HALLOWEEN

We haven't really celebrated Halloween very much in Australia until recently when the shops seem to sell decorations.  This year the supermarkets sold special pumpkins to carve out.  Why is it becoming such a big thing.

             balloons decorated as pumpkins, black cats and bats
I never let my children when they were little go trick or treating.  As my daughter Jen said recently you teach your kids stranger danger but then let them go door knocking for lollies at Halloween time.  Do you know who is behind the door your child is knocking on?  Do you trust the person that they are giving your child something safe to eat.

                               skeleton, cobwebs, ghosts
On Sunday we drove to the country to visit Bruce's mum in her nursing home.  We were both shock to discover the nursing home decorated in Halloween things. I am sure most of the people in the high dependencies unit where they nearly all have dementia/ Alzheimer's would not remember it was Halloween or care about celebrating it.  Was it for their benefit or the staffs.  I asked one of the carers were they having a special dinner to celebrate Halloween.  She told me they had a party Friday night where all the staff dress up and handed out lollies to the patients.  They had a special dinner with green jelly with body parts in it. If I saw a bowl of jelly with body parts in it I would have a fit and I am sure a lady in her 90s would not appreciate it either. How ridiculous!

Millie turns 8

On the 10th September my eldest grand daughter Amelia Saige turned 8.  Gosh I can remember the day we welcomed you into this world little girl, now look at you.  We had a family celebration on Sunday 12th with a barbecue followed by a beautiful birthday cake which Aunty Jenjen made.

                                                 6 little fairies all in a row

I decided I would like to make Millies present this year and a thought popped into my head one night when I was trying to sleep.  We call Millie our fairy girl, so I decided to make her a set of  6 fairies with a letter of her name on each one.  Then I thought the fairies need a mushroom, so made a cushion to go with them.  I also made her a fairy birthday card and wrote a poem in it.

fairy A

fairy M

fairy E

fairy L

fairy I

fairy A

mushroom cushion

Aunty Jen jen saw my cushion which gave her inspiration for Millies cake which was absolutely fabulous. She also made Millie a necklace made out of   fimo with her name on it, this looked so pretty.

fairy birthday cake

gorgeous fairy cake

candles lit

Amelia blowing out candles

Amelia admiring her necklace

Funny thing was except for Jen and I  we didn't all talk about Millies birthday and come up with a fairy theme but everything Millie received was to do with fairies. From Aunty Deb and Uncle Warwick she received pyjamas with tinker bell on them.  Also her Mum, Dad, Joshua, Kaiden and Hollie gave her fairy decorations for her bedroom.

Hope you enjoyed all you fairy things Millie Mouse. 

Millie's birthday card

Millies birthday poem:
These little fairies have come to stay
To make you happy and want to play
Clap three times and whisper in their ears
Your wishes will come true for years upon years
So spread your wings and fly up high
Into the beautiful sky
Together we will dance around the moon
Whilst singing some of our favourite tunes
Sprinkle star dust until its dawn
Then return to bed with a huge yawn
Tuck you up all snug and tight
Kiss you gently to say good night

Sweet dreams our fairy girl Amelia Saige

DAFFODIL DAY

Friday 27th August was Daffodil Day which I usually like to support.  Bruce was off work sick and had to go to the doctors.  I suggested we make a quick trip into the cbd after his visit to pay a few laybys.  I was disappointed to not be able to find any daffodil things in any of the shops we went into.

oops this is upside down but still looks pretty.

On Sunday we celebrated Chris's birthday in the local park then we brought Jackjack back here as his daddy was working and mumma was at a blessingway.  It was such a beautiful day so I took Jackjack out the back to play for a little while until dinner was ready.  We discovered the daffodils we planted recently had one single bloom on it. 

our beautiful daffodil

LIVING NEXT DOOR TO ALICE

Bruce and I moved into our house as young newly weds in 1979.  Back then all the neighbours were friendly and introduced themselves to us.  We were the youngest in the street as a couple as all the other families had teenagers.  Our part of the street is like a court so we look out on several neighbours.

One of the families that we met were Bill and Alice.  Its funny for years we thought Alice introduced herself to us as Joyce Cochrane.  It wasn't until another young neighbour returned to our court and called her Alice we thought whats going on here.  I asked Sharon what is her real  name as she had grown up next door to her.  She said Alice and an entirely different surname.  Did we hear her incorrectly when she introduced herself to us or didn't she want us to know her by the name of Alice.

Over the years we spent many a warm Summers night out the front chatting with Alice.  A few of the other neighbours had a falling out with her but I refused to take sides and remained on talking terms with Alice.She was thrilled when Bruce and I came home from hospital with our new babies.  Then in turn loved meeting our new grandchildren. She loved to know what all the children were up to.

Although we always chatted out the front we never went inside each others houses as we liked to keep to ourselves that way.  Alice did take me around to her back yard one day to show me her beautiful garden full of fruit trees.  She was always in her garden tending the roses out the front, weeding and mowing.

Every Spring she would clean her house down from top to bottom and put a fresh coat of paint on every wall in the house as it obviously was her pride and joy.

Unfortunately Bill was involved in a nasty car accident and he seemed to never fully recover.  Then he got cancer but held onto see his grand daughter born. So Alice lived by herself for at least 20 years without Bill,then she too got cancer.  She still manage to keep her garden immaculate and do her Spring cleaning until she had to go into a nursing home about two years ago.

I often saw her come up to my work with her daughters and always promised to visit her in the nursing home. The time never came though as I was either working or sick.  So now I will probably have regrets as I read in today's paper Alice died on Sunday August 29th.

Another August death, what is it with that month.

Alice every time the song living next door to Alice came on the radio I always thought of you and will continue to think of you.

                                   R.I.P. Alice   
you were a nice lady.

Sunday glorious Sunday

What a gorgeous day it is today for a Winters day.  The sun is shining and there is a slight breeze but it is just lovely.

I had a huge sleep in to try to recover from my tummy bug.  Then sat in the kitchen whilst Bruce whipped up a batch of pumpkin and date scones for lunch.  Whilst he did this I tried to make a special present for my grand daughter Amelia's 8th birthday next month.

After lunch Bruce went on his usual Sunday errands so I went for a 25 minute walk around the block.  The walk is on 'doctors orders' mind you to try to bring my blood pressure down.  I kept myself going by counting my steps to take my mind off all the aches and pains. 

There are lots of beautiful cherry blossom trees blooming, so a sign Spring is on the way.  I enjoyed looking at all the gardens to try to get ideas for mine. Gradually getting a garden going after having brown thumbs for so many years.

Now I am waiting for Bruce to return home and relaxing catching up on face book.

Just hope next Sunday is as beautiful as this one for Chris's birthday in the local park.

AUGUST!

Quick grab the remote, press fast forward and take a giant leap into September.  Or can we press the delete button on the computer and send August into cyber space forever?????

August is the worst month of the year,  especially the week from 12th to 18th.  The reason for me disliking August is my beautiful Mum died on 12th August, 1978 after a long fight with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  My Dad struggled on without my Mum for another seven years then he died also on the 14th August.

August has also been when my Aunty Jean (Dad's sister) died and  my Uncle Don (Mum's brother) died 31st August 1986. During August 1986   I was diagnosed with pneumonia and as it was THAT time of year I was sure the GRIM REAPER was coming for me.  It was a very scary recovery time.

So from the time the clock strikes twelve on the 31st July until the clock strikes twelve on the 31st August I feel like holding my breath, closing my eyes and charging like a bull into September.  It makes me want to wrap my family in cotton wool and hibernate so nothing happens to us. 


Its very weird though as all three of my children's partners are born in August.  My youngest daughter's partner only two weeks after my Mum died.

I know life goes on and as a person dies a baby is born, but my heart hurts so much and I am not good company during this time.   So if you see me during August hopefully you will understand if I appear to be a bit distracted.

MY FAVOURITE FLOWER

  A few weekends ago  Jen and Tyler took advantage of the Christmas toy sale at Target to lay by things for Jackjack.  So Jack jack came to play cars and toot toots with Nanny and Papa for the afternoon.

When Jack jack hopped out of the car he had a beautiful surprise for me.  It was a single stemmed Blue Iris which had two open flowers and another four closed buds.  Whenever I have received an Iris before it has been one flower on a stem.

This little gift from Jack jack lasted almost for two weeks.  As one of the open flowers died another one would open.  Each open flower lasted approximately 3 days.  So in total  from one stem I had six flowers to brighten my days.

inside of the iris flower

DING DONG AVON CALLING

Oh AVON why have your representatives become FACELESS? Catalogues dropped off on veranders with notes saying to put back out on a certain date.






Where has your friendly AVON ladies gone????






I remember in the 1980s/90s we were on first name basis. My AVON lady would drop in for a cuppa and chat whilst DEMONSTRATING her AVON products. She knew what my family liked with certain colognes for my husband and the things my children enjoyed out of the catalogue. She gave free samples to entice us to buy new products, which 9 times out of 10 worked.






AVON you have let me down twice now within the past 12 months. I wonder how many other customers feel the same and how are you still in business with this new trend of faceless reps?






My lastest experience I received a catalogue which was due to be picked up on a Sunday. As I wanted to talk to the AVON lady I didn't put it out on my verander. I was shocked to see it was just a teeny bopper when she did arrive and asked when the delivery date was. This was because I needed one item for a birthday present on the 1st August. She told me 28th July which was good.






The delivery date came and went, also 1st August came and went. I had to explain why I didn't have a birthday present and hoped it would be coming soon.   Ten days after the promised delivery date my order came. Hooray!  But no the girl said what I had ordered for the August birthday didn't arrive and she would have to re-order it.  I told her not to bother as I thought by the time she re-ordered and if it did come it would take ages.  Then she said what I had ordered for my grand daughters birthday in September was sold out. REALLY! Why bother having an item in your current catalogue that would be so popular and not have enough supplies. This really pissed me off.
 
So then she recalculated my total as originally it would have come to $55 which I had.  When she told me the new price of $27 I said I would need change of a $50 note.  I was told 'No I don't have change.'
 
Gosh this girl had my phone number but not once did she bother to call me to say some of my items didn't come in and my new total would be different..  So I told her to come back Tuesday as I would have change by then. After her leaving I had a thought about it and my husband advised me to just cancel my order.  His theory is if its not available in the shops its not worth it.
 
By the way her excuse for the 10 day delay in delivering the goods was, 'Oh it was raining you see, so I couldn't come out in the rain.'  I hate to tell you life does go on rain, hail or shine and if you want my business I expect a better service.
 
So AVON I hope I am not stupid enough to fall for your pretty catalogues again.  From now on I will take my business esewhere.  I am one very disgruntled customer.

WORLD BREAST FEEDING WEEK

COMPARING BREAST FEEDING TODAY WITH THE 1980's

When our first baby was born in December 1980 I tried breast feeding him whilst in hospital with out any luck.  I felt like I wasn't given very much help and our son was a very sleepy baby as he wasn't well. After giving birth the baby was taken into a nursery where they basically stayed all day and just brought to you at feed times.  So there wasn't any of the bonding like these days when you room in.  My doctor told me we couldn't go home until I had established breast feeding which was such a struggle. After a very long stressful week where I felt like a failure I was told  we could go home but the doctor gave me an injection to dry up my milk first. This was so disappointing as Bruce and I had discussed that once we arrived home in a more relaxing atmosphere our breast feeding would probably establish.   Sadly I had to feed our son on formula and wasn't given enough encouragement to breast feed him and give him a better start to life.  Our son will be 30 this year (boy that makes me feel old) and he has had so many health issues his whole life which may have been avoided if we could have breast fed.

Our second baby Jen was born in June 1982.  We asked before I gave birth if I could breast feed her on the delivery table to establish our breast feeding journey from the very beginning.  We were told 'No, babies are too tired after their birthing experience and they wouldn't want to be breast fed and don't need anything straight away.' So Jen was whisked away after a short cuddle and taken to the nursery to be weighed and measure.  Even though Jen was born at 4.30pm, I was kept in the delivery suite all night as I was hemorrhaging quite heavily due to the placenta not being delivered properly. Jen was kept in the nursery overnight to 'give me a rest'.  so it wasn't until the following morning when I was transferred to the maternity ward that I was able to give Jen her first breast feed and start bonding with her.  After being shown  a few times how to hold the baby correctly we had a very good start to our BF journey.  When Jen was about 6 weeks old I was hospitalised again as the bleeding hadn't stopped and I was getting septic from the placenta.  We were admitted to Chelsea Bush nursing Hospital which was a cute little country type hospital.  I was allowed to have Jen room in with me whilst there as I was breast feeding her and the staff there were very helpful.

                          Jen being breast fed whilst on a picnic at Colac Lake

Its surprising how  families can have such different views on breast feeding.  When we went to visit my husbands family whilst breast feeding Jen who was demand fed, I had to either leave the room which they preferred or sit with my back turned to the family.  My family were totally different as they didn't feel uncomfortable about me feeding in front of them and thought it was a natural thing to do, which put me more at ease. 

I couldn't get Jen to take a dummy so instead she used me as a dummy I think. During the night I was up every half hour feeding her which was alright in summer but mighty cold in winter.  Our breast feeding journey continued successfully until Jen started biting and drew blood which made me sooo sore.  After that I found I could relax enough as I was expecting her to bite all the time.  Anyway I feel that I gave Jen a good start to life with 18 months BF and she WAS the healthiest out of all my children.

Our third baby Cindy was born February 1986 and things had changed with peoples views on breast feeding by that stage. Even though I had an old fuddy duddy doctor I was allowed to breast feed on the delivery table as soon as Cindy was born.  She wasn't whisked away until we had a decent time to bond together which was really lovely.  Also I was allowed to have Cindy room in with me during the day but had to put her back in the nursery at night.  We had a very successful breast feeding journey but I cut it short when Cindy started teething as I remembered the pain of being bitten by Jen. So I weaned Cindy when she was 6 months old.

Cindy being breast fed on the delivery bed.

When shopping if either of the girls needed a feed I would have to find a change room or go back to the car.  Nobody fed their baby in public like today.  This disrupted and added extra time to our shopping trips.

Today observing both my daughters and my daughter in law breast feeding their babies things seem to be much more relaxed.  It is more accepted and natural to breast feed a baby whilst in public without having to find a change room and hide away.  It should be accepted by the general public as the baby has to eat too and why hide away, its nothing to be ashamed of.

TOY CAR GARAGES

Before my father in law had his stroke in 1981 he spent many hours tinkering away in his garage making things.  He must have had a preminission of what was to come as he was well prepared with a few items.

He made wooden tables and chairs for the grandchildren, toy car garages for the boys and the eldest grand daughter had a beautiful dolls house made for her.

Our son was born in December 1980 and he must have already had a table and chair set and a garge made or else he worked mighty hard in the five months from the time our son was born until he suffered his stroke. Its just a pity he didn't already have a dolls house made and put away for our daughters.  My son still has his garage which he values so much his own son is not allowed to play with it.

Anyway my husband unfortunately didn't inherit his dads skills for making childrens toys. Now we have 7 grandchildren of our own and we have cheated but wanted to keep up the tradition of giving a toy garage to the boys.  We were lucky to find a great little toy shop that sells beautiful wooden toys.  To our surprise they sell similar designed garages to the ones my  f-i-l  made.  So at the time we found them we had three grandsons, so immediately bought three and hid them away. They have all been given as presents now and the boys love them.  We now have an extra grandson to buy one for and hide until he is a little older. Hopefully the shop is still there and selling the garages.

These garages are nice but it makes you appreciate all the effort my father in law went to in making the children's toys.

FEELING LONELY!

It's lonely out here in blog land.  Although I have five followers I wonder if it's worth while doing a blog????? Particularly as my five followers are 3 family members and 2 friends of my eldest daughter.

I feel like climbing Mt. Kosciusko and yelling out 'COOOOEEEE' to listen for a reply.

Recently a few ideas for blogs have popped into my head,  then I think what's the point.  It's wasting my time writing and obviously everyone elses time reading my blogs.

I am not throwing a pity party here but would love more followers and feed back on the blogs that I write.

As the Maroon 5 song goes -:

Is there anyone out there cause its getting
harder and harder to breath

So IS anyone interested in my blogs beside my five followers or am I taking up too much cyber space cluttering up your computers???? 

RESPECT YOUR RELATIVES

I think my daughter did a similar blog a while ago about being called aunty and uncle.  Why is it that non blood relatives are given the title of aunty or uncle?

The reason I am blogging about this is as part of my family were sick on mothers day I didn't receive a present until a week later when I was minding my grandchildren.  Whilst opening the prettily wrapped present to discover a gorgeous  hand painted mug  by master 6 and miss chatter box 3,  I was informed that Nanny Lyn was getting one also.  I had to ask the kids to repeat that statement as couldn't believe my ears.  I said are you sure its not Nanny Nella and they both insisted it was Nanny Lyn.  The reason for my shock was that Nanny Lyn is their uncles mother in law. This made me feel very hurt and took the specialness away from the mug they had made for their real Nanny.

I have never understood why they have to call her Nanny anyway as that is a special title both my daughter in laws mum and I should have, not just anybody. These two grandchildren also call their mothers friends aunty and uncle yet until recently haven't actually called their proper aunts and uncles that title.  This practise must make it so confusing for children not knowing who their real relatives are and I find it disrespectful.

I was always introduced to my parents friends by their christian names and thats how I also brought my children up. Why do you have to give an adult a title?????

FEJOA CAKE

COOKING WITH JACK JACK

COOKING WITH JACK AND NANNY

LETS HAVE SOME FUN!

FEJOA TREES

LEAF OF THE FEJOA

When our girls were little we planted two trees outside their             bedroom  window to give them privacy from the neighbours and also to   provide some shade in summer. Both Jen and Cindy left home many moons ago and the trees have only just started to do the job they were supposed to do years ago.  The trees are FEJOAS pronounced with a Y  as feyoa as in  Jana is actually Yana.  The past few years they have produced fruit which we basicly left. Last year our maori neighbours from a few houses up the road came and asked if they could have the fruit as they knew we didn't pick it, so they stripped the tree bare.  This year we decided to look for a recipe for fejoa jam,  the only recipe I could find was for a fejoa loaf.                                                                                                                                                

FEJOA FRUIT

                                                     

Last week whilst Jack was here I decided to try making a fejoa loaf, so asked Jack to help me. Firstly Nanny had to peel and chop all the fejoas.  Ouch my aching hands and arms, then we measured out the butter, sugar and water and put all this ingredients in a saucepan to boil.

 

MEASURING THE BUTTER. IS THAT ENOUGH JACK JACK?

 

. PEELING THE FEJOAS WITH JACK LAUGHING AS IT HURT NANNY'S HANDS

MORE PEELING WHILST JACK PLAYS WITH THE SCALES

IS THAT ENOUGH YET NANNY?

JACK SUPERVISING NANNY STIRRING THE POT.

THE MIXTURE BOILING ON THE STOVE.

After the mixture boils for five minutes we set it aside to cool. Then add flour stirring it in so it doesn't go lumpy and beaten eggs. Jack thinks this is so funny, then we are ready to pour the mixture into the pan and cook it in the oven.

NOW WE LINE THE TIN  RIGHT JACK JACK?

WHAT A GOOD LITTLE CHEF POURING IN THE FLOUR

HELPING HANDS

ADDING THE EGGS

IT LOOKS SO FUNNY NANNY

POUR THE MIXTURE INTO THE CAKE TIN

SCRAP THE SAUCEPAN CLEAN

MMM  LOOKS DELICIOUS

SHOWING OUR CAKE TO MUMA

YUMMO! A PIECE FOR EACH HAND.

Thank you to my little apprentice chef Jack Jack we made a delicious Fejoa cake.  We will be keeping that recipe.   

MMM!