Some of Miss 16's Photography...

Here's a couple of photos I snagged from Miss 16's Facebook page...a couple of these were taken by me but the rest are all hers and she takes them herself with the help of a tripod...I can't find the pic I really love but she did have it printed on canvas for me for Christmas although I have yet to frame it. I think she needs to have it in her portfolio as she needs to provide at least one self portrait...

Wow! What a week...thank god it's nearly over!

So.....this week has been a rather eventful one. It sure has moved on really quick which is great because it means the weekend is here again!!

Work wise it has been extremely busy and to be honest I am at a point where I just want to toss it all in...not enjoying any of it anymore which is generally an indication that it's time to move on...but more about that later.

Saturday started off well. I went to mum's for a bit and helped Miss 16 prepare for one of her best friend's parties. He (J) was having a 17th birthday party which we thought was a bit strange since we figured he should have waited for an 18th instead but as it turns out he probably won't get an 18th! They were having a Naughty & Nice themed party and Miss 16 and her other best friend C were dressing as french maids with the fish nets and teeny little skirts etc. They did look cute and not as trampy as I thought they would look. Then they waited for Miss 16's latest boyfriend R to pick them up.

Let me tell you about this new guy. I didn't really think much of R mainly because he is 18 and goes to Uni but after this night my estimation of him went up substantially which proved to me not to judge a book by its cover I guess. R's last girlfriend died 10 months ago of cancer and Miss 16 was the only person who would listen to him while he was upset and their relationship evolved from there. I originally used to see him on Facebook and to me, the comments he used to make to Miss 16 on Facebook bordered on stalker to me. But again I could be wrong! Anyway she really likes him and he treats her well and yeah like I said his actions on this Saturday night proved to me he can be trusted.

Anyway...Saturday night and they head to the party. The birthday boy, J, has booked himself a hall and a DJ and Miss 16 and C had a list of names to give to the bouncer so that as people arrived, if your name was on the list you got a wrist band and got signed in. Not on the list? No entry!

First half of party was great according to Miss 16 and C. C's boyfriend was also there until things stared to go sour. Firstly J didn't have money to get the pizza to feed everyone and tried to talk Miss 16 and C to pay for them since the party was supposed to be for C's birthday as well. Both girls refused as they hadn't wanted a party this big and had no part in the planning as J had pretty much invited everyone without their knowledge. Halfway through the night there was suddenly a whole lot more people and Miss 16 and C told J that people were coming in who weren't invited and in fact they didn't even know them...did he? J's response was that is was a party right? Just enjoy! At this C got very upset and decided to leave the party.

C left with Miss 16's boyfriend while C's boyfriend stayed with Miss 16 as Miss 16 wanted to start cleaning up. By now the party was getting very aggressive, there was alcohol coming from somewhere and fights were breaking out. About 20 of the kids took over an industrial bin and were riding it down the main street narrowly missing cars and somewhere the Police arrived. By now J's mother had arrived and she was less than impressed and demanding answers. J was now blaming Miss 16 and C saying they had invited too many people and people were gatecrashing. Miss 16 was furious with J as this wasn't the case at all so she called R to come back and pick her and C's boyfriend up as they were all going to be staying at R's house that night. So now poor Miss 16 was having to get a lecture from J's mum about being irresponsible and the mother ended up calling my mum next day to tell her what went on and saying Miss 16 and C were drunk (she wasn't) and had created a huge disturbance. J's mum then went on to say that all three of them were supposed to pay a third of the costs each (again not true and J had boasted about how he was going to have the party he wanted and booked the hall without his mother's knowledge. Now he decided he didn't want to pay for the whole mess!) J's mum said she noticed Miss 16 and C were drunk before they even entered the party (again not true...Miss 16 still had the flu pretty bad and her eyes and nose were sore and runny before she even went. Mum wanted her to stay home in fact. Also she was wearing extremely high stilettos which were killing her feet causing her to wobble a little). Turns out that J had stolen his mother's alcohol and had been giving it out to kids at the party.

Miss 16 and C had only invited 20 kids whereas J had invited the whole of the Year 12 class, even those he didn't know. In Miss 16's and C's opinion this was to make himself "popular" at school because as a 17 year old gay boy who makes no secret of it, he is not exactly popular at school and only has a small circle of friends (Miss 16's circle.) I had always thought a lot of J as he was always a nice kid and it turns out I went to school in Gladstone with his dad! Miss 16 and J have known each other since kindy and have been besties ever since. That may change! J's cousin is Kate Miller Heidke, the singer that's around at the moment. Anyway needless to say when mum told Miss 16 what she had been told she is now furious with J and when mum spoke to C and asked for her side of the story she told mum roughly the same thing so it appears J may be covering his own butt! J's mum is pushing for Miss 16 to pay for damages to the hall as well but she is refusing saying if J had kept to the list there would not have been trouble as the party was peaceful up to that point. What I liked about Miss 16's guy R is that he gave Miss 16, C and her boyfriend a lecture about how stupid they were and how he knew the party would get out of control and in future they needed to be more careful about the kinds of parties they went to! Yes dad lol! He was very concerned about how things all panned out. It certainly changed my opinion in a small way.

Anyway Sunday then passed fairly uneventfully. I had a quiet day with mum and played with the puppies for a while. I was beginning to feel the effects of the flu as well and Monday I awoke feeling pretty crappy so called in sick. I slept till about lunch time and got out of bed feeling better. As MM was making me tea and toast (love that man!), Mr 20 yells out "Bye! I'm off to work!" Next thing I hear a loud bang! I looked out the window and there was Mr 20's car in pieces on the road! I yelled to MM "That's Mr 20!" MM heard as well and went tearing out the front. Mr 20 had gone to pull out of the driveway and seeing nothing coming reversed out then was collected by a ute coming up the hill which hit the tail end of Mr 20's car. He claimed he didn't see Mr 20 and Mr 20 is adamant he could see nothing coming. That part of the road is notorious anyway as there have been several accidents there over the years we have lived there. Poor Mr 20 was so upset. He has spent so much money on that car and it is a lovely car...it's his pride and joy and looks like it will be written off now as the whole rear end has been torn off. He does have compulsory third party insurance which will cover the other driver but nothing for himself as being under 25 insurance is just too expensive. But at least no-one was hurt.

Wednesday night I met up with Miss 16 and mum after work at Roma Street station to take her to Southbank. This night there was an Open Night at the Southbank Institute of Technology which is where she wants to go next year to study photography and graphic art. Southbank is apparently the best place if she is not going into university. It's a very impressive place and seeing it all has motivated her even more. She now has to complete her QTAC application and submit a folio of her work which she pretty much has already organised. It's a 2 year diploma with an option of doing further study at university level. Her school is organising her work experience in photography for this term until the end of the year which will also look good on the QTAC application.

Now it's Friday and I am about to finish up at work and head home at last! Let's hope this weekend is nice and ordinary!

This shoe ring holder and the little purple butterfly box is from my niece...the little box actually contains a sachet of lavender which is currently sitting on my computer desk and making hubby sneeze!

This is from Toni...Love the shoe!

The box from my MP3 player which my hubby mysteriously installed without my knoweldge!

This cute little ring holder and earring necklace tree was from my niece (you can't see the tree thing in this pic) but you can in the below pic





Flowers from my boss which look so much prettier than this photo shows

The gorgeous purple dragonfly mobile which is currently hanging from my computer monitor. A lovely gift from Shaz. Purple is my favourite colour!

Oooh...it has been a while!

Hard to believe I haven't blogged since May! Well actually I did have a post in June...well I had it typed up at least and before I could submit, our computers at work decided to choose that precise moment to fall off the internet and I lost my post and I just could not be bothered re-typing it all as it is never the same!

Anyway I am here and thought I would blog my birthday as it was quite a special one and I had a really nice birthday this year. Photos are attached of all the lovely gifts I received. I am blessed with wonderful family and friends. Special mention to my hometown friends Toni and Sharlene who both sent me lovely gifts. Toni's came at a time when I was feeling really low and had had a bad week so to receive her gift just made my day! I love you guys and I really do appreciate your thoughtfulness! Another fellow blogger, Froggy and I reminisced about past birthdays and all the fun we all had in our day. Going to try and make reunion plans for maybe next birthday...I think Adelaide was touted as the venue lol...I so want it to happen so will be working on that one! A week with the girls just like old times sounds awesome!

My darling man gave me his gift a week early. I think he was worried he would forget so he made sure I got it early! But there is a story behind his gift. I park my car at the train station every day and last Friday I was running late for the train and he said he would drive me to the train station and I said no it was fine I'd be able to make it. He nonchalantly asks me if where I park my car will still have spaces available. So I say yes I park it on the paper mill side as always as there is usually still spots left as most people are too lazy to make the walk over the bridge to the train and it doesn't bother me. I thought no more of it.

The rest of the day for me was horrible. For some reason I was feeling really down, hating work, and thinking I needed to change my life as I hated my job, was tired of having to run around after everyone and also feeling really sad as Dad had been on my mind for the first time in 6 months and I had no idea why. I get to the car without even thinking, get in and immediately think "this is not my car". It looked different inside somehow. I get out, look my car over and think "This IS my car". I get back in and turn the key and sitting on the dash where my old car stereo was is a brand new MP3 player with all pretty blue lights etc. That's what was different about my car but because I wasn't thinking straight it didn't register straight away. So I turn on the ignition and there playing loudly on the stereo is my hubby and 2 of my kids singing happy birthday! Well I just burst into tears wondering how on earth they had managed this one and thinking how my day suddenly got better. Until I realised they had the happy birthdays on a loop and I had no idea how to turn it off or down or anything lol. At this point I am almost certain they are lurking in the bushes somewhere waiting for me but after a while of waiting I head off home with happy birthday still playing over and over...and over...By the time I was almost home I had started singing along with them lol. Apparently hubby wanted to have a recording saying "Don't move, I have a gun. Start the car and drive off slowly!" Lucky for me (or maybe him!) middle daughter told him that was mean and told him he couldn't do that. This was around the same time a car jacker was in the area and she was worried I might think it was him!

The Friday before my birthday was okay. My boss bought me flowers and we had a morning tea in my honour which was nice. One of my work colleagues took me to lunch and on Monday another colleague is taking me for drinks after work...our Cocktail Hour lol...we like to try new and exciting cocktails once a month and this month it is for my birthday.

Mum and my brother bought me a TomTom GPS system for my car as well which is awesome! Ken is my sexy voice who guides my way although I would prefer George Clooney but Ken is very good at giving directions! We went through the website and found voices to download at a price and hubby was ecstatic when we found some Star Wars voices and there a Yoda voice. Yoda is hubby's idol lol! Although following Yoda's directions would totally confuse me so I'm sticking to Ken for now.

Anyway I am about to post the pics of my prezzies and thank everyone for the birthday wishes. Doesn't seem like that long ago since our 21st and like I mentioned to Toni on my Facebook page I was watching my 21st video (now on DVD) with the kids and it really doesn't seem that long ago although the fashions and the hair were all very 80's!

They were the best of times and I really miss them!

Just remembered a couple more things that happened on Friday! Friday morning I usually nip into my favourite pattiesserie for either a hot choclate or a cappuchino. They make the BEST coffee and hot cho and the chef there makes all his own danishes and pastries so I usually get one of those as well...DIVINE! Anyway I get to work and notice a guy has got in the elevator before me and has left without waiting. So I wait for the next one as I'm in no real hurry to get to work...it gets back to the ground floor and the guy is still there in the lift still looking a tad confused and he asks if I am going up. "Yes" I say and up we go but I notice he has pressed the Floor 3 button which doesn't actually go anywhere it stops at Level 2 before going back down to ground again. I look closer and it turns out is is "Lord Mayor Jim" lol...former Mayor of Brisbane Jim Soorley. He is looking flustered and tells me he has been in the elevator for 5 minutes trying to get to floor 3. Trying hard not to laugh I explain to him that to get to Floor 3 you have to use the second elevator. Even though THIS lift has a Level 3 button it only goes as far as Level 2. Don't ask me why. It just does. So he very grumpily gets out of the lift and heads to the one beside it to go up to Level 3. I had to laugh when he got out. I shouldn't because it happens to lots of people and it is really stupid having a separate lift for Level 3 but the people who own that part of the building didn't want us plebs soiling their plush carpet.

The Trials and Tribulations of a Teenage Girl

Since my life is so boring these days I have decided to share a little of my darling niece's last week or so as she actually HAS a life lol.

I just got off the phone to a heartbroken Miss 16. She had just spent the most amazing weekend (she thought) in Byron Bay with her boyfriend and his father, future step mum and his fathers married friends. They left Friday after school and got home Sunday afternoon. I was over there when she got home and she spent over 2 hours telling us how much fun she had laughing about the weird "hippy" locals and some of their crazy antics and generally seemed to have a fab time. Her boyfriend was going to teach her to surf but there was no surf and it was just way too cold apparently. Today she tells me that they broke up last night a few hours after they got home. She is not sure why but by mutual agreement they agreed to be "just friends". Now this boyfriend apparently has done this to her before. Wanted a serious relationship with her, then backs off, they go out as friends and then suddenly he is wanting a serious relationship again. This time Miss 16 has told him no more. Now he asked her to go to Mooloolaba next weekend as his dad owns a sailboat! Like she said to me this guy is a loser lol. So hopefully she will cut her ties to this guy once and for all. I mean what is it with teenage boys??

She is also fighting with her lifelong friend who lives across the road. This friend's ex-boyfriend is Miss 16's closest friend and they have known each for years, years longer than the friend has. But now this friend is not talking to Miss 16 because she "dares" to be friends with her ex lol. This friend has also been bad mouthing her ex all over Facebook as she usually does when she dumps a boyfriend. So naturally enough these ex boyfriends all seem to go to Miss 16 and talk about their woes to her making her friend very cranky with her lol. Thank god I am not 16 anymore!

Mum also called me tonight to tell me it looks like she has a buyer for her house so now she is stressing! And what's worse she has decided she doesn't really want to sell after all! To be honest it would be nice if she didn't sell as we all love that house but realistically she really isn't able to stay because she is already suffering arthritis in the hips and knees and with all the stairs it will soon be unmanageable for her. So she does need something smaller and cheaper and just somewhere nice she can live out her days. I tell you, I hope someone runs me over before I get to 70! It all seems like way too much hard work!

As an aside, my flu is finally gone and I am feeling much better. Work is dead quiet and my life right now is dead boring! That is all...until next time!!

Feeling *Bleah*

...So I'm back at work today...still feeling snuffly and chilled to the bone but not as bad as the last 2 days...But I love winter regardless just not when I am feeling *bleah*.

Don't think I have posted anything for the past couple of weeks. Like Sol, another Blogger, I keep telling myself to write stuff down each day so I can blog it later but then I forget and my blogs just become boring because I don't remember anything good that happens! Then after I have completed my blog for the week I remember lol. I don't even really have the imagination to make stuff up!

Anyway somewhere in that past couple of weeks was Mother's Day. I got pretty spoilt by the children in my life which nice. Even MM bought me a present...a new computer chair which is soooo much more comfortable than the old one and this one is more ergonomic so no more slouching and sore neck. On the Saturday before Mother's Day Mr 20 brought me home a huge bunch of flowers which cost him a small fortune (he had left the price tag on it!). I got it a day early as his mother wanted him to spend the day with her and he wanted to make sure he didn't miss me out. Sunday morning he brought me in the biggest box of choclates I have ever seen so I really was feeling quite special! Mother's Day morning we always spend with MM's mum and family. We generally go to one of the RSL clubs which always do a HUGE Mother's Day buffet for like $10 or $11 so we did that again this year. The Mother's always get a rose and a glass of champagne. Last year we got a really nice photo album courtesy of the Club. The breakfast are always really nice...lots of bacon, eggs, pancakes, danishes, sausages, toast, fruit and cereals, baked beans, scrambled eggs etc. Good value for money.

I rang my mum for Mother's Day and she invited me to go with her to a nursery up at Morayfield. They had a sale on terracotta pots so mum and I went for a drive and splurged on pots and plants. I had been after some really nice pots for my back deck and they had exactly what I wanted! And for a third of the usual price! So I was stoked. I bought some pots for mum as well for Mother's Day. I had already bought her a really fluffy dressing gown which was so soft and nice and she loved it as she didn't have one and my niece had bought her slippers which surprisingly was the exact colour of the dressing gown! How's that for luck?

We made plans to have a Mother's Day dinner with mum and the family. This was the first Mother's Day without Dad. Last year, as he did every year, he took us all out for dinner. He always spoiled mum on Mother's Day so I think she missed that but it was a really nice day. Miss 16 always buys me a Mother's Day gift as well as I am her Godmother and she always says I'm as good as her real mother anyway! She was so proud of herself as she went shopping for a gift by herself this year and used HER OWN MONEY lol. I got a box of choclates and a really cute moving sunflower with a cute happy face...it was so sweet and sits on my computer at home. it works on light or solar power and it wiggles back and forth...kind of reminds me of "Pop Up Little Weed" for those of us old enough to remember "The Flowerpot Men"! I tried to explain the show to Miss 16 but all I got was one of those "you've got to be kidding me...how lame!" looks that teenagers give!

Speaking of Miss 16...she now has her very first, SERIOUS, boyfriend. Now she has loads of male friends..more males than females in fact, but this one is THE ONE. She finally got the courage to confide in me about it and like a good aunty that I am gave her "THE TALK" about safe sex and being sure before doing anything that she wasn't sure about. I thought I would get another of THOSE LOOKS but surprisingly she was quite open about the whole and told me she wasn't sure she was ready for a sexual relationship and was happy that I understood as my mum would definately not understand! I told her that her grandmother was not quite as prudish as she thought and in fact mum and I had talked about it ourselves making sure she was on the pill as she was over 16 now and there was no way you could stop her doing it if that's what she really wanted. Anyway this guy is really nice...he is 17, his mum died a couple of years ago and he lives with his dad, his dad's girlfriend and his brother and sister. They are Canadian and he is super fit! Very into healthy living which is hilarious as the first time Miss 16 went to his place he had planned for them to go for a long walk and then for a jog around the park and Miss 16 just looked at mum and I when we dropped her off with wide eyes then look at him and said "We're doing what??". Mum and I giggled to ourselves and drove off leaving her to it. Miss 16 might be skinny as but she is definately not fit! Her idea of fun is sleeping till 1pm, getting someone to drive her to Maccas for lunch then coming home and vegging out in front of the TV! So we'll see how long this relationship lasts! Now I have been told that he wants her to spend Christmas with him in Canada as he is going home to visit family so she and mum are arguing about whether or not she can go. Ahh the life of teenagers...thank god all mine have grown up! I have been there and done that with all our three.

Which leaves me pondering our three kids. As you know I have Mr 20 at home with us doing quite well but with no signs of him EVER leaving the nest. Miss 21 comes and visits often and spends more time with us than she does at her mother's where she is living while her boyfriend is off in Dubai somewhere with the Air Force. She and her mother are constantly arguing and she says she hates it there but it's closer to the shops for her there than where we are so she won't move in with us either!

As for the oldest daughter, she is an enigma to us...we haven't seen or heard from her since Dad's funeral. It has been almost a year now. She has lost the plot completely and has told her father that she no longer wants to see or know him for whatever reason (well she does have HER reason even though its not a valid one). It hurts him and she still wants me to have coffee with her etc but I have told her that my loyalty lies with her dad and that we can't have a relationship behind his back and I won't do it. So I have also basically cut her from my life as well. She knows where we are and its sad as she was ALWAYS daddy's girl but since she has been with her boyfriend (who shall be known as Butthead) she has cut a lot of people out of her life. Butthead has always freaked me out from the time I met him and I know he is the reason behind all of this. Many times she has come crying because he slept with this friend or that friend and she is dunping him but then he smoozes his way back into her affections and she is lapping him up again. I know she WILL be hurt and she knows it too but she is drawn to him like a moth to a flame. The thing is Butthead has been a friend of the family since they were all small kids. His family and MM's family were neighbours so MM knows Butthead as a young kid and MM detested him even then. He was always an arrogant little so and so apparently and MM knows a LOT more about Butthead that even Miss 24 does and I think Butthead knows that which is why he keeps them separated. We have always known about his drug taking and Miss 24 told us about it but she swears she has never been involved in it. I hope for her sake she doesn't but time will tell I guess.

50 Things to Do Before I am 50

Not a lot of time left I know lol...say around 6 years :) But here is the start of my list of things I want to achieve while I am still young enough to enjoy them...some things are very short term and can be done any time now but are things I keep on putting off...other things will require planning...but everything on this list is what I have wanted to do since forver but things and excuses hold me back...I will keep adding to this list as I think of things I want to do!

50 things to do before I am 50

1. Go to the Rocklea markets
2. Learn to play the guitar
3. Scuba dive at Lady Elliott
4. Publish my first fictional novel
5. Learn to paint
6. Finish at least ONE of my many unfinished craft projects
7. Scrapbook every single one of my photographs
8. Finish my dad’s book
9. Visit my long lost Montara cousins in New York/Philadelphia
10. Get married!
11. Study something I may never use but purely because I want to, for example literature or history
12. Clean and renovate every room in my house and declutter/downsize
13. Take up yoga
14. Save enough money to buy a block of land and build on it
15. Take my hubby overseas because he has never been
16. Travel around Australia or to at least a part of Australia that interests us because I have never been!
17. Go on a cruise
18. Stop being afraid of what other people think and JUST DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT just because you can
19. Read the entire “Lord of the Rings”
20. Learn to drive ANYWHERE in Brisbane without being freaked out! Includes driving to the south side of Brisbane! (See Visit Rocklea Markets!)