been planning in my head the guide lines I would draw and the style I would attempt to do, and I knew Jasmin and Squishy were going out tonight so I am off duty in “Grandma mode” and would have time to do a few cards before I answered some penpal mail… so I go to the pram to find my bag of goodies and ITS NOT THERE!!! Oh!

So I quickly run for my phone and text Amber in case I put them in her pram by mistake… Nope, she hasn’t seen them or got them! I was so disappointed because that right there apart from ruining my night is $10.95 wasted! I really felt like I wanted to cry, OK,  it’s not a big deal to the rest of the world and probably in my world it’s not such a big deal, “take a chill pill” but then I got angry! HOW could I be so stupid, and how did I manage to get my purse and not the little bag with my goodies, Idiot!

So now as I type this I am smiling because it really is silly, but I hate to waste money on anything, and I am on a limited budget in regards to art supplies, so it’s mostly disappointment.. Oh well, I think I’ll go dig in the garden and see if that helps calm me down!!

On a brighter note I finished my yearly goal 42 days earlier than expected and walked 400 kilometers. Actually as of now it’s 406.1 kilometers. I am so proud of me for that effort. On a more brighter note, I got to spend time with Amber and my ‘Sweetpea’, she is such a funny girl, Pulling herself up on furniture and dancing. Hard to imagine in two more sleeps my little Angel will be One year old.. it’s gone way too fast!!

Scarlett and Chase, he bit her and she was upset!

Practicing their crawling!!

I finally got to see her pull herself up into standing position, my clever little “Sweet pea”