Those crazy lazy days of summer?

smell that?? it's the smell of summer, 1979

There are lots of people in Australia complaining today,It's the last official day of summer and most people feel we didn't have summer at all.If you listened to them you would think it had been like THIS for 3 months .

picture source

It has been mild...and wet. But for the most part,me personally, I've enjoyed it, I think I've only used the aircon 5 times in 3 months, 2 of those times may have actually been to warm the place up back in early December. It's been a pleasant relief to not be sticky and hot ALL the time , nor burn my hands on the steering wheel in the car... you'd have to pay me a lot of money to live in Queensland again I reckon.

I imagine if I was 17, young and chasing the sun and sand I'd be a bit miffed though.

I remember catching trains for an hour to get to Cronulla Beach to sunbake all day. A 2 km walk to the station to catch the railmotor.

picture source(old people must feel cold all the time?...oh..are that mans pants too short or is it just me?)

then change at Sutherland for the electric train to Cronulla, feet up on the seats ,one eye on the door for the conductor who would tell us to put them on the floor.The beach bag with the huge towel, Coppertone tanning lotion, reef coconut oil, packets of lifesavers,hairbrush lipgloss(vaseline) and hidden somewhere always the tampon, OMG..... if it rolled loose!!!

On arrival we would pick "the spot" this could take 10 minutes for maximum sun angle and view of any boys "talent" that looked promisingly "hunky",mind you we only watched them surf swim and play none of us were brazen enough to ever approach.

Roasting in coconut oil all day, the smell of the Coppertone, chips and potato scollaps in newspaper and thick milkshakes eaten on the beach, the slothlike feeling under the sun, such an effort to roll over or reapply the oil ,the argument over who was going to walk across the road to obtain the chips and shake and then everyone strolling across. Slipping on the hot thongs(flipflops) and the sand between your toes, an overall feeling of being like a cake randomly iced by a 3 year old with a spatula , sand and suncream.

Bananna or chocolate paddlepops all round while waiting for the train home, still feeling baked and gritty from the sand ,wondering if our "burn" will turn into "tan". Getting home to find blisters between your toes from the 2km walk back from the station with sand attached to the thong toe thingy had rubbed them raw. ahhh Bo Derek you have a lot to answer for !!

It was so much fun then, but today..I'd be too hot, the sand would bug me,I'd probably get a rash and the heat would make me dizzy...ahhh I'm such a whiner now .

Ha ,it's raining!!!

And they be .............

Here I am and there you Be

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We are in February....no way!! But there it is.

I seem to have hit the ground running in the New Year and kept going.

I am behind on all your blogs and will spend a day just reading and catching up on you all.

Thankyou for chasing me up, tis nice to be missed :)

I am ok.

Busy, freakin' tired, but ok.

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Danny was home for a month over Christmas/New Year. I say home loosely, as he did a couple of trips to Sydney and spent the month catching up with old friends.

Whoever said Army people are strictly disciplined and become obsessive compulsive... was WRONG. His room was as messy as ever by the end of a week! It did take him 2 days to stop looking at his watch, but the rest of the relaxing was instant. I imagine it was nice to not have to worry about how your uniform sits,where you are supposed to be or impending room inspections.

He has moved to another barracks for his language school for the next 6 months, starts training today actually.He expressed some concern over passing, but he will be fine, he puts full effort into everything he wants and makes it happen, I can't see this being any different.

While he was home he borrowed some money and bought a car. Army had already organised his trip home, so I got to drive down to Melbourne. Gemma had her fingers crossed that she could come as her last hurruh before babies, but she got big and uncomfortable quickly so the train trip home was out for her.Chloe volunteered to come along for the ride which was great as we could redo our earlier trip and this time have FUN.

Chloe and I orgainised ourselves into a small bag each and headed off in this :

It was a lot of fun to drive and surprisingly comfy, though Chloe found the seat too firm. She had a drive on the freeway, which seemed soo sloooow at 80km/ph after whizzing around on her motorbike , also taking up the whole lane was a little freaky for her, but she did well. Taking up the whole lane was freaky for me after my little car, surprised I parked it ok, but I did.

The trip was uneventful , thanks to Danny having a GPS in the car. Having said that, I still went past the motel TWICE. But in my defense the gps didn't recognise the actual address of the motel!

me after 7 hr drive lol

Hadn't got the key in the door when Danny rang to see where we were, rode his bike over, threw said bike in the back and took off. He came back at 7 to take us out for dinner at the club which was really nice. Next morning we all caught a train into the city to see HUGO. Great movie, I want to see it again.Danny probably does too, I have a sneaking suspicion he may have slept through it as he had a BIG night with mates for Australia Day.

After we left Danny to catch the train back Chloe and I investigated the inner city. Lots of good shopping if you have dollars, but it was nice to look.I did ONE touristy thing. I love how the old and new are blended.

St Francis Church, not fancy on the outside ...but look :

It really is stunning.

Since the trip I just haven't seemed to have a whole day home..till today !

I started babysitting early in the new year , so have had a few nights a week and sometimes days but the kids have moved out of town now :( which sucks as I really enjoy them and their mum is great company.

I've advertised locally for some more work, hopefully I will get some regular days not just weddings etc. though when the twins get here, I may not have the time.

The bride is growing like a pumkin! this is an old photo at 15weeks, she is 20 now.

my grandbabies are in there :)

Gemma has finally been referred to an Obstetrician but he will share care with the Fetal Medicine Unit in Canberra. This last couple of weeks has been a bit of a whirlwind of appointments for her and me as I'm the driver. We traveled to Canberra for an expecting twins mums meeting, which she got a lot out of, and this week we've been to Ob/gyn, midwife and a twin mum morning tea.

It appears she will be having the babies in Canberra, our local hospitals don't deliver twins unless they have no choice, so she is booked in locally,just so they know who she is, just in case. It's going to mean a lot of logistical organising, especially if she has to go in early for bedrest etc.

I was surprised the midwife told her she would be having a ceasarian!!! Aparantly Dr's avoid being sued at all costs so don't take any chances??? But is she really missing out on anything? Apart from the fact that I can say ..I did it .. is she?

When I was working in maternity there were so many girls disappointed because they didn't have everything happen according their "Birth Plan" , to me this is the shortcut to PND. I've told Gemma to lower expectations.......to..........healthy babies. It doesn't matter how they get here and honestly in even 5 years time it has faded , who remembers the music that played when their first born was delivered??? writing it down doesn't count!!!

Next week is the ultrasound in Canberra where they are hoping to find out the sex of the babies. I don't know if they want them to tell me, but then if they decide to tell everyone then I'll have to find out ,it would be weird otherwise....

Valentines day on Tuesday. We forgot our anniversary! He rememberd the week before and I rememberd the week after...obviously neither of us had any plans! next year is the bit 30 I think we'll remember ! So I thought I better do something for Valentines, I've run out of dollars, so its a card and some choccies .

On the arthritis front, the Rhumey thinks we have to use prednisone too often to get the ESR down for new Humira scripts,so obviously is not working as well as it should, so he's changing me to Enbrel which is a weekly injection, so fingers crossed it works more efficiently.

the thing plaguing me most though is a damn plantar wart...now that is going to kill me to get it out, sooo painful I believe. If anyones got rid of a big one without the freezing or surgery please let me know. I'm a big chicken.

Well that's me for now