2015: The year of the unwritten blog posts

December 31, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

There have been heaps. Okay, at least a dozen blog posts that I’ve written in my head but never gotten around to posting here this year. Of course there have been a few in years gone by as well, but there has definitely been less activity around here than I was hoping for for the year.

But I digress. It’s been an interesting year. After being miserable in Mount Isa and being diagnosed with depression half way through 2014, I figured 2015 could only be an improvement. And I was right.

We started the year with a bang, by buying our first house and then getting caught in Rockhampton’s first cyclone in 50 odd years.

We headed to Victoria for 2 weddings, one in Feb and a family affair in March. I had been looking forward to that week for 6 months and it did not disappoint!

Our very dear friends visited in April and had a baby girl while staying with us. I know, right? A lot happened in April, actually.

May brought a lot of self-awareness and in turn, the start of some serious self-love. It paved the way for quite an overhaul of body and soul, and it’s also when I started my twice-weekly fit mums class.

We had Darby-doo’s Baptism in June (that I blogged about in September!) and then visitors stayed with us afterwards. It also saw me write this blog post about my dear Hubs.

In July, I joined facebook. It’s been interesting. We also had our nieces stay with us for a week, and I never got around to blogging about it, even though I’ve written the post “I love how they love him” in my head a hundred times. Stay tuned.

We really got into outdoor cooking this year and entertained the neighbours with various delicacies.

I wrote this post in September about being busy that seemed to resonate with a few of you. It also saw me coming out of a bit of a foggy haze. I feel like there were a lot of these posts, both published and not, this year. I’m hoping there will be more action around this in the new year.

In October I shared some “after/current” pics of this year’s hard work so far.

November was a bit light on around here. I started a new monthly post of 10 things on the 10th as well.

And then it was December, and we were in full birthday party swing.

And yeah, it’s now the last day of December, and this is my view for the afternoon.

Unfortunately my poor 101 in 1001 has been very badly neglected this year, and with only 2 months to go until the challenge is over, I’ve gone through the list and picked out the following things I aim to achieve:

011 – Go to a driving range and hit some balls

026 – Do something kind for Hubs every day for a month

033 – Write 20 letters to people (15 to go!)

038 – Go to a Roller Derby

060 – Make pierogi 5 times – 1 more to go!

066 – grow some herbs!

074 – Have my old blog turned into a book

086 – Celebrate my 1000th blog post – 12 posts to go

095 – send a secret to Post Secret

I’ll be updating my 101 in 1001 page in the next few days as it is so horrendously outdated, and I do want to go over my successfully completed items.

So that was the year. It was a bit light on in some areas, but full on in others. I’ve decided to write some ideas for how I want 2016 to look for me, and I look forward to smashing some more goals around my health and fitness.

Won’t you join me?

The Happy-haps

December 18, 2015 / Renae / 2 Comments

And there goes another week without blogging. Sheesh! So what’s been happening? Well this time last week I was stressed up to my eyeballs trying to decide whether to drive to Brisbane, or fly, or stay in Rockhampton for Christmas because my poor little brain wasn’t coping with it all! The short story is, I ended up booking flights for the kids and I, using frequent flyer points (for the win!), flying in tomorrow evening. Mum had already booked to come up on Thursday (yesterday) to drive back with us today which was the original plan.

So then at the gym on Tuesday, I put my back out. My damn sciatica is playing up again, so Wednesday was spent flat on my back on pain killers. I gotta say, it was nice to have a break for the day, but I could have done without the pain!

And then, as per our original plan, mum arrived yesterday to save the day! Or at least, to save me from the washing pile. So we are getting prepared for our flight at 5pm tomorrow and we are all very excited. We are sad to be leaving Hubs behind to study, but you know, that’s the way it goes.

Here’s our last week in pictures:

We finally got a new roof! May get a better picture for you.

Chance has been making some epic Lego vehicles all by himself!

Been reading a lot of Strangers in Paradise while resting my back.

It’s well and truly mango season!

I’m really excited about heading to Brisbane for Christmas. It’s going to be the first time all the great-grand children on my mum’s side of the family will be all together! Photo ops! See you soon everyone!

Wadda-heck?

October 26, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

… as Chanbe would say.

Since when can you email from an aeroplane? Hubs hit the skies on an A380 last night and a few hours later I got an email telling me he’d flown over Rocky and Mount Isa and was currently over Sri Lanka!

Seriously! I was so excited! I hadn’t expected to hear from him until he landed in London, which will be in less than an hour by the way. We’ve been sending little snippets of our day/flight which has been nice. He told me about his fritata and vodka and orange for breakfast, I told him the boys woke up at 5am; he told me about his beef something-or-other for lunch, I told him the kids were starting to get feral; he sent the following snippet:

No one to talk to in a crowded airport. Sitting jam packed next to people with ear buds in.
There is a couple with a four month old who have been to Spain and new Zealand. They told me it’s easy to travel with kids! And I told the person next to me that my name is Joe 🙂

And I responded with a smug “traveling with a 4-month-old is very different to traveling with kids.”

Anyway you get the drift. It’s been nice having that connection with him in this time. AND I was just chatting with a friend in line and she said “gotta go – I’m on a plane on the way to Spain.”

Seriously!? So freaking cool!

This post was going to be about the horrendous day I had with the kids today. I jotted down a bunch of notes when they went to bed, but I just don’t have the emotional energy to deal with that at the moment. I feel like a completely horrible mum after today’s efforts, yet the kids still hugged me and kissed me and told me they love me as I was tucking them in.

I guess one horrible day doesn’t ruin all the wonderful days. Kind of like when you eat well most of the time and then have a splurge. It doesn’t make a difference, as long as you move on, don’t dwell on it, and don’t let it happen often.

It’s the moving on and not dwelling that I may find challenging. But tomorrow is a new day and I have lots of things planned so the kids won’t have time to be little so-and-so’s and I can focus on the positives for the day. And now I’m thoroughly exhausted so I’m off to bed.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Tomorrow is a new day…

14 days 14 photos

April 14, 2015 / Renae / Leave a comment

Seeing as how it’s been two weeks since I blogged, here’s what we’ve been up to.

The kids falling asleep in the car on our way from the Sorrento holiday house to the airport.

Too cute 🙂

And just another baby photo of Darbs

The disastrous first batch of cookies

The second batch was better

I’ve been walking the hills of Kelvin Grove and really enjoying the views from the top.

We celebrated a birthday with family

And we had very sleepy kids on the way home

Quinn is finally letting me plait her hair!

Ooooooh yeah. Look at that face.

There has been so much of this going on And it has been so gosh darn delightful.

And aaaaaah… another wedding

“That word. Say it clear now. L-O-V-E Love.”

Love these girls so so much.

That’s about it for now. We have another wedding coming up this weekend, and due to a clerical error (ie me forgetting to book a flight), Hubs won’t be joining us. This also means that I’ll be flying back to Rocky with the three kids on my own. But I’ve done it once so I can do it again.

Just FYI I’m loving life. I can’t wait to get back to Rocky and back to Hubs and back to our beautiful house and back to a bit of a routine.

Loving. Life.

A decision has been made

November 18, 2014 / Renae / Leave a comment

We are heading back to Mount Isa this Saturday. And now that the decision has been made, and the flights booked, I have something to focus on and work towards. There is a lot to do, but we are just going to do a bit each day and know that things will happen as they should. Mum is flying up with us as well, so that will certainly make the flight easier, as well as once we arrive back.

I’ll have been here for 6 weeks by the time we leave. Certainly a much longer stay that I initially planned, and the time has really sped by, but it has been absolutely amazing, and I have had such a great break and relaxing time. I feel energised for the hectic months to come, and am already getting somewhat prepared, contacting real estate agents in Rockhampton, so we can find somewhere asap in the new year.

But there’s heaps happening before then, so just one day at a time thanks!

I love Melbourne

November 1, 2014 / Renae / Leave a comment

Number one on my “to do” list should be “enable ability to blog from my mobile”. There have been numerous occasions in the last fortnight that I’ve wanted to share, but just haven’t been near a computer, and to be honest, I haven’t even tried to blog from my phone with the new format.

I’m writing this particular post from the very comfy couch at my brother and his partner’s house in Melbourne. Aaaaah Melbourne. How I have missed thee. K & K have recently moved down and in to their new house and we were lucky enough to be their first guests. The place is huge and amazing, and I can’t tell you how lovely it is to be back in Melbs. And as much as we love our kids (love love love!) it is really nice to just be here with Hubs. He is here for PAX Aus and in between playing video games and attending panel discussions on various topics, we have been wandering through the city, eating at our old favourite places and drinking delicious coffee. We’ve even run into a few students from Newman who remember us which is quite lovely.

Yesterday was a balmy 30 degrees, and today got up to only 16. And it felt like about 10 with the windchill. I even had to buy myself a beanie!! I came completely unprepared. We are catching up with a bunch of med friends tomorrow which I’m really looking forward to, and then the countdown back to reality (well, mostly) will be on. May I share with you what the next month or 2 looks like for us?

On Monday we fly back to Brisbane
We spend the week in and around Brizzy, having more catch ups
Hubs flies back down to Melbourne next weekend for a one week placement at the Alfred Hospital down here
Hubs flies back the following weekend
We pack up in the next day or 2 and head north to Rocky to check out the town and some living possibilities
We somehow make our way back to Mount Isa with me crossing my legs, trying not to give birth! (I think I’ll be around the 38.5 week mark by this stage!)
Celebrate Chanbe’s 4th birthday on the 27th November
The baby is due on the 1st of December so… yeah… who knows what will be happening around that time

And then of course the fun really begins! Hubs has a week of paternity leave some time in early December, and he is working over Christmas/New Year. And then, you know, we move to Rocky sometime in mid January. Happy Birthday to me!

But for the next 48 hours, I will continue to love and live Melbourne. I’m so exhausted from all of the walking, and my feet are screaming at me, but I can say 100% that it’s worth a little discomfort. This is the most relaxed I’ve seen Hubs all year, and it’s nice to be surrounded by a bit of culture and people just doing their own thing. Oh, and I won’t even complain about the weather.

Of sunsets and smiles

October 2, 2014 / Renae / 1 Comment

On our final evening at Karumba, we decided to go to the recommended fish and chip shop, grab some takeaway dinner and sit on the “beach” and watch the sun go down. The food did not disappoint, and nor did the view. Hubs bought a “new” Digital SLR camera recently, and has been having lots of fun with it, as you can see.

Quinn’s response to Hubs’ direction of “go over there and look cute.” I think she nailed it.

As Hubs started losing the light, he told Chance to try and stay really still.

Then he said “try and stay still, but not look so sad.” There’s my little guy.

So as I sit here at our desk, feeling hot and a bit sticky, I’m already missing the sea breezes that turned 35 degrees into heaven. I spent a lot of time just sitting, enjoying the breeze and the green grass around me. It’s amazing the things you miss when you don’t have them. Living so far away from the coast has really made me appreciate the water so much more, and I can’t wait to get closer next year.

Did I mention we are moving to Rockhampton next year? Probably not. But that’s a post for another day.

Ay Karumba!

October 1, 2014 / Renae / 2 Comments

Very original, I know, but it’s the only way I can remember that it’s Karumba and not Kuranda. Last week, Hubs had 5 days off and we decided we needed (needed) to get out of our wee townhouse or we would go crazy. So we decided to look into Karumba. Family friends of ours used to go up there every year for the fishing season, catch their fill, and travel back down to their home in Townsville. They loved it, and within minutes of arriving, I could see why.

We set off Tuesday morning around 10am to drive the almost 600km, and the kids were in good spirits and being rather cute and delightful!

I wish I could say these happy faces lasted the whole 8 hour trip, but all of you parents out there wouldn’t believe me. On the whole, they were really great, especially considering how boring the drive is!! We arrived just after 6pm, and this is one of the first things we saw:

This was our first look at Karumba – the sun setting over the water. What is it about water that energises and feeds the soul? I’ve never considered myself a particular lover of water, but this made my heart sing. And things just got better from there. We arrived at the caravan park and were shown to our on-site caravan, named Frank.

It was nothing fancy, but very comfortable and much more roomy than I was expecting, with the permanent annexes on either side.

We were going to throw some snags on the BBQ for dinner, but then we saw a sign saying “prawns $20/kilo”. Um, yes please! So we ate prawns for dinner instead. Big, fresh, tasty prawns. I was pretty happy about that choice.

The next day I sent Hubs and Chanbe out on a fishing charter in the afternoon while Quindy and I had a little nap. They didn’t catch any keepers, but had a good time out on the water. And one of the other guys on the charter who caught a few, gave us one of his blue salmon.

The kids weren’t overly excited, but Hubs smoked that fish beautifully on the BBQ, and there’s nothing quite like fresh fish! We had booked in for the Croc and Crab tour for the next day, which Hubs was a bit ho-hum about (too touristy) but I was SO excited! Mainly because they serve fresh cooked prawns and mud crab for lunch as part of it. The tour went from 9:30am til 1:30pm, and considering the kids were in a confined space, they did really well. I even got complimented towards the end on their behaviour, which is always nice.

The tour was run by a married couple and they were just lovely and full of interesting facts about the area. Some photos? Sure.

They took us to see a couple of resident crocs which the kids were pretty damn excited about!

And after catching a few mud crabs in the pots, they showed us how to tie them up and gave us all a “pat”. Chanbe was not interested at all, and asked very kindly “please put it back in the bucket Dadda.” This one didn’t even have any claws!

Quindy was much more interested in finishing her Cheetos first,

And then of course she was interested in “patting” the crab’s claw! Girl is fearless!

And then, the feast was brought out. Everyone was given half of a (cooked) mudcrab each, and there were 3 big bowls of prawns to help ourselves to. There are no photos of this, as I was in the zone. That seafood was some of the best I’ve had in SO LONG! The kids were given a can of softdrink each – Quindy’s first serious taste of some orange sugary drink – and that kept them occupied for the next hour. Just you try to take it off them though! I think I’d fancy my chances with the crab more!

I’ll leave it there for now as this is already a long post, and there’s a fair bit more to come!

Our inaugural family camping adventure

July 6, 2014 / Renae / 4 Comments

I grew up camping. Even though Hubs can’t believe I could ever be so tough and not-princess-like to “rough it”, as a kid it was always an adventure and there was always fun to be had no matter what. Can I help it that, as an adult, I’d rather have a flushing toilet instead of having to squat, and a hot water to shower in, instead of a cold bucket of water to splash over me? And that I’d prefer a tent over a swag? (Who wouldn’t?? Seriously??)

Anyway, a friend of ours who has organised a few 4WD days with us was keen for a trip to stay at Lawn Hill National Park (check out the map of Qld to the right of that page – we actually couldn’t be any further from Brisbane if we tried!) and we were SUPER keen too, so he booked the campsites (there aren’t many there and they book up fast!) and we (I) offered to organise the food for everyone (7 adults, 2 kids, 3ish days). It was all booked and we were enthused. I spent a couple of days getting the food organised, as well as eskys and all camping paraphernalia I could think of (thank you google).

We planned to leave on the Thursday whenever we could get away, and meet the others up there late Friday night (aka we would see them early Saturday morning). Hubs was on night shift Wednesday night and I spent all of Thursday morning getting everything ready to pack in the car. Of course, out of the all the days to be late, Hubs didn’t get home til 9:45am (he’s usually home by 8:30am) and I informed him that everything was ready so if he was keen, we could “just pack the car” and leave asap, instead of him having a couple of hours sleep first. He was happy to be persuaded so after a shower and coffee, he got to packing. This took about 2 hours all up by the time we fit everything in, and this was the end result! (This is obviously on the road.) (Oh yeah, and we borrowed a canoe for the weekend…)

Gosh there’s so much to tell about this trip but I don’t want this post to be too wordy! Our camera batter died on the second day and my phone was dead so we had to rely on our friends to take photos which I copied over last night. But after 4 days of camping, we neglected to get a photo of our tent set up, which is a shame as we were quite proud of ourselves that we managed to set the tent up first try after never having done it before and only ever seeing the tent up once just before we bought it for $70 at a garage sale in Townsville over a year ago! And with Hubs not having slept for 24 hours!

There’s so much more I could say, but instead here’s what you’re waiting for:

We stopped at the Riverslea Fossil site:

The next day while Quinn was sleeping and I was “supervising” Hubs took Chanbe on a walk up a “big hill”. That’s the gorge right in the middle and the campsite to the left. Rather stunning, no?

The next morning, our friends had arrived so we decided to check out a lovely swimming spot. Hubs, Chanbe, Felix and Erica took the canoe and Sonia, Amber, Lindsay, Quinn and I went by foot. It wasn’t very far, but it was a very exposed track.

Matchy-matchy stripey tops!

After the desert-feel of the walk, we go to the top of a (small) hill and had an “ooooooh” moment.

We couldn’t have timed it better, with the canoe load arriving at the same time.

Just a touch (a touch) of paradise

Obviously Chanbe had an absolute ball

And Dadda enjoyed his Tarzan moment

There was a lot of this…

…and this…

A beautiful sunset at the camp ground

On our way home on Sunday, we stopped for lunch at a creek crossing.

Years and years ago I found this recipe that I’ve always wanted to try!

You cut the tops off oranges, scoop out the guts (to eat later!), fill with cake mix, put the top back on, wrap in foil and put in hot coals for 20 minutes (ish!)

You can see the oranges in the foil underneath the jaffles

They were super delicious! Very moist and orangey.

Quinndy pointing delightfully at something

Chanbe made a very close friend in Lindsay, our pediatrician friend. A good friend to have!

The whole group on our way home at sunset

There are so many photos that I didn’t get like the campsite set up (as mentioned) and my super-grubby kids on the Sunday after not bathing for 2 days and me just giving up on wiping noses or food off faces. It was super adorable, though I did enjoy taking to them with a nice wet washer before we got into the car!

I also hadn’t mentioned that Hubs had been feeling ill since waking up Friday morning. He powered through the 3 days of camping, but then collapsed in a heap on Sunday night when we got home. After 2 more days of fevers and aches and pains, I sent him to the doctor. He had to have Wednesday and Thursday off work and still isn’t 100%. This is a photo Chanbe took of him:

So all in all, apart from the sickness, it was an amazingly successful camping trip and we had a lovely group of people to share it with. We are already looking forward to the next adventure! Maybe this time I’ll even remember to get a photo of the tent!

The good stuff

June 16, 2014 / Renae / 2 Comments

I’ve spent a great deal of time and blogging space this year listing the things I don’t like about Mount Isa, I think it’s about time I shared some of the things I do like.

Winter
Wow. Mount Isa seemed to bypass Autumn entirely, with temps ranging from 22 to 36 degrees one week, and down to 10 to 22 a couple of weeks later. It’s been getting down to under 10 overnight since I arrived back from Brisbane a week ago, and I must admit I was caught completely off guard. People told me it would get cold here, but after what felt like the endless summer, it was very hard to believe. Now, I believe it.

Dark mornings
It doesn’t get light here until after 7am which means the kids are generally sleeping in until then. This is such a bonus and we are loving the later mornings. Even in summer it doesn’t really get light til 6:30am, so it’s been a pretty nice change from Townsville.

The transient population
This can be a good and bad thing, as friends come and go frequently, but the good thing is there’s not much of an “us and them” mentality amongst the “locals” as there are very few of them! And if you’ve been here more than 5 years, you’re considered a local! Very different to some small towns we’ve lived in.

The small number of celebrants
A win for me! I’ve already lined up 2 weddings this year through celebrants who are leaving town who had my details. My networking when I arrived sure paid off! This is very exciting as I’ve really missed doing weddings. I have 3 in total booked in in a 6 week period; 2 up here and my cousin’s wedding in October down south.

Bin collection is twice a week
Okay, this may seem like a weird one, but it’s actually fantastic. Especially in the height of summer with stinky nappies in the bin. There is no recycling up here so bins get fuller quicker. But I think it’s more to do with the stinkiness in summer. Regardless, I love that even if we forget to put the bin out one day, it’s only 3 days til the truck comes again. And with a 3 year old boy in the house, it’s bonus entertainment!

Size of the town
Yesterday I had to go to from one side of the town to the other, twice. It took less than 10 minutes each time. No traffic, no hold ups, only the regular RBT to have to contend with. Easy peasy.

The playgroups
The playgroups here are so fantastic. I’ve met some really lovely mums through the 3 different groups I go to. A lot of the same people go to the same groups so there are always familiar faces which is nice.

The 4WD tracks
We have been 4WDriving a few times since we arrived and it’s been lots of fun! We have met some people who are also keen and generally free on the weekends to do fun stuff. The weekend just gone, we headed to Rigby Falls (they were pretty much dry) and went fossicking for Maltese Crosses, without much luck. But it was a great day out and Chanbe rather likes going on a “bumpy drive.”

Hubs’ timetable (at the moment)
Hubs is currently working in emergency which is a 8 days on, 6 days off timetable. And those 8 days are a mixture of 4 different shifts, so there are only 2 days where he is away from 7:30am until about 8pm. The other days he either has a late morning start, or an afternoon start, or most of the day off followed by an evening or night shift. Granted, he spends most of the next day sleeping, but it’s still nice knowing he’s right there. Those are the days the kids and I are mostly out to give him sleep, so it’s extra incentive to get out there!

There are other little things I like about living here, but these are the things that immediately came to mind. This is also part of my better attitude I am striving towards at the moment. Baby steps…