We also went to the beach

And the girls had a great time collecting shells, while Luca had fun throwing the shells in the water - and getting drenched in the process. This may be the tropics, but it's not that warm in the water.

We've also been to the waterpark on The Strand a couple of times, had a bbq, went to a free open air movie last night - some Looney Tunes thing, complete with Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester and Tas walking through the crowd.

The family are on Magnetic Island today while I stay here and catch up on boring stuff - paying bills, fixing my bike (never cycle with a flat tyre..!!) and backing up everything on my computer. Had a major scare last night as everything shut down and no hard drive could be detected. A call to the Dell tech support solved all my problems, and I am now almost a computer geek myself. Well, I have the direct phone number for support in case something else goes wrong. But everyone, pay attention! BACK UP YOUR STUFF NOW!!!!! I was heartbreakingly close to losing the 200-odd pictures and hours (okay, minutes) of video I've recorded of the kids!

Where we've been

We went to the rainforest where it was, as you may expect, raining. Hence the foggy pictures (it may have been my fault for getting the camera wet...)




I never thought I'd see a nappy on my chopping board. Don't worry, it was clean!!! Just a sign that there are children in my house at the moment.

Away...

I'll be out of blog-action for a while. My sister and her children are staying with me for two weeks so I've been having fun showing them around where I live. Will catch up when I can.

It's done

The red quilt (and white and blue) is finally finished. And just a couple of days before it will be needed (I think). Quilting this one wasn't nearly as painful as some of my other quilts have been, but I was glad to get it finished.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

I'd like to put in a fancy title, but Blogger is REALLY making me mad now. I managed to load up thirteen photos, but do you think I can load up the title photo? Of course not. So instead, I give you a long-winded rant about why you have no super-cool TT title. Okay. Rant is over

If you were hoping for the Thursday Thirteen of last week - you know, the phenomenal, change the world, never to be able to live without, seminal and moving Thursday Thirteen that I couldn't load because Blogger was being, well, Blogger - then I'm really sorry to disappoint you. You see, I WAS LYING! Blogger was being a bastard, but I used that as an excuse to not have to sit down and think of said groundbreaking TT for a while. And by the time I was ready to load up it was already Friday (how did that happen??). Anyway, I am now back and refreshed, especially after the long weekend (Queen's birthday holiday was Monday) and have produced, if not a world first, at least a pictoral Thursday Thirteen. This week I present-

Thirteen things hanging from my walls (and ceiling, in the case of #12)




1. A mask that I bought in Swaziland last century (mid 1999). I almost didn't get it into the country (Australia has super-strict quarantine laws). This is hanging in my lounge room.







2. A painting done by my sister. This is actually one in a series of three. It's pretty small - postcard size - and hangs with the other two near the front door.





3. A mirror I bought from a second hand junk sale at university a few years ago. I'm impressed that this shot didn't have glare from the flash in it. I'm not impressed that the reflection is of the ugly air conditioner on the other side of the lounge room.








4. A cork/tile thing that a friend brought back from Portugal for me. I'm not too sure what it's for, but it hangs in my kitchen.







5. A photo hanging in the bathroom. Apologies for the flash in the middle (or could it be a ghost....?). This was taken in Mossman, far north Queensland. I went to Cairns to see a Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd concert and detoured with a few friends to this gorgeous part of Mossman River. The water was icy cold, but it was the middle of the hot summer - lovely.






6. A calendar full of recipes of Mexican food. This month is Fruit Filled Chimichangas. Do you think I've made any of these recipes?? (The answer is no).







7. My artwork (ahem...). This is hanging in the bathroom. I have recently changed the colours in there from orange (ahem, again) to purples and whites. Which is why the turtle I bought for Luca (see earlier post) is white - I couldn't have a blue or red turtle ruining the colour coordination!!


8. Another photo of a photo (and another apology about the flash). This is Hinchinbrook Island - very close to the mainland, but very secluded because there is only one resort on the island and the rest is national park. It is crazily expensive to get there. But stunning. Many people go there to walk the Thorsburn Trail - it takes 3-5 days and is fantastic, I hear. Apart from the rats that will eat your food if you don't string it off the ground at night!




9. My nieces and nephew. In the spare bedroom. Such gorgeous pictures (such gorgeous kids). And look, no flash glare!!







10. My hairdryer. Well, it IS hanging on the wall. In the bathroom. Actually close to the sink. Very close to the sink. Maybe I should read that warning tag.






11. My artwork. Again. I wonder if this would be worth anything after I'm gone. Nah, I don't think so either. This is actually not quite so blue. It's hanging in the spare room and is part of the purple theme I've got going in there. Not that I like purple or anything.







12. A mobile I made. It also hangs in the spare room. My friend saw this and liked it so I made her a similar one for the new baby. Apparently he likes it, too.






13. Yes, the spare room again. And a clock I bought for 99c off eBay. Postage cost me $4!! I haven't changed the battery in a while so it's been 11:45 for a week or two now.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, please use the auto-link. And comments are always much appreciated. Only if you leave a comment will I visit your Thirteen and leave a comment in return....

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weekend project

I say that this project took a weekend, but really - I bought this coffee table from a garage sale ($5) about two months ago! I didn't take a "before" picture (imagine a two year old went to town with purple paint and something else (!!) under those tiles), so here are the "in-between" and "after" shots. With Hello being what it is, the pictures loaded up in reverse order (no, it was NOT my fault...!!). I sanded, repainted, varnished, and finally finished tiling it today. And now I don't much like the colours....

Home grown lettuce. Grown by my neighbour, not me...

For Luca

Please note that today's big purchase did not come from a garage sale. There are some things that I have to draw the line at and a second hand potty is one of them.

Only a week and a bit before the mob arrive. And I take some time off work. I can't wait.

Blame it on Blogger

I had a spectacular Thursday Thirteen lined up. I set aside time this morning to load up this Thursday Thirteen to end all Thursday Thirteens. I was so excited. I couldn't wait. I was ready to take the day off work just to play Thursday Thirteen all day.

And blogger was down for maintenance.

I can't complain too much about blogger (it is free, after all). But to deprive the blogging world of this phenomenal Thursday Thirteen? Well, that is grounds for a small bit of whingeing. But don't worry, I'm finished now.

My visitors

Kerri has been posting some amazing pictures of her New York springtime, with many stunning shots of hummingbirds. I mentioned we had something similar in the sunbird and here they are. The first two pictures are actually the first ones I ever took with my camera. A pair of sunbirds regularly visit my front garden and this day the male was very obliging and let me take these shots. Neither he nor his partner have been that friendly since, and will visit the garden and stay until they see the camera - then they're off.


These photographs I got off the web - http://www.birdway.com.au. The one below is the female. The male has a brilliant blue throat that sparkles in the right light.

They're a bit bigger than a hummingbird, and don't hover for as long. They nest around people's homes, with the nest hanging from tree branches - or even a piece of dangling string! And they build about seven nests - six are decoys and one will have the eggs in it. Seems like a lot of effort to me. Or maybe that's just the avian version of affluence - they have one main home and six holiday homes....?

My finds

So, as I said earlier, I was going to go garage saleing. After two houses, barely any petrol in the car and likewise money in the purse, I wondered what I was doing and decided I'd had enough. So I headed back home, via one last house and found this. A chest and a bookcase for the ridiculous price of $35 for the pair of them. They even delivered them to my house when I realised that I couldn't fit either of them in my tiny car. I've now had to rearrange the living room so that I can fit everything in and it's still a pretty tight squeeze. Pretty soon I'm going to have to have a garage sale of my own.

And the other day I went shopping and found these. Not nearly as fancy as Mar's new shoes, but I've already worn them all around (and outside of) town in the week that I've had them. Every girl needs a pair of red shoes, says me.

They're only cheap and will probably wear out/fall apart fairly soon-ish, but I'll get a lot of wear out of them until that happens, I think.

TT wrap up

Well, here is the overwhelming consensus resulting from my Thursday Thirteen:

Take the music off your blog.

Unless it is music I like. And unless there is a stop button near the top of the page.

But really, no-one need worry about the content of their blog - you post what you like and if others (me) don't like it, that is their (my) problem - which is what I do with my blog. Am I just now giving unsolicited advice...? Hell, if you can't express yourself on a blog, where can you? There is an official "soapbox" in the middle of town where you can get up and have a rant for half an hour - but if you do, everyone thinks you're nuts and they get up and walk quickly away. And it's Townsville, not some huge metropolis, so your audience is small to begin with. And here, no-one really cares what you think, anyway. But I digress. I meant to say that none of you need worry - if I don't like a blog, I don't comment on it. Simple. So you're all gems in my book. (Though there are some blogs that I do like and don't comment on.... how deep is this hole now, and where are the steps to get out??)

I did want to add that I was really impressed that almost everyone left a comment as well as a tag. Yes, after posting about how I want the tags AND the comments, there were still a couple of tag-and-runners in there. But I am over it, truly I am. They obviously didn't read my seminal post, and their lives will be that much more deprived because of it.

Enough ramble - a shopping centre is having a 4-day shoe sale. And there are a few garage sales I want to check out - I'm thinking if I actually go to some of these early, there will be some cool stuff to snap up.