A day in my Life – Page 19 – Life is a Journey

A Day in my Life – 14th May, 2011

Posted on May 15, 2011November 2, 2026 by Libby Withnall

I’ve been waking up around 5.30am this week and not able to go back to sleep and this was the case today. After letting the dogs out I made a cup of tea, which I enjoyed while watching youtube and reading blogs while waiting for the household to awaken.

Eventually they did surface and Kevin was greeted with hugs from Rosie.

Amy was kind enough to make breakfast for us…

Spaghetti on toast today.

I then did a bit of washing up….

and fed the dogs their breakfast – do you think they’re excited? 🙂

I then made the bed..

found Christy practicing her choir songs…

had my shower and got ready for the day.

Nan & Pop came to get the dogs to take them for a walk. I’m so lucky they are able to do this with my feet causing me such grief.

We had been going to stay home for the day but I really needed to get the girls some Winter shoes so decided to go into Wollongong.

First stop was Gloria Jeans (neither Kevin or Christy had eaten breakfast).

I enjoyed a very yummy HOT chocolate.

Then it was time to shop for shoes.

Both girls ended up with new boots.

They also got some new clothes. Kevin scored some new DVDs and I got an empty wallet! Oh wait, I did visit Darrell Lea to pick up some more of my favourite chocolates :-).

Kevin had heard good things about the new Indian place in the food court so we decided to get lunch there.

But rather than eat in the noisy food court we took it home to eat. It was REALLY yummy.

I then hemmed two new cargo pants I bought for Kevin yesterday.

Just as I was finishing Kay dropped off Emerson to hang out (I don’t think they “play” once they’re in high school). Kay stayed for a drink and a chat. Once she left I got stuck into doing a bit more planning for our trip (just 3 weeks and we’ll be on our way) while Kevin played War of Warcraft.

The girls made some mars bar slice (but burnt the chocolate for the top 🙁 )

The pups hung out with us…

and we enjoyed a cheese and dip platter for afternoon tea.

We had been planning to go out for dinner so had organised for the girls to have dinner at Nan & Pops. But our plans were cancelled so Kevin and I decided to have a spa.

Amy came back from Nan & Pops – Christy is sleeping over. I got the dogs their dinner…

and organised our own dinner. Kevin had leftover Indian and I had leftover mexican .

I then painted my nails…

before settling down with Kevin (and Rosie) to watch The King’s Speech.

Very good movie. I can see why it won so many awards. Then it was time for bed. With all my early mornings I didn’t even end up reading tonight – just went straight to sleep.

A Day in my Life – 2nd May, 2011

Posted on May 3, 2011October 31, 2026 by Libby Withnall

Slept into 6.30am, which is amazing for me. Then had cuddles with Bailey and Rosie before getting up. There was a lovely sunrise this morning which made me miss my morning walks with the dogs.

After saying goodbye to Kevin and Amy I made myself another cup of tea.

When I went to check on Christy she was already up and dressed.

I reminded her to have her asthma medication as she is suffering a bit at the moment (due to having a cold).

I then made us some breakfast. Plain toast for Christy and toast with marmalade for me.

At 8.15am Christy (and Shantel) left for school on their bikes.

And I headed upstairs for my first workout on our new exercise bike.

I felt quite at home since it’s exactly the same as the ones at the gym. And boy did it feel good to sweat – it’s been such a long time since I was able to workout. Here I am nice and sweaty :-). The best part about exercising at home…. I could stay in my pj’s :-).

I showered, dressed, made the bed and came downstairs to put my feet up for a bit.

Then it was time to tackle cleaning downstairs. With my feet so swollen and painful and my heel spur acting up I had to take it easy. I did half of downstairs, had a rest, then finished downstairs. Upstairs will have to wait if I want to be able to walk this afternoon.

Ah, gotta love a clean and tidy house.

My favourite falafel salad for lunch – looks a little bland as I was out of tomato but it still tasted yum. I ate it while watching a Trinny & Suzannah in the USA that I had recorded a while back.

One of Bailey’s many snoozes.

After lunch I made some vegetable soup for Amy to have after school.

And went to do a few layouts. I’ve been really struggling with my scrapbooking lately and have been trying to decide whether to continue with it. I think I just need to try and do some each day.

As usual the pups joined me and enjoyed a sleep on the lounge.

I had to go pick up Amy from the bus stop at 3pm. She spent the afternoon packing for a music camp she’s going on tomorrow and Christy went to ride her horse (ie. bike) with Shantel. Just as I was preparing dinner the post lady (who usually comes around lunch time) arrived with a parcel from Crush Cosmetics.

Before dinner went in the oven I made a batch of banana muffins.

Then time for dinner. Tonight was a veggie snitzel, mashed potato and veggies.

Over dinner we had our Monday night family meeting.

While Amy went up to have her bath and I did the washing up….

Kevin played with his new toy that he got at Questacon…

I then painted my nails

and settled down to watch some Dog Whisperer….

with my puppies….

I put Christy to bed at 8pm and read her some stories, then had another cup of tea before heading to bed around 9.30pm. I read a few chapter of the Pioneer Woman romance story (loving it) and had to laugh when I found Bailey like this :-). I think he missed (his bed). Not that he minded he was like this for ages.

Digging for Thundereggs

Posted on April 14, 2011October 30, 2026 by Libby Withnall

Woke up at 5.30am, dragged myself out of bed to get the camera, took the above photo, said hello to Amy, took this photo of Christy asleep as I closed her curtains,

took a photo out of my side bedroom window – loved the sunrise hitting the front glass of the Q1,

and went back to bed (and to sleep) for another hour. When I finally got up it was the usual – computer time, girls to get bread from the bakery and Iced Chocs from Gloria Jeans today. I got a load of washing done and around 9am we headed downstairs to the pool.

I caught up on some magazine reading…

Christy went in the pool but said it was very cold,

so instead she prepared some sand meals for me to eat,

then joined Amy in the spa when it opened. We then headed to the indoor pool where I discovered the sauna.

After cooling off in the pool the girls wanted to try out the sauna as well. They enjoyed it more than I thought they would. Around 11am we went back up to get ready for today. Unfortunately the girls weren’t being the most co-operative today. Luckily I had checked up the website last night and discovered we all needed closed in shoes for todays activity. I had some, but the girls did not. So we had a side tour to Harbour Town to get some.

Amy got some boots from Adidas and we found these cute shoes for Christy. Of course when we saw the style name we knew it was meant to be :-).

We then drove up to Tambourine Mountain. I’ve not been here since I was a child. It’s always on the to-do list but we never seem to make it. Of course, when I read about Thunderbird Park (which I had visited as a child) I knew we had to make the trip as Christy is mad about rocks. It was a lovely drive through the rainforest. So many amazingly tall trees.

And finally we had arrived, much later than planned.

Since it was after 1.30pm, first stop was lunch.

I had THE most delicious vegetarian warp. It was so big I kept half and ate it on the drive back home.

Luckily the food was good as the service was a little slow. Christy went off to play on the swings while we waited and Amy & I met a few of the locals.

And yes, that’s a real bird peeking over the top of the sign – so cute.

Before leaving we had to visit this place and Christy took a photo of the sign :-).

The finally the rock shop. The attendent tried to talk us out of going (or rather warned us) because he said most kids need around 2.5 hours on the mine site, and it was only open for another 1.5hrs. Since we had made the trip we were not discouraged, and got our picks and buckets.

After the safetly talk and being shown what to look for we huffed and puffed our way up the hill to the mine site. Goodness me I didn’t realize my fitness level had gotten so low :-(. We found another friend… see him lying on the fallen tree…

Then it was time for more exercise in the form of digging.

Within 15 min I had two blisters on my hand – I had to laugh as Kevin always says I have delicate hands – I guess he’s right :-). So worked for a bit longer then had to down tools and enjoy the scenery while the girls continued digging.

The hour on the site was definitely enough for Amy & I, though I think Christy could have kept on digging. Unfortunately we didn’t really know what we were looking for so I’m pretty sure we just had buckets of rocks.

We walked back down the hill and across this river. Check out the views on both sides. The Australian bush at it’s best.

Then back to the shop to have our haul inspected. Amy got two thundereggs worth opening. Which we did so they could each have a half (I forgot to get photos so will do so tomorrow). Christy was still happy with her haul of rocks, and did in fact have a thunderegg – it was just a small one. I had NOTHING…. except blisters :-(.

This is what the big eggs look like when opened. Aren’t they gorgeous?

We debated doing the skywalk but everyone was a bit tired and grumpy so we decided to leave it to another trip – they also wanted to visited the adventure park (but we had arrived after last entry). We were looking out for a famous cheese shop but didn’t find it. We did however, find this gorgeous spot to enjoy the view. Hard to believe this is just 50mins from the high rise of the Gold Coast. I know where I’d rather be :-).

Then it was back down the mountain to the bright lights of the city. We got to enjoy a bit of a sunset on the way.

Back in our room the girls watched TV while I did my nails. This is new thing which you just stick on your nails. No drying time which was a plus tonight. I’m pretty happy with the result but time will tell (with regard to wear and tear).

Unfortunately Amy had a bit of a breakdown tonight – hoping it blows over and she’s back to normal tomorrow.

Tonights dinners was vegetarian nachos (made the quorn – our new favourite fake meat).

Amy went to bed and Christy & I watched The Never Ending Story.

Tomorrow : If moods have improved… Wet ‘n’ wild

A Day in the Life – 1st April, 2011

Posted on April 2, 2011October 30, 2026 by Libby Withnall

Those of you who are friends with me on facebook will know that on Tuesday Rosie caused me to fall off my bike. In addition to grazed knees and elbows I’ve jarred my ribs which results in pain when moving, and breathing, so as you’ll see I’ve been taking it much easier than I normally do.

Surprisingly I’ve been able to sleep pretty well, provided I lie flat on my bad. Kevin had to go into work early this morning so the alarm went off at 5am! I stayed in bed having cuddles with the dogs but got up shortly after Kevin left at 5.30am. I let the dogs out, then made myself a cup of tea, which was enjoyed while playing on the computer.

As always the dogs went back sleep.

Amy was dressed and ready for her school excursion to Luna Park. Can’t believe she gets to go to Luna Park for a science excursion!

Finally the sun was up, and so was Christy.

I haven’t eggs for ages and we’ve got almost 3 dozen in the fridge so I thought I’d make some scrambled eggs for breakfast.

At 7.45am Amy went down the front to wait for her lift to school (since Kevin had left so early). Don’t you love her shirt – she picked out by herself on her first shopping with friends outing last week. It says Horror Movie in case you can’t tell – bacon and eggs on the plates. Pretty appropriate for a vegan :-).

Next up was the dogs breakfast. I got Christy to help me as reaching down to the ground is very painful.

Then Fudgie had to have his medication. Talk about fun.

I got dressed and kind-of made the bed, and once Christy headed off to school I sat down to enjoy my tea (and a couple of Easter eggs).

I played on the computer on and off for most of the morning. I find I can do a few jobs but then get a bit sore. When I’m sitting and nice and relaxed my chest/back don’t hurt at all. I had some raspberries to eat but they were a little tart so I added a bit of cream – then they were perfect :-).

With doing so much vegan baking these days I had a few lots of butter which needed to be used up so I thought I’d make some non-vegan chocolate chip cookies to take to Jamberoo tomorrow. Of course, with the girls not home, it meant I HAD to lick the beater :-).

Bailey was close by – hoping to get to lick the bowl.

While the cookies were baking I did a bit of ironing. I had taken some Panadine and it seemed to be helping with the pain.

And naturally I had to sample one (or two) of the cookies when they were done.

Nan & Pop came and took the dogs for a walk and run at the park. So grateful they can do this when I can’t.

Lunch today was leftover Sweet Potato Rissoto while watching a bit of TV. I’m trying to get through all the programs I’ve been recording. Today I watched Real Simple, Real Life – definitely my kind of show.

Then when the dogs got settled for the post lunch sleep

I did a bit of scrapbooking. Haven’t really found my mojo yet and it seems a struggle to get anything done but I seem to get 1 page done most days.

We had some books arrive in the mail. All three from the same place in the UK and all 3 in seperate packages!!!!! And another Judy Moody had arrived yesterday!

Christy arrived home from school but disappeared to play with Shantel. Amy arrived home about 4.30pm after her excursion and disappeared as well. I started to feel unwell but thought maybe I was hungry. I had some cheese/cracker/grapes and some lemonade and felt better :-). I really enjoyed the cheese and crackers – definitely a treat now I haven’t had for a long time. The only cheese I really buy now is Bambarah Organic (they don’t kill their male calves). It is so delicious (but obviously expensive) so I don’t eat it often. And the babybell has to be used up.

Kevin arrived home just before 6pm and we had dinner shortly afterwards. It’s been very easy meals this week. Tonight was veggie snitzel, corn and potatoes cooked on the George Forman Grill. So easy yet so yummy. Oh, Christy was having dinner and sleeping over at Nan’s.

Amy (and Britney from next door) were attending a fundraising rock night at school. When I said she could go we thought it was from 7-9pm. She now informed me it went till 11pm. Do you remember our alarm going off at 5am this morning? Kevin decided if he came back home he would not want to go back out so said he’d wait in the car (and play warcraft) until 10pm. I felt bad for him and had planned to drive in with him. But he seemed “reasonably” happy with this arrangement. The things we do for our kids. And I realized this is just the START of it :-).

Once they left I cleaned up the kitchen and went to get changed for bed. The dogs decided it was playtime.

I settled down with some knitting (finally started something – another scarf just to get something going) and more TV.

I watched an episode of Location, Location, Location, The Dog Whisperer and Build a New Life. Just after 9.30pm the heard them arrive home. Amy was tired so they’d left early (oh, forgot to mention earlier they’d had to return home because Amy forgot to take the tickets). I’m sure Kevin was glad to be back earlier. They headed up to bed. I finished off my show, let the dogs out and headed up to bed myself. I was so tired I didn’t even read tonight.