Friday at last!!!

Wow what a week this has been! I have been run off my feet at work; it’s just been so crazy. So many people complaining about dirty food shops, noisy air conditioners, overgrown properties, water running from the gutter, noisy roosters…. The list just goes on. At least it has made the days go by quickly though.

So here are the photos from the 20th, 21st and 22nd. Todays are still on the camera and I cant be bothered getting up, getting the card reader, picking one and fiddling with it. LOL

It’s getting towards the end of the school holidays, and already the traffic is starting to increase. I took this photo with my mobile phone when I was stuck in traffic on the way home. *sigh* I love school holiday periods. The thought of going back to spending 70 minutes on the road to come home is not appealing.

I have no idea how this dragonfly ended up in our living room at 6:00am.Unfortunately it was very low light, and as had landed near the light switch, I didn’t want to disturb him in case he flew away, which is why the photo is a bit grainy.

And this was yesterday.

We woke up and Onslow was not using his left front leg. At all! And because his back legs / hips are still not as strong as they should be, he was really struggling to get up.

Anyway I had to go to work so I caught the train in, while Travis (who is able to work from home if he needs to) drove O to the vet.

Several X-rays later and it’s come to light that he also has severe arthritis in his front shoulders. And just like the leg, the left arm is the worst. She thinks that he just gave it a big knock and that’s why its all flared up.

While he was under, we also got her to remove the cyst which was between his toes. We got it checked out last year, and because it’s not cancerous or anything, they didn’t want to knock him out (again) just to remove it. You can’t really see the bandage in the photo, but when he stands up he looks like a pirate with a wooden leg!

Last year, for the first time ever, he made it through the entire 12 month period with no expensive vet bills, no surgeries, no x-rays and no issues. Let’s just hope this shoulder gets better and doesn’t go the same way as the hip and needs an operation….

Oh yesterday when I decided to train it in to work, Travis told me to get the 7:04 train which gets me to Strathfield at 7:45, and give me ample time to walk to work and be there before 8:00 (which is my starting time).

Anyway we pass Homebush and I pack my book away. I wonder why the train isn’t slowing down, and then I just watch as the train hoons past my station. So I sit back and wait. I had 5 more pages to read, but I didn’t want to get my book out again and look like an idiot. There were no other stops until Central. So I got off just after 8:00, got on another train and got to work at 8:30.

Fortunately the train trip home was uneventful. I think the morning was pay back for me not getting Travis from the station on Wednesday arvo.. he left his phone at work so he was unable to tell me which train he was on. And instead of just going and waiting at the station for him, I stayed home and continued preparing dinner.

Karma’s a bitch……

photo catch-up

14/1: Another 40 degree day saw us go for a quick swim in the pool after work. When travis' training swims fall on these hot days, it's better to go at 7:00pm rather than in the middle of the day. And it means I can tag along and have a bit of a splash too :)


15/1: So bored and hot. I hate sitting at my desk all day, but it was way too hot to leave the office. I had so many inspections that needed to be done but just couldn't stand the heat!


16/1: Friday night saw us spend the evening organising our gear for the ADventure Race. Camel backs, energy bars, first aid kit, safety gear, clothes, sports drink... I was so excited!


17/1: The aftermath of the race. My legs were filthy, cut and bruised. Not to mention sore!


18/1: My 2nd attempt at making bread by hand (ie no bread machine to make the shape for me) Im getting there. This one at least looked like a normal size and a normal shape. And its very tasty! I left the sourdough started to ferment for almost 2 days. Next time i might try 3 days. See how strong I get the flavour.


19/1: I love water. I drink so much of the stuff, at least 2litres a day, up to 4litres in really hot weather. The more I drink, the more I want.

Still here!

Well, it’s day 19 and I am still doing my photo a day :)
Not that you can tell.. they are all on my camera waiting patiently for me to bother getting them off and processed. But I have been taking them :)

Today I am still recovering from Saturdays antics. Travis and I went in the Kathmandu Adventure Race and after getting lost a few times early on and having to backtrack a bit, we finally crossed the finish line after 6 gruelling hours. LOL At least we weren’t last! There were about 10 teams still behind us when we got to the final kayak leg.

We were expecting a clearly marked out course with a nice, easy fire trail to run along. Wrong on both counts!! They gave us a map which they had marked the various checkpoints on, and it was up to each team to figure out the quickest path to get to each one.

As for the “runs” well, I don’t know about anyone else, but when it comes to boulder hopping over massive rocks in the middle of the Nepean Gorge, I don’t do that much running! I did a lot of crawling around on all 4’s, sliding down rocks on my bum and climbing up steep embankments however…

I can understand now why the equipment list included things like a compass, one of those silver emergency blankets, a whistle, and a decent first aid kit! I have a few cuts and bruises from barging my way through thick shrubs which had thorny branches but apart from that, I pulled up ok! We had a blast. I was a bit delirious on the last kayak leg and found it hilarious that massive lengths of Elodea were getting caught on my paddle and then falling off and landing on my head and down my back. I was laughing so hard that I wasn’t looking where we were going and we ended up getting stuck on a rock in the shallow water. Twice. Travis was very unimpressed at that point.

That afternoon, I showered and pulled on my skins to help my poor aching muscles to recover from their ordeal. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Hubertus’ Country Club where I ordered the Gypsy platter. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when it came… one huge chicken schnitzel, one huge veal schnitzel, one delicious Kranksy, 2 crumbed mushrooms, cabbage, baked potatoes, and a side of some kind of beetroot salad, a garden salad and the best potato salad ever! I ate all of the salad and all of the vegies, but only half of each schnitzel and half of the kranksy. I could have kept going but I didn’t want to stuff myself. I was nicely satisfied after burning off 2,500 calories during the race :)


Sunday was spent doing house work and washing and grocery shopping. Nothing overly exciting. I made the snickerdoodle cookie recipie I found on Kate’s Blog a while back, and had another attempt at making a sourdough bread from scratch. It turned out really well! The shape was much better this time around :) So much so, that it was the subject of my day 18 photo!

DIY girl

Yep.. I do love a bit of "DIY action". On Sunday I decided to try my hand at making sourdough bread without the bread machine. It tasted great, but the shape was a bit dodgy LOL. That was the day that I also decided to put my own red highlights in my hair. I used foils just like the hair dressers do! And today, as I was leaving the house for work, I decided I needed a haircut. Not wanting to wait for an appointment, I grabbed the scissors and cut a fringe, as well as some layers around my face. And I must admit, I love it!! I love it even more than when the hair dresser does it :)

Not that you can tell from this pic, but there was something about it that I loved... I took it in the reflection of the mirror. There were sharper ones, there were ones that showed the entire new hairdo... but they lacked something that this one had.

Well Australia are now batting in the 20-20 cricket so I am heading off to watch a bit before I go to bed :)

Quickie post

Just to put up my project 365 pics:

Sunday 11.01.09


Trav had another triathlon with a 7am start. Which means getting to the lakes at 6:30am :) I love it. So peaceful and calm and quiet.. especially when you get far enough away from all the competitors!



I was doing my weekly fruit and vegetable shopping during my lunch break when I got distracted by the sign "Huge Summer Clearance" in the window of the shoe shop. I left there with 2 shoes. One pair for work which were full price, and these fun Summer shoes which were $40 down to $9 :) Noice!

I will blog more of our weekend antics tomorrow when I'm not so tired and hot. I can hear Travis brewing me a tea so I better go settle on the lounge before it's ready!

Saturday Mess Making

mmmm home-made gnocchi :) One of my all time favourite things. Both to make, AND to eat! And it's something that we only have on weekends because I just don't have to the time when I get home from work. I have finally perfected the recipe and they come out perfect and delicious every time :)

The finished product:

Today I made a bacon and salami sauce, and I used some of my home-grown chillis in it too :) It's one of the best ones I have made to date!

While the gnocchis were cooking, I started a new experiment... I have some yeast, flour, sugar and water covered in a bowl so it can ferment and sour. Tomorrow I am tackling sourdough bread!!! And I will be doing it all by hand. This will be the first loaf of bread I have made where I haven't used the bread machine. Let's hope I don't stuff it up!! hahaha

Friday!!!

I was sooo looking forward to my tea when I got in to work today!! It's still cold, and when I went on my run this morning, I had 2 layers on and was tempted to go back for my light jacket.. the wind was going straight through me and giving me awful flashbacks of Winter when it was regularly -3 on my runs.

Anyway, usually I have my peppermint teas with breakfast, but today I needed something more... "warming"... like Chai tea.

I have been a fan of Chai tea for about 2 years now. At first I bought supermarket brands.. I tried Lipton, I tried Tetly, I tried Nerada.. they were nice, but nothing special. Then I stumbled upon Spicy Chai loose leaf tea from the home-brewing shop! It was far better than any of the supermarket ones. But very expensive.... $6.50 for only 60g of tea.

On Monday though, I spied a funky box which turned out to be Byron Chai when I was in the discount vitamins shop. For only $8 for 200g of tea leaves, I tried it, and I loved it! It was very similar in flavour to the brew sop tea, and much more affordable. So now I can drink 2 cups a day instead of 2 cups a week! LOL

Today, because I was so cold, I made it how it's SUPPOSED to be made... with half hot milk, half boiling water, and sweetened with maple syrup. (Usually I just brewed it in hot water and added a teaspoon of honey). OMG it was divine!! I can't go back to watery Chais anymore.

And check out my "fat fighters" mug!!! LOL I love it :)

Well, one more day of work for the week. And we are heading out to Thai with Jen and Greg tonight. mmm thai food *drools*

Cold Snap

Much to the relief of my poor, scorched plants.
Monday: 39 degrees.. Tuesday: 40.. Wednesday: 41... Thursday: 21.
As usual, I didn't believe the weather man, and went to work in a skirt, sleeveless top and I didn't bring a cardi with me. So I FROZE. It was wet and windy and I was miserable. It's Summer. The hot weather needs to continue. I'm not ready for cold!!

Well, time for me to have a cuppa tea and watch Inspector Rex :)

It came!!!!

Day 7:


My Everyday Minerals order! woot!

This is my new obsession. I have always worn make-up, but only cheap stuff. Usually Maybelline as I would just pick it up from Woolies when I did the grocery shopping. Anyway back in november I was reading about mineral make-up and thought it sounded great! I ordered a free sample kit from EM and it came in less than 2 weeks (from the US).

I loved it so much, that on the 8th December I ordered these 5 full sized eyeshadows and lipgloss and I was hoping it would come before Chrissy... I was starting to get antsy and yesterday (about a month since it was posted) I rang up the local post office to see if it was sitting there, AND then I rang customs to find out what their process is. LOL I came home and it was sitting in my mailbox! Typical.

So today I got up earlier than usual so I could play with the colours, and picked clothes based on what colour eyeshadows I wanted to use first. Which turned out to be the dk purple and the light blue. Very pretty! I LOVE them, so sparkley and the oclours are amazing.

Now I am waiting on ANOTHER order which I placed on Jan 2nd. This one includes the largest size jars of foundation, concealer, blush (2 dif. colours), an oil absorbing finishing powder and a funky brush. Hopefully it comes quicker than the previous order!

New Dress

Day 6:

I guess the only good thing about going back to work is that I get to debut the new clothes and jewellery that I purchased over the holidays.

I love this dress! It walks a fine line between being a good length, to being a bit too short for work, but it looks great! I'm expecting to get a few disapproving comments from the prudes who work here, but whatever. Fat people are always walking around in things that are way too short and way too tight with tops so low cut that their floppy udders are almost hanging out. THEY never get any comments because people are scared of offending them for being overweight. I don't understand their logic. At least mine look good and I can pull it off :P

The earrings and the necklace were awesome bargains! Both from the $5 rack in Diva. The necklace rrp was $20, the ear-rings were $15 and I picked up both for $10 :) Noice.

Wow it was so hot yesterday. I came home at 5:15pm and the thermometer on the car said it was 40! (thats 104F) When we went to bed at 9:30 it was still hanging around the 30 mark. And today it's supposed to reach 41 at home, but only 31 in the City (where I work). I really love these ultra hot days! I love coming inside to the cool airconditioning, then going outside into the heat and running back inside.

We will be hitting Glenbrook pool this afternoon after work, seeing as they are open until 8pm. Travis has his training regime planned out, and I tag along on swims trying to get better at freestyle! I was a self-taught swimmer from having a pool as a kid, but I never got taught how to do freestyle. Travis is now taking on that responsibilty and armed with the floaty thing that goes between my legs, my goggles and my ear plugs, I am slowly getting better each time.

Well, guess I better choof off and get some work done. And try to avoid people who won't have anything nice to say about my new outfit today :)

Project 365

Ok.. Im off to a flying start! I wonder how long I can keep this up?!


New years day morning. We gave the dogs the treats they got for Christmas. As usual, Onslows treat disappeared into the depths of his tummy before I got the camera.


My Birthday. Trav asked what did I want to do, stay in town for the night and go to a fancy restaurant? Nope. All I wanted was a nice picnic with the dogs! We went to Thirroul where the dogs got LOADS of attention from people in the parks. They just sat there for hours watching people go by.


My birthday dinner at mum and dads. Mum made these cushions, one of each of the dogs, and I just loved them!! You will notice my ultra daggy, Mens size XL Bonds T-shirt... some gumpy person spilt red wine all over her nice top, especially picked out for photos. As a result I had to wear one of dads shirts. Which he wasn't too impressed about, as this was brand new out of the box.


Sunday Travis had his monthly Panthers Tri-club race. I love making use of my zoom lens. He ate too much over Christmas and felt really off during the whole race. But he was only 10 seconds slower than his PB, so he was pretty pleased.


Today marked the first day back at work since Christmas eve. And it also marked the return of my Monday ritual: Trudging over to Freshworld in my lunch break to stock up on the weekly fruit and vegetables. Today it was 35 degrees Celsius in the City and I was drenched in sweat by the time I staggered back into the office. I hate weeks like this when I need to buy potatoes!!!!

one post!

LOL So I managed one post in the last 12 months! It's better than 0! :)

I have decided this year that I want to do that Project 365 and take a photo a day. It's already day 5 of 2009, but because I have been home over the Christmas Break, I actually have taken at least one pic a day for the year!

I will upload them all in order when I get home tonight.

In other news, I had a great break - almost 2 weeks off work with Travis, just bumming about the place. Shopping (<- a little tooooo much), watching the cricket, playing with the dogs, mountian biking, kayaking... it's such a struggle to be back at work today :(

Travis and I have entered into the kathmandu Adventure Race on Jan 17th and I can't wait! It will be a mixture of running, mountain bike riding and kayaking - hence the Kayaking practise at the regatta centre last week :)

Had a nice, quiet Christmas. Lunch at Travis' sisters place, then we went to my mum and dads place in the afternoon for way too many presents and a stack of yummy desserts.

New Years eve was also fairly quiet and we didn't go far afeild. We were home by 11:45 and I watched the fireworks on the TV.
In the week between Christmas and New Year people were letting off firecrackers a couple of streets away nearly every night and Belle freaked out more and more as the week went on. So we thought it would be better if we were home with her when the worst of them went off at midnight.

When she hears the first cracker, she tries to squeeze onto the lounge (usually on top of me), and she just sits frozen, eyes wide, looking at the ceiling and panting quickly. She's very trance-like and you can poke her, call her name, wave your hands in front of her head and theres just no reaction! She's the same with thunder, but the firecrackers are the worst. I think because they are so random with long gaps so she never knows if it's actually stopped or not.

Anyway today I'm back at work.. and I have the whole, entire week to get through *sigh* Today is already dragging and moving along soooo slowly. Lunch will take forever to get here, and that hour will just fly by in the space of seconds. Never mind... 4 more days and then the weeekend!!