Rain, rain go away.

G'day. We have had so much rain here over the last couple of days, that this area of the yard is awash with water. This is along the back side of the house, the previous owners really let this get overgrown. The ornamental ginger that covered most of this area was dug out some time ago and the raised garden bed is in the process of being cleaned up and will at some stage look lovely and I think we will just lay gravel on the ground.

Hubby thinks that the agi drain that runs below the surface here is blocked and therefore is not letting the water run off. On his way to do a plumbing job this morning, he said "Don't let me forget to have a look here when I get home". Meaning he will dig a fair bit of this area up to find out the problem and because it backs against the house, it has to be fixed otherwise we could have problems. 

You can see on the left side, something black with a white cover, this is actually a worm farm that some girls from work gave me. Needless to say, I haven't even opened it yet and no ,there are no poor suffering, suffocating  worms in it. I keep meaning to get it started, I can buy the worms at the hardware store here in town and at some stage will have lovely worm wee to dilute and nourish the garden, but it will have to wait, there are other things to do.

This lovely daisy bush always puts on a great show. It is one of my favourites.I have some daffodils bulbs in with it as well and when they bloom, it really looks quite pretty. In my last post I added a link to my new blog, but have been told that the page cannot be opened, so I will try again http://cottonreelcorner.blogspot.com    Maybe this one will work. Thanks to those who have let me know and as always thanks to everyone who responds to my blogs. I really do appreciate it. I am out of quarantine now, so a girlfriend and I are hitting the town and treating ourselves to lunch at a nice local restaurant and seeing that my friend is driving, maybe a small glass of wine might be in order. Oh dear, what a life.!!! Take care. Liz...

Flowers to brighten my day

 



G'day. This old watering can and  kettle belonged to my late mother in law. I asked hubby to drill some drainage holes in them so that I could use them as planters and I think they are just so lovely.



I got a shock to find these Irises growing in the area of the garden that we haven't bothered about yet. I decided to start to clean it up as the previous owners had really let it get very untidy. This area is on the side of the house and runs the full length of it and at some stage we hope to have it looking very pretty. The irises are growing among some sort of violet, but I have pulled most of this out now as it was taking over everything.

We have had over two inches of rain here yesterday, in a storm front that brought massive lightening displays, thunder that rattled the house (and dog) The weather bureau warned of flash flooding, hail as big as golf balls and they were right , we got it all. This is our lovely spring weather here in Melbourne, Australia and it doesn't dissapoint.

Thanks to everyone who has left lovely comments in regard to my thyroid problems and my  new car.  I had a phone call yesterday from the lovely American doctor who I was luckily enough to get to meet a few weeks ago. She is out here for a year ( with her family )working and studying in the hospital where I have had my treatment. She rang to enquire how I felt after the radiation dose and she answered a few more questions that I have been thinking about and has set my mind at rest over a few issues. So at the moment all is just peachy in my world.

I have even started another blog.  Cotton Reel Corner  This one is all about my sewing, quilting, embroidery etc. I really haven't fiddled with Blogger much since starting my original one and still have to get the hang of how to get the pages right, how to get the pictures to go where I want them and the words. Oh well, I will keep trying. Take care. Liz...









Oh, you sweet little car.

G'day. Well here she is. This is my newly acquired Toyota Echo and boy do I just love her. Of course I still love my old car, but being fickle, my thoughts are with this little beauty now. She is so cute, don't you think ?

Yesterday hubby and I went to the hospital so that I could have my thyroid treatment. This was a single tablet, that delivers a kick. It was housed in an lead container and hopefully it will fix my thyroid problems. I am now in quarantine, though at home. This little tablet contains radiation and therefore I must not venture out. Hubby has to keep his distance and so does our dear little dog to a certain extent. I have to wear gloves when preparing food, though hubby has taken on this task. Flush the toilet twice, wash my hands continually, drink lots and lots of fluids etc, etc.

I was told that my jolly old thyroid was running out of control and that a extremely overactive thyroid is dangerous. My metabolism has also shut down because of this. I wondered why over the last few months my appetite was increasing, I just wanted to gorge myself. Well, at least I feel marginally better that I can blame the thyroid. Apparently it controls so much and if it plays up, a lot can be blamed on it. If I get cranky I can say to hubby "Darn, it's my thyroid playing up"!!! Oh well, it might have been worth a try and of course, I would just happen to be one of these people  with an overactive thyroid who doesn't lose weight, quite the opposite in fact. Under very strict orders I have been told to eat fruit and veg, lean meat and try to cut out the carbs, otherwise I will be in trouble. I won't know for about six weeks if this one dose has worked, another blood test will tell that. So we will see and hopefully watching what I eat, I might shed a few kilos. I have also been told that it will be a battle and that  I will still want to eat all the time, because of the metabolism not working I have to try to control it myself until the thyroid loses it's power.

Back to my little beauty. We took my car yesterday for the hour long drive to the hospital and hubby asked could he drive it home, with me sitting in the back (we have to keep our distance). Well, he hasn't stopped raving about it, how fantastic it is on fuel, how comfortable the seats are, how good it handles on the road, how zippy it moves along, how this, how that. Of course I was sure of all of this anyway, but it's always good to get a great report from a guy who really does know a thing or two about cars and he takes pride in the fact that he was the one who said it was a good buy when it was between the Toyota or a Hyundai that I liked.

I wonder if I will have to fight him to drive it if we go on any trips. He loves it as much as I do and now I feel guilty that my old car doesn't feel loved, wanted or needed any more. Oh fickle, fickle me. Take care. Liz...

Farewell old faithful.

G'day. Tomorrow my new car arrives, though I have just told you a lie, it's not a "NEW" car, but it's new to me. Last Saturday I bought a Toyota Echo 2005 model.

Since the move to our new home and no longer having to drive on the long dirt road to our farm, I decided it was time to get rid of my lovely dual cab ute, petrol guzzler that it is and splash out on something a bit more economical and smaller. Hence the new wheels that I will be driving soon.

I will miss the old girl. I have had her for a number of years , but she does have a big motor in her and therefore just loves to see me spending a fair amount of money at the petrol pumps every week. She will  still be here for a little while yet though, as I have decided to sell her privately and until a good home comes along I will continue to look after her, even though I may not drive her again, not on any long distances at any rate. I will be sad when the day comes to see her for the last time, she has been faithful, reliable and trustworthy in every regard. Has never broken down and left me stranded and has always started first go, even on the coldest frosty mornings.

Will my new car be as good? It's no where near as old as my ute and has no where near the kilometers on the clock that old faithful has. It has a digital dash and a few bells and whistles, that no doubt will keep me amused for some time. Hubby of course had to test drive my little zippy mobile, after all he is the car man in this family, so I bowed to his knowledge and he proclaimed it a good buy. He is a bit concerned that the you beaut display panel will grab my eye instead of me watching the road. !!!! Does he think I am silly, is that what he is implying??? I have only ever had one serious car accident and that was many moons ago when a truck pulled out in front of me and then he couldn't get across the road because of oncoming traffic and the car behind me couldn't stop in time and slammed into the back of my lovely little red Pulsar and destroyed both our cars. I had hold of the steering wheel so tight that with the impact (I saw it coming) that the seat runner snapped and I bent the steering wheel nearly in half as we both went backwards. My seat belt saved me, there is no doubt about that.  Enough of the drama. I am a good driver, though I am not too sure about the majority of people on the road these days.

I will enjoy my little zippy car and will post a picture soon. Take care. Liz...

Just one of those days.

G'day. Do you ever have one of those days where everything just seems to go haywire? Well, the truth is I just should have stayed in bed and finished a book.

I have thyroid problems and needed a blood test, so decided to walk to the local agency, a four klm walk I might add, but knowing that I needed the exercise off I went, all well with that, got there in good time, but was too bushed to try the walk home, so on a bus I went, still good, all pointing to happiness. Arrived home rather tired, hungry and thirsty as I could have nothing from midnight the night before etc, etc. The guy to hang the last of our new curtains was waiting on the doorstep, he really wasn't suppose to be here until late afternoon, not 10.00am in the morning. Needless to say he wasn't happy and informed me he was getting ready to drive off. Now, I don't like being stuck with needles and I don't like rude people. So because of my tummy rumbling and the cup of tea that I was hanging out for, I was in the right frame of mind for his attitude to tip me over the edge. I won't bore you with the details, but I came out of this battle with honors. I had the answering machine message to prove that he was meant to be here in the afternoon. Drapes got hung, not many words were spoken between us, guy left with a squeal of tires down the road.

The above patchwork block was suppose to have been made a month ago, it's for a quilt to be given as a gift to the lady who donated a lot of fabric to the quilting group that I go to every Wednesday night, though to be honest I haven't been to this group for awhile. I haven't done any sewing for some time, with the move to the new house and various other reasons, but my obligation was to get it done or let one of the other members do it. I had trouble with the triangles, had to unpick some a few times, blah, blah, blah, finally got it done and was ironing the last bit when the swivel chair leg got tangled with the iron cord and down the iron fell, hitting the chair leg, as it would, on it's way to the carpet. The hot iron landed plate side down on the carpet, in my haste to pick it up to see if the carpet was burnt, I got my foot caught in the chair leg and down I went. Thankfully the carpet was ok as was I, but my lovely iron that I have had for a very long time had most of the top casing smashed from the impact of hitting the chair leg. Then at that very moment that I was lamenting my iron and  a sore knee from landing heavily on it, the door bell chimed. The man from the local thrift shop was at the door to pick up the TV cabinet that we didn't want anymore. He must have seen the look on my face, as he tenderly said "Is everything alright love, have I come at a bad time?" My frayed temper vanished at once, his kind words and gentle manner won me over. My working week starts again tomorrow, maybe I'll be safer there!!!. Take care. Liz...

Spring has arrived.

G'day. We are into the second day of Spring as I type this and the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful blue and all is pointing to happiness.

We have made a decision on a lounge suite and it should be here in about eight weeks or so. The color is a glorious red and a few friends have expressed surprise that we would go for something so different, but, hey, why not?

We have changed the lounge room around in anticipation of this lovely suite and have just bought a corner unit for the TV. The TV guy came this morning to put another socket in the wall, to accommodate this new change. Mind you, he was only here a few weeks ago, to do the same thing on the wall where the TV originally was, but after having a look at where things would be best put, we decided on another area to set up our new unit. No doubt the TV man likes us, after all, he has swelled his bank account considerably by coming here twice. As I bid him farewell, I commented that we probably won't see him again and he just smiled and said "Maybe you will change your mind again" Sadly, my brain didn't work quick enough to come back with a smart reply.  I thought of plenty as he drove out the drive though !!!!!!!

Hubby will be home soon from doing a plumbing job and we are going to look at tiles for the bathroom. A new vanity unit was put in last weekend and all of the old tiles will be pulled off soon and lovely large white ones will take their place. It's only a small bathroom and by using large white tiles, it will make it look a lot bigger, that's the theory anyway. Hubby hasn't decided if he will tackle this job himself or maybe get a tiler in to do it. I am cheering for the tiler, but time will tell.

We have started our garden out in the back yard. The photo shows our gorgeous little dog "Lucky" laying on the sugar cane mulch that I had just put down after I planted the small native bush  just across from him. He jumped up as soon as my back was turned and made a depression in the middle and settled in for a snooze. It didn't matter to him that half the mulch fell off.  Take care. Liz...