RIP Dennis Gabbedy

Today I found out that Dennis, my aunty Maggie's husband passed away after battling lung cancer.  They live near Newcastle so my thoughts have been surrounded  by happy memories of times shared together.

RIP Dennis... thanks for the laughs mate xxxx

RIP Pumpkin!!

Today is a very sad day....

This morning on my way to work I got my usual phone call from the kids to say they were leaving for school but it wasn't the normal phone call.

I had Oliver being brave telling me that there was something wrong with one of the rabbits and Alex was in tears. So I turned my car around and came home.

Pumpkin, wasn't in a great way... all limp but calm. I rang the vet and they advised up to go up there as soon as possible. At the vet the news was grim, spinal damage was causing her to be limp and she was not feeling any pain. Needless to say, we had to do the best thing for the poor little darling bunny although it was very painful for our little princess!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Pumpkin - our new rabbit....

In all the festivities of the New Year I have forgotton to mention something sad that has happened .... but Christmas, the bunny, passed away a couple of days before New Years - yes not long after her being brought by Santa. This brought sadness to our little princess but after an hour of researching and telephone calls to rabbit breeders we have a new rabbit and a smile back on our little princess' face!!

Why Pumpkin??? Because of her orange paws of course!!

Pumpkin, was carried all the way home in the car - she is only 6 weeks old and so much smaller than Christmas and is also another mini lop rabbit.

More importantly.......

Peace and calm has been restored!!!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

The week is almost over....

Well once again this week is flying past and I don't seem to be getting anything accomplished! I am sure others have had similar days but what is with it lasting a whole week? ggrrr...

The week started off on a sad note after hearing the news that Fred, a co-worker of mine, lost his beloved wife, Wendy last week. She died on Thursday after a 6 month battle with cancer. A very sad time as both Fred and Wendy were so positive that she would beat this and continued to think towards the future and their retirement. It was only two weeks ago that Fred underwent his second hip operation and is now in recovery. Needless to say, I plus a few others from work, attended Wendy's funeral on Tuesday morning. If there is any way of describing a funeral service I would have to say that it was nice and very fitting for the lady that Wendy was.

Mam and Dad have left to go on their holiday up north, stopping in to see Clare in Sydney. It was great to recieve a few photo via text yesterday from Clare. I am glad that they have finally got away as their trip has already been delayed by the dreaded Melbourne cold!! No not the flu!!

The only disadvantage of them going away is we get the bird!! This bird, a cockatiel named Elly, is awful - she hisses, bites and is just noisy!! The kids are even over the bird!! Oh well, babysitting Elly is the least we can do considering Mam and Dad do a hell of a lot for us!!

As the week is passing quickly, we are facing another weekend... a weekend where Alex is off for a sleep over on Friday night, not sure what we will do with Oliver, Saturday sees the kids at their first rehearsal with the Boite Choir in Tyabb followed by another day of football on Sunday... before I know it it will be Monday again!!

Sunday both kids played great football and their reward was to get their hair tipped.... so this is the outcome!!

~ R.I.P. Gerry ~

Today has been an awful day so far at work...

This morning one of our truck drivers, a friend and a gentle, caring man was involved in an accident involving his truck and serveral cars whilst working. It happened around 8am this morning and Gerry died at the scene after his truck and trailer rolled landing on it's side. I am not quite sure on all of the details but the fact of the matter is that we have definately lost one of the GOOD ones!

Gerry, 62, was definately one of the good guys. I have to say in my 7 years working with him he has been a gentleman, a gentle giant, always smiling and had the same dry sense of humour as me so as you can imagine there were many jokes and much laughs exchanged with the two of us! Being such the man he was made every time we saw each other a pleasure.

He will be sadly missed.... not just by me but by all who knew him!

Click here to read the article from the Herald Sun Website

These are two disturbing pictures of the tragedy.





















I honestly wish I had a photo of Gerry I could put here to remind me of him...

~~ R.I.P. Gerhart Holzmueller ~ ~

~ ~ 1947 - 2009 ~ ~

What a weekend ... both good and bad!

What can I say or where do I start?

It's Monday and I am back at work after a "great weekend" on a personal level but on an emotional level a "devastating" weekend.

I am sitting here at work listening to the radio, listening to what one could only describe as horrific and unimaginable to the average person. I cannot even begin to imagine what the people living in the fire stricken areas are going through and to be honest, wouldn't even know where to begin.

Currently Victoria is living through what has been recorded as our worst bushfire on record in modern history.

The current loss of life stands at 108 with many people still missing, presumed dead. Men, woman and children among that figure.

Complete towns being wiped out by the raging flames which fire fighters and volunteers are struggling to control. Towns that we have driven through, stopped and purchased things at especially when we are out in the 4WD.

My thoughts, wishes and prayers are with all those touched/affected by the bushfires. My heart reaches out to these people, families loosing their properties and all their belongings, farmers losing all their crops and livestock, basically their whole worlds. Not to mention all the family pets that have also been killed by the fires.

However the thing I find the saddest to comprehend is that there is suspicion that some or many of the fires have been deliberately lit. How could anyone in their right minds consider doing such a inhuman thing as lighting a fire especially during our summer, which has been unbelievably hot and humid this year? If caught, the monster or monsters face a minimum of 15 years just for lighting the fires, but this would undoubtedly increase due to all of the lives lose - all of the "MURDER".

Driving to work this morning, the reality of it hit home. The area near where I work was also afftected and is now black in places and at 8am this morning still smoldering here and there. The residents surrounding the quarry actually took refuge inside the open space of the quarry, bringing family, belongings, pets and even horses to the safe haven. Both these photos are at the end of the street where I work.... sad isn't it. Even at 4.30pm on Monday afternoon the CFA were still dousing small fires.


My supervisor at work, Rod, isn't at work today. He has spent the whole weekend facing the fires as he is a CFA Volunteer. I spoke to him yesterday, and although tired he was okay but I must say it was really good to hear his voice. He has rung into work again today so thankfully all is still well with him. From what I understand he is actually fighting the fire that is threatening the town where he lives. Also my boss is on edge listening to the radio as fire is threatening area near his house.

As for us, besides watching many news broadcasts we did manage to have a good family weekend. Saturday night we went to Julien and Deb's house for "thankyou for helping us move" bbq. It was a good night and as it was such a hot day, it was really nice not to have to cook. Saying that I did make two salads, a Roast Pumpkin Salad and Crunchy Asian Salad, but they were definately not too difficult. The kids had lots of fun as there was quite a few kids there. We left quite late, probably too early if you ask Noel, but I worked in the morning and was very tired.

Sunday was just a day at home, doing the usual cleaning etc but also did quite a lot of cooking. There was a fair amount of laughter even though having the tv on in the background added a touch of sadness to the air. The kids played on the computer - god only knows what games they have downloaded this time! Sunday dinner was Peking Duck and yes we actually cooked the duck ourselves. Quite fiddly and to be honest, easier to buy in Springvale. Alex and I also made Raspberry Brownie Slice, which I think everyone enjoyed, and I know the kids were thrilled at the prospect of actually taking cake to school for morning tea (trust me that's a rare event in itself!)

As I said my thoughts are with all the fire-affected families.......