SiMPly superb

The LOML has left.  He left this morning on a jet-plane.  I don't know when he'll be back again.  Well, actually, that is a lie.  I do know when he'll be back - next Tuesday morning.  But that's not how the song goes!

About now he would be waiting in KL airport, filling in a couple of hours before boarding his connecting flight to Bangkok.  He'll spend the next 5 days there buying up stock for our shop for Christmas (don't kid yourself, it really isn't that far away now) and sending it back.

To save me the major physical, mental and emotional upheaval that results from a stupidly early-morning start topped off by a stupidly long round trip which would have left me beat for the whole time he's away (as happened last week for his over-nighter to Melbourne), we last night stayed at the casino on the Gold Coast.  Nice.

We caught up with our lovely friends Mr & Mrs W for dinner and a few drinks (well, the boys had drinks - Mrs W is preggers with their first child and I wasn't in the mood - shock, horror! - we just watched the boys drink) and, because we were at the casino, a few bets and pokie spins.  I think it's the law that when you are at the casino you have to have at least one bet.  That's what the LOML tells me anyway!!

So after dinner (I had fish and chips - very nice, if small) the LOML hit the tables.  I left him to his own devices and found a quiet corner with Mrs W for a good old chin-wag.  


A couple of hours later this is what the LOML had been up to......

Quite profitable by any standard!  Thanks Jupiters Casino!  You rock!!!

My cut of the profits (because, you know, I'm part of the partnership and staying at the casino was my idea after all) went towards the purchase of this little gem this afternoon.....

14 mega pixels.  As opposed to the measly 5 in my old camera.  

I'm iMPloding with excitement!  (terrible, Muriel, just terrible!).

Now, everybody say 'cheese'.....

Hide and Find

To finish up a great Sunday (after the festival) we had a good old fashioned Aussie BBQ at our house for all the family.

Of course, when the time came to fire up the BBQ, it rained.  

How typical.

Anyway, we weren't about to let something as trivial as a bit of rain stop our dinner so we merely progressed inside and lit the fire to keep us warm while we ate!

It was a great evening with the family - lots of laughing and plenty of jokes and ribbing which is usual at our gatherings.  Kids ran riot, dogs were underfoot and the noise level at times was deafening.

When it was all said and done, everything washed up and dried, toys tidied and put away, and tired nieces and nephews packed into cars and driven home, this is what I found arranged on my dusty shelves.....

this cowboy's rifle has seen better days!

Go Nicko you little champ!  You brighten my day little man!

Festival day

Yesterday the LOML and I went to the annual Languages and Cultures Festival held in the park in the middle of town.

I didn't realise how diverse the population of this region is - people from over 120 countries live here and more than 100 different languages are spoken.   I'm blown away!  I knew we had a lot of different cultures in our town but I didn't know it was that many - fantastic!  

I am acutely aware that some of our townsfolk don't like this diversity for one reason or another and show their dislike through both subtle and blatant forms of racism (unfortunately the LOML deals with this on a daily basis - for some reason these people seem to have the view that different equals bad) but they are the ones missing out.  The festival yesterday showed that.

It was a glorious day - the sun was out, the wind was gentle and the mood was just right for a festival!  There was dancing and singing and food and performances and displays and food and stalls and workshops and more food....!  I'm telling ya, I could have eaten my way around most of the world right there if only my stomach had more room!

I can't really pick my favourite part of the day - it was all great - though the Sudanese lunch we had was divine (couldn't tell you what it was but it was very yummmm!!!) and the smiles and laughter of the Saudi students were contagious!

I can't wait til the festival next year!

On My Mind: Not long now....!

Spring is coming!  Spring is coming!  Spring is coming!!!!

I am so excited (can't you tell?!).  Last year, the year of wet, spring didn't really eventuate.  Oh, I saw the sun a couple of days from September to December but it wasn't enough to really be classified as 'spring'.  It also wasn't nearly enough to boost my mood and make me shake the winter malaise.  And it certainly wasn't enough for me to consider trying to dry the sheets on the clothesline outside.

This year is shaping up to be better, normal almost - no, make that better than normal!  The weather started warming a couple of weeks ago and I started shedding layers - would you believe one day I even wore open toed shoes?  I know right!  Bare feet in July, it was almost unthinkable!  

And the trees are also shedding their layers.  Well, actually I don't know if that's the right description but they are bursting their buds and sending out leaves and flowers and buds and generally announcing to the world that they are not far from open and trading and ready for action!  It's glorious to see.

Right now is Ekka wind time.  That time of year, every year, when the Brisbane show signals the arrival of some bitterly cold westerly winds that remind us all that August still is a winter month, thank you very much, there'll be no jumper-less action on my watch!  

I find it amazing that the winds know when to start up - right on Ekka time - sometimes before, rarely after, but right on queue they whip up.  Regardless if Ekka starts on the 10th or the 17th of the month, that is the day the winds come.  Freaky.  So all the planned show stopping outfits of pretty summer dresses and short shorts have to be ditched in favour of jeans, boots, jackets and scarves (unless you are 16 in which case it is cool to be cold - necessary sacrifice for fashion and all!).

So welcome Ekka winds.  Knock yourself out, blow yourself silly.  Go crazy with it all.  This year I welcome you with open (and very rugged up) arms because your arrival signals your end and your end means spring is here and that is only ever a good thing!

Linking in with Down To Earth's Friday photo feature 'On My Mind'.....check it out and join in yourself!

Super C Day

Thursdays are Super C days.  

The one day of the week, every week, when I get to look after my newest (well, 7 months new) nephew while my SIL is at work.

I love Super C days.

Exhausting as they are (I don't have and am not having kids - hats off to you mums!) I look forward to them.  Watching him grow and change and learn new things each week is such a privilege and a blessing and I am so grateful to my SIL for letting me be a part of Super Cs little life.

Likewise I am incredibly grateful to my sister for letting the LOML and I be part of her kids' lives - we need our kid fix at least once a week to settle us down and remind us what is important.

I'm sure my sister and SIL don't fully understand my gratitude - for them any time we have their offspring is a chore-achieving-godsend for them I'm sure! - but grateful I am.  Getting to watch little minds learn new things, seeing teeth fall out and faces change, and getting to share the excitement of Christmas and birthdays and school awards, all without the burdens (burdens of love no less) of lack of sleep, projectile vomit, backchatting and red-cordial-induced-bouncing-off-walls spells Win-Win for me!

Buzzzzzziiiiiiinnnnnngggggg!

The time is 7:26am.

OMG imagine the buzz
if I'd had 2 full-sugar Vs!!!!

I have been awake (up and about) since 2:30am.

In that time I have consumed two sugar-free Vs and two pieces of toast with syrup, and driven 300km.

I give it two more hours before I crash and burn in a completely un-pretty way.

Sugar high (well actually, sugar-free-high), you have worked, and are still working, your magic just fine and dandy!!!  Thank you for keeping me alert on my drive home.

****

This morning the LOML had to be at the airport at 5am for a flight to Melbourne.  So it was a 3 hour round trip to drop him at the Brisbane airport and come home again.  He's away for only the one night, down and back for a big gift fair (wholesale delights for retailers around the country) and a look/see around Melbourne's Lebanese area (he's on the hunt for an Agileh - can't wait to pick up one when we're in Lebanon again next year - must have one NOW!).  Meanwhile, I'm holding the fort at this end (not today though - Miss K will work today for me at the shop).  

It was a great drive - no traffic on the road at all, not even any trucks which was surprising (maybe we were too early even for them).  Coming back through the city at 5:30am though was a different story.  I can't believe how quickly it built up and cars were lined up and travelling slowly through all the hot spots.  I mean, we did live there only 4 years ago so in my head I know what it's like but how quickly we forget.  Made me glad I was going the other way.

I was also reminded this morning of how beautiful the world is just before the sun comes up.  All mist and fog and soft light.  Made me wish I was a passenger with a camera in my hand just so I could share it with the world.

Once upon a time it was usual for me to be awake and functioning at this time of day.  But then I met the LOML, the biggest night owl ever, and changed my hours of operation.  These days bed time is somewhere between 11pm-1am (a really early night is classified as 10pm) and the alarm doesn't go off before 7:30am.  

We get quite a bit of ribbing from our friend Mr Paddy for that fact - our late starts.  A number of times he has rung at 6:30am and given us stick for not being up.  He somehow doesn't seem to realise that the opposite is true also - when he is heading for the sheets at 8:30pm, we are just getting started.  I wonder what he would say to a 10pm phone call....!

But anyway, today day shall be long and I daresay I shall accomplish a lot, what with all this ENERGY ripping through my system.  I think I might start with the washing, then the floors, then the garden, and then I might make a start on painting the house.....!!!!!

Hope your day is as buzzing as mine!!!!

Hip to be square

When I was thirteen, that bitch called puberty slapped me on the butt and said 'grow'.  

I'm a hippy girl.  I have been cursed blessed with hips that are just right for child-bearing (according to every woman I met as an adolescent).  Should children be on the cards, that would be wonderful news but as they are not....wasted on me.  If I did have kids though and childbirth was anything less than a dream, well, me and puberty would be having some serious words!

I make regular repeated and desperate attempts to decrease the size of my MAXIMUS-gluteous through vigorous exercise and strict control of the sugar consumption but I have to tell you, I appear to be losing the battle.  Weight has a funny way of going on to my hips and butt first, but coming off my waist/boobs/top half first.  Nothing funny about that.

So while the good news is that the exercise I've been doing lately (struggling out of bed on these cold winter mornings) is seeing me tone up and lose a few kilos, the bad news is that the jeans are still stretched taut (t---a----u----t) while the stretchy jumper is looking good.  Bastard.  

I mustn't give up though cos I will win in the end.   Surely I will?

In the meantime, I'll be the woman standing behind the counter/furniture/fernery wearing black bottoms with a bright cardi to draw your attention upwards Nigella style.....most likely I will also have big hair, you know, to balance it all out.  Cos that's what you do.