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.

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.

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.

Tote Bag

I joined a shopping tote swap a few weeks ago on Down to earth blog. Now me I'm not generally a joiner in'er but just decided to give it a go & sure maybe I'd learn a new skill. I had been fascinated by the dressmaker who did the bridesmaids dresses for my wedding that she could just thrown this piece together & that piece & fiddle this & that & kaboom you have a dress. I brought her pictures of the one I wanted & she just measured the girls & away she went. I thought that was soooo cool & that I'd love to be able to do that.

Long & short of it never got round to it so when this came up sure I thought maybe I'd give it a go, it was a start after all. I haven't sewed anything since my home economics class in school so wasn't really sure how i was going to get on but sure I did it anyway. My swap partner had said she liked purple & patterned material so that's what I got for her. Ok so after many unpickings & fights with the sewing machine as it didn't like that I'd doubled up the layers so it would be more sturdy I ended up doing most of it by hand & you know what I actually found it very therapeutic.

So this is the one I made for Lindsay

and this is the one I got in the post this morning.

How cool is it to get a present that someone actually put time & effort into? It really meant more to me than something bought which was nice. So I'm thinking of making presents from now on well when I can.

So ok I know its only a small start but definitely want to learn how to sew properly. I find it very difficult to find trousers that are long enough for me cos I'm quite tall without paying a fortune for them which I'm not inclined to do so to be able to make clothes that actually fit me, fit my shape would be so cool.

Autumn

The weather has been amazing the past few days in Sydney & its supposed to continue until next monday. Its so hard to work when the sun is shining outside your window and the sky is clear blue. I just want to be out & about in it. Just checked the weather & its about 26oC now. wimper wimper want to be out walking on the beach or in a park or something.

Its coming into winter here. wow. I'm from Dublin, Ireland originally & my husband & I have been in Sydney just over a year but I’m still totally on the northern hemisphere zones, every cell in my body along with my mentality, psychology, physiology, whatever is all tuned that it should be spring now & with the weather being nicer now it fits with the psychology, its just too weird to think its autumn. :o)

But the good weather has brought out a few shoots on my tomato plant did I mention that before I think I did. Anyway checked it this morning & I have another two germinating so that brings total to seven now. So excited. I checked into lettuce seeds & pots at the weekend & I got a few books out of the library but decided to read up a bit before I buy any, just to be sure. So I’ll let you know how that goes.

I joined a shopping tote swap on another blog and we got our swap buddies today. I'm really looking forward to trying it out. I'm a total beginner. I think the last thing I sewed was in home economics class in school.

You should check it out its: http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/

She has so many wonderful tips & recipes its well worth a visit. I'm not normally a joiner in’er but this site really inspired me to give it a go. We'll see. I'll post a picture of the bag when I'm finished. I was paired up with a woman from Wales & I've emailed her already but I'm sure she’s still in cloud cuckoo land as its about 3am over there about now.

I thinking I must post up a few pictures soon. I'll do that soon. I had no idea how many blogs were how there I was having a bit of a surf yesterday it really is amazing, people from all over the world. I'm looking forward to meeting some new friends from around the world. I'm only new to this whole blogging thing & it’s been a revelation.

Yesterday I mentioned that I wanted to try to improve my diet & exerices etc. Well I actually brought in a proper lunch with me with plenty of fruit which I’ve just finished & feel very full after & last night I did an exercise routine from a Tai-bo class I used to do at home. I really miss it I used to LOVE doing it at home but I haven’t been able to find any classes here yet. So I worked up a good sweat at that. Another name for it is Kai-bo which is the original Billy Blanks US version. Its mixture between Taiquando & kick-boxing but done as an aerobic exercise as opposed to martial arts. It’s so much fun so if anyone out there knows of a class in Sydney please let me know.

I just saw a really good quote that I thought might be a nice thought for the day.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing himself” - Leo Tolstoy

I thought it was quite appropriate as that is exactly what I'm trying to do at the moment. Anyway hope you all have a great day & keep smiling. :o)