THE JOYS OF BEING A GRANDPARENT

Being a Grandparent is one of the greatest joys in life .... we are fortunate to have 13 grandchildren plus three 'surrogate/foster' granddaughters and four 'surrogate/foster' greatgrandies ...



Nowadays, many families live far away from their grandparents, or parents have children later in life and the grandparents are either too old to help with raising the children or have already passed away. Therefore, an additional attachment figure for the children as well as support for the parents, is missing. Parents notice this particularly when they have difficulty finding the time between their jobs and household duties to take care of their children in the loving and patient way they would like. But there is a solution: finding a surrogate grandparent. 

A new organisation has emerged which links 'surrogate' Grandparents and families .....www.findagrandparent.org.au.  There is no charge for Grandparents registering however you are required to go through the National Police Check to be approved - for families there is a small fee, but the rewards would definitely outweigh the cost. 

QSkin Survey

I recently received an invitation to participate in the Q Skin Study .... what is the Q Skin Study you might ask - well its the largest medical research study every conducted in Queensland.  The Q Skin Study needs Queenslanders aged between 40 and 69 years from all backgrounds to take part.  A very large study group is needed to be able to find the rarer causes of skin cancer and to be sure that the findings apply to as many people as possible.

What do you need to do .... just visit www.Qskin.qimr.edu.au and fill in the survey form and two consent forms .... doesn't take long 15-20 mins .... lets all do what we can to prevent and cure melanoma and skin cancer.

LAZY DAYS....AND NOT SO LAZY DAYS!

It has been a while since I 'blogged'......thats because my life has been so full ..... 
Christmas was wonderful, its been a few years since we had a child in the house on Christmas morning ....having Rob, Shell and my Princess Lilly here made for a very memorable time - now I need to find time to scrapbook the memories.....had an enjoyable though very wet day at Movie World and not just from the Wild West ride, it was the wettest day of the holidays but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm or fun.  Our love of cricket has taken us to the Gabba three times this summer ....we witnessed some great innings and wins by the Aussies, Cameron Whites century in the one dayer against Pakistan was brilliant, as was Ricky Pontings hundred last Sunday against the Windies.  Once again we were spoilt at Christmas and received tickets to Le Grande Cirque.....absolutely awesome, loved it.  
And they said it wouldn't last......Bill & I celebrated our silver wedding anniversay with a trip to Darwin....the weather was very hot and steamy, can't believe I didn't shed kilos with all the perspiring I did!  The Katherine Gorge was all I had imagined and more.....and we had a wonderful cruise until a tropical storm suddenly appeared, the blue skies suddenly went dark, wind gusts blowing the heavy rain straight at us.....we got thoroughly soaked - yes even wetter than day at Movie World! my socks and sneakers were waterlogged, even my underwear was wringing wet and we had to sit 4 hours in the bus back to Darwin.....even a dinner stop at Adelaide River didn't help dry us out.....Barrumundi was on the menu, and those who know me well know I am not a fish eater, however I tried the Barra and must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it....even pinched an extra half piece off Bills plate - not really he being the wonderful hubby he is gave it to me....
Its taken almost a year to set up but my Pandora style jewellery business is starting to take off....had lots of internet sales www.oztion.com.au/shop/RV-Designs.aspx and next Friday have the first Party booking...
My life was blessed late November when I met Juni - this zany, enthusiastic lady has a heart of gold, gives all and expects nothing .... on Friday came round and revamped our little front garden.....complete with a birdbath from her own backyard.....amazing how you just click with some people.
Had planned to go down to Tweed Heads today but its overcast and raining....a good lazy Sunday for staying home .....Big Fish -Big Fish Games Homepage have some great new games out, might have to try them....love being able to play them for an hour FREE.....I have bought quite a number of them.....
Yes, football is back.....and the mighty Dogs had a win over Brisbane at Canberra last Sunday....I'm looking forward to this season......maybe 2010 will be our year...........GO DOGGIES.....
Till next time......

Time Waits for No One!

I can't believe it has been so long since I was last here!  Wow, so much has happened in that time......once again my beloved Doggies were beaten in the preliminary final, and as its now history I'll refrain from mentioning that a certain St Kilda player received special treatment from the umpires and a match turning free kick in front of goal......bring on season 2010 - with Big Bad Barry now a Bulldog our forward line with have the height its been lacking....2010 will be our year!  With my doggies out of the GF I was supporting Geelong, just know Dad was 'up there' cheering them on too!  Next day was my great nephew Ethans 5th birthday which was celebrated with a party in the park, Jen forgot the music for pass the parcel, so Pete just had to sing and guess what, he only knew one song  that day - We are Geelong, greatest team of all.....it was a fun day....just love kids parties and fairy bread!

In September we had a fabulous weekend at Maroochydore celebrating Al's 60th birthday, it was fantastic catching up Jan & Al's boys, Darren, Glen & Corey hadn't seen them all together for 18 years.  'The Party' was a cruise up and down the Noosa River, great food and those blue vodka daquiri's certainly went down well!  Jan & Alan have now moved on from Aquavista and between management jobs they spent a couple of weekends here with us......Jan, Al & I were lucky enough to go to a special matinee session of Outback Spectacular, I'd been to the original show but must say I really enjoyed the new tribute to the Lighthorse Brigade so much, Outback Spectacular provides great value, a three course meal which includes, beer, wine, soft drink, tea and coffee, a spectacular show of horsemanship and history lesson....if your'e on the Gold Coast its one theme park not to be missed.
In between then and now I celebrated another birthday, started with a family breakfast at Northcliffe surf club and then the day was mine....Bill had suprised me with a spontaneous gift - a Coles Myer gift card, to some this may be nothing exciting but to me it was as he usually gives me someting I've hinted at, chosen or bought myself.....so we went shopping, he was flabagasted that I bought a blender with some of my $'s....yes, but its an ice crushing blender, mmmm now I can make my own daquiri's! The following week we celebrated with Pete Carol & PJ our birthdays for the year....somehow it took us from March to October to organise!!.....at Mario's at Broadbeach, the best Italian Restaurant on the coast and not just because Paul Dimatina played for the Bulldogs! never had anything but superb meals there.

Nelson Samuel BP was scheduled to enter the world on October 16 and I had a great time the previous Saturday at Kellie's baby shower.....Melbourne Cup Day we called in to meet him and of course I just spent about an hour nursing him....guess it won't seem anytime and he'll be running round helping Dad & Mum at BP Johnson Street.

Bill & I have been taking RV Designs (http://www.oztion.com.au/shop/RV-Designs.aspx ) jewellery to a couple of the Sunday Markets, getting up at 4am does'nt seem too bad, but its the following day I was exhausted yesterday I ended up having a Nanna nap.  On Sunday at Labrador we were next to Tracy, who had a lovely array of handmade gifts and all at really cheap prices, I bought a bookmark for ????? which fits on the corner of the page, very pretty.....hoping to set up next to Tracy again this week at Ashmore.  Tracy also has an on-line Scrapbooking & Craft supplies - yes....I'm excited....I've checked out the website and the prices are spot on! ....yes, there will be an order from me......check out her website for yourself www.my2angels.net  and also Tracy's blog for some great ideas .....I've just gotta try the tissue idea, thankfully I get an enforced though unpaid month off from around December 17 and I'm planning to do a few scrapbook pages then - last touched at Easter! 
Bill and I are currently going through our old music tapes and vinyl and trying to replace them with CD's......lots of them are compilation tapes of various artists and many single tracks are available as MP3 so it looks like we might need to invest in an Ipod for our Christmas gift to each other.....also starting to have our home video tapes put to DVD, the Family tape will need to be edited......not censored....just edited we did sort of tend to go overboard filming when the video camera was a new invention!!!  
Unfortunately this year I had to miss tripping to Sale to witness Dylan in the school play as it clashed with Al's birthday bash which we'd RSVP'd to months before and to be truthful flights were just too expensive (week before school hols) was really disappointed to miss him particularly as he won the Perpetual Encouragement Award, which has encouraged him to continue with drama next year when he enters senior college....this is D receiving his award from Dr Marshall.

The Princess had her 7th birthday last week - Rememberance Day - and had a cooking birthday party, seems like they had a great time.....we are counting down the sleeps 'till Lilly and her Mum & Dad arrive in Qld for Christmas....36 to go.

Gosh its almost time to get ready to adopt out a few more penguins........so 'till next time, take care .......Go Doggies in 2010 with Bazza & Akka....woof woof!!

DREAM....DREAM....DREAM

'Dreams are like rainbows: always in sight but not always within reach'

What a great win by the Doggies again on Friday night....my brother was spared listening to the Bulldogs theme song as the match was on Friday night and it was a little too late to call him and Saturday I had to be at Varsity Lakes by 9am so it was a little early to ring him, so I simply sent him a text saying 'woof woof'. My dream of a Bulldog flag just may come true in 2009!

Have spent the past three days at the new Mater Hospital Prize home at Varsity Lakes - and it was great to listen to people and their dreams, 'now when we win I'd ...not if i win.....wouldn't life be dull if we didn't dream! There were some really lovely people who came to view the villa over the weekend - a couple of memorable ones were a 9 year old girl who wanted a ticket (Dad had to put it in his name of course) and used her left over lunch money, another was a little boy who was so dissappointed that the bedrooms only had big people beds. Now if I won, I could easily live in the furnished villa and if H & boys would move up to Qld I'd give her the unfurnished villa......yes another of my dreams.

Mater Prize Home lottery tickets are still only $2 which is amazing - just imagine winning two Gold Coast villas for $2 (valued at over $1.2million)....you can check them out on-line or visit the house at Azzura Drive in Varsity Lakes.....now come to think of it the Hope Island property isn't drawn till Friday.....so that dream is still alive!!

Speaking of dreams its time I prepared for dreams of the subconcious type....ie its bedtime.

Till next time, may the Doggies keep on barking!

FOOTBALL FANATICS

If asked to describe myself with one adjective I guess it would be Passionate
I'm sure that 4 of the 5 meanings listed in the dictionary apply to me - I'm definitely passionate about my family, my friends, scrapbooking, my political beliefs, social justice, the envioronment, the colour pink and my football team the Western Bulldogs. My passion for the Doggies is well known among my family....I'll miss family dinner on Sunday nights to watch 'my boys' play in twilight games, I know I become very vocal - in fact some may say bordering on 'ferral'....not real proud of that, but sometimes I hear words I really don't think came out of my mouth but there's no one else around! (lol)

Last night we went to the Gabba to watch the Doggies and the Lions, had great seats behind the goals (Lions Cheer squad end) surrounded by many families sporting Red, White & Blue but outnumbered naturally by Lions fans.....the Doggies showed us the tenacity that they have been showing earlier this year, yes I yelled and cheered and jumped up etc like a true footy fan, enjoyed the delight of the two young boys (who probably were amused by an old lady getting so fanatical) behind me and didn't mind how many times I got knocked on the head by their flag....

No matter how passionate and fanatical I am about my Doggies I could never resort to the low antics of the Brisbane Lions female supporter who threw beer over Brad Johnson.....I hope that today after seeing herself shown on TV that she is ashamed of her behaviour.....sure it didn't hurt him, but next time her anger overpowers her at a sports match it may not be just liquid she throws.....compared to other codes of football AFL supporters and players bring less ill-repute to their code, lets keep it that way.

pas⋅sion⋅ate
Pronunciation [pash-uh-nit]
–adjective
1. having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling; fervid: a passionate advocate of socialism.
2. easily aroused to or influenced by sexual desire; ardently sensual.
3. expressing, showing, or marked by intense or strong feeling; emotional: passionate language.
4. intense or vehement, as emotions or feelings: passionate grief.
5. easily moved to anger; quick-tempered; irascible.

Have been busy this week adding more shopping links to my other blog and more beads and bracelets to our Oztion Vshop
hope you find time to have a look.

Till next time
Go Doggies!

LIGHT AND BLESSINGS

The year is again fly by way too fast, its almost August and the footy season is heading towards the final few home and away rounds. Looking forward to going to the Gabba to see my beloved Bulldogs play against the Lions.

Went to another Night of Light last night at Carrara, all I can say is WOW - the meditation sessions were fantastic and Lauren Kurth with her crystal bowls was amazing -I had never heard them played before.....I came home so much more at peace with myself - something which was needed after the huge 'melt down' I had on Thursday, a culmination of a few things - some my own doing as I do tend to be an ostrich and bury my head in the sand when it comes to things I know I will find unpleasant and I have been over doing things trying to get my web sites and jewellery business up and running....all came to a head with some immature antics/attitude of a family member, I've always put family needs before my own, and I was extremely upset and hurt to think that the person I supposedly had upset who was, to my way of thinking, had been inconsiderate of time therefore almost causing me to be late for an important appointment, then wasn't mature enough to tell me she was upset but left it to her husband to approach my husband....last night helped me rid myself of all the 'needless emotions' ....its that persons problem not mine now!
Gaia holds these nights on the Gold & Sunshine Coasts, Brisbane and is extending further down to the Tweed Area, if you ever get a chance its well worth the $10 entry fee (cost a lot more for a private healing session) .....check out the website
Lauren also has a website..www.thegoldenlighttemple.com
Am about to tackle another job where I have been an osterich or thought a fairy may come and wave a magic wand and it would be done......yes getting all the data into Quicken ready to take to the accountant so we can submit our tax returns....so had better get on with it.
Just wanted to share this information with you......we can all do with some light and blessings in our life.
Go Doggies