Some days I wish that somebody wont take "I'm fine" for an answer and let me break down in their arms while they tell me everything will be okay...

A Doctor's War by Rowley Richards

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you don't want to feel pasion, anger, hate and dispare then this isnt the book for you. However; if you want to know what it was like for our POW's and understand their pain then you need to read this.
The Japanese had/have no mercy, compassion for a human life and their "attempt" at an appology for their cruilty to our soldiers is an insult.
I read this book a few years ago now and i still feel the anger from it.
It will stay with me for a long time to come.




View all my reviews

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Its hard to believe that the main cahracter is blind. The detail is amazing. I have always found it hard to find a writer who can portray an image to me and make it seem real, But it seems i have found one.



View all my reviews

Phone

I have myself a new phone. My Aunt came down to my place and took me out for a coffee and decided to buy me one as a late birthday gift. i love it!

How love should be.

As you go through life you'll see, there's so much that we, don't understand
And the only thing we know, is things don't always go, the way we've planned.
But you'll see everyday that we'll never turn away, when it seems all your dreams come undone.
We will stand by your side filled with hope and filled with pride.
We are more than we are, we are one.

Christmas 2009

Secrets on the Lake – The Nest
Monday 21^st December
To
Saturday 26^th December 2009

Monday 21^st
On the 21^st Nita and Lyn flew up from Melbourne to have a holiday with Paul and myself.
We picked them up from the Qantas terminal and our holidays had officially started. We are staying at Montville – Secrets on the lake. We will stay there from the 21^st till the morning of the 26^th.

When we arrived, we checked in an unpacked the car so we could take Lyn and Anita food shopping. The boot of the car was jam packed! Lol

We took them into Maleny-Woolworths. Lyn also needed the post office.

We all bought some alcohol and came home to our lovely cabin to relax.

Lyn cooked up a lite dinner for us. We had some marinated chicken pieces with a nice garden salad.

Anita was the first to go to bed and Paul came to bed a bit later.

Tuesday 22^nd
Today was our first full day on holidays. I made Paul his favourite breakfast – bacon, egg, tomato, hash brown and mushrooms.

After breakfast we drove to Marry Cairncross Park. It was a nice rainforest walk that Paul and I had been on before.
We saw Pademelons – very cute and plenty of birds. The only bad thing was the leeches! I had 3 but only one was able to grab a hold of me. God they are ugly critters!!
Paul had three, again only one had bitten him. It was a nice walk and it wasn’t a hard walk either. 1.74km

Paul and I had steak and salad, Lyn and Anita had veal and steamed vegetables.

Lyn and Anita went to bed early and Paul stayed up on the couch while I laid in bed and watched what he was watching on tv for a while.

“xxx”

Wednesday 23^rd
This morning we had the same breakfast that we had yesterday.

We did another walk – this time it was Konondilla Falls walk. We did the picnic circuit. 2.4km.

It was a good walk. No one had leeches accept for Lyn. She had one at the end of the walk on the right toe.

After the walk we went into Montville, Lyn and Anita went their own way while Paul and I went looking at the shops.

I bought Paul some aftershave, it’s an Italian bland, and it’s really nice. I also bought this notebook, some coaster and some honey sesame roasted macadamias, roasted salted macadamias and peanut brittle from fudgyboobahs.

I bought some normal food stuffs and some Smirnoff and guarna along with a bottle of sambucca Galliano.

Lyn, Paul and Anita went for a walk down the boardwalk and had a look at the canoe’s.
I think we will do that tomorrow. After the Rainforest walk and Montville main street walk, my feet are killing me! So I didn’t go with them this arvo. That leech bite is so dam itchy!! But I dare not scratch it. This peanut brittle is yummy.

Everyone’s watching a move at the moment but it doesn’t interest my too much. I was outside feeding the water dragons some sausages and watering them with the hose. They loved it.

The kookarburra’s have come in for a feed.
They brought their youngen in aswell. The mother became rather upset with the male.

Tomorrow Lyn wants to do a 4km, don’t know if im that interested in something that long because of my left foot. My sandshoe has been rubbing on my little toe and it almost made me cry it was aching that much.
Hopefully a snooze tonight will make is feel better. I think I will have to put some tape around the toe in the morning though.

Tonight we will have lamb chops and salad for dinner.

I forgot to mention that around 8:30pm later night we had a big male possum turn up at the kitchen window.
He had a few war wounds around his nose and ears.
He was either really hungry or just being a guts!
Hopefully he will come again tonight. We saved some lamb chop bones for him to munch on.

Thursday 24^th

We had bacon and eggs for breakfast and then took Anita for a drive to the local swimming hole. Then we went for a drive through Maleny. My sunglasses broke at the start so now I have a headache.

We are home now and we will be having a BBQ hamper tonight and the Christmas hamper tomorrow for Christmas day.

We all had a nana nap and now Paul’s wondering around waiting for everyone to get up so was can go and have tea and scones at the tea house near Maleny.

Paul and I had an early grey tea with plain scones – cream and strawberry jam, Lyn had an iced coffee and so did Anita who also had a plain scone.

After that Paul toon me into Maleny so I could buy myself a pair of sunglasses. They are nice and dark, however I only knowticed after I bought them that they have a screwed depth perception. I also bought a 2010 dairy. The sunglasses cost @20 and the dairy was $7.95.

We picked up some drinks for Christmas day tomorrow.
We paid for the two hampers before we came back home.
we will pick our BBQ hamper at 6:30pm tonight.

Lyn and Anita went for a walk and got the hamper.
There is T-Bone for me, scotch fillet for Paul, snapper for Lyn and Anita and 4 chicken sausages. We then have 2 potatoes, onion, 2 types of salad, caramel and chocolate pudding. Oh and some garlic bread.

We have been feeding the kookaburras our sausages. They get victorious when the kid is around lol. So there is the mum, dad and bub.
Paul is feeding one at the moment. They are a placid bird.
I was able to touch one this arvo on the chest. It was nice and soft, although it didn’t appreciate it lol!

Message written from Paul – I had a fantastic time, was great sharing it with Carroline. Lets hope for many more xxxxx.

Friday 25^th

Merry Christmas!!!
I loved all of my Christmas gifts. I’ll start with family. Paul bought me 2 books, Brisinger by Christopher Peolini and Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. He also bought me an earring and necklace set (black), very nice J
Any and Anita bought me a candle snuffer and an awesome wax seal with my Initials SP. I can’t wait to use it.
Now from my pan pal family. From Lizbear – A book called dead until dawn by Charlaine Harris. From Alison, an address book and a dairy and a book called Seven Ancient Wonder by Matthew Reilly. And from Amy – butterfly sticky notes, butterfly envelopes, 2 packets or alphabet stickers, a packet of smiley face stickers and this awesome personalised note book with Carroline Parcell at the top of each page.

Grandma and pop bought me a whole bunch of wool, greatly needed.
Sue gave us some nice towels, pink for me and blue for Paul.
Pauline gave me some make-up.

Completed rug for Youngest Niece Paige

Finished rug for my Eldest Neice Delecia

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book was hard to get into as i am used to the writing styles of david eddings.
Once i got into it though i found it hard to put the book down, but hey, itsnt that the nature of most books?



View all my reviews

Holiday to - Montville Country Cabins March 2008

Montville Country Cabins

Friday 7^th March

To

Monday 10^th March 2008

7^th March, Paul came and picked me up from Tafe at 11:30am and we were on our way to Montville. We arrived at 1:40pm and I paid the outstanding accommodation. I hope that for the amount I’m paying it’s gonna be worth it. $260 per night.

Well, it’s not worth what I payed for. We didn’t even get any complimentary gifts. The spa is too small. There’s mould in the shower, there’s soo many cobwebs inside that’s its just ridiculous. Anyway, on a better note, well funny actually, they have three ducks here and they just wander into your house when they want.

After we settled in we went out to Settlers Rise and I bought 2 bottles of Port, 1 white and 1 red. From there we drove into Montville and I bought 2 more ports, 2 whites and a red. Oh I also bought some chocolates to have with my port. For tea we made hamburgers, they were yummy.

Tomorrow arvo at 3pm were getting a massage each. It’s 1 ½ hours long (full body). That’s gonna cost $220. so I hope that’s not gonna be another waste of my money.

8^Th March, Last night I was so tired but I had a hell of a time getting to sleep. We got up at 7am and pottered around for a while. We fed some kookaburras and 2 currawongs, there was also 2 magpies. You could hand feed one of them. I didn’t feel like eating any breakfast, but buby had a toasted bun with an egg on it.

We left around 8am and I wrote a note on the white board at reception saying fire wood for Rose Gum please.

Our first stop we made was to Melany and I got a chicken and salad sandwich, from there we drove to a local spot. It has beautiful rock water falls, and since Melany has had a lot of rain recently there was soo much water. It was really pretty. I decided to get my feet wet and omg the water felt like ice. After that we were driving back towards Montville when we saw a woodcraft festival, so we drove in and had a little look. I saw a beautiful little jewellery box for $22 so I bought it for my Grandma, I know she’ll like it a lot. From there we went to the tea house. We has raspberry scones with strawberry jam and cream, and some earl grey tea. I wasn’t fussed on the seeds in the scones. The tea was great though.

We had an amazing view from our table. We were looking out towards to ocean and over the Gold Coast, it’s always beautiful up there.

From there we drove into Montville and I went to Chocolate Country and got all my coffees. Now were sitting on the balcony waiting for our massage.

Tomorrow we have to go and get some more wine, were going though it nicely. I don’t care though, as long as were enjoying our selves.

When we got home we saw that my note had been rubbed off the board so, you could assume that the wood had been delivered, well, guess again. So out again to reception to ask, and the guys excuse was that ha had to drop his kid off to the coast. And have a guess how much I cared….I DON”T.

For the amount I’ve payed you would think that you would not have to ask for anything, have it all done ahead of when you arrive.

Well we had our massage and it was fantastic. It was worth the money.

For dinner tonight were having hamburgers again, but I love hamburgers, baby’s cooking up the rest of the sausages, not that we have many left. We fed to many to the birdies lol.

9^th March, We didn’t cook breakfast this morning, we decided to eat out. Paul had eggs, bacon, tomato and toast with a hot chocolate and I had a caramel late and fruit salad. The service there was sad, we waited 35mins for our food and we got our drinks after our food…

After breakfast we went to the fudge shop and I bought some chocolate fudge for Erin and some caramel fudge for Danielle. (Two friends from Tafe). I also bought some body glitter crap to annoy Paul with. I said I was gonna put it all over him and he had a little tantie, he hates glitter.

After that we went into this really nice shop that had little nick nacks and silver stuff. I bought 3 relaxation cd’s from there. One was of Africa and the other 2 were of Birds and rainforest things. I bought my self 3 nice bracelets and a lovely black glass beaded necklace. Paul bought me these lovely green earrings with a matching necklace. It was a very thoughtful gift.

We had lunch at Camphor cottage. We got a pot of earl grey tea and garlic bread to share. For our main we had king prawns. They were on a bed of rice and salad. It was a good lunch. $60.

After we got home and relaxed for a bit we went for a walk around the lake and Paul finally caught a goanna. He’s been trying for a while now to catch one. It was really nice, I got to touch it, it was all scaly and its skin was peeling. It rained on up while we were walking, well it actually pored down so we had to take shelter under the trees. We saw two tawny frog mouths roosting in their tree but they were to far away to take pictures of.

Paul’s cooking up a lamb roast for dinner. He’s building a fire in our fire place at the moment. I’ve been feeding the ducks lettuce and I thought I’d give them the rest of it since it’s starting to look really sorry for its self lol.

Well the roast was the best he’s ever made. It was soooo damn good, I hope he can cook one like that at home.

Well all and all the accommodation was pretty sad but we really enjoyed our stay very much.

http://www.montvillecabins.com.au/

Holiday at The Whistle Stop At Secrets on the lake, Lake Baroon, Montville. April 2007

The Whistle Stop

At

Secrets on the lake, Lake Baroon,

Montville.

Wednesday 25^th April

To

Saturday 28^th April 07

http://www.secretsonthelake.com.au/whistle/index.html

The trip up was easy; we had lunch around 1:30 before check in. I had fish and chips; Paul had a bacon lettuce, cheese and tomato sandwich.

The reception area was sooo lovely.

They’ve got big carved wooden doors and a huge pool table. They’ve also got a big chair carved from wood called the wishing chair.

For tea we had a BBQ hamper. That was nice. The T-bone was really nice. But the best part was the possums. A mummy and bub turned up, they are so tame. We were hand feeding them. The bub was so close to Paul that it may as well have sat on is lap and ate. I took some pics of them. They didn’t even flinch.

I wanted to sit with them all night. Paul lit a fire in our fire place. That was real nice.

Thursday 26^th

I had a horrid night sleep last night. I hate waking up early and waiting for the sun to come up. You don’t get to see the sun here until the afternoon because were at the base of a mountain. We got out of bed at 6:30am and Paul made a nice breaky.

We had bacon, tomato, eggs, mushrooms, sausage and hash browns. Oh and juice.

We left home around 8am and drive to the reception area and took some pics, and then we walked through their other cabins and onto the lake. We came back home and fluffed around until lunch and went into Montville. I got 5 different coffees and the lady gave me 2 tins of coffee free which was really nice of her. From there we had lunch at a nice wooden café nestled in with big trees.

Paul had King prawns on a bed of rice and I had beef lasagne which was average. I tried Paul’s meal and I knew I should have that instead….

From there we saw a wine tasting store. We tried some. We got 1 white, 2 reds and a really nice port.

http://www.masonwines.com.au/site/

Oh and I got 2 soaps, (lavender, spearmint) from the cafes gift shop.

Then we went to the candy shop, they were making some. It was really interesting to watch it. There are so many steps involved.

We went next door to a natural remedies shop and I bought 2 jars of cream. Relaxation cream to help with my head aches and a sleeping balm to help me sleep more calmly. I hope that they work. They smell nice anyway.

After that we came home and relaxed.

I sat in the spa for a while, while Paul watched snakes on a plane. Then we watched Tokyo drift. It wasn’t to bad. For dinner we had steak, potato, beetroot, sausages, onions, pasta salad and juice. The possums didn’t come. I think they turn up at a certain time. Tomorrow night we’ll have to eat later.

They came a bit later and we gave them some stuff, they seemed a bit on edge this time and they wouldn’t stay and eat. They would grab a bit and run off and eat.

Friday 27^th

For lunch Paul had an Italian sandwich and I had a mini seafood plate.

After that was went for a walk to the local walking track. We took a wrong turn and ended up on the 9.6km track instead of the 500m track. After a while we turned around and went the right way and oh my fucken god! Steep! Holey shit. I was dreading walking back up. We got down there and what a crappy site. You couldn’t even see the falls, there were so many weeds.

My legs were shaking when we got to the bottom. I’ve never done/walked such a steep bushwalk before. I thought I was going to pass out lol.

After that we came back home to rest for a bit, then we went to a winery called Settlers rise. http://www.settlersrise.com.au/index.html

We tried 4 whites, 3 reds and 1 port. I wasn’t a fan of most but I loved the port. I got 3 whites and 2 ports, cost $108, then we went to another winery in Melany, http://www.malenymountainwines.com.au/

I tried 2 whites, red and 2 ports. I bought 1 white, 1 red and a port, $67. Then we had a hot drink and came home.

The possums came out to dinner but they weren’t to enthusiastic. After tea we hoped into the spa for a while.

I’ve got a really sore neck; I think it’s from the pillows, their really stiff.

Saturday 28^th

We started packing around 8:30am, didn’t take us long. When we got to reception I enquired about the CD that they have in the cabin and if I could purchase one, the guy said we usually give them to people who stay 3 times but we’ll give you one anyway since you like it so much. I thought that was really nice of him.

All up the trip cost $1144. $740 for the accommodation. I had a good time.

Holiday To - Curramore Country Cabins Maleny QLD Saturday 11th February To Wednesday 14th February 2007

Curramore Country Cabins

Maleny QLD

Saturday 11^th February

To

Wednesday 14^th February 2007

http://www.malenycabins.com.au/index.php

Amore’ Casa – House of Love
Sentimental' Cabin

We left for our holiday on Sunday 11^th. We were going to Curramore country cabins in Melany. The trip took about an hour and a half, which was quicker than I thought.

When we arrived our cabin was quite ready so we played chip gold ( I think it was called ). We didn’t try for the holes; Paul just taught me how to hit them. I ended up with a blister on my hand lol. But it was fun.

After that we went to our cabin and omg! I love it! Its two stories. Were getting massages tomorrow at 1pm. We get a half hour each.

For tea were having a BBQ pack. We had onions, sausages, lamb chops, steak, salad, beetroot, peas and corn. It was yummy!

The cabin is so peaceful and quiet.

We have a veranda with a magnificent view. After tea we had a spa, I’ve never been in a spa before but it was great.

Tomorrow were going to go to the cheese factory and see what that’s like.

Monday 12^th

I woke up early, 6:30am; I had to go to the loo. I soo just wanted to lie in bed and do nothing. Paul got up at 7:15am I think; he had a shower and started on breakfast.

We had steak, sausage, bacon, eggs and tomato. Oh and orange juice and coffee.

We left at about 8:45am; our first stop was the cheese factory, well what a let down that was. I tried three cheeses and I hated all of them. They weren’t making anything either so we went into Melany and looked around. I got 2 nice tops. While we were in the shop, we asked if there were any good places to go and visit. The lady told us of a couple and we were off.

Our next stop was garden falls. She said it was a local spot. It was nice, I took come photos. From there we drove to Baroon dam, took more photos. Then we went on to Montville were I go a dingo pub toy, 2 different kinds of coffee, Irish cream and Kailua. Yummy!

I also got some nice writing paper that was on sale.

From there we came back to the cheese factory and I got this plunger for my coffee. Its cool because it’s a cup and a plunger all in one. I love it.

Then we came back home.

We had our massage and it was great, only downer was, we didn’t’ get massaged at the same time….oh well.

It’s storming at the moment and there’s nothing to do.

I don’t know what were gonna have for tea because we were told that most places close on a Monday night because the lack of tourists. Id really like to go to a nice restaurant but I don’t know where to go and plus it’s still raining and it’s crappy weather. It doesn’t look like its going to get any better, I hope it does soon. Knowing my shit luck it’ll stay like this for the rest of our stay.

When we checked in we got 3 DVD’s to keep us entertained.

I’m not interested in TV at the moment. Paul just opened up our second bottle of wine. It’s called Chalk Hill Blue. I didn’t really like it at the start but now it just goes down lol.

Well the rain has let up and I’ve made a booking for us at the Terrace for 6:30pm. It’s a seafood restaurant so I’m expecting to pay a fair bit for it lol. I just hope that it’s worth it and I also hope it’s a great night. At least when we get back we can relax in the spa, Woot!!

We arrived at the Terrace and we started with a lovely entrée of garlic king prawns. It had the best sauce ever. Yummo. For our main we had a seafood platter for 2. there were oysters, Morten bay bugs, prawns, calamari, fish bites, muscles and rice rolls. That was very nice.

I was so full I thought I was going to explode. The wine was nice as well. All up it was $228.80. And there’s the grimace, but it was a good night.

http://www.terraceofmaleny.com.au/

Tuesday 13^th

I woke up at 6:30 again but this time I was determined to stay in bed. Only problem was, I was busting to go to the loo. I ended up getting out around 7:30. Paul made a yummy breakfast; we left around 8:30. We went back to Montville and we had a hot chocolate. We looked at more stores. We then went to Kondalilla falls. It was raining all morning, its bleak and miserable. At the falls we braved the rain and went onto the look out. The falls weren’t very exciting but the view was incredible, even with the sad weather.

Then we came back to Maleny and had a bite to eat. After that we came back to our cabin and jumped into the spa.

We had Maudies for dinner. It was a 3 coarse meal included in the price of the package stay. We had a mixed hot platter for an entrée, it had; a crab claw, battered prawn, curry puffs, dim Sims, spring rolls and dipping sauces.

The main was a fisherman’s basket. For desert I had a crape with maple syrup, ice cream and cream. Paul had a bread and butter pudding.

Wednesday 14^th

We got up pretty early this morning. We had breakfast, and then jumped into the spa again. It was still raining when we left. I paid the tab and we were off back home. All in all it was a good little trip away.