Turning 16 in the 2011 Floods

Our eldest child turned 16 last week....
Eventful enough... I think he will always remember it.... Our city of Brisbane and alot of other areas in Queensland had some horrific flooding. The footage on the TV, when we actually had power was devastating.
Thankfully we were not inundated with flood waters, we weren't far from them, but luckily, safe and dry but we had no electricity. Kale's best friend was unable to come because he was cut off by flood waters but Kale's girlfriend was able to get here OK. And because Mum leaves everything to the last minute...we were without a present to give him on his big day!  I had planned to go to the shops the day or 2 before to get his present but all the shops were shut because of the Brisbane river flooding in the extreme! I told him that his girlfriend was going to be his best present and he said that that was always going to be the case anyway.... awww! Young love, so sweet! So it was a bit of a laid back birthday for him. Leading up to his birthday, I couldn't help but think of my own 16th birthday.... I had been telling everyone that I had had a memorable birthday and that I wanted to make sure Kale had a good, memorable birthday and I was fussing about the party plans and he got frustrated with me because everything I suggested seemed lame or for dinosaurs like me and not what he wanted, so in the end I gave in and let him have his laid back birthday.... he just wanted his best friend and his girlfriend here.... well, unfortunately Danny was unable to come but Kale got his girl and he was happy. I went and dug out my dusty diary from 1986 and flicked through it looking for my youthful recollections of my 16th birthday party and ended up disappointed..... I had thought that for my 16th birthday I'd had a Punk Party.... I had remembered my cousin coming up to Hervey Bay from Brisbane and all my school friends and Sister 'pogo' and 'slam dancing' to the Dead Kennedys, The Damned, Sex Pistols and the like. We had ripped stockings and tartan mini skirts with lots of safety pins and I had the most awful haircut imaginable. My cousin Phil had an old army disposal jacket on, such great memories.... but my diary told me a slightly different version..... it wasn't my 16th birthday party after all.... it was in the same year but it was actually my Sister's 21st birthday party! I read the whole silly diary and there wasn't even a record of what I did for my 16th birthday! So that made me feel slightly better that I didn't give my son a huge 16th birthday party.... blah! lol...
We have had rain, rain and more rain for weeks and weeks on end (hence the flood) but the last 2 days of the peak of the flood, it was fine, beautiful weather. The day after Kale's birthday, the flood waters had started to recede and some shops that had been unaffected were able to open again, so I was able to walk to my local shopping centre and get him an iPod touch as a belated birthday present. It was a complete surprise, he had no idea what I'd planned on getting him, so I said before he opened it .... "If you don't like it, fake it"  obviously he was SO happy... I said... "are you faking it?" and he said "No!" biggest grin on his face. It's nice when you can make them happy .... and lets face it.... teenagers are hard to please sometimes...
Turns out that for my 15th birthday party, I'd had a 1960s party and all my friends wore dresses with full skirts, gloves, shoes and pointy bras that we'd bought from op shops (thrift stores).... so maybe that's why I didn't have a 16th birthday... because I'd had a big party the year before.... we'd listened to Roy Orbison, Elvis, the Beatles, Herman's Hermits, The Easy Beats etc and 'twisted' and 'jived' the night away.... what a transformation in less than a year, lol!!
Anyway... here is the layout I made about the mixed Christmas CD I burnt on Christmas Day...

Mixed Christmas CD

The highlight of the CD were the first 2 songs on the list, especially the Ramones, of course.... they actually have a few songs that mention Christmas one way or other... in 'Danny Says' ......
Hangin' out in L.A. and there's nowhere to go
It ain't Christmas if there ain't no snow
Listening to Sheena on the radio
Oh-ho oh-ho 
and in 'We're a Happy Family' (I love hearing Joey imitating 'the father' or whatever, saying.... "where are my safety pins, what did you do with my safety pins, what is this"  so funny! :) )
We ain't got no friends
Our troubles never end
No Christmas cards to send
Daddy likes men
In 'I Wanted Everything' ...
I heard about the Easter bunny
Presents under a Christimas tree
It was dreaming and fantasy
There was no Mom or Daddy
I wanted everything
and in 'My My Kind of A Girl' they sing...
I think we'd look pretty good together
Walking through a winter wonderland
And this time I think it's forever
I hope your parents understand
Well, a 'winter wonderland' certainly isn't Christmas for us here in Australia, but still, it is a universal image of Christmas time.
and in Planet Earth 1988 they sing...
Guerrilla armies rule the street
No more christmas or trick or treat
Is this what the future will bring
I pray for peace more than anything
If there are any other songs I have missed... please let me know...
oh... and just tonight... looking at youtube, I see Joey had a solo EP album called 'Christmas Spirit...In My House'...... bugger, I need that..... good thing I am going into the city the first Friday the kids go back to school.... I'll be popping into Rocking Horse Records again.... if they have it... thinking I might have to order some of these things... *sigh*
Anyway... I need to get to bed... my eldest daughter has a friend over for a sleep over... they are not ready for bed, but it is almost 1am... but I can't stay up... too old, lol....
Goodnight.   :)

Happy New Year!

It's New Year's Eve and instead of grooving to good music, my husband is forcing me to watch a 'Planet of the Apes' marathon. Bugger.... so I am sitting here, in the dark, on the other side of the room with headphones secretly placed on my head listening to music...
Benefit of the Doubt by Crystal Set  and .... to go with my New Year's Eve drink of choice....
Bad Gin by Blue Ruin .... just some nice 80s tunes..... :)  ...also... Stranded by The Saints
When You're Down by The Headstones  I Don't Mind by The Hitmen and Slave Girl by The Lime Spiders and then I have to veer over to For Always by The Stems..... awwww! and awww again... At First Sight by The Stems and I have to peek at the Ramones... You Don't Come Close and tonight, I can't stop singing this... Locket Love and of course... my favourite that always makes me smile... Where Did She Come From by the Hard Ons. Every now and then I get up to do a bit of work in the kitchen, making curried egg salad, garlic cucumber salad, coleslaw... and I put my new purple MP3 player in my ears and listen to some more music. Not a bad New Year's Eve after all.  I remember many moons ago when there was a Planet of the Apes marathon on TV, my friend Wolfgang had a party and before the other guests arrived and before the movie started he challenged me that I couldn't  drink 3 of these 'shots' of alcohol.... God knows what was in them and never one to back down from a challenge, I downed them all and promptly passed out. When the Planet of the Apes movies came on he desperately tried to wake me up but there was no waking me.... I always thought I'd missed out on a fun night... but now come to think of it, I missed out on nothing, lol. Tonight, our eldest son was off with his girlfriend, so it was just the 3 kids, Rob and I lighting sparklers and letting off poppers, covered with glow in the dark bangles. Ailani was happy to hold the sparklers this year. Got some nice photos, will post them when I get them onto the computer. The eldest son got home about 1.30, we were all up still, so I got some photos with him,

 Hoping 2011 is a fantastic year for all... I am optimistic that it will be a good one for me.

Christmas was good... extremely wet... but good, it was not the huge effort it usually is. I had Mum here helping, plus she insisted buying cooked chooks and she brought down 2 cooked legs of pork, so there was only the baked vegetables to cook, even tho we had more people than normal, it was quite a restful Christmas. I made a special mixed Christmas CD for the day... I am doing a layout about it... the song that I listened to the most on the big day was... 'Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)' by the Ramones! Such a fabulous song! We seemed to have endless rain around that time, tho it is lovely fine weather at the moment, hope it holds out. Anyway, I have to get to bed, it is 3.18am and I need some sleep.

Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas Coming

Want to hear something disgusting?
Christmas day will be here in 10 days!
Lordy dordy.... haven't even finished decorating the house.... have to get it done today...
The tree is up and decorated, the table is decorated but I have a ton of decorations and I need/want to get it done. It is terribly humid today, as there are thunder storms about.
Most of the Christmas shopping is done, just have to buy my parents, Sister, niece and nephew their gifts. Probably do that Friday, or start at least. I've bought 2 king single mattresses for the boys and will get them a bunk bed in the new year but I needed the extra mattresses before Christmas as I will have Mum and Dad, my Sister and her 2 children sleeping here Christmas night, so it will be a full house then. The mattresses are supposed to come on Monday... hope so, I am freaking out a bit....
On Sunday we all went to Wet and Wild for Rob's work Christmas party, it was a great day, as always, although it wasn't quite as fun for me. Normally the eldest son and I run off and go on all the scary rides together but this year we invited his girlfriend. I begged my other son to go on the rides with me but he doesn't like those kind of rides, so I could only go on the ones that you can go on alone.... but still, it was a great day. So I guess there will be some layouts done with those photos. Here is the only layout I've done for awhile...

credits: Gabba Gabba Hey Shoes

Geez I love those Ramones! I went into Rocking Horse records 2 weeks ago and got 5 albums... Ramones, Rocket To Russia, Road To Ruin, End of The Century, Subterranean Jungle plus I got the documentary 'End of The Century'... I might have to order in the other albums, I need them all... Still waiting for the Best of Hard Ons that I ordered from my local record store, the only place I can get it, tho I did recently get 'Yesterday and Today' from Ray from the Hard Ons, they had a few of the CDs turn up and they were selling them through their forums, so I was thrilled to get that very rare (now) CD.... hoping 'Yummy' will 'turn up'...

oh... I also ordered Dee Dee Ramone's book 'Poison Heart', can't wait for that to get here... I need to hurry up and finish reading 'Little Dorritt' so I can start 'Poison Heart' when it gets here straight away!

Anyway, I better get and do this decorating....listening to "I'm Affected" by the Ramones..... love that song!

I Feel Down

"I feel down, I don't feel happy.
I feel down, I feel crappy"
lyrics from an early Hard Ons song... what else, lol!
Well, actually, I have been obsessing over another band as well lately...
THE RAMONES!
Can't get enough of them! Obviously, I have always loved them but I didn't know all their albums, so I am catching up.... *sigh* always late to the party, I know.....
My sister had their album 'Animal Boy' back in the day  and I knew all the famous songs.... but now I am needing all their work. I have Ramones Mania and Anthology but I need MORE, I need to have each actual album.....
hello Rocking Horse Records... I'll be paying you another visit soon!
But just in case you are thinking I am fickle.... I still have all my favourite songs by the Hard Ons on my MP3 player, so whenever I go walking (which is a lot lately) I am listening to my Aussie boys.... I listen to the Ramones at home and the Hard Ons out on the street.
I have been going swimming three days a week and it has been brilliant. It is a half hour power walk to the pool, then I swim for an hour and then walk home. I have already lost a kilo and I am staying positive. Don't know how I will keep this up with the kids going on 7 weeks Christmas vacation tho, gawd blimey!
Today I went on a school excursion with my youngest DD and then afterwards, I walked into the nearest dentist and asked them to rip one of my teeth out.
This tooth has been a problem for years and I have just kept putting it off, thinking that I could manage it and that I couldn't afford to go to a dentist, but I am sick of the decaying, stinky thing, so I got it ripped out.....
SO happy I did. I decided that while I had a bit of money in my purse and before I had to spend it on bills, food or the husband's stinky cigarettes that I would do this necessary thing for myself. Bit of a metaphor of my life at the moment really.... can't afford to do that either... but it has to be done, eventually....
Gawd, I need to get a job!! I am joining a job agency on Friday... wish me luck!
The only layout I have done recently is of the husband and I out at a local Mexican restaurant. I've wanted to go to Montezuma's forever but the husband is not a fan of Mexican food. (he hates everything I love it seems) I was hoping the food would be wonderful, to change his mind, but it wasn't the best, sadly. But we had a good time anyway... thanks to the wonderful margarita's, lol!  (I drank his margarita as well, because he didn't like that either *sigh*) I always sing this song by Andy Prieboy: Montezuma Was A Man Of Faith when we drive past the restaurant and while we were there, I couldn't stop singing this song by Wall Of Voodoo: Elvis Bought Dora A Cadillac. It made for a very atmospheric night, for me at least!  :)

Credits: Montezuma's

The other thing that annoyed me recently, I was walking to the local shopping center, that is a bit further away than the local pool, to pay some bills and my $10 MP3 player started playing up.... I have been wanting to get a purple ipod, so I can have more music to listen to while I am exercising, the little simple MP3 player has been fine but it would be nice to have an ipod.... the husband and eldest son have one after all... my sister says I should get an ipod touch because she loves hers, but they don't come in purple... she says you can get a purple case for it.... but it's the principle of the matter... lol.... I need purple metal shiny things....lol!

anyway... I am walking along listening to '1st Element is Sweat'  and the MP3 player is cutting in and out and the volume is only in one ear and going down and you just CAN'T listen to that song anyway but LOUD.... I am almost having a fit because walking long distances without music is torture... then I realise it is not the crappy $10 MP3 that is playing up.... it was the crappy $20 purple... sorry... cerise Smiggle headphones I was using.... Not happy Smiggle! I had only bought them about 3 weeks ago... purely because they were purple and retractable.... well, as I say.... Cerise.... cerise is a try hard version of purple... it really is more pink than purple... cerise is acceptable to me if it is mixed with real purple things... so when I say something is cerise, it is almost a derogatory remark... like 'try hard' or 'wanna be' .. lol... yeah, I know I am a loony for purple... anyway... did I keep my reciept so I could take the crappy headphones back to Smiggle and get my money back...?  no, of course not... so I am boycotting Smiggle... initially I was thrilled with their 'purple' stationary... but really... it's just cerise... 

Happy Purple Camera Day!

Today I went over to Virginia to pick up my purple camera! Yippee!
Couldn't take any photos while I was over there with my sister because it has it's own battery that needs charging. Oh well... my sister met me over there and she drove us to Sandgate and we spent the rest of the day op. shopping. I got a heap of purple things... 2 skirts, beads, a belt, a folder, material and 3 purple Bonds singlets.... so it was a very good purple day for me! We only have one op. shop in Indooroopilly, so it was fun to go to so many op. shops (thrift stores) and wonderful to spend the day with just my sister. When I got home, I charged my camera's battery and read the manual. So far I have taken 3 photos of Amethyst and one of Ailani. I will experiment a bit more later. I really aught to get to bed soon. It was a good day. :)

Hard Ons for Halloween!

Well, Halloween is over now. It was a big week end. On the Saturday we went over to my sister's place and picked her and my niece and nephew up and brought them home to our place. I made a Halloween party for the kids.... way too many lollies but I think they enjoyed it. My sister, Debbranne and I shared a bottle of wine and got ready to go to see the Hard Ons at the Halloween Monster Bash in the Valley. I wanted to leave at about 8pm but didn't leave until after 9.30pm. We had a nice time listening to the Hard Ons while we got ready to go out and putting on our make up together like we did back in the day, such a lot of fun! Sadly, neither Debbranne nor I could get the rotten vampire teeth to stay in our heads this time round :( .... I want to get proper vampire teeth made by a dentist! oh well.... We got to the Step Inn about 10.30pm. Everyone was dressed up as zombies! Everyone in the streets, everyone in the nightclub.... It must be the decade of the zombie. There was so much going on at the gig, we didn't know where to start. We saw the boys from the Hard Ons but as far as I could see, they didn't have a merchandise stand this time round. Which is sad... last time I went to see them, the husband wouldn't let me go anywhere near them, plus he ate and drank all the money I had brought to possibly buy something and this time round I bought heaps of money to buy stuff and couldn't. Not that I could wear a black Hard Ons tshirt..... if there were purple tshirts I'd wear one tho, lol! Anyway... the gig was good, it was brilliant to be able to share that with my sister. They played quite a lot of different songs from the last gig. 'Missing You Missing Me' 'I Think About You Every Day' 'Stop Crying' and 'Aunty' from the new album. I had been singing that song all day, so it was great to hear it live! Anyway... here are a few photos from the night...The photos are so much better than the ones I got from the last gig. The Step Inn had a stage, so they were up higher and we were pretty much right down the front. I was hoping to have my new purple Canon camera but it still hadn't come in, sadly. I did get a phone call today tho and it has finally arrived, so I am going to pick it up tomorrow. My sister will be meeting me over there where I am picking the camera up and we will spend the day together. I printed up some of the photos from Halloween for her, me, my Mum and cousin.... here is a photo of me and my sis at the club....
and a photo of me and the kids (with my son's girlfriend) on Halloween. I have last year's teeth in, thankfully I kept them and they stay in my mouth, lol...The kids had fun.... hubby took the kids trick or treating, I stayed at home, (listening to my kind of Halloween music) so I could give out treat bags to trick or treaters that came to our door... last year I missed out on giving out treat bags because we went trick or treating... hubby was working night shift the last 2 Halloween's so it was fun to have him here for this year's celebration. Yeah. too many lollies.... I only want to do Halloween one night next year, instead of 2 nights in a row like this year! I made my bat cookies, but didn't get a photo of them... dumb, dumb, dumb! But they were good. I didn't get around to making the spider web cup cakes... too much work. I started making a bat handbag but didn't get that finished in time....bummer... oh well.... maybe I'll finish it for next year.
Here is my sis, niece, nephew and my kids at the Halloween eve table....Hope everyone had a great Halloween! :)

Turning 40 and Happy Halloween soon!!

I turned 40 two weeks ago. A little bit suckie... My Mum said she bawled her eyes out when she turned 30 and had a nervous break down when she turned 40.... I always said I would probably bawl my eyes out when I turned 40 and have the break down at 50...
well, I was too busy to lie in bed crying about being 40. I went to my local shopping centre like I always do once a week and I bought myself some other little bits and pieces... I have ordered my purple Canon camera for my birthday.... but I am still waiting for it to come in .... hopefully Tuesday. When hubby came home from work he brought me 2 bunches of flowers, my wedding bouquet flowers (irises) and some stargazer lilies and a big box of Ferrero Rocher, SO yum! Then Rob and I went out to dinner in the city and had such a nice time. Rob ordered a bottle of wine and I was really naughty and I bought 2 tiny bottles of Kahlua that I brought from home and snuck it into my coke. Later Rob insisted he buy himself a bourbon and coke and got me a strawberry daiquari. Our waitress looked like "Pet" from "Little Dorritt" (which I am still reading btw) and I asked her to take this photo of us on my 40th birthday... it was a really wonderful night... and maybe turning 40 isn't so bad after all. :)I really can't wait for my purple Canon camera to come soon... as I will be needing it to take some photos of a fun event coming up this Saturday coming...guess who's coming back to Brisbane...????
The Hard Ons!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, who'd of thought that they would be back so soon!
and oh yes.... I'm going!!! I am taking my sister this time and not poor old hubby, lol!
I've already bought the tickets to the Halloween Monsters Ball at the Step Inn. I'm taking my sister as she is going through a hard time right now and this will be the perfect thing to cheer her up, plus Rob would hate every minute of it anyway. The last time I went to the Hard Ons with Rob it was a bit of an ordeal for him. I would have loved to take my sister but I was a bit scared of going into the Valley at night and as hubby puts it, he is a good body guard.... but the Valley isn't the Valley it once was in the 80's. There are so many night clubs and there are so many people walking around. Not dark and deserted like the Valley of yesteryear. Plus there is the night link buses and security standing at the bus stops. It will be a really different night tho, as it is a Halloween themed night. What to wear was a big question. I wasn't going to dress up, but really, where's the fun in that? So I decided to go with a purple dress with a ruched bust and a darker purple 3 quarter sleeved bolero. I have only lost about 3 kilos in the last 3 months, which kinda sux, but I am still positive about the weight loss and I know I will continue to lose weight, if but slowly. I bought myself a pair of "Bridget Jones knickers" They are life changing, lol! I don't know if I look any better in them but I feel fantastic in them, which is probably all that matters. I've never owned any before, they are really ugly granny pants, but I am an old married woman, the husband doesn't care what my knickers look like... as long as I take them off at the end of the day, lol... so what the hey? I also bought my sister and I some vampire teeth. I do hope my sister has better luck with these ones. Last year I bought her some and there was no way she could get the buggers to stay in her mouth. Here is a photo of us last year...
I do so love Halloween and this year is looking to be a blast!
Scrapping wise I have only done about 2 layouts... for the LilyPad "Scrap Your Heart Out" competition...

the first week...Past Present Future @ the Lilypad

The 2nd week...Small, Medium, Large @ the Lilypad

I am still working on the final week's layout...
Amethyst is off on her first school camp for 3 days on Monday. She is so excited, hopefully they have good weather. So it will be a busy week. I need to make my bat cookies and spookie spider cupcakes...these are the ones I made last year... I am really looking forward to making the bat cookies. Hope they turn out nice. I will post a photo of them after Halloween.
Anyway, I have to get to bed... I hope everyone has a nice and frightful Halloween. :)