What a Year!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to everyone!

I'M BACK! and I am starting to unwind after the busyness of the year and the build upto Christmas, I'm slowly getting my diet back to normal after consuming so many festive goodies and quieting down after having precious family members around.

Life is getting back to normal, whatever that is!

My youngest daughter has now moved back home and

is expecting her first baby on the 12th Feb

SO MUCH! to organize and prepare.

I need to organized my diary as my list of jobs and responsibilities have tripled

My camera has untimely kicked the bucket,

With new baby on the way, my glass house going up and house renovations progressing.

Son-in-law has moved in and has plans of building a bike track with jumps in

one of my paddocks, much to his delight not for the livestock.

I've nicked named him (I'll explain later) Little Booger :)

I had a full on year and my Blog was been very much neglected

2011 will be bigger and better, trust me

So try and keep up!

Have a Great 2011

A need to off load!

I've just popped in for a really good whinge then I'm off again, where do I start!
This will just be random, I'm hoping to feel better as I unload all of this so please bare with me.
* Christmas tree is not up yet, kids want a real one, so hubby is going bush to find one
* No decorations up as yet, before this is done the things below have to be done...
* 1 x old window pulled out of bedroom and replaced with new (ebay) window for pregnant daughter and partner who have just moved in and their belongings are lying in wait to be place somewhere.
* Excess belongings need to be taken away for storage
* Old fire place also to be taken out,in same room for time been and gyprocked
* Now house is back in some kind of order for time being. Need to start to make Christmas pudding and goodies
* Lawn mower died, grass is now upto belly button
* Keep watch for snakes around house
* Need to fix chickens pen, two hens sitting on eggs, one in middle of herb garden
* Need to put baby chicks when born in safe place away from predators
* Need to put gravel in drive way because so much rain has caused it to be boggy
* Need to take truck down to Sydney for son because he is moving house just before Christmas and need to pick
up furniture for him from suppliers
* Need to make sure daughter is booked into hospital to have baby as she has moved to another area
* Oh! need to find a car that we can buckle in capsule so we can bring home daughter and baby from hospital
* Have not done any Christmas shopping
* Need to pick up laybyes
* Buy food for christmas
* Finish clipping the dog, she looks like she is wearing a skirt
* Need to wash all (5) dogs,found a flea on one of the dogs, very strange because we have not had any fleas for 6 years
* Buys son birthday present, his birthday is Christmas Eve
* Pick up daughter,son-inlaw and granddaughter from Sydney and return home on Christmas Eve, four hours one way
* DO NOT FORGET customers orders to be made and delivered and make sure bills are paid and presents are bought
* Try and keep sane, only ten days to Christmas.
I'm sure I have forgotten some thing, anyway I feel a little bit better :)

Life!

Yes, I am still around, not for very long but I do return when I am able. Life in general has been very busy and I don't have the time or enough space to update you on what has been happening in my life. All I can say is that at times it is crazy and I need some time out space. Reflecting on yesterday all I can say as a Christian is that when Jesus calls you to step in on his behalf and do what he wants you to do, stay calm and trust him. I have a few minutes so I will share a little on yesterday as I was travelling to work (54kms to town) I called into the tip to off load some rubbish as we do not have garbage pick up where I live. While at the tip a young lady (about 30) and her father (about 70) were emptying there bins off the back of their ute and while they were doing this the father slipped off the back of the truck and hit his head on one of the large bins and was laying in a really awkward position. The daughter was screaming and trying to arouse her father, as I ran around our cars to him he had a fixated stare in his eyes (at first I thought he was not alive) and he was bleeding from the back of his head. The daughter had lost it, she was in a panicked state, I ran to my car and emptied my bag contents on the back of my truck looking for my phone and ran to the road way hoping to get phone reception and to ring 000. Thankfully I had one bar on my battery so I called for an ambulance. The gentleman came to as he was unconscious and now disorientated and he couldn't remember that his daughter beside him got married yesterday. To cut the story short the ambulance arrived and he was taken to hospital where he spent the day getting check over and was sent home. During this horrible time as I watched over this gentleman making sure I didn't need to resuscitate him I comforted his daughter, she thanked me so many times for being there for her and keeping calm,as she knew she would not have copied or been able to help her father if the situation turned for the worst. What I would like to say is that there will be times in our lives when we are called to be the strong, calm person in a situation, even though we feel we are out of our depth and comfort those around us that are leaning on us for help.

Well, Christmas is around the corner and I have done nothing to prepare for it!
Take Care
Sue

A View from my Room

Its hard to see but it is sleeting!

We had a couple days of wild weather, Friday had rain, wild winds, hail and snow. We awoke in the morning and notice sleet falling, it was getting heavier and heavier it was so beautiful that I opened our sliding door in our bedroom jumped back into bed under the doona and watched it fall. In the photo is sarabie, she has slept at the foot of our bed since she was a pup, well you can see in the photo she was mesmerize with the snow as well.

The wind started to get wilder and wilder then our roofing on our back verandah started lifting, as it is fairly old and next minute it was off, the trees were were getting tossed to and fro, huge branches were being snapped off and one of the trees on our front boundary fence fell but was stopped by another. I didn't go to work that day as hubby said it would be too dangerous for me as we have dirt roads which are lined with trees to travel on. In the evening we had to go into town for a meeting and there were about ten trees down, one was right across the road and we had to turn back and go the other way. Sunday as I was going to church I came across the Fire Brigade, they were cutting up a tree that had fallen onto a ute and as I drove pass I could see where the tree had dented the roof and tray of the ute, I'm not sure as to whether the person was unharmed but it would have been very frightening.

One week at a time!

I had a crazy week with so much going on and as usual my blog is left to the last minute. I can't believe as my daughter said the other day that it is only 11 weeks to Christmas but I think we say that every year as we run around doing what ever we do. The sad part of last week was the funeral I went to, it was of a young man that live near to us while we lived in the Hawkesbury and that we have known since he was in primary school. He died in a tragic car accident witnessed by his brother, he died the day before his birthday and he was only 23. The funeral was filled with his mates and it was gut renching seeing these young men saddened by the senseless death of a good friend and mate.

This is a picture of one of the areas between the buildings that will have a garden and a place to sit in the sun to read or relax or just reflect on life.

The kitchen has been tiles and fitted out but won't be completed until we can raise more funds.The commercial kitchen will be fantastic when we hold functions within the church and community.

In my week we had our sheep sheared, drenched and the lambs docked and tailed. We have about 30 sheep and about 18 lambs which is great our flock is growing but unfortunately as we inspected the flock we have decided that some have to go for various reason including some for the freezer.

As my hubby as arthritis in his hands and my bad back we get a friend and neighbour into do the shearing etc and we usually help in whatever way we can. Our sheep are fairly good and are trained to come to us with the shake of the feed bucket so it was easy to bring them into the yard the day before but there were a few that needed a neighbours dog to bring down from the top paddock

This our friend Murray who did the shearing, he is in a long line of generations that have worked the land and he has about 4000 sheep.

We don't have a shearing shed but we are working on it so Murray has to rough it in the yards with a piece of timber to stand on and shear.

As Murray shears he throws the fleece onto the table and I skirt the fleece, that is take off the daggy bits around the belly and tail and throw it into one bag then roll up the fleece and put it into another.

After the sheep have been sheared they are drenched and let out of the pen.

Then it is time for the lambs to be docked (males) and tailed and then they are let out of the pen to be with their mums.

Look at my hubby's face, the lambs are a good size plus hubby can't use his hands to grasp tightly onto the lamb.

Murray was having a few problems with his new shears but quickly sorted it out. Most of the sheep were quiet and most behaved during the shearing. I enjoyed the day out in the yard and it was good to get this job done and out of the way.

The other part of my week was when I took my dog Lucky to the vet when she was unwell and off her food and to find out that she had a serious infection in her uterus and had to be operated on. I don't know what shocked me more the fact that she was very ill or the bill of $900 but put all that aside she had her operation and has recovered very well but not the back account.

Well that was my week, I hope you had a better week. I'm off now to prepare myself for next week :)

Smell The Roses!

It has been much warmer now that spring has finally arrived but I just can't put my jumpers and scarves away just yet. We have had late frost right up to November and cold snaps in between. I have been sick for a good three weeks, it was more than the flu because it just knocked me off my feet. Being a mother and wife and grandmother there is no time to be sick so apart for 3-4 days when I was incapacitated on the lounge I dragged myself around.

Life has been busy as usual, the Church is nearly completed "Alleluia" well I should say that we don't have quiet enough money to completely finish it so we have completed as much as we can and the rest is upto God.

My business can now get back into full swing again as my customer orders are mounting up and I have been doing quotations left, right and centre so thank goodness summer is on its way because we will be having late evening in the shed finishing off orders.

I have been doing Grandma duties and oh what fun, my eldest grandbaby Riley turned 6 last week and she had about 30 friends over to celebrate, I don't know what mum was thinking. Little Georgia will be turning one in November and precious Sophie has just started eating carrot, banana and pears and I have a photo of my little carrot top girl with carrot all over her :) My youngest daughter is now 19 weeks pregnant and is doing well and baby is due early February.

Spring has sprung and my veggie patch is sitting and waiting for me to get my act together and get my beds ready for planting. First I have to sort out my chickens as they have been free ranging for the last five months and think they own the place, nothing is left undisturbed as they go through every inch with a fine tooth comb scratching and pecking at everything. With all the rain we have had the ground is still really soft and muddy and with these warmer days the grass has been growing like crazy so I have a lot of weeding to do.

I have been more involved in my church lately and have been given the position of secretary of the ladies ministry and just recently I have been made a Deacon as well as my other positions of editor for our bulletin and church office administrator so my days have been very full.

Life is busy and crazy so I know how important it is to have quiet times and me times like smelling the roses if you know what I mean. I encourage you to have these times even if it is just to recharge your batteries and really appreciate life.....go bake a cake and enjoy eating it :)

Where does the time go?

Time has escaped me yet again and we (I) have had so much going on and I have had trouble finding time to read all of my favourite blogs yet alone write a post. The little fella in the picture is a Echidna, also known as a Spiny Anteater it was crossing the road when I was driving home so I stopped and watched him for a few minutes. Echidnas use their spines as a method of defence against predators so I just sat in my car and watched him as he would take half a dozen steps and then he would freeze like a statue then he would move again hoping his watchful predator would move along . He did this, take a few steps then stop for a second or two then move again until he was close to the tree trunk or bushes where he would blend in with his surroundings. I left him in peace and went on my way.

We have another baby arriving and I think I will be called again for mother & grandmother duties which I just......LOVE. I will be up and down from Sydney again with appointments, scans and blood test etc so my busyness will not ease up till next year.

The Church is getting close to finishing and so is the budget, we just bought second hand cafe table and chairs for unbelievable price and all they really need is to be repainted, so I'm rounding up volunteers to make this as easy as possible.

On the home front everything is at a standstill due to extreme busyness and the rain, did I mention that we have had so much rain that my house yard is like a swamp, the chickens have grown web feet and I'm not far behind them. The heavy frost has also browned off the grass, so the yard is looking pretty bad at the moment. The veggie patch is waiting its fate, I'm hoping that it will be back in full production this year as last year was grim. I'm going to nag my poor hubby to make me some raised beds in his spare time (ha) or I will have to just set up night lights and get stuck into it when I get home from work and make it ready for spring. Once it gets warmer we will finish off our lounge room, laundry and kitchen and then start painting and decorating....yay

It won't be long now and our business will be picking up pace again as the orders have been coming in fast, we need to get more stock back in the shop and hubby wants to put our business name on our truck so make people more aware of us.

My life is very busy and I am doing at least 10 things at one time but I do get time to smell the roses and thank God for every blessing he gives me and I hope you do the same :)

Sue

Grandma Duties!

I have been absent due to grandma duties and loving it. My daughter and grandbaby Sophie have been visiting for a week and we all have had a lovely time together even the animals were excited having this little precious one come and stay. It was lovely to wake up in the mornings and see this little smiley face and have chats with lots of gurgles. We had lots of time to chat and spend time together, the weather was a little chilly but we managed to keep warm near the fire. As usual the time goes quickly and before we knew it, it was time to go home, but I am sure it won't be long before they will come back.

We finally had our first worship service in our new Church and it was terrific and just check out the cars in the car park. There are still things to be done for completion and the front administration building is still under construction but we will be having our "Opening Ceremony" in October.

I put on my side bar a short clip on a program I watch when I can called "The Uprising" it is a reality show about Born again pro-skaters Jay Haizlip, Christian Hosoi and Brian Sumner as they witness and share the Gospel to those around them especially the youth through skating and their everyday life. They reach out to those whose lives have been affected by poverty, drugs, crime and other misfortunes and who don't have or know the love of Jesus Christ in their life.

The Uprising....

It's my Birthday!

It's my 48th birthday, there I said my age now I can forget for another year. My youngest daughter has sent me some beautiful flowers and some yummy Lindt chocolate, the white chocolate with the creamy centre which I absolutely love :).

It is raining here at the moment and there is snow not far away and I am huddle in front of my heater at work. I have been thinking about making myself a birthday cake, I like the thought of a creamy cheese cake with fresh fruit or maybe a mountain of profiteroles with chocolate or toffee drizzled down. Is it just me or do other mothers, women make their own birthday cakes because sometimes if you don't you don't get one at all?

BIG! Progress and it was so cold!

After a freezing ( -6) morning start the big build started, the rest of the furniture was removed from the room and the demolishing tools were brought in. The guys did a great job, it is true many hands make work light but very dirty. When that ceiling came down so did the dust.

We pulled the all the beams down because the ceiling sagged and hubby new it would be quicker and easier just to replace it and he said cyprus pine that old would be no good to reuse because it would split and be brittle.

When the beams came down I looked at the exposed roof and it look like a beautiful cathedral ceiling well not quiet but it did look really good. Hubby said we couldn't have a cathedral ceiling because it would take too long, the room was too long and it would look too silly and besides he already planned to put the ceiling up in a day.

The guys were really great they worked well as a team, Gary pulled down the beams and David, Tony and hubby carried out the rubbish.

We cut the wiring in this room but we had another friend Peter come later to reconnect new lights and power points. We will be having down lights eventually in this room and I think I will have lamps.

The day was really cold and I was just moving around to keep warm plus I was in the kitchen cooking up a roast lamb dinner for these hard working guys.

My skylight was taken of carefully and put back. This part of the house used to be small and dark but now it has been opened up and has so much light.

Look at all that wiring what a night mare but the ceiling is all down and the room is cleaned out ready for the ceiling frames the guys made to be put back up. It was a different way of doing things but it worked and it was quicker and the ceiling will be much stronger.

They made about ten of these frames and nailed them to a main support beam (the red one)

The guys enjoyed there roast lamb (one of own bred on our property) and I had also made a few yummy cakes and biscuits for them to munch on through out the day.

The frames are just about all up and soon they were to start on gyprocking the ceiling. The day went fairly quick and most of the gyprock was put up and the guys left late in the afternoon and were planning to come tomorrow to complete the last little bit.

The next morning was down to minus (-) 8 and it was freezing. My bedroom door was iced up and was hard to open, all the pipes and taps were frozen, I think this must be the coldest day we have had here.

Everything was blanketed in frost and I did hear on the news that it was the coldest day in June for 60 years. We heard in town that peoples water meters were bursting and their pipes were frozen solid.

Hubby bought is gas heater he has in his shed inside to take the icy chill out of the air.

One last section of gyprock to go up and the job will be done. I made the guys homemade lasagna with fresh salad and garlic bread and they loved it, it was a feast. They finished early afternoon and they had to take off and get back into town because the freight courier was delivering the stoves and fridges and coffee machine hubby and I purchased for the new church.

The house is now so much warmer and is getting near completion and it won't belong and my daughter and grand-daughter can come up and stay.

Renovation Update!

This weeks temperatures have dropped down to the low minuses and everything is freezing up. You know it is going to be cold when you are lying in bed in the early hours and you have to put the blankets over your head because your face is going numb, well that was what this morning was like and then the pipes where frozen and the poor dogs couldn't have a drink because their water was frozen.
I had a bit of a problem opening my car door at 8.30am this morning because it was FROZEN
On a warmer note I was blessed with one of my new kitchen bench tops, I chose a shiny cream marble looking top with a square edge.

Hubby is cutting out the top for my new kitchen sink, this bench is 1500 (5ft) long and we have to cut half of it out for the sink, but waste not, want not hubby is going to make me some chopping boards with the off cuts :)

Hubby hates doing the plumbing he is more of a wood man but after a few trial and errors we have no leaks :)

Isn't she nice and shiny, that's our friend Tony screwing the clips in to hold the sink down.

OH! my, doesn't that tap finish the sink off nicely

It even comes with a chopping board and a removable vegetable/scrap drainer.....very nice :)

And look my first set of washed dishes. I know its only a bench top and new sink but I have been waiting patiently for a long time now and if you keep reading there is more!

This is the opened gap in my lounge room ceiling at the moment and the cold breeze comes shooting down there on windy nights. BUT tomorrow the lovely guys that have been working on our new church helping my hubby are all coming out to rip that old ceiling down, replacing the beams (one beam in my ceiling is a tree branch can you believe that) and put up a new gyprock ceiling YAY YAY YAY! Mind you I have to cook up a feast for all these hard working guys but I think it is going to be worth it :)

Its a fairly long room and the whole ceiling is coming down, just think of the mess and dust. Once the ceiling has been replaced then we can do the cornices, skirting, window frames and then start to paint and then I can start decorating.

These are cheval mirrors I sell at my shop that are really nice and are often hard to find in shops, I sell them for $120 and they come in two colours baltic and walnut. I'm not sure why I have put them on this post but I have other things listed below in my shop that I sell and I could easily post these out to people if they were interested. We mainly sell large items we make but I have been getting in these french provincial items to give the shop another look.

These trays are really cute and are a nice size

This little rooster clock is only about 13cm high

This clock has strawberries and butterflies and is 15cm x 15cm

I also have a few plaques hanging around, this one would suit me :)

This is a Buffet & Hutch we make, I love the little drawers. We have made so many different combinations of these cupboards and they all look fantastic.

This is a little picture frame that opens out, I think it was so cute, it is about 20cm x 20cm and I sell it for $25, so cute.

You can display five photos is this little cutey!

Well that's about it for now, I should have photos of the next few days of our big revamp of our lounge room ceiling.