Point + Shoot ~ Jessie
Today for the January Photo A Day Challenge with Fat Mum Slim was to take a photo of Something Old. I had two things in mind straight away, one of my Grandfather’s medals from the war that he gave to me or my favourite toy Jessie.
I used the medal as my photo for today so now I have chosen to show you my other choice…Jessie. A stuffed toy you ask? Jessie was made by my Great-Grandmother (my Nanna’s Mother) and was given to me on the day I was born. He is a knitted toy Jester that I have now had for over 30 years. He has been everywhere with me and has travelled the globe. He was left in San Francisco when I was 7 years old and my poor Mother had to put up with a grieving child until the hotel packaged him and sent him safely back to Australia.
One of his hands is falling apart and he is quite a bit faded compared to what he used to look like but I am amazed at how good he looks. I have had to gently hand wash him after he was boxed away with the rest of my toys at my Grandparents house for a few years but he now sits proudly on my spare bed. I’m still very fond of my precious toy and Kobe ym cat is very lucky that I sometimes let him snuggly up to Jessie when he sleeps in there.
Do you still have your first toy?
*This post is part of Point + Shoot over at sunny + scout. Pop on over and join in too!
Jordan The Sculpture
Last year I entered Jordan in to a competition on the Toby the Wonderdog Facebook page to win a sculpture made by the amazingly talented Teangi. The competition guidelines were to post a photo of your pet and what they mean to you so I posted my most favourite photo of Jordan and wrote about what he meant to me and about how his illness has formed even more of a bond between us.
I happened to log on to Facebook the night the winner was to be announced and didn’t even think twice about it. I had that feeling of ‘we wouldn’t win’ because like me, the 100′s of other entries had beautiful adoring pets that deserved to win just as much us.
I hit refresh and there in the status was ‘congratulations to Jordan’. My mouth hit the floor and I was overwhelmed with emotion. My boy had won and in true Mumma style, I cried. The husband just happened to call as I read the message and was a bit shocked to a blubbering mess on the other end of the phone. I finally calmed down to tell him what happened and he was just excited as I was.
The past couple of weeks have seen emails go back and forth between Teangi and myself with photos and lists of Jordan quirks…there are a lot! I gave her so much information without actually telling her what I would like the sculpture to look like and a few days ago I received an email from her with photos of what the end result looks like. Again, my mouth hit the floor but this time I laughed. I laughed because it was as if she had gotten in to my head and had sculpted what I see of him…what we see.
We will be receiving ’sculpture Jordan’ early next month as it has a bit more curing time. I can’t wait to see it and will definitely post photos once it is in our hot little hands. I also can’t wait to see Jordan’s reaction!
Thank you so much to Teangi and Katrina Warren for making this happen. We are so blessed to have such kind hearted people like them in this world.
Before & After ~ Deck
Well, it has only taken an epic 3 years to do our outdoor deck but it is finished (except for a few little things eg I need to sell the table setting in the alfresco area and replace it with a daybed with matching chairs). I knew our outdoor area wouldn’t be easy but my goodness it has been hard.
We started with an extension to the deck for it to wrap around the house and finish at the beginning of the back yard. When that was completely we realised we were left with a massive open space that needed to be covered but covering nearly 10 metres was going to be costly and being me it just had to be right. We ummed and ahhhed, actually I lie, heavily discussed over what would work and he won with the Bali hut. Only issue being the distance from the house to the fence and having 4 posts would just take up too much room. The company suggested bracing to the roof BUT that meant it was going to be higher than the usually height of most huts. So we compromised. It is higher than usual but it still does the job and we only have 2 posts in the way now.
New items include:
- Outdoor table setting for 6 people
- Matching chair with ottoman
- Fire pit
- Fish pond/pot
- 3 x planter boxes with golden cane palms
- Small shallow bowl for birds to swim in & drink from
- 3 x Agaves planted either side of deck
It is amazing what a difference it makes from the view of our living/dining/kitchen areas as well. I am so happy with it even though I had to wait so long…but it’s worth it!
Point + Shoot ~ Water Lily Blooms
The Husband came up with what he thought was such an awesome idea…let’s get a fish pond! As much as we all know how much I love animals, to be honest I couldn’t be bothered with a fish pond. I’ve had my fair share of fish and really they are just far too hard to look after.
But no, he didn’t listen and we ended up with 50 fish. 50 fish that guess who had to look after? Moi. And 50 fish that really did not fit in the bowl/pot we had purchased to put them in. So, the quest was on to find a more suitable home for them and we chose a big pot that looked like it sort of came out of the Pirates of the Caribbean.
I must admit, I actually enjoy them and was completely heart broken when we came home the afternoon of the scorcher we experienced a few weeks to half of them floating along the top of the water gasping for air 
they were cooking int the water. 3 of us did everything we could but unfortunately 18 of them just couldn’t cope. We now have a temporary gazebo set up over them and thank goodness has kept them cool.
Yesterday the water lillies also started to bloom, so I guess that means everyone is happy! I think it’s absolutely amazing though that they close themselves at night and reopen during the day.
*I am playing Point + Shoot over at sunny + scout. Pop on over and join in too.
Happy 1st Birthday!
11 months ago a little black ball of fluff was placed in my hands and I was asked if I could look after him until a home was found. Little did we know that day that our home would become his.
The first few months were very difficult. As cute as he was I realised how much a new born kitten really needs to be with its “biological” Mum. Even though we got Kobe at 6 weeks, those extra 2 weeks he had with his “Mother” made such a huge difference. He was ready to face the world. Jasper on the other hand, was not and 2 hourly feeds including pee & poo runs then gastro as well as working full time took its toll on me. I experienced “post natal depression as well Mumma guilt with Kobe and I lost it when Kobe decided to pee all over the laundry floor. The only thing making me go on was the pair of (back then) bright blue eyes looking back at me saying thank you for saving my life. It took me nearly 3 months to toilet train Jasper but in the end we got it.
He has changed our lives completely. He came at a crucial time when our lives were turned upside down with the news that Jordan’s life was limited. They are now inseparable and to be honest I have no idea how Jasper is going to cope without his dog but for the time being they enjoy each others company and I believe Jasper gives Jordan a reason to push on.
Jasper has a completely different personality to Kobe. Kobe is and has always been quite lazy, where as Jasper is go go go. Kobe never clawed the furniture, Jasper made his mark from day 1. Kobe is a Mumma’s boy, Jasper is a Daddy’s boy. The only thing that motivates Kobe is food, Jasper is motivated by search and destroy, you cannot leave anything unattended or he will find it…hair ties, paper, receipts, ornaments, he even found a new wrapped tampon and ran off with it 
Every day has been filled with laughter since he arrived. I know he is here for a reason and I thank the person who sent him to us from the bottom of my heart. He was unexpected but the love and enjoyment he has brought us is second to none.
Happy 1st birthday little man. You are so naughty but we wouldn’t change you for the world!
Ahhh Freak Out
I was so close to buying this mug yesterday, the only thing stopping me is I seriously have enough mugs and cups I could open my own coffee shop.
The words, however, ring so true with my life at the moment but oh it made me laugh so much!
Photo A Day Challenge
I am notorious for not sticking to things. I gathered most of you have noticed this seeing I am not regularly blogging but I also think it stems from my Gemini nature. I bore very easily and I also get distracted.
However, this year from January 1, I have been taking part in Fat Mum Slim’s January Photo A Day Challenge. You are probably asking where & how because I haven’t been posting it here…I have been posting the photos on Instagram. Perfect opportunity I think seeing it is a photo sharing app!
As you can see in the list above, every day you are to take a photo on the corresponding day and post it. I know it’s already up to Day 5 but it’s never too late to start. So if you want to give it try, do it any which way that suits you, Twitter, Facebook, Blog or like me, Instagram.
I can’t wait to see the results!
