2 More Sleeps !
Ready for the onslaought of visitors, what fun!!! They will all arrive tomorrow night Christmas Eve,there will be 6 kids,7 adults and 6 dogs in the house, the walls will stretch,cuddles all round noise and laughter galore!
We are ready all the meats are cooked ready,puddings and cakes on the defrost and 2 more hectic days of mail delivery,then a little break.

 Here are the stockings ready for the dogs, Molly is the only girls so she had to have a princess sparkly one, the boys have sparkles too of course because they are special as well.

 Lilli came on the train for a few days early to help Nana and we took some Chrissy pics of our pets;Molly is clearly not impressed!

 Poor Billy, he was not impressed,he says "they adopted me and they do this"!

 Georgie is ever the poser so he just took it all lol.

Molly had to have a drink!  lol I think it was stronger than water....

Have a lovely Christmas everyone, I do hope all the dogs get on together,should be hysterical, I imagine Mum will want ear plugs! but I am feeling there is much fun ahead.

 

 

My Last Christmas as the Mail Lady

 

I will be giving up work in July so this is my last Christmas as a rural mail lady and it has been wonderful and I will miss it dreadfully I know that.

I will try to post at least once a week with all the wonderful things I see for the next 6 months.Tell about the beautiful people who have made me part of their family in some cases and the shoulder to cry on for others and just the lady who turns up at the same time every day with the paper.

It is a special time for those isolated just as it is for us "townies" so here are a few of the decorated places.

This is the milkcan mailbox that becomes a reindeer every year,just love him!

 

This house belongs to an Uncle Pete who always has his great nephew Jimmy with him and this year a new little one to join in,the children and family live in a home you can't see from the road so all the family mail goes in this one box.

 This is a home  to three gorgeous little children,a new baby now 6 months old was so tiny I did not get a nurse for some time,but lucky for me they had a parcel too big for the mailbox one day and I had to go to the house and guess what baby was awake!!!!  one very happy mail lady got her first nurse of the tiny little babe who fought so hard to  stay in this world Mum was in a hospital far away for 3 months until baby was born safe and sound,hard going for those in the bush, with 2 little ones already, luckily Nan and Pop live not far down the road.

Have a wonderful Christmas,all our family will be here this year,so that makes 7 adults,6children and hang on 6 dogs! as they all bring their dogs with them and 2 extra people for lunch,I feel some seriously funny situations ahead...fun and games !

May your new year be peaceful and abundant with your needs, thoughts to all those who are having a sad time, for us it is one of our Cackle Club girls loosing her lovely 95 Mum yesterday,she will leave nothing but happy memories.Another family suddenly lost a wonderful father/husband and brother to many this week so Christmas will be hard for them so we need to remember how blessed we are.
Mum turned 93 2 weeks ago,I hope she survives the onslaught ,she is a trooper and although her patience is limited these days I am sure she will love it all.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,remember to keep Christ in your Christmas as that is what it is all about,I do not know about other countries but every day over here they are trying to change this.

                                                           It HAS BEEN SOOO LONG.....................


Time just escapes us when life gets more full and there are more things that need to be done than there are hours in the day.

This is just an update on life at the Johnstons.

All the family have just had birthdays so we have everything from 8 year old,11 year olds, 15,42,a big 40,and a 38 and soon and, a 15 year old and a teenager 13,next is Mum turning 93 in 2 weeks.

Our family is in a wonderful place,after a very long recovery our daughter in law is at last getting better,she still has no feeling in her feet but t be able to walk better and have sensation in her lower body and legs is a blessing.

We have 28 weeks left to work before retirement and although daunting we are excited, we are so tired no holidays at all for 10 years for Bob and 5 for me other than weekends and allotted days,so we are counting down.

                                                   Myself, Kirsty and our Kate

                                                 Birthday boy BIG 40 with Mum and Dad

 The part was at a place named Nords Warf, the kids had an old canoe it was private and more fun than winning lotto for the children

 This is the creek I would normally have trouble crossing but the drought had been very hard this year,now this is flooded due to much needed very heavy rain last week, I will not be able to get across here today.God is good,just takes his time sometimes.

 No greenery for the stock the ground hard and so sad but like I said all wet and soft and maybe mushrooms will appear now the sun is back out.All this area was badly burnt in the bushfires.

 

 

Brayden and I are still doing soldiers packages we have done 230 this year, more than last year,we had a little table at the local market so the wonderful people that donated to us could see a sample box from having this Brayden collected $125.25 and that means we could do extra ones.I have put him forward for Junior Citizen of the year for next year,he deserves it as he is just as passionate as me.

 Bob and I at a historical  village at Windsor, my cousin and his wife turned 060 and they bought all the family together for it,this was part of the weekend and fitting we took a pic at the post office.

All my cousins, our day was all planned for us ending with a dinner on a paddlesteamer,it was wonderful.Birthday boy is on the far right.

I want to say how generous some people are, John sent us all an invitation, everything from motel to village visit,dinner boat ride,cup cakes and coffee and a late night nightcap was all prepaid by John and his wife Gae.There were 70 of us and not one person had to pay one cent.
John has been very sicessful in life but I honestly have never met a more generous,loving and caring person.I just love him. You can tell when your with your favourite lol.

  That is just a little catch up.I have not taken and pics of Christmas sewing, I have made the childrens Christmas shirts and a bauble each for their tree, perhaps I will do that before I post them off.
Blessings to everyone.

                                                   Five Minutes of Fame......
There is a saying that in everyone's life we have five minutes of fame...I have had mine ..though it was embarrassing the kids thought it was great.I have not blogged it for attention but as we all do  with our blogs it is our little diary, a record of things that happen on our life's path.
I spend a lot of time telling people that just one person can make a difference, it is true but it is also true that we never get "things done" alone there are always many helpers and when  was interviewed for this article I named all my friends and helpers but in the telling of the story by the writer I was saddened to see their names were not there. Anyway here is a little bit of m from a section of our local paper called "True Blue" where each week they tell a story of someone in the Community,a couple of weeks ago it was me.

This is taken in our little park that houses the hall we meet in for the Cackle Club...looking very glam in my Australia Post uniform .

                                                         Life as we  know it...........

I have not blogged for ages due to my rule that no downsided blogs for me as although it helps clear the mind it is depressing really lol.

Life has been very busy, my lovely family is healed and they are all getting on well and that is all we can ask really just a clam and happy time when we are all together,though that is not often it is exciting and not stressful now.

My Mums health is great as she approaches her 93rd birthday.Bobs Mum however has had a very unwell year with 2 operations close by and just getting on her feet to find something nasty lurking in her Colon ,we are waiting to see what the Specialist advised Friday  and praying it will be an easy fix as she is also 93 in 2 weeks bless her she has had enough.
Our daughter in law is having a time of not so good health also,she became quite ill quite quickly, she had a bad back for months then woke up one morning 4 weeks ago with no feeling in her left leg, by 7pm that night no feeling from the waist down,she was rushed to Royal North Shore in ydney for a 5 hour operation,her disc had collapsed into her Spinal Cord and she was literally moment away from being a paraplegic,her recovery is very slow,still after 4 weeks no feeling from the wais down and although walking with an aid has no idea if she is walking on anything dangerous or leaning against anything hot,a trying time but our son has been wonderful and our daughter was first to go to them as all this was happening and she stayed with the children so Michael could travel with his wife.Kirsty is great spiritually and I am sure things will all be normal again in time.
Bob is on the Diabeties test trail after having many tests the results will be in soon but I am sure he will be fine.....ENOUGH...that is the doom and gloom catch up.

Bob was 66 yesterday happy birthday sweetie, singing phone call from the little ones and gifts and the little boys over the road made him a cake,he was very happy.

The great things are that we are 42 weeks or so from finishing work we cannot wait!

Billy got to stay and live with us we  all love him and he loves us back.

Billy and Molly having an evening nap...see typical Billy is in Maroon and he has the remote! men !

My little helpers with my care packages for the soldiers and I are up to 199 for this year,last year we did 179 so we have broken our record, I call them Care package Cadets now.

Riley,Jonah,Jayden and Brayden,Brayden is my Captain and has packed all but 20 of those 199 I am going to nominate him next year for junior Citizen of the year, I am so proud of these lads all 11 years old and giving to the Community.

The other thing is my decluttering I am almost done, I cannot believe how much we have sold, I have no idea how much we made as we are not opening our pots until the 4th December but I am sure we have enough for our fares to UK and Europe after we give up work.

                                    All the pots of money numbered  and ready to open in December

This is the pot we are working on now, it is 3 parts full and from now on really will just be getting our change etc.While decluttering has been great,we still are surrounded by things but they are all meaningful,my graft corner still needs to be culled a bit but I will get there.

Life has  thrown us a bit this year, I have missed my friend very much in the tough times ,if you follow me from way back you will remember Eva, I realise I don't really have a bestie anymore ..I sometimes think I will call a friend to unburden only to find a I don't get to as they unload,so the main thing is that they have been able to do that and as I drive on my job each day I give thanks for all the friends I have and I love them all,I ask myself is it rally important to have someone in your life other than family that knows every nook and cranny of your life?,  perhaps not ..after all,..so I share it with the the other constant in my life ..God he always listens, always loves always heals so perhaps I have had a bestie all along and did not know it.
Bless you as you travel your road be it bumpy or smooth if there is nothing else there is always blogging..I read all your blogs all the time,thank you for dropping by.

                           Scaling Down and Clearing Out( goods that is not me !)

I have been doing a lot of thinking about lightening up the clutter in our home.I have been collecting over 3o years and the time has come.I did not know where to start so I started in my little back shed.
Everything I am selling I no longer need,want or will miss,the money is going straight into the sealed pot,to be opened on 4th December.
First day of posting items from my shed at about 2pm it was hard I decided to sell on local Facebook pages,local Buy Swap and Sell sites,by 6pm I had over $700 in my hands! I could not believe it.
I have continued to post about 5 items per day and I have put way over $2,000 into my sealed pots.
I really have no idea on the exact amopunt and have only done my little shed and one cupboard so far,I will definately have our fares for the UK when we retire now.So far I cannot even remember some of the items I have sold there are so many .
I would advise anyone who has collectables that are just gathering dust or in a corner somewhere to bite the bullett,sell locally where there is no postage involved.I have met some lovely people that have come to collect their items,some I have known and we caught up on times past.No overheads,no advertisment costs,no commission,how much easier could it be!
So it is true one mans Trash is another mans Treasure,so join the clearing out brigade,place it in a pot or buy something you realy need and upcycle in the best possible way.
I have no interesting pics,Bob is driving me mad wanting to open the pots(we are up to number 3 for this year)and count the money,but for me the plesure will be counting it on the day.
Joining the Sealed Pot crew over at SFT is the best thing I ever did last year I had two pots containing $2,600,our first fare.
Have to get some more goodies out,it is fun now and I am feeling lighter everytime somthing goes out the door.

        

 

 

 

 

Someone has come to stay.....

We have a little visitor and his name is Billy.He has come for about 7 weeks in all to have a holiday with us while Mums Neice is in Europe.

Molly is not so pleased but now it is day 4 and they seem to be playing well and at last Molly is sharing her precious Mum with Bill.He is in the dark coat.

 

 

 The first night, Billy's Mum said he sleeps at the foot of her bed and so Mum got ready to go to bed ,alas to find he had really made himself at home! It took some doing but at last he went to the bottom of the bed.We think that perhaps Mums sister who died recently and was Billy's owner actually slept with him in the bed and that when he first came to visit he was very confused we think he thinks Mum is Aunty Pat as they look very much alike.
As you can see he was not going to leave much room for Mum lol.Now they are in a routine and he goes to the foot of the bed, we will not want to give him back he is loved already.
Molly has not been turfed out,quite some months ago she decided to come sleep in our room so Mum is happy to have company.Dogs are so intelegent and such fun,life would be boring without these two.

           A long time coming.........

I have not blogged for a long time,mainly because I promised myself no more blogging doom and gloom...
So lets just say that the last 18 or more months,there has been a couple of little sad old people in this home hiding it from everyone.
Easter came around and a break away and for most people the joy of the easter bunny coming and bringing lots of chocolate..well you know what he bought me...complete happiness and healing and on Easter Sunday he gave me this....
We did not think we would see all our lovely grandchildren together again.Thank you God for forgivness,love and absolute joy,it was unexpected and I cannot thank my daughter enough for the gift she gave us by being unselfish and willing to step forward and open her arms.Thank you sweetie you made Mum and Dad whole again.Our son walked into those arms and all was forgiven.

As I remember the Soldiers past with pain in my heart,my occupation and passion is of those still serving.




                                                      Beacause We Care.
We have a wonderful old fellow in our town 92 years old who still has the wrapping from his care packages in the 1st and 2nd wars.
This inspired me to send Care Packages to our troops.I am the founder of Aberdeen care packages.We are now in our second year ,last year 179 were sent, this year so far 90,all raised by our own people,donations of all kinds.Brayden is 10 years old and my helper,we get more excited everytime we get a batch of names and find that a young lad learning about our troops and helping community has now spread to the whole school waiting in anticipation for promised visits from soldiers on their safe return.My personal joy is so immence I find it hard to put in words, the feelings of joy and pride as every package I do it is as if it was for our son or daughter,a letter of praise,love and hope is placed in every box,giving thanks for the job they are doing.I tell them our town is praying for their safe return to their families.When we get a name that needs extra TLC, we shed a few tears as we put these boxes together.
I am so grateful to be able to do these care packages,every one not thrown together but placed lovingly and on every box are the words "Because We Care". and it is simply because we do.
CJ

                                                      Me and My Gals......



Our park is finished,the Mayor of the Shire came and some other lovely people ,so now the park is officially open and the town can all get fit.....

 Some of my lovely girls that volunteer at our little op shop,which has raised the money to complete our park.

 Di who is the clown of the group having a go at one of the exercise pieces.The childrens section is in the background.

Helen helping 81 year old Barb on another.
I am so proud of these girls,they are wonderful to work with,if one of them is ill and cannot get to work they replace themselves for me,knowing I work full time and co ordinate the shop,they try to make my load easier.I simply love them all.
The park is now complete,well there is one other thing I would like to do.In the childrens section we have a baby swing and normal swing,but I notice many families have 3 children so someone is always waiting for a swing,I want  one large swing big enough to hold an adult too,so that big kids can have a swing I see many adults in other parks enjoying a swing.So I did talk to to Mayor about it and he said go ahead,so we will see after our next meeting and get to that.Now on we go looking for another project to do.
Thanks girls you are wonderful.

                                                     Update and New Happenings.
Our lovely tania had her surgery on Friday,7 1/2 hours,much more invasive than was first thought so we have to wait now for her to feel well enough to talk to see what  they needed to do and what is next as they took biopsy's from other areas..we are concerned for her but praying that it is all gone.The girls from our little shop will send flowers tomorrow,she is a much loved volunteer.

Remember long ago I told you of the little park that our little op shop started ,well part two has started and we are so excited, here is the progress so far....

   These downloaded out of order but you will get my drift lol...this was day 2

This was day 3

 This is day 4 the equipment is in place,now needs to be secured and soft fall rubber will be pured for the soft landings.

This was day 1 ,I drove by and could not believe that our adult exercise equipment area was being prepared!
We are so excited we worked so hard to raise the money to make this park a nice place to be and itis happening at last!

Our roses have been gloriuos this year so I have been making my own poi pouri? and when i shook the sheet they naturally fell into a heart shape,made my day.

Hope you had a lovely week,I pray that you think about our serving boys in Afghanistan this week as they are doing it tough ans some more than others,all of them are special and someones sons.

May your days be ful of joyful light,
May your smile be full,open and bright,
As you pass a stanger today.
Smile your smile and say G'Day.
I am sue you will make someone feel  special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Days are tough...

 

 

 

This is a pic of one of wrap and giggle days from a couple of years ago,the annual event where we treat all the seniors in town to a day of fun and gifts.

 

 

The one in the pink is Robbie a most gorgeous person,me and then the lovely Tania.She has had a shocker year and was alone at Christmas and told no one.

Tania also works for me at the op shop so does Robbi but Tania is my Monday girl and much loved.

Last Friday she had a colonoscopy and you know what I am going to say...yes she has Bowel Cancer,yesterday was more scans and tomorrow a visit to the surgeon.Another dear friend is going with her so she is not alone.

Lots o f hard times ahead but they have told her if you get Cancer this one is the one with the best chance  so many prayers are being said.

I wanted to talk about selfishness,selflesness and not selfrightious.When Tania sat down and told me what was happening I felt sick,what could I do? how could I help? buggar.....

Tania's sons marriage was in tatters at Christmas her other son in a mess himself and she gave them both everything she had to make things easier,leaving herself with nothing and alone and too proud to ask anyone for their company. so she spent Christmas alsone..that won't be happening again..one of the boys is now on his feet again and will help pay for the tests.

After Tania told me her news she then said she did not know how she was going to travel the 2 hours for all her visits etc she had $1 to her name......I cannot remember ever being like that since the kids were small when it happened often..I remembered that feeling add to the mix the horror of what is ahead and it is a wonder she was sane.

I came home and sat with Bob,we decided that this week the  Sealed POT misses out,I am obsessed with every coin going in there.So I went to see Tania and gave her some money for fuel,coffee and lunches for the next 2 visits.No it was not kind of me it was the right thing to do...I am shoving everything into my pot for my future and here is a gorgeous person who may not have a long one.

Before you place your money in the pot this week,have a little peep around and see if there is a Tania in your life,work out the rights of things and go from there,she was not embarassed.I was not selfrightious thinking I have an abundance as we have not,it was not a loan and only because none of my gilrs have a PC or would read this am I writing of it.

I just felt so humbled to know that we have the POT there and that we could decide without hesitation what to do.Tania will be paid tomorrow ( she is a pensioner) and she will be ok again.

Life is just too hard at times and we are so grateful for a life where we are usually on top of things these days,but next year we will be pensioners,I hope if we are in trouble someone notices...next time you ask "are you ok?" to someone dear listen to their answer but at the same time look at their eyes,if I had not done that I am not sure what would have happened for this dear friend this week.

praise God and keep her safe and a good healthy outcome after the dreaded C is removed.

 

 

                                                   More drawer bits and bobs....

The children have many of my "special "things already and most of these are just things I have found scrounging over the years.My daughter chose her 'want" things but she has them here  at home in my china cainet and our son has done the same..I will ask him again about some of these bits too.
 

These scissors are very old and I dug them up in the garden when we first moved here 2 years ago.

                                          Old post cards,specticles,even little pipes from Thialand,business cards from a B&B in UK near Chester one of them.

 Hand warmer,scales,shirt sleeve keepers,old lighters,silk thread, record needles,on and on.

 

 

 

Tiny scottie dogs,jewellery,shoe button gadget,hat pin,more shirt sleeve keepers.

 

 

Instruction for a very old lamp we have,more post cards from a past child generations back,she died at 8 and this was from a great Aunt of hers.The pic is of my great great grandfather on my fathers side.As I am from a divorced family we have no pics etc Dad kept everything.However on one of our family moves Bob was moved to Cobar and old gold mining but now copper town.Mum told me that my roots were from there so we went to the museum to find that Papa Cornish had owned 2 pubs and several gold mines...lost the entire lot at poker!!!!! The curate there photo copied pics of Papa for me and so here is one the others are in a safe place.

 Years ago someone gave me this full set of never used spoons.I think they are Bishops spoons.We lost them and have always been looking for them thinking they must have been thrown out.What was at the bck of this drawer neatly wrapped in and old flour bag..yaayyyy we found them.They have never been used.

This is a tiny little ladies razor,Bob placed a 5 cent near it so we could see the size.it must have been a travelling one.

 This one did not come out but may years ago at an op shop I found this mans handky,it has the name beautifully written  B Weidman 1897..our hospital wing is named after this man,so it is part of Muswellbrook the nearest large towns history,I think this should go the the museum.

              Old flour and salt bags and bird seed bag......

So that is my drawer,yes there was a little more but enough is enough.lol

       This  little cupboard that sits innocently in the kitchen.she is full of mystery, her drawer is like an onion full of layers of "stuff".I thouhgt perhaps those of you who like old things might like a peek or have a peek anyway.I will have to do these over a few days.
Do you have a  messy drawer in your home like this..please say yes..it is full of what some call junk I call them my Treasures, and I am going to have to get rid of them as the kids are not interested so when I can get my mind around doing all these things I will lol.
It is very messy on top as it seems to be everyone's  dumping ground,Mums tablets,hand creams mail etc but it will be tidy soon!

We open the drawer and yes it is full to the brim.

I will show you some of the contents

 

This is what is in the razor box

 

 

A little anniversary sewing kit.I will show you more over the next few days.The pics are taking so long to upload.