photos

Well, when im home and bored what do i do?? Annoy the dogs with the camera :)

:ONSLOW:





:BELLE:





Onslow is getting so possessive about "his" beanbag! I keep it in the spare room at night or if we aren't around to supervise, jut in case he chews a hole in it or something.

Anyway this morning he came up, hits me on the leg, and walks to the spare room door, comes back, hits me again and walks to the door. So i get up and he races to his bean bag and just stares at me.. as if to say "come on! get it out!" So as soon as I did he parked himself on it and hasn't moved.

Belle, meanwhile, loves to lay at the front door like a watch dog. And every time someone walks past the house with a dog, she races in whining, hits me on the leg and gets me to get up and check it out with her.

They are so funny.

Random Randomness and Stuff

wow, my last post was post 100. What an exciting entry for y 100th post LOL

So im off work for the next 2 days with a headcold. Nothing major just some sniffles but if the doctor offers me 2 days off work, well, who am I to argue with him? Besides, I have almost 300 hours of sick leave up my sleeve ;)

so anyway.. lets start with another vet update seeing as that seems to be the main event every weekend...

And lets start the vet update with a story about a cow that we encountered in the waiting room.

So.. There was Trav and I with Belle and Onslow, and another man with his Labrador in the waiting room, all 3 of us sitting together, and all 3 dogs playing together nicely.

In walks this lady with 2 very poofy poodles. You know, the weird looking, big poodles with the poofy hair looking all prissy and silly with fluffy tails and ridiculous hair do's? (I can tolerate the cute, little poodles, or big ones with natural hair... I HATE the big ones done up like big poofs!)

Anyway she also looked like a poodle, all prissy, and dressed to the nine's and left her sunnies on inside. She is waiting for the receptionist who is serving someone else. So she walks in, looks at us and the 3 dogs laying together, grabs her precious poodles close and scowls. The lab is very friendly and wanted to greet the poodles, so the guy stands up with it. Conversation goes like this:

Lady: Do you need to go down the hall or something?
Man: oh no thanks, It's just that this one {pointing to dog} just wants to say hello to your 2 dogs.
Lady: Oh {glaring at the Lab and pulling her poofs in closer}

And that was it.. end of conversation. The man then sits down, probably thinking the same thing I was thinking!

Finally the receptionist looks at her their conversation goes like this:

Receptionist: You can just take a seat, the vet wont be too long.
Lady: {surveying the room with distaste} Oh.. so I have to wait?
Receptionist: Yes, he won't be too long.
Lady: Well, how long??
Receptionist: um.. well I really can't say, but there are about 5 people in front of you.
Lady: {scowling and glaring} Tsk! Oh, well I'm going to wait outside then.
Receptionist: Yeah, no worries, I'll come out and get you.
And then the lady spins on her heels, pointy nose in the air and takes off.

What a cow!!!! When we left, we saw her still sitting in her car with them LOL. There is only one vet on Saturdays, and this week was Rob Zammit and regardless of when you make the appointment, you always need to wait cos EVERYONE comes in to see Rob!

So, anyway, Onslow is allowed outside during the day now so we will swap.. Belle can be cooped up inside and Onslow can have the yard. We were told it's for his "mental and physical benefit" LOL He is also starting his "rehab walks" which is a 10 minute, slow stroll every 2 days. Then next week its 15 minutes. And in 2 weeks time both of them will be allowed to stay outside together! woohoo for that :)

Onslow discovered the comfort of a beanbag yesterday:



I should have thought to close the door to the spare rooms... look at the lovely ironing board and printer LOL Oh well, nothing a bit of editting cant fix up! And just cause I think this is the cutest pic, here's one more :)



LOL I realised the other day, if these were real kids, Belle would have such a complex.. I have way more photos of Onslow than I do of her! But then again, if she wasn't so ADD and was able to sit still there would be more photos of her. Most of the indoor portrait ones are blurry cos she won't keep still, and the ones outside, well she moves so fast and so often its usually half of her head, or her bum :)

I did do a layout of Belle yesterday though:



I used Sweet Sugar Pop - A new 2 Scoops by Lauren Grier and Fee Jardine at the Sweet Shoppe. Paint is from Lauren's Full of Sweetness kit, also at the sweet shoppe.

So.. what else.. we went to dinner on saturday night for the in-law's 35th weddig anniversary. Travis' sister stole their wedding photos, and I worked some magic:


(papers by meredith Fenwick, ribbon by Faer Oak, chalked overlay by Lauren Bavin, bling alpha by Shannon Lee)

and I also blew up a colour portrait and printed it out at 8x10 and framed it as well. The layouts looked great in their frames side-by-side.

Ok well Im actually quite starving and pretty tired.. so I might go munch on a banana and have a nap :)

woo hoo.. FRIDAY!!!

Oh I love fridays. And this week has just gone soooo quick :) Unfortunatley the weekends seem to go even quicker and before I know it, it's Monday again!

Anyway check it out.. Belle and Onslow have their own DOG space accounts!!! ROTFL

Go look at them:
BELLE
ONSLOW

They are getting a nice list of doggie friends already :)

So what else... well, I have a cold. I've dosed up on cold and flu tablets so I'm feeling great :D For now.

Its been a big week work-wise! Tuesday I had to inspect a morgue, and wednesday I had to inspect a LEGAL brothel! ROTFL talk about 2 extremes!! ANd everyone seems to be in a complaining mood.. about EVERYTHING so most of my time this week has been checking out noisy neighbours, people dumping rubbish, overflowing sewers... ugh.

I forced a layout last night... I started using this kit on saturday, canned the layout (it was of Onslow and he doesnt suit these colours LOL) and then started again on Sunday... got stuck, left it and *finally* finished it last night :)



Kit - Pomegranate Margarita by Lauren Grier and Joana Carvalho. Get it at the Sweet Shoppe! Page fold - Kara Fredrick, Alpha - Michelle Coleman

hahaha I remember that cake took us forever to make, ages to decorate and a long time to light all the candles!!! But he was a hit! and so tasty :)

Not much lined up for the weekend... Another vet visit for Onslow to get the last of his injections tomorrow, going with Travis' parents out for dinner on Saturday night for their 35th wedding anniversary, going to the football on Sunday to watch Penrith take on the Tigers. And hopefully win. Im sick of loosing games at home... not just loosing, but playing bad, making heaps of mistakes and just handing the game to the opposition.

well its getting nice and cold and crisp in the mornings!!! The days are still sunny and warm.. I want those nice, gloomy, dark wintery days to set in :) I love Winter!!! I love being all rugged up in my thick jackets, boots, scarf and hat :) Maybe I need to live somewhere with snow... Maybe New Zealand. In FOx Glacier and I can get a job taking people for treks up there. Or Picton. That was really pretty. Nice diving there too, I could become a scuba diving instructor or guide. ahhh to dream!!!!!

Bits and Pieces

:holiday stuff:

well in almost 4 months Travis and I will be heading to Europe. I can NOT wait. To start, 2 nights in Bangkok, then first stop Germany, namely Munich for Oktoberfest!!! Then moving on to Berlin, Cologne, Brussells, Paris, Lyon, Another french town I have forgotten, then moving on to Switzerland and heading back to Munich before flying home. We have booked accomodation for Berlin, Cologne, Brussels and Paris already so we're all fairly organised.

We will be spending our third wedding anniversary in Munich at the end of the trip, so we might need to splurge and get something fancy and upmarket!!


:onslow update:

Well its been about 3 weeks since his surgery and he is obviously feeling heaps better. He has figured out how to push through any kind of barricade we put up and likes to run around the place. I think he's finally starting to go crazy after spending 4 weeks cooped up inside the house all day and night, except for about 10 minutes worth of toilet breaks a day. And the worst part.. we still have FIVE weeks of this to go through!! Because he has such bad hips, the vet wants us to really wrap him in cotton wool for 8 weeks so the knee can heal as best it can. But she was very happy with how his knee joint is coming along, and said its healing really well.

On another good-news note, he has lost 7 kilos and is down to 50.5kg now!!! his first goal weight was 52, now we have to get him in the mid 40's. The skinnier he is the better for all his dodgy joints.


:work stuff:

I had to do a presentation at a private school last week about the role of Health Inspectors.. and I was Podcast-ed!! LOL I found it hilarious. I was also informed that each student has their own laptops issued by the school, wireless internet and all other kinds of spify things. wow... considering at my high school we barely had enough text books for one-between-two, I was just in awe! But the presenatation went well, the kids were all very well behaved. I included some of the worst pics I have of dirty food shops, including one of a big rat peering out from a hole in someone's store room. Im proud of that shot.. I "hid" crouched down silently for about 10 minutes just waiting for him to appear cos I knew he was there... and I got a pic of his little face popping out of the hole :)

I also had my first case go to the land and environment court on friday! I received a complaint way back in April 2005. After nearly $2,000 in fines and several orders being served there was still no action being taken, so we took 'em to court :) That was a bit exciting for me!


:scrapping stuff:

Just a reminder to head over to Pickleberry pop and pick up some of Deb Fishers goodies. For those who havent heard, she tragically lost her husband, Ray, in a tractor accident. She lives in rural Vic (or is it NSW?) with 7 kids, 6 of whom she homeschools. For the entire month of May every cent that people spend on Deb's products will go to her beautiful family.. so far there is over $4,000 raised!!!

I've been too busy to scrap lately and I really havent missed it. If I have a spare few hours I have been veging on the lounge or playing with the dogs or just hanging around annoying Travis with random stories and observations. I did have to pull my finger out on Saturday night and get some stuff scrapped for my CT committments. I also have some stuff to do for my in-laws by the end of the week.. but they are just going to be super simple.. a few photos on a pretty background with some fancy brush work or frames or something. No biggie.

Here are some layouts of our Italy trip last year.. still got about 800 photos to scrap! LOL Better get that sorted before we take another billion photos in September!!



I was intending on manually editting these photos to make the colours POP but really couldnt be bothered LOL. Maybe I will before I print them...but then again maybe not! Travis hates when I make them B&W or alter the levels / curves and get the "artistic" effects.. but I find them boring just left normal LOL


:healthy stuff:

My new eating and exercise habits seem to be paying off, I have lost a few centimeters from my waist, hips and thighs, and in the process I have lost nearly 2 kg! Considering I only had about 4 kilos that I wanted to loose (6 that I HOPE to loose) im actually quite amazed that its only taken 5 weeks to achieve half of my first goal! Im sure the next 2 - 4 kilos will take forever though!

I eat breakfast when I get in to work, boring all bran topped with a banana , then for morning tea a low fat muffin or for this week - a slice of low fat sticky date cake made from scratch by me and its so yum!!! For lunch I have vegetable stirfry with Hokkien noodles or pasta or salad with tuna and beans, then some fruit to see me through the afternoon. For dinner I generally just do some vegetables with beans (chick peas.. I cant get enough of them!) or some couscous, or some brown rice... something easy! Oh and lots of water. I try to drink between 1.5 - 2lt of water a day.

On saturday I made gnocci from scratch and it was so delicious! (for two people - 500g of potato, boiled, mashed and cooled mixed with 1 cup of plain flour.. kneed into a dough, roll into a thin sausage, cut in to 2cm strips and roll with a fork. Boil for only a couple of minutes and its done!)

I have been exercising every day (mostly). During the week I mix it up between high impact aerobics, kick boxing or a 30 skip in the back yard (I need music pumping for this.. it's a killer!), and on the weekends Trav and I go for a couple of nice, long bike rides. The other week we did 30kms in only 90 minutes. yay for us! I really enjoy my kickboxing and aerobics.. I come home from work and get stuck into it straight away and it gets rid of any tension or stress or annoyances from work and the traffic on the way home LOL

:wrapping it up:

Well, this has become a bit of a novel hasn't it?! Enjoy your week, take it easy and catch ya later!

so Roomy!

hahha so much room he just did not know what to do with himself... kept moving about and changing positions. And as you can see, he looks very VERY pleased with the new car!

The vet we go to is next to a sheepdog rescue place. I love peering over the fence.. well, its sad that they are there, but they are so cute!!!!! Check this one out:



LOL How adorable is that face?!

Anyway Onslow is recovering well..a little *too* well for my liking. He has been full of beans and scooting all over the place if you take your eyes off him for just a minute. Its good that he is feeling better, but so much harder for us to keep him confined!! All he needs to do is run and land on his leg a bit awkward and snap goes the new ligament and we have to start all over again!!! For the record, I could have bought myself a new Canon DSLR with the money we spent getting him repaired.. LOL I certainly don't want to go through that again!!!

Well my exercise and good eating regime is going well. Not that I ate rubbish food anyway, but i'm proud of the small things like only having ONE sausage instead of 2, thinking twice before having a huge mug of full cream milk, and keeping my purse empty so im not tempted by the vending machine at work! LOL

Yesterday we drove our bikes to the rowing lake and we did SIX laps which equals a bit over 30km in only an hour and a half :) My legs are pretty sore today, but I pushed on and made sure I did my aerobics tonight. Thankfully tomorrow is a rest night as our French lessons are on Tuesdays this term :)

Anyway thats it from me... the poor neglected dogs are wanting attention! :)