Cassie's Cuddles

I finally sent off my Friends swap, and my buddy has recieved it yay! But silly me forgot to include the letter that told her what the letters stood for! Sorry about that, some were not that obvious. F was for fabric, R was for roses, I was for inspirational, E was for essential girly stuff, N was for nibbles, D was for dolls and S was for stamps. Will I show you what was inside?and..I also joined a Christmas in July swap, this one was sent a couple of days ago, and it has to go to America, so I won’t show it yet 😀We went to a Chinese church the other week. One of the ladies wanted a photo of herself with the kiddies, so we let her, and I took one of her 😀 It was a very friendly church, they pretty much dragged us into the  luncheon. I went away thinking that I would like to learn chinese. I went to the library and checked out some chinese books, I think it might be too hard to do it on my own. I discovered a blog this week where a lady passes on handmade toys to children in hospitals in South Australia. I sent her the above, Steph made the crocheted one. Maybe if you have some toys that you have made or will make, you could send her some too? Check it out here:http://stitchselection.blogspot.com.au/

School has started again, so we are back to basics, and I am glad of it. Who would think that such a routine would be enjoyable. Holidays are great, but I find that housework and the like are left to fend for themselves (which obviously they don’t). I had Lachlan home, so I got him to tutor Alycia, bonus! Camden and Steph got to work on their own, and Cassandra stuck with me. As a bonus today, we made some homemade icecream. I found a recipe in a library book by Annabel Karmel. I love her children’s cook books, they are sweet and pretty. Here is the recipe.It was nom nom nom…Cassandra was very proud of herself. She got to use the mixer (hand held) by herself. It was so funny to see the cream flying all over the place.Whip, stir, mix…Then eat 😀

Have you seen these cans? My children bought one home from the reject shop for me after seeing one of their friends with them. It is an instant hot chocolate. You push a button, then shake it, and then it heats up. This might be handy to have when I wait in the car on a cold night…oh yeah!I was collecting the library books last night, and only just discovered that I had borrowed two copies of the same book!! How lame am I? SERIOUSLY!! Should I admit that I actually bought the book this week too? Do you like my bruise? I don’t know what caused it. I got it the first time I rode my bike, a week later with the next ride it got bigger. That can’t be good right? Oh well, we will see what happens next week. For two weeks in a row I have had a white van toot at me and yell stuff (thankfully I am deaf, so I can’t hear them bagging me), I hope that I don’t see them next Saturday. Maybe I will think of them as my groupies. I can get away with that can’t I?

I can’t believe that three weeks of holidays ( private schools have three weeks) have flown by. I didn’t really achieve much. The first week, I wanted Lachlan to work, and not nag for the computer so job number one (which was very well paid by the way) was to clean all the windows. I was so happy that he worked well, it took him ages.  The second week I took three children to a Church Kids club, which they really enjoyed. I did a bit of shopping each day at different shops, so I didn’t have to drive home and back again. So I ended up buying some new clothes…I hardly ever buy new clothes, so I think I am now making up for it.. (sorry Jared).  I have lost 21 kg now, I still have a long way to go, but I can tell the difference…so cool.I saw someone yesterday who has lost heaps of weight, and looks great. As she said, there is no secret to loosing weight, you just have to not eat as much and exercise.  Um, what else have I been up to? Oh, I ordered from on an online shop linked to Cosco. You don’t have to be a member, and they deliver for a flat rate of $15 within Melbourne. The website is found here.http://fairdinks.com.au/www/home/ I bought 180 eggs, 25kg sugar, 16 kg of flour.  180 eggs? yeah, I know, a little crazy. I have given a few away, but I have a lot of cooking to do. I will make a lot of Gingerbread and freeze it ready for Dayspring Day. I am going to have the children decorate gingerbread men, fun eh?On a Saturday morning Jared and I found ourselves without any children, so we attempted to go for a bike ride to Boronia. Evidently it is 8km there and back. I really enjoyed it, although I had to walk up some of the hills. Jared didn’t enjoy it so much, he is behind me somewhere. We were testing out his new bike, that we picked up the night before. The money for the insurance, finally came in. This week, I rode to Ferntree gully with the three oldest children. That was more difficult, I think I will stick to Boronia for now. I felt proud of myself. Later that afternoon I caught up with some ladies at a craft group in Cranbourne. If you live around there, I recommend it. Just contact the Presbyterian church there for the details.I have to show you this little Thor that Stephanie has made. How cute is he? She made it without a pattern for a friend. Now if my swap buddy is having a look at this, I haven’t forgotten you. I have been reading your blog too, I just haven’t left a message. I went to Pakenham with the sole purpose of buying something “Tilda” for you. I am so excited about putting a “Friends” package for you.

Although it was a sad time for us as a family, we could also appreciate the fact that Jared and I have been married for 20 years. It amazes me how quickly the time flies. Jared suprised us with booking us to go to the Cuckoo for lunch. We haven’t been there for over 15 years. Cassandra nearly had heart failure when she knew she could go and get anything she wanted for lunch. Camden wondered if they would count our plates..I had one very excited little girl. Can you see my necklace in the picture? Jared bought me a ruby necklace. He went very overboard, as we don’t normally buy things for each other. He had just bought me a lovely handbag too. Yesterday he gave me a David Jones voucher as well. What did I get him? Nothing. I have been spoiled. So much has happened in the last couple of weeks, considering it has been school holidays. They have gone so fast….I’ll tell you about that later.

Last Monday night I got a call from a friend to say to call his sister Sandy because she was having trouble breathing and she might not be alive for too much longer. I called straight away. I was able to speak to my friend who I have known since she was 13, she is now 38. I am so grateful that I got to speak to her, because it was the last chance that I had to say goodbye. I guess I didn’t really believe that it would be the last time that I spoke to her, I don’t think she truly realised either, although she was a little aware of the possiblity. But you know how it is, you think that a cancer sufferer will go into hospital for a few days and be back out again in an instant. I was able to say that I loved her, that she has been a wonderful witness to everyone of God’s goodness, despite her sad circumstances. I encouraged her not to fear, and said that one day we will all see our wonderful saviour face to face. By the time I woke up in the morning, I discovered that she had died peacefully with her family around her. She died, and out the window of the hospital room all that were there, saw the sun rise. I can’t believe that she has died..My Facebook page has her commenting on everything that I have posted, her face is everywhere…but yesterday I watched her being lowered into the ground…I mourn like others, but not without hope. Just as the sun rose on the earth, she too rose to be with her saviour. Our bodies die, but our spirit never does. At this very moment, she is worshiping Christ face to face…awesome. I feel for her two children, even my children hurt, but I know she is not lost. Jared took the sermon, it was encouraging. We need to know that Christ rose from the dead, and so will we. I loved you Sandy, even though you frustrated me, tested me, and made me love you.   This is a pic of her little memorial ( she was buried before her funeral). In case you can’t guess, she loved shoes….really loved shoes. The next day we celebrated our 2oth wedding anniversary. As you can see from the first photo, she was one of my bridesmaids, so it felt so wrong to celebrate….but we did.