Mandy in Oz

Well, we've moved Miss B upstairs.  This entailed a truckload of work, moving all of her accumulated *stuff* out of the large downstairs room and also removing all of my art/craft/gym gear from the upstairs room, so that she could fit up here.  The *exciting* bit is that we'll be doing some renos downstairs, so that I can have an art/craft/gym studio.  So far, half of the floor is ripped up and I have a sweet tree mural chalked in on the feature wall, all ready to start painting.  Prepare to be bombarded with photos, over the next few weeks :P In other news, I finished an oil portrait of Sookie the wonder dog, that I've been working on for a bit.  It's so hard to tell when you're finished....I'm still not entirely sure, but you have to stop some time...right?  right??  Might post pics of it in my next blog post. In lieu of pictures that are actually related to this post, please enjoy some really cute pics of the very sweet cat that adopt...

Is absolutely gorgeous, when you live here.  Still balmy, yet without that intense humidity that summer holds, for those in the subtropics.  I've been lavishing some much needed attention on my gardens in the last few weeks, and they have repaid me very well indeed. After weeks of relentless rain, my roses, which have been languishing for quite some time, have really put on a show.  An added bonus - I finally discovered what *that tree* is - for the first time in the four years we've been here, my Golden Penda is in full bloom - the Rainbow Lorikeets love it!  Apparently these trees have non-invasive roots (phew!), can grow to 20 odd metres in the wild (they're a rainforest species, native to Australia), but generally grow to a maximum of 10 metres in cultivation.  Looks like we'll have quite a lovely shade tree, in a couple of years time :)

I've never really posted all that much about my personal journey of the last couple of years.  I've been meaning for a while now to actually *lay it down*, so to speak.  So, here goes. Where to start?  I guess, I'll start with the arrival of my fourth child, baby J, in July 2009.  I didn't gain much more weight than I had with Miss Lily, three years earlier, but I discovered that the weight wasn't just 'falling off' this time around.  Could be that I was a bit older, or just a lack of exercise, or eating crappy food....probably all three. October 2009, Baby J in the wrap December 2009 So anyway, I wasn't terribly concerned, being in the newborn daze that I'm sure all parents remember well ;)  As time went on, I noticed that my weight was creeping up, and I was always feeling exhausted, sluggish and just....meh.    I believe I reached my heaviest point in my life, even *including* pregnancy, in August 2010. I refused to weigh myself (lo...

There was a very big birthday in the family recently.  My eldest daughter, Miss N, turned 18!  Yep, nothing makes you feel like an oldie, quite so much, as knowing that you have an *adult* child.  Anyway, moving right along.  I decided to make her a quilt at the last minute, as you do....turns out, the ragging process on a raggy quilt takes a while :S  Who would have thunk it?  It was a bit of a race to get it finished, but she seems to like it, so it's all good ;)

Big J (hugging me tightly and being sweet) - Why do you still drive me so crazy? Me (all innocent eyes) - I guess I must be *really* annoying..... Big J - in that case, I want to be really annoyed for the rest of my life.... Challenge accepted :P

I recently posted an album of *outtakes* to my Facebook page, kind of a visual representation of what happens when you attempt to get three children to all look at you, with at least semi-normal expressions, so that you can take a cutesy picture to put on your family Christmas cards.  Here are some of my very favourite pictures from that session....some might even make it to print ;)

Miss B, my teen-at-home, can be a little....quirky.  *No* idea where she gets it from.  So, one of her interesting quirks is an abiding love for snakes, yet an intense fear of magpies (go figure!?).  What's a parent to do, but stir her up at every opportunity.  Our recent conversation went something like this... Me: Hey, did you see the freaky crow/magpie hybrid on the front deck, eating the cat food?  Miss B:  Whaaatt???? OMG, are you serious?? Me:  Why don't you go and take a look?  It's not a crow or a magpie....I think I'll call it a cragpie. Miss B: (tiptoes over to door and peeks out)  Arghhhh!!!  What the hell is that!!! Me: (giggling hysterically) I told you...it's a cragpie. A couple of days later.... Miss B:  Mum, they're not cragpies.  They're another kind of bird....curra....something.  But they're not magpie hybrids (sighs in relief).   So, Miss B isn't worried about giant ...