Day Five of six

Phew one more day to go! It hasn't been that bad at work but I have had some crappy coffee in the last 5 days. I have gone to at least 4 different coffee places and today was probably the best yet (maybe my taste buds are dying?) mind you they still stuffed up my order and only gave me a small instead of the giant caffeine overload sized one that I had ordered. I am sooo looking forward to having a decent coffee at my favourite coffee shop with my gym buddies of course!

Speaking of the gym, I managed to get to the gym on Friday night and did a boxing class, my usual day time partner was there which was awesome as he knows not to punch me too hard, but he doesn't give me an easy workout. On Saturday and indeed today I still am feeling the effects of the class, unusual as we didn't really do anything that stood out (perhaps I'm wrong?)

Today the winter Olympics finish, I have enjoyed watching all the bumps and crashes as well as the amazing wins by these super athletes. I am though looking forward to the next survivor series... hero's and villains!! Bring it on!

Another road trip has been planned with my road trip buddies, I will take lots of photos to post and will try not to spend too much money, I am quite happy of course to help Maddy and Jennifer spend their hard earned cash.... think I might see if there is some of those nice threads that Jennifer bought on our last road trip. Gosh Wednesdays are fast becoming our road trip days! joy, bliss, rapture.

Will return you to normal viewing with photos this week.

Day one of six.

I survived the day!

I also did a danzika class at my gym tonight with some of my friends... Carlos our instructor is the bomb! The night class was quite different from the day class, music was more orientated towards the younger participants which was fine by me as I like that music too.

Quilting tomorrow night and I think I might go swimming with the girls while they train with the club on Friday night.

The house is quiet tonight as the noisy one is on school camp....

Bedtime

my holidays are over

Well the time has come for me to go back to work after being on annual leave for the last 3 weeks.

I have gone to the gym every morning and exercised my butt off (well that was the idea!) I have had coffee with my friends, shopped, gone to patchwork shops, taken my mum to appointments, gone to the city with the enviro team from the school and settled the noisy one into high school.

I now have 6... yes 6 days straight of work after all this time off (I must be mad).

The noisy one is off to school camp for 3 days so I am currently getting her to pack her bag and get into bed as I am must home from the gym (yes again).

I have made a nice casserole for dinner tomorrow night so I don't have to think about that particular job and my friends from gym and myself are all going to danzika class in the evening as I will miss class in the morning. (oh will I cope?!).

I know I will find a million things I need to do in the next 6 days that will clash with me working (such as my social life!).
Wish me luck!

My weekend

I spent my weekend with family and friends. Saturday afternoon I was able to escape the former and spend some time with my quilting friends at our monthly guild meeting. The show and tell was enormous and my friend Jennifer who is our blog master is dreading putting all the photos onto the site. (I don't blame her!).


Sunday the fisherman escaped and went and did a casting competition with his 'fishy' friends. They don't catch fish at these things, they just cast out weights and see who can go the further est. the girls and I went down the the Latrobe uni market together and wandered around the stalls. The froglet rather likes danish pastries and there was a seller with them and other tasty treats, the noisy one had a sugary chocolate donut and I had the best ever Portuguese custard tart.... heaven.


We came home and I watched 3 movies!! Yes I sat here on the couch like a huge vegie and sewed too!!. Watched Marie and Maria.... enjoyed that one (has blogging in it lol) and then have you heard about the Masons? crap... utter crap. Then the last one was the bride wars... now that was fun. I'm just about to go and watch The lake house with keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock... two actors (actress) that I like so hopefully I will enjoy this movie too.

The pictures that I posted today are close ups of a couple of the postcards I got on Friday at the enviro day thingy.... got some more, but my movie is waiting for me!

Oh I would just like you all to look at Curly Pops blog as she talks about a subject that is I believe is important. I am a donor already and so is my family, even the froglet who is only 15 understands the importance of donating organs.
I wish I could still donate blood and go on the bone marrow list but as I lived in the UK during the mad cow time I am at this time unable to do so. The froglet expressed her desire to start to donate blood, I think she will have to wait till she turns 16 and I will be very proud to give permission for her to do so.

environmental day

Today the froglet and the noisy one went into the city with their environmental group from school. I decided to join them on their journey and see what the froglet has been doing for the past 3 years with the team and check it all out. The noisy one has joined the team as she has heard about all the great things they have done from her big sister.

We started in Federation square with the opening speeches from all the grand poobars telling us what the postcard above says!

there was all sorts of stalls and items dotted around Fed square and then you descended the stairs towards the Yarra River to find even more stalls.

There was a few food stalls.... organic fruit and veg delivered to your door (free plum to taste!) CERES had another stall with an apple to try, some ladies products, stuff for your house ie: solar panels.

The food section was more alternative style, there was the hare Krishna's with a very yummy smell coming from their area (no music though, rather disappointed to not hear their cymbals). There was veggie burgers, polenta chips, tofu and veg stir fry, and a flat bread with cheese and spinach which we had. Timboon ice cream was there!! awesome... we love their ice cream and had Turkish delight, lemon gelati and a chocolate ice cream.

The enviro group had a performance/activity at 1pm and their subject was FROGS!!! we played frog bingo... you match the frog noise to the frog picture, drawing frogs, the food chain and best one was the frog dance!


I was rather taken with these little pink guys.

there was free postcards and some were really cool (like the first one I posted hehehe).
Now although there wasn't craft stalls as such there was free trade stalls with some rather nice products, I had to really stop myself from going over the top and only bought the one bag. The other bits were freebies....don't you love freebies!

I rather like the cup... it is supposed to be the right size for coffee machines and the same size as a small takeaway cup it has a lid so you wont spill it. it has a band around its waist that you can colour in to show what you like to drink and how you have it, to save you talking to the actual people making your coffee...hmmmm not sure about that part lol.
I got a bit of sun as it was a rather hot 31 degrees, but thank you very much to the nice volunteer who was giving out large handfuls of sunscreen so I didn't fry completely.
The day out was lovely, I spent some time with my daughters, their friends and a couple of teachers. I watched them teaching other students about frogs and I learnt more about what I can do to help save the world from ourselves.

road trip!

Today a couple of my friends and I went on a little road trip! As I had done extra at the gym yesterday I allowed myself to miss my pump class this morning so that we could head for the hills and have time to browse without rushing too much.

Our first port of call was to Mrs Martins quilt shop in Monbulk I can highly recommend a trip to this shop! Karen made us a very welcome cup of coffee and a lovely lady to chat with. Go and have a look at her blog (click on the link I made to her blog)...aren't I clever heheheheh! But better yet go and visit her at her shop I will definitely make a return trip there.
Monbulk is also holding their community quilt show and it is going to be on March 13th with all the proceeds going to the Monbulk CFA (very worthy cause to support!) I bought some raffle tickets for the very nice quilt, I never win raffles so I doubt I have the winning tickets! So go and buy some as you are still in with a chance haha.



Lots and lots of nice patterns and the shop is full of samples and great gifty items.

We then started back down the hill as I spotted another quilt shop in Tecoma which is foothills fabric and threads

Another very nice quilt shop that was different to to Mrs Martins so make sure you allow yourself time to visit both these shops. The foothills also had lots of samples I love seeing the quilts in the flesh, I cant believe the stitching that Leanne does OMG! (that's oh my goodness to those who don't read initials lol)I'm also now showing off with my ability to do links hheheheh. Teeny tiny miniature daisy chains and minuscule running stitches... I wish I could sew such beautiful and tiny even stitches.... I'm just too impatient I think *sigh*


Jennifer bought some of those really yummy variegated threads that are becoming very popular.... After seeing them today I think I will invest in some in the near future. I also bought a couple of Melly and me patterns, some nice civil war fabrics and I also found a very nice skirt that was half price!!
We could have visited another couple of shops but due to us having children that needed to be picked up from school we had to by pass them (might have saved a plastic melt down!)

Lots of craft markets to visit in the coming weeks and months, bloggers to meet, crafts to buy! I go back to work next week so that will help me pay for all these lovely goodies.
I also apologise to those who cant comment on my blog, I have ticked all the boxes and made it so that anyone can comment but still there is problems...anyone else with a clue??

sweat

Tonight I went to my gym while the froglet swam in squads (she could barely walk afterwards!!). I did an RPM class (bike riding) Now I do at least one of these classes a week, if not 2 and I have NEVER sweated like I did tonight, I was going to take a photo of my sweaty Tshirt but I thought it might really gross you all out too much heheheheh.

I'm just about to take my weary body off to bed, I did an hour in the gym this morning plus another hour in danzika class.... yes I know I'm mad. I am going to be doing around the bay with one of the girls from the gym. I'm not doing the BIG one, we will leave that to her hubby and his mates... there is a smaller version, I think its either 40 or 50kms.... that will really knock the stuffing out of me! Its not till much later in the year but I will have to start training sooner rather than later.

Tomorrow I am off with a couple of girls to check out Mrs Martins quilt shop in Monbulk, I have been watching her blog for sometime now and will be updating my favourite blogs soon. Hope that we will find a nice place for coffee...mmmmmm

Bullion roses

I finished quilting my nieces birthday quilt that I made for her 16Th birthday which was March 2009 opps. Better late than never! Just need to do the binding.

Here is the cherry quilt that I have made for my cousins new baby girl. Its all done apart from the label, I need the date of birth then I'm done!


Another friend had a baby girl recently also, so I have bought some bibs and singlets and then I sewed on some girly patches on some and did some bullion stitching on the little bibs.


I did a course in bullion knots many years ago and enjoy whipping up little bullion rose here and there.



I had an urge to do some cooking so I made a lemon meringue pie. I then cooked a lovely roast lamb dinner in the BBQ... so less mess!! The gas bottle didn't fail to run out on me like it does every time but this time I was prepared!!

Hope you had a lovely weekend and if you celebrate Valentines day that you had a nice day with your loved one. The fisherman is as romantic as a rock so you can guess we don't 'do' gifts, however I did buy him a large toblerone as I always buy him some chocolate.

This is my mad Doberman. (this photo has the look of those twisted whiskers!) No honestly she really is mad, my father in law calls her the idiot as she chases flies on the back verandah and if you don't pay her any attention she will start to make growly noises and then will bark. She bangs her bowl when its dinner time (6pm) and if we are late with dinner she really chucks a razz. She is O.C.D. and eats chunks out of her blanket like a giant moth which she drags around the house to sit on where ever we are. I buy her blankets from the op shops as they end up looking like enormous Swiss cheese slices and I end up picking up bits of blanket everywhere.

Everything is nice and fresh since the rain yesterday. I hope that no one got flooded out, the footage on the news in the city was amazing with people wadding up to their knees... I hope no one had their designer shoes on!

Thank goodness its the weekend, I actually woke up feeling less than perfect with sneezes and a runny nose and I just had a Nana nap here on the couch which has slightly refreshed me. No swimming for me tonight and at this stage I doubt I will swim in the morning while the noisy one does squad training.

Lots of markets on this weekend... spoilt for choice! Farmers market nearby at the brand junction, another craft market in Thornbury and one in Brunswick. Sunday is the market down at Latrobe University so depending on the weather and my health I'm hoping to go to at least one of these.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend where ever you are spending it.

New shoes

I bought some new trainers yesterday... have to sell my first born to pay them off heheheh. I expect them to turn me into a super athlete!! (I wish!).
I have been going to the gym every morning for the last 2 weeks and doing at least one class and sometimes a bit extra. Yesterday was an extra day, started with a lovely walk outside with one of my friends, a bit of weights and then Danzika (Latin dance based) class with Carlos.... he is from Columbia and has an accent that we all love *wink* then last night rather than doing a RPM (bike riding)class I decided it was too hot so I swam instead while the froglet did squad training in the next lane.

Today I visited one of my gym junkie buddies who has had her girly bits removed. I'm glad to see she is home and doing well, and was rather excited to think at the moment I am fitter that her for a change lol. Two other girls visited her also and between us I think we gave her stitches a workout!

Weather here is really bizarre, hot, steamy, wet, cool change..... good old fashion Melbourne weather.

Bring it on!!

one UFO almost done

Today was a good day for ice cream! I was lucky enough to get to another market today, the old Greensborough market has moved to Latrobe Uni. I bought myself 4 books today for a whole $20 which is less than what I would pay for one of them brand new so I'm rather happy with my purchases.

Some nice smelly soaps for the girls.... nothing like the smell of strawberry soap to lure them into the shower heheheh.

Today I set my machine up for quilting the cherry quilt I made the other week. Its the first one I have done on my new bernina with the BSR and I'm very happy with the results. Far from perfect quilting but so much easier than my old machine. I have sewn on the binding and will sit and sew it down tonight.

Some of my friends at my quilting guild helped me baste another quilt on Thursday night so I have another one ready to go once I have finished this one. That's one of the things I love about my group, we all help each other with whatever it is we need. I believe in the saying "what goes around, comes around".


I planted a few herbs and some rocket seeds the other day in my mini greenhouse and when I took a peek at them today I found a few little green bits popping up already. One of my friends has a new house and garden so I will share some of the seedlings with her as I will have too many once they start to grow bigger (I hope!).

to market, to market....

I haven't posted all week as I have been busy settling back into the school routine. Both the froglet and the noisy one had a good first week and seem happy to go for a second week!

I have been watching lots of blogs in the last 9 or so months and have been wanting to go to the markets to see their goodies and of course purchase some of these wonderful items. Today I finally was able to get to the northside makers market in Northcote with the froglet. She hasn't been to a market in a long time and she really enjoyed browsing the stalls and conning me into buying her a few things (isn't that what us mums are for?!). I was delighted to meet the crafters in person and their items are even better in the flesh so to speak.
The froglet fell in love with this item that we bought from mecino



her words were "its so prettyful!" I have to agree and was content to admire the other delightful pieces of jewellery (until the next market mhaw hahahah)

We then bought her best friend a birthday present from Konstant Kaos


We had a hard time deciding which things to buy as there was such a lot of wonderful things. I was in market overload and wanted to buy everything I looked at. Go and look at northside makers and you will see all the goodies and find out when this great market is on... you wont regret it. (your bank manager might have words with you though hehehehe).

Schools back!

So many of us have waved goodbye to our children this morning going off to school. Some have started their very first day in primary school.

The noisy one started high school today and was very quiet this morning while she got ready... which every morning could run so smoothly! She had a fun day she informed me,

The froglet started in the senior campus in year 10 and was very excited. She came home very happy with her teachers and looking forward to the year ahead, I also found out that her year 12 subject she is doing this year will probably cost me over $600 eeekkk. Oh well, I will have to make sure she earns her keep and cook the occasional meal. She has a chicken dish she has made several times and its rather nice!

I went back to the gym and was dragged into a step combo class... seriously I was dragged out of the locker room, I had intended on doing an easy session in the gym just to get back into it... but nooooo.




I ended up enjoying myself, even though I am really unco ordinated on the step, at least I amused my fellow gym buddies.

The obligatory coffee afterwards and caught up with the goss. Back tomorrow to do some weights in the gym and then a danzika class.... will tell you about that one tomorrow!!