Passport photos

I found a great free web site for making your own passport photos.

http://www.epassportphoto.com/

All you need to do is go to this site upload a suitable photo, and use the software to crop it to exactly the right size. You are then able to down load the image, which when printed as a standard 6"x4" image, gives you 8 perfect size photos.

There was no way I was going to pay $15 each for our passport photos when the cost price is .15-.50 cents. This way I got the exact photos I wanted for 29c each.

I have got the kids so well trained, that when they see a camera they automatically stop, pose and smile. It was hard to get them to not smile for the passport photo. LOL

I have now got a lovely passport photo, of course it will look nothing like me if I am traveling a long distance with 3 young kids.

Now I just have to pay $481 for the kids and my passports!

GJ is off to Singapore again in the school holidays and is going business class. We are going to see if we can cash in his ticket and all of us go. A family of 5 can travel for the same cost as 1 business class ticket. Hope we can. I have never been to Singapore.

Martyr on a stick

I am writing myself a note to remind myself to Blog about GJ ruining another wool (expensive!) garment; by throwing in in the wash ON A HOT CYCLE....
We want our husbands to help around the home,
BUT WE DO NOT WANT THEM TO CREATE MORE WORK.....


What's that smell, is it a martyr on a stick?.............

Party season starts tomorrow....

Mandarin lessons

We have started our Mandarin/Chinese language lessons. See here for info about our move to China. GJ is doing 2 nights a week at University of Queensland Institute of Modern languages and we have a tutor for 1 hour on Saturday mornings for the two of us. I am working through text books and internet/CD rom lessons.

IT IS GOING TO BE VERY HARD!!!!

Neither of us has any skills with other languages. My French teacher in Grade 8 told me after 2 lessons that Geography was a much more suitable option for me.

Chelsea is in grade 1 this year and is laying down the foundations of reading and writing. Her class follows a program called “Jolly Phonics” This program teaches phonic sounds to hand and body actions as re-enforcement. It is very successful, in 6 months Chelsea has gone from being able to only write her name and the alphabet out, to writing stories, reading books and doing spelling tests. Georgia also completed this program and I have spent a lot of time in the classroom and at home using this system.

Which is why I am having a hard time with the basic Mandarin sounds,
for example

Q= chee
Z=shee
C=tsuh
I A=ya

I spent so much time in the last 2 years helping the girls with the English language phonic's, that is really hindering me with Mandarin. Until I get the sounds right I won't be able to progress to sentences, let alone words.

I spent the last 10 years of my career as an adult educator, and can teach highly technical things really simply and easily, yet being a student is proving to be very hard for me. I have to work out a way to turn that side of my brain on. LOL

It doesn' help when we are all under the weather. I have a nasty cough and weeze, thankfully at night only, GJ has a bad dose of the flu, Georgie has the flu and has now got a tummy bug, she was up all night with vomiting, diarrhea and coughing. Ben has a snotty nose and Chelsea is well, just super cranky as she is getting her molars. We woke up this morning with Ben between us and the girls in a pile of blankets at the foot of the bed. I am a walking zombie from lack of sleep. Whats new....






Here is gorgeous Georgia fast asleep on the lounge clasping a bucket just in case. She is so pale and warm. She looks so young.

These are some flowers I received last week from an old friend of GJ's. Iwas testing out cameramer as I have just upgraded my SD card to a high speed 1GB one. The speed has made a difference.

Coffee

I have been so busy touring all the homes in BooMamas guide that I have been neglecting my own blog! I keep writing little notes to myself when I think of something I want to put on my blog, I wonder where they all are? LOL


We all have a touch of the flu at the moment. I only have the cough/cold/weeze thing at night though, which is why this post came about:

There is nothing as good as a hot mug of coffee as soon as you wake up.

especially if you wake with a sore throat!

My darling GJ gets up and makes me 2 (one is never enough and they are small cups!!!) cups of coffee before he gets in the shower. So all I have to do is sit up and drink my steaming hot coffee.

After this I can face the morning ritual(chaos) of getting 3 kids ready for the day.

On the weekends GJ has a sleep in and I fend for myself. Georgia (bless her heart) has tried to make me a coffee:- imagine 4 heaped teaspoons of coffee, 1/2 cup of milk and the rest of tap hot water. Another time she added chocolate and sugar, just in case I could like it. Of course I smile and drink it as she watches. I have told her that I am worried that she will burn herself and I would be happy with a morning snuggle instead.

I am not very refined with my coffee taste, I like Moccona instant, made by Douwe Egberts, a Sara Lee company (I hope they have it in China!!!!). I am not a fan of cappuccino, latte's etc. If I am out I will have a Mocha.

I have only started drinking coffee again after a 7 year break. The week I found out I was pregnant with Georgia I woke up and could not stand coffee or diet coke (I was addicted to this) and turned into a soda water (Schweppes )and tea (Twinnings English Breakfast) junkie, oh and any champagne when not pregnant!!! I would only drink these 3 things....

I still think Coke is disgusting but now have 3 coffees in the morning, a tea after dinner and 3 litres of soda water a day - I am not exaggerating, I drink this much water every day, carrying it home from the supermarket is a nightmare!!!!

1st Annual BooMama Blog Tour of Homes

One of the Blogs that I visit regularly is BooMama. BooMama has had the great idea of a "tour of homes" where you get to see the homes of people from around the world that link to this blog. So I am joining in. I have tried to give the Queensland feel, even though we are in the middle of winter here.

Here is one of my favorite places, it is in the centre of our home next to the kitchen. This is our meals area, you can't actually see the dinner table, it is opposite the sideboard. This is one section of my photo gallery. I love having all the photos up and change them often. Another favorite is the airconditioning unit above- it is a necessity here in Queensland, I don't know how I would manage with out it. We only have this area and the family room airconditioned but it is enough as all our living is in this area. On hot nights we go for a quick swim before bed and that is usually enough to cool us down for sleep.




Here is my front door, leading to the hallway to the bedrooms; and to where I am standing, the formal lounge room. I love it that when I first enter I see all this. I don't let the kids play in here so it stays reasonably tidy. Our ceilings are 20Ft tall with opening windows at the top for ventilation. The pictures on the wall are from an old book of my Grandfathers published in 1852. We all loved the book and felt torn (excuse the pun) about what we did. We pulled the pages out and had 8 pages each (my Mother, Sister and I) framed and mounted. We now all get to enjoy the book every day.



Here is the formal lounge, with the dining room on the left. We have lived here for 5 years and have only used the dining room once...LOL we find that we do all our entertaining on the deck.

I took the ugly old curtains down; as they obstructed this wonderful view out to the mountains. You can just see our neighbor's roof through the trees and shrubs.

I have been fortunate enough to inherit many beautiful things from family. In this photo the desk is from my Father, the cream lounge from my Paternal Grandparents and the side table from my Maternal Grandparents. There are many other beautiful sentimental things throughout my home.

Here is the pool, the kids live in it 8-9 months of the year. (Read about their winter swim here!)

The drought has really knocked the garden about, a lot of the palm fronds have browned off, but the good news is that yesterday we got an inch of rain. The dams are down to 25% capacity and there is a lot of talk on the news about introducing recycled sewerage into the water system.

Here is our dining area of the deck, it is high up amongst the palms and bushes and is the most amazing place to sit and relax. You look through the palms down the length of the pool and get all the summer breezes. We have just had lights and a ceiling fan (keeps the flies away) installed. In the warmer months we almost live out here. Breakfast is a fry up (eggs, bacon and tomatoes) on the BBQ, lunch and dinner are also served here with a rest in between on the hammocks with lots of swimming and reading as well.

We have just renovated and extended the deck as we had a touch of dry rot in the old floorboards. We now have about 150sqM of deck and we enjoy every square cm of it. The only time we leave is right on dusk when the mosquitoes swarm for about 30 minutes.

Well here is my home, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we love living here. We still sometimes say to each other " wow, this is our home!!!!" and feel so lucky to live here in Australia.

The Blogs I read

I have a rapidly growing list of blogs that I try and read at least once a week. After MANY hours of stumbling around the internet I have discovered a way to list them on my site. I can’t work out how to give my list a heading/title but heh; I managed to get it up…LOL
I first discovered “Technorati” and joined up and manually typed in all my favorites (I am sure that there could be an easier way- but I never found it!), but no matter how hard I tried and researched I couldn’t get it to list on my Blog.
Next I found Bloggroll and again manually typed in all my favorites…..I HATE TYPING…and this time got it to work.
I have absolutely no understanding what-so-ever of Html but I am very proud of myself.

It is a very eclectic list, I love reading

· aMY oMY, is a such lovely person
· Dooce, Heather is ,well, just Dooce
· Baggas, I don’t know why I like Pauls blog, I just do
· Laurell, I love her books, she is very different
· Cancer,baby, this is the sad account of Jessica life
· Amazing triplets, how does she cope
· Antique Mommy, wonderful writing
· My Weblog, Brandi takes the most amazing photos
· Sweet Alyssa, gorgeous baby
· Motherhood Uncensored, I would love to meet Kristen
· Suburban bliss, Melissa is great fun to read
· Into Australia, Leslie is a Texan mum recently posted to Sydney
· Gina in China, another lovely mommyblogger living in China
· And a new addition, The Cheerful Oncologist, a very clever writer.
· And all the others in my links….

If you know of any others that you think I might like please let me know

Robbies renovation

The back extension is finished and the old wall is off.

This is the kitchen and the new lounge dining area.
GJ and Ben helping Rob

The naughty corner

Ben learning the correct posture and shake technique for outdoor peeing

GJ and Georgia

Georgia

Chelsea

Chelsea and I, photographed by Georgia !

We did another afternoon on Rob's new deck, only half a bottle of champagne this time. It is all coming together spectacularly. I have the great job of choosing all the colours and furniture for Rob's reno projects . Rob pays for me to shop till I drop, well maybe just a little shop... I have so much fun choosing paint, linens, accessories etc and GJ is pleased as it costs him nothing. Its a win win situation all around.

We sold the car

Bye Bye Blue Car

We sold the blue car…it happened very quickly. We put an internet add on on Sunday night and on Tuesday morning at 6.30am Bill rang. Bill lives a 10 hour drive away, and at Midday he stepped off the plane and we completed the sale.

Target Toy Sale

Target Toy Sale

It has finally started, yeah…..
Ben was booked into an extra day of kindy and I have done it !!!!!
As usual it was VERY VERY CROWDED, but extremely well organized. There were heaps of staff members and all were very cheerful and helpful and all carried bum bags with raincheck slips that they filled out on the spot. I have learnt from previous years that there is never enough trolleys and if you do get one it is too hard to maneuver through the crowds, (If you park it in a corner and keep adding to it expect someone else to help themselves to the contents) so I had a huge sack like bag that I could swing over my shoulder and fill to the brim….
I won’t list what I got as 2 little snoopy girls like to look at this site, but I got everything on my list and a few more x 100.
Birthday and the other occasion are all done for the 3 kids.

Peacock

We were all lazing in our bed on Sunday morning when this beautiful peacock walked past our bedroom window. It was a little spooked by the 3 kids rushing to the window and it waddled up to visits the chook. It opened its feathers and gave us a wonderful show for about 15min. We have a wall of floor to ceiling windows in our bedroom that seems to attract animals. The animals that we have seen wandering past are Sheep, Koalas, Snakes, Possums, Cats, Dogs, Foxes, Cane toads. I wonder what other critters have been by and we haven't noticed.....
We are only 15km from the city, yet are surrounded by so much wildlife.

Bens bed time ritual

Here is the little darling all tucked up for bed. His two puppies are on either side of his face and his blue blankie is near/on his face. The Teletubbies are above his pillows and Bob the Builder doona tucked in around him. He will also choose 4 books and 3 toy cars to sleep under the covers with him. It all must be set up correctly before we can turn off the light and leave.
I don't mind this ritual because with the third child we struck it lucky, well we were strictly determined not to make the same mistakes we made with the girls...........

We have a child that is put into bed

and goes to sleep by themselves!!!!!!

A great weekend in Queensland

We had a great social weekend. Friday night is normally freezer night at our house, i.e. what ever you like from the freezer. I had bought frankfurters/Cheerios for the kids and had some leftover korma and rice for us. GJ got home from work early and asked if we felt like going to the local club. We have found that club bistros are much more suitable for kids as it is usually noisy and not right next to the entrance/road. We rang GJs sister Jo to see if they would like to join us and were very pleased that when we all sat down GJ’s other sister and husband arrived. It turned into a great family night.

Saturday we went to Lisa and Geoff’s home for lunch. Lisa was the kid’s nanny when I was working. It was a wonderful day on the deck with lots a good company, food and bubbles of course! I was very honored that Lisa used the beautiful crystal champagne flutes that we gave to them as wedding present for the first time with me.

On the way home we caught up with neighbors from our old house. It was great to catch up as we hadn’t seen them in over a year.

Sunday was swimming in the morning and then I took the girls roller skating with a friend while Ben had a big catch up sleep. By Sunday night the kids were exhausted, so was I, but then I am always tired!!!!!!
All in all it was a great weekend.

Winter Swimming

Chelsea looking stunned at the water temperature....

The girls thought that they would not get cold....

Chelsea over the shock and enjoying swimming

Happy, before the fall

It was a lovely sunny day on Sunday, it was warm in the sun, but still a winters day....

GJ was cleaning the pool and let the kids wade in the beach area. The girls thought that it would be fun to float around on a Barbie matt and assured GJ that they wouldn't fall in........ At this stage he call me to get the camera, and it only took 1.5 minutes for them to get freezing wet. Georgie was out like a rocket and straight into a hot shower, Chelsea decided to make the most of it and had a quick swim, Ben was clever enough to only wet his ankles.

I felt the water and it was so cold that it burnt ( if that makes sense LOL)

They were obviously not traumatised by it as they asked to do it again next weekend....

Brisbane weather and Biocycles

I have been thinking the last few days about how perfect the weather is at the moment. The days are averaging about 24 degrees(75F) and the nights are about 6 degrees (42F). Perfect weather for my jeans and joggers and cold enough at night for for flannelette sheets and my new winter wool doona. I am trying to enjoy every moment because in approx 10 weeks it will be STINKIN HOT and stay that way for 8 months. I bit of rain would be nice, we are in the midst of a serious drought.
You can tell how bad it is when the adult native gum trees start to die off.
This is the view from my computer, the trees are usually covered in masses of leaves. I still love sitting here, looking over the monitor to all this, but am often surprised about how much I can see through the empty branches. We are on level 3 restrictions at the moment, absolutely no hosing anything at any time. No kiddies wading pools and you can only wash your car with a bucket. We are also limited to when we can refill the pool to counteract evaporation. There is no limit for household use as yet, but the cost of water has just gone up. Living on acreage means that we have no access to the sewerage system so we have a Biocycle, a home sewerage treatment station( it is not a septic system). The system uses bacteria and air bubbles to recycle the water back to sprinklers for the garden. You can not drink the water or use it on a veggie patch, but it looks and smells like fresh water. This is what is keeping our garden alive at the moment.
The biocycle is a very environmentally friendly option and is a wonderful unit, except for a few little inconsiderate requirements

• The system uses bacteria to convert waste, therefore any thing that kills bacteria cannot go down any toilet or drain....I have not been able to use Bleach, Napisan, Exit mould, disinfectant, Toilet duck, Jiff, antibacterial cleaners etc for the last 12 years. This is a major drawer back, I love cleaning products, the more the better, the more bleach, ammonia, strong chemicals the happier I am. I have to use "Shower Power"( a citrus based surfactant) to clean, admittedly is does work really well but I dream of one day of having a hospital clean toilet. GJ is going to think that this is absurd, but I am sure that other clean freaks will understand.
• Nappy bucket: I can not empty the contents of the nappy bucket down the laundry sink. I have to carry the heavy bucket outside and tip it on the lawn, squeeze the excess out of the clothes and nappies and bring them back inside to wash. I know that it is a little thing, trivial to some, but to me it is tragic......LOL
• Spacing out your water usage: I have to space out my loads of washing so I don't fill the holding tank. I leave a gap of 3+ hours between loads, and no dishwasher and washing machines at the same time.

To all my readers, please use a strong cleaning product

for me and let me know how good it is.......

LOL !