10 more sleeps !!!!

... then I will be on the plane to Rome !

Update on the Singing

WE CAME SECOND ON THE NIGHT

WOO HOO!!!

Oh What a Night!

"Late December back in '63..." and the song goes on. But it accurately describes the night I had last night.

Nerves preceeded the event, but a couple glasses of champers and a really great make up artist on hand (and once the first song was over), just made it all good. We sang "Don't Give Up" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush and dressed in 1940's garb (I wore a very stoic post war depression kinda costume and Ron dressed in army greens), that was a hard song to do but the judges said that we pulled it off.

At half time, all of us singers went to the green room out the back and started singing one of the other numbers (one girl was practicing her next number - "I can see Clearly now") and to hear 20+ voices in harmony, it was so magic. Our Stage Hand Scott, was playing the guitar for us and I sooooooo did not want this night to end.

The next number was "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison and the judges commented on how much Ron sounded like Van Morrison. We even got a 10 from Peter Goers (one of the judges on the night).

Finally, we all ambled out on stage for our group closing number (of course - "All my loving" in the Young Talent Time vain).

I had to take it easy on the drinking because of the 25km drive home and I had Tori with me as well (Bullet is away in Mt Isa) which was a good thing as I could've come home with a nasty hangover.

What I can take away from this is, i made 20 new friends, I had the time of my life, I was with like minded people, I remember how much fun it is to sing, I know that I was born to sing and I have discovered a lot more of myself in the process. Where to now???

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail (unknown)

Hello! Is it me you're looking for???

Yes, I know, I know, naughty me for not blogging for a really, really long time.

Lets start with, I'm going to Italy in 47 sleeps - ARGH, that is really close!!! I am booked with a group of 10 women (whom I do not know) and we are spending 22 days away. Firstly in Rome, then Venice, Tuscan Region and Florence. Nice and easy, all the great sights. I'm soooooo excited.

Keeping this all short, this Saturday, I will be performing in an "It Takes Two" concert (much the same as the one on Channel 7) and have 2 songs to perform. Woo how exciting. Looking forward to being out there again. On the weekend, I had the chance to hear myself for the very first time being professionally recorded (what a spin out), it wasn't too bad either. I originally thought Ron, my singing partner, put on the track with the background singer and he said, "no, that's you" woooooo.

We have lambs again, and I have been putting off telling you about them as the last one(s) perished. Well, Lucy is almost a week old and we found young Bob (but he's a big boy) shivering under a bush this morning and no luck at finding Mum. The one we thought was Mum wanted nothing to do with him, so, here we go again. Hopefully he survives the night. Tori was chasing him around the room just then so he has a little sprite in him. Bob is the one next to Tori, Lucy is trying desperately to steal his bottle. He is only a day or so old and bigger than her.

Tori has been to Adelaide and competed in her first Calisthenics competition and her individual team (there were 2 Lincoln teams competing), got a first, a second, a third and an honerable mention. Think the underdogs and how they can aspire to something magnificent. It blew me away.

Bullet is still travelling back and forth o Mt Isa, and I am unemployed AGAIN. Loving it though. Once I get back from Italy, I will seriously have to look at what I would like to do on a more permanent basis. I am doing a cafe cooking course at TAFE for 12 weeks and maybe (just maybe) would like to open a casual cafe somewhere in a little seaside place, like Wangary/Farm Beach oone day a week. That might be a long way down the track but you have to have goals.

I'm gonna scoot now.

Ciao

Shel

ps. any tips on Italy, let me know. I can send you my itinerary.

Time flies

How do you let almost 4 months pass by without writing a word? Easy I suppose.

Today, our neighbour (about 5kms away) came over for a visit because we had some car parts on the property that he knew about for his old car. And what a treat, he took us for a drive down the road in his 1927 Chrysler (originally a buckboard but turned it into a roadster).

Then, later on, he came back to pick up the parts in his original 1956 FJ ute that he has owned since brand new. So we went for another ride. He also showed us some photos of an old World War 2? Harley Davidson that he restored. Now, here comes the amazing part of the story.

We saw the pictures of them when they were trashed by the EP fires in 2005. The bike was totalled. It was originally done in a blue colour and had an indian looking motif on the tank. He did it back up to original (army green with the Harley Davidson red writing on it). The ute was scorched on one side (the side you can see in this picture). I'm not sure of the details of the Chrysler but I guess it would have been reasonably rough. He has done them all up in the last 3 years. The man must be about 80 odd. What a legend, and the nicest man.

I'm still here !

I know it's been a while. You get that ! What's been going on you say. Well the chook has hatched a batch (6 babies) another chook has one singleton baby and another is on the brood but I think it's to no avail as "Rocky" the Rooster has been, shall we say, "out of action" lately. He's taken to going round in circles (almost like he has had a stroke and is not quite balanced, ie. one side of him isn't working too good) and i noticed last night that one of the hens is pecking at his feet so I think it's time for him to go. Sad but I would rather him go peacefully than being "hen-pecked" HA HA, that was funny (to me anyway).

School Holidays have just commenced and Bullet is home for good (for how long we can't be sure) but I'm sure that someone will lure him with a promising salary and he will be off again. I think he secretly likes doing work this way. As long as I am home, I'm learning more and more about farming (although the fly blown lambs are not something I would ever get used to and I'm afraid I don't think I could cope with chasing up a sheep, throwing it on the back of the ute, mixing up some potent chemicals to treat the fly strike and managing to shear their bums to rid them of their rancid wool to assist in the healing process - BIG YUCK and I am glad Bullet is home for that task).

Here is a picture of the woman responsible for helping me lose weight and a great friend to boot. Thanks Bianca. This was taken at her expo for World Personal Trainers Day and we all helped her in some way to fill the day (I gave a talk on my little journey - weird doing public speaking, but I got through it alright).

Tori is still having fun riding her horse and very soon, we shall be bringing him home. Bullet has been erecting a horse yard and providing the weather holds out (ie the wind), we will be able to move the old caravan lean-to down to the horse yard (clever recycling there!).

An "A-Ha" moment

This is going to be long and drawn out so for those that are bored by ramblings, stop here and save yourself!

I haven't written for a while and there is a reason for that - SO MUCH IS GOING ON (in my mind).

This is getting personal but here goes... You all know I have lost an incredible amount of weight (tick) and after I returned from Kangaroo Island I THOUGHT that I had reached my goal and life was going to go back to "NORMAL". Little did I realise (and I can hear Bianca's voice saying "I've been telling you this for ages") that this is only part of the stepping stones to achieve my "goal". I have been heavily into listening to fat loss "experts", motiational speakers and the message is common although in their own special words and their own personal tweaks. Life is about having many driving forces (and the direction can sometimes change) to achieving our ultimate goals. Now before I lose another group of people (ie the first lot warned of the long blog that this will be and now the second lot who think I have gone stark raving mad) I got lost a little bit once I lost my weight and had no direction to go next. I meandered around with no meaning for a while then put 10kgs back on !!!!! ARGH ! You see, I thought I could go for coffee and cake once again (but that was turning into a couple of times a week) and not exercise as often. Note to self; "got to get this sorted out". Well I did what some people would look at as ridiculous and bought a couple of e-books (internet downloads) and along with them came those very motivational mp3's that i had mentioned a little earlier. Okay, now I'm getting bored with this writing and it's going all over the place so I'll just do what I came here to do... and that is to announce to the world my dreams, aspirations, goals, driving forces, and to pick a couple of mentors to guide me along. (this is written in the form of I have and am living my dreams in the now)

1. I am singing regularly with a piano player at the new motel in Port Lincoln and am making money with my talent. I am confident and successful


2. My body is lean and looks great in clothes