Update for the month of October

Another busy month for us all.  Work has been very busy and I have some very challenging cases at the moment.  One disgruntled employee even got his story in the local paper! - and it was VERY much his story and not the TRUTH!!!  Ahhh well, must mean I am doing my job well.

We are going through quite a bit of change at the moment at work as they have no money and are looking at cutting back and doing a "review" to try and save $$$.  They need a new pool and overhead bridge and some other expensive project, but can't fund it.  There have been a couple of redundancies last week.  They will be looking at our area in the new year, so fingers crossed I will still have a job...................?

Courtney, Jemma's sister, her horse had its foal 2 weeks ago.  Willow had a little boy foal and his name is Rork.  He is so cute............

Here he is 1 day old

So cute

He is a little terror and is jumping around (kicking his mum!!). 

The kids had some fun

 Michael enjoyed an icecream YUM

We went to a party.  It was raining but the kids still had a great time.

Lots of yard work as we have had a lot of rain and then warm, hot days

 We are planning to put a hand rail up early next year so we can block the awning off. 

The chook pen and some flowers for summer 

The passionfruit on the chook pen has lots of flowers - hopefully that means lots of passionfruit!

Greg gave Squishy a shave so she is a lot cooler now

I have been making a bit of soap.  I really enjoy it and am trying my hand a different sorts.  I have come up with my own recipe which I think is moisturising and lovely.  I think I might make another blog about the soap soon.  I am going to give some away for Chrissie pressies (and we use a lot of it).

Here is some:

Here we have two white and red (pink) bars.  The front one is pomegranate swirl - mmm it smells DEVINE.  I bought some soap from Erin at Inner Earth Soaps (who has beautiful soap, take a look - how good is it!!!) and I bought this type of fragranced soap.  I fell in love with the smell and had to make it for myself.  I bought some fragrance and wanted to attempt a swirl (this was my very first swirl).  It is pretty ok for a first attempt but I have some better ideas for how I want to use this fragrance next time - this was a practice one, inspired by Inner Earth Soaps - Thankyou so much Erin!

The back one is non fragranced.  They have red clay in them which is lovely for skin, under eye circles and broken capillaries.  They are very moisturising and have a beautiful bubbly lather!!

The front soap is Sleigh Ride swirl.  It is a minty smelling fragrance which is fresh and very Christmas (or maybe a bit toothpaste?? haha).  It is a mint green colour.  I'm still waiting for this one to cure before we use it.  It smells nice, but not as yummy as Pomegranate.

The back soap is a lavendar soap with a black line.  This soap is nice but I don't like the black line that I made. I used cocoa powder and I find it goes brown in the shower.  I should have used a mica to do the line but had heard of sucess from others in using cocoa, however I don't like it.  I think I will rebatch this one into something else.

I made this one tonight.  It is Woodland Elves.  It is a goats milk soap - my first try at a goats milk soap.  The fragrance smells a bit like pine'o'clean sadly, but I hope as it cures it will smell better (a bit too piney at the moment).  I did a red, green and white swirl AND then realised I forgot the fragrance!!!  Holy Crapoly -   I was going to do the fancy top (as you can see) so I quickly added some fragrance to that left over soap and then did the top swirl.  Fingers crossed it will be ok.

I have ordered some more fragrances from a site that you can give feedback on.  I picked some popular ones with good feedback (and that I thought would appeal to me) so I hope I have more sucess in fragrance selection, although I have my taste and I'm sure others have theirs - we are all different!!!

We have a Halloween party tomorrow!!! Should be a blast.

Have a great month...................

Rach

xxxx

Where did September go?

Hello, I was wondering where September went............. too fast I think.

Lots happening here.

Alex went to Darwin to live.
Work is crazy busy!!!
Lots to do at home too.

Spring is here and we have had some beautiful days, which is great.  Jemma is on school holidays, this week with Roger and next week is going up to Mum & Dad's for a holiday.

Some pics over the past month.........

 Michael sometimes expands his taste from chicken nuggets

 mmmm - spag bol

 Daddy and Michael

 The three terrors!!  Alex, Michael & Jem

 Let me go Alex!!  says Michael

 Letting Jemma loose with the camera - some of the gurls

 Some more of the gurls

 Presents from the chooky's

 Jemm with our new fab camera - Michael splasing in the water!!!  Bliss!

Mummy, I want more water - NOW!!!

 Jem at her Science Expo, doing her experiment

(doesn't she look all grown up  eeek!!)

Well, that was pretty much September.  We have a long weekend this weekend which Greg and I are very much looking forward to. 

Till next time....

Rach xxxxxx

Update for August

Still very busy here as usual.  I'm totally in the swing of full-time work again so that is good.

We finally bought a new camera on the weekend as it was Michael's 2nd Birthday on Friday 27th and when we tried to get video and some pictures the camera really didn't work at all (after putting in new charged batteries).  So we got a very nice little Olympus camera which has heaps of features (I have to read the manual) and has HD video on it, rechargable battery etc.  They chucked in a SD card thing too so that was a saving of about $30.

My final massage course day is on Sunday, Fathers Day YAY.  I love the course, but I am just too busy to keep going.  It is a lot of work and a lot of study which I can't give my full attention to at the moment.  The final exam is on Sunday and then I have to do prac.  I will do this and then leave it for a while.

It was Michael's birthday on Friday.  We didn't really have a party or anything but he was very spoilt.  Here he is having some cake

As the camera wasn't working we couldn't really take any pics, but managed to get this one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MICHAEL

He was very spoilt and loves all his pressies.

I decided to make some more hand made soap.  I bought a kit ages ago and made some.  It worked really well but to be honest, I wasn't all that impressed by the smell or the colour.  I didn't make anymore but I have found some very cool websites on soap and thought I would give it another go.

With my leftover kit, I had Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, some Shea butter and some cucumber fragrance.  I bought a big tin of olive oil as it was on special and made some Cucumber Soap.

The first pic is of the oils melting, then mixing the Lye and Oils together - I did this last night.  I thought it would fit in an old plastic loaf pan I had but there was too much soap for it.  I quickly had to grab an oldish Decor lunchbox type container.  It was an abosolute pain to get the soap out of but was ok for a mould.

Next pic is it out of the mould and then cut up.  I had Candula petals in the pack so I sprinkled it on top.  Looks good for show.  Now it needs to cure for 3 weeks and then ready to go.  It feels quite nice and silky, still a little tiny bit caustic (I didn't have gloves that fit properly) on the skin still though.  Have to get some gloves.

We have had some issues with the airconditioning.  One company came out but only quoted on split system individual units as I got their name via a department store and they "wanted to stay loyal to them" so didnt give me any other options.  Total price approx $8K!!

Second company promised to show at about 4.30pm.  At 5.30pm called to say over 1 hrs away.  We were going out so offered to come at 7.30am next morning.  OK with me.  Never called back or turned up.

Third company on time, listed to what I wanted, made suggestion but didnt really give pro's or cons etc, measured up - going well.  Quote came in $13K!!!!!!! Holy cow.

Fourth company said he would call me when he was in the area.  Didn't hear from him, but then he called on Saturday.  Can he come on Saturday afternoon - sure no probs.  Came along - very knowledgeable, offered lots of suggestions.  Will get us the unit and Greg can install the ducting and then they will hook up.  He is pretty flexible.  Waiting on quote to come through for partial DIY.

Fingers crossed it's not too exy..............I SO need to win lotto or something.

Take care

Hello again

Hello again!

Been away for a while but always checking the blogs I love.

I am back to full time work now and it is going great.  The first Monday I work from home with Michael, and the second I have as a Flexi day (or RDO - we get fortnightly ones).  Overall it has been going great!!  Loving the $$$$ of course!  Still attempting to get into a routine.  Dinners are my biggest nightmare really and Greg and I did discuss getting a cleaner but we both are fairly good at that so we are going to see how we go.

On Friday, even though I really didn't feel like it, I vacuumed the whole house and did the bathroom/toilet.  This just made things a lot easier for the weekend and it took 30mins max.  The house was clean and tidy and the rest of the night was ours (Greg cooked dinner).  I am trying to do a bit each night, to make it easier overall for the weekend.  So far so good!!

I'm doing my massage course, about 3 weekends to go.  I'm loving it but there is just not enoough time to practice!!!  I am going to give Jemma a massage this week and ask Courtney if she wants one too.  I'm so happy my hands are coping with doing it and I am really enjoying the course.  I would love to continue to get my Certificate, but maybe not just yet -Christmas is coming!!!!

We went up to mum and dad's on the weekend, although they are not there as they are away in their caravan.  We saw Nat and Marty and had a coffee (they live with M&D now).  I made some very easy and extremely yummy muffins.  They don't look like much BUT OMG they are so nice.  The take 20mins to make and then about 20mins to cook.  Totally worth it.

Carrot & Walnut muffins

¼ Cup flour (plain)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup sultanas


½ cup oil
2 eggs
200g carrots, finely grated


Sieve the first 5 ingredients into a large bowl. Add brown sugar and sultanas and mix these evenly through the dry ingredients, breaking any lumps.

In another bowl, beat the oil and eggs together and add the finely grated carrot – mix together.

Tip the oil and egg mix into the dry mixture. Taking care not to overmix, fold everything together until there are no more unmixed lumps of flour.

Spray a 12 med sized muffin pan with non stick spray and put about ¼ cup of mix into each pan.

Bake at 190 deg C for about 15 mins (I do it for about 20mins) or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed.

Delicious warm or cool. I sprinkle with icing sugar to serve. YUM


After Nat and Marty's we took the back roads back to the freeway and it was nice looking at all the different places.  We chatted about moving up that way.  We probably wouldn't have a mortgage and a heaps nicer house, but we love our area - its so quiet and safe.  There are a lot of ferals up that way (and a lot of lovely people too), but I would worry if we had a place next door to ferals.  Our neighbours are really nice here.  We are going ok financially so better off here I think.  Also, the travel would kill me.  I have a good job, so I would continue working.  All in all, I really think, at this stage, we are better off staying put!!!  I'm happy with that.

We cut Michaels hair on Sunday.  Oh my that was an effort.  He screamed!!   The neighbours probably thought we were killing him.  He looks SO different.  Now is certainly a little boy!!!

Before with Daddy on the bike

With Daddy

Pre-haircut - blondie (hmm where did that come from??)

OMG is that the same little boy!!!!!  Looking like Daddy now - where is that blond hair?????

Back view

Still some straggly bits, but a good job for all the drama involved!!!

We have continually used our fire this winter, but one night I thought we could do with a blast of warm as we had run out of wood.  Greg turned on the airconditioner and it doesn't work!!!!  It is a very old, hole in the wall type.  Harvey Norman has a 4 years interest free thing at the moment and we want to have something in the hall too (so we can cool the bedrooms in Summer), so I am getting a quote this week for that. 

Thank goodness I have gone back to FT work - the universe must have been telling me something huh?!

We are having a "Family Fun Day" on Sunday.  I have decided we have to do this every fortnight (or at least every month).  Will update after that.  Have a lovely week.

Rach :-)

Quiet weekend, with a bit of rain and a bit of (small) drama!!

Ahhh, what a lovely quiet weekend, we had a bit of rain and (of course) a little wee bit of drama!!  LOL  My life wouldn't be the same without that would it??

OK, so the "drama" wasn't anything big or that bad.  Our bargain diswasher - the Fisher and Paykel Dishdrawer - decided to well and truely die and then sizzle and burn!!  Lucky we have a safety switch on our electrical board or we probably would have had a house fire.  Eeek!!

Honestly, it was a dud.  The bottom drawer had been very dodgy for a while and then it just wouldn't run a cycle, it kept filling and then emptying.  I was sus when we bought it as it was in such gross condition and the door was broken, but hey, it was Greg's bargain - which actually wasn't a bargain, but an expensive mistake.  Hey - live and learn eh.

So, because I simply CANNOT live without a diswasher anymore LOL (hey, I'm about to go back to FT work!!) and we are very poor at the moment and cannot possibly afford a new one, we have decided to go down the dodgy second hand route of another dishwasher.  Hmmm, maybe we don't live and learn eh?

I would like to introduce the Dishlex Global 500 dishwasher.  It cost $150 from some people in a suburb close to us.  It was a bit dirty on the outside (do people live like pigs these days???) but inside was clean and she said I could bring it back if it didn't work.  Negatives - the door hinges spring is broken and then I think the handle spring broke when I was checking it out after we put in in.  These are pretty easy things to fix and it works fine as it is.  So YAY - hopefully it will last longer than 3 months!!!  Fingers crossed.

We decided to put Michael into his little bed as he is getting bigger (will be 2 soon) and we have it.  He loves his bed.  Negatives - he is still up now at 9pm!! after he got up and started playing with his toys.

Here he is with his new favourity toy, Greg's screwdriver!!! 

I made some artwork for his room.  It goes with his doona.  I am going to make another one similar so he has two.

I also got motivated and made some very yummy sausage rolls.

Here is what's left - virtually NONE!!

Mum and Dad came over and had some for lunch.  Even Michael ate a couple.  I got the recipe from a girlfried of mine and it was very easy.

Easy Sausage Rolls

Puff Pastry

500g sausage mince

500g normal beef mince

1 onion finely chopped

breadcrumbs (fresh)

1 egg

The secret ingredient - Nasi Goreng (sp) spice paste

Mix together well.  Put onto puff pastry and roll up.  Cut into rolls and bake in the oven until they look cooked!!!  Yummo

Jemma has gone to Fiji with her Dad.  She called me from the airport on Saturday morning.  I'm sure she will have a great time - lucky duck!!!

Hope you all have a lovely week

Rach

What's been happening

Alex, Jemma and Courtney at Alex's 21st.  The three sisters!!!

I'm back!!  June was an............... interesting........... month, to say the least.

A lot has been happening over the past month and a bit and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. 

It was Alex's 21st Birthday and I was getting organised for this as it was at our place.  Food for about 30 people etc BUSY BUSY!!  It was a lovely day/night though.

Munchkin Michael in a grumpy tonight after daycare!!  Too tired....

The girl that took over my job was getting worse and worse.  I was trying to get daycare to come back full-time as it was not working for me at all (I take a LOT of pride in my work).  Anyway, she got another job and resigned (great), BUT she left me with about 100 emails to sort out which was very stressful for me to try and fix.  They were mostly important emails which had to be filed into our electronic system and each one probably took me at least 5 mins to do (by the time I checked it, checked if it had or hadn't been filed, then to file it and clear it out)!!!!  A very mean thing to do and even if you hated the job, leaving me with that was just mean and nasty.

So, I'm back to Full time work on 19 July.  Have worked 4 days this week and will next week too.  I'm loving that my job is my own again and I think our whole team is better for it. My boss ripped her name off my door and stomped on it when she went.  It was a great relief and it certainly made her (and us all) realise what a brilliant team we are -YAY us!!!

I am starting an introductory massage course this month too.  It is something that I have wanted to do for ages and I just bit the bullet and booked in.  It is running over a number of weekends, so I will see how I like it.  If I do, I can continue on to get my accreditation - this is the first part of the certificate.  Really looking forward to this a lot.

Alex has been living a life that stresses me!!  I think she may read the blog, but she knows how I feel as we have an open talk policy... well pretty much.  She has debt for an elective operation she had, she got a new boyfriend who didn't work and thus started not turning up to work with lots of crap excuses (it's hard to get out of bed in the morning when someone else is still in there eh).  I think she is smoking drugs - I guess with the BF - don't know how much but enough to get a bit agro with me when things don't go the way she wants, she decided to go to Darwin to live with her Dad (good) and resigns from her job (well she was about to be sacked I think anyway).  Then calls me up to say that the BF has been sentenced to 9 months jail for hitting someone with a bar (prior to their relationship). HMMMMM  Oh and they are apealing it and he is out on bail.  They hope to know more in July.  Not going to Darwin now until that is sorted. 

This info stressed me a lot.  I guess the not working stresses me the most.  She has bills and debt - how will they get paid?  I can't afford to pay it for her.  She will end up with a bad credit rating and this will affect her in later life - when she does give a shit.  I told her, she is setting herself up to have a hard life, which I worked so hard so she wouldn't ever have that.  Oh well - hopefully it will all work out in the end!

It was my birthday in all this - which was lovely.  Quiet but lovely.  Jemma and Michael are great too, and Greg!!!

I am now feeling a lot better after being quite down with all the pressure of work and the Alex situation.  Also with the 10th anniversary of Sean - it was a lot to take in June.  I can take a lot usually but this was just a bit too much for me, so I was really down......  The good news is, it was temporary and I am now back to my usual, albeit busy, self.  Trying to see the positive in everything again :-)
I think I need to have the Sufi  phrase as my mantra:

This too shall pass

And I'm sure it all will!

Rach

:-)

Reflecting.......

I decided my previous post was too sad when I re-read it this morning, so I have taken it away.  I think just writing it down made me feel better. It was about my step-son, Sean, who died 10 years ago.

RIP Sean - 30/6/2000

We all miss you and love you very much - forever.

Thanks to Sue for her absolutely beautiful comment.  It was very much appreciated.

Will update tonight with some good news!!!!!

Happy 21st Alex - 16 June @ 7am

Yes, my beautiful girl was 21 on 16 June 2010.  WOW!!

Born at 7am at Hornsby Hospital with my mum and Alex's Dad there (we were not together), after a very long labour but I only had gas and pethadine.  OMG IT HURT A LOT!!!! hehe (trust me I wasn't laughing at the time).

I was 16yo.  No one wanted me to have you (but my M&D supported me in my decision), but

I thought I could give you as good a life as anyone else - on my own.

I hope I did this??????????????  I did my best.

The first 12 years - you were the PERFECT child. 

The next 9 years...........  O...........M.............G         

I have been to hell and back and am still doing the rollercoaster BUT

I will always love you no matter what.

And

I am looking (kind of) to the next 21 yrs LOL...............  Lets see what happens eh???!!!!

PS  Please be good........... pleeeeesssseeeeee Alex

Love U 4 ever

MUM xxxxx

This song is for any parent with a child who turns into a teenager .......and especially for me.....................

Taking a break for a little while

I'm taking a blogging break for a little while.  Will be back soonish I hope.

Take care.

Rach

I will be continuing to look at everyones updates as I love all your blogs :-)

Some before and after shots

Very wet weekend here and also today. We didn't really go out much at all and had a lovely lazy weekend!!

I thought I would do some before and after's of this place - what we have done since we bought the place in Nov 2005......

Lounge Room etc

Back Yard

Our bedroom

Agggrrrhh blogger seems to be playing up with putting on my pics - but you get the picture!!!  We have done a lot to this little place.

Have a great week