time for the bed.....

So .... I'm about to change my doona cover from the gorgeous white one to the warm fake suede one, for winter.
It needs ironing. I hate ironing. And it's king-size! and slithery!! but it looks so toasty and inviting on the bed.
Especially since I bought more cushions (we now have 7 cushions, 4 pillows, and 2 boomerang pillows on the bed. Fabio says they are a nuisance, I say they are not even close to enough.)
I LOVE our bed. It has a Latex mattress and weighs a ton, but it's big enough for us all to snuggle into on a weekend morning. And it's super firm and comfy. I wish I was in it right now as a matter of fact... but the ironing board awaits.

a trip to the museum

While on holiday, we went to the local museum (it's the Herberton Historical Village actually, and it's a MUST SEE if you're ever on the Atherton Tablelands.)
I remember the opening, and going out there on school trips, and I remember the day when a building was moved from our schoolyard to the museum, to make way for the new science/home-ec block.
Knowing that I would be in for a hard time from the kids over it, I made a point of regularly mentioning "oh and - hahaha - Mums' old school rooms are in a museum" hoping they would be over it by the time we got there. It pretty much worked.
It was so weird walking into the building as an adult, after 32 years (OMG is it THAT long???) and remembering things I had completely forgotten -- like, port racks. If you're not a Queenslander, this means "the place where you keep your school bag".
But the biggest surprise of all was running into my year 7 teacher, Mr C (who was doing some restoration work)
He took the kids into one of the classrooms, and took out a slate for them to write on, and showed them all kinds of cool olden days stuff, while I looked at the vintage maps and pictures and books and drooled.





After we left, I noticed my husband was very quiet. "Are you not enjoying yourself?" I asked.
Said he:
"I'm just trying to get over the fact that, not only is your school in a museum, but so is YOUR TEACHER!"

Cheeky bugger.

a sugar-coated giveaway....

Oh. My. GAWSH! check out the fab giveaway on Suger Coat It
This is SERIOUSLY CUTE and I WANT one.
Now, please go over to Melissas' blog, read the post, and leave a comment so she feels loved. I'll wait right here while you go post something.

*hmm hmm hmm lalalalalala ...*

AHH you're back. Thanks for helping a sista out! Now I'm off to check out how much that clock costs!!

my new BFF

We do a LOT of travelling. A shopping trip is 200 kms each way (usually means an overnight stay) and if we visit Gorgeous George at boarding school, it's also a weekend away. And then we usually don't have net access which is sometimes a nuisance and sometimes a REAL nuisance.
So Fabio weighed up the pros (constant net access) vs the cons (COST!!) and bought this handy little doohickey...



It cost a small fortune, but it means that wherever we go, as long as we have coverage, we have the net.
Technology, I heart you.

how I got to 50

WOO-HOOOOOOO

Check it -- 50 FOLLOWERS! (:

Good thing I have a large family, hey?

i hate goodbyes....

It's always really heart-wrenching to leave North Queensland, and yesterday was no exception (in fact, it may have been the worst yet). I cried HARD for hours, and my eyes were all puffy and sore. Maybe the airlines are used to seeing red-eyed, tear-streaked women, because no-one commented.
I hate saying goodbye to my sisters, and I hate leaving the mountains.

So here we are in South Queensland. We drove out to see my Nana, which was wonderful. She's been unwell, not too serious I hope but she is getting on a bit and each time we're here, we make the effort to see her, knowing it could be the last. Plus she always tells me how precious I am, and how proud she is of me, and who could pass that up? The kids are surprised at how small she is (Katie was talking about Nana-in-the-pocket yesterday) and amused that Mum (who is incredibly ancient) actually has a grandmother!

A few pictures to share and then I have to go help pack up the car.

7 deadly sins....

I saw this over on Wanderlust and immediately thought AHA! I can do that, I have at LEAST seven sins stashed away.
So here we go, spill-guts time:

1. SLOTH -- how do you relax?
Blogging (unless I'm trying to teach myself something new!) and I also love to read (totally ignoring everything else) and watch DVDs. Grand Designs is a huge favourite. I have about 6 seasons now I think. I've just started watching Dexter as well.

2. GLUTTONY -- what can't you get enough of, even though it's bad for you?
Salt. I know. My arteries must be like cable ties by now.

3. GREED -- what do you get greedy for?
I wracked my brain for about 10 minutes, then I asked Fabio (since he knows me best) and he said "Me." He's right.

4. ENVY -- what makes you green?
Oh. Beautiful homes. And beautiful places to put them in.

5. LUST -- what does it for you?
Fabio. That's all. And trust me, he's plenty.

6. PRIDE -- what are you inordinately proud of?
Well -- Fabio and the kids obviously. But also the fact that I got a website up and running, and that I blog! My life may be as boring as all get-out, but EVERYONE gets a chance to view it in all its' mundane glory.

7. WRATH -- what makes you angry?
People who think they deserve hand-outs but have no sense of social responsibility; parents who let their kids run amok; Kevin Rudd; barking dogs; people who refer to redheads as RANGAS; the Child Support Agency..... gotta stop, I'm getting CRABBY!

Now -- what are YOUR sins? Write em up and make sure to leave a comment here so I know to come and have a sticky-beak!

more about the wedding

We had a girly sleep-over at The Brides' house the night before the wedding -- managed to fill a bin with empty wine bottles and all 5 of us were talking at once and still managing to listen to each other. Hooray for multi-tasking!
The next day, we had the hair and make-up lady arrive to begin renovations and then the photographer, Helen, turned up, so The Bride put The Dress on.
And that was the end of The Other Bridesmaid and me. We started snivelling and sooking and didn't really stop from then.
The Bride looked stunning. I know people say that about all brides, but look:

Stunning.
It took us a while to load The Dress into the car, I was terrified that I would shut part of her train in the door and she'd arrive with a muddy torn skirt, but we managed to get that all sorted out, and off we went.
We made it down the aisle without falling over, and stood in the right place -- then the music started up, and the Bride appeared, and my sister and I started crying AGAIN.... but we weren't alone! The Brides' BFF was crying so hard, we had to throw her some tissues, and when The Bride saw her, she had a bit of a giggle.


"What are YOU crying for?"

Vows and rings were exchanged:


and they are Husband and Wife!

More crying....


then we had 10 000 photos taken:




and FINALLY time for a drink:



Yes, that is me, and YES, my husband took that photo....

the BIG DAY

Renovations:


(me, sister, bride. Nice rollers)


(me -- makeup done, hair under construction)

......................................................


(the Bride -- nervous, much?)

day 3 -- the resort

This is the view from our lounge right now. There are birds EVERYWHERE, and huge beautifully-coloured butterflies and geckoes and frogs.

day 3 -- waiting.

Oh. My. God.
It is NOT SMART to make a person fly across the country, landing at 4 am, at an airport in the process of renovation, keep the car hire places closed till 5 am, and LOCK ALL THE COFFEE MACHINES IN THE PART OF THE AIRPORT THAT IS UNDER RENOVATION.
Bad move. Cranky man.
He got crankier when a Random Weirdo decided he and Fabio would be BFFs and followed him around telling his (boring and mostly made-up) life story.
He got pretty crabby when we couldn't read the car-hire mans' handwriting and thus had trouble locating the car we had paid a fortune for.
His lips thinned when John Cleese insisted we turn left at the roundabout, into a swampy canefield that looked like it might hold man-eating crocodiles (reasonably safe bet up here, I think)
But the final straw was the car beeping and pinging and flashing red at him because he didn't have his seat-belt on. (in the car-park)
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" he roared. "Bloody NANNY CAR in a bloody NANNY STATE!"
Silence.
Even John Cleese realised he was in mortal danger, and started telling us the right way to go. We drove straight to the nearest McCafe and drank coffee and Fabio looked at a newspaper till he felt happy again.

day 2 of the holiday -- Mothers' Day

We spent Mothers' Day with a friend and 2/3 of her gorgeous daughters.
We drove up to Kings' Park in Perth, and the kids went crazy running around from climby-thing to climby-thing. AMAZINGLY, the climby-things are large and not covered in guardrails or wrapped in thick foam. Even more amazingly, there were literally hundreds of kids and no fights (that we saw) and no-one fell or hurt themselves. So maybe there is hope yet that the Nannys who've been running this country are losing their power.
Dinner was cooked by the gorgeous girls, then we made our way to the airport, took off at about 10 pm and slept most of the way, landing in Cairns at 4 am.

thankyou thankyou thankyou!!!

Seems I WON the blog challenge at Blog This.
To tell the truth, I felt quite embarrassed, thinking that my friends and family had voted -- but then I read through the comments on my story and there are a LOT there from people I dont really know.
So THANKYOU ALL.
Because, you know, it came at a time when I wasn't feeling too confident about myself and meant a lot.
xx

holidays....

We're off on holidays - my sister is getting married and we get to escape to Queensland for 2 weeks. Here's the diary of our trip....

Day ONE:
driving to Perth from DrearyTown -- 300 kms of dirt road before we finally hit the bitumen.
here are some pics:












Happy to report that all the wildlife stayed out of our way so the Pajero is still ding-free. We had one lunch-break/toilet stop, and listened to The Princess ask "Are we there yet?" for about 6 hours.
Note to self -- next time, bring the iPod.
We stayed overnight with a friend, watched the Dockers clean up the Brisbane Lions,and drove through the city centre -- kids were suitably amazed by all the tall buildings. I felt like a bit of a noob tourist until I saw the lady in the car next to me taking photos of the buildings (:

More later.

new look!

WOW! I love this background.... let me know what you think.

shopping, girl style

Last weekend, Fabio and I took the kiddies to the Big Smoke. Fabio had loads of boring boy-stuff to do, so he took HandsomeSon and left The Princess and I in the HOMEWARES shops. With NO BOYS. For the first time in about 3 years, we were free to BROWSE!
And we did!
The Princess is 5, but has already acquired the fine art of girly window-shopping. She knows we're 'just looking, thanks' and none of these delectable goodies will be finding its' way back to Dreary Town with us, but that doesn't stop her from enjoying them one little bit.
So we danced and whirled from one gorgeous display to the next, admiring cushions and lamps and pictures and curtains and bowls and sofas and beds, and I was quite surprised by her taste.
Yes, she is still totally enthralled by anything coloured Lurid Pink, and if it has the word BARBIE stamped anywhere on it, she's in heaven, but she is also developing a sense of her own style (if you can have such a thing at 5) and we had a fabulous time between the two of us.
Mother-Daughter moments.... what's not to love?

And the winner is.....

Voting is now open (Till Tues afternoon) at Blog This.
Just in case, you know, you had someone in mind to vote for....