Well what can I say but …. hello – I am still here, haven’t actually fallen off the face of the earth. I guess you could say I have taken a little (or rather large) mid year break from the blog. In reality this is how it went down….
My last blog post was back in July I think. It seems that when I haven’t blogged for ages I tend to overthink it all and then just put it in the too hard basket. I mean seriously, how hard is it to sit here and tap tap tap away while sipping coffee? Not that hard. So last night I set my alarm, got up early and slapped myself. I gave myself a sharp upper cut and just sat down here to say hello to the long lost Chardy community. How are you anyway?
Why was I missing in action? Well it all started at the beginning of August when I went to help Mrs Savvy B with one of her Trek West Hiking Tours.
What fun that was. You see I had to rope my gorgeous friend Eddie into coming up from Brisbane to help me out because Tilly – Shelly’s number one trek Angel – was out of action.
So I went from third in charge to second in charge… how on earth did that happen. I needed to find someone capable so Eddie was my girl. And boy did we have some fun. We basically just laughed for 5 days straight.
The women on that hike were the best bunch of women and we all had many laughs together. Thanks for having us Shell.
After that I flew down to Brisbane with Eddie (in case we hadn’t spent enough time together) for a spot of day surgery for me. But you really don’t want to know about the trouble with my backside so we will just leave that one. Lets just say that 3 pregnancies were not kind to my rear. Are you hearing me? Turns out after quite a lot of discussion about the subject at Mini School I am not alone in this area.
Then it was back to reality. Then off again for Camooweal Races and Camooweal Mini School week (a School of the Air week). So that was August, GONE! It was Harry’s last Mini School – very sad. Look at this gorgeous bunch of graduates… they all started Prep together on Mount Isa School of the Air. Hopefully life long friends.
Harry turned 12 at the end of August. How can that be?
September, thankfully, is a much quieter month. I am the Station Cook again so I guess we will have to bring back the Cooking with Chards weekly menu. In exciting news our station kitchen is having a revamp.
I am beyond excited. The builder arrived yesterday and I am just beside myself. I have turned my house into the station kitchen – even brought the bain marie over.
There was no way I was living without that – it is the best. I wasn’t looking forward to emptying out the kitchen in preparation for the builders but thankfully Ruby and Alex (one of our Ringers) helped me and we had that building cleared out in under 2 hours, I couldn’t believe it. Stay tuned for the finished product!!!
A massive shout out must go to our fabulous neighbour – Tim – who collected the kitchen from town. He was bringing back an empty truck and offered to pick it up. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. This was the situation…
I received this message from him, well via his wife but he is prone to sending me funny abusive messages this way, so it was no surprise when this message arrived on my phone…
Now I don’t know about you, but I think he may have been a little pissed off about the load he had to pick up. I couldn’t stop laughing. He is, without a doubt, up there on the best neighbour list. I was even shocked by the load. Thanks so much Tim we really do owe you – BIG TIME. Keep the abusive messages coming via your lovely wife who would never use such language. Oh and as a side note: I am working on the “fat arse” situation, back on the walking track. ha ha ha ha.
In August we also had our favourite outback plumbers here for about a month – Stretch and Matty.
They were building a massive hay & lick shed for us down at the cattle yards…. for all of the hay we don’t have.
Of course Stretch turned up with so many treats – French champagne and enough cheese and crackers to feed an army.
Then he whips out a brand new Weber Q and before you can say THANKS A MILLION there are 3 plumbers on my verandah setting it up. I mean who the hell is this man? Santa? Oh he also brought legs of lamb and racks of pork. We enjoyed some lamb last night – that man is the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks Stretch! It is always good to have them around. They can seriously fix anything. He is the Laxative because he just makes shit happen. There is nothing they can’t fix. Do you have a plumber like this? Pretty sure he is one of a kind.
While they were fixing some toilets over at the Jackaroo’s Quarters I decided to bite off way more than I can chew and give the toilets and showers over there a good clean. Wow, what the hell was I thinking?
But they are now super clean and actually fit for humans. After about 8 bottles of CLR they have come up quite well, although I am suffering from a mild case of CLR poisoning I think, ha ha ha.
So there you have it. That wasn’t so bad, why do I put these thing off. As Stretch would say – don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today – did I mention he was a motivational speaker and mentor. ha ha ha.
Now if you will excuse me I am off for my morning walk. It is time to get back on track and start exercising and eating properly, things have been out of control.
So tell me… how have you been? What have I missed. What have you all been up to? Cleaned any filthy loo’s lately, had a shed built? Been hiking? Tell me everything!!!
Welcome back Miss Chardy missed your unique brand of humour.x
Great to know you’re still alive and kicking! I do enjoy reading about you life, you live so well through life’s challenges, inspiring and entertaining. We all have to do the everyday drudge, and it’s nice to be reminded to dress up !make the best of our situation and have fun. Thankyou! X
Oh Chards, you make me laugh! Would you believe I just changed the loo roll in the shed toilet (which looks only marginally better!)
Good to hear your update – a new kitchen will be just a game changer.
I’ve been spruiking your trek to my Mum and her mates – think they’d have a ball.
A x
Good morning. lovely to hear from you again!
On a topic you wrote about some time ago: I was excited to see in my local Coles supermarket (in Victoria) that a UHT cream is back on the shelves. I hope it is also available for you. Brand is Australia’s Own Multipurpose Delicious Aussie Cream 200ml.
Missed you Chards! That text is a cracker! Poor bugger! Just helped my daughter move house, esp the kitchen, not one thing was packed in a box before I arrived, thank goodness for those Coles green bags moved the lot in a stack of them. Perhaps you need to threaten random
Toilet inspection! Well done x
Great to hear from you Chards! x
Meanwhile I am loving your overseas trip!!!! Thanks for taking us!!!
Ah Chards you’ve cheered my tram trip enormously. August saw The Wedding of The Year where I was responsible for the wedding gown and the MOTB frock. Then on to moving out of our (very large) home of 21 years into our (very small) rental and downsizing our life prior to moving into our (slightly larger) interest urban hipster apartment in a year or so. And that process isn’t quite finished yet. Oh lord, the stuff. So. Much. Stuff. But will get there and it will be fab. Looking forward to seeing the kitchen reno results 😊
Glad to cheer your trip up Judy, ha ha ha. Oh wow, a wedding and moving, goodness me. And you have turned Hipster, ha ha ha. Hope you have been having your smashed avo on toast.
I can’t believe Harry is 12 for goodness sake ! And how exciting, a new kitchen ! Good to hear the neighbours are helpful. Wrap those toilets not being used in metres of plastic (food) wrap, to keep them clean and keep the frogs out. Works perfectly, except when someone’s in a hurry XX
If there are still frogs in the cistern, they might make a bit of a mess, but not as much as they would climbing in and out and leaving their little parcels of poo all over the place
I know Robbsie, crazy! Frogs aren’t really our problem, the calcium in our water is the serious issue. I think I am going to finally listen to Stretch and have some water softeners installed, might save us a bunch $$$ in the long run I think. But yes to the glad warp over the Dunny when not in use. You are such a smart lady.
Great to hear from you Dan, and read this hilarious story. Yes! We’ve just built a shed – well my husband and brother did anyway. We are building at present, and the shed went up first so that the builder has somewhere to store his equipment during the build. Our shed/garage is 6 m x 18 m, and will be for cars, motorbike, ride-on mower, woodworking and gardening stuff. Well, that’s what it was planned for anyway, but I think it would actually make a great craft room! Stay well, and keep writing! xxx
Shed sounds great Jo!!!
Hello Chards!
So nice to see you back on the interwebz!
Talk about being one busy lady but I think many of us can say similar with our own lives. Work and family stuff have been insane for me too. My Dad needed emergency brain surgery, my kids are moving away from me, work has been stupid crazy and there’s a bunch of ‘other’ stuff going on as well.
2018 will certainly go down in my book as the “Year of Challenge”
We’ve just got to hang in there and get to the end.
Mish
Hi Mish, so great to be back. So sorry to hear about your Dad. You sure do have a lot going on. Hang in here, I know about shitty years, hoping you have a better 2019.
I love your stories. So inspirational. And the trek sounds awesome. It’s great to have lots of laughs..good for the sole
So good for the soul. Glad you enjoy my stories, thanks for your message. 🙂