Thank you so very much Scott for staying awake and waiting for me when you knew I needed someone to talk to *squeeze hugs*

Love you LOTS!

Hanging out with The Shane

I was promised by Shane, that his local radio station equals pure awesomeness 24/7 and the BEST radio station in the world. So going to give it a burl -

http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/entercom/player/?id=KRXQ

Photos of a Sun Pillar

Scott sent me these amazing photos today of a sun pillar. I had never heard of them before so was totally blown out by them. The sun pillars are those whitish looking arcs/lines in the sky. Scott assures me it is way cooler to see the real thing than look at a photo of them.

For those of us who didn't know about them here are a couple of definitions I pulled up from the web -

sun pillar [′sən ‚pil·ər]

(meteorology)

A luminous streak of light, white or slightly reddened, extending above and below the sun, most frequently observed near sunrise or sunset; it may extend to about 20° above the sun, and generally ends in a point. Also known as light pillar.

sun pillar

 

–noun Astronomy.

a halo phenomenon in which a vertical streak of light appears above and below the sun, believed to be caused by the reflection of sunlight by ice crystals with vertical axes.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

And if you are after some more indepth details (like me) check out this great link -

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/eyes/pillars.htm

My Hooters Calender for 2010

Laughed myself silly over a present my best friend Scott sent me today... all day, everytime I think of it I chuckle...

Picture this... I wake up about 5.30 this morning to find my good morning email from Scott waiting for me, (such a great way to start the day knowing that someone on the otherside of the world was thinking about you while you were fast asleep) plus another email from him titled Hooters Calendar for 2010... I'm thinking sheesh definitely need more than 4 and a half hours sleep - I couldn't possibly have read that right, why would he send me a Hooters Calendar? With trepidation I open the email... sure enough there is a pdf file attached called Hooters Calendar for 2010. gulp! I open it up expecting busty girls in skimpy outfits only to find... owls... yes owls! a different owl picture for every month of the year! ROFLMAO - hooters... owls... LMAO

Umm thanks Scott, you definitely had me going for a while there! I can't wait to show the kids when they get home! And I can't wait to add it to the cover of my folder for school this year! LMAO

Tuesday, 8th December 2009

Between painting and not sleeping properly I'm feeling pretty exhausted and sore today.

So after doing the last coat of paint on the wall, I kept pretty quiet. Read a little, talked to friends on msn and had a nap in the afternoon.

Josh brought his school report home this afternoon. His report was amazing and he even got a Principals Award!! I am so very proud of him. :D

Monday, 7th December 2009

I have had a really emotional draining day today. Missing out on loads of sleep hasn't helped much.

Jorgen's nanna died in the middle of the night (Aussie time), sadly she never woke up from her coma. She was an amazing lady and will be sorely missed. My thoughts and love go to him and his family.

I went to the shops really early this morning to beat the heat and the Christmas crowds. The weather got to 31 today. Yuk. But on the positive note it was a great day for painting and getting the paint to dry. I am soooo happy with the paint colour. It looks fantastic! I can't wait to show Ruth what a good pick she made :P

I have found it hilarious to notice that when telling my female friends that I am painting they are immediately like, "Oh great! What colour, show me" and none of my male friends asked. Not one. Hilarious!

Talking of painting... the funniest thing happened today. Both my cats were being really inquisitive as to what was going on and playing around the floor tarp and drop sheets. Miss Peggie leaped out at Miss Pixel - Pixel does one of those amazing jumps and turns that startled cats do and lands smack bang in the middle of the paint tray!!! LMAO She was so startled, she took off running leaving paint paw prints all over the floorboards. It was comical!! Where was a video camera when you need one? So I catch her, wash the paint off her as best I can and call the vets to double check that licking any residue paint off won't harm her.

Got to spend some time with Ben this morning - which was fabulous. He is a really interesting guy and we never run out of thing to talk about. Also got to spend some wonderful time with Scott today. Today was one of those days that it really hits me what an amazing friend he is, how much I love him and how grateful I am that he is in my life. A girl couldn't ask for a better BFF.

Deanne surprised me by stopping by while I was painting. We haven't gotten together for a while so it was great to catch up. It was really difficult telling her that I had to put Tash down. She loved Tash and was always preteneding to try and take him home with her, leaving bags open on the floor trying to entice him into them lol

I am just so glad it is the end of the day now. I can't wait to collapse into bed - I don't think I will get much reading in tonight somehow :P

Night Night

Sweet Dreams

be safe everyone

Saturday & Sunday, 5th & 6th December 2009

Josh and I had a ball playing Upwords last night. There is never any hope of us playing with serious people because we cheat outrageously when we don't have any helpful letters. Pinching letters we need off the board, or looking for one in the pile of tiles is all part of the fun. In the end we were also making words up and putting them into sentences in an attempt to justify their legitimacy for example "mons" - a sentence for "mons" went something like this - (said in a Jamaican accent) "I'm going out with the mons tonight, bro" :P

Too tired to do anyting today other than muck around on the computer, chat and play games on the iPod. :P

Spent some time on msn with The Shane today. He asked me last night if I was on Facebook, so I ended up joining today. (O M G everyone's always asking me that!) I tried joining once before but got freaked out because so many people were adding me and alot of them were from my blocked msn list, plus the fact that Facebook showed my last name - I really don't need any stalkers finding me, duh! Besides all that it's just sooo different. Shane said he would RAWR at people if they harrassed me LOL How could a girl refuse an offer like that? ;) So for people who are interested my Facebook account is under Clarissa Jane.

For lunch Josh went up the road to get chips and buns which was pretty yummy. Then later he went to Coles to pick up a box of chocolate Paddle Pops! deeeeeeelicious!!

Pixie has been in a funny mood all day, wandering around, wanting to know what I'm doing. She and Miss Peggie have started rumbling a little now that I have taken Peggie off her anti anxiety tablets. Peggie hates being on those tablets, she just isn't herself at all on them. Now that she isn't on them she is also driving Josh totally insane with wanting attention and Peggie Pat Times (poor Josh).

Gotta tell you it feels weird not having three cats anymore. There is just this huge gap missing. There is no other way to put it.

Tonight went on Persons again and chatted to a few nice guys. Met this one guy, Ben, who was really interesting to talk to and had me in stitches till midnight! O M G I never chat that late! He even promised me a couple of fish tanks he has sitting in his garage doing nothing! How awesome is that!

The funniest thing happened tonight as well - The cats were sitting at the back screen door when without warning Miss Peggie leaps at the screen, starts hissing, hackles all fluffed up - she scared the beejesus out of me and Miss Pixie... While I catch Miss Pixie, Peggie throws herself at the screen door again in a maddened frenzy. I quickly shut the door and holla for Josh to come help. He checks and finds a silver tabby sitting outside. Peggie then takes off like a flash outside after this cat! OMG a mostly black cat outside in the middle of the night, who never goes outside, chasing this poor cat in a pyscho frenzy! Josh amazingly managed to grab her in her manic state and comes back inside proudly telling me his cat slammed the silver tabby into the bins!! LMAO - GO Miss Peggie!!!

Sunday

Had another quiet day. Though I did manage to get some odd jobs done around the place and Josh filled the dents in the wall that I am painting tomorrow. Josh went for a bike ride over to the vets to pick up some of Miss Peggie's medicated food for me while I started filling the recently repaired tanks with water to water test them for anymore leaks/problems.

In the afternoon Josh and I laid in bed and watched episodes of Firefly. We hadn't seen it for a while and both really like that show. Pity it got canned after one season :(

Ben came online just after 6 tonight so we got to talking till dinner time.

After a yummy dinner of mashed potato with lashings of gravy, Josh and I decided to cool down by going for a walk/bike ride down by the lake again. Just as we were walking out the door Brenda came around to take the garbage out and commented that she hasn't been down the lake track for years so she ended up coming with us! Which was really cool!!

A bit after we got back home, Ben and I started chatting again. Can you believe we chatted till midnight again? LOL I find it so easy talking with him. We often talk of pets, animals, wildlife and got onto the subject of photography... I asked him if he had ever seen the Wildlife Photography Exhibition at the Australian Museum and he hadn't.. I was telling him that the kids and I would be going again this year as it was so incredible last year... and O M G Ben is going to come with us this year! Josh was stunned when I told him because I never agree to met any online guys LOL So yeah all of us are looking forward to it so much! I can't wait!

Friday, 4th December 2009

This morning I brought some new skirting boards for the wall behind the fish tanks. I figured I might as well do that at the same time. I have been meaning to do the rest of the skirting boards for a while now...

I got to spend some time emailing with Scott, which always makes my day. Also chatted to Jorgen on msn.

I moved the top row of nursery tanks, this morning and then rewarded myself with a 2 hour nap afterwards LOL. What can I say? it's hard work! now only three tanks to go. *groans* At this rate I am going to be too sore to do any painting LOL

Pixie sent her Uncle Mark another email today. Her Uncle Mark is the man that found and rescued her from the very bad man that was hurting her. Uncle Mark was also the man that brought her all the way down here to live with me. Lucky me! So from time to time Pixie sends her Uncle Mark emails telling him how she is, what she's been getting up to and photos to show how big she is getting. What a clever cat!

Got to talk to The Shane on msn this afternoon. He always makes me smile. I always get to relax and kick back when he is around.

Tonight I had fun chatting on persons again. There have been some interesting people to talk to lately. Thank goodness the jerks are few and far between at the moment.

Gotta go, Josh just asked if we can play Upwords,

be safe everyone

Thursday, 3rd December 2009

OMG OMG OMG

So far I have mastered YouTube on the iPod Touch, Google, set my email addy up, added weather updates for me and my overseas friends, set the world clock to show all the time zones for my overseas friends, added eBuddy (msn program) and tonight Josh put some games on it! and photos! and I got to set my first wallpaper for the iPod Touch too!! woohoo!!

I know, I know, small things amuse small minds :P

This morning I moved most of the aquariums into Josh's room - in preparation for painting. Will move the nursey tanks tomorrow.

My neighbour, Brenda, came and chatted to me for a good while at the back steps. I also got to chat with Scott via email for a while. Plus checked in with Jorgen from time to time to see how he is holding up and if there was anymore news about his nan.

By lunchtime I was exhausted from moving tanks so had a nap, Miss Pixie came and cuddled up to me which is always wonderful. Brenda, got to meet Miss Pixel this afternoon too - Brenda was lucky enough to get lots of pats in, Pixie is usually very shy of people.

Tonight, chatted on Persons for a while, then Josh loaded my iPod up with games. My reading time is getting less and less LOL

Off to go play,

Night Night

Sweet Dreams

be safe everyone

Wednesday, 2nd December 2009

ARGH, the pressures on!

The library called to let me know my book group book is in for me to pick up! But but but I still haven't finished the book I'm reading *cries* well guess I can manage both books within two weeks... well, if I can stop dancing to the iPod that is! hehehe

Had a really sad, missing Tash morning... went online and saw my good morning email from Scott and was telling him I was feeling down about Tash, his reply was --

Great big huge warm loving wolfie hug for his angel …. To make all her sadness go away…

That or I will put on my cat costume ( we won’t ask why I have one) and I will purr around your feet

Cat costume? LMAO that totally had me in stitches. A girl just can't be sad with friends around like this!

Miss Peggie also wasn't going to let me get away with being sad. She decided it was what we call Peggie Pat Time, for most of the day, the only thing you are allowed to do is to pat and adore her, nothing else, no typing, talking on the phone, housework, reading, nothing. LOL and she gets quite vocal about it as Ruth discovered!

Ruth came around this morning to help me out with repairing some aquarium tanks. Before we did that she was checking out all the new baby fish and the humongous Convict Cichlids.. I was telling her how I was about to move the tanks into Josh's room for a while, so that I could paint.. she asked what colour and was unimpressed with my unimaginative answer of cream again? LMAO I just had absolutely no idea what else to paint BUT Ruth set me straight ;) she picked an amazing colour I would have never noticed. It goes with everything and will look fabulous when it's done. So onto the tanks next, Ruth was the silastic gungirl and I got the job of smoothing it out. I am sooooo happy those two tanks are done. Now just have to wait a couple of days, then I can water test them. Yippee! I have so many fish in buckets and plastic storage containers waiting for new homes. Not long now guys, promise :)

After Ruth left, I went up the road to the library to pick up Victoria Hislop's, The Island - our latest bookgroup book - and then went up to the hardware shop to buy the paint!! I am sooo happy about getting to decorate my room!

Chatted to Jorgen last night and throughout the day - his nanna is in hospital real sick at the moment, so keeping him company while he waits for more news on her condition. Sending good healing thoughts to you, Jorgen's nanna.

I also logged into Persons to chat tonight. Haven't been there for a while and the powers that be have changed the format yet again *laughs* sheesh What is it with them?

So now just chilling out... time to go find little Miss Pixel for her nightly meds. *sigh*

Night Night

Sweet Dreams

be safe everyone

Tuesday, 1st December 2009

Pretty cool day weatherwise for the first day of summer...

Got some housework out of the way quickly this morning so I could go read for a while :P Rang Ruth, who was setting up her newest 2 foot tank so went around to see it - it is looking great! While I was there she was arranging plants and then we put some of her baby guppies into it. :D She also helped me out by cutting a piece of glass that I wanted to fit over a crack in a tank I am repairing at the moment. Plus I managed to score a cichlid rock off her that she didn't want... I am going to put that in the 4 foot tank when I set it up, for the princess cichlids. Our kids get home from high school earlier on Tuesdays but Ruth said she was holding me hostage till we finished putting the finishing touches on her new 2 foot tank - it was hilarious - oh and O M G never test an aquarium heater without submerging it in water folks... and then never submerge it and hold it cause it's gonna burn you... *not looking at anyone in particular, Ruth :P* LMAO

Went up the road this afternoon to pick up my injections from the chemist... stopped by St Vinnies to see if they happened to have the second Kate Mosse book but found a hardcover edition of Bryce Courtney's, The Power of One and Tandia instead :P oh plus a skirt! I couldn't resist the skirt - even though it is shorter than I usually wear (it is just below the knee), the material is eyecatching. Glad I have been picking up some clothes lately - I really needed them since losing alot of weight plus gonna need clothes for college next year ;)

Talking of college - Josh and I received our acceptance letters in the mail this afternoon!!! YaY! *mumbles, after filling out all those goddam forms we better have gotten in* :P

Spent the rest of the afternoon reading and then listening to the iPod - I discovered iTunes on it! Woohoo! so was watching heaps of Maxi Priest clips and then lots of other songs - so much so that the battery died hehehe Maxi Priest rulz btw ;)

Off to go read again...

Night night

Sweet Dreams

be safe everyone

Friday, 27th November 2009

Looking forward to Zanda cuddles tomorrow!!!

Didn't get much sleep last night, only 4 hours then nothing till an hour before the alarm went off. The kitten was acting very sooky and very cuddly all night which suited me perfectly. She misses her Tash so badly. So do I. Since I couldn't get into either of my two books I decided to watch a movie - since I brought some Heath Ledger movies lately I picked Brokeback Mountain. What a non event this movie was. As slow as it was it didn't even manage to put me sleep - maybe I was too traumatised seeing Heath Ledger and that guy together, in *that* way. lol

This morning I took off shopping real early to beat the crowds and the heat. When I walked in the door Ruth was calling, so got to chat with her for a while. Unloaded groceries and then got stuck into rearranging some tanks and cleaning them out... busy busy busy

Fell asleep for a little while before Josh got home, soon after that Mick came around to pick up some fish... When I was saying goodbye to him I saw a neighbour watering her plants so went and chatted to her for a while. Got to chat with The Shane on msn and listen to some music with him which was great. He tackle hugged me when I came online which was pretty hilarious! I got told not to be gone for so long next time lol It's always nice to be missed.

Shane wrapped up our music tonight with one of my absolute favourite songs - Good Charlotte's, Dance Floor Anthem!!!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=8892108&searchid=1cf3ec28-9399-4001-bafb-03204f6a1260

Joshua had the brilliant idea of going for a walk/skate tonight as it was still so hot - while Josh was getting ready I quickly made us a picnic dinner and we had that down at the park before going to get ice creams.

The view from our picnic table was spectacular -

Action shot of The Josh skating -

Monday, 23rd November 2009

AARGH!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday night on the way to bed I bumped into one of our bookcases and OMG it went crashing down straight into the 6 foot stand I recently set up, barely missing a couple of small nursery tanks with fry, sitting on it. (really I didn't bump into it THAT hard) Books spilling everywhere, my grandmothers antique clock sounding an ominous thud as it hit the floor, cats scattering nervously in all directions... So much for going to bed relaxed... The silence that only late at night can bring was once again shattered five minutes later when the pile of fish tank lids for the 4 foot tank I am still working on outside, slides off the box they were sitting on and smashes into a bizillion pieces all over the floor next to the bookcase which of course, is now lying on it's side... Since it was still so hot from the 43 degree day we had, all of the windows and doors were still open, so my neighbours whose bedroom windows are all within whispering shot of one another, must have jumped in their beds (twice!) I am so surprised the older lady closest to me didn't have a heart attack!

So here I am, trying to quietly pick up shattered glass, Lord knows with all the problems I have had with my cats this year I didn't want them getting glass splinters in their paws. Have you ever tried to pick up broken glass quietly in the dead of night? *sighs* While looking for and collecting broken glass I noticed a couple of pieces next to my bed and grabbed those, then sniffed.. eww what was that smell? OMG Tash had obviously peed under my bed again! Dementure in old cats is no picnic, let me tell you... so now I am clearing under my bed too... After picking up as much glass as I can, I swept the floor at least a dozen times.. then thought, hey while the floor is so clean I may as well mop it! LOL

Needless to say I didn't get much sleep.... and I can still feel tiny fragments of glass in my fingers and feet :(

This morning I had to get up early to feed all the fish, cats, get washing out on the line and get ready for our interviews with Illawarra Senior College. Josh of course gets to roll out of bed, all nice and relaxed half and hour before we have to leave. grrrrrr to that!

Our interview and enrolments consisted of me doing an hour and twenty minutes of filling out forms (not joking) while Josh and the interview guy talk constantly in the loud testosterone way that men do. *sighs* Trying to concentrate on forms while they are sitting at the same table in a room half the size of my bathroom was worthy of a passing my HSC right there and then! And can you believe the schools subject lines had changed since I first enquired, so Josh and I couldn't do the three science subjects we were told we could - we could only do Biology OR Physics!! WTF?!?! So Josh and the guy were trying to decided what other subject we could do in place of the lost science subject!! No no no not happening I say lifting my head out of the forms... Josh and I need to do all three for our university qualifications. So I ask about doing the Biology via correspondence cause the guy isn't suggesting anything other than picking another subject... hmm says the guy let me go check... so yep you guessed it, more forms for me to fill in and by the way it's $120 each for the correspondence course payable by the 27th November. umm the 27th of November?That's 3 days away say's me... there goes the budget again!

I was a mess by the time I left the interview. It was not a relaxing interview with a person who knew what they were talking about. No it was a guy who had to bring 5 other people in at different times to answer the questions I had, and more forms than I ever want to see again in my life!

Josh was just estatic we were enrolled. *sighs*

When Josh and I got back home, I just needed out of there. I couldn't talk to him about the horrid experience, he just kept repeating doesn't matter, we got in.... grrrr

So I rang Ruth, yep she was home, went there and poured my heart out till I felt better LOL Ruth was fantastic (as always :P) and I got the biggest hug which helped HEAPS. Ruth was so surprised that we were being charged for the correspondence course because apparently the high school our kids go to now are footing the bill for it... hmm I say, I will look into that.

For the rest of the afternoon I vowed to be gentle with myself. I went and curled up with my kitten in bed and read, slept for a couple of hours and then read some more :)

Friday, 20th November 2009

Today was so hot! Even tonight, as I write this the temperature is still in the 30's.

Went off to an appointment this morning and met Josh and Ruth straight after. We went to go pick up the tank Ruth got off ebay but it wasn't a goer. The tank was wider than a standard size, the stand wasn't as wide as the tank and the light wasn't with everything else and the woman had no idea where it was. Plus they had kept chickens in the tank. Ewwy! How frustrating!

Since it was so unbearably hot, after cleaning out my nursery aquarium tanks Josh and I vegged out by watching some Stargate Atlantis and eating sunnyboy ice blocks :P Brenda (next door neighbour) surprised us by bring over some cakes in a box she had and thought we might like. Naturally, they were devoured eagerly.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

What a busy, busy day.

This morning I felt like I was going to have to drag myself through the day, between needing alot more sleep and my hands/wrists flaring up with arthritis, I was ready to go back to bed but thankfully I picked up some after hangin' with the Ruth.

I worked on removing some more of the silastic from a tank, till about 11am when Ruth came over. My friend Ruth had found a 2 foot tank on ebay that she was interested in and this morning the auction was ending, so I was showing her the ins and outs of bidding on ebay. To her utter surprise she won the tank! ;) Go Ruth!

After a yummy lunch of egg and lettuce sandwiches, supplied by Ruth, we took off to search for the gravel needed for the new tank but alas 3 stores didn't have it. Though I did manage to score some fish I have been after for a while! :P

By the time I got home Josh was already on the doorstep waiting, so we went inside for afternoon tea. Then he took off to his room to play his PS3 game while I went to the library to pick up the Kathy Lette books.

I borrowed Kathy Lette's - How to Kill Your Husband (and Other Household Hints), Mad Cows and Victoria Hislop's - The Return. I am looking forward to reading them all. Meanwhile I have one story left to go in the short story book.

Josh was fantastic in helping me with housework after dinner and since he has no school tomorrow we snuck off late to go watch 10 Things I Hate About You. We both totally love that movie :)

Wednesday, 18th November, 2009

Last night when I went to bed I was in the mood for reading a book but not in the mood for committing to anything major. That's where I find a book of short stories fits the bill! This book was sitting on my "to read" pile so I thought why not?

It is a collection of stories by 10 Australian authors and is part of a Books Alive promotion.

So far I have read 4 of the 10. The story Hate at First Sight by Kathy Lette is my favourite so far. Tonight I checked my local libraries online catalogue and shall go pick up some of her books tomorrow, I was that impressed with it.

Some quotes from the story that I found hilarious were -

* I've been on so many blind dates, I should be given a free dog.

* Now, if you'll excuse me. I have a husband to hunt.

* I've done everything but wear Fosters-flavoured lip gloss.

Our libraries book group day was today - my friend Ruth came for the first time :D - and as usual I had alot of fun with the ladies. They were teasing me so much because I totally hated our last book and was quite animated in telling them so. LOL The women are all alot older than myself but I love that they are all at the stage of life where everyone's opinion is respected and that they are past pretending to be anything they aren't. Basically they are there to interact, be social, listen, laugh and share views. I totally love my bookgroup days!!!

This months book is - The Island by Victoria Hislop.

After bookgroup we had organised that we would all be going down to the local bowling club for lunch. We had a blast! We chatted, shared stories, supported each other and laughed till some of us cried :P

Since Josh was due to leave school while I was still at the club, I messaged him and he swung by so we could walk home together. The rest of the day has been nice and relaxed, I couldn't resist grabbing my book and sneaking off to read some more :)

A movie that was recommended to me today was Julie and Julia.

Apparently it is based on the early culinary career of Julia Childs and crosses over to Julie Powell who aspires to cook all the recipes from Julia's book in a year and blogs about it. The movie was adapted from two books and sounds really interesting.

Tuesday, 17th November 2009

Had a fantastic day!

Went to the hardware store this morning, then the supermarket to pick up milk and a tea cake. Stopped by the local bowling club to become a member, and managed to score a pretty dress on the way to have my blood test done. When I got home I rang Ruth and went to go visit her with tea cake in hand. Yummo!!

Had a fantastic time, relaxing and chatting with Ruth. We never seem to be at a loss for conversation as we both have so many varied interests plus some shared ones like aquariums and our kids :P

Josh gets home from school early on Tuesdays, so we got to spend lots of time together this afternoon before he went to go play his new PS3 game, then do his homework.

I spent part of the evening drooling over aquarium tanks listed on ebay, suddenly wishing we had a much bigger place to be able to fit in lots more tanks LOL

This is a pic of a wall mounted tank that is definitely on my wishlist now ;)

Monday, 16th November 2009

Had a very productive day.

Spent most of the day working on faulty aquarium tanks. Water tested the two footer that leaked the other night and scraped silastic off the four foot tank I got yesterday. Busy busy. Then when Josh came home he re silasticed the 4 foot tank, so in a few days it will be right to water test it for leaks. I am so looking forward to being able to set it up. At the moment I am working out which lucky fish will get to live it in :)

Emailed my friend Shelley last night and found her reply today. It was so great hearing from her - it has been way too long since we sat down and chatted. Caught up with Ruth on the phone also - we were checking out a possible 2 foot tank on ebay.... also got to chat with Hasitha and Jorgen on msn.

Josh surprised me tonight while I was writing my blog. I was half hearing him moving things in the kitchen when it clicked what he was doing - he was doing the dishes!!! without being asked! Woohoo! After the dishes he scrubbed the kitchen tops, tiles and stove top. How impressive is that?! :P Gotta love a kid that helps out without asking ;)

8.30 every night Josh and I have to go round up the cats for their evening medications... tonight Tash was first but I had to laugh when I went to go get him the girls were hiding under that bed also. The cats are getting way to clever at hiding when they hear me getting the medications ready lol

Night Night, Sweet Dreams

stay safe everyone

Friday, 13th November 2009

Today was good.

This morning I kept busy medicating cats, feeding fish/fry, pottering around the house doing the normal things we all have to do, that doesn't seem earth shattering until they're not done. lol

My youngest son had his last School Certificate exam today, (YIPPEE!) and managed to get out of school just after midday. Then he had the brilliant plan to look for a PS3 game that he wondered was out - guess what? he found it - so a few phone calls later we managed to find it locally and went to pick it up.

So of course he then disappeared to play it for a few hours.

Since I am officially taking it easy today, I decided to chat to my friend Hasitha on msn and fiddle around on the computer. When my son resurfaced he found me still trying in vain to set up a slideshow on my aquarium blog. Josh's superpower is computers so needless to say he managed to achieve what eluded me, but I was extremely grateful.

Everybody should check out the slideshow and ooh and ahh appropriately hahahaha -

http://fishyobsession.blogspot.com/

After that it was off to watch some of Alias (season 5) were we stayed till bedtime. ;)

Night Night, Sweet Dreams

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Wow today was huge!

This morning my friend Ruth came over to pick me up so we could go out for a cuppa and to our favourite aquarium shop. But between me sleeping way past the alarm (again!), only getting three and a half hours sleep plus the dramas with Tash, we ended up changing plans and decided to go down to Macquarie Pass hiking instead!!

First stop was the vets to pick up $170 worth of medication for all the cats! yep you read it right lol Second stop was Ruth's brilliant idea to pick up something yummy for morning tea and take it with us (of course being a girls day out it was chocolate muffins and chocolate milk lol) Then it was off to Macquarie Pass.

Macquarie Pass is a mountain near where we live. It connects the coastal plain (were we are) and the Southern Highlands. It is a narrow, steep, winding road amidst National Parkland. So great for hiking, with natural, cool, clear waterfalls and creeks running either side of the road. It is gorgeous.

We headed straight for the bottom waterfall on the righthand side, stood in the cold, clear water, chatted and ate morning tea.

It was so peaceful and with today being a really hot day it was definitely the place to be. The constant sound of the waterfall, the deliciously cold water, lots of shade, a gentle breeze, dappled sunlight, birds singing, lizards scuttling, frogs calling and no other people but us. *sighs* It was heavenly.

After morning tea we explored by walking down the actual creek itself. It did get muddy and slippery in quite a few places but eh mud is good for the complexion, right? *laughs*

When we dragged ourselves away from the creek and the bush, we went to sit at the back of Ruth's car, chatting away as we do, then we heard a woosh... we looked up and OMG there were guys in full body protection gear and helmets coming down the mountain on skateboards and rollerblades! How totally amazing!! What a rush that would have been doing that! Unbelievable.

So back off home we went to prepare ourselves for kids coming home from school and the rest of the day. It was so wonderful to spontaneously just decided to escape from all the duties and responsibilies of families for a few hours. Plus it was a bonus for me to be able to share that with Ruth. She is one special lady and one hell of a special friend.

Today was just what I needed. A get back to nature day, soak it in to my bones and rejuvenate. Even Ruth commented how much more relaxed I was to when she first saw me this morning. I gotta tell you having the distance between me and my poor sick Tash helped me enormously. I feel totally ready to handle his condition and accept what is going on for him right now.

On arriving home I discovered one of my fish had FINALLY had her babies. Gee I was starting to think she was destined to explode LMAO

When Josh got home we headed off to the shopping centre to have afternoon tea together at Gloria Jeans, check out Dick Smith and get some groceries. While we were out I got to catch up with a couple of friends I hadn't seen for years which was wonderful.

Tonight after dinner I cleaned out 5 of the nursery aquariums, washed clothes and now I am so totally looking forward to collapsing into bed :D

Night Night, Sweet Dreams

PS - Because we hadn't planned on going to Macquaire Pass today, neither Ruth or I had a camera (dammit) but here is a pic I have taken previously from there. :)