Row by Row update

The row by row challenge is coming along with the third swap happening on Tuesday night. I has been working on Pam's quilt which I hand appliqued orange and blue butterflies from Linda Poole's book Bended Bias. They were a huge success. All the girls who saw them loved them - no - Pam won't see them until September!

This is my project for the next month in the Row by Row. This one is Robynne's. I am to do the fouth row. Her instructions are "cream background and have fun!". I think I will do hearts and some sort of piecing. The last two have been lots of applique. I am looking forward to doing some piecing!

What a day!

Thursday was the day from hell. It started with a friend's funeral. Ronnie was a work colleague from when I used to drive the Share and Care community bus. Ronnie passed away due to complications from pnuemonia after a long illness. She was 72 but ran around like a 20 year old right up until she got sick. She will be very much missed by the Northam community.

I went back to work after the service and got on with what I had to do.

About 3.30pm I got a phone call from a man named Emilio to inform me that Jeff had had a car accident! He is okay - not a scratch on him apart from a bit of stiffness but the car is a write-off!
He had been in Gingin for a bull sale (we do transit and stud stock insurance cover) and was on his way home. He has been putting in some very long days lately and unfortunately he dozed off! He was doing about 100kms per hour and went off the road at a bend, over a fallen log, moved sideways and the car landed nose down in the dirt. It is very much a wake up call for him to slow down and smell the roses. Needless to say the boys and I are very thankful that he is okay. The car can be replaced (and has been already!!) but Jeff can not be.

I am sorry to the members of my family who will read this here - Jeff wouldn't let me ring anyone about it! I think he is pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. It was impressive to see Matt and Mick lecturing their dad on the dangers of driver fatigue! I really don't think it will happen again. Like I said - we are just thankful he is okay!!

Because we need Jeff's car for the business, the priority was to replace the car. I can do nothing but praise the local car dealer. He sourced and delivered a used 2005 Holden Statesman for us and had it delivered in 4 hours from the request! The car had to come down from Moora about an hour and a half drive from Northam. Probably the easiest deal the salesman has ever done!

Tomorrow we are off to the city to see Billy Connolly live in concert. I booked the tickets for Jeff back in November and then presented them to him after it was all organised. Jeff is a huge fan of Billy and has always wanted to see him live. We are going with Bill and Gillian and we can't wait! I will tell all next week.

A lovely Surprise....

Friday was Jeff's amd my 22nd Wedding Anniversary. As a rule we don't do anything for them. Just a kiss and "Happy Anniversary" in the morning.

Can you imagine my surprise when this beautiful flower arrangement arrived at the office at morning tea time! No card - that told me exactly who they were from. Jeff is very much a 'no frills' kind of guy! I was moved to tears!

This really made my day.

The rest of the day went on as normal. Finished at work, went to the gym, came home and did chores and watched TV with Jeff. We really do not make a fuss!

It has taken a bit of time to get here to update my blog. One - because we are still very busy at work and two - I have to fight for MY computer because Matt is always playing shoot 'em up games on here!! He is pretty good if I want it and gets off for me but in truth, I haven't had any energy to post! And because work has been so busy, not much else has been happening!

I go to the gym every Saturday with my friend Hetty who is a gym instructor. The last few Saturdays I have been helping Hetty train some older ladies who have decided they want to get fit. It is so much fun. The four of them roll up at the gym with full makeup and it has taken a few weeks for them to realise that they don't need to wear 'good' clothes to the gym. They are all in their late 60's and early 70's. We spend a lot of time laughing. They are so good at laughing at themselves but they are also very good at pushing themselves through the workout. H & I have noticed the difference in their movements already. They are starting to loosen up quite a bit, so it shows "You are never too old!" I am really enjoying helping them through their workouts as they are so enthusiastic! They go home and practice their stretches and tummy exercises. I love them!!

Who needs an alarm clock!!

At around 5.30 this morning we woke up to the most phenomonal noise. There were about 1000 white cockatoos feeding on our block next door. It was an amazing sight. These pictures just don't do it justice. My camera is just not good enough. The paddock is 5 1/2 acres and it and the block over the back were covered in cockatoos. They are really noisy but the treat of nature we are given makes up for that. I stood and just looked for quite some time. The kids hate it - you just can't sleep with that sort of noise.

The cockies have just taken off to go and drink from the river which is about 500m away. I can still hear them! On Sunday morning some of them thought our roof was a good resting place and it sounded like an army was walking on the roof. they had also landed in our palm trees. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of the roof because as soon as they saw me they all took off.