Camping at Cedar Grove

After Christmas I took the girls camping for 11 days at Cedar Grove camping ground, which is just past Amamoor. Amamoor is this little "don't blink or you'll miss it" town but I love the corner store they have there.

I've been camping at Cedar Grove every Christmas since I was 9, only missing two years, I think. Most of my family were camping there as well so it was good to catch up with them and for the girls to have time to play with their cousins, who they don't ge to see very often. They also came to my rescue on the first night we were there when we were hit by a severe storm and my campsite was literally flooded. My tarps were blown down and the water was halfway up my calf and things were washing away. Even though they got drenched my family all came over to help me out. I actually gave up and drove home at 10:30 at night to sleep. Luckily we don't live too far away. It turned out that I was just camped in a really bad spot where all the water from the camping grounds just flowed through like a mini river, while everywhere else barely had puddles, it seemed. When I came back the next day my wonderful Dad had moved my tents and stuff to a better site for me.

The rest of the time was great although very hot. We found a swimming place away from the main waterhole which was shady and less crowded and we would spend most of the day there.

I'd bring a chair and read when I wasn't swimming and the kids just mucked around in the water all day, swimming, making dams and catching tadpoles and fish.

I just love getting away from the house because I find it hard to relax at home or I feel guilty if I do, because I'm always thinking "I should be doing this" or "that really needs to be cleaned". At camping I don't have to worry about any of that. I went riding with Ella, had balancing competitions on the air mattress on the water (I sucked...my record was 7 seconds, Rosie the gymnastics queen stood up for over 2 minutes), sat at dusk with the girls looking for turtles and platypus but also just enjoying the evening and the silence. We took turns trying to take creative photos in the dimming light.

A Christmas Summary

I'm baaack. (See Mitch, I don't spend all my time on the computer.) It's been a month since my last post. I feel like I've been very busy since Christmas and I've been thinking "I'll have to write a post on this and a post on that" but time has passed too quickly, so I'll try to do a few short summaries over the next few days to keep you up to date. I was going to try to do it all in one go, but that would have been one mammoth post.

Here's my recipe book that I made for my sister, Veronika, for Christmas but I tried it in a different colour scheme. I like it, although I think I prefer the pastels. But I might do these colours for my meal recipe book, which I've yet to make.

For my nephew, Isaac, I made a photo peg puzzle. I did get the idea off a photo I saw on someone's blog, but I can't remember where. Contact me if you know so I can credit them properly. He was very excited pulling out the pieces to see which photos were underneath.

It was great to see all my family for Christmas. We spent it together on the weekend before, which is great because it makes the actual day nice and relaxed with no travelling. We did the obligatory family photos but not many of mine worked out, except this one of me and my sisters, which I love.

I did very well present-wise for Christmas, being showered with all manner of gorgeous red things for my kitchen, from hubby and the kids. I also got some red bowls from my brother and his wife which go perfectly. And don't forget the packet of jellybeans, my favourite lollies, from Ella.

The decorations are all down now, which should mean that I go back to my pastel decorating, but I couldn't put all my red things away without using them, so the red's here to stay for a while. Here's my hutch in it's red, white and blue. Very patriotic.

Christmas Decorating

I thought that it was about time that I posted some pictures of my Christmas decorations. Continuing my love affair with red (and white) I've made some easy rag balls to give an injection of colour and fun. I've stacked them in bowls...

and in this op shop basket, spray-painted white (spray paint is now my new best friend), tied with a jaunty gingham bow. Ignore that fly on the handle.

Here is my hutch, which since I lack a mantlepiece, is my favourite thing to dress up

And some close- ups of my favourite things.

A stitchery I made a few years ago, when I still had time to make things more involved than a rag ball.

And this cute vintage bird which my Mum generously let me have on the weekend. She used to have two and they used to be some of my favourite things to put on the tree.

I couldn't show you the rest of the tree, because it's a disgustingly cheap one and looks really threadbare with a big gap right in the middle. I thought about forking out the money for a you-beaut tree but can't bring myself to spend that much. So I decided that after this year, I'm going to go back to live ones, cut secretly from the side of the road. (Shhh, don't tell anyone.) I know they don't have the lovely symmetry of a fake one, but they have THAT smell. And THAT was one of my favourite parts of Christmas. When I would walk down the stairs to the lounge room and smell that piney scent...then I'd know that Christmas really was here.

Missing - Christmas spirit and child-like joy

I just haven't been able to get into Christmas as much this year. Yes, the decorations are up and the tree is decorated, but thanks to the girls, not me. I actually went and had a sleep and let them do the tree. That is unheard of for me. What happened to my Christmas spirit? I was usually the one in my family that insisted on getting the tree (a real one...nothing else would do) and getting the decorations up. I remember one year getting my younger brothers together, packing a picnic, then dragging them across the creek to find a tree and chop it down and drag it home...all by ourselves. It was a fun adventure, never mind the fact that I was meant to be babysitting my toddler sister while Mum was out and I totally forgot about her because she was sleeping. Mum came home and found her over at the neighbours across the road where she had gone crying because she had woken up to a totally empty house...in a family of nine kids, a rare occurance which must have made it all the more scary. Sorry Veronika, I hope I haven't scarred you.

Anyway, I digress. This year I found myself getting stressed over getting the "right" arrangements up, not helped by all the beautiful decorating pictures I see on everyone else's blogs. I find that because I'm a creative person, I have to fiddle and tweak things until they are just right. I can tell they are right because of this feeling I get in my stomach, when everything just falls into place. If I don't get it right, then my stomach just stays churning. Crazy, huh? Well this year my stomach's been churning like mad and to make it worse, I just haven't had the interest in making it better. And I'd usually make things to fill spaces or as inspiration hits me, but again, no interest. I think it's partly because I'm busy making gifts so I don't have time for other crafts plus trying to get the giirls room finished. And I'm just burnt out after a year of work.

So, I found this in the school newsletter and I've had it up on the fridge, and it's been a good daily reminder. It calms me down when I feel like I'm just not doing things well enough.

1 Corinthians 13 - a Christmas (source unknown)

If I decorate my house perfectly with tinsel, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas biscuits, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully decorated table at mealtimes, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at Meals-on-Wheels, sing carols in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the tree with shimmering angels and snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the local choir but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's home that has co-ordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful that they are there to get in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things, believes in all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. X Box games will break, DVD's will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

And it got me thinking...when I was younger, we didn't have all the beautiful handmade decorations like I have now, but did that bother me. No! We had our few simple decorations that we hung up in the same place every year and I loved them because I was a child and it was Christmas and what could be more exciting than that. Ella's been trying to remind me of that. Nearly every day she says to me, "It's nearly Christmas. I'm so excited. Aren't you excited, Mum?" And she says she loves getting presents but loves choosing them for other people and giving them even more. Thank God, I have a child to learn from and to remind me NOT to grow up.

It's VERY blue.

Well ,I've finally painted the ceiling and I've put the first coat on the walls of the girls' bedroom. Now I know why they suggest painting a bit of the wall first with a sample pot of paint...because it is NOT the colour I was going for. But no, I grabbed a colour card, said that'll do and bought a whole tin of paint. I was aiming for a very, very pale blue...and it looked pale on the card but when you've got a whole wall of that colour, it is a lot brighter. Here's a sneak preview.

It doesn't look too bad with the white, unpainted wall to tone it down, but now all 4 walls are that colour. Whoa. I'm torn between actually liking it, especially in the morning when it looks light and fresh, to hating it, especially at night when the colour just seems to get darker and darker.

But the girls love it, and it does look nice with the white windows etc against it. And anything looks better than the original. Here's a photo on the first day we got the key to our house. Horrible lino in two different patterns and a rug which isn't too bad in a shabby chic way, but in bad condition. The walls don't look too bad, but they were flaking with gaps between all of the wall boards and ceiling boards. Just patching them up and painting over with primer made a world of difference.

The walls were a colour which looked like dirty cream, but against the white they turned out to be a horrible beige colour. The door in the photo below was the original colou of the room. The light's not too good in the photo.

But like I said, the girls' love it and are very excited about finally moving into their room soon. And Rosie's got hope now that yes, the rest of the house can be done up to look nice too.

School's Out!

...and it's sweltering hot! I'm at home, drooping like a cheap candle.

I'd like to be doing this even if I can't wear bikinis any more (damn, stretch marks) but I can't even muster up the energy to do anything except lay in bed and read the paper....and blog. But I deserve it. Usually my weekends are spent cleaning up that week's mess so I can be ready to start all over again on Monday, but now that I have 7 blissful weeks of holidays stretching out before me and all that time to catch up on housework, my urgency has left me.


And I'm still recovering from yesterday. We had our usual end-of-year staff party but after about an hour and a half I had to excuse myself, hurriedly drive home and flop down on my bed. It's been years since I've been properly, hug the toilet bowl, sick. It could have been the champers but I only had 2, okay...maybe 3 tiny glasses. But then I drink so little that one Strongbows can get me feeling light headed. Maybe it was something I ate or the Nurofen I had just taken. Fortunately the kids were at a friends house but when they came home and saw the condition I was in, they were great. They quickly got me a bowl and glass of iced water and a damp washer. Rosie even felt my forehead with the back of her hand and stroked my hair and kept coming back and giving me kisses and checking on me and Ella made dinner for the family. She would trot in and out of the bedroom asking things like "How much is a small tin of tomato paste?" "Just use about 3 or 4 dessertspoons." "Are they those big ones that you and Dad use to eat your cereal?" "Yes,dear."


I was well enough later to lay and watch the "Family Movie", a Friday night tradition that is so important that it needs to be spelt with capital letters. I knew they'd be disappointed if I didn't join in.


Mitch is down in Caloundra for his big fight tonight. He's fighting the horrible Matt Caltibiano again, but this time it's for the Australian Cruiserweight title. I'm confident that he's going to do well. It was too hard for me to get babysitting so that I could go too, but I'm kinda glad as the atmosphere was too nasty last time. But I told him to ring me the moment he could, so I know how he went. It would be nice to add an Australian belt to his two Queensland Title belts.