Merry Christmas to All.



Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas,and a great New year..
Our home is very quiet this morning no children visiting this year, well not till tomorrow,I just can't wait until our daughter and family arrive.
Our son and family have just called and spoke on speakaphone as they opened their gifts from us, tears welled up as we imagined the excitment and as the children called out each time they removed an item from their stockings that we made for them,they loved their pillow bags too.

I am waiting to collect my brother for the day then he can have a couple of beers throught the day,typical Aussies it goes with everything lol.

yesterday Bob and I did our Santa run,I will post some pics later.One family gave us some money for the homeless,how lovely and kind of her to do that, she asked us not to stop doing our bike ride and lollie drops as her children consider it to be part of their Christmas in Aberdeen so that was lovely.

So leaving you now to get the pud out ,get the meats organised and when Rob gets here,open the pressies. I have to say I don't really enjoy getting them but I LOVE TO GIVE THEM! so I am looking forward to Mums 90th Christmas.
Blessings from our home to yours. Bob and Carole  xx

                                               A Productive Day


Today was the day set out for making homemade Tomato Sauce.It is a different recipe to what I am used to so we have made a decision to go back to old faithful next time as this one is a little spicey but I am sure it will still be enjoyed.It made 8 bottles for hours of work but trying new recipes is half the fun.

Then it was time to make the mini puddings that I make each year.They are so easy  and look so nice, I package 4 into small boxes and deliver them to the oldies  around town that have no one to make them yummies.

You need I home brand Christmas Pudding,take it out of the plastic bowl and crumble it, add a small amount of orange juice to bind it,roll into small balls about 1 inch and place in mini patty cases.

Melt white chocolate over water and drizzle a teaspoon over each pud. Place 1/4 of a red glace' cherry on each and 2 strips of green cherry to look like leaves and ta dah thats all.

These are so simple and so tasty, sometimes I cut up cellaphane into thin strips and place them in the little boxes first,whatever takes your fancy.

Have a lovely day,I am meeting my DIL tomorrow at her sisters so Molly can say hello to her brothers and so I can have a hug from the grandchildren and give them their Christmas gifts as they have decided not to come home this year,no matter what we think we must put on a smile and accept decisions that may not sit happy in our hearts.peacemakers are precious so I must tell myself that many times on the drive there,at least I am going to get to see them.

I am ok,I think God is taking the stress from me for now,and for that I am truley grateful.



A Wonderful Life

I have been a little late getting the party blog done it has been caotic to say the least.

Mum had the most wonderful day, unfortunately I was in the kitchen most of the time lol but I loved that it was an honour,but it meant I could not take pics.

Ann Marie took reems of photos and as she lives a couple of hours away I have not received the disc yet..However when I picked up my camera someone had taken a few snaps for me with it. Mums favourite colour is pink and most people came in something pink without being asked to so that was lovely,all except the birthday girl she thought that was hillarious.

This is gorgeous young William,formerly known as Bulldozer Bill,he got all dressed up for Great Nanna and shhhhhhhhh as he is her favourite little person she was really impressed,he was a gentleman all day long so we now have to  say goodbye Bulldozer and welcome Master Will.

Malcom was ill and could not come at the last minute so our blue mowhawke friend was absent,AnnMarie made a thigh throbbing entry on her purple trike and swagger and after everyone found out she was really nice they enjoyed her lol but the faces were priceless.

She and my friend Glor got along like a house on fire( must have  had something to do with the fact they speak the same language if you get my drift).F this and F that!..you know they had a rocky start at their first meeting,so it was a relief that they got along.

Mum had a smile on her face all day and we were still chatting to a cousin and a close friend and Aunt and uncle at 8.30 pm to say Mum was tired was an understatement but she did not miss a thing.

I will put some more pics up when I get the good ones,everyone is pulling yukky faces on most of mine .

I will leave you with a pic of AnnMarie and her purple trike as she backed out of our drive,she just adores Mum and the feeling is returned.I felt such a blessing come over me through the day when I looked around and saw the joy of the people as they looked at Mum and she at them,she loved everyone that came and they knew they were specifically chosen by Mum to be here, I think they felt just as special as Mum did.

A little note to say that Stephen our son in law was not well enough to make the trip, being just a week since his heart attack he needed to stay close to the hospital.

Glor my darling friend was not well as she helped me in the kitchen,she had a chest infection,by Sunday night when she returned to Sydney she had to be admitted to hospital with double pnemonia! she is now back home but with nurses visiting daily.

To top that off we were to collect Bobs Mum from the nearest large train station,Maitland today after an 8 hour train trip,only to receive a call last night from Bobs sister saying Great Nanna was in hospital and wont be coming for Christmas.She had gotten herself so worked up about the trip she made herself ill, they are going to do some tests while she is in there, she is 90 years old as well.

So to say it has been a big week is putting it lightly,the up side is, we had a great day for Mums birthday,heaps of food great company and lots of lovely hugs for her, Stephen is getting stronger each day,Malcom is ok and will be fine,Glor is home and improving each day,Bobs Mum is a little better as I write my blog.

I am a great believer in our glass always being half full,obviously God had been trying to tell all these people to take it easy and as they did not he made sure they will!! the other great thing is that while I have been worried about them all I have not had time to worry about me.so how can that be bad!

Have a great day or evening wherever you are,Bob and I are off to be Santa and Mrs Clause at the monthly country dance tonight,so that can only be fun,we do it each year,Bob winges but still says yes when they ask him the following year..can you believe men..I think he secretly likes the adulation the little ones give him..hee hee hee.

The Blinds are Down...must be Summer!!!!

Well we have pulled our blinds down to protect us from the heat,summer is here with a vegence,in winter we put them up and let the sunshine gently warm the bedrooms, but summer is a different story,you could literally cook a meal on the floor without these wonderful blinds,behind them are french doors that belong to the 2 front bedrooms.

I have not taken a photo yet of our home with the Christmas lights up I will do that this week.

I want to give you something to think about and hopefully have a little smile.As you know Mums birthday is on Sunday but her lunch is Saturday.There are about 30 coming and she has chosen her little list of favourite people herself,it won't be all family,you know the neices and nephews that never call and the next time she says she would have seen them was from her box!!so she said blow them I will just ask the ones that call etc.

Of course there are my brother and myself and our families ,our son has to work so sadly his family can't come,precious Stephen says he almost missed it altogether so he is coming for sure,Mums baby brother and wife 80 and 78 years, these 2 are very prim and proper,then there are friends we have had for years,young ones ,adopted great grandchildren,that have adopted Old Nana..then there is Glor she is a darling friend that unfortunately cannot complete even a short sentence without the dreaded "F" word lol but she rarely says it in front of mum!but she is hysterical and a laugh a minute,there are Malcom and Ann Marie,what sweet names, these are bikies that we ride in a bike group with, they are rough and tumble have hearts of gold and adore Mum and she adores them the problem is they are always in black leather,bad to the bone and Malcom has long hair down to his waist,well the middle bit  from the forhead to the nape it is a mowhawke always bright blue and the back long part is black!! (this couple are in their late 50's) Ann Marie has long overdyed blonde hair to her waist with touches of purple and sparkles all through it,she looks like she has been on a horse for a month from all the accidents she has had,O'h lord Ican just see the noses go up when they walk in, Aunty Rae will need oxygen and we will have to tell Uncle John to close his mouth as it will drop open..Glor will say "Who the F are they"! the cousins that are a few classes above us will probably choke on their ,vegetarian puffs so carefull prepared by moi...I can't wait for this day..when Mum chose who she wanted I kept saying "are you sure" these are our friends Mum..well she said "They are mine too I love em".

You can't judge a book by its cover can you..these people are the ones that ring up and ask to have a chat to nan,tell her all their troubles and secrets,then she tells me,remind me never to ask her to keep a confidence, her age has taken that talent away from her lol. she has made her choice for her special day,and I think it is going to be very interesting to say the least!

So happy Birthday Joycie, thank you for all those that have sent her you best wishes,we appreciate it.

We are ready now all the lovely fresh fruits have been bought ready for the watermelon basket,pavlova is ready,slices,cakes,meat dishes vegetarian dishes,punch ready to be put together, so roll on Saturday I can't wait till I can say "thank goodenss thats over" I am pooped.I am a very proud daughter,as  this lady has been both Mum and Dad to us and so to still have her is a double blessing.

She is a Lady in every sense.Bless you Mum,have fun and if the others don't like your friends they can always go home lol.



Life Gets Tiedous Don't It !!!!

There is a really old country type song that is almost spoken rather than sung and for the life of me I can't remember the singers name, it is on the tip of my tongue like may other things these days, but at the end of each little verse are the words "life gets tiedious don't it" and this last 2 weeks that  is how I feel.

Getting ready for Mums 90th has been an honour and the big day is Saturday with 30 people she has chosen to be here, many relatives are not coming as she says they never call her or come see her, she just wants to enjoy the people that care,which I think is great, but I have to sy doing it all by myself has been a mamoth job and working full time,I do wish I had a sister or my daughter lived nearby to help a little.

All the cooking is done other than the fresh foods that will be put together on the Sat morn,the freezers are full with yummies as we have vegetarians in the family I have made the meaty version and the vegie version of everything.The house is all spic and span.

We wrapped all our Christmas presents 2 weeks ago and the house is ready for Christmas also, the lights are all up out the front and the tree is done,I had to be organised otherwise it would all go pear shaped lol.

As we are posties you can imagine how hectic work is with parcels and letter galore and Bob and I haveing to deliver mail on weekends also from the first sat in Dec till Christmas is here.

So as the song says Life gets tiedious don't it.We are exhausted,but in a good way.

Then Bam!!!!!!!!!!!! a batman type bam!!

Do you believe in miracles and God or maybe you call it coincidence in your world?

Our darling 49 year old son in law had a heart attack on Saturday morning! he had just gotten to work when it happened.Praise God we still have our lovely Stephen.

He works at the John Hunter Hospital so that was the first blessing,he was supposed to have been driving to Queensland with the three children to see his very ill Mum and William was not well and as she has had Chemo ,Will was not safe to take near Gran yet,2nd blessing, as it could have happened while he was driving.If he had not gone to work he would have laid down on the bed and never woken up 3rd blessing.

Stephen and Kate had been painting their loungroom all week and he was getting some dizziness and some chest pain which he said was indigestion,and was annnoying but the room was finished everything back in place and they were thrilled.it had taken Kate months to talk Steve into painting the room as it was so badly needed.

He went to work Sat morn was there half an hour when he felt very nautious,he threw up and the Bam,the heart attack happened!

They raced him in and did an angeogram and straight to theatre as his lower chamber had no blood going into it,thats where the blockage was, he had a stent put in  and yesterday he came home.

Stephen has for a long time looked pretty awful, he has been tired for as long as I can remember coming home from work and having to have a rest, in fact it used to make me feel a bit cranky as our kate works very long hours also and she never gets enough rest, now it is clear why he has been like that,he told me yesterday he feels more energetic already.Steve has been a very heavy smoker and lives on coffee and smokes rather than food..guess what life is about to change for him.

There is a new beginning at their home today a change in lifestyle and food.He has had a terrible fright and so have we.

We love this man so much, he is quiet, does not like foolish people, no patience with anyone that hurts others,so protective of his little family.He has in the past spent so many hours playing his Xbox thingo etc and just nodding if the children ask this or that, he tells me thats all about to change yay!! he has had an awakening and that can only be good.

The strange thing is all this is that our daughter is a medical person holding a major positon in The Mater Hospital,she is a trained ICU intensive care nurse of 20 years in her other work life and Stephen is also a hospital worker so they know all the signs yet Kate said she never thought it could be that.At the moment on TV they are running and Add that says if you have dizziness and pain that is like indigestion,call OOO as it may be a Heart Attack.So it just goes to show that not only do plumbers always have dripping taps in their home, medical people also just go along not knowing what is about to happen.

Yesterday it all sunk in, we were all like stunned Mullets,the realisation of how lucky we are to have Stephen has made us all think hard about what is important in life.

He will be here for Great Nanas birthday on Sat " are you up for that" I asked."Mum I almost did not get there so nothing will keep us away",they have to travel over 2 hours and he does only have to sit in the car as he has 6 weeks on not being allowed to do anything much and no smokes ever again and no coffee for a little while as this will trigger the want of a smoke.

Bless him, dear Lord and thankyou for giving him a second chance,we praise and adore our Heavenly Father for his kindness,not everyone is so blessed to  survive.

So we are a little worn and torn but the weekend will come and go and be over before we know it so we will savour  every moment.

Thanks for reading my ramblings ,it is not woe is me, just life I guess and when we are tired we think "Life gets tiedious don't it".

"Now where the bloody hell are you going to put that!!!!!!"

I saw this little cupboard at the op shop...I fell in love with it and a matching small table ,I just had to buy them.

I gingerly snuck them inside the house, Mum thought they were wonderful,she asked "where are we going to put them"?And I replied"quick lets think of somewhere before Bob gets home"lol.

Of couse being resourseful ladies we decided the little table would be perfect for beside Bobs chair in the lounge room and he could place his glass of wine there..(that was good thinking !),while he watched TV.

The little cupbaord was just what I had been looking for to put my craft in,things I use all the time in a handy place,we  decided that it would fit beautifully on my button shelf so,of course things had to be moved and dusted. I was in the middle of dusting when Bob got home from work, he saw the two items out the back room,he asked "who's are these"? "ours" we replied,now he says "where the bloody hell are you going to put that!"

The little cupbaord is perfect for my craft and it was exactly what I had been looking for to use to store the things I most often use and it looks great.

I carefully moved the tray mobile from the place beside his chair,moved the rocking horse and rearranged the quilt ladder and made a perfect sized space for the little table,moved all my button jars across to make room for the cupbaord and then asked Bob for sugestions as to where we he thought we could place them,he thought the little table would be great beside his chair,and the cupboard up above my work desk,gosh he is clever!!! we would never have thought of that!

He loves his little table,I haven't told him yet (as it has a photo and and angel on it,and room for a cup or a glass),but the top lifts up and perfect to put embroideries in and it has 2 little draws that will hold threads,I can't wait to line them up in rows in their colours all co ordinated lol,afterall what would a man want with a little table with a lift top and 2 draws he only needs a place to put his drink and O'h of course the remote!!

Men must never ever understimate the power of women ,when two get their heads together it is even worse a 61 year old and a 90 year old,what chance does poor old Bob have.
It is a strange thing but women are born with an extra sense,it is the sense of knowing what will be acceptable and what is not,presented with the right elements I think most things become acceptable and almost always become the great idea that the fellows have come up with, while we smile sweetly and tell them they are just wonderful,and how we would never have thought of that.

I do give thanks to God for such a good husband,although sometimes a grumpy old thing,he is always willing to listen to my ideas and if he ever does say no to anything it is because he knows best( well thats what I tell him,then present the idea another day in another way) its a win ,win situation whichever way it happens,I just love him,he just loves me...so he gos with the flow lol .

God makes things in pairs I think,sometimes you get the right and left to make a perfect pair, sometimes you don't . I think we got the perfect fit,after 40 years together he probably knew exactly what Mum and I were up to and just let us think that he thought it was his idea when all along he was smirking inside that tough old skin thinking"here we go again"!At least it's not boring.
Have a beautiful day and may blessings abound at your home.