Christmas Mayhem and Job Annoyances

Well here we are just a few days away from Christmas.  What a ride we are having this year.

I have been and still am so far behind my usual organisation.  I still have shopping to do.  I have no ham or pork yet,,,,and for that matter still haven't actually decided on a menu for the big day!

Not last Friday but the Friday before hubby came home from work and announced that he would be leaving for China on the Sunday morning,,,,,yes that is right, less than 48 hours notice of a trip that would take him away for an entire week!!  I admit to being furious and letting my anger be seen.  The job is really beginning to annoy me majorly.

I hate him being away from us full stop, but these overseas trips are just horrible.  Its just so far away and an entire week, well that is just way too long.  Of  course we had so many things on our list to do this week too which didn't help my bad mood.

The Sunday he left we were supposed to be going to a Carols by Candlelight but neither me nor the boys felt like going without Hubby so we cancelled that.

On the Monday we had open night at Mr12's high school for next year,,,,,naturally I had Mr10 home sick that day too but still had to drag him along to the high school hoping he would be okay....thankfully he managed to make it through to the end before saying I need to go outside in the fresh air.  Off he went and we followed a few minutes later to find the poor little sausage being sick by the side of the building :(  He only had a cold, but he tends to get quite phlegmy with his colds and always ends up being sick because of it.
Monday night also had me receiving some news from Miss13 which came as a shock to me and I was put in the predicament of whether to let Hubby know while he was away or to wait till he got back.  I chose the latter.  He isn't happy but is going to pretend that he doesn't know and see how long it takes his Ex or his daughter to actually tell him the news.  The worst part was that the news had been decided a few weeks ago and I had to find out on facebook! (Edited to say that he has now been back home for almost a week and he hasn't heard from either his Ex or his daughter regarding the subject!!)

Tuesday saw Mr10 home yet again and Mr12 had his orientation day at the high school.  Mr10 and I went at the end of the day to pick him up and he was in a horrible mood.  Attitude was oozing out of him at a great rate of knots which didn't put me in a good mood at all.  After both he and I having "words" on the trip home, he began to calm a little, but it has made me worry about what next year may hold for us.

Wednesday saw my Ex arrive with my older boys.  He had planned a 5 day visit and at the end would leave my Mr15 here and take Mr17 back with him.  I still miss my Mr17 terribly and can't quite get my head around him not being a part of my everyday life as such but I understand that being the sweet natured guy that he is, he doesn't want to leave Dad totally by himself.  I love him for being like that but the fact that this will mean spending his 18th birthday (Christmas Eve) without him just about kills me and naturally this will be my first Christmas without him too.  It will also be our first Christmas without having my stepkids for at least half the day :(

It will sure be a strange Christmas.  I am determined to make it as happy as we can though under the circumstances, its just going to be awfully quiet,,,,sooooooo not used to that lol.

Hubby ended up coming back from China a day early due to snowstorms in the last city they were supposed to visit making it impossible for the plane to land.  I was happy about that, but that was short lived when he received a phone call from his work at 9pm on the Sunday night (this was the day he was supposed to arrive back at 9.30am and his work had no idea that they had flown in a day early!) to say that he had to be on a flight out to Perth at 7am the next morning for a day trip and would arrive back home at 10.30 at the Melbourne airport,,,,this meant he wouldn't get home till around midnight!!  I find this ridiculous since his work had thought he hadn't arrived back in until 9.30 Sunday morning and then expected him on a 7am flight on Monday morning,,,,sheesh the trip from China was 17 hours as they had to take connecting flights from over there and they had been literally travelling either by plane or train every day for the past week all over China!,,,,,totally not impressed I tell you!!!

Anyway enough of my moaning.  What I really came here to say is that I hope everyone has a totally awesome and wonderful Christmas and a fantastic new year!!  I probably won't be around much between now and the beginning of February except for blog reading when I get a few spare moments :)  Hubby has the majority of the school holidays off with only a few days that he has to work scattered in there.  I can't wait to spend some quality time with him and just totally relax.  I feel we need this time so badly!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!  HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY ONE!!
SEE YOU IN 2013!

I will leave you with this cute little video I found on YouTube,,,,,I love kids singing lol!...tried to get mine to sing a little carol to put on here but they ran away in horror!!

Testing with a funny photo.....

Ok well it seems that Blogger is going to play nice today and let me share a photo......I may just go back into yesterday's post and see if it will let me share those pics as well!!!!

Nothing much to say today other than,,,,,,this car is so cute, I can imagine my car dressed up like this one lol (hubby would freak,,,,but yeah I can imagine it).

Ok off to investigate yesterday's blog post......

I tried,,,,sadly no it still says I'm out of room.........seems so strange how alot of us are having the exact same problems at the same time,,,,,how on earth can we all just run out of room at the same time????  Something fishy going on I think!

Weekend Bits and Pieces

This weekend saw us quite busy little bees, not doing alot but moving constantly.

Saturday morning was the usual trip to the shops to replenish the dog and cat supplies and do a little more Christmas food shopping,,,,,(we are trying to make the most of what, for us, is going to be a very strange Christmas, not having our family near us).  We bought another turkey.  We now have two.  One for Christmas day and one for our "second Christmas" in the middle of January when we have all the kids here.

We then spent a couple of hours on the phone to my Ex (the boys dad) and my boys Mr17 and Mr15. Mr17 spent last week in New Zealand as part of his Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh Award.  He said he had a fantastic time and met so many new friends.  He said it has been the highlight of his life so far and I am so glad that he had such a brilliant time.  He said all the kids bonded really well and he felt sad at the end because it felt like they had become a family and had to say goodbye.  Amazing how a group of 15-18 year olds can become so close in just the space of 4-5 days :)

Saturday night saw us go to Frankston for their Christmas Light Spectacular.  They had rides and food and a stage set up with various entertainment throughout the night.  It was quite  a warm night which made it a little unpleasant early on but thankfully there was a little cloud cover which protected us somewhat. Santa and Mrs Claus made their entrance riding Thomas the Tank,,,,that was pretty cute,,,,even if my Mr10 and Mr12 were a little underwhelmed (oh to have little kids back again that got so excited at things like that lol!!)   At 9.30 they lit the huge pine tree and had fireworks going off from two different points nearby.  The highlight for me would have to have been the sleigh carrying Father Christmas and Mrs Claus which was suspended by a huge crane and circled the huge lit up pine tree,,,,truly amazing.  This was our first year seeing it naturally lol,,,,don't know if it is something that happens every year, but for a first timer, it was pretty awesome!!  My photos don't capture it very well but you get the idea.


Sunday we spent at home.  The lawns had taken on lives of their own and hubby gave the kids a crash course in lawn mowing,,,they didn't do too bad at all actually!  I think we may have found our future slave labour in the garden :)

Sunday afternoon we put up our Christmas tree.  We were originally going to have a real tree this year, but we realised that a real tree wouldn't more than likely last right through to mid January when the other kids come over so we have stuck with our fake one for this year (was so looking forward to the smell of pine needles in the house!!,,,,oh well).

We now have to work out how we are going to do our outside lights.  We had a fairly large area on the old house and could really make a decent display,,,,this house has only a little front yard and not as much house frontage either,,,,we have to put our thinking caps on!!!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend too!!!

Sorry I went to add photos but apparently I am out of space for photos.....seems like there are quite a few of us that have run out at the same time,,,,,don't they like us any more???? lol

I love cute animal pictures :)

Just a couple of more photos from our computer archives.

Not alot going on today, feeling sluggish after Hubby being up at 4.30am for his trip to New Zealand.  I can never get back to sleep after he gets up so I just watched some early morning TV until it was time to get the kids up,,,,,,rivetting viewing I tell you lol!!

I have wrapped a couple of Christmas presents today and done a little housework but that is about it.  Have an hour till the kids get home,,,,,might just put some water on my tomato plants and have another coffee I think!

The last few days in our lives

Friday consisted of baking for the boy's school Cake Stall at their Market Night.  Their school had a small fete but the kids enjoyed meeting up with some of their classmates in an out of school scenario.  They had a sponge toss stall set up where two teachers at a time put their heads in a wooden cutout structure and the kids got to throw wet sponges at them......needless to say there were some rather wet teachers walking around that night lol.

My contributions for the cake stall was an Anzac Cake and a Coconut Cake.  I couldn't really ice either of them because the school didn't want anything that was going to melt and go mushy,,,,just in case it had turned out to be a warm day.  They needn't have worried but I didn't ice them as I normally would anyway.  I made a very thin icing and just drizzled it over both cakes and then topped them with coconut, just to make them look a little pretty.  They sold them for $5 each so that was cool, it all helps the school.

Getting organised

The cake tins are ready (notice the extra one on the side....lol lucky for the kids the Anzac cake recipe makes a larger cake than I needed for my round tin so we got to have a small cake for home out of the mix as well!!)

Thank goodness they turned out reasonable......the coconut cake on the right is upside down in the photo as I had problems getting it out of its tin,,,,,,disaster was averted though with lots of gentle handling!

The end results, not great but not too bad

 Lately we have been going a little Ebay crazy.  Yes I have been selling a few bits and pieces but I think we have bought more than we have sold.   Thats okay though, as it has all been bits and pieces for the house that is helping to turn this house into our home with our own stamp on it.  Lately we managed to pick up a 3 tier cat scratch pole with little sleep nook for just $1.00, I won 250 scented tealight candles for $5.00 (they are pretty little flower shaped ones), I got a gorgeous golliwog style door stop to go near the front door for just $8.00, some Better Homes and Gardens magazines for just a few dollars, a present for me for Xmas that was brand new and unopened for $6 (will reveal this after Xmas lol) and on Friday hubby picked up these beauties.  He had spotted these and thought they would look lovely outside on our outdoor setting (the outdoor setting that we don't actually have as yet as we don't actually have a verandah up yet lol,,,but that is all besides the point right?).  I do love them and now I am impatient to actually get our outdoor area set up.  For the moment though they look quite nice in their new home on either side of our tv.  Here is what they look like,,,,we got the pair including the candles for just $20!

They are quite large and I think they will look so nice sitting on an outdoor table at night time.

Saturday was a bit of a crappy day.  I was just a little over emotional when Hubby informed me that he was going away yet again.  This time he is off to New Zealand!  Although this trip is only a small one with him leaving at 5am tomorrow morning and returning at about 8pm Thursday night, I think all the travel he is doing has just caught up with me.  This trip will allow him to pop in and have a little visit with his mum and dad who live in Auckland at least, so that will be great.  He hasn't seen them in over 5 years, so I am at least happy about that. I guess I am just at the point where I am overwhelmed with the events of the last 6 or so months and the slightest thing is enough to push me to the edge at the moment.  Hubby said I wasn't being very supportive of his new job and it is a better life for us here...........I still fail to see how a better life comes from tearing a family apart, and him travelling constantly leaving me to hold the fort.  The money is the same as it was back in Adelaide, yet we have more expensive schooling here (this is still a big shock, I just can't believe the difference!) and our child support payments for his kids have basically doubled and then we have to factor in 8 return trips to Adelaide each year to pickup and take back kids (this alone costs us approx $500 a trip by the time you count fuel, accommodation for 1 night and food)!  I am back to level headedness today but I know that life is going to be a continual emotional roller coaster for me and I am going to just have to find some way of coping with it all.  Next year I do plan on volunteering somewhere while the kids are at school so that will be something I suppose.  I will keep my eyes open for a job too but even that will be hard due to the nature of hubby's work and the last minute type of notice he gets for travel.  I think I need to find my niche in craft or something and maybe start my own little business up,,,,,don't know,,,,food for thought.

Anyway on a lighter note, yesterday we went back to the Caribbean Markets again as we had to find a few more Xmas gifts.  While there we went on the Jungle Boat Ride.  We had bought tickets for the ride last time we were there but I started to feel ill and we had to leave before we got our turn.  It had been a quite warm day last time and we had walked around the market before lining up for the ride and I think I got a little overheated.  The market is in a big shed and of course, big shed combined with lots of people can make it very hot.  Once I had got back in the car and hubby had cranked up the air conditioning I was fine.  So yesterday, being a cooler day, we went back and got to have our ride.  Here are some pics of our little jungle adventure.....

Goats on the island (real ones!)

You may need to click on this pic to enlarge it lol

Beware the Crocs!!

The Aussie Dunny

Kangaroos in the bush.....there were more but they are out of camera shot lol

Gillligans Island???

These guys were just too cute lol

Someone help that man!!!  lol

Lions on the loose

Mr12's thrilled to be here look (lol he said he did enjoy himself, not that you can tell!)

Hubby,,,,,,,he hates being on boats of any type lol

Anyway enough of my rambling,,,I have a floor that is in desperate need of a mop lol, seeya later alligators!

Bringing a new meaning to drive through......

Another funny photo from our files.......

My hubby says I am shocking at parking a car but I made sure I mentioned to him that I have never, at least, done anything quite like this!!  I have accidentally scraped the side of his car on the edge of the carport when I went to reverse out of the driveway and I have accidentally gotten a little too close to the wall when I have pulled in (is it my fault our old carport was only just long enough and it meant getting my car within an inch of the wall at the far end so his car could fit??? lol).  But never have I driven up stairs and attempted to enter through the door!

Yesterday I did the post which I titled "Procrastination",,,,,,,great title lol but it shows where my brain was at yesterday (or perhaps its where my brain wasn't at), as I realised I never actually mentioned what I was procrastinating about!

I was procrasinating about checking my cupboards to ensure I had the ingredients available to make the two cakes for the school market nite which I need to get made this morning.  I was supposed to check the ingredients and then go to the shop and buy anything extra I needed.........this morning I am all ready to go to make the cakes and,,,,yup, I now have to go to the shop as I just realised I have no golden syrup left in the house,,,,,,not even anything resembling syrup,,,no honey, no maple syrup, no treacle, nothing!  I had totally forgotten that we had a bit of a pancake run during the holidays and the golden syrup and the maple syrup got used up on those and the honey got devoured by Miss13.....as for the treacle, well I'm not sure where that went but its disappeared too.  So, off I go to the shop, then its back home for some baking.

If I don't surface before the weekend,,,,,have a great weekend everyone!!

Something to Share.....

Hubby and I have a folder on our computer of photos and bits and pieces that we have (mainly he has lol) accumulated over the years.  I have no idea where majority of them come from but I've decided I will share them here.  Some are funny, some are just awesome and some, like the one above are just too scarey to even contemplate. Most of the photo are obviously photoshopped of course but I always get a giggle out of them.

Procrastination......

.....is a big word to try to type today lol.  I seriously had to actually think about how to spell it when normally it would just flow from my fingers.

I think it is just going to be one of those days where the brain just doesn't want to shift into gear.

I sat here before trying to think about dinner.  After thinking of some really yummy, healthy meals I could make, I decided that they would all take too much time, too much work and too much thinking power to bother with.  Then I remembered I had these in the freezer.....

I had grabbed these from the shop for just such an occasion as today.  The day where I just sit here looking at recipes and the food in the house and can't seem to put it all together.  This however is simple and easy.  I will just cook these up, add in a jar of tomatoes, herbs spices, hide some veggies in the sauce and boil up some pasta and throw it in all in together.  Simple and quick and the kids will enjoy it.  I'm glad I had grabbed these after they had been marked down at the supermarket...normally I would keep walking but when I saw these last week I bought them home and threw them in the freezer.  I like my homemade meatballs but today the thought of making meatballs really doesn't appeal at all, so I am going to be lazy!

Today I am feeling a bit like Shadow the Greyhound,,,,,ahh the life of a dog.......

 

 Meanwhile this little lady is full of energy.  I managed to snap her just as she came over to have  a drink.  She had been running around the house like a madwoman.  She is the most unsociable cat in the world this one, hates cuddles but then occasionally likes to sneak into the kids bed, even getting under the blankets to snuggle up along side them.  Seriously strange little cat is our little Smudge!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and being a little more productive than I am.  I hope tomorrow sees my brain kick back in as I have two cakes to bake for the kid's school Market Nite tomorrow night!

Things you discover

While having my morning coffee I stumbled across a new blog House of Humble which I am really enjoying browsing through,,,,,most of all they are doing a road trip soon and I love to read about people's road trips lol.

While there I discovered something new too,,,,,Bloglovin which allows you to follow blogs.  (I know,,,,as if I'm not already following enough blogs,,,,,,,,but in my defense I have found blogs that I have never seen before and I am loving it).  All this time I have been determined not to get hooked on Pinterest, so what do I do,,,,,find myself another obsession instead lol,,,,,the housework will get done, I promise!!!


I think this will take you to have a look at it  (maybe,,,,,possibly,,,,,if I did it right lol)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Our Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend we didn't have much planned.  After Hubby had been away on yet another work trip last week (Perth this time) which took up 3 full days and saw him not walk in the door till after midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning, we decided to have a fairly low key weekend.

On Saturday we enjoyed a sleep in and then tackled the kids homework which I had been a little lenient with on Friday night.  It took a couple of hours, but most of it is now done with just a couple of things left until tonight to get finished off.

After lunch we headed out for a walk/bike ride (kids rode, we walked) down to a local park which we hadn't yet been to.  It has a small playground and a small bike track which Mr10 particularly enjoyed.  We then headed back home, popping into the shop to grab some things for dinner and to quench our thirst with a nice cold apple juice.

Saturday night saw the kids out riding their bikes until dark and then we all settled down to watch Men in Black 1.  I had never seen this movie and since the kids have been saying they wanted to see Men in Black 3, I thought I really should play catch up.  While watching the movie I also made a start on another little crochet item, this time it is purely decorative and I will reveal it when I am finished,,,,hopefully this week if the crochet Gods are willing lol.

On Sunday we enjoyed yet another sleep in and then made our way out to a local fete that one of the schools had on.  It was a fairly small fete but it was nice to be out and about and Mr10 enjoyed himself.....Mr12 did too but he is just getting to that age where he doesn't want to look uncool and be seen doing anything silly lol so he basically just walked around not participating in any rides or even asking for anything.  Both boys had a turn at guessing how many lollies were in the various lolly jars which were lined up......and today I received a phone call saying that Mr10's guess had been a winner and we are now the proud owners of a jar of jelly beans which I will go and pick up tomorrow lol  (Hubby will be over the moon,,,,he loves jellybeans!!!).

While at the fete we grabbed a few novels for my Mr15, a cookbook for myself and Mr10 bought himself a book as well.  Hubby and I bought some plants for the garden too.  We bought a couple of Bromeliads, a couple of fuchsias a succulent and some Easter Daisy,  We ended up paying just $5 for 8 plants so we were pretty happy with that!  We plan on putting the bromeliads out in front of our bedroom window.  The fuchsias will go into nice pots and when we have our verandah area done, they will live out there.  The Easter Daisy and the succulent will most likely go either out the front or down the side of the house, not sure yet :)

Mr10 had a turn on one of those giant inflatable things where you are tied around the waist and joined to another person by a stretchy rope and you need to pull and try and get to the basketball hoop at the end of your run and pull it to the ground.  Mr10 got teamed against a girl who was pretty much half his size lol, so it was a little unfair for her.  He had a blast though lol and the fact that he beat the girl and won the round, well his day was made!

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend too....now back to the housework!

These things look like alot of fun,,,,pity it wasn't made for adults lol

Almost there......

Got it....and took out the ride manager at the same time lol

But finally victory was his!

My plant haul

My 50 cent cookbook......the recipes in this book look so yummy!!!

Friday Wandering

Today is a day where I should be doing housework.  The floors are calling out for a vacuum and mop, the bathrooms really do need a good scrub and the kitchen bench needs to be found beneath the bits and pieces that seem to get left laying on it.  But today, I really don't want to do housework.  Today I just want to sit and read a book, read some of my favourite blogs, wander in my garden, making plans for its future and basically do nothing that normally I feel I HAVE to do......so that is what I am doing.  I am having a day of little productivity.  I have another 2 hours till the kids return home and another 11 hours till hubby gets home from his latest work trip to Perth.  He left at 4.30am Wednesday morning and will walk though the door at around midnight tonight.  When hubby is away I either rise to the challenge of being Queen of the Castle and work like a madwoman or I turn into a sloth.  These last couple of days have been the latter lol.  Hubby will come home and probably wonder what the heck has happened to the house, but I really don't care today.  I will get back into it tomorrow.  When the kids get home I need to get them to knuckle down and get some homework done so we don't end up with all of it left for the weekend.  I really should have pushed them a little harder last night to get more done, but last night I accepted just the bare minimum out of them.  So tonight we will get most of it done, leaving just a little bit for Hubby to help with tomorrow.  I will make Spag Bog for dinner as it is quick and easy and a great comfort food and then we will laze on the couch and watch a movie I think.  By the time the movie finishes and I get the kids to bed I should have about an hour or so before Hubby gets home where I can just chill out and read a book or flick through a magazine.  Sounds like a plan to me!!

I just went for a wander through my garden, it is so full of hope and promise right now.  Not that we have a bountiful garden but there is hope for the future in the garden.  Our fruit trees are looking healthy in their pots, the roses are in bloom (after summer the existing plants, roses included, will be pulled out in preparation for planting our fruit trees).  Our veggie gardens are lined up, waiting for their soil and compost to be loaded in and getting things planted out in them.

My little tomato seedlings I bought earlier this week have been transplanted into some little pots (not bad from the one punnet of seedlings I ended up with 13 plants!!  On my kitchen bench are some flowers that Hubby picked earlier in the week and my celery bottom which is now shooting.

When Hubby arrives home we will make some plans for the weekend, maybe go to a local school fete on Sunday and possibly, weather permitting, a bike ride or walk somewhere new on Saturday.

Have a lovely weekend everyone :)

Celery shooting

Flowers picked by Hubby

My happy plant rescued from the sad bench at the shop is starting to look happy again

Strawberries hiding in my pots

Nearly ready!, not large but they will do!

My tomato seedlings,,,,all from the one punnet,,,now that is value for money lol

Roses in bloom

Not sure what these are but they are quite pretty

Another rose

Fruit tree blossoms

Yet another rose

One of only 3 plums on the tree

But wait there's more....roses that is!

Our promise of a bountiful future harvest,,,,,fingers crossed lol

Another one down......

I think I should do more quick and easy crochet projects.  It is really fulfilling when things are started and completed in the space of a few days.

Although I do love my long projects, I do find myself getting a little tired of them by the time they get to about the half way point.  I am so glad that I tried out this little pattern for my beautiful little great niece and her big sister.

This one is the one I finished on the weekend for the big sister.  I wasn't sure about the wool choice (I was determined to use wool from my stash rather than buying new stuff and this one talked to me at the time but while crocheting it, I became undecided on it).  As I completed it though, I decided that it is something a little different and I think will look very cute over the top of a plain out fit.  I am supposed to put a couple of little buttons on these cardigans but I am just wondering if they will do without the buttons????  Not sure, will have to have a think on that,,,,,,having said that, it probably does need buttons, otherwise its not really a cardigan lol.

I hope they like their cardigans and I hope they fit,,,,,,I need to steal (borrow) someone's toddler and baby to test it out lol.

Who did you Adore.....

Listening to my stepdaughter during the school holidays, I was just in awe that the only topic of her conversations was One Direction.  This girl is obsessed with a capital O for sure.  Last year it was Justin Bieber, this year it is One Direction.  She still loves the Biebanator as we call him but her heart now has been kidnapped by the One D boys.

Any conversation you have with her will contain talk of the gang.

It got me thinking today of my teenage obsessions.  I'd like to share a few here:

We had

John Travolta

 

Patrick Swayze



Rob Lowe



John Stamos

 

Michael Jackson



Boy George



George Michael



and I even loved Marilyn for a while

 


There were also women that I loved singing along with and took little pieces of in my fashion "wants"

Madonna

Cyndi Lauper












And the one woman who I truly wanted to grow up to be - as in singing and acting and to also have the body of:

Olivia Newton John



Sadly, I never became an actress, or a singer and I certainly never had the body of Olivia.  But amazingly all of these people are still up there today in my favourite actor/favourite music charts.  My kids have been brought up with Michael Jackson and Culture Club.  When they let me I play little bits of Marilyn, Madonna, Cyndi and Wham.  Looking back on some of my teenage idols, I think One D are probably pretty normal by comparison lol.

I do find it funny how none of my boys have ever had obessions with anything, it is really odd,,,,maybe boys just don't get as involved in things as girls, I don't know lol.

Who were you obsessed with as a teenager?