MORE Changes!

If you've been following along, we've obviously been making some changes to furniture and use of space in our little house.  This has been partially inspired by the new paint and kitchen provided by the company the Big Fella works for, who own the house.

Well, this coming week our new dining table and chairs, buffet, TV stand and wine rack should be arriving!  Yay!

Obviously, that means getting rid of the stuff we already have, right?

Well, I took photos of the furniture we wanted to sell and put them up on our local Buy/Swap/Sell page on Facebook.  And it's nearly all gone!  We are dining table-less for the next day and a half, which could be interesting :-D

Added to the furniture that's now gone, we've moved our massive bookshelf from the lounge room to the office.

My living area looks so bare!  Wanna see?  It's a bit messy and desperately needs to be vacuumed, but I'm thinking you won't care about that :-D

That big, empty space over there?  That's where the table and chairs were until lunchtime today.  And the window closest to the door?  That's where our buffet was.

Obviously the space at the front is where the dining table was.  The chair thingy with the bags on it and shoes on the little shelf (on the left) will be going tomorrow.  That big space on the wall behind the couch is where the big bookshelf was and where the new TV unit is planning to go.

And here's the little disaster my lovely new office has temporarily turned into. The bookshelf on the right is the one from the lounge room, storing not only books but items that will go in the new buffet, and the bookshelf on the left is the one that matches our new desk etc.  It has a couple of filing drawers in the bottom and is rather useful!  All that crafty stuff all over it needs... re-packaging ;-)

So there you go, more things changing in our house!  I think we're nearly done though.  Which is kind of good, because having everything so messy and all over the place really does my head in!!!

New Year? Bah, humbug!

You might have noticed that I like the Christmas period... just a little bit.  But when it comes to New Years, I am so bah, humbug!

I've been trying for three days to write a 2012 review and/or 2013 plans post but it's just not working for me.  I'm not a new year resolution kind of gal, and generally I'd rather go to bed early then wake up with the sunrise for the New Year.  So, seeing that my heart just isn't in it, I'm moving on!

Yesterday the Little Big Fella "discovered" a bunch of little presents in a box from my parents.  He'd already opened it on Christmas Day but didn't really pay attention at the time.  But on discovering paints in the box, it was on!

We got out the messy mat and an old t-shirt of mine to protect his clothes then I let him go for it with the paints while I took photos :-D  He ended up painting his fingernails (guess what Mummy's been doing lately that's slightly unusual!) and getting it all over his hands!

For some reason I've also had a bit of a clean out bug over the past week so I've been going through the cupboards and drawers and tossing lots of stuff into bags for the Salvos.  So far I have three and a half garbage bags of clothes and linen, about 3 shopping bags of toys and a bag of Christmas decorations all loaded up in the car for the next time I go in that direction.

I also started copying all of my photos from CDs to an external hard drive today.  Seriously big job!  Mostly because I get distracted :-D  I got to remember lots of fun times so I thought I'd share a few of them here:

You've seen this one before, but here's my little boy learning to ride his motorbike.

My 21st birthday!  Isn't this cake cool?  Unfortunately the staff at the restaurant threw out all of the toffee pieces :-(  Fun night though!

This is Alvin.  He was one of our first attempts at owning chooks and ducks.  Yeah, that didn't turn out so well!  The first three chicks all died, then Alvin was all alone so he moved to a new place with lots of ducks.

The Big Fella and I remember this photo being taken.  It was one of the most awkward moments EVER!  We were keen on each other but not together and our friend who took the photo kept trying to get us to stand closer together.  Awkward.

The Little Big Fella was mucking around trying to get into one of our large suitcases around the time that the Big Fella was driving back and forth from here to our old place.  This photo makes me smile, but feel sad at the same time because it reminds me of how much we missed the Big Fella when we were living mostly apart.

Obviously our wedding.  We had so much fun that day and I thought he looked SO handsome in his suit!

This is my Big Fella trying to catch my sister's bouquet!

When we still lived in Victoria I danced with these girls.  For this concert we were dressed as dolls and danced to Gwen Stefani's "Tick Tock".

Here's my Little Big Fella in his first week of life!

The Big Fella and I lived with a couple in Darwin for a few weeks before we moved to our last town.  The couple were in their 60s and 80s and were hippies.  The bathroom that we used had about 12 or 14 of these little frogs in it all the time - they're only about 3cm long.  One day I was showering and screamed!  One of them must have been on my facecloth and had jumped onto my tummy!!!!  Once I realised what it was I laughed.

Here's my biggest fish catch ever!  A barramundi :-)

I finally graduated - it took me about 6 years and I didn't quite complete my degree so graduated with a diploma.

These are my grandparents - my Dad's parents.  I was stoked when I came across these photos on my CDs!

And in the front here are my other grandparents - my Mum's parents.  And all of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary.  We all stayed together for a weekend to celebrate, and dressed up for a bit of a fancy dinner on the Saturday night.

Here's a rare photo of us together - I think it's at Mossman Gorge.  This was definitely the worst holiday we've ever had, but it was good to see the photos and see that we actually had some good times amongst it all.

Lining up in the plastic bags are some of the staff where I worked.  The students got to throw plates of cream at them :-)

This is one of the Big Fella's favourite places!  A Polish deli with all kinds of meats and salamis and smallgoods.  We sometimes went here (it was about an hour from home), bought a whole bunch of things from this deli, and some breads and dips and whatever else caught our eye.  Then we'd find a park or just take it all home and eat it together.

Here's my best friend!  This was at my goodbye dinner before I left Victoria.

This was a constant source of amusement when the Little Big Fella was younger.  He'd often grab the vacuum cleaner from me to suck up his hair, skin, clothes or whatever.  It brought a lot of giggles :-)

This is one of the first times the Little Big Fella and I cooked together.  It's also the time that he fell backwards off the chair and bumped his head.  I ended up calling 13 HEALTH to check what I should be looking out for (in case he had a concussion) and they put me through to the ambulance.  The ambos were absolutely wonderful, and the Little Big Fella was back to his normal self by the time they got there (of course!).

This is the Little Big Fella on the "Little Red Tractor" with Poppy.  This is one of his absolute favourite things to do when we visit Poppy and he normally starts asking as soon as we get there (often before we've even walked in the door).  Luckily Poppy likes it too :-)

The Big Fella and I went to IMax 3D last time we were in Victoria (before the Little Big Fella was born).  There happened to be a group of school kids in the theatre with us and I screamed more than any of them when the shark appeared (it was a sea movie).

The Big Fella decided to smoke some meat using his BBQ.  Unfortunately he "smoked" the patio too - putting a hole in the roof and also on the side, behind the BBQ :-D

Ever wondered why I call myself "ScooterShell"?  This is me on my scooter, long before the Little Big Fella came along.  I ended up selling it while I was pregnant, and bought and awesome camera instead.  I loved my scooter, and one day I'll have a big one!!!!

I was a volunteer at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, before we moved to Queensland.  It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed meeting lots of different people.

This is my Dad on the trampoline when we were kids.  Nothing like a parent jumping :-D

This is Poppy with his motorbike and sidecar.  When we first moved to Queensland we stayed with my grandparents for a couple of months and the Big Fella helped Poppy re-paint his bike and sidecar yellow :-)

Oh!  And I saw an idea on Facebook just before Christmas where you write down things that make you smile throughout the year and put them in a box.  Then at the end of the year you get to look at what a great year you've had!  So I started that tonight.

Wanna know what I wrote about?

Of course you do!

I wrote about the Little Big Fella and I having a jump on his new trampoline for about half an hour this evening, when he probably should have been having a shower.  We laughed and giggled and tickled and crashed into each other and had a great time.

Yeah, that's a good memory :-)

Just like riding a bike?

When we lived in our previous town the Little Big Fella went to swimming lessons through the 4 school terms of the year, from the time that he was around 6 months old.  The pool we went to was indoor and heated and there were around 16 or so instructors.

But here (well, in the next town actually) they don't have an indoor pool and the pool they have is not heated at all.  And they only run lessons during 2 school terms - the spring/summer and summer/autumn terms.

Around midday today the Big Fella decided that he wanted to go to the pool and swim a few laps so he asked if we'd like to come.  Of course, given how much the Little Big Fella loves swimming I agreed.

You should have seen how excited he was!!!  I'm sorry, I forgot my camera so I can't show you, but he was bouncing all over the place, jumping and skipping and had his super-excited voice on.

Then we get in the pool and it is F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G.!!!  Really, really cold!

Eventually we get over the temperature (kind of) and start playing in the kiddie pool while the Big Fella did some laps.  Then we decided to have a play in the big pool, which unfortunately meant I had to get more than my feet wet.

The thing is, at our last town the Little Big Fella had a couple of lessons in the pool without me (just with the instructor) and was floating and swimming at least 2 metres under the water by himself.  Today, he spluttered going only half a metre.

"Oh no!"  Inwardly I was totally stressing.  "He's due to start lessons on Monday and he's going to freak out and not be able to do anything and it's going to be horrible" etc. etc. etc.

But after half an hour of taking it slow, step by step, and easing him back into it, he had remembered most of what he'd been doing 6 months ago.  Phew!  I guess it's kind of like riding a bike?

Hopefully he'll be excited about his lesson on Monday, especially because two of his little friends will be in his class, and we won't have to repeat the crying, screaming stuff that we had in his first lesson without me :-o

A whirlwind visit

I got a phone call from the Big Fella just after 4am.  "I'll be home in about 10 minutes."  So began our whirlwind visit to our previous home town.

This bit needs to be read at fast speed, all in one breath.  Imagine you're reading a speedy race story to a toddler.  Ready?  Go!

Pack the last bits, get the Little Big Fella up and in the car, drive 7 hours, shopping, visiting my Grandparents, sleep, visit SuperCarer, shop, Grandparent's for lunch, clothes shopping and arvo tea with sister, dinner at Grandparent's, sleep, a million errands and shops, Grandparent's for lunch, visiting for the arvo, everyone at Grandparent's for dinner, sleep, pack everything up, breakfast, drive 7 hours home, Little Big Fella to bed, SLEEP!

How'd you do?  Did you make it in one breath???

We had an awesome time and it felt like a holiday... maybe a holiday on speed?  It was great to catch up with my family and a couple of friends (never enough time for that though!).

Here's the slower version of the week:

We left our place on Monday morning, after having had the Big Fella's Aunt and Uncle stay on Saturday night.  They live in France and are having a wonderfully long holiday, including several months in Australia.  We were lucky enough to be the first family they stayed with here :-)  We had a wonderful time with them and have received an emphatically enthusiastic invitation to come and stay with them!

We got a photo of me and the Big Fellas, a first in a couple of years I think:

Yep, time for a couple of good photos of us I guess!

I won't put our photo of them on my blog because I didn't ask their permission.  But if any family members would like to see, e-mail or Facebook me and I'll send it to you :-)

After the phone call on Monday morning, I got up and got myself and the rest of our things ready.  Just before 5 I woke the Little Big Fella and told him it was time to go to Poppy's house - he was up in a blink!  Then it was into the car and off we go!

The Big Fella had worked all night and by the time we got to the first town he was ready for a break.  So I jumped in the driver's seat.  I'd only had about 4 hours of sleep myself, so 2 hours down the road I realised I'd started phasing out and did a little swerve.

I pulled over at the next little bit off the side of the road.

It's SO easy to keep pushing yourself when you're driving.  Or maybe it's just me?  But to pull over, get out of the car and walk around it a few times makes such a difference!!!  I grabbed something to eat as well and I'm pretty sure that helped too.

There were heaps of roadworks on the way down, which meant a lot of stopping.  For some reason, this particularly irks the Big Fella, although it doesn't tend to bother me a huge amount.

We got into town around midday and did a quick spot of shopping before heading to my grandparents' place where we would be staying.  I was really tired by this time, but I love being with my family!  And it is really awesome to see the Little Big Fella and Poppy together.  They adore each other and I really hope my little boy gets to remember how much, and that it's not just about the tractors he gets to ride, the playground or playing golf.

On Tuesday we got to spend the morning with SuperCarer, while the Big Fella went to the dentist.  For some reason SuperCarer and I really hit it off from the start and we became friends, so hanging out there for the morning was awesome for both me and the Little Big Fella.

My nephews and the Little Big Fella's other good friend were there for the morning so it was one big playtime!

The Little Big Fella playing with his cousins in the sandpit.

When it comes to food, these two are peas in a pod!  It's ALL about the food ;-D

It was funny watching the Little Big Fella playing in SuperCarer's yard because he's so obviously taller than the last time I watched him play there!  And taller than the other boys.

When I said "10 minutes then we have to go", the Little Big Fella's friend said to me, "I don't want him to go!  I miss him!".  They'd had such a fun time together and it really was sad to have to say goodbye.

After a bit of food shopping (gosh I miss the selection, quality and prices we had there!), I dropped the Little Big Fella back at my grandparents' with the Big Fella.  Incidentally, we'd come down so that the Big Fella could get a root canal done, but there was a slight miscommunication and they couldn't do it without a preparatory appointment. So it looks like we'll just have to go back, probably before Christmas... darn!!! ;-)

I'd planned to have lunch and spend the afternoon shopping with my sister, but she'd come down really unwell the night before.  So I did a bit of shopping on my own.  My first purchase was a new belt, because I was down to the second last hole on mine and the tail end was hanging out everywhere!!!  Gotta tell ya, that feels awesome!

Part way through the afternoon I got a call from my sister saying she was feeling slightly better and should we meet up for a coffee and a bit more shopping?  Of course we should!!!

Have I mentioned that I love my family?  I must be hormonal tonight because I've been tear-ing up as I've been writing this post and preparing the photos.  My sister and I are only 14 months apart and almost always shared a bedroom.  As you'd expect, we fought a bit but we've mostly been best friends.  I think adulthood has put a bit of a dampener on that, but I miss her like crazy (and my other siblings too, by the way).  So I thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon with her.

Know what else I enjoyed?  Trying on clothes and, instead of deciding if they'd do, I got to decide if I actually liked them because they looked good on me!  It was literally the most fun I've had clothes shopping in years!

I went back to my grandparents' place where the Big Fella made Thai green curry with squid and prawns.  It was SO yummy!!!

While we were at my grandparents' place I read books to the Little Big Fella at bedtime, which I haven't done much at home for a while.  We both really enjoyed it, and I think he went to sleep better as well.  I think I'd like to re-implement that at home!

By Wednesday I was tired!  For some reason I didn't sleep well in my grandparents' bed and had weird dreams at the end of the night too.

The Fellas and I spent the morning running errands around town.  We had 9 stops to make!  Now, anyone who doesn't have a toddler, 9 stops is a bit of a pain but no big deal, right?  Add a toddler and it becomes... stressful.  After about 4 stops the Big Fella was getting a little angsty so we tried to short-cut as many stops as we could and only get the necessary person/people out of the car at each stop.

One thing we did pick up was a smoking BBQ, which the Big Fella is awfully excited about.  It is a wood/coal fired BBQ but it also has a smoking box off to the side, so you can cook your meat with hot smoke rather than direct heat.  Given the Big Fella's inclination towards salamis, hams and other cured meats, it's no surprise he's excited by this too.

I was a bit worried by this stage though.  We'd bought a fair bit of stuff and I wasn't sure we'd be able to get it all home, even in our awesome ute!  Never fear, the Big Fella will find a way :-)

The afternoon was taken up with visiting.  We dropped the Big Fella off at his old work shed, then the Little Big Fella and I went and visited some friends at that end of town.  We had a taste of Whoopie Pies for the first time.  They were okay but I'm not sure that I'd be super excited about them.

It's SO good to catch up with friends.  Even though I was exhausted, I felt somewhat invigorated by my visit.  You know, new friends are great, but old friends are priceless!

We got back to my grandparents' place just before my sister and nephews arrived.  Yet again, there was a lot of running!!!  My sister had brought the boys' bikes and one for the Little Big Fella and they had a ball riding around and later playing footy with my brother-in-law.

Of course, being boys and cousins, there had to be a moment of silliness ;-)

We had pizza and white chocolate caramel mudcake for dinner, as well as lovely conversation.  Oh!  And before that we had a beautiful sunset, looking out over the sugar cane fields:

And I can't resist adding these photos too:

My Poppy

My Nanna

My hubby :-)

Eventually we had to put three tired boys to bed (and the adults) so my sister, brother-in-law and nephews headed home.  Sigh.  I'll miss them.

Thursday morning we got up and packed up, had a lovely breakfast then hit the road.  We decided to take the back roads home and it was a lovely trip!  The Little Big Fella had a good sleep, and I'd bought him a new DVD so he was quite content in the back seat.

We didn't get home until just after 5pm because of a couple of extra stops.  I was feeling really tired and a bit ill.  My body hasn't had much in the way of wheat products, or much fat I guess, for eight weeks and it was seriously reacting to the pizza and mudcake I'd enjoyed the night before :-(  And I'd pulled a muscle in my shoulder/neck when moving shopping in from the car on Wednesday too.  All in all, I felt pretty shocking.

Anyway, we unpacked the car and fed the Little Big Fella (neither of us were interested in eating), then put him to bed.  After a lovely hot shower I was gone too!  Although the Big Fella slept great at my grandparents' place, I thoroughly enjoyed my own bed again.

There's no place like home!