Random things

Family is a Big thing, I love my family and its the thing I miss the most, its the thing that will make me sad, make me laugh & make me cry, being so far away, so when my brother made a quick trip to Ballarat from America I really wanted to go & get a hug. Paul was fantastic and happily sent me off to catch up with the kids, Ben & Freddy, & my dad.












This is my brother, he got ALL the nerdy clever brain cells but he makes good use of them & does all this mind blowing brainy stuff I don't even begin to understand. but we even out as neither of us can spell for peanuts which is a shocker for having a school teacher as a mum!! We both love photography & we both came a long way get this shot but it was fabulous to see him so hopefully not so many years till next time !!!

And Totally loved seeing my friends, surprised the socks of everyone! Had the best weekend will live on the memories now for awhile.

So back in Emerald Its been HOT, 24 at 6 in the morning you know your in for a hot one!




That little lightning thunder symbol was our hope for some rain we spent the whole weekend
Waiting..........




It looked like rain.......,Its soooooo muggy, my hair is frizzy, the frogs are barking. But we are still waiting! It hasn't rained here in Emerald since March its been a long wait and things are very dry & thirsty, this was in the newspaper




Chickpea dust is very flammable with high temperatures its not a good mix as this poor farmer loses his header.

People ask me is there things I miss not living in a big city?? And its the little things that come up that I go yeah Emerald really could do with....... And this week its ICECUBE trays!!! How hard can it be??!! Well obviously there is a high mortality rate of trays in Emerald (must be all that smashing on to kitchen benches) because only one place sells them and they are those big size blocks and we were after small little blocks(or round). Nope it's not going to happen so we'll keep having a smashing good time & keep our eyes peeled for ice cube trays!!!!!!

But look what we did find......




Cheese from the Great Ocean Road......in Emerald!!! We were so excited -- we bought two blocks! And its very yummy!

All things 'ceee's

Just so happened today's posts all begin with C!

Lets Celebrate!!!
After five loooooooong weeks we have our laundry back!!
The machines have wandered around,there last spot was here



Now they are back were they belong!


Yep we know its not painted and I don't think it will be but we don't care its wonderful not to have to visit the laundromat the worst thing was scrounging up all the loose change !!!!!


So we are cheering & clapping and doing a bit of washing too !!!

CREATING KEEPSAKES is no more!


The magazine is shutting down and with this news it brings alot of memories-for me CK was the very first mag I ever bought and was hooked! I just loved reading & following the lives of the regulars! And who remembers these??? I used to hang out every year to see who made it to the top of scrapbook world, I still have every edition!



And these two





Its amazing how far they have come since those early days.
Hasn't becky come a long way since sketches!


So its sad that CK isn't anymore as it has impacted every scrappers life I'd say but then I can see how the old read a magazine days have died with the Internet and blogs at our fingertips & so readily available and up to date where as mags are kinda old news before they even hit the shops!!! Now all the mags I still have will become collectors items!!!

COCKROACHES!!
The joys of living in Queensland


I hate them! I do wonder about the sanity of those who don't mind them ! at night you can hear them scuttle across the floor - yukko! We had to win the war against these rotten little pests so Paul bought this stuff that he sprays around the unit and outside, he calls it the death zone, and it works supa well and I only have dead cockies now!


Sometimes they're on the last throes of death and tho on their backs they wriggle there legs and feelers and I can just hear Sally going ewwwwww!!!!!

Now just so that image isn't burned forever in your brains heres a splash of COLOUR!





Love hibiscus they are such a happy flower !

And thats it for today so in the famous words of Sesame Street- today's blog is brought to you by the letter C!!!!!!

A little bit creative

After I typed the title I'm like that's clever sue the first thing your showing isn't creative, then i thought hang on a minute it kinda is.
So without any further waffle this has been THE highlight of all photos


My kids!! Dave flew to Ballarat for a quick trip for his friends wedding so our kids got together and sent there mother a photo! I was sooo excited to see the three of them all looking great, love these three to bits! (& I did have some part in their production so its kinda creative!!!??!????!!!!)

Good news is I got my sewing machine back from sick bay!!! I took it to the only fix it place in Emerald ,I was rapt there was even one here! Now you have to imagine a really old, bent over man who's been fixing machines forever (he's out of the ark I'm sure!!) and he's looking at me over his glasses pointing his finger at me telling me off for sewing thick things " I can tell you've been naughty" he said,I felt like I was at the head masters office (yes I did have a few of those visits in my day) & suitably told, so I decided to hang up my denim bag days as honestly I'm to scared to take my machine back if it breaks again!! But I'm not giving up bags I do have a thing for them
Here's my new bike/work bag
A long shoulder bag.


Then I wanted to try something different so here's my over shoulder smaller bag


Now I know when Trace (imagination factory) patiently sat with me and taught me the art of Copic colouring she didn't have this in mind!


See... I got to my shoes! They are supa comfy and the floral was nice but clashed with everything so now they are coloured ,its a subtle pattern and much more wearable!!!

I've also been working on my PL (project life) remember all the photo stuffing in sleeves well now I'm up to the fun bit decorating title and journaling in other words the fun bits





I'm working on the carnarvon gorge weekend and being bushy I went for neutrals with stamping and washi tape. I'm having fun , with 2 pages down only another 16 to go!!!

Road Trip(s)

Guess where I'm heading.....




To emeralds one and only...




Just a shed with a roller door really I know your just busting to see inside








And why am I hanging out here? Because the owners of our flats decided to "fix" the laundry
This involved ripping up the pipes & gutting the old laundry












And here sit our washers




Hence the laundromat trips we are in our fourth week now and there doesn't seem to be any real sense of urgency to complete the job so I'm becoming the quite the laundromat queen - got the wash cycle down to 26 minutes flat!!!
Next road trip was ALOT further afield - from Emerald to the red A, why you ask? Kids!!! Well in this case one in particular




Dave lost steering control (tie rod snapped) while he was over taking a road train. (got his heart pumping abit apparently) he managed to get it off the road hitched a ride to Mackey and flew to brisbane for the weekend (as you do) So he organises racv to tow the car but they need us there with the spare key (he's got his in his pocket) but we are in a que of towing so we didn't get the call till after 5pm and then we head off




There's not alot out here but flat nothingness




That's not a truck ahead that's a mine




But these lights we are looking for- RACQ












Its hard to see but that wheel caused alot of hassles trying to get it onto the back of the tray




Spent quite abit of time, some phonecalls and couple of attempts but we get the car on the truck(just) so it was a very slow trip back into Middlemount




Unload




The RACQ guy was fantastic he was the high school teacher & bus driver in Capella & he was so good about moonlight job!




He said Dave was really lucky he never rolled the car, it could have been quite a different result, so we are all very thankful.
Heres the trusty rescue chariot! Still going strong




So that's our job done so we turn around and head home. Just abit about this town in the dark, Middlemount is a true mining town it was built by the mining company Anglo 30yrs ago they own 90% of the houses& there's just mine camp after mine camp. The town services 8 mines with hundreds of workers at each mine.
Here's German Creek - this is where Dave works




We drive past this on the way home




And this is German creek in daylight








And here is the reason we saw middlemount by night! worker man who's now walking and hitching rides till he gets the car fixed!!!

Bits n Pieces

When all else fails there's always the weather to talk about!!! I know its rather chilly down south so if your struggling just think of us up here-here's our weeks forecast




See all those 32,31,30's???!! Hee hee you enjoy rugging up wont you!!!
What it also means is the pool is open this week - YAHEE! They closed for "winter" and now its open! its an outdoor pool just has a roof to keep the sun off but I enjoy doing some laps before work.
My wonderful man bought me a pressy and what I think is awesome is that he remembered I wanted a yellow pot to go with my red & blue chairs!




And if I don't kill it it will flower again next year for me!!
I've always had a little craft space to myself for the past 25yrs but since moving I've been "experimenting" with locations.
When the boys watch footy I hang out on the bed




Its a bit wobbly using the cuttlebug & I keep finding bits of paper stuck to the bedspread etc so not sure its the best place!
Yesterday I put 178 photos into 15 plastic divided pages ( project life style) (don't worry Ben the girls know what I'm talking about!!!)




So I went outside to spread out and do that job ( its just an old doona I dug out has cars all over it which I didn't think about at the time of photographing but I just needed something to keep photos out of the dirt!!)
And to scrap I've been standing at the kitchen bench which is the only flat surface besides the floor as there's not enough room in the flat for a table & chair




So here I am amongst the fruit and Daves coke glass collection from Maccas & the flowers are from my man coz he totally spoils me! So this is what I "cooked" up today