Music

Its a really beautiful day today. Nothing like a nice sunny beautiful day to raise the spirits huh? It was raining this morning so I'm glad its brightened up.

I've been thinking about music. I had my itunes playing in work & as the different songs come on different memories are coming to mind. The good, the bad & the ugly, memories that is, all come flooding back. Music is pretty amazing like that it can transport you back to that very second, the first kiss, the first dance, the first heartbreak....... ahhhh sigh.
It makes me think of people I've met, loved and/or lost & places I've been, things I've seen. How its possible to get caught up in a song, is pretty special. It makes you feel. I suppose that's one of the amazing things about being human the ability to appreciate music. Although I've heard of playing music to plants but not sure how that works out. ;o)

Anyway just another random thought for today.

Oh yeah, update, S's Dad was discharged on Fri & came home from UK on Sat. Surgeon is happy they seem to have gotten it all out. He'll have to go back for more scans in few weeks but all good news for the time being. So thanks for your kind thoughts & prayers.

Have a good one.

Interesting Internet

I've learned something new. The internet is great ok thats not what I learned but I got what i learned form the internet, get me. ;o)

Just trivial bits of general knowledge that I found interesting. I found out yesterday that racquetball, which I'd heard of but didn't know what exactly it was is very like squash. So i decided to look it up (what can i say it was Monday & i was bored in work ;oD)

You can learn very interesting things about everything & nothing on the internet, well of course I knew this but haven't really thought about how cool it is really for awhile, just take it for granted, like everything else that we get used to having but think about it 20yrs ago, internet? what was that?

Anyway i'm totally digressing, heres what I found out, racquetball is essentially the same type of game as squash with just some minor differences. Anyone who doesn't care please switch off now but anyone interested in a bit of trivia please continue. What can i say I was interested, I'm interested in the different things people call things in different parts of the world.

Squash racquet - 27in long & 8.5in wide
& see the little itty bitty ball - usually 39.5mm







Racquetball racquet - 22in long & wider not sure by how much
Ball - 57mm diametre



The courts are slightly different too



32-ft. long by 21-ft. wide by 15 feet high

Also generally only one wall is glass & above the top red line is out.

Whereas racquetball court is

40-ft. long by 20-ft. wide by 20 feet high and generally 2 walls are glass.

There is no 'out' area the ball can bounce anywhere & still be counted as in.

Again isn't the internet great?

Squash

Ok so I had a comment what squash is so here is what I was playing last night, ok well that's obviously not me, ;oD just picture from web but its good to illustrate.

Its a box where you run around like a mad thing after a ball & get sweaty. But its good fun. Its sort of like tennis but using half a court & a much smaller ball.




Here are the general rules which I'm still getting the hang of. Each person stands in one of the boxes. One person serves, you have to have one foot in the smaller box(on floor) & the ball has to bounce between the top red line & the middle red line(in diagram) & in the other persons box to be in. Then its basically run all over the place trying to hit the ball back without letting it bounce more than once. It can bounce off the side & back walls but only allowed to bounce on the floor once. Ohh & its not allowed to go over the top red line. A game it first to nine points. I won last night, wehoo.

Its great fun. Its not like tennis in that the ball bounces a lot differently. Its doesn't bounce back to you you really have to run to get it. So its a great workout.

Well hope thats clear as mud, lol. I tell you though I had a great nights sleep after it & feel great today. Well to top it all off its friday too so thats always good. Also the weather is looking fab for the weekend so ALL good.

Hope you all have a great weekend & don't sweat the small stuff. :o)

Seems ok

So the operation seems to have been a success, we're only getting texts updates at the moment. His dad will be discharged on Fri & the surgeon was happy with the op so all good for the minute. Not really sure what happens now maybe wait for more tests & hope that they've gotten it all.

Woke up this morning & thought it was Fri, how crap is that? anyway at least tomorrow is Fri & its not like Tue today or something that would be horrible. We're going for a game of squash after work I'm actually really looking forward to it. We've gone twice so far & really enjoying it. I'd never played before, S has. We're both wanting to get fit. S has gotten a bit of a belly going on & he's getting bit self conscious of it I think. And hes not really one for the gym so hopefully this will help. I'm just glad he's out doing some sort of exercise. I actually went to the gym yesterday, was surprised at myself but I'm glad I did I needed to burn off some stress so that was good & if I lose a few pounds in the meantime that can't be bad. ;o)

Anyway sure better do some work before I head out for our game. I'm just thankful that my meeting for tomorrow was canceled til next week so bit of pressure off.

Hope you're all having a good day. Saw a funny quote that I thought I'd share.

'BLESSED ARE THE CRACKED FOR THEY ARE

THE ONES WHO LET IN THE LIGHT!'

Operation update & swap pic

Ok so not sure if i've updated you, but S's Dad's operation was moved from Fri 19th to yesterday. They had a free spot or something. So just waiting to hear, initial news seems it went ok, we'll find out more today. Hopefully they'll have gotten it all out.

Not much else going on at the moment, the operation situation has sortta been taking up our time.

Work.....hhhuuuummmmmm, same ol' same ol'. Having a bit of a "oh i'd love to win the lotto & quit work" kind of a day. Happens a lot as you can imagine. :o)

oouuhh I finished my swap I told you that, well she's gotten it I can put up a picture of my amateur efforts ;oD

Needlebook & pin cushion

It was fun to make in the end, its good to get off my ass & be creative for once it does me good. It balances out all the numerical stuff I do in work, well thats the idea anyway.

Well thats it I suppose, hope you all are having a great day.

Dad's

Well I'm not sure if no news is good news or not? :o) S rang his Dad last night to see how things went. His Mum had texted that he wasn't having the op on Monday, it was re-scheduled for 19th Sept but we didn't know why? So anyway he rang last night & it turns out that the surgeon was having a really long operation the next day(Tue) & needed to rest as this other operation was a priority. The doc said his wasn't so bad that it couldn't wait 2 weeks so in a round about way I suppose that's kindda good news. The scan result came back also & everywhere is all clear so that's really good. His eye is the only site of cancer. So while still not out of the woods its the best of bad news if you know what I mean. So just have to wait now til 19th & pray. S seemed a bit more relieved so that was good too.

Its been making me think a lot about my Dad, this whole situation. I miss him. He died when I was nineteen, wow can't believe it's been eleven years already. It doesn't feel it. He had skin cancer. It was so hard, so horrible watching someone you love wasting away from the inside. Still upsets me sometimes when I think about that time. This whole thing with S's Dad I suppose brought it all back. I miss him. Don't get me wrong I'd gotten past the stage of thinking he was perfect I'm well aware he wasn't but he was still my Dad & I always knew he would be there for me if I ever needed him. And then he was gone & he took that security blanket with him & I felt very lost for a long time. It devastated me. But like anything in life what can you do but just keep going, find your way. You learn to cope, learn to live, it never goes away but it gets a bit better with time. Am I brilliant, am i perfect? no. I'm just me, no better no worse than anyone else. Everyone has a story. Today, right now, mine feels sad. But thats ok, later on or maybe tomorrow, it'll be better and life goes on.

I think what upsets me most is the thought that S might have to go through it too. That's whats hard. You want to protect the people you love. I really really hope he doesn't. I pray that everything will be ok with his Dad. Keep him in your prayers.

Its raining

Its raining in Sydney today & its grey, we were teased with a few nice days of spring but now its raining. You know its funny, when I was in Ireland I was under the impression that it never rained in Australia, funny now when I think of it but a few other Irish people I've talked to had the same impression.

Its Friday & I'm not having a very productive day I have to say, I'm waiting on other people to finish their work & give it me so I can finish off the monthly reporting. Usually I'm busy with my stuff but I seem to have gotten it done more quickly than usual this month.

S came back yesterday morning he was so wrecked from the flight but ti was so nice to have him home. I got up at 5.30am to go pick him up at the airport as a surprise, he was so happy. He went to bed early but woke early then. I'm tired today

He had a bit of bad news on his way back, his mum called to tell him his Dad has a tumour behind his eye, he went for a full scan yesterday & hes going to the UK to have the tumour removed on Monday. We haven't many details as off yet its sort of wait & see. We don't even know any sort of prognosis yet or anything, not knowing is hard. S was quite upset about it but hes trying to keep positive. I feel so helpless that there's is nothing i can do for him right now. Maybe the rain suits this sad time.

I'm looking forward to a lie in tomorrow no alarm clock, yipee. I've to be up early on Sunday cos I'm helping out with a race. Not looking forward to it but I'm sure it'll be fine when I'm there.

Oh yeah I finished my swap finally & got it posted off today so I'm happy about that, I'll have some pictures soon.

Anyway think I need a cup of tea & some choc always a good recipe for cheering me up :o)

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Flowers

I decided to change my picture at the head of my blog cos the last one while I liked it a lot it had a bit of an autumn/winter feel to it & since its officially spring here in Oz I decided to change it to some nice cheerful daisies(well at least I think they are :oD ), they always make me smile & thing of spring.

I had to play around with it a bit to get it to fit so its a bit cropped but here is the original I took at the royal botanic gardens here in Sydney.






They're so ...........happy aren't they?




I love flowers, sure i suppose who doesn't. I also love taking pictures of flowers. Its a lot better too with my new camera, the focus is better on it & it has a better zoom than my point & shoot.
Here are some of my favourites that I've taken in various places.

Let me know what you think?

Hump Day

Thank God the hump day is nearly over & yipee S will be back in the morning, his flight lands at 6am so hopefully he'll be home before I leave for work. I've missed him a lot.

So to my swap project saga, thought I'd have it finished last night, ha, i tempted fate I think. LOL. I was doing so well until i have to iron the felt with fusible web, the first side went on a bit but ok so I thought I'd turn up the iron a bit to see if that helped. Cue the smell of burning felt. As soon as I put it down it stuck to it, d'oh. & when i pulled it off the iron was covered in singed felt, d'oh d'oh d'oh & that side of the needlebook had to be written off, but would you know it did stick to the card but was all curly & burnt. Was quite funny after i cleaned the iron. So back to the drawing board tonight & lesson learnt hopefully will get it finished. I've another few days left before the deadline anyway so all good. At least the pin cushion is done. :o)

S is coming home tomorrow, did i tell ya? can you tell I'm excited. lol

Anyway must go & do some work I suppose since they are paying to.

Have a good one.

Monday again? Whats the story with that?

I honestly do not know where this weekend went. Having said that it was nice & relaxing. Went to see' in Bruges on Friday, its actually was quite good, some bits were hilarious but not sure if that's just Irish humour, bit gross at the end (think tarantino) but I enjoyed it. S got free tickets at work so all good.
S had to take a bit of a short notice trip to Florida so he left Sat morning. Miss him loads, this will be the longest we've been apart since we met. Mad. But it was nice to have the place to myself for the weekend, I cleaned & tidied, & did all the recycling, so the place it nice & homely at the moment.

After the week I'd had I really took it easy on Sat, read my book which I always find is a good way for my mind to dis-engage for a bit, & there was loads of good films on TV so stayed up watching them. Sunday was the cleaning & tidying day then went to the library for a bit, did my shopping, it was so nice out, spring is really starting to show & its the first official day of spring today yipee. Ooh yeah I also started my swap project finally, but I've about half done just waiting on the glue to dry(its says leave 24hours, don't ask) & I'll finish it tonight, I'm doing the pin cushion & needlebook one. My swap partner is in the states.

I have a mixed feeling about the swaps, a sort of love/hate thing going on. I amuse myself sometimes. I get very enthusiastic & join & think it'll be great. then the thought of doing it seems like such a chore & a burden(yes i know how sad, oh how the mind works) & then i get started & i really enjoy it, & even when I'm thinking of it as a pain in the ass I know I'm going to enjoy doing it when i get started. Can someone please explain to me the logic there cos it has me at a loss & its something I'd really like to overcome? It was the same with the last swap I did too. So anyhoooo going to finish tonight hopefully & post it away tomorrow. The deadline date is the 6th so I'm doing ok for now normally I'm a late minute kind of gal but I'm trying to work on that too. I'll put a picture up when I know she has received it. Its all in the doing I suppose I'm trying to learn new skills, my Mum died when I was 8 & I'm sure she would have taught me all these things as she was a kind of old school country girl, my stepmother, lets just say, wasn't very into that.

I missed doing the sowing course at the end of July as I had a few unexpected doctors bills so I'm going to keep an eye out for the next one that's starting.

Well think that's all for now, feeling a bit better so think last weeks blues have finally passed on, well til the next time as only in this life is there ups & downs. But all good & I'm back smiling :o)

Hope you all are well & have a great week.