Test from Outlook2

Okay so I have to work on the picture thing but just seeing if I can transfer formatting too...

 

 

Test from Outlook

This is a test to see if I can post from outlook and to see if it works with pictures

Heat Heat Sunshine

Oh how wonderful it was to have some warmth and sunshine back in our days, brief though it was…. Have been so miserable for so long in this cold dreary weather was like manna from heaven to see the sun out and to finally be able to enjoy some time outside… Mind you we all felt like nanna naps by the afternoon, we were like big fluffy cats just wanting to curl up and have a snooze. Not that we really achieved anything in any way shape or form just lazed around, the boys went out on the bikes on the track up the road (saw two big snakes – did say with the warmth they'd be on the move), girls rode around on the ripstick thingos and I sat on the chair with Milo reading #3 in the Twilight saga….

Although I enjoyed the first book, I am really finding it hard slog finishing these last two!! I guess teenage angst is just not my scene especially when it seems to be the same scenario just different location…. As I said they are just NOT Harry Potter, nor a Jodi Picoult book… will endure #4 and see if my predictions are right (get married, Belle somehow is pregnant, other covens start to intrude and it all goes pear shaped but they will live happily forever after!! Oh I am a cynic but I feel they are so predictable….

Battery going flat so will write more soon

Hugs Jo'

xoxo

Just a quick update

Piggy backing off another connection. Still around... very quiet, not doing too much with my Stampin'Up and with the new rules for Demo's am seriously thinking about dropping but I really like my discount and getting my bits and pieces for nothing!!

Max finally back at work after shutdown and to be honest I am so RELIEVED... Finally have him out of my hair... Has been torture since July, so over the "we are broke, can't spend any money" excuse for everything...but can go and buy a new motorbike for Mstr 8 for a couple of grand!!! Am applying on-line to Kmart & Target and to get a couple of days work so I can have some pin money to get things done around the house...

Neesh wants to do her room so have picked out colours that both she & Leiha like so I can force the issue with converting the garage into her room... Mind you the rate we are going she's going to be at University and not needing it!!

Am hoping to get my "thank you Mr rudd" payment in the next week or so to use on Christmas and a few other bits & pieces... Plan to get a stack of fruit trees and set up an edible garden out the front with a compost tumbler so this time next year hopefully we'll be producing a lot of our own vegies. Grabbed a heap of apples today from market to put through the dehydrator for the kids for school snacks. Figure better than all the other junk they want to eat... Mind you don't buy bars very often rather make stuff for them to eat... Great site for ideas is Simple Savings - their forums are a treasure trove of information and ideas to save some money. Some tips really relate to city dwellers which can be a pain as I have tried so hard to buy items in bulk cheaper than what the supermarkets but in a small country city like ours it is not cheaper to go to wholesalers at all...Even farmgate buying is non-existent... Only way it is cheaper is if you do buy brand name products but for me I buy mostly generic so can't justify the wholesalers prices for brand name products... Biggest problem for me is fruit & vegetables... We go through so much it is not funny!! It's my biggest expense by far...

Well quick update for sure.... Is a lot more to say but it is still freezing cold here - got fire going but there is a bad cold breeze coming from somewhere which is negating what warmth is coming from the fire.... Another thing Mr rudd's payment will be paying for is a ceiling guy to come in and fix the sheets back onto the battens in the roof so I can get insulation put in... Will only be $1200 for insulation which of course, is covered by the rebate but the big expense will be the fixing up first!!

Time to put more wood on.

Til next time

Hugs Jo xoxo

Don't dismiss a cough as "just a cold"

Yes that's my bubby girl in the Childrens Ward at our Hospital. Looking very pale and washed out. It all started Thursday night - she was coughing quite badly and I just put it down to the weather and residual leftover from the cold we've all had. Filled her up with recommended dosage of Ventolin & Serotide and she seemed fine. Repeated the doses again in the morning and off she weent to school. Urgent phone call at 1.30pm Friday to say she had been unwell since before lunch and ventolin treatment was not working and she was finding it very hard to breathe. 15min dash to school and one not very well looking baby on our hands. Had rung the doctors on the way out and they bluntly said don't bother bringing her in - take her straight to the hospital ED..... We came home and Meleiha wanted to lay down (been told now the worst thing I could have let her do), so put on a Barbie movie and she promptly fell asleep in our bed. Slept til 4-ish but was even worse on awakening so I took Neesh to her beach party (freezing cold weather and teenagers having a bbq at the beach AND went swimming - NO BRAINS AT ALL!!) then rushed to the Hospital. Straight into ED, onto Pulsox machine & got the bad news that yes this is a MAJOR asthma attack and yes we are being admitted.
God how bad did I feel that I had delayed coming up for 3 hours coz she was tired and wanted to sleep - the reason she was tired was her heart was working overtime to get oxygen around her little body as she couldn't get enough into her lungs!!
So off we went in the bed to the childrens ward.... rang Daddy to give him the news and then had to wait til he picked Neesh up from the beach (soaking wet and freezing cold as had gone swimming in her clothes - we were not impressed at all!!) so I could rush home for night gear, toiletries, things to do and changes of clothes.
Was a very unpleasant weekend with hourly nebuliser & obs, chest xray (then told had chest infection as well!!), very limited things to do so carted two bags of stamping gear up but not really enough room to spread out how we are used to here at home... And very bored and annoyed Daddy complaining about a waste of a weekend having to spend it at the hospital (fell asleep in the chair/sofabed so not sure what his complaint was, I still had to deal with the four kids running amok for the 4hrs he was there!!)... Told him I was sorry it was so incovenient for him that his daughter was extremely ill and I needed to stay with her in hospital. Other three tho't it was great coz they got three meals of junk food as Daddy wouldn't cook what I had got out of the freezer for the weekend meals (just love wasted food!!)
Finally early on Sunday morning Meleiha's oxygen levels were reading consistently at 100% so when Doctor Zaphir came in at 11am he gave her the okay to leave... With three prescriptions tho for antibiotics to take for a week, steroid tablets for a week and a regime of Ventolin and Serotide to follow strictly for the next four days, until I couldn't hear the crackling wheeze in her chest.
Due to the two hourly ventolin I kept her home til Friday which was a good thing coz she was getting so tired by about 1pm each day so we didn't really go out much just for some shoes and Xmas clothes... And she commented when she got in the car Friday arvo that she was really tired and was asleep by 7pm....
She's been quiet all weekend barely moving from the games room, playing games with her dolls or reading or watching videos so I hope it means she is on the mend.
We have a doctors appointment for all three of us (Meleiha, Tyler & myself) Monday arvo so I hope for some resolution to all the illness we have had since May/June this year.... I'm kinda over it quite frankly....
I'm asking to go back on my antidepressants and am going to ask about a major weight loss procedure as I know that my weight is a contributing factor to my health problems but not sure if the depression is due to the weight gain or vice versa. I have tried a lot of things and are so successful but then something happens and it all creeps back on again and I feel bad about myself again so vicious circle. Need a kick in the pants so a start is the antidpressants.
Til later
Jo xoxo

Happy Birthday to Our Babies

Yes okay it was a few days ago... my excuse was Internet kept crashing!! Well what a day - well actually more like two weeks... Basically spent the whole two weeks of the school holidays preparing for the day!! Cleaning up & out the games room, making decorations for the verandah, buying all the goodies for the day, making up goodies bags from scratch, cooking food, organising helpers, cleaning up the backyard.... all for 4 hours of fun... And it was with altogether 45 bodies (well I think... I haven't done an official head count but man there was a lot of voices & bodies everywhere - do know that 25 kids came so with our 4 & the 4 teens who turned up - long story - approx 33 kids) Then you add on the 11 or 12 adults in attendance (actually thinking about it there was 15 adults all up at feeding time at the zoo) gosh no wonder I was frazzled and had a major headache by the end of the day... That's not 45 that's 48!!
Max got home really late Friday night after being sent back for a 5th trip on Thursday night so was a very early start Saturday to wash the truck & be out of the house to do his jobs on the list by 9am. Twins got up about 7.30am so did the big open present thing and they loved their new bikes & helmets (tho I did trick them into thinking they were getting two from Kmart that we'd looked at after these two from Target)... First thing they opened tho was their cards from Nanni in Donnybrook... were rapt in the money they got & started making plans on what they were spending it on (put a stop to it tho by saying it was going in the bank - well half of it!!) Finished unwrapping the rest of their stuff and had a quick ride on their bikes, then off to prepare for 11am when everyone was meant to be arriving.
I threw myself through the shower while I had some cake mix on to make 3 dozen mini patty cake things. While they were cooking did my hair and face and got the kids onto fairy bread, etc. Max finished the truck and moved it into the driveway, threw himself in the shower and took off to pick up the meat, etc I had ordered from the butchers & do a couple of other things for his work week. Got back just as I finished off the dip & potato salad I was making so I took off with Josh to pick up the bread & rolls for the bbq. Girl had forgotten what time I was coming in so I had to wait for her to count out the 40 bread rolls we ordered then we jumped back in the car to arrive back home at 10.30am so I could get changed out of my grots into some nice clothes (was warming up so had to re-think what I wanted to wear!!)....While I was gone the bouncy castle people arrived so they were just setting up when I got back, so made for an interesting manouvere into the carport... Michelle arrived just in the nick of time so greeted her at the door with a bread knife and she was onto roll cutting duty. Nanna & Grandad arrived just after so Nanna was given the job of running up and down the damn stairs ferrying food out to the table while I finished off cutting up the onions for the bbq & organising Max with oil/paper towels, tongs, knife, trays, etc.
Michelle and Nanna got all the food into the downstairs oven and the saveloy's on the boil & not a moment too soon as the kids started arriving and instantly wanted food.... I have never seen so much disappear so quickly!! Sausage rolls, saveloy's, rice crackle things, patty cakes, chips, dip with vegie crudites (sp?) & 16ltrs of fruit punch... Then at about 12ish they hoed into the sausages in buns (handled wonderfully by Rhyll & Ronelle who directed traffic so well after I alerted the darlings by whistling to them all - always knew living on the hill on Frenchman Bay Road and learning to whistle with my fingers in my mouth to get my siblings attention when they were at the front of the block, would come in handy eventually - 30yrs down the track it has!!)... Lined up down the backyard and we had the production line thing happening!! Let them play for about another 40mins while I collapsed in a chair with Ronelle & Michelle, then I ran upstairs for the ice cream cakes & candles.... Lined them all up around the table and did the Happy Birthday thing, trying to light candles and take photo's at the same time (not happening so hoping Michelle got some decent ones), served it all up in our funky coloured plates with neon green spoons, then back to playing again til parents arrived 15mins later.... someone discovered we had water balloons so had a line of kids at the tap filling them up and then running up onto the deck to bomb an unsuspecting victim below. I do hope they all had a ball coz at the end of the day I was knackered but I couldn't have done it without all the other mum's help - worst bit was we didn't even have time to stop and have a coffee at the end of the day!! All the goodies bags went bar one which was in my room for an absentee child but that has disappeared from my table & I'm pretty sure I found the empty bag in a bedroom but I am not going to accuse anyone at this stage as I am just over yelling at them all the time...
So that was our big day - lots of presents & money, lots of kids & fun, bouncy castle was a huge hit and they all had a ball.
Oh... kids had their bi-monthly hair cut the day before and my lovely hairdresser gave Meleiha a present - having the apprentice straighten her hair for the party... In her beautiful dress, new shoes and her sparkly crown she looked like a princess.. I always worry about her haircuts with her curly hair but having it straightened made me realise what a brilliant job Pam does on her hair - it looked fantastic!! And of course she spiked up Tyler's hair but he didn't want to do the fancy dress thing like all the other kids so just had jeans & t-shirt on (boring!!)
Big day, big two weeks!!

My Baby

Two sides to the little Miss.... the cheeky brat who wears those wings with just the right amount of joie de vivre and sass (but the halo is missing tho at times that is quite bent)... and the quiet little person who loves playing on her own, in her own space and own world with her dolls and horses... I was cleaning in the games room and noticed her out on the table doing some more of her constant artwork and snapped this picture through the fly screen on the window... She didn't even know I was there and I love this picture & the smoky effect the screen has given the shot - no Photoshopping this one!!)

New Toys Have arrived

Sorry to sound so excited but my lovely new shiny white 6.5kg Bosch washer and 6.5kg condenser dryer arrived today!! They are soooooo cool and I love them to bits. Well would have to wouldn't I or I wouldn't have bought them. Going to take a while to get used to the LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG washing cycle but man they are both so quiet and everything looks so fresh and clean… And I can do HEAPSSSSS in each load - no more 5 loads of washing a day Now all I have to do is get rid of the overhead cupboards and the tacky laundry cupboard and I will be in laundry heaven coz they stack on top of themselves (well obviously the dryer goes on top but you know what I mean). Bit overkill really as now it's starting to fine up & I can hang everything outside but the dryer will come in handy for evenings especially next term when Meleiha has swimming lessons everyday for two weeks… Tho she does have several pairs of bathers to wear I know she will only want to wear her blue ones with her matching boardies!!

Now to wait for the fireworks when the boss man gets home on Thursday as I didn't tell him I was getting them!! Hope to have the old washing machines (yes two of them!!) and the clapped out dryer out of here by then. Don't care if I only get $50 for the lot, just want them out of here!!

More old photos

Collage of pics from January 2008... Went on a bit of a bender with the chainsaw and ended up with all the hibiscus trees hacked to within an inch of their lives but they will be of so lovely this summer. Several horrid scrubby things disappeared and the natives out the front got demolished as well. Already showing signs of joyfulness in Spring with all the lovely green growth and flower buds galore. Birds are loving it too as they are nice and bushy so afford lots of protection from the chicken hawks and crows that are hanging around in abundance lately (DISLIKE CROWS intensely)... I scored some lovely unusual twisted pieces of branches which I hope to use eventually for growing things up. Noticed my creeper that appeared out of nowhere in one of my pots (migrated somehow from Ros's garden but we just can't work out how as I've never put anything from her garden in this particular pot) has sent out new growth (I thought I'd killed it as it went all brown and yack whereas everything else in there is thriving).... So am moving that up stairs on the balcony too and will tie it up & train it over a piece of the branch so it can grow around the railing... Want a jasmine or wisteria or something as pretty as that along there too for perfume in the evenings - will be so nice at night with the window open (once I get the fly screens redone)... At least I have proven that the only way to break into this place now is by smashing a window as the fly screens are funky ones that you actually have to take the window out from inside the house to get in & you have to get past the security locks as well... Good luck with that..... It's tighter than Fort Knox with all the padlocks and double locks around the place!!