not happy jan

A little bloggy catch up on the adventures, or rather misadventures around here. The Husband wanted me to blog about it, obviously because he thinks it wildly amusing, me? Not so much.

Anyhow, on Wednesday last week I was summonsed to appear at the cattle yards to assist in drafting the cows we had to let go because of being rudely interrupted by a fire. Still recovering from the tummy bug , I would have to admit that I probably wasn't as agile and alert as I could be, but STILL....(the rest of the tale below taken from an email which tells the story, why rewrite it again?!)

"I have been in the yards where I have been most rudely snotted by a cow who APPARENTLY thinks I look like a dingo, albeit one half way up the rails, and using an impressive array of inappropriate language.

Needless to say my shin is feeling very sore from the cow trying to push it through the rails, and I have very Dark Thoughts about said cow, and her longevity. Husband and BIL both very unsympathetic, even though I was pretty much as far out of the way as I could have been, apart from back at the hut, laying on the couch, having a by-jingo.

Actually, adding husband to list of things to have Dark Thoughts about. Should be showing far more concern for love of his life and mother of his children"

The leg and shin in question did indeed take offence to being ground into the steel yard panels, swelling and bruising impressively. (although, obviously not enough to impress Husband to dole out sympathy).

This is the best photograph I could get, and it was indeed purple and yellow, with a great deal of the bruising drifting downwards as is wont to happen in these cases.  Its a very attractive look, appearing like one has jaundice in just below the knee in one leg!

Kids however, are impressed enough to fetch and carry for mum, especially if any of them bumps or whacks the offending limb (it hurts), Mum sporting too a limp that at least works on them if not their father!

not exactly cinderella

but to the ball I did go, on Saturday night. Without The Husband, who was devastatedly disappointed that we had no babysitter and he had to stay home with the kids, as he loves wearing his suit and bow tie so very much.

I am on the committee (albeit a very poor one, having not been to one meeting in the past twelve months) that organises the ball, so I donned my frock (such a great word to drop into a converstation!) bling and trotted off to help out. Before I left, I allowed myself to be photographed - badly - by the husband. The six year old has better photography skills than he does.

I will not add commentary as of course one always can find fault with ones own image (hello white flabby arms, why did I not get a dress with sleeves?!)  I will say that I decided to put a rinse in my hair that morning, having been told with delight by kids and spouse of the grey hairs on my head. It turned out a little darker than expected. And after having my hair straightened and fluffed with the other girls in town who were attending the ball, I wasn't sure that I liked it but didn't have time to do anything else with it.

The hall was all decorated:

(It didn't look as empty as this in real life!) and those big roller doors on the left opened up onto a lovely deck, overlooking the river.

the table decor was very cool in the low light

And the rest of the ladies from my little town scrubbed up alright as well, all out for a Girls Night Out.

That is all that made it onto my camera, however there was a newspaper reporter snapping away so if I made the newsprint I will be sure to share :-)  

Thinking about Fashion

So Melbourne Cup is rolling around again, and while we don't sip champagne and rub shoulders with celebrities at Flemington, we do celebrate the race in style (oh, how I wish it were a national public holiday!)

And as much as I love to stay at home and watch the action on TV, I also enjoy going down to our local pub where we all dress up and have a lovely afternoon out. And don't worry, just because its not Melbourne, doesn't mean the fashion isn't as cutting edge or stylish!  (especially our publican, who would not be out of place on the Melbourne Fashions of the Fields).

You may remember I did purple last year.  It was quite comfortable and cool actually.  (although I need to find a nice purple cardy thing if to wear that outfit again...I have decided that I Need Sleeves).

After trawling through my wardrobe this morning on a whim, I then went searching on ebay (where else?!) for the perfect accessories....

I started off with a nice plain black shirt (with sleeves!) and a white and black skirt, and then out of nowhere ORANGE appeared in my head, and I thought how nice it would be to throw some colour into my black and white.  I don't own any orange at all (red another matter!) so what a perfect excuse! ;-)  And I found a black and white skirt as well (six bucks!) which I think will work better than the white and black I have...and decided on a black fascinator instead of orange (remembering I am a red head!) which will be more versatile.

What do you think? Too much? Stay away from orange? Does anyone else enjoy rounding up these fun little details? (living closer to real shops might make my job easier!)

Making An Exception

I don't have a lot of photos of myself in recent years - normally I am behind the camera, and especially as I have issues with my weight (and therefore appearance!) I don't like many of the few photos that happen to have me included in them.

However, today I am making an exception.  Remember back before Christmas, my friend Mel came and took some family photographs...well, she's slowly catching up on her editing, and shared this with me...

Mel very cleverly left out the fat belly bits...(and lets not talk about the bottom, OK!) and I have to say, its not too bad!  And even though I desperatley needed a haircut...I actually don't mind this photo!  (now that I think about it, its probably more realistic that I have lots of messy hair, as that is pretty much how I spend every day - a haircut lasts me around a week before it looks "normal" again!!

So there you have it - me. Wrinkles and all, albeit wearing some makeup and lippy (can't be TOO real now, can we?!!)

Thanks Mel. xox


Justifying Text in PSE

I just learnt a new trick that I had to share with you:  how to justify text in PSE (justify - even spread the text over the text box area, rather than left or right or centre alignment!)

This will seriously make my little anal world SO HAPPY, you cannot believe it, as this one thing has annoyed me so much when using PSE - I didnt' know how to have the text justified.

1. Draw you text box - click on the T, then click and drag the text box to fill the area you wish the text to appear.
2. Type in the text you want.  Fill 'er up.
3. When finished, Control+Shift+ J.  Done.

Its as easy as that - why didn't anyone tell me that before!! I love having justified text.....