Pause

I cannot participate in the world today...and perhaps not tomorrow either, and maybe even the next day after that.
Will let you know when I can again.
This Blog is officially on PAUSE for now.

And the winner is...
I for one was quietly thrilled to have Xanadu as the pre-entertainment piece at The Cup today.

New name New home

Today was the first official day for our business in its new home, with its new name.

It is now TOTAL COFFEE and we (and I say we, but is actually not so much "we" as "he") now have a new location as well. Bigger, shinier show room to boot.

But the coffee hasn't changed - its still great coffee. (It always tastes better when Adan makes it - something like sandwiches always taste better when someone else makes them).

Its closer to home (1.4 km) and only 700m from the kids school, which isn't really a benefit - its not like I can make them walk to Daddy's work after school while I nap or read books on my daybed in the dappled afternoon sunlight at home.....but anyway, its nice and close, which I'm sure one day I will deem to be the best thing EVUH!!!

A first

Another Saturday at home with the kids....



OK, well actually if you must know, we went to a Halloween Party. A first for me, and well, I guess for Darth Vader, Sleeping Beauty and Alice the Vampire also.
One of the school families, whose lovely Mum is from Canada, hosts a huge H. Party every couple of years, so as we missed the one 2 years back, APPARENLTY I promised Alice and Darth that the next time they held the party we would go. And go we did. If you are wondering, I went as Elizabeth Swann, complete with Cap'n Jack Sparrow eye-liner. My eyes today feel...well, a bit like Darth's eye must have felt last week....Scrubbing that stuff off from the entire rims of my eyelids last night, and again this morning has not boded well for my eyes and vision in general.
What an amazing pahhhhty Rock Family. You guys put any celebration I have ever held to shame!!!!

Tweaking

No pics today.
Just want to say Tweaking of anything should be left to the professionals.
Think I have fixed the problem with the Post a Comment section of my blog now.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention Damo.
The pink tulips from Queens Park gardens at Carnivale this year are starting to bug me...You?
I think they make it just TOO busy.
Might tweak the blog page official photo again....oh, what did I just say about Tweaking?.... Maybe I shouldn't.
Luke's eye is looking like a normal eyeball again too B.T.W.
And to Cleolinda, the complete and utter stranger who lives in the U.S., who's blog I am an avid reader of...I laughed til I had sparkle tears once again reading your blog about the Chimney man.

Bottom Itchy

It could have been a very ordinary tasting coffee....but I wouldn't know. I mean, just LOOK at the cup. Why canna all coffee establishments serve their coffees in pretty flowery painted cups like this? Its all about aesthetics (esthetics???) don't you think. How could ANYTHING taste bad in this??

This delightful caffiene vessel is served up at a local coffee shop in town, which Luke and Phoebe think is called "Bottom Itchy" (causing routine giggling and guffawing should I even mention going there).  

"Why is it called Bottom Itchy, Mum?" asked Luke Skywalker as I enjoyed my pretty painted Melanie Wilks coffee cup the other day......"Because "Bon Amici" means good friends Lukey." I replied.

After some reflection, he said "I think I'm going to ask Laura (his BFF) to come to Bottom Itchy Mum next time we come here, because she is MY good friend."

Nice, Luke. Nice.

And there we had our first Italian language lesson.....

An eye for an eye

You know, after teaching for a decade then spending the last 7+ years at home with my own 3 kids, I thought I had pretty much seen it all when it comes to bodily injuries on children...WRONG!!!

On the weekend, MacAttack hit Luke Skywalker at point blank range with a blow up pool floaty ring frisbee style (or nunchuck style....) right into his eye, cutting open his eyeball with the plastic edging bit around the outside of the ring. I didn't actually know that an eyeball can bleed -openly...

As this happened Saturday night at Adan's sister's house, where we were all gathered for her eldest daughter's 8th birthday celebrations, I just packed his eye with an ice-pack, dosed him with pain killers and took him home and put him to bed, hovering maybe just a bit obsessively during the night....

Yesterday he was dosed up again, more cold packs, and enforced sunglass wearing ALL DAY.

Took him straight to the doctor this morning, where he had special drops put in to make his eyeball glow in the dark. LITERALLY. In the darkened surgery room, all you could see was this one uranium-esq glowing eyeball. Freaky stuff. Luke was thrilled. It was just like his BEN 10 Omnitrix Alien watch that glows in the dark, AND just like RockFire's eyes that glow that colour ALL THE TIME (RockFire for you uninitiated, is one of the aliens Ben Tennyson turns into on Ben10...get with it people).

A prescription for drops and several jellybeans later and we were off to the pharmacy.

Whilst waiting for the prescription to be filled, there was Medicinal Coffee Shop Visit #2. The therapeutic effects, and healing powers of going to a coffee shop with mum during SCHOOL TIME after visiting the doctor or dentist should not be scoffed at. I swear it speeds up recovery time for ANY ailment. Once milkshake and the world's largest Monte Carlo biscuit was consumed, eye drops collected and then administered, it was back to class.

The Preppie boys were utterly gobsmacked and reeking white envy when they learned of Luke's glow-in-the-dark-RockFire-style eyeball. The bleeding eyeball had a profound effect on his male classmates and all looked at Luke with something akin to hero worship. I even overheard one boy whisper to his mate beside him."Wonder how I can get that?...."

Luke should look quite the part at this Saturday night's Halloween Party the school families have been invited to.

Trophy Deeeener

BIG celebrations in Tullytown this week - MacAttack received this year's Student of the Year Piano Trophy out of all the piano students at her school. To mark this auspicious occasion, we held the Inaugural Tully Family Trophy Dinner, whereby the trophy recipient is able to choose menu and dining location for the Gala event. Mac chose a Mexican Feast, to be held on our deck, complete with lanterns, votive tea lights and our best table linen (???). As an extra sweetener to the evening, she was also allowed to invite her BFF Lucy to join us as honourable guest.

The feast consisted of Enchildas, Giant Nachos with sour cream and avocado (selected by the Trophy girl from the Donna Hay kids mag) and good old Nachos made from corn chips baked in the oven. Lemonade was the beverage of choice, and the meal was completed with home-made honey wafer cones (only one had paper bits inside it, in the end) filled with ice-cream, topped with chocolate Ice Magic and sprinkles (optional).

Congratulations Mackenzie on your trophy. We are very proud of you (but still a bit flummoxed as how someone who NEVER will practice piano gets to win a trophy for it!!??????Plain old "arsey" I tell you.....)

Goodness - I had never thought to have a trophy shelf (having NEVER received a trophy in my entire life.....medals, certificates, awards, even an inscripted key ring from Quota International - what's a 16 year old supposed to do with a keyring?, but never a trophy. I swear I am not living vicariously through my child and I am not having Pageant Mom tendencies.....) so...trophy shelf? Something Adan and I need to consider maybe? (Adan of course received LOADS of trophies, sashes, medals etc - it appears sporting  success = trophy, whereas as nerdy academic success = coloured cardboard certificates, or useless keyrings. Happy though to see nowadays musical achievements can be trophyfied)

If she never ever receives another trophy in her life, I hope Mac remembers fondly and with swelling joy in her heart, that time when she was 7 and she got her first ever trophy.

I can make that

You see, tonight is MacAttack's Trophy Dinner (see tomorrow's blog for more details) and she has requested Nachos (???) and ice-cream in cones. So, having spotted a recipe in one of my collection of a thousand Recipe Publications, a recipe for Honey Wafers - I figured, oh hell, I can make that!!

So have spent the afternoon TRYING to replicate said Wafers....

they start flattened out, then you have to race the clock, and not burn your fingers, and roll them into dear little Haagenvaz cones...except mine kept collapsing FLAT. As I do not possess a steel conical type Madonna bra or Haaganvaz cone rolling instrument, I had to improvise with good old paper towels.

I hope they hold together - and more to the point hope when I pull the paper towel stuffing out it does not leave fibrous paper bits stuck all over the inside of my wafer cones (but I'm sure the ice-cream filling will cover it up).

Recipe is below for any goose who would like to try their hand at Honey Wafer cones...

75g butter, chopped

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup plain flour

1 teasp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 180/160 Fan Forced. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

2. Combine butter, sugar and honey in saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat :stir in sifted flour and cinnamon. Cool slightly.

3. Roll level tbsp of mixture into balls. (I didn't bother with this step - just spooned dollops of mixture onto baking paper) Place on prepared trays about 10cm apart. Flatten to about 7cm diameter (If you think I measured any of this you are sadly mistaken)  Bake for about 8 mins or until wafers are browned around edges. Cool on tray fro 1-2 mins. Working quickly, wearing asbestos gloves preferrably, roll wafers into cones shapes, or if you possess a Jean Paul Gaultier undergarment, roll it around that. Palce, seam-side down, on a wire rack to cool completely. If they fall flat, stuff with paper towels and hope to God the paper doesn't then stick in flaky patches to the inside of the cone.

Fill cones with ice-cream and top with sprinkles or that hard setting choc sauce which Deb prefers a gazillion times over than sprinkles.

Enjoy.

Nice one Cupcake

Looks like its time to hang up my apron and hand over the Golden Whisk.

MacAttack had a crack at making cupcakes from scratch from the Donna Hay Kids Mag...and I'm certain Matt Preston himself would have been proud.

Nice work Mac. Tomorrow night I'll have Duck Confit with bacon and leek dumplings thanks....

Talking footwear

When the shoe talks, it has to walk....
Term 4, week 3, and Luke's shoe cannot hold itself together any longer.
I so want to just glue the thing back together and push it through to the end of term.
In a desperate moment this morning, with no time to go and purchase new white sandshoes
before school (AND to top it off Luke has a Prep excursion to the Police Station this morning - can I send him with one shoe duc-taped at the toe in silver duc-tape on an official ride-on-the-bus excursion?...) I grab MacAttack's white sandshoes, which I fear may be too loose for him. Once on, he announces, "Wow Mum -  these aren't even tight"....  Are you saying your shoes ARE tight Luke?..."Yeah Mum - they've been tight for ages"...
Oh great....visions of foot-binding victims flash through my head, knee length calipers on my limping son as his friends climb the mountains with Heidi....bad mother, BAD MOTHER!!! How did I not know this? (apart from the obvious - I did not ask)
So, now I am ready to honour Febes' request for our weekly Coffee Shop date, and then off to puchase new white sandshoes Size 13 like his sister, for Luke.
If he's anything like me as a child, he will get them and instantly try to DE-whiten them before arriving at school tomorrow. Feel free to leave tips on how to take the SCREAMING NEWNESS out of white sandshoes...I know I wasn't the only one to have abhorred going to school with reflective sandies.

Medicinal Coffee shop visits

Trips to the dentist can sometimes cause such distress and trauma....the only possible remedy is the Medicinal Coffee Shop Visit for a nice tall cold refreshing berry smoothie..... made even sweeter knowing that all your classmates are in class learning contractions at that very same moment in time......

I, Heffalump

Just call me Lumpy.
Here we go again........sigh.

Double the delight

Birthday boy Adan yesterday had double the fun with 2 parties and 2 cakes!!
He enjoyed aDeb-made choc-ripple and violet crumble cheesecake (now also known as "Honeycomb Pie"  - thanks Crusher) at work with staff, friends and family - complete with balloon covered floor (nice work Sasha!!), and then last night, the kids had prepared a gastronomical delight of choccky cake weighed down heavily with choc icing and hundreds of mini m & ms.

Another day another dust storm today....after the cyclonic conditions yesterday afternoon and pummeling by hail we received. CRAZY weather I tell you. My poor little herbs - yesterday dented and bruised from the hail storm and today whipped by gale force winds and powder-coated in dust from Lake Eyre.....

Off to go and finish up putting all the folding and ironing away - today marks the lifting of my "self-enforced ban on reading at night time for a week". I have caught up as best as is possible on my sleep, and have the final book in my possession of The Bronze Horseman saga......"The Summer Garden". I will have all my chores done so that tonight when I finally collapse onto the sofa to start my book, that damn pile of folding won't be trying to distract me from Alexander and Tatiana.....oh its going to be a late night.......

Pure gold

A lovely friend gave me the nicest card for my birthday this year...it read "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold." (thanks Judith)

Too true, Prue, too true.

On the weekend, one of my long-time friends came up for a visit from Beenleigh with her husband and little girl. Neicy and I have been friends since we were 5 years old, having both started Grade One at St.Flannan's together.  35 years later and that friendship truly is pure gold.   Friendships that span lifetimes are such gifts.

Thanks for the visit Neice. Catching up with you is always a crack up. I love it. And I love you.

Oh the glamour

Last night was the Glamour & Glitz Girls Night In Breast Cancer Fundraiser. A lovely mix of Single girlees, Yummy Mummies, Aunts and Grandmas. Word on the street this morning is so far counting of raffle takings and cash donations made last night has reached $2600, but that isn't the final figure as yet.
Congratulations to Mary who won the silent auction for "The Bra of Hope". Mary will be the "custodian" for the next year of the perpetual prize symbolising hope above all else.
Congratulations Paula on winning practically everything in the raffles. Hope its a BIG apartment at the Duporth...you may have some extra guests with you.
Bouquets and wild applause for Annie, Karen and Carms (pictured with me) on organising and hosting such a wonderful night for such a deserving cause. Can't wait for next year's!!
As for the paintings....the ladies who won them 'SEEMED" happy enough and I didn't find them lying tossed aside in the street outside later on...it would be nice if they do nothing else but remind those two ladies what a great night out they had with their friends.
I might need to go and have a cup of tea and a lie down now. There's a little tapping headache that has been brewing since I awoke this morning. No idea where THAT came from???

Exposed

Oh dear....what have I done?.....

For tomorrow night's Breast Cancer Fundraiser "Girls Night Out" for this month's Girls Night In campaign (stay with me...) I was asked/and simultaneously kind of offered to donate some original art work for the Multi draw raffles. This fed my ego enormously!! But then, faced with "What the hell do I paint?", I became tortured over choice of subject matter.  In the end I did one of Jane McGrath Roses - so NOT happy as there was clumping of one of the pastels, AND the greenery I feel should NOT have been included, and it was all too late to re-do so my insides are now churning because it is SO NOT how I envisaged it to look in my mind's eye....

The other is of a glamourous Diva-esq type personage swanning around with a champagne glass (the theme of the evening is Glamour and Glitz - of which I will be sporting NEITHER) and I don't like her hips. It looks like I've secretly stashed a hoop under her skirt, albeit a very poor fitting one at that.  I now want to reneg and take them back and buy them gift vouchers at Myers instead to use for the raffle prizes. But alas, it is too late - I handed them over this morning, and now will probably feel sick all day today and tomorrow and even more so tomorrow night when the all the lurvely ladies clap eyes on them.  There will probably be a SERIOUS-for-real artist amongst the glamour set and they will be chuckling away behind their bejewelled hands all night asking "Oh my Gawd - WHO pretel did THOSE??!!!!!!"

This is not ego feeding. It is soul cringing. Torment, torment, torment, Head-Desk stuff. WHAT WAS I THINKING???!!!! Aaaaaarrrghhhhh.

Ah- now I feel better. Blogging is SO cathartic......and cheaper than therapy.

Sharp pointy knees

It has occurred to me that Luke Skywalker may have a mutant sharp and pointy right kneecap...it seems almost ALL of his P.J.'s  and jeans have the right leg torn open, right over where his nobbly knee is. Is this a thing that all 6 year boys do to their trouser garments? Or is it just my 6 year old? Where is Rita with her Janome when I need her?........

Beware

BEWARE the backseat drivers

Someone once told me you should always check your backseat before you get in your car...now I see why.  Hadn't been told the National Superhero Convention was being held in Toowoomba this year.....

Coriander status

First thing this morning - ok - not quite the FIRST thing...what with MacAttack and Luke Skywalker starting back at school today...and then I had to take the milk down to work to Adan as the milkman was late AGAAAAAIIIIINNNNNN.....and then I had to stop and purchase some soft pastels in pink tones from the Art shop on the way home....but when I finally got home...the FIRST thing I did was check the coriander.....


and LOOK!!!! its standing upright!!! Seems to be "out of the woods" now and is off the critical care list. Its that coffee fertiliser I tell you.....and the water probably helped a bit too.

I feel I need to share our Garden of Inequity with you....its looking so, well.....cared for, at the moment. Considering that only seedlings EVER get the H2O treatment around here, I am flummexed as to how anything ACTUALLY grows in our garden. The biggus maximus Rose astounds me - the rose bushes basically look after themselves - although recently they too have been receiving a coffee fix - but they continue to bloom -sporting GIANT flowers. I am optimistic about the herbs and strawberries...but with a token watering every few days it will be survival of the fittest. Add to that a male adult whom shall remain nameless who goes around Willy Nilly ripping poor defenseless seedlings out of their soil....

Best of luck little plants. Best of luck.

For now though...our garden ROCKS.

Is nothing sacred?!!!

I was going to share my love of making EXTREME-HARD-CORE bunk beds today....the whole "height" thing and all...

but then....I was taking a stroll around the garden, when I went to check on the recently planted herbs and strawbs the kids and I planted...those in the pots looked a little dusty (who doesn't in Toowoomba at the moment?) but were faring ok. I went to check the coriander I had planted under the confused citrus trees - they weren't doing so well in full sun, and I thought they would like the dappled light through the leaves of the trees - but there in their place was...NOTHING!!! They were gone!! Not dead,- shrivelled -up- on -the- soil-gone. Not chewed-off-the-stem-gone. But, GONE-GONE. As in not there. No evidence of them ever being there GONE. I stormed to the house to confront my number one suspect...

"ADAN!!!!!!" (He was "hiding" in the ensuite)

"Talk to me about my coriander that was planted under the lemon tree...."

Nervous giggle....

"I don't know what coriander is. What are you talking about?"

Confession time.

"Did you rip out a heap of plants under the lemon tree in the last 24 hours?"

"ummmmm....I pulled some green stuff out....were they actual plants?......"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Out I stormed to check the bins, but then the wheelbarrow filled with red dirt and weed-type herbage caught my eye. After a good dig around, I found them. Shrivelled. Twisted. Limp. And still all intact - stems, leaves, roots - everything! I knew I was running out of time, so I acted fast. Emergency CPR on the coriander. Clear.....

They are now back in the ground, watered, fertilised, mulched.....but still looking like they have flat-lined. Only time will tell now I guess. The next 24 hours will be critical care. I will keep you updated of their condition.

Afraid to commit

Yes - I'm going to try to stick with it this time. I know I lapsed pretty badly with my blog writing, but after some time away, and after reading Julie & Julia, I will make an honest go at it this time- and not be afraid to commit to my blogging REGULARLY. Damo, I hope this brings you even the smallest amount of joy.....

Last day of the school holidays today - not including the weekend stretched out before me. I tried to be a good entertainment director, truly, I did. We did the Carnival stuff for the first weekend - sideshow alley, the parade, Bjorn Again concert, the fireworks....and on the first Monday, I took the kids with scooters/bikes crammed into my little Betty Beamer, down to the Botanical Gardens for some flower appreciation, and a picnic. A short stint with Grandma & Pa, a lovely catch up-for me- with longtime school friends Hels and Shirl The Girl, a 4 year old birthday celebration for Miss Febes, a cave-in on the Little Legs (Kids Indoor PlayCentre) excursion and then yesterday, movies (extorrrrrrhhhtion) to see UP, brings me to today. Nothing planned. AT ALL. I'm done. Entertain yourselves kiddies. Here - take my frying pan (its not like you haven't before) and all the bedlinen and make yourselves an adventure playground.

In the shade.

On a personal level, I have spent my sparetime these holidays in Leningrad, circa 1942. The lovely and uber beautiful Chrissie, suggested I read The Bronze Horseman (not the one by Alexander Pushkin - but this one does exist BECAUSE of that piece of prose) by Paullina Simons. Well, last night I finished it - after many ONE a.m. bedtimes - and I have to say it completely gutted me. As I sat there, on the couch, SOBBING with abandon - Adan just sat across the room shaking his head, saying "Why do you do this to yourself????"...... Like I even knew when I started reading the book that I would be reduced to this emotional breakdown.

How soon can I get to the bookshop to pick up the follow-on, The Bridge to Holy Cross (or Tatiana and Alexander if you buy it in the US)? Maybe I should book in for some grief counselling first, then when I am strong again - launch into the second book.

During my sabbitical from blogging I happened to turn 40.

I did not like it.

But I am ok now.

I did not want a party or gathering or mass celebration of ANY kind. I had hoped that I would feel fantastic at 40. But I did not feel fantastic. I felt tired. REALLY, REALLY TIRED. I'm putting it down to a pretty crappy year.

Adan took me away to Sydney. Just us. NO Cooking or menu planning for 5. No washing or ironing. No 24 hour round the clock on-call mothering. No referreeing or mediating. Thankyou Adan. Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou Mum for minding our 3 kids. Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou.

Feel like I finally had a chance to stick my head above the surface and gulp some fresh air.

40 is not so bad now......but I still hate my neck.

So- here is my list (if you know me, REALLY know me, this would be no surprise to you - that I have a list, that is). My Things That Matter now I am 40 List.

*people I love. My kids, husband, family, friends - anyone I love, including my dog. That's the top of the list. Hasn't really changed from my 30s. Probably won't ever change.

*my freedom and independence (The Bronze Horseman has impacted on me, what can I say?)

*the skin on the back of my hands - still freckle free, and so far wrinkle free. Neck- you should talk to my hands. They could teach you something....

*Insignificant, incidental "moments" in my everyday life. Retrospect is AMAZING. I love the thought of "tomorrow" because then I can review yesterday in a way I couldn't when I was actually living it. (No, I am not on drugs. I make sense to myself, and frankly that is all that matters)

*Making sense to myself

*Chanel fragrance, beautiful things, my emerald ring.

*Laughter - the kind that makes tears spring from my eyes

I'm sure there are so many other things I could put on my list, just as anyone reading this will have their own version of this list. But this is my list (today's version anyway - it is always subject to change, at any moment, because it is MY list and I can do that)

Ciao for now.

Is this a sign?

Oh Dear! My clock stopped. Must have been 3:03 am. . . . 303 What does that signify? Even more troubling is how do I change the battery? Its about 2.5m straight up from the fire place, and I cannot carry the ladder in (being the invalid that I am at present) and Adan is away.....Perhaps we could do the Cirque de Solai family pyramid, and Febes could be at the top and change the battery while balancing on Luke's shoulders.....

Retrospectively speaking

Ok, so its been a while.

Let me just brief you on the last couple of months since my last blog entry.

At the end of June, the naughty lump in the bad twin got so damned painful, it just had to come out...some nasty procedures involving insertion of wire and being awake to experience the joy of it all, and then surgery, and then what has turned out to be a long recovery (still can't hang the washing out with my right arm or push a grocery trolley....however, I did make sure the day after surgery that I could successfully operate the coffee machine left handed, so now I have a new skill).

Coinciding with my immediate recovery, was the arrival of several very loud tradesmen, concreters, a cement truck, a bobcat and a couple of trucks roaring backwards and forwards up our driveway - to lay the slab for our new shed. Because I was in a drug induced haze for that entire day, the machinery didn't bother me too much, but the very loud tradesmen did. Even when there is no machinery in operation, they still YELL across the yard to each other - and often when they were standing right beside each other as well. It nearly brought me to SNAPPING point!!! Anyway, slab laid, then another long wait until the shed erecter man turned up to actually put the aeroplane hanger up. Finally, after 4 MONTHS, the shed is now up, and Adan can now park his fleet of aircraft in it.

During the shed erecting week, Adan's dad hurt his left arm in the wheel of his wheelchair and was rushed to ICU at St.Vinnies. After complication-upon-complication, he then took a serious turn for the worst and was put on life support. I am happy to say, he has now been transferred to the Base ICU, and improves every day. This week should see him come off the ventilator altogether, and hopefully he will leave ICU and go into a ward. Its still very doubtful what use he will ever have of his left arm again, so its a bit of a waiting game. It was a very stressful couple of weeks when he was at his worst. Subsequently, Adan cancelled his trip to the Cape with the Great Endeavour Rally and stayed here to spend every possible moment he could with his dad.

After the last few weeks of health crisises in our family, we took a long weekend last weekend for some much needed family time (the kids have been through quite a bit what with Mum's operation and subsequent recovery time, and then Poppy being so very sick in hospital, and mum and dad spending so much time at the hospital with him) and headed to Hervey Bay for some whale watching. It was a great weekend for everyone - and Adan was desperately in need of some down time. We saw the first pods of whales to arrive in Hervey Bay for the season, and also saw the Blessing of the Fleet of Whale watching boats. It was warm and sunny and I didn't have to cook once!! Very hard to return to cold windy, oceanless, Toowoomba.

So, below are some snaps of the last few months to keep you up to speed with the residents of Tullytown. Mac has had a haircut (Hooray!!!!), Luke has jumped 2 shoe sizes, and Phoebe has informed me she doesn't want to be called Phoebe anymore..."I'm Kaila now Mum. Just Kaila." (Is that like "Madonna"?) I have had to cancel more hair appointments then I would care to mention due to sick family members, and this week, my cleaning lady starts (its so terrible that I can't use my right arm to scrub things for a while.....)

And in conclusion, thankyou to Goomeri, a little town north of here, where we stopped en route to Hervey Bay - where I have stopped in the past en route to Bundaberg...
Goomeri provided me with one of my all time favourite quotes, courtesy of a sleazy little man who owned the bakery there years ago...My friend Kerry O'Brien and I stopped there for refreshments, and Sleazy Man said "Hi, How are you?" and I said "Good thankyou" and he replied, "I reckon you'd be better than good".........????????????????Can you say that????
And again, Goomeri has given me another cracker.... We stopped at the little coffee shop there - The Pumpkin Pie Cafe, and when I asked if we could have some sandwiches for the kids the girl replied "Oh sorry. We can't do sandwiches. We can only make toast." ????????????????????

Thankyou Goomeri.