Leaky Tap...

The tap in question... with the leak to prove it. :(

Must say have not had this problem before... A leaky tap. Not in any of our built houses have we ever had to change a washer or anything. Lucky I think...

This time around there are no more washers these days as we quickly discovered at Reece Plumbing when we went in there yesterday... These days you have to replace the cartridge. The washer would have been a couple of cents... A cartridge costs $27.90!!! Better work is all I can say...

Cheers Damaris

Horse Endurance Ride...

Some of the kids counting their loot...

Fiona, Phoebee and James selling Dinner Tickets...

Sunday Morning... Very chilly indeed...

Carly, P&C President running the show :)

Our lovely Principal, Mr Polis...

Emma and Joshua in their get up. :)

Maryvale was taken over a couple of weeks ago... There were a couple of hundred endurance riders down at our Cricket Oval as well as vets and support staff... It was amazing to watch them in action.

Our School's P&C had the honour of feeding them and we did a great job even if I do say so myself... Was allot of work from the Saturday we started at 10am and went till about 9pm at night. Back again the next morning at 5am and didn't leave until about 3:30pm that afternoon...

Was well worth it though as I know we are able to help our kids more with funds raised... Was great to work along side a bunch of very fine people...

At one point Joshua and a couple of the other kids dressed up with the dress up clothes from school... Joshua and Emma ended up doing the rounds down where the riders where and having them in giggles. Joshua said it was allot of fun pretending he was a girl with boobies. :) lol

Cheers Damaris

Failsafe Easter goodies...

Comes out easily... Yeah, right... :(

Best turned out bunny egg...

Well we tried the new moulds that we got from Robin's Kitchen... Lady says... Yes off course it just slips out. I have some at home... Yeah, right... Not!!!

The marshmallow Easter bunnies as well as the Easter eggs didn't fare so well... Marshmallow is lovely though all the same. :) Russell has tried some Easter eggs with white chocolate first as the outside coating and then jelly in the middle with more white chocolate on the top.

We have realised that it is virtually impossible to make anything for Easter failsafe. So we have done what Sue Dengate has suggested and gone for white chocolate as that has allot less amines in it then other chocolate...

The boys will only have a couple each anyway. They are not much for sweets. Russell and I will skip it altogether. Not like that stuff is what Easter is all about anyway...

Cheers Damaris

Happy Easter :)

My decorated Oster Strauss :)

Frohe Ostern :)

This weekend, I hope you all have a safe and happy Easter... We will be celebrating Easter just with our immediate family. Timothy is still at Blue Care till tomorrow and then we are all home for the rest of the weekend. We will be staying off the roads. lol

We will also be celebrating the true meaning of Easter. :)

Cheers Damaris

Joshua at the Skate park...

Russell and I on our little walk...

Joshua getting ready to jump. :)

Just about hitting that jump :)

In Warwick we have a great skate park that the boys love to go to. Today was Joshua's turn on his own... Most of the time that we were there he was either on his own on it or there was only one other child there too... He had a great time. At first he was a little scared as he had not been there for a while and needed the confidence to give it a real go. He was scared of the jumps...

Russell and I went for a walk and left him to it. We knew that he was safe. By the time we got back from our little walk he had it done and dusted. He was bursting with pride and loved showing off his re found skills... Was lovely to watch him. He was also the only one that didn't take a break from riding...

In the end we left as there were little toddlers being let on by their parents and allot of others turned up. Was great that we got there early and that he had plenty of time to try out whatever he wanted to. :)

Cheers Damaris

Free to air Satelite TV

Support for the Dish going up. :)

Dish being fastened onto supports...

This is another step closer to getting the TV on... Still not sure about it all but is exciting to watch Russell do all the work anyway... Joshua has also been helping and so have I in some small ways...

There are still bits we are waiting for in the mail and hopefully they will come next week so that I can watch The Wedding. lol

Cheers Damaris

Helping hand...

Fiona was over the other day giving Joshua a lesson on the guitar. He has been having problems with the metal strings so I got him some nylon ones... Fiona even showed Joshua how to change them and restring his guitar... Was so lovely of her... :) She has a truly generous heart. xo

Cheers Damaris

What a lovely boy...

Off his own bat Joshua has been making my bed in the morning... Had to brag... What a lovely thing to do for me... Two days in a row last week he did it :) And you know what??? He does it just like I do... He has been watching me. lol

Thanks Josh xo

Cheers Damaris

Allergy testing...

The itching was worse than the pricking... lol

Joshua had to go and see the specialist again couple of weeks ago... He didn't need to stay on the books for the sleep clinic as he doesn't stop breathing at night anymore but they did want to test him to see what he was allergic to now. Last test was done when he was four so we were hoping things may have changed...

Well the result was good in one way and predictable in others... Yes he is still really allergic to cats and to dust mites. But he is not allergic to dog hair anymore. That has been a great relief as the doctor was hinting at us to get rid of the two that we have seeing his allergies are so bad... Never fear all is now good in this home. :)

Cheers Damaris

Treat Time :)

Bourbon and Lunch with the lovely Lisa :)

My lunch, yummmm

Love a foot massage...

Lisa is currently staying with her two kids at our place. She came Monday morning and will sadly leave in the morning... Yesterday we had an awesome day in Warwick not only going to Bryson's for lunch but we also ended up having enough time for a pedicure. :)

The four kids had a ball watching 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2'. Lisa and I also had a ball. :)

Cheers Damaris

Chookhouse alert :)

This is the chookhouse being built at school. I am putting on about a dozen eggs into my incubator over the holidays so that they can watch them hatch when they all come back to school. This enclosure will house a rooster and about four or five hens. It is massive and will have wheels in the end as well so that it can be wheeled around... Looking good :)

Cheers Damaris

Escape before the dogs find us...

Had a very interested Bailey the other day out the backyard wanting to get into a couple of stacked pots... I took out the top on and sure enough there were three frogs in there trying to hide... So cute. Had to grab them with wet hands and get them to safety. Glad Bailey didn't get them...

Cheers Damaris

Look what I scored...

Russell had his new iPad2 turn up the other week so guess what I got... Yep, I scored the old one. Love it and am getting really used to using it... So much easier to use than the iPhone. :)

Cheers Damaris

Kids having fun...

While at the a party recently the boys both got a chance to ride something rather new to them... They got a chance to ride on Power Wings... They loved them... Shame we only have a dirt road around here... No use here whatsoever...

Cheers Damaris

Silver Anniversary...

Yummy Mud cake :)

Victor and Karen...

The bridal party (2 missing) 25 years later...

Last Saturday our little family made our way to Brisbane for the day. We were helping Russell's Brother Victor and his wife Karen celebrate 25 years of Marriage... Congrats :)

Cheers Damaris

Must garden...

I have sooo many plants that need to get out of the greenhouse and into the ground... I need more time... Has not helped that I have been sick for nearly two weeks... Will get there these holidays I hope...

Cheers Damaris

Clucky again...

Cutie :)

Yes, Snow White has lost her babies... They have both grown up and are in the flock now but looks like she wants to have some more babies... She is sooooo clucky... Cute to watch. :)

Cheers Damaris

Loosing weight...

Yes I have lost allot of weight since the end of last year and have had a friend give me allot of clothes to tide me over on my way down... I am ever so grateful to Margaret (and her friend Kym) as it has saved me a fortune :)

One of these bags are full of clothes that I didn't want as wrong for my shape etc and the other bag is full of clothes that I could no longer fit into... Never going back to those sizes ever again... :)

I am shrinking and loving it :)

Cheers Damaris

Anzac Ceremony...

Had a great community turnout :)

Joshua getting instructions of what to do when...

The beautifully restored stone...

Anzac Day is this coming Monday but with school being on holidays we had seven diggers come out a week ago and hold a ceremony for the locals here. The council had just completed cleaning up the area too. The headstone was beautiful. The path around it had new pebbles put around it and also new plants had been planted. All the old was gone. On top of that we have had two new metal benches put in as well as the old rotten wood benches taken out. It is such a beautiful place now... Thank you Southern Downs Regional Council for such a fantastic job...

The ceremony was lovely too... Joshua got to do the flag... He was very proud of that one. Seeing it was his last one with Maryvale State School...

Cheers Damaris

Box World... by Warren Thomas :)

An overall picture...

CD's are in the windows...

Base of the graveyard is a keyboard :)

I realise I have been away for a while. I am so sorry for that. I have been really sick and not getting onto the computer at all. Today is the first time I have been on the computer since I last posted... I have been using Russell's iPad as he has the iPad2 now and been doing allot of computer work that way. Can't post from there though... Anyway I am back and must better. Throat is still sore and nose still running but better all the time :)

So Joshua and his school went to the Warwick Art Gallery last week of term and they saw 'Box World' which is made by a Tasmanian Artist Warren Thomas. The kids even got to meet him and he answered lots of their questions...

He is quite amazing really. It has taken him 12 years and the display that we saw was only 1/3 of what he actually has built. Takes two whole days just to set it all up. Everything you see in the pictures is recycled... From cans, bottles, CD's, straws, boxes, milk cartons... you name it :) Only thing that isn't recycled are the cars... Amazing stuff. :)

We have seen it three times now and keep taking other friends to see it as well. We just love it... And what's even better is that it is free to see as well. :)

Cheers Damaris

Sisters...

Lovely cakes made by my lovely Mum...

Sitting in my kitchen :)

Me, Tina and Lis... The three sisters. :)

I love my sisters. I have said that many a times but I really mean it... This last weekend I had the pleasure of spending it with them again. We also got a lovely visit from my mum. She brought two lovely cakes. Yummm. Time was spent just hanging.

I also went to a couple of markets as well. I love markets and like to go to them whenever the opportunity arises. Got some great bargains. :) Especially love the three tiered pot plant arrangement from an old guy that I got at Fernvale Markets. He was so lovely. :) Another favourite is that I finally have lemon grass again... Miss that from my last house. Also the two bird feeders I got were cheap and are really well made. One will go to the Hall for our coming up Cent Auction, the other is going out to the cubby. Josh loves it :)

All in all it was a lovely weekend and am glad that first weekend in June I am doing it all over again. :) Can't wait. :)

Cheers Damaris