Now for some relaxation time...

What a busy, busy week it has been.  I have had a few sewing days this week, as well as a very large wedding to do for today.  Damian and I decided that as we were heading in to the city to drop off today's wedding, that we would make a weekend of it, so we are staying at the Rydges resort for the night. We are going to go down and have a seafood buffet for dinner, then we may head over to the casino.  I am just sitting here feeling very sleepy after such a busy week sipping on a couple of cruisers, while Damian has headed of to the TAB. Kasey has gone to Grandma and Grandads for the night.  Next week will probably be just as busy, but next weekends wedding isn't a very big one, and then I have a 4 week break before the next wedding, so we may take advantage of that and head away somewhere in the caravan for a few days or so.

Rush, rush, rush..

Life is so busy at the moment....I hope to catch my breath a little next week, but I have been out and about constantly everyday for the last 6 days, which makes life seem really, really busy.  I have such a full diary this week, it is almost totally ridiculous. I knew October was going to be like this, as it has been the busiest wedding month of the year, and there is a lot of in between organising to do as well, so pretty full on.  I have to go to Ikea tomorrow to get some vases, then to a floral supplier to pick up some supplies, and then to another supplier to pick up some silk flowers for a December wedding, as well as to Spotlight to pick up some other supplies for this weekends wedding. The last 2 days has been sewing class, with an award winning free motion quilter, and today we painted a design on to calico and then stitched it and quilted it, and it will become a wall hanging, and I will post some photos when I get a bit more time, and tonight was the first class of my 6 week course on pattern customising and dressmaking which was fun as well. I only go once a week, but it is for 3 hours at a time, so an 18 hour course all up, and at the end of it, I should know how to alter any commercial shirt pattern so that it fits me exactly, and we will all have finished a custom fitted shirt, and that pattern can then be used over and over, and the basics applied to other patterns. Anyway..I don't know if I am going to get back to update until the end of the week or early next week, but will have to take lots of photos to update with everything that's been going on....

A busy, but productive week....

Saturday night already??  This week has flown by again...Wed and Thurs I was just running around really, tidying up a few bits and pieces.  Thursday morning/afternoon I cleaned the house and then went to the shops and picked up another christmas present for Kasey...KMart had the lava lamps on special for $10, so I picked up a pink glitter one for her room as a little extra gift for her to open on Christmas day.  Friday was wedding prep for a wedding today, gorgeous cream roses, white lisianthus and white freesias.  They ended up looking divine, and the bride was extremely happy with them:

Tammy came over tonight for a visit, so we had a chat and watched a movie.  I finished a bottle of wine...ooops...a nice girly night in.  Kasey had her first ever ballet performance today, they were soooo cute in these gorgeous little baby doll outfits, I have ordered some photos which will come in a couple of weeks, so will post some then.  As they were the only group in their age group, they got first place, so that was great for all of them. Damian leaves Moranbah tomorrow and heads home, hooray, I really miss him...so he should be home on Monday some time.  Off to the craft show tomorrow, Toni is babysitting Kasey in the morning until she goes to work, and Michael is coming over in the afternoon to babysit his little sister...aww...how nice.... I wonder how many goodies I will come home with from the craft show.....hmmm...have to control myself I think.  I am also meeting a couple of brides throughout the day, 1 wants to give me 2 of her grandmothers rings to incorporate into her bouquets in a fortnights time, 1 is from up north and wants to touch base with me while down in Brisbane, and another wants to bring her bouquet to me so I can preserve it....so a busy day coming up, however, it will be really nice to be "free" for the day with no kids or house to worry about, just some lovely time at the show.  Mum is also coming over tomorrow night to spend the night and have some Mother/Daughter time...anyway, it's late, so I'm off to bed :)  Night night....

I have been to sewing today for embroidery club.  This month's project is a fascinator for Melbourne cup, which has embroidered fabric flowers, organza flowers and ribbon and feather loops sewn in the hoop.  I have done my in black, to match both my elegant eventing bag I made a few months ago, and also being black, it will go with most outfits.  I will post some photos once finished.  After this, I went and saw my naturopath.  She feels that I have got my gut infection back in a mild capacity, so has put me on a lemon and garlic medication to try and deal with that, as well as my usual supplements. I called in to a fruit and veg shop on my way home to pick up the garlic and lemon, and also called in to the organic butcher a couple of doors down, it had such a lovely old fashioned country town feel, and they were so busy. When I got home, I let the chooks out, and picked a few things from the vege garden. The beans are starting to produce, and I picked a few hundred grams of beans, a kilo or so of roma tomatoes, 7.5 kgs of rhubarb!! and a few peas. The craft show starts tomorrow, so I am planning on going as I want to have a look at sewing machines, as I would like to update mine before it gets out of date, as now that I am using it a lot, there are a lot of things the newer models have which definitely makes life easier, especially the usb stick and being able to go forward to a particular part of an embroidery quicker than by 1 stitch at a time.  I want to have a look at everything available, in 1 place, and then make an informed decision. Ann, Mum and I are going to go in on Sunday, so that will be a busy day.....I am also going to go over to Ikea at some stage in the next few days, as I need to pick up some vases for an upcoming wedding.  I am extremely tired tonight from all of the running around today, so I don't think it will be too late a night for me. I am just going to finish watching Packed to the Rafters, and then off for a shower and bed. I need to make up the lemon and garlic mix, but it needs to simmer for an hour, so I will do it tomorrow instead. The naturopath also wants me to start to come of my medication, so hopefully within the month, I will be medication free.

Some relaxation time coming up

I have finished delivering the wedding for today, I now have the weekend free.  This is today's wedding:

I am loving the purples....but purple is my favourite colour so I am a bit biased... I enjoyed putting on a relaxation cd last night, along with a scented candle and a Tia Maria for company, after Kasey went to bed I had a couple of hours to myself, and it was very relaxing.  I am planning on doing the same tonight before dinner for a little while.  I called in to the video store on the way home from Kasey's swimming lesson, and picked up some DVD's, I wanted some comedies so that I can sit and have a good belly laugh later...they say laughter is the best medicine, so I am going to put it to the test.  Looks like we're in for some more rain tonight, the vegie garden can't take too much more, some things are starting to suffer...I also haven't really done any sewing for the last couple of weeks as my energy and motivation have been suffering again for the last few weeks, I am going back to see my naturopath on Monday, so naughty foods will probably be out again for a while I think :(  I have a couple of quotes tomorrow, but otherwise my weekend is free....yippee....

The drying out begins......

What a gorgeous day outside. The sun is shining, things are starting to dry out a little here, I have opened up the windows and doors to let in the fresh air. I made myself get up this morning when my 6am alarm went off, and I have already hung a couple of loads of washing out, Kasey is ready for school, I have my joggers on, and I am ready to face the day.  I have a wedding to prepare today for tomorrow, so that will keep me busy for the day. I was meant to go to sewing yesterday to finish the free motion stitching on my Back on the Farm quilt, but was feeling very overwhelmed with lots of things that had cropped up yesterday morning, so I ended up staying home.  I am glad I did now, as I got to watch the Chilean miners rescue begin.  I deinitely had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes when they got the first miner out, and the 2nd miner out was hysterical....it's going to take a while to get them all out, but that was history in the making... I am definitely feeling brighter today, so I hope that continues. I have started back on my healthy eating regime from my naturopath today, and I have been on very, very minimal sugar the last few days, with the view to getting sugar out of my life as much as possible. I am also going to contact my naturopath today and make an appointment to see her, and start back on some of my supplements, as I have let all that slide over the last few months, and I have definitely gone backwards again....I am looking in to another therapy at the moment, which involves a few lifestyle changes, so I will see what information they give me over the next few days and make a decision on whether that is for me or not.  Anyway, I am also going to make a concerted effort to spend only minimal time each day on my computer, so after checking my emails and a couple of blogs, the computer will be off for the day, and I will go and get stuck in to tomorrow's wedding.

Exhausted......

Very, very tired today.  I spent about 9 hours in the car on the weekend just delivering wedding flowers, not to mention the days of preparation and actual making of the bouquets.  I did 4 weddings this weekend, and the majority of them were wired bouquets which are more labour intensive.  The weather today here has been terrible, we have had torrential rain, and the garage and front verandah was flooded.  I kept the girls home from school today because of the severity of the weather, and figured the roads would be flooded by the end of the day, and I really didn't feel like driving in it or walking Kasey in to school in it.  So I said, stay home girls, and went back to bed for a while :)  I had one of the bouquets from the weekend come back to me today to be preserved, and another one will be coming in tomorrow for preserving. I have been a bit down today, I think from being tired, so hopefully will wake up a bit more refreshed tomorrow and a bit more motivated. I have tried not to take on too much this week, and I have another wedding for Friday, but it's just the one this week, so much more civilised, and being a Friday wedding, will leave the weekend free.  Anyway, here are some of the bouquets from the weekend.

Busy, busy....

Hmmm, this week has been pretty busy, I will try to remember what I have done so far....Sunday was not too much, had a BBQ dinner and then watched a movie. Monday was paperwork, I also had a follow up with my doc, and we tweaked my medication a little, so will see how that goes...Tuesday was a bit more paperwork and a few things around home...can't remember what...Wednesday I can't really remember either..this is why I should write my blog daily!!  Oh actually, I was doing wedding prep on both Tuesday and Wednesday with a few little errands thrown in for good measure. Thursday I had sewing club in the morning, but I couldn't stay for the sewing in the afternoon, as I had more wedding prep. Today has been weddings all day...this weekend is the busiest weekend of the year, and I had 3 weddings to do today!!   The good news is that they are all done, and were done by 7pm, due to all of the prep I did on Wed and Thurs.  Now I just need to deliver them all tomorrow, and when i get back, get Sunday's wedding all done....phew...thank goodness it's only this busy once this year, then back to normality.  I can't sleep at the moment, so  I am catching up on some reading, and having a cuppa, and hopefully then I can sleep.  I think it's due to a bit of anxiety about all of the wedding deliveries tomorrow...silly I know...but the mind can be a fickle creature...

The vege garden is in overdrive

The vege garden is loving Spring, and all of the rain we have been having.  My plantings from weeks ago are all growing up, and are either producing or very close to it.

This garden has the last of the snow peas growing, beetroot ready to pick, corn about 3/4 of the way there, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and grosse lisse tomatoes, golden nugget pumpkin, strawberries, chillies, parsley, chickory, lot of silverbeet, my asparagus bushes, shallots,  mint, peas and beans.

  
This garden has sweet potatoes, rhubarb, cabbage, broccoli, silverbeet, capsicums, strawberries, lettuce, english spinach, carrots and some pak choy which has gone to seed, as well as my potato tub, these will be ready in a few weeks.

With all of the rain we have been having, the weeds are coming through way faster than I can get rid of them, so I will put a thick layer of mulch over this in the next week or so, to try and get rid of most of them. The beetroot will be picked and pickled over the next couple of weeks, and I will also do a big pick of the rhubarb plant, and freeze that for future use. I have been continuously picking the silverbeet both for us and for the chooks, as I planted extra plants so I could give them plenty.  There is also plenty of lettuce which I share with the chooks, and also the pak choi, which they will get, as we didn't really find it to our taste. Everything is looking really healthy in the vege garden at the moment, so the build up of the soil I have been doing seems to be doing the job.  My lemon and lime and mandarine trees seem to be finally getting some flowers, so I am really hoping that they fruit this time around.  The lemon tree looks really healthy, but the lime and mandarin seems to struggle, so I may have to look at moving them if they don't start to pick up soon.  My fig tree has also got some lovely leaves on it now, so I am hoping to get a couple of figs for Christmas time. The mango tree is flowering, so it may get 1 or 2 of it's first fruit this season, and the mulberry tree is fruiting it's little heart out. The macadamia nut tree has done pretty well nothing since we planted it, so I am assuming it will at some point just kick into gear and actually start growing.  We also have a chocolate sapoa tree, which hasn't done much either, but it has got some new leaves....fruit trees obviously take a while to kick in it would seem.  I need to plant a few of the summer crops soon, I have some luffas, rockmelon, cucumbers and watermelons ready to sow soon, and will replant another crop of corn and carrots to keep us going, and probably some more peas and beans as well.  It makes such a difference growing the tall climbing varieties, I used to wonder why everyone elses beans used to grow so tall, while mine were flat out growing a foot high, now mine are lovely and tall and healthy looking, and I am hoping for a bumper crop of these as well as the peas. So lots happening on the food side of the gardens right now,