Physio Today

Oh boy - was I sore today at Physio - I had been having muscle spasms all week in my lower back and between my shoulder blades and my skin had been sensitive all over (like having the flu) but this week my jaw had been worrying me again so that is what he worked on. It's the TMJ flaring - who knows why - I've given up wondering why this & that happens. Fortunately once my muscles have been worked on they do settle down and as long as I manage to have either a weekly massage or a physio treatment I'm not too bad.

My arms & wrists have really been playing up again the last couple of months & don't want to settle down at all but unfortunately that is a nerve and not a muscle problem. Grrrrr - it really gets so frustrating at times. There is so much I want to do and I love my craft & computer but have to really pace myself all the time.

My Christmas Decorations

Well I had lots of fun with the PhotoImpact International and PhotoImpact Resource Centre Christmas Challenges this year. I hadn't managed any graphics for a few months because my hands had been worrying me too much but with the warmer days things settled down a bit and having challenges to meet helped me find some inspiration.

This is the Christmas Card for the PIRC - I also made two for PI-I however they are still to be judged so I am unable to show them to add them at present.


These are the baubles which I have made. Some were from last year but I added a few more again this year.




This was a decoration we had to make using different path shapes.


Another challenge we had was to decorate a Christmas tree so I added some of my decorations to the tree, put some presents underneath and added some shining stars.


We were also given a choice of doors to decorate - I altered my hanging decoration and placed that over the door with the long drops on either side and then made a wreath and poincettias which I placed on the front.


And this is my wreath:-

What a Wonderful Christmas

We had a terrific Christmas Day this year. The last two years we have had Christmas at home however my brother and sister-in-law put their hands up this year as they thought that hubby and I might need a break as it wasn't long after we had Dad's 80th party here. We went to Chrismas Eve carols service here in Caboolture and then drove the my brothers in Brisbane mid-morning on Christmas Day.

We had 19 there I think with our family and my sister-in-laws parents and brother. Everyone had bought something to share so we dined on fresh prawns, turkey, chicken and ham as well as some lovely salads. My little sister does the best mango, avocado & crushed pistashio nut salad and mum made her fantastic tossed salad which has so many ingredients it's almost a meal in itself and there was also an oriental salad made with chinese cabbage......yum. Plus my nephew made ravioli which was popular as well.

Then of course we followed that up with yummy deserts. Mum had made a trifle, there was a traditional plum pudding as well as an ice-cream pudding which my sister made and I did a sponge flan filled with mascapone and frozen berries.

We were very fortunate with the weather too as storms had been predicted and after the devastation to The Gap only 5 weeks beforehand we didn't want a repeat. The day was warm but not as hot as the week prior although the kids spent half the day in the pool.

My secret Santa spoilt me with a beautiful silver necklet and a diary. Hubby gave me a compact external hard drive which I can take with my laptop and our son bought me a lovely new pair of sunglasses.

Unfortunately though we forgot to get a family photo which was a shame as we usually manage a Christmas one.

Our Visit to Caloundra

We had been going to hubby's sister & brother-in-law's home for Boxing Day lunch with some other members of hubby's family however I was so tired and sore after being out on Christmas Day that we had to cancel but went up Saturday afternoon instead. We were able to stay the night which was wonderful as I wouldn't have coped with having to travel there & back in the same day so soon after going into Brisbane for Christmas.

We have a lovely time - went for a walk Saturday afternoon along the foreshore and took the two dogs which hubby's sister is baby-sitting for her son. They are the cutest dogs and real people magnets.

Then Sunday morning we went for another longer walk and ended up at the Caloundra markets. We were able to find a cafe with outdoor seating as we had the dogs with us again so had a sit down with a nice coffee before heading back. The littlest dog was funny - about 10 minutes from home she just decided that she had walked far enough and sat down. Poor little thing - she is only about 6 months old and we'd walked about 5kms by then so I think she was getting tired.

Photos from Dad's Party

Well I finally have the photos from Dad's birthday party. There is one of him cutting the cake ..... we weren't able to get one of him blowing out the candles as he doesn't actually do that but moistens his thumb & forefinger & just extinguishes the flame by smothering it between his fingers. Not a good party trick though in front of the littlies. He's such a worry - LoL. Then another just after his non-existent speech.

I was also able to sneak in a photo of my brother and our son. Usually our son hates having his photo taken but because he & my brother were fooling around I was able to snap one.

Had a lovely day today.

Boy - it was another warm one today - the temperature at home reached 34degC (which is about 98 - 100deg F) however I went to lunch with the ladies I walk with. It was really enjoyable as they are a lovely group (there is 4 of us in total) and we have known each other for quite some time now. It was so lovely to actually be able to have a pre-Christmas get together as I had been feeling a bit left out of late. Hubby has been to a couple & our son has had more than his share ...

So we were able to escape from the heat for a few hours too & then afterwards browsed the nearby shopping centre.

My Rag Angel

I was part of a ornament swap for a craft group which I belong to and wanted to make something special for my swap partner so decided on this rag angel. I first made these years ago but have made a few since. This might be my last one though as I had awful trouble tearing her skirt this time .... forgot about the effort required in gripping the calico and ripping it.

If anyone would like the instructions on making one I can either post them on here of if you want to leave me your email addy I can email them to you.

Dad's Birthday

Well dad had a wonderful 80th birthday. Starting with a morning tea on Thursday which was his actual birthday. Mum had a few friends from neighbouring cottages come over to help him celebrate.

Then on Saturday we had a brunch for him at home. There were 32 here including family. Hubby & my brother did a lovely bar-b-que of bacon, tomatoes, eggs & chippolatas. There were also bread rolls, chocolate danish, cheese danish & croissants as well as lovely fruit platters.

The day was a bit warm although a lovely breeze picked up however we did end up having the cake & coffee in the breezeway as under the pergola was starting to get very warm by then. Although the kids thought it was great as they were able to swim most of the day.

My two sisters and SIL were terrific with organising the food and cleaning up although our family is always like that - it's always fun chatting in the kitchen while working.

Bark And An Unusual Fungi

Hehe - yep - have been busy with the camera again. I just can't resist the different barks on the trees at home this time of the year as the eucalypts start shedding theirs. There is such a variety of colours and patterns.

The last photo is of a fungi of some type which is coming up in a couple of the gardens after all the wet weather that we have had. This is so unusual - has like a lacy look to it.

Visiting the Christmas Lights

I had my niece stay on Friday night so the two of us went to look at some Christmas lights. There is one street near where I live which wins their division every year and also has the winning residence. Some of the houses are incredible. This place you can actually wander right up to the front & look in the windows are the beautiful displays.

Our Friendly Frog

We have the most beautiful big green frog which is usually hiding in the gutter or downpipe however during one of the recent storms he must have been washed out and was sitting on our back gate one night.

He is quite unconcerned about having anyone near him & even with the flash of the camera just keeps looking at you.

Since all the rain the past month or so there have been lots of little green frogs and marsh frogs getting around which is great to see.

I've Been Tagged !!!

I've been tagged .... so now I have to let you know 5 things you don't know about me - well 5 things I don't think you know about me.

1. I have everything colour co-ordinated in my linen cupboard & get feral if someone puts something in wrong place.

2. I can't walk past a garden & see a weed without wanting to pull it out.

3. I am addicted to collecting digital graphics.

4. I found giving away horse riding after 40 years the hardest thing I have ever done.

5. I much prefer the bush to the beach.
So now I tag these 3 people --

Sam (samsscrapsandsigtags)
Gail (aussiescraps)
Dnad (dnadryad)

The Nativity Stable - Finished & Lit-Up

Isn't this beautiful .......... Hubby went up to adjust the lights last night so I tagged along with my trusty camera & tripod. Hehe - think he gets sick of me saying - hang on - just one more photo. I didn't know what to expect as I had only seen the stable which dad made and had heard about the wonderful figures which mum & dad's neighbour painted.

And Still the Flower Photos Come - LoL

I can't help myself - everytime I see a new flower in my garden I have to take a photo of it. I have a collection of different coloured Zygo Cacti in hanging baskets along the front patio, most of which flower around June however there is one which always flowers late October/early November with beautiful red flowers. It's just a shame that they only are in flower for a couple of weeks as they put on a terrific display.
.
I have also had some more Hippeastrums flowering. Most of my Hippis are just ones which self propogate and cross pollinate however I do have some bulbs which I purchased a few years ago which have totally different colour from the others which are just growing everywhere and anywhere in the garden. The white one is called Wedding Dance & would have to be one of my favourites.


My broms are starting to flower too at present. They have such varied and unusual flowers .... from large vibrant coloured flowers to tiny little ones in the middle of the water well of the leaves.

My Cape York Lily is flowering this year too. It seems to do well if we have a reasonable dry winter. They are a native of North Queensland and last year it didn't flower well because of the drought. In winter it dies back to nothing and it's not until the shoots start to appear in Spring that I know it has survived another year - LoL.

I love flowering Eucalypts. The sit there for ages with tight cups and then almost overnight burst open with these wonderful flowers.

We are still not completely sure of the name of this lily - some people call it a Christmas Lily and a Fire Lily. We have always called it "Old Bill's Lily" - after an old gentleman which we met at children in a caravan park in Cairns in far North Queensland about 33 years ago. He was sort of a retired care-taker and gave mum a couple of these bulbs. Since then they have multiplied & we have given dozens of plants away over the years. They seem to grow anywhere - I have them in pots and in the ground and this plant also dies down to nothing in winter so that you have no idea where they are planted until Spring when the leaves start to appear. Many a bulb has been dug up by mistake in the past - LoL.

YAY !! - managed a few more layouts this month

I didn't think I was going to get many challenges done this month as I had a bit of a wipe out again with a Fibro flare-up & then the flu symptoms & dropping tiredness I get with the Chronic Fatigue but as usual I bounced back again & managed to complete a few this past week. I get really frustrated with myself if I don't complete a few layouts each month - LoL.

If it wasn't for challenges from differend scrapbook forums I probably wouldn't be motivated to complete anything.

"A Time to Reflect" was for a Mystical Scrapbook challenge using a page from a magazine as inspiration. I chose to use the outside theme with the chair and also picked out the colours from two of the cushions. I had been wondering how to scrap these photos and this challenge seemed to match the photos perfectly.

"Trimming the Tree" was a Hybrid Designs challenge where we had to use a combination of digital and traditional scrapping. I am still only fairly new to the world of hybrid scrapping and struggle a bit with combining the two techniques. However I found this old photo taken nearly 48 years ago which I had been wanting to scrap for quite some time so thought that this challenge presented a great opportunity.

Mmmmm - was certainly glad that I wasn't there to take this photo on the day that our son was abseiling in the Blue Mountains. Don't know whether I would have been too keen on having him jump off an 80m cliff - LoL - even though he had experience with abseiling.......it's still a LONG way down. This layout was for Puzzle Sketches - a blog which I have just found that gives you pieces to use in your own way. This time it was 2 squat rectangles, a tree, some 'bubbles' and a long rectangle with a torn side.

My final layout this month was for a Mystical Scrapbooks challenge using 2 photos, 4 pieces of PP & 5 buttons. These photos are of our son and his old Kelpie - "Amber" - on the morning he took her to the vet to be put to sleep. Poor old Amber had suffered a few minor strokes in the past couple of years but in September she had a more severe one which left her unable to walk, or swallow. She had been such a loyal family member & totally owner "her boy".

Feeling Blah Again .............

Why is it that everytime I take a few steps forward I seem to take as many if not more backwards. Just when I was looking forward to doing some creating & playing around with graphics I have the aches & fatigue hit again. Today I was feeling as if I had the flu again ......... that's the best way to explain it although it's not the flu but I ache all over and have this incredible tiredness hit where I just have to go and sleep. Slept for an hour again after my walk & breakfast this morning. Seem to be muddling and getting nothing done & there is so much I want to do.

The rain & storms don't help either as any change in weather seems to set things off although the warmer days are certainly better for me. Am sick of the rain already and the predictions are for a wet summer - ARGH - will be definitely climbing the walls and swinging off the light fittings by then.

More of my Australian Native Flowers

I love all he variation in colours and petals of the natives. I love having plants which attract the birds and try to have a variety of plants flowering at all times of the year.

These are a couple of my favourites. The flowers are quite small but the plants are absolutely covered in them.
The following pictures show one of the Grevillea flowers in different stages of opening right through to the seeds forming.

And finally - another Grevillea & one with the seed pods open.

VERY WET & WINDY

Last night we had a huge storm hit SE Queensland with hail, high winds & torrential rain. My brother at The Gap in Brisbane had some windows broken by hail & trees blown over. Fortunately we didn't have any damage from hail or trees ... our hail was only pea sized but we did have water water come into the ceiling in a couple of places due to the gutters not being able to cope with the quantity of water. Our front garden steps were like a waterfall & we had water running through the ceiling in the breezeway.. We were without power for 12 hours but luckily have a generator which can run a lot of the household.

The water running over the gutters in our pergola area.

The waterfall down the front garden steps & onto the patio. Fortunately our house is about 4 inches above the patio so no water came into the house - just into the breezeway which is all tiles anyway.

My Daylillies

These are some of my daylillies which are flowering at present. They would have to be one of my favourite flowers as there are so many different varieties and colours. Fortunately they are quite forgiving flowers too and will survive neglect as they sometimes get forgotten but given a bit of TLC certainly reward me with a lovely display.