The last day of October...

October is at an end.

This means the end of daily posting unless I have something really good to put up. But scarier than Halloween is the fact that the end of year is fast approaching. A friend is going to spend next year in China with her husband and 2 younger children and she asked me about blogging. It would be a fantastic way to document the adventure and great for us left at home in quiet ol B Marsh to follow and live vicariously through them. Her asking me about how to go about setting up the blog makes me realise that I have learned quite a lot about blogging over the last 4 years. I have added and changed it up quite a bit but there are still things I could learn so as to improve it but I am pretty happy with it. Its a bit like scrapbooking in a way, you do it not to please anyone else but to tell your own stories in your own style. I want to help her but I don't think I can remotely.

I might have to schedule a visit if she wants it.

October 30...

I should be in my new craft room crafting up a storm.

Something is stopping me.

I go in there and arrange and rearrange and then sort and categorise. I just cant seem to be able to put something together. Perhaps now I am too organised. Perhaps the threat of a looming deadline is putting me off. I am close to achieving my 50 layout goal but still not there yet. There is nothing to stop me but a lack of mojo. I blame Pinterest. I sit here browsing and pinning and get inspired by beautiful creations but then cant create anything myself. Its a bit like browsing through cookbooks then having take away for dinner.

I'm going to close the laptop, do the dishes, then some ironing and then I'm going to make something.

For real.

October 29...

I headed up to Ballarat to see a breast specialist to find out about my cyst-ey breasts. After waiting for a long time I asked at the reception desk if I had been forgotten. Well yes I had! Seems being a patient patient doesn't pay off. After I finally got in to see the specialist she couldn't find my paperwork. Oh look its in the wrong week. I was beginning to lose faith. Then my examination didn't match up with the mammograms I had supplied. She jabbed me with a big needle without much luck, told me to take Evening Primrose Oil and I'll see you in 3 months.

All in all a pretty unsatisfying appointment. Costly and unsatisfying. And no 'thanks for waiting' or 'sorry about the delay'.

I salved my soul with a visit to the Scrapbook shop and then got some nice bits for the developing study/craft room at Big W.

Duncan and Donna came up for dinner and we put them on the train back to the city. More good times but I had to miss tennis to do so. It has been a wonderful catch up and we wish we were closer so not so much time would pass between visits. We always make plans but time gets away from us with life stuff.

October 28...

Last night we had another reason to go into the city. Chris attended a reunion, a reuniting of colleagues who had worked together in the Transit Patrol.

20 years ago just one month after we had just moved in to our first home, I was driving home from work when I heard on the radio that my husband had lost his job. It was announced on the news because Jeff Kennett had disbanded the Transit Patrol unit. We had been 'Jeffed'. It was gutting for Chris as he had enjoyed this job and had worked his way up to a senior position. There is still a lot of ill feeling about Kennetts actions.

They were not the only Government department that was closed or sold off but may be the only department with over 100 years of history and tradition that became 'defunct'.

So since 1992 every 10 years they get together and remember the work they did and the people they worked with. Chris doesn't talk to me about the distressing parts of the job such as the many suicides and accidents, only colleagues can really understand.


I wonder at the irony of the present government instituting a new department that does almost the same duties that they did back then, making the trains a safe way to travel.

What happened on October 27...

We went into the city.

Melbourne CBD.

We met our interstate visitors in their Bourke St hotel, had some pre dinner drinks then wandered down to Southbank and found a place to eat. It is quite foreign to me to wander the streets, to be entertained by street performers and to people-watch all generations enjoying the nightlife. There were many young people dressed up in Halloween costumes and we were astounded by the number of people queued up to get into the many night clubs.

 

It was interesting to see the city through tourist eyes. Donna took many photos of the multitude of art sculptures dotted around the city. Many more than I had ever noticed before.

The brothers had a good time catching up and planning the next visit.

Gems on October 26...

Why is it when you are looking for a particular thing you find lots of other things that you had sort of forgotten about. Things that distract you from your task and jog your memory.

Today while I was looking for a disc I found another disc that Chris had labelled 'photos'.

Here are some gems from the past, from our first digital camera

 

 

Halls Gap 2004, that pool was freezing!

on the HMAS Stuart

many photo shop creations were to come...

patience abounds

with Nana Mitchell in Rye

This shows that Callum used to smile and that he was a sweet boy. That sweetness is now hidden beneath a quiet exterior.

More gems to come.

October 25...

work today, tennis tonight. It has been a busy day. I'm looking forward to the next 4 days off to regroup.

Chris' brother & wife will be in Melbourne over the weekend so we will be catching up with them. Duncan and Donna live in Toowoomba and we don't see them very often. I am also going to try to squeeze in another few sets of tennis on Saturday before we go into the city.

I hope to get nice and ready tomorrow.

An anniversary on October 24...

8 years has passed.

Time heals all wounds but some wounds linger.

Often in my thoughts,

miss you.

The new neighbours on October 23...

The young couple next door sold their house and are going to build their own home nearby. They were a lovely quiet pair, our only complaint about them was they used to dog-sit her mothers dog while she was away and it would bark and bark and bark and bark every minute they were out. Hour after hour we would listen to that barking. We were thankful when the mother would return and take her  dog back to her house. Other than that they were the perfect neighbours. His uncle sometimes landed his helicopter at the end of the street in a paddock and created some excitement in the cul de sac. He was whisked off to his wedding in that helicopter.

But they moved out and moved on.

The new neighbours were very busy in the house on Saturday morning and we were curious to suss them out. But they didn't exactly move in. The mowed and weeded and used a power drill on something. Sunday saw more activity but no furniture appeared. Today the carpet was steam cleaned. Makes me think they are fixing it up for renters. I am hoping for an older couple, someone quiet. We have been in this house 20 years now and previous renters have been feral and at one stage a  young family had a very vocal, whingey toddler.

Fingers crossed for owners not renters.

Funny family on October 22...

The family reports that the lolly disguises were not nice and then they spat them out!

21 on the 21st...

Not many pictures lately but this post will change that...

Happy birthday to our one and only son. Callum turns 21 today.

From this adorable baby

 

To this young adult who doesn't smile anymore

 

 

 

Granted he is a little hungover today but this is pretty normal.

 

He was so cute

 

 

 At times a challenge for us as parents.

 Boys are different to girls and each child is different to its siblings

He definitely is from the Mitchell gene pool

 His father is not big on smiling in photos either

 

 

He has morphed into a non-smiley quiet young man, who rides a motorcycle and wants to be a mechanic. He is recovering from a broken heart and other disappointments in life in his own quiet way.

 

 







 

He takes photos that look the same year after year

 

 

 

He has sisters who love him and friends who have supported him.

 

I hope you had a happy birthday son and I hope you have something to smile about real soon.

October 20...

I saw these leggings while I was running in the 10k last weekend. I ran behind the girl wearing them for a while before her muscles sped her off ahead.

I was intrigued by what seemed to be anatomically correct leggings. You can get a pair for $75 AUD from Black Milk. They also come in skeleton, beetlejuice, & mummy. Something for everyone.

Pretty cool eh?


 Those leg muscles are tired tonight and a bit sunburned after running this morning and playing tennis this afternoon.

October 19...

We had a very warm day today which started with an unexpected thunder storm this morning. I was enjoying a sleep in and had just heard Cal leave on his motorbike when the skies rumbled. Apparently we had a lot of lightning too but I didn't see any of that.

Because of the sunny, warm day I sweated a bit more than usual at cardio tennis. I am still settling in to my new shoes and am not conviced that they are the perfect pair. Last nights hit of tennis has meant the blister hasn't had time to heal just yet. I wear a heart rate monitor during these session and it tells you calories burned. Even working hard with a sustained high heart rate I only burned 232. When I wore it doing the 10k I burned 320. These numbers are lower than the other girls in the group but the coach thinks I have less to burn.

I attempted a bit of card making with my sister before coming home to find a grumpy, tired camper. From extracted reports it was a bit of an arduous expedition with some highlights of abseiling and ...she'll get back to me, too tired to think about it. The negatives included bad food, early mornings, sandy tents, climbing, hiking and no sleep.

Big Sister tells me only 6 weeks til the end of term, 6 weeks before her camper is home for good.

October 18...

Things are cruising along here. I was reminded of this video clip and decided to put it up here. It could have been made with Callum as the grunter and us as the inquistitors. Our grunters are diamonds in the rough as demonstrated by his cheeky wink at the end.

As Callum approaches his 21st birthday I wonder if this will be his form of communication forever.

October 17...

I had my yearly appraisal today and came away feeling pretty good about myself. It is nice when you think you are doing a good job and someone else affirms that for you. I have objectives for the next 12 months and they will concentrate my efforts into preceptoring students. Having students in the unit can be quite draining but we need to prepare the next generation to become part of the workforce.

Hayley came over for dinner tonight and we had a good chat about how to handle her situation at work. I'm not sure what the outcome will be but at least she has a clear idea on how to tackle it. It is hard not to use what I know about students to help her but I have to remember she is not my student and they will work it out.

As your children grow your worries for them change, you don't worry any less and the protective part of you is always strong, at the fore.

October 16...

I went back to work and had a good day. Not too busy giving me time to catch up on a few things.

Erin has been on my mind as the weather turned from nice this morning to hail this afternoon. It won't hurt her to be out of her comfort zone for a few days roughing it in the wild. She might appreciate her home comforts when she gets back.

I got her NAPLAN results in the mail and she performed in the mid range for all but the reading category. For that one she is above average which is ironic because she doesn't like to read.

Callum spoke to the mechanic who had encouraged him to do his pre-ap hoping to get a position. We had taken his encouragement as a good sign that he was prepared to take Cal on but unfortunately for Cal he has appointed someone else. So he is back to applying for apprenticeships. And Chris doesn't want to patronise that mechanic anymore.

Our other apprentice is also having trouble with her supervisor. He is not being a good supervisor and is trying to blame her for poor work. I have to step back and let her sort it out for herself. I give advice and hope she can resolve this issue. What I have learned from preceptoring students is that blaming them for mistakes while they learn on the job is not a helpful way.

October 15...

My time is in!

1:08:07, a little better than I thought and now my PB. I have set the bar and now have a standard to maintain.

I was all set to have a whinge about a certain sports shoe shop for selling me shoes that gave me a blister. But today I went back with the shoes and the helpful sales assistant checked out the first pair and fitted me with a second pair. They exchanged them with no hesitation. They really did want me to be satisfied with my purchase.
I wore the second pair to tennis tonight and they were pretty good. The toe with the blister is still quite sore so it is a bit hard to tell if these shoes will be better. It was a lovely night tonight and I had 2 good games and got quite sweaty. Thankfully the wind died right down, perfect for us.

Erin is off to camp this week in the Otways and is meant to be camping in tents and cooking on trangias. I was doubtful about the whole camping thing when it was blowing a gale this morning but it is much nicer this evening. I hope she has a good week, they will be mountain biking and the Otway Fly as well as an Amazing Race type adventure in Apollo Bay.

And the house will be tidy all week.

October 14...race report

Let me skip ahead to say I had a dream run, the course was lovely, the weather was kind and the motivation of 9955 others in the 10k pushed me along so I ran the whole way and only slowed to gulp a few mouthfuls of drink and then kept going.

My day started early, not at 4:20 as I had planned, as the alarm was set for PM not AM(!) Chris woke me at 5:05 by asking me what time I was going to leave????? So I jumped up and quickly got going. I ate and drank in the car. The only problem with that was my gastric-colic reflex is particularly strong and I had to run into a 7-11 on the way and ask for the key. My chosen parking spot was waiting for me and the unreliable alarm setting was forgotten. I walked over to watch the 42km marathoners start at 7am and then lined up for my start.

There were times when I thought I would stop but I zoned in on the music, ignored my breathing and kept my slow steady pace. There were other times when I thought to myself how much I was enjoying running. Running in a group is so much easier, almost like being in a slip stream. Not really knowing the course also was a plus, you just had to keep following the pack, and it was fresh and interesting. I wasn't sure how far we had gone as I couldn't see (if there were any) distance markers and it wasn't until the MCG came into sight I knew we were almost done. Once we ran into the G we had to do a final lap of the ground to the finish gate. That last lap is a real test of your mental staying power but I did a little sprint up to the gate. The time on the gantry was 1:14 so I am hoping for a little less than that. I was happy to see that I had come in about the middle of the pack, lots in front but also lots behind.The preparation I did paid off and I would like to maintain this level but it has been a pretty intense.

I sat in the stand and watched the first place marathon and half marathon runners and then picked up my medal and showbag before heading back to the car. Many of the runners were still on the course and the further back in the pack they were the more pain showed on their faces. It didn't inspire me to run further next year but the high I have been on all day has been fantastic.

Even the worsening blister on my toe hasn't dampened my spirits.

October 13...

I am all ready for my big day tomorrow.

The alarm is set for 4:20, my bag is packed, my clothes laid out, and the iPod charged up. I am now looking forward to the actual race and testing myself to go the whole distance without stopping.

Erin has moved her bed and drawers and without all of the rest of her mess her room looks really nice. I hope she can keep it up. She is off to camp on Monday and by her return the paint fumes should have dissipated. I'm not sure she will be able to sleep in there, even sitting out here in the family room the paint smell is pretty strong. Its that rotten chalkboard paint that is so strong but the effect will be good once dry completely. She needs to pack for her week camp tomorrow and sort out some food, it looks like they will have good weather for their adventure.

October 12...

My cardio tennis session was a really good one, no rain fell on us and after the first minute we didn't feel the cold. My new cross trainer shoes gave me a blister on top of my fourth toe which is disappointing for expensive shoes. It's just on one side but it couldn't be worse timing. I hope it doesn't hinder me on Sunday. I'm not sure whether to persist with a bandaid or to go back to the shop. I just checked their return policy and you can return shoes if they are unworn, I will have to check what their policy is if you are dissatisfied.

Room update: more coats today and I think we are nearly done! I'll see what it looks like tomorrow and she might be ready to move across. I saw an idea on Pinterest to paint a door with chalkboard paint so I went ahead and painted the back of the door with the first coat and this should be a funky fun thing for Erin to use her artistic skill on. She has been dabbling with watercolours this term and is producing more art for her walls.

You can tell it is Spring in Bacchus Marsh when the Plane trees drip their blossoms. This precedes the tree coming into full leaf but looks like a snow storm of foliage. There are many large trees lining the main street and on a windy day like today you would think you were actually in a snow storm. For hayfever sufferers it is not the pretty sight I look forward to each year.

October 11...

I have a sense of deja vu.

Each day I paint and I exercise. And I am pleased with both. The room is looking good and my training plan is going well. Pilates was a good session and I didn't have to venture out in the pouring rain to do it. The weather today was probably not conducive to applying paint but I had the heater set on 16 degrees all day and the paint is stuck on the walls and drying nicely.

Tomorrow I will do a cardio tennis session if the rain clears away and will paint some more. I thought in this week I would get 2 rooms and the outdoor pergola painted but this was a bit ambitious

I hope to have something different to report really soon.

October 10...

 I figured out today that it is OK to wear paint flecked tracksuit pants and daggy T to the paint shop. There were other people at the paint shop with the same attire so it must be alright.

Erin finally chose a top coat colour and it is....blue. Not the minty green she was talking about but a vibrant blue called Cove Blue. I'm not enamoured but at this point I just want it done. The undercoating is done and I've cut in the room for tomorrow's effort. Thanks to Ivan from 'Paint Right' for the advice and patience and for overlooking the outfit.

I also managed a training run to work out the soreness from yesterday's workout.

Last night we had the Relay dinner and got together for a few laughs and to nut out next year's team and fundraising. Looks like a car rally and a progressive dinner are in order. We raised enough for naming a research award, thats the second one for our team and we will want to make it 3 for 3 next year.

October 9...

More painting and exercise.

I did a personal training session with a friend who runs with me sometimes. She usually attends on a Tues and Thurs morning but as I am always working those days I haven't been able to attend. Til now.
It was a good session working arms, legs and core with some running thrown in. She was very encouraging about Sundays' run and gave me some good tips for my preparation in the next few days. Less is more this week according to PT Erin. I'm happy to go with that plan.

The ceiling in Hayley's old room is now painted and we got one undercoat on to cover the purple. It is still making its presence known. Another undercoat tomorrow and, if my Erin can make up her mind, the topcoat. I thought she had decided on a vived green but it seems she has gone off that idea and is now undecided. She wants to go back to the paint store to choose something else. I was wondering if a wall sticker would look good and tempted her with these that take my fancy

from here

from here

from here

from here

My favourite is the taupe/white combo but it is probably not quite right for Erin's bedroom. My family is always teasing me about my love affair with brown. The choice of sticker will influence the paint colour, now I am into this project I dont want any delays. Maybe we can choose the paint with a sticker in mind.

October 8...

I made great strides into my painting challenge today. I was able to sort Hayley's left over stuff into distinct piles and she came over tonight and took some of them away. I will dispose of the real rubbish tomorrow and continue my challenge. The walls are washed and Chris filled about one thousand pin holes ready for the first coat tomorrow. In a moment of weakness, about 10 years ago, I painted Hayley's wall 2 shades of dark purple with a torquoise trim. That is going to take some serious undercoating.

And all of this activity after a swim this morning.

During my morning tidy up, I photographed this latest layout and can now reveal number 39

October 7...

The change to daylight savings time has left me tired tonight. That plus the training I have done and plan to do this week leading up to the marathon next Sunday. I plan to swim, run, workout and run some more in the next 6 days. I keep looking at the race map with the highlighted road closures struggling to find somewhere to park on the morning of the race. Without a public transport option and about 27,000 registered for the different races my stress levels are peaking.

Hayley came over to finish clearing her room but sat on the couch, ate some food and left with just one bag full and a container of soy icecream. She tells me she will be back tomorrow with some energy to take a bit more. I will just box it up tomorrow before I start prepping/cleaning the walls.

I really need to buy some paint too.

October 6...

is World Card Making Day.

It is probably a dozen other causes day also but this one caught my attention because I like to make cards.

I made this one

from this inspiration

I wanted to do the pc thing and credit the source so I followed the pin trail as far back as I could. It is up on photobucket.com without a name. What I realised is that it is a very popular design, re-pinned many many times. I would like to say this design did inspire me and I would like to say thankyou to the original designer for putting it 'out there' for us to copy. Whoever you are. Perhaps like the chinese whisper, the further down the line it goes the originator also gets lost.










I hope you get inspired too.

October 5...

Another good day today, October has been shaping up very nicely so far, hopefully this will continue.

I spent the day with Big Sister crafting to our hearts content. It was nice to have my niece join us as she enjoys her school holiday. Just a few more weeks for her to complete this character building year. Erin didn't come with me today but enjoyed another trip to the movies with a girlfriend.

I completed a few more Christmas cards and have been lapping up the inspiration from Pinterest. I will have quite a few new ideas and designs to send out at Christmas time. I will upload over the weekend.

Tonight Chris and I went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. I've been milking it as much as I can but I think this might have been the last hurrah. We had a lovely meal at 'The Plough', Chris' steak declared as the best he has had in a very long time. High praise from the fussiest steak eater around. My calamari was tender and delicious. I should have stopped there but couldn't resist a dessert.  I decided to have a bombe alaska but couldn't eat it, it was too sweet and too cold, I should have had the creme brulee instead but overall an excellent meal.

A cup of Assam tea the perfect way to wind up a perfect October day.

October 4...

A very cleansing day today.

The weather was very warm so I dug out my summer clothes and went through them firstly to find something to wear and secondly to change over the wardrobe. I can't fit all the seasons into my small wardrobe so have to rotate the clothing. It was good to remind myself of the nice items I have and to try on some that I thought I wouldn't wear again. My fitness and weight loss has given me back more things to wear. I have trouble parting with things and this is a good time to cull.

So I  packed up the winter items..I have left a good range as the weather will no doubt change again. Melbourne is renowned to have 4 seasons in one day. We know how to dress accordingly. Today was 31 degrees and on Saturday is will be just 15 with rain.

I also cleaned the house and made some inroads into clearing out the detritus left in Hayleys room. Its a bit hard for me to discern what is rubbish and what is just...rubbish. It all looks like rubbish to me.

The colour run ad is on the TV now and it is making me excited for the event. Countdown is on.

October 3...

Today is my birthday day!

I have had a lovely day doing what I like to do (and not having to go to work).

I met up with Little Sister and cycled part of the Skipton rail trail. The sun was shining and we got the wheels rolling. I think we did about 18km today and it was a really good ride. The terrain was either a bit easier than the Port Fairy rail trail or I am a bit fitter than I was in January. Probably a combinatin of the two. I got a gel bicycle seat in the morning and put it to good use today. My bottom and my legs are barely feeling it now.

I came home to a lovely bunch of flowers and made some of my favourite foods for dinner, including cake, and Hayley came home for dinner and a catch up. It is a new and unusual thing for us to get accustomed to, having a daughter as a visitor, but she seems to be doing well.

So it has been a good day. Lots of messages, texts and calls remind me of the treasures I have in my life, accrued over the last 50 years.

I am going to enjoy this last year of being in my 40's!

PS: we loved 'Kath & Kimderella' last night!

October 2...

Today was a glorious sunny day. Perfect for drying the washing but made my training run a little challenging. Every now and then I have a fabulous run and at times they are really hard work. I haven't worked out what the particular thing is that makes a golden run. I do seem to do better in the afternoons so it might be an intake thing. I would have thought, like this morning, about an hour after breakfast should be a peak time but today I really struggled and running solo means you give up easier.

Just 12 days before the 10 k.

Erin and I are heading off now to the movies to see the Kath & Kimderella film. We love the humour of Kath & Kim so we should come out with some new quotes to toss about.

Noice.

October again...

In celebration of my birthday this month I will again post every day in October.

Erin and I attended the Royal Show today and despite my abhorrence of crowds I enjoyed myself. I had a free pass which saved us about $60. We watched dogs, horses and trucks perform but missed out on the wood chopping and cooking demos. We found the Grammar's art entries but couldn't find the cake entries amongst the hundreds of submissions. There is something sad about seeing loads of  cross sections of now stale cakes and the criteria for a winning cake seems to be fairly subjective. We wandered through the 'farm to plate' and fresh foods pavilions. We went on the roller coaster and bought just one $5 showbag. After forking out $20 to park the car I think I got out of there relatively spared.

This one is for all the crochet addicts out there.

Erin needed a lot of convincing to go on the roller coaster, she even wanted to get off once we were buckled in, and it wasn't the scariest ride on offer but tells me now it was her favourite part of the day. Another step towards conquering fears.

And good news...Chris has run his malware program and seems to have cleaned up my mess. I hope you weren't affected. See you tomorrow