Back to school blues ...

The holiday's are over … and I guess they had to end,

Cause the "I'm bored" and "What's to eat?" … have sent me round the bend.

But I will miss the sleep ins … and the lazy non routine,

The idle way I spent the days … reclining like a Queen.

I'll miss the "who cares" attitude I felt towards the washing,

And the guilty thought of dirty floors … I've successfully been squashing.

But now that it's all over … there's really just one winner,

Cause now we're back to normal … I might make Hubby's dinner.

But I must face the cold, hard truth … and no longer be a dreamer,

There are two boys in high school … and yep … one's now a senior.

This reality is hard to swallow … it's detrimental to my health,

How can he be a senior … when I was only just at school myself?

But I'll toughen up and face the facts … if I may be so bold,

There's only one thing this can mean … I'm really getting old.

By Me

A picture's worth 1000 words … week 4

A photo a day … every day … in 2014.

Day 19:  When Hubby's away the mice will play … and eat KFC for dinner.

Day 20:  Master 16 attempts to take a phone selfie … retro style … mandatory duck face included … of course.

Day 21:  Spiderweb catching raindrops … and dinner.

Day 22:  Home Sweet Home.

Day 23:  Out to the club … here's the boys providing scintillating dinner conversation.

Day 24:  As you can imagine in such a male dominated household there are a lot of balls … soccer balls, tennis balls, cricket balls, footballs, golf balls … many, many balls.

Day 25:  Now there's a sight you don't see every day … Master 16 in the book department.

Hope everyone in Oz has a spectacular Australia Day today …

and for those in other parts of the world …

go grab a meat pie … a lamington … swallow a fly … and think of us :0)

Joining in with Em … over at The Beetle Shack.

Oops ...

Today I was forced … by the appalling lack of food in the cupboard … to address the matter of grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping is my most least favourite variety of shopping … and I generally avoid it for as long as is physically possible.  But we all reach the point … at about the same time as we reach for the final tin of baked beans … when we have to bite the bullet and hit the supermarket.

Today was the day.

So with all good intentions I made my way to the shops and straight to the supermarket.

Well … almost straight there.  I may have digressed off my path just a little bit.  I may have accidentally found myself in a frock shop.  I may have accidentally found some money slipping out of my purse … and this bag may have accidentally fallen into my hand.

But I've been eyeing this off since before Christmas … and today there were only three left … and one was in my size … and they were half price!  I mean you tell me … what is a girl to do?

Except accidentally buy it … of course.

But I wasn't entirely irresponsible … I did buy a grocery or two as well.

Barren wastelands and other uninspiring events ...

I had high hopes of writing an inspiring and informative blog post today.

Alas … those hopes were dashed … for the hard reality of the situation is that my brain is devoid of all inspirational and informative thoughts.   It is in fact, a barren wasteland type brain … which somewhat resembles this:

So in the absence of anything actually worthwhile to blog about,  I decided to share with you photos of the haircuts my children received this week.  Yes … all my children.

I'm so sorry … I'll try to do better next time.

Snowball in hell ...

Things have a way of snowballing with me.

One thing almost certainly leads to another and before I know it … what started out as a little tweak becomes a huge, major overhaul.

And so it was with this blog yesterday.

I decided … in all my wisdom … that since I am all enthusiastic and gung ho with my photography projects at the moment ... I would load up my blog images a little bigger.

That is officially where IT began.

Now the problem with that … was that the images then hung over the edge of the page … and trespassed into the realms of my right hand sidebar.  That would never do … my OCD would scream at me every time I went anywhere near my blog.

So I decided I needed to tweak the layout a little … you know … give the main body of the blog a little room to expand … much like my post Christmas body is currently doing.

And while I'm at it … why don't I just quickly draw a new header … something a little more original.

And of course with the new header the old colour scheme just isn't going to work.

And with the new colour scheme … my old buttony/linky things just aren't going to cut the mustard.

And so on and so on and so on … you get the picture.

And then … of course ... Blogger just wouldn't play nice … and what "should" have taken a few simple clicks of the mouse … became an all out wrestling match … with both Blogger and I vying for the ultimate victory.

But many, many hours ... and many, many google searches ... and much cursing ... and several temper tantrums later … we have the end result you see before you now.

Now I've just got to try … really, really hard … to not let this bother me.

Or I may have to start all over again … and who knows where that could take me.

EDITED:  I was forced to fix it … it just bothered me too much.

A picture's worth 1000 words … week 3 ...

A photo a day … every day … in 2014.

Day 12:  We had Sunday lunch in the Hunter Valley … so that calls for at least one shot of a grape vine …. it's mandatory isn't it?

Day 13:  Master 16 performs a hugely unsuccessful science experiment.

Day 14:  I'm suffering from full blown symptoms of severe Aga envy.

Day 15:  Wednesday afternoon's view over the back fence … just a little close for comfort.

Day 16:  Pimm's and Lemon Squash … don't mind if I do.

Day 17:  It's amazing what can grow when nurtured with a large dose of neglect.

Day 18:  Run, Buster, Run!!

Joining in with Em … over at The Beetle Shack.

Twisting by the pool ...

I wrote about a glorious day out … swimming in a beautiful private pool … here.

Unfortunately our swimming amenities at home aren't quite up to that standard … or any standard at all.

But when the mercury rises … and rises … desperate measures are called for … and sometimes taken.

Welcome to our bathing oasis … AKA the boys old baby pool.

You have to wash off the cobwebs first … and check for Redbacks under the rim … and it only fits one … uncomfortably … but hey IT IS A POOL.  It takes an age to fill … specially when the pool filling type person is tempted to use the water source elsewhere.

So impatient … hot people ... have to wait … and maybe use the time constructively … to even out their tan lines.

Still going … someone cue the elevator music.

Finally …  Master 13 decides it is impossible to wait a moment longer.

Just try not to exhaust yourself … swimming all those laps.

Meanwhile … Buster observes the situation from a safe distance … with interest.

But curiosity wins him over … and killed the cat … but that's someone else's story.

"I might give it a go"

"Nope … not for me"

"Or is it?"

"Perhaps just one more try"

"NO… don't like it"

"Or do I?"

"Nope … no way!"

"It's the devils work"

"But I might … "

"I could … "

"NO … ABORT … ABORT!!"

"PHEW … that was a close one"

So my dear Boys … here you are … your own pool in the backyard … just like you always wanted.

Enjoy … cause this is as good as it gets … and don't say your Mother never gives you anything.