Time at home.........

Alanah sent me this photo of herself and I had to share it with you all. Doesn't she look so happy? I must say I like the little hat you are wearing Lana. Now we can all see how well you are doing.I have had a lovely week catching up on house work, cooking and gardening, not to mention mowing. Tomorrow I will get in and make some soap as I ran out awhile ago and miss it so much. The next four weeks will be busy as Alex my right hand man at work will be on holidays, so I was meant to have this quiet week at home. In fact I told them I won't be in tomorrow and I came home at lunch time today after doing the wages....
What have I done this afternoon...just pottering around in the garden....
As you can see it is still wet and great weeding weather. Until next time,
Blessings
Mandy

A full week-end...

Today I am home, after 2 weeks of full time work there is much to do. It is lunch time and I have found Williams bedroom floor and desk that where hidden under books and Lego.. It is nice to slow down and focus on the house as the hours tick by and each room is cleaned I find my self relaxing a little bit more..

We had a full and busy week end. Saturday morning we went to the Darling Downs Zoo. What an adventure for William and Robbie. We saw snakes, baboons lions and they had just got the two cutest white Lions in. Because it was a birthday party and we had to leave by 2 we only got around once, but we will be going back again. That after noon I got to catch up with my niece Katie that I don't see that often. The boys all played cricket in the back yard and had a great time, there was also a few of the neighbors there so it was a lovely day/evening.
Sunday was church.......I enjoy church and haven't been for two weeks so it was wonderful. After church I had my dear sweet Deborah's 50th Birthday. Below is Deb with her daughter and the cake she made her mum...Deb is in the last stages of cancer and wasn't even meant to be here for her birthday. Deb is a fighter though and she is home and taking one day at a time. I have only known this beautiful friend a short time, and through her illness she reached out to me after I lost Greg. With out her I don't think I would have got through. It was a bitter sweet day all Debs Toowoomba friends friends got to meet her life long friends from down south which was a real blessing for as all...

How was your week-end?

Thank you for those asking about Alanah, she is doing well and loving life in Canada. She is busy with 2 little girls to look after and has funny stories to tell about the difference in speech. I wake up to an email from her each morning which I look forward to. No she hasn't started a blog yet, I'll let you know when she does....

Well I had better get back to the house work.

Blessings to all

Mandy

I'm getting soft....

This is Molly,she is supposed to be my dog but the truth is she was very much Greg's dog. Loved to be on the ute with him and while he was sick she just sat with him, but I digress.Who ever said you can't teach an old dog new tricks, didn't know what he was talking about...Molly has had a few friends to play.... now I don't approve of these friends as they don't know there boundaries and continue to jump the fence....Hmmmm Molly thought I should try this and she did again and again....Now when ever we go out we have to lock her on the veranda other wise she will jump the fence and try to catch cars as they drive by....This has worked fine and she has been happy chewing the furniture out there.
But lately I have been finding dog hair on the floor and even on the couch...Now I knew the dog wasn't inside so I couldn't work it out..................that is until Wednesday morning when I woke up to what I thought was the kids running up and down the hallway. When they jumped on the bed I wasn't happy so I opened my eyes to see Molly looking back at me...O.K I'm thinking I've seen" Marley and me" and this is rather cute....but how is she getting in the house I'm not crazy enough to let her in the house....Back out to the veranda only for her to come straight back again.........Yep you got it she is fitting through the cat flap.....how she fits that butt through I don't know...But I'm thinking better in the house than chasing cars........So yep I'm getting old soft and dotery......sighhhhhhhhhh...but she is cute.

The above photo is the crossings going over, only this photo was taken 24 hrs after the first downpour....still more rain to come.....

Enjoy your week end all, we have a full week end planned that I will share latter on. until the

Blessings Mandy

Weddings and rain....

What a wonderful week end we had celebrating Mark and Megan's wedding. Megan is Chloe's best friend and Chloe was chief bridesmaid for the wedding. Below is Chloe and Damien outside the church and above is the beautiful bride.

It was a moving wedding, they are both young and so in love. Mark and Megan didn't just want to live together they wanted a commitment that only comes with marriage. I am so proud of them both for making a stand in today's world and marrying. As you can see it was a large bridal party. On more exciting news we had 88mls of rain last night and the creeks have come down. Water every where, so good to see we aren't able to get to town so I have had a day at home catching up after a busy week. There is more on way tonight, so we might have another day home tomorrow.
Flood photos to come latter..I hope all those needing rain also gets this much need wet to fill the underground and dams..

Blessings Mandy.

The House of Horrors.....

From this..................To this.............

Yep the whole room has been ripped out, every day when I get home there is more bad news and mess..The good news though is the white ants have not touched the original part of the house only this back extension...So when it is all finished there will be no damage to the house at all it will be like new again....I just have to keep telling my self this as the cost goes up...As the builder said this is as bad as it will get, from now on it will start to get rebuilt...

At times though I have felt like packing up and moving....sell the lot and start again, it is very tempting , so any-one want to by a farm with a renovators delight...

O.K enough of that lets talk about food.....
We have decided to take a world trip....in food that is..

Miso soup
We started in India with Lamb Korma ymmmmm. Last night was Japanese, we didn't do the sushi thing as we eat that often. Instead we started with Miso soup followed by Chicken Yakatori (below)now on the plate you can see some white blobs...I forget what they are called as the packet is all in Japanese. Our last lot of students brought them over with them, you boil them for about 7mins and have them with soy sauce and sugar. They went well with the chicken. Tonight we are heading over to Germany for Spinach Strudel..This travelling was the children's idea and we are having fun looking for food to make from different countries...



Today I'm heading to work as the spare parts man is away and I have been manning that as well this week. Learning lots any way, now know the difference between an regulator and starter motor....impressive ay!

Blessings
Mandy

Lots of lovely rain....

80mls worth since Saturday, we haven't had this type of rain in along time. Last night it rained so hard I dreamt the creeks came down, so at 5 am I am outside to see if it they had......they hadn't.. Above is my peach tree in October after the last lot of rain, and below you can see how much it has grown in four months. The flowers are long gone around the bottom and I'm planting herbs instead. This back yard is always green so I think that is why the peach tree is doing so well out there, The hill behind sends alot of water down and it always soaks in well.

Every-thing is just so lush and green and wet. Yesterday was spent doing lots of weeding in between showers and digging the edges..I also managed to get the yard all mowed before the first storm hit at lunch time. It hasn't rained since 5 am but it is looking promising...

The grass has quickly grown back with the rain and there is only a few dirt spots left, they will soon fill in as well. The fruit trees are all doing well, I need to clear the grass away from them as you can see below. Then I will give them a good feed and mulch..I think a trip to bunnings may be on the agenda today..

Today is going to be a quiet day at home just resting and spending time together, it is the type of weather when you want to snuggle with a good book, as it is to wet to dig in the garden just yet.

Enjoy your Sunday and I hope you are getting the much needed rain as well,

Blessings

Mandy

Alanah is there......

Bye Alanah....

Look at that smile would you, here's a girl that knows want she wants...

Alanah rang at 2:50p.m today which is 11:50 am her time as she is 15 hours behind us. All is well and she is safe at Will and Sarah's in Canada. All went well and she had a good trip over there, I'll ring her in a few days to see how she is going...O! and Alanah we all agree you should start a blog so we can keep up with all you are doing....Meanwhile back in the real world......white ants....that's right those silent destroyers....My family room has had a little trouble with them and there are walls and window trims being replaced. The whole house is in a mess but for a good reason, as it is something that has to be done..
The window and door trims had been done in pine and the white ants seemed to enjoy it. Thankfully none of the original house has been touched just the family room we added on about 10 years ago.Look at the bright side this room did need a face lift as is was looking tired and worn.. I have decided to close in the far window as that is the spare room and will give alot more privacy. I do love the colour of this room though so will probably paint it a similar colour to what it is now. I have had new curtain material sitting in the sewing room for ages so I'll get in and make them up.

Work is going well I have had a couple of keen lookers so keep those prayers going for the workshop to sell. Sales are picking up and last month was the best month we have had in the last 12 months. I am still finding doing the wages a challenge though, there has to be a simpler way to do them...I will ask my I.T. lady when she comes next week to do the tax.

So life is moving on slowly here and we just take one day at a time, changes left right and centre, but life is good isn't it...

Blessings

Mandy

NO more planning....

So where does the time keep going????? Every post I seem to say things will be back to normal, well I have learnt something kayos is normal. Try not to plan to much and all will run according to the plan or no plan as in my case. The one thing I do know and that is tomorrow Alanah will leave...
We are all past the weeping stage now and excitement levels are high...We had the big going away party Saturday night...Lots of family friends and 18 yr old girls...We had such a lovely time all being together and Alanah was at her best soon as the whole night was about her (hahaha) She was given a $1500 visa card by the family, so that will get her some good winter clothes when she gets to Canada. We head out to the airport in Brisbane nice and early tomorrow, the younger children have the day of school to come as well..Will show photos in a few days...

Now for those of you wanting to see the new hair colour....what do you think, it was dark in this photo so in the sun it is much brighter..

We have had some wonderful soaking rain since Saturday night80mls in all...Every-thing is greening up again and lots of little seedlings are popping there heads through...Later on today I will get out into the garden and do some weeding.....until then I will help Alanah get the last of her gear organized.

Blessings to all

Mandy