no time to blog

Been a while since I posted.

I'm not on my laptop, so no photos sorry.

I have been busy with various events and lots of training and of course some quilting.

I did the tough bloke challenge last Sunday with my friends and had a blast. We got incredibly muddy and we tackled all the obstacles with a huge smile.

My daughter and I took part in the YMCA swimathon. We raised $320 and we swam over a Km yesterday.

today I did my 2 morning classes and then had a bike ride with one of my friends while my eldest did a judo class.

I'm now in the middle of quilting a quilt I'm trying a different way instead of the usual stipple, this time I'm doing little flowers, I love the thread that I have chosen, its a variegated one with purples..... I promise to post some photos next time

My most amazing day

Today was the day that my team partner and I competed in our first triathlon. This was a special one just for women and proceeds go to breast cancer research.
the day started very early at 5am... yes you read correctly I was up at 5am and by the time I got the girls up, my support team arrived and we met up with my partner in crime.

Now no event is possible without coffee and this guy was making a killing!!

We registered and received a really nice singlet top, sun visor and swim cap. You can see here my timing chip that I had to wear on my left ankle (note the pink toenails and fingernails!!)

I have big black numbers on my right calf and right arm... in permanant pen!
The order of a triathlon for those who don't know, is swim, cycle and run. Our distances were 200m swim/6km ride/2km run. Quite doable we thought, this was the medium course. My partner and I have been training for months and felt really confident that we would do well and have little or no problem with the distances....

We were partly right... Swim was pretty good, I did get stuck behind a couple of ladies on the last pool can (floating thing to swim around!) so lost a few seconds and also at the steps waiting to get out... Then on the bikes and away I went.. need to work on those transitions! the ride itself was good, but I was puffing a bit and could see the running track.. it seemed MUCH longer than 2km.

My family and friends had placed themselves along the course at intervals which was great as I was cheered on not once but up to 4 times! They really kept me going.. and the thought of my team mate who had a big head start lol.

When I got back to transition I couldn't find my position on the rack for my bike and lost valuable time (lesson to learn!) this kinda threw me off my timing and I struggled to keep going. We had to do 2 laps of the running track, I felt that I ran twice as far as I was supposed to! The weirdest thing is that running is usually my weakest leg and I beat my partner in this and she beat me on the bike which I usually blitz her on... I think I better at hills than her lol.

At the end of the event we received a lovely medal and a huge sense of achievement.
I placed 43rd overall (out of 129) and 8Th in my age group out of 15. I have to tell you though that I placed 3rd in the run leg!!6Th in swimming and 9Th in cycle. My team mate really did well and came 22ND overall and 4Th in the age group. she came 4Th in swim, 3rd in cycle and 7Th in run.
We can now call ourselves triathletes and will be doing this again!

Last night we had our family fun night down at the pool. What a hoot! We got the inflatable out which is a huge long bouncy castle type thing that floats on top of the pool... its a loch ness monster and you have to negotiate around a big head then a arch and a big cone to get to the tail where you can slide down.

I hope that no one got any photos of me as I was the biggest kid of all. I got bounced and splashed and fell off so many times I lost count. I got one of the boys to give me a boost up on the end so I could slide off the end. I got smart and was waving to everyone and I fell off sideways lol.

We had ordered the perfect amount of pizza and only had one and a bit over, so we gave some to the staff for putting up with all the screaming. (think that was me rather than the kids).


At retreat recently one of the girls gave each of us in our group a egg cup that she thought suited each of us, they are really funny! Seeing as I am going to do my first round the bay in a day she thought this one was me.

I love the little birdy with a helmet on!

Christine made me these gorgeous coat hangers than she made for me and a little bag that is full of lavender so you have a nice smell with your clothes.

Home made gifts are so much nicer than store bought gifts for the one reason that its been made specially for you by your friend. However I am happy to receive any gift, handmade or not!!

Today I only went for a swim for an hour with a quick spa at the end as my right shoulder blade/back is rather sore. I think I have a rib out as this happens every now and then to me... will be seeing my osteopath sooner than I thought. Thank goodness for nurofen, speaking of which I think its time for another one.....

Lemons

There is a saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!! My lemon tree is busting at the seams and I have picked several bags and given them to friends and still have more to give out. Its been a bit wet so am trying to time my picking so that I don't get soaked!

this weekend has been another busy one for us. Friday night saw the girls and I at MSAC for week 2 of winter inter club for the swim club. This entails our swim club and various other clubs from around Melbourne entering in teams to compete in 5 or 6 relays against each other. The teams are split in junior and senior ends and then according to the teams times. Our senior teams are doing very well and might take out premiers. The junior teams are also doing well, I have been babysitting one of the teams for the past 2 weeks, gosh that's been hard work! But Ive enjoyed it.

The froglet then had a Irish dance teams practice for 4.5 hrs, while the noisy one and myself swam at the local pool for an hour. Today was the Irish dance competition, the girls danced very well and I have come to the conclusion that the judge was indeed visually impaired lol.

The day then ended with another big swim competition for both the girls and they did the team proud in their relays and a few individual races. I of course didn't get to sit down until just recently after sorting dinner, ironing and sorting washing.... dang, just remembered I have a load of washing to hang out...groan.... a woman's work is never done!!

6 days straight

I have new roster starting next week at work, today I finished the last of my 6 days straight and the last weekend I am rostered on. After doing weekends for 8 years I am happy to be giving them up and will occasionally pick them up when the other clerk is needing a weekend off.
I will now work 3 on 4 off then 2 on 5 off. Should fit in with the gym schedule, the quilting, swimming, dancing and all the other things that I seem to be involved in!

This weekend is no different with 2 swimming competitions a Irish dance teams practice and a teams competition on Sunday afternoon.

I only have 89 days left until I do my round the bay experience and I'm getting very excited about it, hope my buddies are just as excited as I am. I have been watching the tour De France and tonight there is another evening of riding to be seen, however I am not going to sit up till 1am yet again as the last 2 nights I have fallen asleep only to be startled awake because the fisherman is yelling at the television telling them to get a move on.

taking a breath

Oh my, the holidays have raced away with me.

So much has happened in the last few weeks. My mum has gone into hospital and had a brand new knee installed, she is now hobbling around and has a new friend in her room who also got a new knee, she informed me that they are now racing up and down the corridor with their frames! She will go to rehab for a few weeks till she is confident on her legs again.

the fisherman has a lurgy and wastes no time letting me know that he isn't well, poor thing, I know he isn't well but I cant be too sympathetic to him!

The froglet and the noisy one had an incredibly busy day today, as did I, they competed in our swim clubs annual invitational. Poor girls, they swam all their individual races and then also were put into all the relays, so they swam 10 races each, I'm confident they will sleep well.

I helped also being the club secretary, and ran around the pool doing various tasks as needed. The one thing I really hate doing is asking (they tell me not to ask but to tell) the parents that it is their turn to do time keeping. I am happy to do my turn at time keeping, but really really hate asking/telling others... the parents should be begging me to let them time keep LOL.

I have also been watching the tour De France, I'm getting inspiration for my first big bike ride later this year, I am doing the round the bay, but only the 50km over the westgate bridge and back... I think that will be more than enough!

I was going to add some photo, but I think my gym buddies and work colleagues might kill me for some of the pics I have! I ha vent uploaded photos from the last few days so maybe once the girls are back at school I might catch up with stuff around the house... HA!

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.