old endings and new beginnings

hello to those who still read this little old blog of mine...i must apologise for my lack of posts but life seems to get in the way.  i have been nightfilling quite a bit lately which takes me away from any free time i might have dedicated to blogging. 

so what i have decided to do is stop adding to this blog and concentrate on updating my other blog once a week.  my itty bitty and pretty blog was meant to be a blog for my crafting endevours while this blog was for my family adventures, however if i am to update at all it makes sense to cull one and allow time for the other.

while i am sad to let this blog go, i am comforted by the fact that it will always be here and at any time i can pop back in and read old posts or even add a new one if it takes my fancy. 

so come follow me over at itty bitty and pretty if you'd like.  it will be a mix of craft and family life and my latest floral creations.

and before the clock strikes 12 and closes on the first day of january...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  i hope and pray that your year is full of wonderful moments and happy memories and that you stay safe and in good health and that you have all that you wish for. thank you for your kind comments over the past few years and i do hope to see you over on the other blog.

xxx rosey

august is craft month...

just a quick post to tell my local followers of some craft sessions at one of our local libraries.  my best friend Julie has recently become team leader of the banyo library and has organised some arts and craft classes lessons to be held in august.  she has asked me to share the details here on my blog and hopes to see lots of wonderful crafters come along.
basic patchwork with Chris tasker  tuesday 2nd august 2-3:30pm
quilting demonstration with Chris tasker tuesday 16th august 2-3:30pm
felting workshop with Julie tasker wednesday 24th august 10:30-12pm
bobbin lace making with Chris tasker tuesday 30th august 10:30-12pm

bookings essential call banyo library on 3403 2200 
i don't think there is a cost involved but you can clarify that when you call to book a spot.

cheers xxrosey

bad blogger...this time i dont mean me

blogger is driving me mad!! it seems to have changed and it is taking me ages to load photos....i give up!!!! unless you all have some good advice for me.
xxxx

i'm in love again!

not only am i a good aunty i am a great aunty!!! yes that's right my gorgeous niece Renata welcomed Nathan Edward into the world on the 22nd of May weighing in at 8lb 8oz. hubs Matthew is over the moon proud and of course has a new found respect for his wife. i have visited with Nathan once at his home and then a week later at his uncles 18th birthday party and haven't been well enough to see him since....i have the dreaded cold again, this time seems to be worse than the last which seems near impossible! anyhow i will get my fix soon enough and as you can see from the photos he is a beautiful and very well loved. he has managed to meet his great grandparents, aunties and cousins on Renata's side and was passed around like a lucky charm. grab a cuppa and enjoy the photos. and get a glimpse of my family ~_~

my first cuddle...love at first sight!

4 days old...looks so much older

yes that is a real connection we have going on

ah love that! great lungs...time to pass him back ~_~

the loving gaze of mummy

great aunty Anita having her first cuddle (my sister)

and my sister melissa, proud grandmother of nathan

proud grandfather Vincent with Matthew in the background

my father...great grandfather Boris

great aunty narelle (my sister)

uncle Tristan, Renata's brother

and the birthday boy uncle Dylan.

i love babies, they make the world a better place. now i have to concentrate on getting better so that i can go for more cuddles!!

have a great long weekend.

xxrosey

our blossoming garden

this year for mothers day i asked for a garden. my request was simple. ground cover roses, some flowers and a little ground cover plant that would spread between the spare spaces. i added a little herb garden to my list as well, once again simple foods that we were sure to eat. so on mothers day we traipsed off to the local nursery and each picked a rose and lots of other pretties for the planned plot. nurseries are such lovely places, i could spend ages dreaming of how i could buy every plant and create my own garden oasis...anyhow after spending way more than i expected we headed home to prepare our plot and plant our bounty. we had such a great time as a family and have been rewarded with full vases every week and fresh lettuce and other greens for our salads. we even cleared out the cubby house and created a coffee house where we seem to spending most of our time now...very nice indeed. i am so glad i asked for a garden, not only am i enjoying my flowers but i am enjoying the time spent with mick and the girls each afternoon.

preparing the soil

finding rather large inhabitants...sign of good soil ~_~

plants are in and waiting for some mulch

one of the roses ready to bloom

pretty ground cover

loads of pansies which just haven't stopped blooming. so pretty and a great reminder of my childhood

picture perfect rose, Claudia chose this one.

some of the rock art survived. we need to make some more for our new improved garden.

local resident

the passion fruit is still fruiting, expecting it to slow down soon. truly THE tastiest passion fruits ever!

my little herb garden. lettuce, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, chives, basil and parsley.

mmmm, cant wait for this little fella to turn red.

i have been picking flowers ever since we planted the garden. i was told the more i picked the pansies the more they would grow and that advice was right.

i bought these little bud vases at the thrift shop. some people think the ones with the roses on the vase are tacky but i just cant get enough of them.

there is so much more to show but i think i have overloaded on photos once again.

hope your week is full of sunshine.

xxxrosey

i get by with a little help from my friends..and $5000!!

it is hard to believe that more than a month has passed since i last wrote on here and it seems that a whole lot has happened in that time. i am still dealing with my anxiety day by day and gaining strength every time i beat the battle that rages within me. as my blog title says i have also gained strength from my family and friends and most importantly you gorgeous bloggers who left messages and emails to make sure that i was OK. thank you from the bottom of my heart! the second part of the blog title is also true...i won a competition run by Woolworths (local grocery company). the total prize value was $5000...a cheque for $3500 to go towards the mortgage, $1000 in grocery vouchers and $500 in petrol vouchers. it couldn't have come at a better time, i was so thrilled and shocked that i cried when the lady told me.

anyhow grab a cuppa because the hundreds of photos below explain how, with a little help from my friends and family i am managing to smile again

sisters night organised by my sister narelle and catered by each of us. narelle made an anti pasto (not sure if that is the way it is spelt) platter and a Greek salad for mains. Melissa made scrummy lamb and haloumi kebabs for main and an amazing pav (undressed photo below) which she is becoming famous for, well famous in our family circle ~_~ the photo is sideways but you get the idea...yum!! and Anita made a seafood paella and these truly cake shop worthy lime and vanilla creme macaroons...i think i ate more than my fair share of these little melt in your mouth treats. cant wait for the next batch. there isn't a photo of me but i made creamy garlic prawns for entree and provided the dressing for the pav. spending a night with my sisters is very good medicine for the soul, next time we are bringing our pillows for a sleep over! at the beginning of April we trudged up the hill to my hometown of toowoomba to attend the 40th birthday party of one of my best friends. we were lucky enough to stay with the gorgeous Miranda (Claudia's godmother) and her partner Paul. even though Miranda is suffering complications through her pregnancy, she thoroughly spoilt us; pizza and videos for the girls while we went to the party. she even sent me a pic of the girls having a great time so that i could relax and enjoy the night. my special friend Mir...we have know each other since 1987... 24 years of friendship and not one fight!! cant wait to meet the little bundle of joy, what a lucky baby to be born to such a loving mother and father. ready for some good advice?, if you are feeling blue...put on a seventies costume and surround yourself with good friends, open a couple of bottles of wine and dance to the best music ever! here is the birthday boy, Darren, with his gorgeous wife Sarena these two hunks belong to... these two spunks. can you work out who belongs to who?? here is my Micky boy with my sister Anita...mick is totally dressed in clothes owned by Anita..the chest hair is his own ~_~ don't they just look the part! i love this photo. and here is a photo of 3 of my best friends...each of these ladies fills my soul to the brim each time i see them. from left to right. Julie, Tina and Kylie. i have know juls and Tina for 24 years and Kylie for at least 30 years...i truly love these gals with all my heart. i love this photo of Darren, Sarena and Anita. here i am with Kylie, her husband heath and daggy.

two best friends..Julie and Anita posing for a photo...coats supplied by Anita... and what seventies party would be complete without a dance to the nutbush?!? fun fun fun it really was a tonic for my soul... i laughed so much i had to have my Ventolin! we followed up with a lunch out at Sam and Simon's house (hippie chick and Afro boy) and then headed back down the hill to reality.

now let me set the scene before i received the good news about our windfall...earlier in the week i had rang the bank and reduced out mortgage repayments by $800 a month for the next 3 months which would help us get through until mick returns to work in July. of course we will have to pay over $3000 for the following 3 months to catch up but by then a bit of a regular income will be coming in so in theory we should be able to do it...

mick finished his 3 week contract and just as he said well that's the end of the money for a while the phone rang. the lady on the phone proceeded to tell me that i had won $5000 worth of products. after much toing and froing about whether it was my sister playing a joke on me i started to cry because the amount for the mortgage was $3300 and she was giving me $3500 to go towards our mortgage. she said she had made plenty of people cry this week and assured me that the money would be mine after Easter... i think i should frame this! the cheque is already in the bank ~_~ it really is a blessing to have $1000 for groceries and $500 for petrol...i have been able to buy the girls some warm clothes for winter because i have this extra 'cash'. you only hear about these sorts of things happening to other people..well now you know it really does happen! i must thank my sister Anita for reminding me to go online and enter the competition.

thanks for all of your warm wishes...i feel like the clouds are lifting.

xxrosey

blue days

unfortunately the title of this blog doesn't refer to the colour blue but rather the emotion of being blue...yep that big black hole has been getting wider and wider threatening to swallow me up again. it is hard to explain anxiety, it is hard to pin point it to one thing, but rather it is many many small things that to a rational person seem so insignificant but when i am feeling this way they are insurmountable and send me into a tailspin where even breathing becomes difficult. i have spent much of last week crying and battling with the rational part of my brain...it is a battle that keeps me up half the night, all in my mind and usually leaves me feeling like a failure and disappointed in myself. the hardest part for me is that mick is going through similar feelings of depression and i don't feel like i can support him, on the contrary i feel like i am another problem for him to deal with, not that he would ever think like that. he supports me with so much love...i am so lucky to have him in my life and of course my wonderful sisters, father, family and friends. anyhow i guess when i feel this way the first things that seems to stop are the things that make me happy...i haven't blogged in ages, crafting/sewing has come to a complete stand still, taking a walk with the girls hasn't happened for a few weeks, missing 'play' dates with friends etc...

in an attempt to inject some 'happiness' into my soul we decided to take a day trip to the botanic gardens and just be present as a family...well it worked (for that day at least) i actually remember stopping mick and telling him that i feel happy, it was a strange feeling because it was genuine and i hadn't felt that way in a long time. apart from the petrol the whole day cost us $20 for a family of 5 and that was spent on ice-creams for the girls and some treats from the bakery for lunch. what a wonderful way to spend 6 hours! wish we had worn one of those things that measures how many steps you take @_@

as you can imagine i took heaps of photos and i have just about included them all in this post!

enjoy

3 reasons to get out of bed in the morning

the ponds were full of lillies, breathtaking!

we saw so many ducks, we started seeing them in our food..can you see the little cheesy duck here on lili's bun?

we feasted on ginger and lime macaroons lovingly made by my super talented sister Anita...they really were divine.

we marveled at how God could create such a leaf...the colours and the shape truly astounded us all.

we had fun in the fernery, we each took turns sitting on this fellows lap.

aaahh my favourite part of the gardens.. the Japanese gardens. i really would like to recreate such a look in our own back yard but wouldn't even know where to begin

by the way, i have not adjusted any colour on any of the pictures. after all the rain we have had the parks were lush and so alive..it really added to the experience.

a nice spot for a photo

the bonsai house, this was a favourite amongst us bonsers ~_~

we took a break to listen to the band play...free entertainment, what more could you want?

we saw plenty of these guys but this one had to be the biggest of the lot!

we ended the trip with a visit to the top of mount Cootha and took in a magnificent view of Brisbane. you could see the muddy river and could only imagine what the view would have been like at the time of the floods.

we had such a wonderful day together and for that moment in time i forgot about my anxiety and simply enjoyed my family. of course the rest of the week fell apart but hey here i am blogging about it which must mean i am trying to get myself out of the blue and into the brightness of happiness.

i am taking each day as they come, small steps, small victories, no pressure.

any tips on how you make it through your tough days would be much appreciated.

hope to be back soon

xxxrosey