Yes It's Me - Scars and All

It's not often that I make an appearence on the blog but there is a reason behind this photo.
Yesterday I finally took out my head, which had been firmly wedged in the sand, and went for a FULL BODY SKIN CANCER CHECK!  (Yes Mum, I can hear you clapping from here)

Being a child of the 70's and a teen of the 80's you can imagine how much inappropriate sun exposure my poor body got - even for that time I was addicted to my suntan and it was with great trepidation that I showed up at the doctors and stripped off for his camera.

That bloody camera showed up every single mark on my entire body and believe me it was not a pretty sight - I saw in close-up areas of my body I haven't seen in years. 

To cut a long appointment short, I have masses of sun damage which was totally to be expected but fabulously I have nothing sinister on my body.  My face was a different matter and although not dangerous, I had 5 areas frozen as a precaution.  My Mum will be nodding at this stage as she has had numerous procedures to almost identical areas of her face and the hope is that with maintenence I will not have to endure the procedures she has had to put up with.

So, today I look a little like I have been beaten around the face - I have two large burns on my nose, one on my temple and two on my forehead - and not one customer has commented!  I'd love to know that they think has happened to me.

My big tip to all of you out there reading this is to man up and go and have a full skin check up immediately.  It may just save you a lot of grief later.

Jen xx

Reno Update

This post is really only for my parents who are on the other side of the world for a couple of months and are patiently waiting for us to vacate their house, having moved out in October so we could move in!...

Dear Mum and Dad,

The house is finally at 'Lock Up'- bet you never thought that would happen.

Roof is finally finished to Surfer Boy's satisfaction,

All weatherboards are on,

All external doors are on although the shed doors are only temporary (SB will make his own)

SB has been working onsite all week furiously painting the top storey before the builders removed the scaffolding,

So.... upstairs is now fully painted with 3 coats and he's working his way down.

Yesterday the electrician marked out all our lights/powerboards/phone jacks and today the heating ducts are being marked out.

Surfer Boy has finished the bathroom bench and he has also made a gorgeous top for the sink in the second toilet. 

Apparently all the precut timber for the bathroom/Kitchen cabinetry is ready to be delivered so it looks like he will be able to start on that next week.

I think that is it for now....

You never know - you may actually be able to move back in to your own home when you get back!  (but it might be safer not to hold your breath)
Hope you are having a fabulous time
Love you heaps
Jen xoxo

 

 

Double Figures For My Baby Girl

As the heading says, my gorgeous Gidget turns 10 today and I can not for the life of me work out where that time went.  She has blossomed into an amazing person with a dry wit and a killer death stare.  She is kooky and thoughtful, loving and nutty.  She can be silent and moody, or all giggles and sunshine - she is 10!

On the weekend we celebrated with an 'Awards Night' - Gidget's 10th Annual Awards to be exact and we were lucky enough to be able to hold the party at a friend's Music Studio.  The girls channeled their favourite artist, got dressed in their finest and worked the red carpet out the front of the Studio.  

They posed for the Paparazzi and then made their way in to the Green Room (or in this case, Red) to indulge in a little Champagne (non-alcoholic) before making their way into the sound booth to lay down a track! 

 

You can imagine how thrilled they were, not only to see inside a real music studio, but to be able to record a song as well - words could not express the delight on their faces.  They all lined up in front of the mics, donned the headphones and warmed up for their rendition of Katy Perry's Hot N' Cold.

 

Craig talked them through the process and generally made them feel like Australia's newest Girl Group - Craig had them do a couple of takes and them we left him to weave his magic and the girls adjourned back to the Green Room for the awarding of the statuettes for the night, followed by a screening of 'She's The Man'

 

Many lollies were eaten, champagne drunk, and after the mandatory Birthday Cake we got to listen to their recording and each girl received her own copy of their song to take home.

Gidget also spent hours the night before designing a Mix CD for everyone to take home instead of lolly bags - I think she had just as much fun in the lead up  as she did on the day.


I hope she had as much fun as I did - her friends are all delightful and I'm pretty sure the day was a huge success.
Happy birthday Gidget!

Pitching In

Well someone had to clean up under there - and it certainly wasn't going to be me!

Terrariums

 

I had my first weekend off in over a month and was rather looking forward to spending some time with my kids.  I have wanted to do something with the succulents that we brought home from a friend's wedding and decided that a terrarium was in order - what a perfect activity to do with the kids, especially as Saturday rained in Melbourne almost continuously all day.

They had no idea what I was talking about so I showed them a few pictures on the internet and they very quickly got enthused.  Luckily I had bought a couple of cheap glass bowls earlier in anticipation and they were thrilled when they realised they were going to make their own.  
I pretty much left them to it and they had a lovely time deciding what characters to add, fossicking for rocks to add and generally entered in to the spirit as I had hoped.

Moondoggie ended up with a Harry Potter theme - Harry and Dumbledore fighting off a rogue dragon, while Gidget started with fairies but ended up deciding on Party Animals hiding in her rain forest.  You could see their imaginations conjuring up all sorts of stories as they gazed in to their bowls.
Terrarium Activity a big success!

Natimuk

Nothing like a little time in the bush to make you appreciate living in Australia - after a couple of weeks on our stunning coast it was nice to experience another aspect of our great outdoors.

After our epic drive up we arrived in the tiny town of Natimuk (somewhere near The Grampians) and settled in for a couple of days with our lovely friend Ronnie.  Surfer Boy became 'Climber Boy' and had us scaling cliff faces and generally soaking in the ancient atmosphere of Mt Arapalies.

Lots of food was consumed, many beers were drunk, couches were dragged outside and there was lots of time to sit around the fire while billions of stars wheeled overhead.  There was even a mandatory Red Heeler/Dingo called Freckles to keep us company

 

Day two saw us back in the truck and off to explore 'Little Desert'.  I think there may have been some disappointment from Moondoggie who quite naturally assumed that a desert would consist of rolling sand dunes and mirages.  Instead he got low scrub and red dirt but a satisfying number of bones!

For three days we did not see one cloud in the sky - we made a point of looking - and I had forgotten just how enormous an Australian sky looks when you can see the horizon in all directions.  It's not an easy land but gee it's beautiful.

Gidget wanted me to delete this photo so don't tell her you've seen it - they shared a double bed and every night I would sneak in just to gaze at them, and occasionally call Surfer Boy in to laugh at the positions they'd got themselves in to.  
this is one photo that will NEVER be deleted!  Sorry Gidg.

That's it for the Natimuk trip - hope your holidays are just a wonderful as ours are proving to be.  Have a great New Year.  Jen.

Dress Ups

The kids very much missed our annual Halloween party this year, due to the move, but today they got to dress up after all.  Their school has a Wacky Walk-a-thon every year to raise money and each class has a theme to dress up as.  This year Moondoggie's class was 'Monsters and Scary things' and Gidget's was 'Spies & Detectives'.

Here they are as Dracula and Nancy Drew! 

 

It's mid-day and they are about to begin but as I look out the window of CHALK the rain clouds are bearing down!  Hope they get to parade around the oval a few times before they get drenched.

Redneck!

We had our ute stolen a few weeks before we moved house - I know, right!  Good timing. - It also happened to be the ute that has my business name plastered all over it.  Go figure.  If I was that way inclined I certainly wouldn't be stealing a fairly beat up ute with CHALK emblazoned on the sides.  Makes you a little easier to spot I would have thought.  Anyway.... we have waited 9 weeks in the hope that it would show up but so far nothing.  It may be time to come to terms with the loss and start looking around for another car.

  Surfer Boy wants exactly what he had - a Toyota Hilux.

I, on the other hand have different ideas, and they may not be what you'd imagine.  I want a Ford Bronco! 

Preferrably a late 70's/early 80's model, 2 tone if possible.  And I know what you're thinking because it's what Surfer Boy tells me all the time - 'what a bogan car!'  I completely disagree and firmly believe that (with the addition of a set of steer horns on the front) it is one kick arse ride.  

My other auto love is an F100 - which to Surfer Boy's horror is almost as bogan as the Bronco - and I believe I could have swayed him except for the fact that it doesn't fit all four of us in it.  So it's goodbye to the F100, but not the Bronco!  

I eventually got my way with the caravan so I haven't lost hope yet.  Besides, once he sees this one I'm sure he'll be won over!  Wish me luck.

Paper Mache Part 1

Holidays

Some people hate the school holidays

I love them

I get to spend time with these two nut bags

I get to hang out with them

do dumb stuff with them

eat holiday cereal

hang out at the skate park

frisbee and lego, star doll and baking

....and somersaults in the pool

Tomorrow's my last day before I go back to work. It's paper mache mask making, the last thing on their 'to do list' - wish me luck.