Our Very British Weekend

As it was the Queen's Birthday last weekend and I have 2 friends about to depart for the UK any day now (hi Libby and Natalie) we thought we'd have a bit of a British weekend in our little house.

Now I wouldn't be me if that didn't involve some sort of naff (look, my first English slang )

craft using a photocopier and a toilet roll. Rhianna got to colour in the Queen and no we don't mind that she looks like a third degree burns victim.

We also had a crack at the Union Jack. ( Hey, I'm rhyming again)

Then it was time for a lovely pot of tea... now this was blissful.

More craft was to follow - a "bobby" to colour and stick together. We said "gobsmacked" and "bollocks" a lot while we crafted just to get in the spirit of things.

Then yesterday on a day out we found the British Lolly Shop at Darling Harbour. The lovely ladies there let us do some taste testing before we purchased. Oh my lord....what a heavenly place.

Maybe next week we'll do Mexico.........

A Quiet Week (so far)

I've been a bit quiet on the blog this week as there really is not a lot to tell. I've had to catch up on a lot of household tasks that had sort of gotten behind with all the creative stuff we've been doing and the not so creative stuff like sitting on our bums watching telly when I should be ironing.

But its lovely to have the fire on now. Not during the day yet but around 4pm when that sun starts to drop, on goes the fire. It's not a real fire. Its one of those gas ones that looks like it has actual logs in it. All the heat without the mess. And I like to call it the fire as it makes me feel all English countryside.

When not watching the TV, I've been curled up on the sofa or better still off to my bed with some delicious reading and even more delicious chocolate. I'll worry about the calorie fallout from this activity in spring.

Our craft stall for the school fete is coming along nicely. We've had one craft night already where a bunch of us Year One Mums got together to make some stock for the stall.

Meanwhile another crafty Mum - Emma, has been busy making these - bookmarks. I've already snapped up 2, for Miss R and myself. And I've put it into my new book purchase. It's a second hand book - and has some great articles in it. A lot of them were written in the 1950's. So much has changed since the 1950's but not the fundamental things that make up feel happy and content so this book still feels relevant.

Bill has bought me home 2 bunches of flowers already this week. I don't know whether I should be elated or suspicious. Hmmm.......

Love the colour of these

And last weekend Rhianna asked for a blog of her own. Broc was kind enough to set one up for her.

I don't suspect she'll have many followers. l mean how many people want to know what's happening in the local school playground. But I figure the writing and typing is all good literacy experience.

Here she is busily blogging away before school this morning.

Hope your week is a little more exciting than mine.

Love Padlock Lookout

A couple of years ago I read about a place called Pecs in Hungary where lovers began to clamp padlocks to a wrought iron fence in the main square of the city as a symbol of committment to one another. This tradition has now been replicated in other cities over the world. I thought it was such a cute custom.



Last year Bill and I celebrated 10 years of marriage and I had my own padlock engraved with our names and date of marriage. But where to put it??????

Hungary was obviously out of the question. So I presented it to him at our favourite lookout walk at Glenbrook. It's a lovely bushwalk of around 20 minutes and then you come out into a clearing with a view all the way back to the Sydney CBD. We locked our padlock onto the fence in July last year. Today we decided to pay our padlock a visit.

The troops get organised

Here is our padlock. It's only been attached to the fence for about 9 months and already its quite weathered. After we attached it last July we threw the keys over the edge of the lookout into the bush. I said to Bill "And there it will stay forever." And he replied "Forever, or until the vandals hack it off." Well, we are happy to report it is still there. And we had an added little surprise today......

..someone else has followed our lead and now there are 2 padlocks on the fence. Hello to Melissa Gilbert and her beau. I was so excited to see another padlock I screamed. I've started a tradition. Me, little old me, has started a tradition of love in my little suburb. I was so chuffed.

I'm now hoping to see more whenever I go.

The Smile Challenge.

When you embark on a lifestyle change you start to realise that progress does not come in huge leaps and bounds. It comes in small one degree changes. You baby step your way to a new life and mindset. Every little action becomes part of a bigger picture.

Today you will probably take a shower - maybe 10 minutes of your time (4, if you're good and have a timer in there with you, hehe) but over the course of your life you will spend 6,000 hours in that little cubicle. You will also eat 1200 chickens and buy 678,740 consumable "things". So little things can have a huge impact - even just by little old me (or you).

One thing I'm into, and this is going to sound a bit weird, is smiling at strangers. I really like it when the stranger looks grumpy. If I go for a walk I say hi to every person I walk past - even if they have headphones on. If I am being served by somebody in a shop I smile at them first before I start talking. And mostly people respond in the positive. I mean, some people smile straight back at you, some people nod or smirk but usually there is some response.

But then I met the lady from the drycleaners/newagents at the end of my street. She aint smilin' at no-one - for any reason.

Now normally, I would then refuse to go back to that shop as the service, and lets face it, the atmosphere is less than desirable. But not this time. I am making it my personal mission to get a friendly response from this lady.

Everytime I go in and I remark what lovely weather it is - she keeps her poker face firmly on. I then pay my money and as I leave I say "Have a nice day/ weekend/ evening". No response. But I will not give up. I actually enjoy the challenge - strange little creature that I am. And when she does smile, when she finally cracks open that sour faced shell of a face I may just give her a hug.

One of My Dreams

Do you ever wonder where you might be 20 years from now? I do, all the time!

When I was about 20 I used to think I would end up living overseas - maybe Paris. I would paint all day long and eat cheese and chocolate all night. Of course, I never thought of how I was going to finance all this but still......

Now I am 41 and I have a different vision of where I would like to be at say, 65. The kids will (hopefully) have left home and Bill and I will only have ourselves to consider. I hope that Bill will be retired by then and that the world is our oyster.

After being a little beach bunny all my life I can't believe I am saying this but I don't think I would like to move back to the coast. We love the mountains, the whole feel and the sense of community here is great. However, we'd like to move up further into the mountains. At the moment we live at the bottom. We'd like to ideally move closer to the top and really enjoy all the seasons of the year. And yes, we do like snow.

I'd like to live in a house like this

And if I can't have property then I'd like to be in a house like this

Here, I would grow fruit trees, bake and craft all day long and rescue puppies from the pound

Then I will wear this shirt so people know not to mess with me and all my dogs.

Where would you all like to be in 20 years time?

Meet the Love of my Life

About 18 months ago we got ourselves a little spoodle (cross between a poodle and a cocker spaniel). We got him in the Winter time and as it can get quite cold up here in the mountains little "Finn" liked to snuggle into the hood of my jacket while I surfed the net.

And when it all got too much he had a little nap there too.

I found these old pics while clearing out my folder today and couldn't resist posting them.

Have a great weekend.

Vanessa