Rainbow Swap............

Trash organised a rainbow swap.............I received this wonderful parcel

from Janet Clare in the UK.............these are all the goodies she sent me

.............she has done some wonderful free motion drawing with the sewing

machine............I have no hope in the world to achieve this..........

I need to get a cushion insert for the cushion cover and it will look great

on my lounge..............

Oh and she "drew' these little chooks too..............I am going to make
the chooks into something special...........maybe a needlebook for
myself..........they are sooo cute.........

Thanks heaps Janet for the beautiful gifts and also Trash for organising the
swap.................

My parcel is in transit so I won't spoil the surprise for my
swapper.................

Take Care til next time..............
Chookyblue

Dust...........

Yesterday afternoon the winds picked up and so did the dust again..................the winds dropped on sunset but eerie as the dust was still just hanging around.................I think it was fairly still all night but this morning I got up and the dust was still here...............it is calm again this morning but the dust is still hanging in the air..........these are pics of the sun rising this morning.............guess the Christmas tidy and clean won't happen today just the tidying............no point cleaning.............and it is so beautiful and cool outside after a pretty warm day yesterday but I am NOT opening the

doors...........

While on temps.............it is the 2nd last day of the

month............for November our average maximum temp is 31deg (90yrs records) for this November our average maximum temp is 35.7 (hotter then our

hot months) so we haven't been going on about the heat for nothing...............and the coolest maximum we have had 28.4 Lets hope this is the worst of summer.........but i am sure it will not be.............

Take Care til next time..............
Chookyblue

swaps out............

First up we have the SSCS...............if this arrives at your door I am your Santa...................but it does have a long journey like all the other SSCS parcels on Santa's sleigh........and it will be delivered to ??????......some more parcels have arrived and Santa's sleigh must be on jet speed because some parcels have only taken a week.

it will slow down though with all the other christmas traffic...............

Next we have the second installment of the advent swap organised by Fiona at Mothers Cupboard.............dawdling on sending as I had the same delimma as Kate as in which gift of 2 went to you..............I have already sent some gifts to get Kate started........

And finally the Rainbow Swap organised by Trash...............wonder where this will end up..................

Take Care til next time..............

Chookyblue

SSCS Parcels..........

Under 30 parcels to hear about now regarding sending...............but the really exciting news is 4 parcels have arrived at there destination so keep an eye on your mailbox...........make sure you let me and your Santa know when your parcel arrives.............

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

Nerves of steel.................

Well not quite nerves of steel but certainly testing.......doesn't matter where you go from my house you have to go quite a distance before you hit sealed roads.............my usual road is usually not to bad when it is wet............most paddocks have been top dressed with good dirt to make them better when it is wet............

Sometimes I go out another road (20kms dirt) and there is nothing worse then when you nearly get home and find there has been rain and the dirt road is wet............I tell you it involves LOTS of OH SHIT.........deep breaths to settle the nerves.............driving on this particular road is usually avoided when wet because the dirt is bad and it is like driving on ice (I am assuming no chance of ice here) the car goes where it wants

to...........unfortunately it started to rain heaps more while coming thru...........thankfully you usually never see another car on this road because if I had to pass one I would probably hit it.......it is bad enough the mobs of sheep and cattle I have to hope run off the road in time.............I have a pile of ramps to crawl over negotiate too and everyone I make it over I nearly do a happy dance...........only ended up in the gutter once and managed to get out............home safe and sound but not enough rain for anything yet just a wet road.............

SSCS have a pile of emails to go thru so when I grab something to eat I will try and get thru them all and update the sidebar................Thanks everyone............

Take Care til next time..............
Chookyblue
PS I have great mail to report on too...............my rainbow swap has arrived and also the nine patch swap is back from being swap with Christine...........

URGENT SSCS...........

Secret Santa Christmas Swappers

I have sent out an urgent email.

Please check your inbox ASAP.

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

cool giveaway..............

Since you have all been so nice to me while I have been hot and bothered and

the weather today has cooled down heaps compared to the last

week..................not as much as down south but 32 is much better then

42............but so much more bearable........you may think I was going on

about the weather but it is not common for this time of the

year.......we may get a extremely hot day or 2 but not a week...........it is the weather we usually get in Jan or Feb not Nov......... long standing November records have been broken in a lot of

places....not ours thank goodness because it is 46 deg............a temp I

never want to see...........

&&&&&

But onto the "cool" giveaway.........now I am having a little restrospective giveaway as while all

that was going on I also missed my 600th post........[yep blog to much] .........my random number

generator Fairy Girl picking a number between X & Y and the winner is

Levin..........send me your snail mail..............

I have had heaps of fun in blogland..............I have met and become friends with some wonderful people that without blogging I would never have met..............sewing, photograpy, inspiration, ideas, motivation, swaps, friendships, recipes and a few cow's............lol.............

thanks for taking the time to comment on my blog and reply to my comments I left on yours because without that interation it wouldn't be so much fun.............

Take Care til next time..............
Chookyblue

PS SSCS Hope there are lots of parcels being packed [like the beautiful one above] as I speak you have 2 days left to post so bust a move....22 people have posted so far.....I am marking people off on my sidebar..........email me asap after you have sent your parcel and attach a pic of your gifts to the email so I get it in one email............some beautiful gift have started to travel the globe..............

Since I have become a COW (even though Lurline thinks I am not "old" enough - so kind of you) there is one subject Nancy missed...........it has been bugging me for awhile so here goes............
I found a site that runs swaps and although not charging to enter the swaps at this stage (I can see it coming though) they have a "DONATE" button on there site to help with the costs of running a swap..................HELLOOOOOOOOOOO
what happened to just running the swap for the fun of it...........if you don't want to because it cost you money well don't organise them...........
As you may or may not know I am into my 3rd Secret Santa Christmas Swap SSCS............it cost me lots of time but not much money (a couple of extra parcels) ..............I run the swap because I want to not because someone may donate money to me.......... (well quite a few others want me to run the swap also....lol) but donating or asking for money - it is just wrong wrong wrong..........well that is my opinion and I can say what I want............all I need to receive from SSCS participants is "thanks" and they all do that..........

&&&&

Also get rid of the google ad's..............I HATE them..........I don't go to blogs with them usually............

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

PS this weather better hurry up and cool down...........who knows what I may be blogging next............lol..........if anyone can be bothered to read my ramblings of the last few days hang in there things will get better............

blackout..........

It was looking so hot and desolate today..............very hazzy.........

But the day got worse just after I did my last post........as if I wasn't feeling like a big enough COW it got worse way worse..........

.........the power went off for 4.5 hours.........here is the culprit below...........dh said there was a bit of a fire where the wires hit the ground but it burnt itself out thankgoodness cause he wasn't home when it fell down - one advantage of NO feed in the paddocks......

...a pole fell down (just because it wanted too) we had no power last weekend too for 16

hours when some cross arms broke............but it was way cooler

then............36 deg when the power went off and 41.7deg when the power came back on and rising..........hassled Maree on the phone for a bit to take my mind off

it..........thanks Maree.........became even more of a

COW once I hung up.......probably got a bit sunburnt while I sulked in the pool for awhile.......(don't usually swim when it is this hot in the middle of the day)..........lol..........but my wonderful power men have fixed the pole and the air con is wiring away double time......

maybe I might have that sleep i was talking about earlier

.....Take Care til next time..............
Chookyblue

COW........

I am so tired..........I am sick of

• the million gazzillion blowflies hanging around my house trying to find a cool spot (i need a change in the weather to get rid of them)
• the bugs that turned up last night that were everywhere even thought all the doors and windows were shut
• the bugs that annoyed me all night during my sleep
• the smoke alarm that went off at 2am.....(maybe because one of those bugs set the alarm off cause there was no smoke or fire)
• moving hoses
• forcing myself to eat something (heat and food don't go well for me)
• kids and dh pestering me (well not really but because I am tired it feels like they are)
• the heat
• it's 9.30am is it to early to have a sleep??????

Nancy has an interesting post............go see what a COW is............seems she is not alone reading the comments.........

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

melting..........

With the temp nudging 43 (109F) there is nothing to do but sit in front of the air con.............not sure if it is going to get hotter or not......

.....but we have a couple more days of this CRAP beautiful weather to get thru..........will I survive?????

I am so sick of chasing hoses morning and night to try and keep things alive...............

to my Perth friends enjoy your day if my minimun gets to your maximun (20) I will be very happy.................

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

it's gunna be a stinker..........

Is that just an Aussie saying???.............it means it is going to be very hot...........the last four days have been mid to high 30's.............but the forecast tells me from now til Sat (6 days) we have nothing under 40deg (40-43C) (104-109F)...........not looking forward to it............hopefully the power won't go off like it did on Friday night for 16hours.........

you'll find me in the pool, chasing hoses morning and night to keep up with watering my garden and a bit of stitching in the air conditioner.............

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

PS enjoy your snow if you have some..........

6 sleeps.........

6 sleeps til you can start posting your parcels.....party party...........

......I am stitching away with my gift.............

I have been getting some photos of gifts and they are all beautiful..........it is so exciting........hope you're enjoying making your gifts.......how are you going....still stitching away or done????

don't forget one main gift and also the ornament..........(yes Fiona lucky you read that email)

don't forget to take a pic of your gifts and email to me......

wrap them seperately and mark the ornament so it can be opened when the recipient receives the parcel and they can hang their ornament on their tree.........then place there other gift under their christmas tree.......

by this time in the swap I am worrying madly stressing slightly that everyone will post parcels off into blogland on time but also very excited because everyone is gearing up for christmas...........

&&&&&

nice quite weekend sewing and swimming (to cool down) here...........tired kids and a tired mumma require a restful weekend

whats happening at your place this weekend?????

Elf Chookyblue..........

postage rates.........

Australian girls if your posting a parcel overseas (or even domestically) you can work out the cost here for your parcel if you know what weight range your parcel will go into.............

you don't want the fun of the swap ruined by the cost of the postage...........

(I added this link to the last post too but put it here also incase you miss finding it)

&&&&&&

I often go with my parcel open ready to add to or remove something to take full advantage of costs incurred for the weigh range

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........

SSCS International Postage..........

Not that postage is happening yet (20th - 25th) but as people are preparing their parcels I have received a few questions.............hope this helps.............

If you are posting to Australia this info may be useful of goods not allowed..........also probably not a good idea to send chocolate to the southern hemisphere at this time of the year as it could be quite hot and melt while under the christmas tree...........

If you an Aussie girl posting to another country look at this Australia Post site as they give country specific information..............

&&&&&

If there is an issue for your own country leave a comment with the country and problem here and others can then read it.

I have quite a few people who need to reply to the email I sent out a few days ago............

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue........ EDIT:  Australian girls you can even calculate how much your parcel with cost to send here

Patience and persistence..........

Patience and persistence is severely lacking this afternoon.................stress levels are too high I HATE dumb new computer programs that I have to use...............

#######

Hope everyone in the Secret Santa Christmas Swap SSCS 09 got their email this morning.

Posting is 20th -25th November

so many excited Elf emails back already

#######

off for some stress relief.....kids to bed......me off sewing.............nothing better go wrong there..................

very hot here again.........

......harvest has begun today.........lets hope for dry weather until it is finished.

.........take care til next time.....Chookyblue.........