tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63524451095714394962024-03-04T20:14:10.626-08:00Wealthy Nutty NonnaThis 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.Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-41602878535691604052010-04-22T23:38:00.000-07:002010-04-22T23:43:23.302-07:00Menopause, Apples and Hoola-hoops!<span style="font-weight:bold;">I had noticed lately that my weight had crept up like a devious cat moving stealthily towards a bowl of scrumptious cream. Instead of entering a pity-party/depression-like state of mind, I travelled back in time to how that might have come about…. where did I go wrong?<br /><br />It occurred to me that every time I went on an exercise regime, something<br />would happen to halt my progress…. just when I was going so well, influenza would step in to slow me down to me bring to a standstill so that I could conserve my energy to heal, or I would unthinkingly pick up my grand-daughter up the wrong way and feel a twang snap in my back and that also would bring me so a screeching stop as the pain was too much to bear and didn’t want to do any further injuries. <br /><br />Another setback was the interruption of routine as we had to move house, again, due to the ex-landlord wanting to have the house for his permanent worker, and, just when we had agreed to this house and had packed up half our belongings, he tells us that he had changed his mind and we could stay….but by then, it was too late, as we found this gorgeous place to be better suited for what we needed…. and so it was a while before I got back into it as I was packing and slightly lifting things, not too heavy, because king Willem was at work and it was faster doing it myself, even with a sore back and I had our big strong son to help lift anything I thought would injure me more.<br /><br />Now that my back has 97% healed, and I look after my grandbabies on regular days, I am able to work out some kind of timetable before I become all shlumper-dunk and rotund. <br />I got angry with the state of my body and decided that there will not be any more excuses! So, I went to the bathroom and wrote on the mirror; “No Excuses!” and on my bedroom mirror as well. I found that the white tiles in the kitchen acted like a whiteboard and so I found places on there where my eyes couldn’t miss them and wrote on there too. <br /><br />Apart from the anger to spur me on, I realised I needed some mental balance in all this and now have an attitude of gratitude to go with this new life-change of mine. <br />I am grateful for my two legs to get me places, two arms and hands to give my children and grandbabies lots of huggles and my family and friends their massages, my voice to sing and talk with, my super-hearing ears, a gratitude for the sense of smell so I know if there is toast burning, a nappy/diaper to change, and best of all, the heavenly smell of Roses and Jasmine flowers. I am also grateful for my eyes that I can still see out of, even though I need glasses.<br /><br />Yesterday, I went and bought a hula-hoop and a skipping rope to add to my weight-loss artillery… like my fitness ball; an ancient exercise bike my parents gave me one Christmas, saying I needed it more than them (hint hint;) my collection of Pilates DVD’s (Mari Winsor); and a few dumbbells. <br /><br />Last night, I went to do some skipping with my brand new skipping rope and nearly gave up, well, for the night anyways, as it was getting late and it was such a long time since I have skipped like this and was only breaking it in, getting a taste for what it was like again. It pays to wear a sports bra too!<br /><br />This morning, I tried the hoola-hoop….over and over and over again…. and wondered why it wasn’t working for me anymore. When I was younger, I was so good at it but now it kept spiraling down all the time…I couldn’t understand why. After ten minutes of stubborn-as-a-bulldog spiraling and failing, I had worked it out…..you cannot expect a ring to stay spiraling in the middle of your waist if you are rotund like an apple!!!!!<br /><br />Oh my heart! I was feeling so clever and positive about this…..I will keep moving it around my waist everyday until this metallic pink and gold hoola-hoop wears a groove around my middle to give me a waist like I use to have, before kids and emotional-eating happened, when my ex-boyfriend use to touch his fingers together as he put his largish hands around my then-smaller waist! <br />Of course, I will also use the rest of my “equipment” to help it along……and maybe make a big bundle of $$$$ to hire The Commando and get good training like they have in the army or SAS!!!!<br /><br />My other goal is to get my behind back where it should be…. to bring it from Tasmania up to Queensland…. That’s quite a lot of squatting, lunges and walking-on-my-bum to do!<br /></span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-22093694353165535852010-02-27T18:25:00.000-08:002010-02-27T18:28:18.797-08:00Ex-Hubby in Watch-House<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccustomer%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults ext="edit" spidmax="1026"> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout ext="edit"> <o:idmap ext="edit" data="1"> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">
<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">My funny ex-hubby came a-visiting this Sunday morning with morning tea in one hand and the next book for me to continue reading from the Ringing Cedar book series by Vladmir Megre … (I am borrowing from Anthony as he has the whole set, except book 4….and I am up to book 3.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">Joking around, I mentioned about the way the police came to his work to arrest him for not paying this particular debt that was incurred by the generosity of his heart to help out a woman he felt sorry for and helped to get her out of a so-called abusive relationship (which we found out later on that it was really the other way around and she just wanted to fleece another man….my ex….after being at his place for a few months, she cunningly got him to get a loan for her as he was working and she was on disability pension after twisting her foot tripping over her stinky cat which wasn’t suppose to be there in the first place…will explain more soon.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">He got taken away in the back of a police station wagon as if he was a dangerous criminal…he wouldn’t even hurt a fly…well he would but not a human!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">After some questioning, they stuck him in a holding cell for a few hours, which I would imagine, to him would have seemed like a week!!!<span style=""> </span>He tried to keep himself mentally occupied, then, out of the corner of his eye; he spotted something moving… it was a dead cockroach. On closer inspection from the hard bed he was sitting on, he focussed on the transport this creature was moving with…. It was an army of tiny little ants carrying it towards the escape hole in the corner of the wall of where the door was. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">After much staring and amusing himself with nature’s entertainment, the mighty ant army came to a halt in the corner because they couldn’t get that cockroach through the little hole, which was a funny & fascinating sight. The little ants re-focused and nutted out how they were going to get their tasty morsel out of jail and into their nest, after a short while, they decided to re-group in different ways and actually tore the cockroach carcass into little pieces and pulled each tiny piece through the hole effortlessly!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">As I was listening to him telling us about this experience of his, I couldn’t help chuckling away as I mentally visualised the look on the police-people’s faces as they looked in on him in the holding cell, either through the door or via one of those security cameras, whilst he was staring at the corner of the room….they must have been a bit perplexed, or maybe worried about the sad state of his mind, which was actually the opposite as he was just trying to occupy his thoughts to pass the time away and to keep himself sane from the thoughts of that “female” who made a mess of his life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">A short while before he was due to be let out, my son-in-law-to-be-made-official walked in to take him back to his car at work so they could go home…he lives with them until he finds himself a place of his own as he had left the other town where “she”, his nightmare, was living.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">I will continue with the story of how this situation got to be in my next blog.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">As for another one of my crazy menopausal symptoms, or is it just a getting older thing apart from changing subjects like a waffling scatterbrain…which I am not ;)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><span style=""> </span>I was staring out the window the other day, wondering why the dogs were barking and worked out it was just a herd of cows making their way over closer to the fence… (we have moved onto another ex-dairy farm not far from the last one). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">On the other side was what I thought to be a dead cow….I called king W to see it as I was worried about it and thought we had to somehow get in contact with the guy who leases the land around us. The king announced to me that it was a tree stump I was looking at, not a dead cow!!!<span style=""> </span>Well, what a relief that was but at the same time, I was a bit concerned about my deteriorating vision.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">The other similar incident happen when I thought, and mentioned to the king and kids in the back of the car, how cute those sheep were, all the same size and in a position like they were going to do some dancing…boy…. the laughter I got!!! <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">The “sheep,” from a distance, were really those big round bales of hay that have just been made, sitting peacefully without a care in the world, <span style=""> </span>where they were made in the paddock at regular intervals….I do believe I am short-sighted after all….tried to be in denial… head in sand syndrome, thinking some eye exercise would fix the problem…now I have to go buy a pair of glasses!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-31380774995006141412010-02-27T18:15:00.001-08:002010-02-27T18:25:29.758-08:00My Kanya Gets Killed<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccustomer%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">She thought she was the bravest dog on this earth but Kanya wasn’t a match for whatever it was that that she was chasing…. a kangaroo or wild pig! <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">This time, she was the only one that escaped from the house-yard….once again…the temptation was too much to resist.<span style=""> </span>I called her and called her until I ran out of whistle and voice….even the other two dogs were concerned, maybe they could hear something I couldn’t but they stayed put near the hole they had all dug previously to escape, which the king still hadn’t fixed yet. <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">Later on, she came back, panting away and wasn’t interested in eating so I left her to go lie down to recover from her “Fun Run” only to discover that she had passed away from internal injuries that I hadn’t spotted immediately as I was in<span style=""> </span>hurry to complete my work. It was too late to take her to the vets </span><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="">L</span></span><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51); font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;">Update:- We buried her in the garden and planted an avocado seedling tree on top as she was always stealing and eating my avocado seeds I kept planting…..its going to be a long day!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 51);"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-62617572571909842542010-02-27T18:06:00.000-08:002010-02-27T18:12:49.551-08:00Late Blogs Coming Through...What a Time To Move!!!<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">What a time to move…what awful timing!!! There I was, hobbling about with my sore back, feeling sorry for myself and this silly monkey chatter in my mind getting louder and more negative until I remembered that I can get over it and “this too shall pass” when I shift my mind in a different gear….looking at the positive things around me rather than feeling frustrated that I cannot get much done and moving in slow motion, like this nightmare where you are trying to run from the boogeyman but cannot run fast – looking like the six million-dollar man running but without the speed and strength! </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Packing up for the move was frustrating indeed as I thought we had another few months up our sleeves and had time to declutter more, or at least do the minimalist thing, however, because farmhouses are as rare as hen’s teeth around here, we had to snap this one up…too good to pass up….and just packed up all the old stuff which was meant to be sorted out, so now I will have to do this over this side of the move, more time consuming but less stuff in the end result – less is more! </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">This place is exactly what I was visualising previously when we found out we had to move – a nice house with mountain view on a hill…cause I am short (or, vertically-challenged as my security-guard brother says!!!) and need to see some kind of nice view and since we are landlocked and cannot see the ocean, which I dearly miss, the mountains are the next nice alternative…..and I can pretend the pacific ocean horizon lies over the mountains… truly, not fibbing…its just that it is a long way away…like about a few hours as the crow flies or 4 - 5 hours as the King drives depending on if he decides we should have a peepee break (or do they nicely call it “comfort break”?) The other obvious reason for the hill is that I am not too fond of floods.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">As I packed and gently moved things….don’t worry, this little Babushka made sure the heavy stuff was lifted by the strong guys around the place… I did my back-stretching exercises, positive mental attitude and made sure I didn’t overdo things….and it is paying off! I still have a niggly back…pinched kidney nerve plus sciatica, however, it is slowly going and I will slowly increase my movements and will soon be doing some Zumba!!! Hee hee!!! </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">I have an A4 poster inside my pantry door, where I see it everyday - it is a silhouette of a slim lady on a hill with her arms triumphantly up in the air, with dumbbells in her hands….underneath the photo, I wrote “SuperNonna!!!” to motivate this menopausal Nonna-Babushka into getting as fit as possible for the grandbabies and especially for myself….cause I’m worth it….if we don’t look after ourselves, we cannot have enough strength and stamina to look after our loved ones….. I made the mistake of letting myself go…pretty much a sin, considering French women don’t get fat….unless she gets taken away from her French environment and lose her French ways, trying to assimilate herself in a different culture where the food and lifestyle is different….but really…there are no excuses…..I emotionally ate my way to where I am but not staying in this blubber-body…and yes, it will be like pushing an elephant up the hill to get menopausal lady to trim down but not impossible! I am thinking of making a photo blog about this…maybe take a photo each day in the same pose and fast forward them like animated pictures moving in the corner of an exercise book as you flip its corner pages….should I be so daring?!?!?! </span><br /></span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-72829594772005194852010-02-13T23:51:00.000-08:002010-02-13T23:57:11.089-08:00Green Frog & The Microwave<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccustomer%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">OK…here I am again, this time, not promising to be regularly on every day until<span style=""> </span>I work out this internet signal thingy where we have moved as we have no signal, well, we kind of do if you point the cell-mobile phone in a certain direction and catch the wave…now I see where they get the term “surfing the web” but in our case, it is actually catching the mobile/internet signal, but it isn’t strong enough or long lasting enough to do longer then two or three minutes of internet work …probably will get satellite internet as soon as we settle in….. but for nowadays, might just have to type it out and save it for when I am near an internet connected computer/laptop.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">The house is roomy enough and has beautiful mountain views – and it comes with lots of wind…good for drying the clothes and drying your hair “a la naturel” ….just stick your wet head out the door, slide your fingers through your wet hair a few times (or get your darling to do it for you) and “voila!” – your hair is dried in no time at all, thanks to mother nature! <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">At the last house we were in, the old dairy farmhouse, we had this cute green frog that adopted us and lived in between the fridge and microwave (don’t like microwave ovens after finding out the stuff it does to the molecular structure of food…[another blog entry about it soon]) and was a good weather indicator as not long after it croaked loudly, we knew it was going to rain…..and it did, 99.9% of the time….got to pay attention to nature! <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-family:verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="" lang="EN-AU">Anyways, I named it Fredo and when we had to move, King Willem was all sad as we had to leave this Fredo behind. I carefully carried it outside and stuck him/her near water and green grass so it can go play with the other green frogs whilst we move the furniture and whitegoods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" >Fast forward to a few days, last week, I went into our new kitchen for a drink of H2O in the middle of the night, and lo and behold, who did I see out of the corner of my eye but Fredo …. I wasn’t too sure if it was him/her so I called King Willem over and he reckoned it was Fredo….he must have hitchhiked here with the fridge, probably in the back where he wasn’t noticed. In the morning, I went to see under the microwave oven to check if I hadn’t had a dream or wasn’t sleep-drinking, and sure enough, it was really Fredo, in his usual cubby-hole space where he stays there during the day until we go to sleep at night, and then he ventures out to find some bugs or whatever adventure he is up to……maybe his date didn’t work out for him in the wild! Well, I call it a he as it is easier to type and Fredo is a male name…. as in the chocolate Fredo frog! <span style="">Will take a photo of him soon!!!</span></span><span style="" lang="EN-AU"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-64953213975970413402009-04-14T14:45:00.000-07:002009-04-14T16:10:24.346-07:00Body Blushing - Don't Read This If You Get Offended by Real Life!<span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:130%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:130%;" >Well....I am thinking that I may be at the door-step of this thing they call "Menopause" ....a term I use to say I was in when my ex and I separated nearly </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:130%;" >every two years...."In Between Husbands" that lasted eleven years...or something like that....anyhows, I have been reading a bit on what I am going to go through at this stage of my life, being peri-menopausal - about the mood swings, hot flushes, etc.<br /><br /> My mother couldn't help me much as she was fortunate enough not to have gone through most of these symptoms when it was her turn to become the ultimate beautiful woman-mother that she is....and is still crazy too...that is genetics...lucky to have this kooky traits from both sides....Papa is just as kooky as my Maman!</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:130%;" ><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:130%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeLa-xB43SSS06w-D9kvgijkAx69oCn3WSpr-2Vs0nU3GzpEZtr1SyhkaQfYR3eeYd87IJe_8443K3n_c4bcFVe86BWX2vFqZvrRY2J0yzKD65Zqn3jrz5tct7Qif1TC_bhFQAAIoN_WV/s1600-h/Richard&Lyliane.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeLa-xB43SSS06w-D9kvgijkAx69oCn3WSpr-2Vs0nU3GzpEZtr1SyhkaQfYR3eeYd87IJe_8443K3n_c4bcFVe86BWX2vFqZvrRY2J0yzKD65Zqn3jrz5tct7Qif1TC_bhFQAAIoN_WV/s320/Richard&Lyliane.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324686837240563746" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102);font-size:130%;" ><br /><br />For the last few days, I have been feeling like I am blushing for no particular reason.....all over my body, but not the night-sweaty thing! I tried to think back to see if I had had a naughty thought or two, but not to my recollection - they just come visiting me whenever they like....when I am doing the laundry, washing the dishes, organizing business, talking with friends and colleagues on the msn messenger thingy...and no, we weren't writing about anything that would make me blush!!!<br /><br />So, I have decided that this phenomenon called hot flushes, or "Big Body Blushes" ... are just God's way of giving me big warm hugs to let me know that it is alright, I will get through this stage of adjustment and to Welcome me into the new life-stage of Womanhood!<br /><br />Something had changed in me...ever since I got into my BF program, I am losing fears and phobias right, left and centre!!! My confidence is growing but still have to shut that monkey-chatter up in my head from time to time ....the one that the old me use to listen to AND believe all the lies that it was telling me....now, thanks to what I am doing, I know better and get to stick some virtual duck-tape on its mouth :))<br /><br />My daughter took me shopping last week and went to park her car at the shopping mall....in an underground car-park....now, the old me would have panicked, having being claustrophobic, gone clammy and would have pleaded with her to park in the open car-park, but this time, all fear was gone and I was calm and shocked by my new-found confidence and serenity! All thanks to BF!<br /><br />OK ...that's it for now until my next crazy thoughts or adventure in this little corner of the world of mine! Have yourselves a magnificent day!</span><br /></span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-85375302486054055072009-04-12T06:20:00.001-07:002009-04-12T06:50:16.428-07:00Bicycles, Dingoes and Kissed by a Wasp...<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Thought I might share my achievment of the day with you all......I have finally gone back to riding my bicycle, which was feeling all lonely, neglected and sad looking, with flat tyres and dust on its black handle bars.<br />I got the tyres all pumped up and ready to go, and put it back in the laundry, where it sleeps.<br /><br />After two thoughful days, I dusted it off and hopped on it, slowly and carefully riding around the house yard all wobbly like, seeing as it was a long time since I last rode it. Plus, being at home in the privacy of our yard meant that if I fell off, I would only fall on the soft grass and not make this crazy Nonna a fool of herself on the real hard road.<br /><br />Today...this late afternoon, in the fading light of the day.... after chatting to my good friend overseas, got motivated (and pushed by my fitness coach-like son) to go out and give it a go.<br /><br />I only went for one kilometre & a bit and back again, as it was getting dark and didn't feel like bumping into any dingoes or startled kangaroos up the road. The puppies were barking upon hearing me crawl back home with jelly legs....must have sounded like a heavy breathing heifer to them!!!<br /><br />Listening to my motivating CDs helps me to overcome quite a few things that were blocking me from going forward in my life, but now, they seem to be getting better. For a start, I just discovered today I am over being scared of paper wasps as I moved through quite a few of them this morning, going inside the house...I actually got kissed by one!!!<br />Lucky my mouth was closed as I was breathing in!<br /><br />Life is certainly not dull at the moment!</span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-36345518525222613362009-04-08T05:35:00.000-07:002009-04-08T05:58:33.381-07:00My Sloshy Brain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhll6DslUxpoXGNd6BEtLsQdH6zS96ySq4LMHW4ZhgtHwjCkkK0ijFPekqu3qVScpdAcsjj0yUBoG5tKtIfqV3hm-c2xzj6Hbxvg4Ja2QMyOxkxPkh0_sxSfVeSh2mVdMMY0afDODdC7ooW/s1600-h/Picture+041.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhll6DslUxpoXGNd6BEtLsQdH6zS96ySq4LMHW4ZhgtHwjCkkK0ijFPekqu3qVScpdAcsjj0yUBoG5tKtIfqV3hm-c2xzj6Hbxvg4Ja2QMyOxkxPkh0_sxSfVeSh2mVdMMY0afDODdC7ooW/s320/Picture+041.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322303093866436578" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />I just read that our brains are 74% water....can you imagine how much the moon is influencing us?!?!?! What with the high tides and other phases of the moon, it is a wonder people go all "lunatic" on full moons and we sometimes feel like our brains are going to burst like a tight water balloon with the high tide...at least that's my excuse :))</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />That means that we can work out a way to "go with the flow" so to speak, drink more water to have the brain stay hydrated and the neurons working at their peak performance, and work in with nature, the moon's cycle and plan our activity around "her mood swings," so as to have a more efficient life..... breezing along....now wait a minute....that's another subject....the butterfly and the hurricanes! </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Today, Darling Son and I went to have coffee with my Darling Daughter at her place and I was observing her growing belly with the belly button popping up, and had this amusing image in my mind of her baby girl (yes, it is a 99% chance of a girl bubba) trying to blow a bubble to the outside world, making her presence known! Waiting for the end of May, early June for her to make her grand entrance into this wonderful and fascinating world....Ah...the imaginations!!!!</span></span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-41964901006435798622009-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:002009-04-06T19:50:08.356-07:00Trivial Knowledge<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Here i am again, attempting to share my whacky thoughts with the world after a long break.....did you missed me?!?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">I just found out, after being in Australia for 40 years, that the kangaroos of different genders have different names...either I didn't pay much attention at school or they don't teach you things like this in city schools..... male kangaroos are called "Boomers" and females are "Flyers" it pays to pay attention to little bits of information that passes your eyes...you never know when you might be needing it....some kid doing their homework, an overseas friend wanting to know more about the wildlife or any other bits and pieces of your country's particular details or even just suddenly getting invited to a Trivia Night, having no time for your brain to soak up the encyclopaedia in order to impress your partner or friend.... mind you, you really have to be present in your life to do that, apart from all the day-to-day things happening in your personal and business life! That's why some companies put these sort of bits of information on their everyday products...if you look carefully at them to see if they have them.... especially the women's personal products...educating the women of the world, one at a time!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Another thing I have learnt is that the scales underneath a snake is called "scutes" I guess whoever made that word for for them was thinking of a snake just scootin' around on these funny things! :)) ........ ok, so I am in a kooky mood, LOL!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Alright, on that note, I shall scoot outa here and make some yummo lunch....no diet for me!<br /><br /><br /></span><br /></span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-46569812483989864292009-01-29T15:30:00.000-08:002009-01-29T18:41:59.502-08:00Rich Grasshoppers...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTl3DlxAQ9r-ZmIovmJeVRnIrTXbu-8VRZvu5V7td-85DhqGyEvwcM4OaZGLa883iDK1E30qThFAsko9rRJBp4UBQufuFc3QxQfRkGBD-12JwpoEEL0uO3_Na8C0xIvafB5nu1RyqcSx0/s1600-h/0315081505-00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTl3DlxAQ9r-ZmIovmJeVRnIrTXbu-8VRZvu5V7td-85DhqGyEvwcM4OaZGLa883iDK1E30qThFAsko9rRJBp4UBQufuFc3QxQfRkGBD-12JwpoEEL0uO3_Na8C0xIvafB5nu1RyqcSx0/s320/0315081505-00.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296907271475715314" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />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?!?!?!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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!!!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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.<br />"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!!!"</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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. </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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 :))<br /><br /></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">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!<br /><br />Have yourselves an awesome day, or night, whichever time zone you are in now. </span></span>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-90246657514120049722009-01-26T12:36:00.000-08:002009-01-26T14:14:49.113-08:00Breakthrough...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWF1OPKi75FN3XDqIXl-eAuI8WFA-gZbRz01uJ_cB2kvTxeqgcj0vtXXg0ZcbKWK-tRuYFY4yqboUB0llEld0MYsUOeZuT0LtjdXUon0o0zhEO8SGYUfdGkb2Z1YwjHfe4AThkqsMgIOV/s1600-h/Phoenix23_400x300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWF1OPKi75FN3XDqIXl-eAuI8WFA-gZbRz01uJ_cB2kvTxeqgcj0vtXXg0ZcbKWK-tRuYFY4yqboUB0llEld0MYsUOeZuT0LtjdXUon0o0zhEO8SGYUfdGkb2Z1YwjHfe4AThkqsMgIOV/s320/Phoenix23_400x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295728246471000402" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Good Morning Friends!!!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Last night, I had a breakthrough in my attempt to get this blog to go to Twitter!!!<br /><br />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 <span style="font-style: italic;">I</span> can do it, it must be easy for others who are timid about using this technology.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">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?!?! <br />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. </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">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.<br />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.<br /><br />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 <span style="font-style: italic;">choose</span> what goes in front of us.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">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 ;) </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />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)!!!! </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />There....now you all know, so I am accountable to you as well! </span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzi7_p4JGuSnnaNfHr4RZd8b9UoipXFuh9OCyPYlnir4INqhubWQTNFM6KlbJMramGwSPQlYmHR7IdPbeqIgX6gRgBaz_RmtLYc8HG1nMQzyXDa_mf-jO8jODGOLSavwZM-gMQV6rulBnm/s1600-h/0705082039-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzi7_p4JGuSnnaNfHr4RZd8b9UoipXFuh9OCyPYlnir4INqhubWQTNFM6KlbJMramGwSPQlYmHR7IdPbeqIgX6gRgBaz_RmtLYc8HG1nMQzyXDa_mf-jO8jODGOLSavwZM-gMQV6rulBnm/s320/0705082039-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295729156767636754" border="0" /></a>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-45780331439480457692009-01-25T21:16:00.000-08:002009-01-25T23:06:32.336-08:00Happy Australia Day!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rPYHTWgQ09imJITR604lOlCsrxcy97flnqv3-nKCoUH4774ubvDlYLjYVeJ1jPPiwOc5y8zvJu4P5NtBoT2MYAgnozTTxrPeuPd7mz84MAfXD-Swp9pL7CiIPooN9Dx8mttAtTgSqhdv/s1600-h/0601080820-00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rPYHTWgQ09imJITR604lOlCsrxcy97flnqv3-nKCoUH4774ubvDlYLjYVeJ1jPPiwOc5y8zvJu4P5NtBoT2MYAgnozTTxrPeuPd7mz84MAfXD-Swp9pL7CiIPooN9Dx8mttAtTgSqhdv/s320/0601080820-00.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295485564127482994" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" ><br /><br />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.<br />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!!!<br /><br />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"<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhDa9tNHimR4TwmliB2iKwayQlvqzKc9gFfqCJ1cW0c9x1VWRNkH-26i0wzZQTo0RcQwwQip4YGtpT0zpMvT94PDNYvhuI_bCbjzeUmnz2OlT17KLK9B9e900IfW3mpRjcpyzaf1xl5Q-/s1600-h/0125091135-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQhDa9tNHimR4TwmliB2iKwayQlvqzKc9gFfqCJ1cW0c9x1VWRNkH-26i0wzZQTo0RcQwwQip4YGtpT0zpMvT94PDNYvhuI_bCbjzeUmnz2OlT17KLK9B9e900IfW3mpRjcpyzaf1xl5Q-/s320/0125091135-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295494983110212754" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" ><br /><br />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 ;)<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HINTS AND TIPS FOR POWERWALKING IN THE AUSTRALIAN COUNTRYSIDE</span><br /><br />~ If walking by yourself, take a dog with you that is a non-chaser of sheep and cattle for company, and for safety.<br /><br />~ Wear a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses...and a good sunscreen if it is later on in the day.<br /><br />~ Bring water for hydration and weightlifting.<br /><br />~ 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 :))<br /><br />~ 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!<br /><br />~ Wear loose and comfortable clothes.<br /><br />~ 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.<br /><br />~ Using my stepping as rhythm beats, I have lately been using affirmations such as "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Eve</span>ryday in <span style="font-weight: bold;">eve</span>ryway, I'm<span style="font-weight: bold;"> get</span>ting <span style="font-weight: bold;">bet</span>ter and <span style="font-weight: bold;">bet-</span>ter....." alternating with ".......I'm <span style="font-weight: bold;">get</span>ting <span style="font-weight: bold;">smar</span>ter and <span style="font-weight: bold;">smar</span>-ter." The bolded bits are every second stepping-beat.<br /><br />~ 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.<br /><br />~ 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.<br /><br /><br /> 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 :)<br /><br />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?!?! <br />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!<br /><br />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!!!</span><br /><h3><a id="an4" href="http://www.google.com.au/aclk?sa=L&ai=CVMAjdlF9ScyFLYG2tQP66bjYBPbckIUB0uXXowu7h9QFEAQoCFDVv7aE_P____8BYKX4kYCQAcgBAakCQXWhKaPgpT6qBBhP0McSyjy6IUVgqoCTWZPcu9eDVM3t2Rg&num=7&sig=AGiWqtycKhIlW156Mc4gk7E51vcz0XNkFw&q=http://www.tptherapy.com.au/plantarkit.html"><br /></a></h3>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6352445109571439496.post-24656894479078278742009-01-22T01:55:00.000-08:002009-01-22T03:03:04.275-08:00Well, Here Goes!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGt9iqLmsgCuRswbRqbFuNHn3Yp0SZlXqNouW-HkTGXWtGQoRIZOYaomgtUKiHo2CBIeXpm5V60npu-3aZsEKLik1sJX6ZG9NzRVfMkJW8t9EO9OOFxtdByweU4jDgbfPrteGKQdEeP_8o/s1600-h/Image.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGt9iqLmsgCuRswbRqbFuNHn3Yp0SZlXqNouW-HkTGXWtGQoRIZOYaomgtUKiHo2CBIeXpm5V60npu-3aZsEKLik1sJX6ZG9NzRVfMkJW8t9EO9OOFxtdByweU4jDgbfPrteGKQdEeP_8o/s320/Image.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294067015941078034" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />The rain has finally come tonight, the water tanks are filling up nicely and the frogs are delighted...having a really hopping happy time :))<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVitTbW6rr64bRgbEDd075Yz7jQHdW3rEG-V0U0juVxnRxSIaXYuaJ16NAtMByFmIVQdd0TeiAh8cY1P506otW09nLETK-pJIqm3ZgkaTlLuy5mdQYlwasydiXScyXs0WRnSy-7vTl3el/s1600-h/1229080657-00.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVitTbW6rr64bRgbEDd075Yz7jQHdW3rEG-V0U0juVxnRxSIaXYuaJ16NAtMByFmIVQdd0TeiAh8cY1P506otW09nLETK-pJIqm3ZgkaTlLuy5mdQYlwasydiXScyXs0WRnSy-7vTl3el/s320/1229080657-00.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294071468544530242" border="0" /></a>Marie-Dominiquehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15503692821089340896noreply@blogger.com0