Tag Archive | Husband

I had one job!

Today l had one job, to watch Aria and Harvey while my daughter Jasmin went to school to help on Chase’s schools Mother’s Day Stall. The Bloke had a pre op appointment before he gets his hip replacement in June so he dropped me at Jasmin’s house at 8:00am.

I had one job to watch these small people while Jasmin went to school with Chase for a few hours. Put Harvey down for his nap at 11:00am and that was all- easy really.

So we did our usual cuddles and watching their shows, each had a favourite show for me to watch and then we decided to do silly photos!

So Harvey wanted to get into the spirit because we were laughing he wanted to play the clown and so up onto the coffee table and he was dancing.

Before l even had time to tell him to get down he fell! Straight into the window, l’ve never run so fast or scaled a coffee table so quickly as l did today. Telling him “Stay still Harvey!” He was so good he just stayed still till l could make sure he wasn’t injured and oh my gosh hugged his little being till l almost crushed him!

All he was worried about was his Mummy would be mad! But l reassured him “Mummy will only be mad at Grandma not Harvey!” l checked him over so thoroughly and made sure he was all in one piece, then l issued Aria orders.. “Where does Mummy keep the vacuum cleaner? Watch the kitten doesn’t go bear the glass, stay over there right away” She was so good showing me where the vacuum was and then showing me how to work it 🤷🏼‍♀️ in the meantime she’s reassuring Harvey “It’s ok Harvey you’re not in trouble” turned my back for a second the kittens trying to get through the hole, luckily Dookie the dog was on the other side keeping her in. For about 10 minutes it was bedlam! And Jasmin had been gone less than an hour!!

My Soul Sister was on duty today as Guardian angel.

My “Clown boy” suddenly became Grandma’s cuddle bunny. Aria was keeping watch on the clock to make sure Harvey was on time for his nap, she had a vested interest she could have her iPad time when he went to bed.

As he snuggled down he asked for his Mummy l said “When you wake up Mummy will be home” he nodded and said “Mummy mad!” No l told him not with my Harvey boy, kissed him and told him “I love you” he grins “Luff you too”

As l made coffee and lunch for Aria it hit me just how badly that might have ended and l told myself “You had just one job!” And l’d messed it up! I also thanked my Soul Sister in spirit for catching him and not letting him be damaged. Luckily my Bloke got home and patched the hole with some MDF panels until we can get a glazier in but then l had to break the news to Jasmin, and pray she wouldn’t yell too loudly!

As soon as Jasmin got home l explained and thankfully none of us got into trouble but l will pay for the glass because they’ve only been in their new home two months and l’ve already let a window get broken!! “You had one job Grandma!”

On other subjects… Baby Violet had her home visit from the midwifery team today and it was Ash who delivered her. When Vi was released from hospital she’d lost 100 grams that was Monday, today is Wednesday and she’s up 80 grams! Yay Violet!! She’s a good baby so far!

My renewed creativity is going well and this months art prompt is “blooming marvellous May,” each day of the month you do a floral piece. I did Violet first so l decided to do each of my seven grandchildren, Chase wasn’t a flower so l did his name and added some Climbing Jasmine to his letter C! Today ironically was Harvey’s day, no flowers or plants called Harvey, so l wrote his name and gave him a floral hibiscus border!!

I wonder if l’ll be invited back to baby sit again!

St Valentine’s Day

Feb14

We don’t normally bother, so no gifts exchanged but this year we’re camping wild in Tasmania so The Bloke used that as an excuse to book us a table at the Bayside Bistro pub in St Helens for lunch.

Before lunch we did some exploring on the other side of the bay where we were able to get out and walk along the breakwater wall.

We realised today that this is our 21st Valentine’s Day together but our first with no children involved. Just us, it was nice.

Pub for lunch l chose Roast Lamb because when we’ve been camping a while l miss the vegetables

Cheers to 21 years of St Valentine’s Days

When The Bloke and l first met online, we were both single parents and it turned out he worked not far from my house so one random day he called and said “I’m going past your street on my way to another company for a meeting can l stop in?” I nervously said “Yes” my cousin was over anyways so it was all good. He pulled up in his business shirt and tie with a box of mint slice chocolates and a chocolate mud muffin he had made. That first meeting was maybe 10 minutes and he was going away soon on Christmas holidays with his son. So l thought, that is that!

New Year’s Eve the phone rings and it’s him telling me he’s camping on a hill in Queensland and just wanted to say Happy New Year and maybe when he gets back to work we can go out for coffee. So l agreed.

Mid January 2001- comes and he calls saying “I’m working Saturday morning, how about l pick you up for coffee and home made mud muffins?” I agreed.

And that my friends is that… at first we were friends only and so different, like chalk and cheese! He’s a business man with a shirt and tie and a company car and he lives in the country. I mean l didn’t even know where Sunbury was!! And l was just me a single parent of three young children who’d want me?! I remember l told my cousin “Oh we’re just friends it won’t last six months”

But The Bloke- because underneath the business clothes and company car, he was “just a Bloke who likes rock n roll music and the Phantom and beer” he had a son and a black Labrador called Blue and he showed me new sides to life. I didn’t know there was this whole Rock n Roll/ Rockabilly life style going on in Melbourne not even far from where l lived. When he said “Rock n Roll” l said “Oh Elvis?!” But oh my girl there’s so much more..

Suddenly l was listening to HIS music, he grudgingly listened to my country and we met in the middle with Rockabilly. Soon he had taught me some dance moves and before long we were going to Rock n Roll dances and seeing bands and where had l been all my life?!

Then in April of 2001 l got really sick and ended up over the Easter weekend in hospital with gall stones and needing surgery, he rang me, he visited, and he went to that dance withOUT me! But as a consolation prize he brought me a signed poster into my hospital room!

It was soon after, that we realised “oops we were expecting” so not planned and not part of the “It’ll only last six months” deal.

We welcomed our “Rockabilly baby” on January 23 2002 born into the world to the Janis Martin song “Billy Boy” l sent Janis Martin an email just before she passed away and told her about our Star Son William John named “Billy” and her Grand daughter replied and said “My Grandmother was over the moon to hear from you” so l sent her back a photo of our Rockabilly Boy. The Grand daughter printed out the photo and took it into the hospital to give to Janis Martin.

When Star Son was Six months old, the Bloke decided that having five children wasn’t enough and that l needed something else to do, so he put MY hand up as Secretary and Treasurer of the local Rock n Roll Appreciation, but fair enough because he was named President. So our lives got busier!

Writing a monthly column each, mailing off magazines all over the world and generally having a blast, bands would send us CD’s in the mail and we’d do reviews and write articles. My favourite one l wrote was on Chuck Hughes and the Hillbilly Hellcats! This also meant that we went to a LOT of dances almost every week, we’d be there with the five children and dance the night away. Star Son almost got kidnapped by Texan Rockabilly singer Marti Brom who fell in love with him and wanted him as a souvenir!!

I remember one show we went to l was doing a review on this concert and so l was in this pack of “Grandmothers” all going crazy for this guy l’d never heard of, The Bloke had played me a few of his songs before hand but l’d still never heard of him, so lm innocently snapping away photos and this lady asks me “What are you doing?” I replied l was writing an article on Merv Benton and so l was taking photos she continued to watch me and every so often she would say “Oooh that’s a goodie!”

Finally she says “ Come with me!!” And she drags me to the front of the stage so now l’ve got a super clear view of not only Merv but also the screaming wild crowd of Grandmas! It turned out to be a great night and we got back stage passes and went back to meet Merv, he asked me “Did you get any good pics?” I nodded dumbly. I got the idea to do a “Then and Now” article we had an article of his last tour and so l contacted his agent and asked if l could speak to Merv in regards to the article. I must confess by now l too was smitten with Merv Benton! He was big in the 60’s in Australia and then he moved to America where he lives now in Arizona. Anyways long story short, he called me a week or so later and we talked for two hours and he came up to our radio program and did an on air interview. He still calls me occasionally!

Radio programs was another thing the Bloke convinced me we needed to do so once a month we went into the city to do a show called “Shake, Rattle and Roll” for the Rock n Roll club and then we decided to approach our local radio show and host one there, we called that one “Shake, Rattle and Roll” too but when we eventually gave up being involved with the rock n roll club and magazine we changed our radio show to “Rock Therapy”

When The Bloke turned 50 l made him have a party, that was one of the things l brought into this partnership Parties!! And convinced him it was time for him to start enjoying himself some more and so he brought himself a 1969 Triumph Trophy and l had to learn to love it or miss out! One particularly hairy ride we met one of his friends a huge bear of a man who took me aside and said in his deep booming voice “ Now listen here! It doesn’t matter how much he loves you he loves that bike more! So he’s not going to do anything to hurt the bike, if he leans, you lean, just hold on and relax” I nodded that made sense and then he added “Besides love! He doesn’t want to be stuck with five kids!” 🤪

And he we are twenty one St Valentine’s days later, it’s been a wild ride, ups, downs and a very bumpy ride, l’ve brought the “Business man” down a level and l’ve certainly climbed up about three levels to meet him in a comfy place.

At the end of this month we celebrate our 17th Wedding Anniversary, we have a 19 year old son over 6 foot tall. It’s The Blokes 65 birthday AND his first Anniversary of Retired life.

Yes Bloke it’s been a wild ride, but l wouldn’t do it with anyone else!

Oops my regular blogging didn’t last long

Feb12

I’m so bad!

Ok we are camping in Tasmania now. We made it on our long awaited trip and as we boarded the ship we got a text saying due to a Covid out break our check in pass had been canceled and we had to reapply while on the ship before we could get off 😬 So we reapplied of course!

The latest out break is actually in our neighbourhood but thankfully we have a large family and had spent time with them all prior to boarding the ship- so Thursday we spent all day with our Star Son at hospital appointments. All safe there!

Friday we had spent half a day with our eldest son and Grandson in the country at Castlemaine, so all good there.

Saturday our daughter in law and grandson came down to visit so my eldest daughter and her three children came over and we all walked to the end of the court and went to the park to play, so all good there and then finally Sunday we spent all day at home and we walked the dog, prepping for our trip, so all good there!

I thanked my D-I-L for visiting us because otherwise it’s probable that we WOULD have gone to that shopping centre and possibly have been exposed to the virus hence ruining our trip! Instead here we are in Tasmania enjoying everything it has to offer!

Monday we were on the ship at 7.00am and we opted for the day sailing with no cabin so that we could save money, we prefer to spend it here. We had breakfast and then walked around the ship- masks were required until you were out on deck, it was chilly and grey we didn’t stay out there long. We read our books in the lounge on level 9 and at 12:30pm we went to see a movie “Rams” an Australian comedy. Then we had a casual lunch, wrote in my journal and read our books. Ship docked in Tasmania at 6:00pm but we were in the exit line for an hour and forty minutes, each person had to be temperature checked and processed, and my Bloke has NOT got a patient bone in his body! Finally we drove six minutes down the road, where we had pre-booked an overnight cabin to stay in. So we went out and found a KFC and got dinner, shower and bed, exhausted 😴

Tuesday dawned fine and sunny so we quickly popped down to the supermarket to buy our fruit and vegetables and bread, you cannot take any of that stuff interstate with you, they check before you get on board! We knew that so we don’t bring any. By 10am we were on the road to start our six week trip.

We got to our first spot called South Croppies Point about lunchtime. I was nervous because a review l read said “4Wheel Drives only” yes we have a 4WD BUT that doesn’t mean l want to use it lol when we got to a particularly sandy churned up piece of track l suggested the Bloke let me out for this bit and l walked.. l mean Fitbit says l should do 250 steps an hour anyways so lm just getting my steps! The Bloke found us the spot and l very nervously watched him back in the camper, l really should give him more credit he’s never failed us yet!!

So we stayed there two nights we would have stayed longer but bad weather was coming and you know that churned up sandy track?! Yeah well l didn’t fancy being bogged in that.

Thursday we moved to a little seaside town about an hour and a half away called St Helens. We’ve been here before to the same caravan park simply because we are allergic to bad weather! So we booked a cabin, brought pizza, did some laundry, had a shower and a reasonably good night sleep.

Today we awoke to bright sunshine and blue sky, there was a lot of rain and heavy winds overnight so we made the right call there. Today we moved to Doras Point it’s a free camp, no direct water views or water access but we can hear it and we have a lovely serenade of frogs! Today the weather has been stunning and we’ve been out and about exploring. We’ll stay here until Monday and then move on.

I’ll try and update more frequently but if l am missing too long feel free to pop over to our Facebook page and follow along there.. https://www.facebook.com/ursulasultimateadventures/

I am much more active there, loads of photos and videos as well. If there’s anything you’d like to see or know about Tasmania let me know and l’ll do my best to share it!!

Day 4- Life..

Feb4

April 2019- my 17 year old son was playing football and hurt his knee. Hurt is an understatement he did the trinity of Knee damages, his ACL, his MCL and his Meniscus it couldn’t be much worse. That simple fall in the first 20 minutes of the first game of Football for the season. Seemingly innocent and yet.. here we are almost two years later dealing with that bloody knee!

The first time (yep l said “First time” it’s getting worse!) there a blog on my page somewhere about the horror, l still feel sick when l think of it and all the emotions of those six months come back easily. He ended up having three different surgeries and then got Golden Staph blood poisoning. Horrific!

He had a pic line in his arm to deliver drugs straight into his system, he had weeks in the hospital and then six more weeks at home with “Hospital at home” nurses in every.single.day!! As a result he missed time off school and was unable to finish his final school year, another crushing blow.

April till August we dealt with his #bloodyknee as we all fondly called it. MRI’s, surgeons, Dr’s, blood tests, X-rays, heart scans, my poor boy had them all and l was with him every step of the way. My husband would drop me off at 7.00am and he’d go to work and then get back at about 6.00pm we’d supervise his dinner (or go buy him something to tempt him to eat!) and then leave at around 8.00pm and drive 45 minutes home. We were all wrecked!

Finally he was off the crutches and almost walking normally, he’d gotten a temporary job with The Bloke’s company to make himself some money and decide what his next steps should be. He decided he’d like to be a Builder and so we found him a man who was willing to give him a trial and he started working. We wondered how his knee would hold out and the answer was.. it didn’t!

In April 2020 his knee collapsed on him and he came hobbling home, it swelled up it was hot and l was more vocal this time! The first time l let my husband and my son and the football coach make decisions l didn’t agree with THIS time l did not! I called the physio and got him in l told him “l think he’s done it again” all three of them tsk tsk’ed me and said “it’s probably nothing!” Until the Physio started working on it and l saw his face fall and l knew!! He was in X-ray pretty soon after. He saw the Surgeon the next day!

This time he had torn the ACL because the Surgeon suggested that the graft had been weakened by the infection. So immediately blood works were done to make sure there was no Golden Staph present and he was booked in for surgery in March.

And then Covid came! Star Son gave up his dream job because his knee buckled as they were carrying a window and he almost dropped it! Surgeries were cancelled and then he was downgraded to “Elective” and he ended up having to wait until October 2020. And due to very strict covid conditions we had to leave him at the door to hobble into the hospital and be admitted for surgery, all by himself!! That was the hardest day of my life waiting to hear how it went. The surgeon called us to say all had gone better than expected and he would be gone in two days. My husband was his nominated visitor so he went in and sat with him for only an hour and we face timed so l could see and speak to him. I was in the car in the car park!

So from October until today he’s been back and forth for appointments and physio. He started his dream job he’s doing an apprenticeship with my Son in law as a builder and because his boss (our son in law) has followed the drama every step of the way he understands about the appointments and physio and everything needed for Star Son to heal. Today he had an appointment with physio who said he’s doing really good and a bit above where he should be. Then he saw the surgeon this afternoon he is also happy with his progress and so for now we can breath a little easier.

We went out for lunch to celebrate we had to kill a few hours between appointments.

Labyrinth at the hospital, with the constellation “the Southern Cross”

Every time we come here l walk the labyrinth and pray for good results!

As parents do we ever stop worrying about them? I think the older they get the more worried l am. Then of course you become a Grandparent and the level of worry goes up a notch!!

Day 2 of 2021 Blogging- Camping for Corina!

Feb1

Yesterday l set the intention to get back into regular blogging and l put the question out there “Is there anything you’d like to read from me?” My blogging/Facebook friend Corina mentioned that she had ever been camping and was interested to know why l liked it so much. An easy topic to start me off!

Camping.. let me count the ways! Why do l love camping? I love the wild l love the freedom of being out there and exploring l think also l love the fact that we are limited with what we take, practicing minimalism.

When l was a little girl my parents would load the panel van- they slept on a mattress in the back l had the front seat, and we would drive to a river and meet friends with other children and just camp, cooking over fires, the men would fish, the women would bitch, the children would run free. I have many memories of falling asleep to fireside shadows and voices telling stories, and waking up in a different place and starting again!

So then l was a teenager and camping was a cheap cheerful way to get out and have fun, like that one time two cars full of us took off on a whim six of us in a three man tent with a wet dog that adopted us and decided to spend the night. It rained the whole time the boys went surfing, us girls sat on the beach miserably, we ate junk food by torchlight and spent the night very snuggly top and tail in this tiny tent with this wet sandy dog spread out along all of us, no blankets needed! It was a great weekend despite the weather and that one girl who went camping with a hair dryer and five pairs of shoes.. clearly she had never been camping before.

We asked her “What’s with the hair dryer?” she replied “if we go out for dinner l’ll need a shower and to do my hair” the rest of us laughed so hard tears streamed down our faces and our stomach ached “Where do you plan to plug it in?” We asked in between fits of giggles “a gumtree?!” We, the rest of us knew there was no power and certainly no “going out for dinner” going out for dinner consisted of walking to the kiosk and ordering steamed Dim Sims and Chocolate Big M’s! And if that wasn’t enough to shock her, breakfast the next morning was a meat pie with tomato sauce! Needless to say SHE never went camping again and she tried to change the guy she was dating so he’d stop hanging out with us- she didn’t succeed and she also didn’t last long.

My next camping experience was as a young adult, we decided to go camping to a popular beach side town about four hours drive away. I was with my fiancé and we took my friend/Neighbour and his partner. Loaded up the car and off we went. We had a huge tent, mattresses and doonas and not much else we planned to cook on the caravan parks bbq’s. We set up easily enough, everything was going smoothly, the next day we decided to go exploring so we cleaned camp opened the windows to let some air in and off we went. While we were out we watched huge black clouds gathering and joked about needing an ark it was going to rain that much! But the joke was on us!! The storm had already been through our camp site and our bedding was floating on a puddle of water… the feather filled doonas were soaked and soggy, our bags with clothes drenched, the pillows and anything else inside the tent were water logged and we spent the next two hours trying to rid our tent of water. We had to put all our bedding in the laundromat driers. We were very wet unhappy campers and l swore “Never again will l go camping!”

Of course l did! When my two daughters were babies, we packed up and went camping with my Bestie and her husband, our husbands were Besties too and were on a “hunters” jag complete with loud guns! We didn’t get rained out as spent a fun weekend.

Then there was a long break about maybe 15-20 years of no camping, instead there were mortgages, babies, commitments, divorces and tears and then there were houses needing to be sold and moving children to new neighbourhoods and life was crazy.

My next husband loved camping and when we first met he was going away interstate camping he rang me on New Years Eve 2000 from the top of a mountain which was the only place he could get reception to tell me about his camp and the critters he saw and he said “One day l’ll bring you here” in my heart of hearts l thought “not with these kids you won’t!”

Eventually we were a family of five blended children which comes with its own set of difficulties, five VERY different personalities and The Bloke and l wondering how to survive this mine field.

Fast forward ten years, the eldest four have grown and got lives and if not moved on at least able to fend for themselves and so the camping subject got raised again. The Bloke is persistent not in a mean pushy way but like a gentle stream of water that wears down your defences and soon enough l agreed “Ok let’s try it!” He had the gear and so we squished it all into our car with 10 year old Star Son and headed for Swan Hill about five hours drive from home on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.

The skies were grey and broody the whole time l was on edge remembering that one time when we spent a soggy wet night not excited for a repeat of that! We stopped for lunch and then the rain began uh oh!

The further we drove, the closer we got to our destination the HEAVIER the rain fell. To the point the wipers couldn’t keep the windscreen clear. Unlike some wives l don’t yell or argue l get silent even my tears are silent and l was NOT HAPPY!

As we drove into the town the rain started lessening and l voiced my fears about camping in a puddle, The Bloke said “if it doesn’t stop l’ll book us a cabin” Me “What if there are no cabins?!” Him: “I’ll find us a motel” Me: “Can we JUST go home!!” Him “No!!” So l stayed in the car when we got to the Caravan Park, the rain had lessened, he got out to check in and suddenly the sun came out.. no word of a lie! The sun came out, steam rose from the roads and out came Star Son and the Bloke like they’d planned it all.

Our first camping trip was perfect, warm days, cool enough nights to sleep, loads of adventures, tent was named Tamara and she was a dream and suddenly l realised l was enjoying myself! I liked camping! I’d forgotten the fun of living like a gypsy!

We have camped 3/4’s of Australia in Tamara, we quickly figured out what worked and what didn’t, what made us comfortable but didn’t add bulk! That first trip Star Son and l started a journal about “The Adventures of Tamara the tent” we all three of us wrote in it we added leaves, feathers, stickers, ticket stubs, we wrote about adventures and things we’d done like the day Star Son taught Mum how to do a front flip on the jumping pillow!! I don’t know who was more shocked me that l tried it or him that l did it!! Camping brings out a different carefree me!

Eventually The Bloke decided it was time to upgrade from the tents, Star Son soon got his own tent he called it “Trent” and we added a trailer to the list of camping supplies “Matilda” we went waltzing around Australia with Matilda keeping our camping gear safe! One trip The Bloke’s hip started playing up and he struggled to get up off the floor where our inflatable mattress was, we had to find a Dr and stay in camp a few extra days until the pain pills kicked in. He decided we needed to get off the ground and so he began researching caravans and campers!

We decided on Ursula Ultimate, an Australian built camper trailer, with a leather couch and an indoor kitchen in case we need to cook out of the rain! https://www.facebook.com/ursulasultimateadventures/

There’s the link to see Ursula and all our adventures! Next Monday we are putting Ursula and her tow vehicle Priscilla Prado on the ship and we’re off to Tasmania for six weeks! I’ll share that trip here.

This post is turning into a book but we are passionate about camping we love it. When The Bloke retired last February our goal was to spend all our time camping but Covid stopped that. This year we are aiming for 100 nights (at least) camping.. watch this space to see how we go!

Ursula Ultimate in the wild where we now prefer to be!

Now what else would you like me to write about?!

Happy 2021

Jan31

Here we are first of February already.. wow where did that first month go?

It’s been a crazy few years and l’ve not been good at blogging l need to get better so l’m adding this to my “to be done” list. I’ll aim for weekly but we’re about to go for a six week camping trip to Tasmania so it might be more frequent.

Firstly let’s do a quick up date…

2020 the year of Corona it was also the year that The Bloke aka my husband retired from his job. His plan has always been to retire when our youngest finished school which happened abruptly when he did his knee the first time.. yes you read that right “the first time” because he did his knee a second time albeit a slightly less vicious way! Still required surgery which was put off due to Corona until October and he’s still having physio for it.

So February 28 2020- The Bloke retired and to celebrate that AND his leap year birthday AND our wedding anniversary – yep l married him on a leap year (method in my madness because now every four years we honeymoon again!) this triple celebration took us to Bali for 9 days of bliss. While we were in Bali my adult children kept us up to date with “home stuff” including the need to bring home toilet paper because the shops were going crazy. We laughed how ridiculous until we stepped OFF the plane to an almost deserted airport and it was quite eerie. We were one of the last flights to make it back before mandatory quarantine. We found toilet paper and went about “retired life” a camping trip, then another one, the plan had been to meet friends from QLD and do a camping trip along the Murray river… and then Covid hit!

First to suffer was our weekly visits to my M-I-L in her nursing home facility. We had planned to go more often now that The Bloke was retired. Of course we understood the reasoning but l don’t know if she ever understood. In April she left the world, my Sister-in-law and niece were with her, My husband got to see her briefly and l got to peep at her through the window. So heartbreaking and of course new Covid rules meant no funeral. One of my Star Son’s friends offered him consolation in the form of a puppy and welcomed Roxy the Staffy into our family.

Then #lockdown became a thing and the start we had a 8.00pm- 6.00 am curfew and a few shops closed. Worse was coming. We camped in the front yard for Easter! We were able to walk an hour each day so we walked with the puppy l really think this girl saved my mental health during lockdown. I really had a hard time being locked in the house with two adult children a Grandma daughter and a newly retired husband, my art failed me for the first time l couldn’t even escape into Art, I’d go to my studio to do art and then sit there and cry or clean in the end l just stopped l haven’t done any art since April 2020. Instead l got a note book and took up journaling again because my head was so full of conspiracy theories and rubbish Covid stuff l also deleted Facebook and just curled up with my journal and my books.

In June they released us and at 8.00am we were gone, we went up North into New South Wales and toured and visited some friends near the Queensland border. We had to be home for my Daughter’s 30th birthday on July 6. So the closer we got the worse the news got. Finally she called and said “My party is canceled we might have to go back into lockdown” at that point we were back on the Victoria/ New South Wales border it was day 16 of our trip and we literally tossed a coin.. do we go back up to our friends in Northern NSW or go home and risk lockdown again? The Grandma in me yelled “Home and Grandbabies” and so we went home.

Lockdown2 came quickly and more severe, one hour a day to walk outside, only one household person could do shopping, everything closed and no one allowed into your homes. I couldn’t even see my Grand children, thank goodness for FaceTime. In the end we would meet out the front of the house and walk to the park. But even that was limited in the amount of people allowed to gather.

June- November such a horrible time. We camped in the front yard, we ALL distance educated a very active 6 year old, we gardened, we read LOTS and watched heaps of Netflix! We could only go 5 kilometres from home so we got to know our neighbourhood very well walking the dog.

November we got unlocked but we were only allowed to travel within our State and so once again we packed up and ran away!

We came home again for Sweetpea’s birthday and our Grandsons birthdays in December. We still had rules about gatherings and how many people in our homes etc. We are STILL wearing face masks it’s certainly now how we planned to spend the first year of The Blokes retirement.

But Australia has been here a long time and will be here a long time still so we have time.

January we stayed home to spend it painting the inside of our house, taking three or four day breaks occasionally to clear the paint fumes and go camping.

Our first big trip is to Tasmania on 8th February until March 20th. Then we’re on baby watch as we await the birth of Grandchild number 7!

My word for 2021 is FREEDOM…. (I will never take the ability to walk out my front door for granted again!)

My New Years resolutions (Yes l make them every year!) is ….

* Do yoga every day ( I hurt my back so I’ve had a week off – already broke this one!)

* Read 90 books (last year I got 85 done)

*Camping Goal is 100 nights! That’s a minimum number!

Then l added one more challenge for #the100daysproject I’ve decided to do #100daysofme it started on January 31st and I plan to do something special and nice for myself every day for one hundred days and I’ve just decided to document it right here so that I can be accountable… will you help me by reading and commenting to keep me on track.. maybe suggest some ways I can spoil me..

Day one #100daysofme #the100daysproject l restarted my yoga after hurting my back a week ago, I did #YWA for back pain and I did a workout for back pain with my new friend Pahla B who does workouts for Women over 50. I had been going great and was on day 12 of her Walk off the weight series but I guess I pushed myself a little too hard workout with Pahla in the morning and then Yoga with Adriene in the afternoon. Ouch! After my exercise I also gave myself a foot soak with listerine, apple cider vinegar and hot water.. lovely! I hit my 2.8 litres of water goal and kept my calories under control. Day one was a success!!

So if you are still reading… l hope you’ll follow this new adventure, share ways l can spoil myself. Also l am currently doing three reading challenges l’ll do another post about that later but feel free to share your favourite book l am always after book suggestions. I’ll do some book reviews too!

Here’s to 2021! Did you make any resolutions? Did you start any new habits? Come on tell me all!!

My Granddog Roxy we took her camping last week! She’s such a Grandma’s girl!!

Two pieces today!

Apr5

I forgot to tell you in yesterdays post about the newest challenge I am doing. I find when I schedule myself to do something I tend to get them done. So each day in my journal is a check list of things I want to get done at the moment it looks like this….

Bible study 15 minutes (with a little box that I can tick off as its done)
Drawing- 15 minutes
Water- 3 x 800mls= 2.4 litres
10,000 steps
Shedding the weight Meditation
Read at least one chapter of current book.

So it seems silly to some people but for me if I don’t hold myself accountable I will put these things aside, and so what if I don’t read a chapter of my book? Well, I won’t finish it and then I wont hit my end of the year reading goal “Read 40 Books”

Its been said that if you do a thing for 21 days it forms a new habit, so by scheduling these things and ticking them off I am helping myself create new habits. I am so bad at drinking water, so that is an important one. I also track this on my Fitbit app! Shedding the weight meditation I am doing with Oprah and Deepak Chopra, its to help us change our thinking and to shed the weight by shedding thoughts and feelings that are negative and I am enjoying it, but by the time I have time to sit down and do the meditations, sometimes I am sleepy and cant be bothered, but then I don’t want to look at this list before bed and see that I haven’t checked it off! So I force myself to do it, it ends Sunday and I’ve only missed one day which I did the next day anyways! And the drawing reminder, well, research shows that if you do something for as little as 15 minutes a day you improve at that thing, and who doesn’t want to improve their drawing skills? Bible study is pretty self explanatory as well. I do an in home bible study afternoon each Wednesday but if I don’t do any for the other six days its a bit pointless.

So this week I found a new challenge, my Bloke says “She loves a good challenge” its called the “100 days project” and the goal is to chose anything at all, to do for 💯 days and take a photo and post it on Instagram with the hash tag #100daysproject I figured that while I am doing this art course and posting that online I might as well make it a little bit more exciting by making it a challenge!

Speaking of art… today I finished two pieces, both of which I don’t actually love, but I didn’t avoid them, or put them off, or worse still skip them! I did them and I am moving on!

Lesson 13- Teacher- Toni Burt, Subject- Berthe Morisot. It was a collage piece and I felt like I had gone back to preschool, having said that her face turned out really well and I loved that! I called her “Alice the music teacher” because I used sheet music for her dress and hat and the song was something about April!

Work in progress.. I am super happy with her face which was a limited colour palette in pastels.

I lost momentum with her dress and so just gave up.. isn’t that just what some of the impressionists did?!

Then lesson 14- Teacher- Jun Toyama, Subject- Nicolai Fechin. We used charcoal, I don’t actually mind charcoal its messy but its also nice because you cant be too fussy. We were supposed to use a live model, I didn’t and Im not sharing the photo of who it was supposed to be, it’s disappointing maybe I’ll redo it sometime!

I still need A LOT of practise with my angles! But like everything, practise will help me improve!

So thats me for this Thursday! This also means that I am now officially up to date with “Lets Face it” next lesson gets released on Monday, so that means, Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will work on “Soul brush sessions” and “Better drawing bootcamp” both of which are course run by Carrie on her website Artist Strong 💪 both of these course are run Free, so maybe you want to have a look!

I almost forgot to tell you about another challenge on Facebook, its an art group called “Weekend Challenges” each weekend we are given a photo and we have to recreate it as close as we can, or alternatively anyway we want. I’ll probably give that a go tomorrow, watch this space…..

Art- week 12’s lesson.

Apr3

You know that “Evil inner critic” you know the one!

That voice that is inside you telling you “You can’t do that or this or the next thing” I know I am not the only one who has one. Well I know mine personally, up close and dangerously. I’ve listened to her through out my life and even now she’s dead I still hear her, there are several key phrases she likes to repeat to me, but just lately, and I think mostly it’s to do with my Bible study and councilling I’ve been having, that “Evil Inner Critic” is starting to loose her power!

Now when “She” starts in and starts telling me “You can’t do that!” I am starting (at 50 years of age!) to reply back, “Well maybe I can’t do that but I won’t know if I don’t try!” And by finally talking back to her and then actually doing what she tells me I can’t! I find I am stepping put of my comfort zone and into a whole new level of ME!

Last week was a classic example… with doing the Mary Cassatt piece, I decided to use the real Mary’s face as my model, I know parts of it were wrong, and sure enough in comes “Evil Inner critic” to rudely point out “That chins not right, paint over it and do it different” and then “There’s something wrong with her eyes” and so finally I put my paint brush down and walked away, nope I didn’t argue with her or get upset like in the olden days, I walked away, for quite a few hours, I told myself “I am waiting for the paint to dry” maybe I was and maybe I was running, whatever it worked, because when I went back, I could see what the problem was and I had an idea of how to correct it. In the mean time, I had shared a photo of the piece in Carrie’s group “Artist Strong” on Facebook, and complained how I had ruined her. Carrie replied ” it’s closer than you think” which gave me courage to have another look and see where I could improve it. The best bit about that day was when my cousin who hadn’t known I was using Mary’s face as the model, saw the painting of the Girl in the blue hat which Mary had painted and we were to recreate and the photo of Mary, my cousin asked “Did you take these two photos and morph them into one!” Why yes I did! Which means that my painting must actually have resembled Mary somewhat! I was so excited! It means that someone else had seen what I had set out to do.

So now fast forward to this week, Lesson 12 B was with teacher Tanya Cole another Aussie lady, and her subject was Monet and so in her lesson she wanted us to try and recreate a flower loosely like Monet did his flowers and then to add a portrait of Monet. I felt the prickles of apprehension run down my spine and then I recalled my cousin mentioning the “Morphing” of the two photos in the other lesson, so I wondered if I could do it again. I think, by George, I’ve done it!

Tanya used a hibiscus flower and a portrait of young Monet in a black beret. I like hibiscus 🌺 they remind me of tropical islands, but when I read “Monet” immediately I put him with water lilies. My husband took me and my Mother-in-law on a “Date Day” and we went to see the Monet exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria a few years back, and it was beautifully set up, but I remember that I was so so so disappointed at seeing these famous paintings up close. They were terrible up close, some art is much better from a far, his edges were unfinished and some of the brush strokes were lumpy and messy, I left there disappointed. Then speaking to people and learning about his failing eye sight and the whole “Impressionist” movement I eased up on him a bit. Doing this course has helped me ease up on him a bit more.

Anyways, So I decided to deviate from Tanya’s painting and do my own, Kara tells us to put a bit of ourselves into each piece of work we do. So I did! I painted water lilies and an older I think more handsome Claude Monet, not my painting is more handsome but that Claude was the older he got! So here is my version of week 12 with Tanya Cole and Claude Monet!

He turned out better than I had hoped! The water lilies leave a lot,to be desired BUT its impressionist after all!

This week in art…

Mar16

I only got two days of art done this week. But l was so happy with what l did.

Lesson seven was Carrie Brummer and she was presenting Dorothea Therbusch, to get into understanding Dorothea’s work Carrie had us do a “Selfie” l don’t even do good “Selfies” with a camera let alone trying to paint myself so l put it off and avoided it and dreaded it. I had promised Carrie l wouldn’t cheat by tracing myself which would have been easier because oh gosh was it hard!

I tried to disassociate myself from the piece telling myself “here is an oblong shape (nose!) then this shape has a round bit and an oval bit (eye)” etc etc but then l would slip and say “Gosh my mouth is a weird shape in this photo” l got to a point where l thought l was done so l asked my husband (Quality control, engineer, design Bloke) “to have a look” he points out in his nicest way that the angle of my cheek was not quite right, so l handed him the pencil and he adjusted that. Then l asked him to look at whatever else and then finally we decided that the eyes were wrong so l rubbed those out and re did that. Then he re did the whole mouth 👄 finally we were both “happy enough” with it and so l decided to colour it. Carrie did hers in lead pencil but l wanted a splash of colour, so here is my version!

Looking at it now l can see errors but considering l was avoiding this lesson lm going to call this done.

Then lesson 8- I’ve been waiting for this one for ages “The Lady of Shallot” teacher was Deanna Strachan Wilson and subject was John William Waterhouse. I immersed myself in this lesson l listened to the song by Loreena McKennit which has always been my favourite and l love the painting too, l was surprised at how easily she fell out of the pencil! I used acrylic paint for this one Deanne used mix media but l was so happy with this step l stopped! So here is MY “Lady of Shallot”

I’m still trying to decide whether to add the written element which l like on Deanna’s version.

I also brought myself a frame and framed lesson number one!

And finally here is my little art gallery. I never put my own art up in the wall but this is my Corner and so here is my gallery!

R is for….

Apr21

This challenge is brought to you by: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ or as always click the above photo.

Today is brought to you but the letter “R” and for me some might say the most important letter.. sure it’s ALL been about Family, but his one is the reason for FAMILY.. finally I’m introducing you to my “Bloke“

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloke

Bloke is a slang term for a man common in Ireland, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The earliest known usage is from the early 19th century, when it was recorded as a London slang term.^[1] The word’s origin is unknown, and though many theories exist regarding its etymology, none is considered conclusive.

In Australia, a bloke is a unique masculine archetype associated with the country’s national identity. The “Aussie bloke” has been portrayed in important works of art and associated with famous Australians, while in the United Kingdom, “bloke” is an everyday term for any man.

See now there ya go, I even learnt something new, I had NO idea that Britain, New Zealand and South Africa?? really?!! used the term Bloke.. I thought it was an Aussie invention!! His Nick name started when I commented one day “Oh you are amazing, that’s so smart” he’d done something useful for me and I was complimenting him, his reply was “Nah I’m just a Bloke” to which I replied “Yeah but you’re MY Bloke” and he’s been called Bloke even since. To be fair he’s always called me his “Sheila” and I preferred that rather than “My Mrs, or the wife” Some days I think he doesn’t remember my real name but then when he calls me my real name I always cringe and think I am in trouble! The Bloke has introduced me to people like this “Meet so and so and this is my Sheila” people then think my name is Sheila.. and later on they say something like “Oh and Sheila what do you do?” (A question I HATE!! read here: https://kimlhine.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/plead-the-fifth/) I then have to gently correct them and say “well actually my name is Kim” he’s so convincing at calling me “Sheila”

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sheila

Sheila

A great and loving person, someone who you can call a sister.The most amazing cook,generous heart,caring and loving. She is Funny and loves to Dance even if it is to her own music. Life is full of fun and funny stories with lots of laughter when you are with her. She pushes her self out of her comfort zone to accomplish the tasks that’s placed before her with a job well done. When you are sad or feeling ill she is the first one to respond to your side.
If you’re a Sheila set your goals high, Because this is what Sheila’s do.
It is Cool to be a Sheila …Bright, Smart and Beautiful in side and out. Most of all In tune with the Spirit of God!

Sheila: Spiritual,Good Humored,loving and caring.

Funny… I’d never read that particular explanation of “Sheila” before but it fits me!! My family often ask “what are to dancing to? there’s no music!!” ha ha!

So now let me introduce you to “My Bloke”

My Bloke, Rob Hine, Perry Sand hills Wentworth New South Wales November 2014

Robert Hine was born 29th February 1956 (yep he’s ancient!!) He was a leap year baby, the first I’d ever met and then I ended up with a pen pal who is also a leap year baby, this fact will become useful later…

His parents nevr gave him a middle name, so I did… “trouble”

Robert.. sounds foreign calling him that! was the middle child of three, he was a cutie from the photos I’ve seen. A bit of a wild child, he says not, but I disagree he brought an old ambulance with a friend and re modeled it and set off to see Australia.. Wild child or not? They spent a long time wandering over the Eastern Coast of Australia and working as they went, scuba diving and other odd ball jobs. He is still friends with that friend who was the best man at our wedding, he married an American lady and moved to Florida but they come “home” yearly to see his Mum so we catch up then.

Somewhere along the way Rob met the lady who would be his first wife and settled down I guess.. I’m not going into all his sordid back ground but we need to touch on that stuff because that’s how he got our eldest son Kit.

By the time I got to meet Rob, he was a single Dad, enjoying some old-fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll music, dances and seeing bands, he had a house and a steady job so I missed the footloose and fancy Rob and got the high-end business man, jack of all trades, this is the man who, when given a sheet of cardboard recently to take out to the recycling bin, comes back a little while later and says “Hey Hun, Look what I made” I turned around to look at him very proudly holding something.. I am always a supportive wife, and so said “ohh it looks good but … umm… what is it?”

“This” he proudly tells me “is the template for a collapsible fire pit!!” My husband is an Engineer, so if ever I am stuck on a project he’s the first one I call, he is very exact in measurements where as I am the “Close enough is good enough” kinda girl.. if I get stuck I say “huuuuun” you have to drawl it out and sound kinda pitiful..”I just can’t make this work, could you take a look?” and he says “Yeah sure Sheila let’s see” and within minutes it’s fixed. That’s the kinda guy he is, so he’s helped me with Quilting, Sewing projects, painting projects, decorating projects, school homework projects.. we always joke and I say “Can you take a Bloke look at this and tell me where I am wrong?”

So back to the cardboard “collapsible fire pit”.. I gently reminded him that it’s cardboard wont it burn? he says “yeah.. but when I take it to work tomorrow and put it into the computer and then make it out of steel.. you’ll see!” Side track… When we go camping, in tents, with all our gear stored in a trailer which we call “Tilly” we have very limited room, my Bloke designed this trailer and had it made to his dimensions and everything had a place and a place for everything it’s so snugly packed!

He’s Tilly at the Big Banana in Coff Harbour New South Wales. Easter 2014

Inside Tilly has divided bits to hold stuff and store stuff and even shelves, it’s very clever and we love it, but there’s no room to carry a fire pit and sometimes we go camping and we wish we had a fire pit, some camp grounds provide them but it’s on a “first in first serve basis” and that’s not ideal. In Canungra at Easter 2014, we managed to get one from the people who were camped next to us and were leaving, and before we had time to even put some wood or paper in it, someone had come over and was about to pick it up and walk off with it.. until the Bloke said “oi.. that’s our fire pit tonight” It was then a seed was planted and about 3 months later than the “collapsible firepit” was born, all because I was too lazy to walk the cardboard out to the recycling bin…

He came home from work about a week later and said “Hey Sheila wait till you see what I made ya!” and off we go to see.. he set it all up and yes it was amazing, we cook on it at least weekly now.

Fiona Fire Pit.. cooking dinner on the banks of the Darling River in Wentworth New South Wales November 2014.

The beauty of Fiona Firepit is.. she packs flat and takes up no more room than this lap top computer.. we cook whole meals on her we sit a cast iron griddle plate on top and on those bars where the potatoes are, the kettle goes so we have hot water to wash up. He’s made a few different ones, the grooves in the side of this one are where we rest the skewers when we made kebabs.

Now his work, are in on the act and want to see them.. I don’t know whats happening with that but we love ours and are looking forward to taking her with us on the Big Lap, August – October 2015 to Western Australia.

Here is Fiona in the front yard cooking jaffles in the Jaffle iron, I just found out recently they are called “Moon Pies” in the States..

So that’s my Bloke, Jack of all trades, when I see something I like he says “I can make that!” and he does.. I wanted bookshelves for the Study when we first moved in, he made bookshelves not just any bookshelves, wall to floor wall to wall bookshelves and the shelves were measured to fit in various books, CD’s, His vinyl collection and his bloody Phantom comics!!

Everyone has heard of the Phantom, he is the dude that jumps around in purple lycra and lives with the Band of Bandari pygmies and rides a white horse and has a pet wolf called Shadow.. (I think?!) In our house The Phantom is a legend and my husband collects Phantom and says weird stuff like “rough on roughnecks” and “the Ghost who walks the man who never dies” and his favorite is whenever he says something smart he proclaims it as “An old jungle saying” I’ve only ever read a few of the comics, because I really prefer books without pictures unless they are photos! So the Phantom Comics are side by side with the Old 50’s records, and they are next to the CD’s which we used for all our radio shows when we did those. My Bloke rarely watches TV, mainly only the Football or the news, he reads occasionally but once he’s into a good book he hates to put it down.

Teaching Squishy to Swim, Australia day 2014- Alexandra Victoria.

He used to brew his own beer, and I will never forget that smell or brewers yeast fermenting in the laundry!! He likes to cook, and in fact will not allow me to cook Steak,BBQ, Fish/Seafood or any Roasted meats.. I feel he doesn’t trust me. he likes to choose a meal each week that he will have to cook “gives you a break hun” and if I cook, he’ll dry the dishes! He loves tomatoes but hates them cooked. He has a life long version to brussel sprouts, I will never forget the day we were in the check out line at Aldi, and I was asking him “What is so wrong with Brussel Sprouts?” and he waffled on about the yucky texture and the smell etc etc, and he said well so and so doesn’t like them and either does so and so, and so I smart assed-ly asked “So I suppose you are going to tell me that Niddrie Tech School taught you ALL how not to like Brussel Sprouts” and before he had the chance to reply.. the guy in front of us turned around and said “yes it’s true! Mr So so the Maths teacher put me off them for life” Oh My Gosh.. seriously?? then these two blokes stood there for like 10 minutes discussing how they hate Brussel sprouts and did you know Mr so and So at NIddrie tech school?

Camping with Family and friends Easter 2013

Rob and I, Debbie and Mark, Cousin Lee and Craig

But see that’s another thing about my Bloke, he’ll talk to anyone and find something in common with anyone. He likes little children and will play peek-a-boo in the supermarket with a total stranger and I will say “can you please leave that child alone and finish the shopping?” Once in a second hand shop in Alice Springs in the middle of the Northern Territory, There were some Indigenous Australians in there and a little girl about maybe 2 yrs of age, just was fascinated by Rob, maybe it was his silver hair or how tall he is or his soft voice, but she fixated on him to the point where she blocked the door and would let us leave the shop, and then when we did manage to escape she stood there and cried.. we all fell in love with her and talked about the chances of kidnapping her and keeping her.

This is the man who claims “I hate cats!” and then when we found homes for all but one kitten decided that maybe we should keep her as we were keeping her brother. He named her Janis Martin after his favorite 50’s singer, and she became his shadow. So one day he’d been out in the shed for ages working on his motorbike and I thought I’d do the dutiful wife thing and go see what he’s up to.. I hear music blasting and there is Rob and his Cat, heads together working on a piece of Motorbike.. I said “Ohh you two look very cozy there!” and he gives me this Growl.. “she won’t bloody move and everytime I put my head down she puts hers down for head rubs!” yeah right.. he loved it! he nicknamed her “Janis floppy Shed cat” He was so devestated when Janis left home and went to live with the neighbours down the street, The dogs that used to live over the road trapped her one time in the shed, and she was obviously more traumatised that we realised because she’s never set foot in the shed again and moved house as well.. traitor!!

When I got the bright idea to shave my head and raise money for the Leukemia foundation, he didn’t hesitate to jump on board! Thats true love!

Rob and I have been married 11 yrs this year together 15. We got married on HIS birthday 29th Feb 2004, I told you it would come in handy later!! I married him on his birthday for two reasons A- he’ll never forget the date and B- When we have a “real” anniversary every 4 years we also have another honeymoon!! Clever huh?

And although the numbers say it’s a short time it seems like forever, he’s changed my life in so many ways. when I first met Rob I was convinced this would go no where! We were too different, He was a fancy business man shirt and tie kinda guy and I was a single mother of three, housewife mousy person. We have met somewhere in the middle.. he’s relaxed a bit and I’ve lifted my game a bit and we have a happy medium. I found it so hard to go to the Rock ‘n’ Roll dances at the start, I didn’t know how to dance and everyone was so beautiful and dressed up, so Rob took it upon himself to give me dance lessons, at impromptu moments, usually in the kitchen while dinner was cooking, which 9 times outta 10 would end up with a kiss, and then 4 children groaning “errr yuck.. get a room!!” Eventually I learnt some steps and went to a dance and danced and loved it and we have been dancing ever since, now I am teaching the Grandbabies and sometimes all four of us will dance in the kitchen, Me with Sweetpea and he with Squishy. All the good things happen in my kitchen!!

For our Double Digit Wedding Anniversary in Feb 2014, we had a Mystery Flight and spent a romantic weekend in Brisbane Queensland. He hates to fly, I would fly every day!!

He taught me to not only endure camping, but to love it to embrace it and to want to go more. We said when we went away for our first “Big Lap” September – November 2012, we will either get closer or one of us will come home dead. A few times we had some harsh words because he wanted to be Mr Perfect and do it all himself.. but once he decided to chillax a little bit and give me some chores well life got smoother. He’s taught me to try new things, to taste new things, to explore new places, and so in the last 15 yrs I’ve done more than in the previous 33 years!