Billy

Don't you just loves this cute photo. Billy is such a photogenic dog.

From the roof tops

This is a photo of Milo the most adventurous of all my cats. He uses the sails that go over our pool to access the roof of our house. House, sails then to the fence and down. He is certainly a real boy.

Fishing at Hastings Point

Here the girls are experiencing fishing for the first time. They are at Hastings Point and they caught absolutely nothing but they had fun trying.

Urunga

This photo was taken of my husband and two daughters at Urunga when we had a trial run in our caravan. I love watching my husband interact with his daughters from a distance it doesn't happen often enough as he's at work alot and that's why I love holidays as you get to spend more quality time with the ones you love and if you get to see some things you don't normally see that even makes it better.

A day at the Beach

This photo of Amy and our dog Billy was taken at a trip to the beach during a sunny day in Winter earlier this year. Billy loves the beach he runs off like a nut at full speed and gets just far enough away and then comes running full speed back. He loves running into the water and playing on the beach. I wanted to end my blogging tonight on a happier note.

Rest in Peace Sam

Because of the problems with Benji unfortunately Sam started to copy Benji and started doing his business on the floor. I made the decision to put Sam down at the same time as Benji mainly because I have 4 other cats still and as they are all younger they were still all using the cat litter trays and had not developed any bad toileting habits. And if I'd kept Sam they might decide to do the same as him and to be honest if I don't have to pick up another poo off the floor before I do the washing I certainly wont mind it.

Sam was a bit of a loner. He did not like any of the other cats and although he was very placid and never caused any fights with the other cats he was not a very affectionate cat and was not very friendly so I had never really built a strong friendship with him. He was a very high maintenance cat and I always had trouble with having to trim his fur to stop messes on the furniture and he always got very notty he would also vomit alot because of the fur balls in his stomach from his long fur. I would also have to bath him when his fur got poo in it around his back legs and he hated every minute and I'd be scratched heaps.

I mainly put him down as I was worried that even after Benji was gone that he would continuing to poo on the floor and I don't want the other cats to start doing it. He was too old now to change his ways and he is afraid of the outside as he has always been an inside cat so I couldn't just put him outside. As he is not very friendly and is very high maintence because of his long fur and most people think he is ugly because of his squashed face, I did not think I would be able to rehome him especially with his bad toileting habits. So I felt I had no choice.

Looking back over the decision now that he and Benji are gone I am much happier and relieved. I am relieved for Benji as he was sick and I am relieved for myself that I can now enjoy my other four cats and one dog and not be a slave to picking up after them when they mess on the floor. I was always so embarrassed to have a visitor in the house incase a poo was on the floor. My other cats are less maintenance and I can just enjoy them. I know I made the right decision although I have never in my life had to put an animal down and I hope I never have to do it again.

Rest in Peace my dear Benji boy

Today I had to make a very difficult decision. About Eight Months ago my gorgeous Persian Benji was diagnosed with a Chronic Kidney desease. The vet told me at the time he would slowly deteriorate. Over the past couple of months he has been drinking gallons of water and weeing a very strong smelling wee in large quantities and his bowel movements had become bloody diarohea. This had been going on for a few months but unfortunately he had also lost the ability to use the cat litter tray so every morning I had to pick up his business off the laundry floor. In the beginning it was ok but when the bloody diarohea started and become two or three times a day it was really becoming hard to cope with then the other day he'd also done a wee on the floor in the kitchen. It had obviously got to the point where it was time. So yesterday after picking up another runny poo and blood off the floor in the laundry so I could do the washing I decided it was time. So I took him to the vet this morning. I loved him very much and have had him for 9 years so it was a very upsetting experience and I couldn't even get the words out to the receptionist at the vet without crying, she told me I didn't have to explain it to her but I needed to. Good bye Benji my dear boy.

Billy Elliott

Whilst in Sydney visiting friends we experienced another thing that we never get to do. The only musical I have ever seen is Grease when it travelled Australia in that big black tent a few years ago. So we took the opportunity to go and see a show. Billy Elliott was showing at the Capitol Theatre and we booked before Christmas and although our seats were three quarters of the way up the back we could still see the stage and it was marvellous. The story line about the miners strike and Margaret Thatcher went over the girls heads a bit as it was a bit political and they didn't follow it, but all the singing and dancing was so spectacular and wonderful that it didn't matter. There is a fair bit a swearing in the show so possibly not for real young kids but mine are 13 and 9 and hear more swearing in the school playground so it was fine. Definately worth seeing if you get the chance.

Time with friends

On the 27th December 2007 the girls and I went down to Sydney by plane to visit my oldest and dearest friend. We had not seen each other for years and we needed some personal in your face contact rather then phone or email so we took the opportunity of some time off from work to get together and go and have some fun together - we went shopping galore - spent heaps in shops that we don't get to shop at and all the sales were on so we got heaps of bargains on clothes, shoes and handbags. We also went to Gold Class cinema which we have never experienced as we don't have one at home. If you have never been then pay the extra and go, we saw the kids movie Enchanted while we layed back in huge comfy recliners and ate from a huge bowl of popcorn and drank diet coke from glass cups not paper. It was wonderful, when you don't get to do it at home. We all had so much fun we've made plans to do it every year at the same time.

Larnach Castle - Dunedin NZ

When in Dunedin we visited the Larnach Castle. The grounds were beautifully done and the Castle showed exactely how people lived back then. Even the very wealthy look very poor in comparison to what we all have today. There belongs were so few and the poor had even less. Visiting this Castle made me realise how lucky we all are to live now in these modern, technology savy times. We certainly have more things, we live longer because our health systems and food give us a better quality of life. But we have lost things along the way. People now days are alot less friendly to people they don't know, we have actually become a very self absorb and angry society. On a daily basis someone is abusing someone else and most of the time it is totally uncalled for. I was in a shop yesterday and the women who was waiting to be served behind me was so over the top down right rude mumbling loudly about how long it was taking to get served when she hadn't even been waiting for 5 minutes, she then piped up loudly about the sales assistant " Jesus can you take any longer" only to then say when the sales assistant said sorry I won't be a moment, this rude women in her early 20's roughly yelled back " I wasn't talkin to you!" in a very angry tone. No she wasn't talking to the assistant but she was certainly talking about her to her companion. How rude was that! And so totally uncalled for, she and I had both walked up to the counter to get served at the one time but I got there slightly ahead of her so I put my stuff down on the counter and the assistant started serving me and it was basically immediate that the rude comments started. There was just no need for it. And unfortunately this is a daily occurrence. I work in the retail industry and this happens all the time, but I have also been on the opposite end as a customer being treated like a piece of dirt by the shop assistant. People just need to calm down and go with the flow and not let trival things bother them so much. And we need to learn to respect other peoples rights even if we don't know them.

Queenstown in the Winter

When we visited Queenstown it was summer but they told us that it snows in the main street about 12 times per year and I found this photo. I think it's a stunning photo and I would love to go back in the middle of winter to see Queenstown covered in snow.

Snow capped peaks

Because we visited the South Island of NZ in Feb/March, being summer the only snow that was left was high up on the peaks of the mountains, so I took this photo using my zoom lens on my camera. Although it was Summer we wore sloppy joes and jeans every day whilst we were down the bottom it was only up the top of the Island in Christchurch that was hot.

The Homer Tunnel - Te Anu to Milford Sound`

The Homer Tunnel was completed in 1953 to open access to Milford Sound it is 945 meters above sea level and is 1.2 km long with a steep gradient downwards leading in the direction of Milford Sound. It is only one car width so the lights tell you when it is safe to enter. The road is hilly leading up to the tunnel and then when you come out the other side it is very very steep going down in sharp U shape bends. Going home was fun due to it's steepness and their was another motor home broken down half way up the hill as it couldn't make it. It was fun going through the kids enjoyed it.

What a way to wake up

When we were in New Zealand we toured around in a Motorhome for two weeks. It's fabulous, whenever you are not in a city you can just stop anywhere and stay overnight. This is where we stayed on the way back to Tea Anu from our day at Milford Sound. We just pulled up along side this fast flowing river for the night and woke up the next morning to see all the fog covering the mountains. You can't see it in this photo but the tops of the mountains where all snow covered. It's just beautiful. If you ever get the chance to do this type of holiday make sure you do it. Touring New Zealand was the best holiday we have ever had and we are going back next year to do the North Island.

New Car

On 17th April 2007, we got rid of our 11 year old Commodore and brought our new car -pictured. It's a Mitsubishi Triton GLX-R. It's a manual and turbo diesel and I love driving it. It was a toss up between a red one and the silver. We ended up getting the silver as it doesn't show the dirt as much. And usually the day after you have washed your car it gets dirty so we thought this colour was more durable.

Milford Sound

At the end of February we went to New Zealand. It was spectacular. A beautiful country and amazingly different in many respects to Australia. These photos were taken of a magnificent waterfall that we pulled up along side of when cruising on the Milford Sound which is right down the bottom of the south island

Milo

Milo is another new addition and definately the last one. When we were at the pet shop buying Holly I just had to get Milo too. He is six weeks old. We now have 5 cats and 2 dogs. Not to mention the fish, mice, rabbits and guinea pig.

We have another addition to our ever growing pet family. Holly is 7 weeks old and is an English Springer Spaniel. We got her as a companion for Billy who is now 6 months old. He had been getting very bored when we are at work and school all day and then when we went out to play with him he would be so excited that he was hypo and he would bite all the time until he calmed down. He was especially doing it with Amy my youngest daughter. I decided he needed company and when we saw Holly we brought her immediately. Billy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel x maltese, so Holly will end up being a bit bigger then him when she is full grown. But they still should get along fine. They fell in love immediately and sleep in the same bed. And it has solved the problem with the biting. He bits her playing and has not biten any of us since she came. You walk out to play with him and he just licks you and rolls over for you to tickle him. I was a bit scared over having two dogs but I now realise I've done the right thing except my lap is not big enough for the two of them at the same time, which is how they like their cuddles.

Tag - I found this on my friends website so thought I'd do one on me.

A= Available - No

B= Best Friend - Yvonne

C= Cake or pie - neither more a chip or peanut person

D= Drink of choice - Coke Zero

E= Essential item you use everyday - Internet

F= Favorite colour - Blue

G= Gummy bears or worms - ripe raspberrys

H= Hometown - Coffs Harbour

I= Indulgences - playing the piano and listening to my ipod

K= Kids and Names - 2 Girls Kimberley and Amy

L= Life is incomplete without? My husband, my children, my four cats and dog

M= Marriage date - 4th August

N= Number of siblings - 1 brother - died at age 21 when I was 18.

O= Oranges or apples - grapes

P= Phobias or Fears - insects Yuk

Q= Favorite Quote - "You can only change or control yourself -you can never change or control someone else."

R= Reason to smile - I'm alive and well

S= Season - Spring or Autumn

T= Talent - have taught myself to use a computer and play the piano never had a lesson as I learn quickly.

U= Unknown fact about me - I cant stand two faced people and unfortunately I have met alot of them. People rarely say what they really mean - not me though I'm probably far to honest.

V= Vegetable you don't like - Chokos

W= Worst habit - letting what other people say or do affect me. I am learning not to take things so personally.

X= X-rays - been there done that.

Y= Your favorite food - chinese food and Scoffs a local restaurant love their lobster and steak meals

Z= Zodiac Sign - Gemini

Merry Christmas

Well it's Christmas Eve and Santa comes tonight.

Christmas is a time to spend with those that you love. To enjoy the gift of giving to others rather than the gifts that you will receive yourself.

Enjoy every minute of the day as it's special and only comes once a year. If you live until your 90 years old. That's ninety christmas's that you get to enjoy. Not really that many when you think of it that way is it?

The world is becoming a very angry place and people no longer treat other people with respect and kindness. Now people treat people that they do not know and some people they do know with contempt and anger and impatience. This is part of the world today that I do not like. I believe that over the past twenty years this has slowly gotten worse. Whether this stems from parents teaching there children that strangers are bad! I don't know. Yes there is evil in the world and some people are dishonest, evil, have no morals and break the law without any guilt. But not everyone is bad. And yes I am one of those parents who taught my children not to talk to strangers. But I have also taught them compassion and am trying to teach them the difference between an acquaintance, a friend, a family member and a stranger that they might meet in the street. All of whom should be treated with respect and dignity even if they speak meanly to you or push in front of you in a aline at the deli counter.

There are still alot of people who care about other people even if they don't know them and would not hesitate to help if assistance was needed. Look at people like fire fighters, nurses, ambulance drivers, doctors, and yes even the police. They help people that they do not know everyday. Yes it is true that some policeman treat you like a criminal when you speed 5 K's over the limit or go into the police station to report something you may have seen. But they are only doing there job and they do come across alot of "bad" people on a daily basis so there perspective of the average honest person down the street may be a little tarnised. Anyway got off the track there a bit.

The point of this is to wish everyone a merry christmas. And if we all try to be a little more tolerant of others differences, and not be so angry, stressed and abusive over the tiniest little problem. Appreciate that you are alive to enjoy life and wake up every day with that in mind and then maybe you won't fly off the handle at the next stupid driver who neally causes you to have an accident or you won't yell at the sales person or clerk who is just doing there job the best they can.

Chill Out Enjoy each day and most important be happy that you are alive to enjoy it another day. 

Billy

This is our new puppy. Billy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel x Maltese and he is 7-8 weeks old.

What a Cutie! 

A Sleepy Billy

 

Best of Friends

When I saw my two precious girls sleeping on the table together cuddling I just had to grab the camera and capture the moment. Crystal and Phoebe are now best of friends and love each other. Considering a month ago when Phoebe (the black and white shorthair) came to live with Crystal(Chinchilla Persian) there was alot of fear, growling and hissing going on they certainly have gotten use to each other. The reason I brought Phoebe in the first place was for a friend for Crystal as my other two cats Sam and Benji are best mates and as they are adult cats they found the kitten annoying and even though they tolerate her I couldn't say they were mates. So my original intention when I got Phoebe was for a friend for Crystal, so when I brought her home and they hated each other and were hissing and growling for the first week. I was a bit worried but now this picture proves I made the right decision. 

Kimberley and Crystal

I just thought I share this photo with you. I thought it was sweet. 

Dance Recital

This is a photo of my daughter Kimberleys dance recital at her School Presentation day assembly. They danced to Michael Jacksons song Thriller. Kimberley is at the back near the curtain three from the left with her arm up near her head. She was very proud of herself. She also sang in the choir.