Followers

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Rich Grasshoppers...



In my last post, I mentioned keeping your mouth shut when power-walking in the Australian countryside, to keep the flies from being accidentally swallowed....well...did I forget to mention the Locusts or what?!?!?!


When we first came over to live in the Darling Downs, 400 - 500 kilometres west of Brisbane, I thought these little hopping creatures were green grasshoppers from the east coast, traveled here and gone brown to match the drought-dried-brown grass and vegetation, like one of those Chameleons....changing their body colour to match their environment....until I was told otherwise by a very wise farmer....who chuckled at my description but educated me in the ways of the rural environment. How embarrassment!!!


The last time I went walking...the other day, not his morning...I believe that we might be either at the tail-end or maybe the beginning of a locust plague....nearly every step I took scared quite a few of my rich brown grasshoppers ;) ...hopping left, right and not centre, desperately getting away from this Nutty Nonna who was pounding the path of success.


Just down the road, about one and a half car length's away, out comes a real, fair-dinkum dingo from the long grass at the side of the road, who was heading in my direction, lifted it's furry light brown head up, saw this Nutty Nonna and did one of those startled jumps with a twisted leap, and headed for the other way and back into the long grass.
"Hah!!!" I thought out loud, "You think I cannot see you runnng in that direction through the long grass, but the birds swooping on ya tells me where you are and I am not scared of you...I am a bigger pest than you...hee hee!!!"


Oh...and another point I forgot to mention too, is that unless you have toilet paper with you and not scared of spiders and snakes kissing your butt, don't drink coffee before the walk.....yes, I was as green behind my ears as those coastal grasshoppers about that....all this time..... and I thought it was me and a weak bladder, but noooo, it is my morning mug of coffee that was the problem. I will now make myself a mug of green and peppermint tea half and hour beforehand, and THEN, have the coffee waaaaay long after I come home and finish the exercises.


Talking of exercises, I found my Mari Windsor Pilates dvds in a box which was in another box...where it laid very patiently waiting for us to obtain and own a dvd player.....now that we do, there are no more excuses for this old fossil....must get back into it to strengthen my core as I heard it is a lot more difficult for women over 45 yrs of age, or us Peri-menopausal, to shed our blubber and so have to work harder. That's where looking after grand-kids come in handy....great motivation, keeps one younger and you get a second chance at doing things all over again but in a more efficient way....and helps the mental part too :))

I not too long just had a conversation with a dear friend and colleague of mine from Luxembourg, who is now in Spain for a conference, and came out of it feeling so on fire about succeeding in this business. What I love about it is I can look after my toddler grandson, look after king Willem, run this household AND select open-minded, optimistic leaders to join me in making a positive change in our personal and financial life and have fun with it too!

Have yourselves an awesome day, or night, whichever time zone you are in now.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Breakthrough...


Good Morning Friends!!!

Last night, I had a breakthrough in my attempt to get this blog to go to Twitter!!!

There is so much for this old fossil to learn, however, just like being on a high from jogging and exercising, like Madonna's "Endorphin fix", I actually woke up this morning still feeling excited about learning about the workings of the internet and computers. Man, if I can do it, it must be easy for others who are timid about using this technology.
I remember when I was telling king W that computers are useless, they will breakdown, and then, how are you going to get the information you need when there is a blackout?!?!
Well, because we then had a caravan hire and repair business, and I love my king husband, I had to have a crash course in learning the darn thing, and started to slowly understand..... after a very long time, and my DS helping me ever so patiently.
Fast forward to 2003/2004....I protested when king W wanted to put the internet on, saying that there were a lot of marriages breaking up because of it and I didn't want the kids exposed to all the "bad" stuff on there....blah blah blah.
I was then soothingly told that, just like the television' channels, you can choose what you look at and where you go in there, and then had a flashback to a conversation in 1994/95 with a wise white-bearded man called Steven (he use to be in the 'Orange People' following in New Zealand....have lost contact with him a long time ago....last seen in Murwillumbah, have a cuppa and intelligent conversation in a small fruit & vegie shop own by Alex, or "Lecko") that the whole world is going change and do business and correspondence with the internet, and if we don't learn how to use it, then we are going to be labelled as 'village idiots' because this is going to be a very efficient way of doing things. Even though in my mind I was semi-skeptical, I was also fascinated by this newfandangled technology.

When it did come to Australia, and when it was more popular, I kept hearing about all the 'bad stuff' about it and assumed the worst. Boy, was I wrong about that one!!!!!! Yes, there are bad things happening in cyberspace-world, but like I was told previously, we choose what goes in front of us.
It has made letterwriting for my family explode!!! We are now sending emails to France, New Zealand, Tonga, America...everywhere. and they arrive at the speed of I don't know what....is it light? Is it sound? No, it's SuperEmail, coming through the ether or whatever it is it goes through....still a learner on that bit ;)

My Dad, who everytime ( once in a blue moon ) wrote a letter to family, was told it was going to rain heavy because a miracle happened...."he wrote a letter!!!!"...one of those things that happens to most members on his side of the family....we use to call it the "family writing curse" where they were allergic to picking up a pen to write on paper.....now.....you get frequent emails ... and ..... they even chat on MSN Messenger... hurray for the internet, it has broken the "Writing Curse" of our family...hee hee!


OK...time to get back to my amazing business and go for my goals .... going to Acapulco, Mexico and Hawaii this year and also going to set up a charity to help orphanges around the world....starting with two so far, one in Sienna and the other in Uganda (Watoto)!!!!


There....now you all know, so I am accountable to you as well!


Sunday, January 25, 2009

Happy Australia Day!!!




As I sit here in bed, in my morning unmade-up face, with my eyes only-just in front of my face, I am writing a draft copy of today's blog in my physical paper notebook, and am listening to the gentle rain sprinkling like a heavy fog on the tin roof of this farmhouse.
Ribbitting in my earholes, are also super happy frogs who are living in our old rusty water-tanks ..... yep, we is drinking froggy water here, but I try not to think of that bit of reality (real tea :P ) when I drink a glass of water from it at the kitchen sink....we will very soon purchase a water filter for it!!!

The crickets are chirping, trying to compete with the morning twittering of the birds out there in the surrounding trees. The puppies and cats have been fed, and now I sit here, in bed again, having had woken up my king W. with his first cup of coffee of the morning. He is not quite fully awake yet, with his still-full cuppa precautiously leaning on an angle in his semi-relaxed hand. I tell him nicely and kindly to be aware of the cuppa in his hand and to try not to spill it on the bed, but, because he is semi-comatozed, or half-asleep, all I get is one of those male-morning-grunts, which I assume means; "Yes, I won't spill it."...... I guess one day he will understand the full meaning of "Early to bed, early to rise...etc"

Yesterday, Darling Son and king W. got my old computer going properly, all sped up and whatever else they did to it to make it better, after it died from the previous lightning/ thunderbolt. In his spare time, DS aims to build one of those super-duper computers with multi-screens on one large monitor screen.....can't wait to see the resulting project.

Ex-husband came over yesterday morning...we picked him up from Darling Daughter's place, where he was staying over for a visit and catching up with the kids and his mokopuno (grandchild in Moari,) and then had lunch with us.
In the afternoon, he politely asked me to cut his hair. .... he loved the outcome and the look, which was exactly what he asked for. He never complained at all this time around, during the course of the haircutting.....I hadn't cut his hair for nearly 12 years or so...guess he must be feeling grateful at last. It was a really nice day catching up with all of us.






Well, now that I have a few more minutes up my sleeve, and this Australia Day is not too busy....decided to stay at home this time.....I will write out some hints and tips for going PowerWalking out in the Australian countryside....from my experience...this is not an expert's advice. I'm cheating a bit because I had already written them down previously the day just after my first blog here, so I would have more space in my brain for other things and brilliant ideas ;)



HINTS AND TIPS FOR POWERWALKING IN THE AUSTRALIAN COUNTRYSIDE

~ If walking by yourself, take a dog with you that is a non-chaser of sheep and cattle for company, and for safety.

~ Wear a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses...and a good sunscreen if it is later on in the day.

~ Bring water for hydration and weightlifting.

~ When breathing, breathe through your nose, or, if you still want to breathe through your mouth, clench your teeth together to act as a filter for the flies and bugs out there.....you usually get an entourage of them around your head and hitch-hiking on your back, going family fly-walk with you :))

~ If you see a snake, come to a gentle stop, let it pass, and then slowly and quietly continue your walk, gradually building up your speed, and pray like crazy that it isn't following you!

~ Wear loose and comfortable clothes.

~ Never, ever go for long powerwalks wearing sandals...especially if you are overweight....or you might develop Plantar Fasciitis.....it happened to me and it is extremely painful! Wear proper fitting jogging or walking shoes.

~ Using my stepping as rhythm beats, I have lately been using affirmations such as "Everyday in everyway, I'm getting better and bet-ter....." alternating with ".......I'm getting smarter and smar-ter." The bolded bits are every second stepping-beat.

~ If you are a brave soul and don't give a frog's poop about what other people are thinking of you, where a fly-net over your hat and head....this method eliminates the accidental snorting of flies up your nostrils, or down your throat, as you breathe inwards.

~ You may use this quiet time to yourself to plan things, to talk with God, for reflecting on your life or whatever. If your are going to be planning things, bring along a little voice recording device - I use the voice recording function on my mobile-cell phone, well, it is there for a reason and I might as well use it.


The road was too wet & boggy to walk this morning for my morning walk....it has been for a couple of days, and as a peri-menopausal chickeedee, I am feeling it and missing it. Really, the truth is that I have no excuse ...I have an ancient excersise bike which my parents gave us a while ago that they purchased from a Trash & Treasure Market.....and I should get on it, rain or shine...especially rain :)

Our full-length mirror in the bedroom told me some living truth when we first moved in here.....gave myself a fright, standing there, naked before the giant mirror.... and wondering how could I have let myself go to such a bad state?!?!
I then made a commitment to myself...and now the whole world, thanks to Oprah...to try to get back to my proper measurements. This is not for looking "Hot" in a bikini...I don't own one anyways..... this is because of my family history of onset diabetes and heart problems and I also want to stay fit so I can chase the grandkids around without huffing and puffing like a heiffer cow!

Well, better get other things done.....maybe the bicycle?......the rain has stopped and clearing with blue patches dancing around & through the clouds and the birds are excitingly swooping on the helpless bugs and grubs, telling me I should be off my derriere!!!


Thursday, January 22, 2009

Well, Here Goes!





This is the progress in the life of a French/Italian/Russian grandmother living in the rural area of South East Queensland, Australia, and all the nutty things going on to make this life interesting and forward-moving in the direction of my life goals, which I will share some of them with youse at a later date.

I am also letting you all know how much possible it is for me, a forty eight year old grandmother of one (and another in May-June,) to fight past all these pity parties, feelings of inadequacies, the joys and the sadness, and the strength gained from hardships and friends' loyalty and love...not to take away from the strength and faith in God which keeps me going.

Having just moved in here, where the mice and rats had wild parties, there was a lot of cleaning up to do....and still going....in between looking after my little grandson of two and a half, looking after my husband, King Willem and his needs, as well as trying to run my new business,..life is Full!!! And now, this Blog....hehe...need to learn to organize my time..and space....maybe the famous Peter Walsh might want to drop in this old farmhouse and give me some tips ;) Had I had more time to pack, I would have thrown out or given away half my stuff and travelled lighter....I am liking this idea of the minimalist look, but it might not happen whilst the King Willem is still a Bower Bird, keeping this or that, as it might come in handy one day!!!! Oh, frog's poop....if we ever need it, we will be able to afford it real soon!

The rain has finally come tonight, the water tanks are filling up nicely and the frogs are delighted...having a really hopping happy time :))

I had to stick the poor scared puppies in the laundry as they didn't know what was happening with all this water coming out of the sky....they were born in the last half of December and have never seen rain! One belongs to my 21 yr old Darling Son and the other one was kept because King Willem felt sorry for it being the last one, so we got her for a playmate to our dog, Blondie...she is disgusted with the new additions...they look like giant rats to her and runs away from them when they want to play ankle-biting with her....I guess she will get use to them ..eventually.

Just learned a few things about Power Walking in the Australian countryside yesterday, but will give youse a list of dooes and don'ts tomorrow...or when I can get back on this blog.

Also, later on, will write about some great inspirational quotes and things that helped me through some "stuff" that went on in my crazy life, and more adventures that makes up my Nutty Life.