On the net

Finally the Opal Heaven website is up and running. It's a lot better than the first one we had done. This time Cor has done it mostly himself and we are very happy with it. New jewellery will be added as he makes things for people. The picture is an ad that he had made up for the Croc tooth pendants he is making, which is really eye catching.

The first one he made was silver with a blue opal inlaid but I like this one better with the bezel and diamonds added. It was a good result.

Nice to have most of the weekend off work and hang out with the kids. We are going to the markets this morning so we will have brekkie there and hopefully find a bargain!

Our new home

It's now been two months since we moved to Lightning Ridge and I feel like I've missed a lot after I have taken a look at some other blogs I follow......
I haven't had time for blogging lately as I got a job a week after I got here and I've pretty much been working nearly full time as well as volunteering 4hrs a week at the local Opal Museum and also being treasurer for the Lightning Ridge preschool.

No rest for the wicked! I have also been going walking some mornings with a friend from work in an effort to lose some fat or at the very least, not gain any more. I am enjoying living here and definately feel more a part of the local community than I have ever felt anywhere else so that is a major plus. The kids and Corey are settling in well too. Jack has already recieved an award at school and Corey is getting a few jewellery jobs and we have a new website called Opal Heaven, starting up tommorrow. Very exciting.

Since we have been here, a few milestones have come and gone - Jack lost one of his top front teeth (he wiggled and wiggled it until he could pull it out) and Emma turned 5. It has also been 3 years now since Rob died....

We have move on in unexpected, yet pleasant ways. There is one photo of the rusty old holden that I have included here, that is really special, the one with the poem 'Sometimes', so take a proper look!

Back to work again tommorrow and for the rest of the week.

The life of a bee

We have happy bees, well placid ones anyway. I only got stung twice today and I'm not sure if one was a bee or an ant because it was up my pants! Late night extracting again tonight as we didn't finish until 9pm.

I love the satisfying feeling of working at something that makes me happy rather than attend the drudgery of 9-5 working for someone else. I feel a freedom in driving around the countryside and working with Corey, we're a pretty good team. We even stopped so I could take pictures of a huge field of sunflowers and of course I went on my usually wildflower picking spree! I am sore too after rediscovering long buried muscles but it is definately worth it!

Honey thieves

I will write about christmas later on when I get some photos from people. In the meantime, Corey and I have left the kids with mum, dad and Emily for the holidays while we pack for the move and sort out the honey.

I've painted Jack's room and packed some but today was honey extracting day and so Cor and I suited up in our white shirts and long pants and donned our nets ready for an exciting day of stealing the bees honey! Things hadn't started off well considering we didn't get our hot knife in the mail before christmas which is what we had wanted. This morning, Cor repaired a blower his dad had given him so we could use it to blow the bees off the boxes of honey. When we got to the site however, the blower decided not to work again on and off. We got the first lot of about 9 boxes but then the blower packed it in for good and we got another two boxes but decided to leave the rest on their sides until late afternoon when the bees were bedding down for the night.

Unfortunately, as we discovered later, this wasn't a good idea. When we returned after setting up for the extraction at home, the air was thick with bees and we found that other bees were robbing the honey. In only a few hours they managed to fully tear down and remove most of the honey in 6 boxes! There was wax like sawdust from where they pulled it apart. Amazing really (yet dissappointing also).

All part of the learning experience I guess. We still managed to get around half a barrel of honey and were still extracting till around 8pm. Pretty tired now. I really enjoy this bee site, it's a travelling stock reserve and you often see kangaroos and many birds and lots of wildflowers. I got a great shot today of a tawny frogmouth owl pretending to be part of a branch.

More extracting tommorrow from the bees at our other site so hopefully all goes well this time.

Memories...

I have been absolutely run off my feet today with errands! The only reason I'm even blogging right now is that if I don't write what I'm thinking then I'll probably forget.

I was thinking about how I'd like to get back into doing some scrapbooking as I've just got so much stuff for it sitting idle in a drawer and photo's on the computer that have never been printed out. Later I came across some photo discs from a couple of years ago with pictures of Rob and the kids in them so I am going to download them all onto the computer as well and get copies done too. Maybe I'll get some christmas mugs with the kids pics on them for the grandparents who have everything!

This is my current fave pic of Emma asleep with Bella (the dog) and a cute shot of Corey, Jack and I before we moved to Inverell 18mths ago.

The Ridge....

We just zipped out to Lightning Ridge on Sunday to pick up a honey extractor that one of our friends happened across at the local markets. We were hoping to extract the honey before we leave Inverell to see everyone for christmas but it dosen't look like we'll have time.
We stayed overnight at our caravan set up which the kids loved and had dinner at the 'Hilton' which is a local bush pub.
We had a little snoop around the house we are supposed to be moving into in January and to be blunt, it's a dump. I have to say I feel pretty let down about it, but there's still five weeks or so until we are to move in, so I'm sure that'll give the owners time to do some tidying up........
There are a lot of things I like about the area, I like the red earth, the birds are amazing and varied, there is lots of wildlife to be seen such as Emu's, Lizards, kangaroos and wallabies which both the kids and I enjoy. There are beautiful sunsets and electrical storms out there too and there is an art and craft co-op as well as a patchwork group so I should be ok in that area. I think I'm just getting a bit nervous because it is getting a lot closer.

At a standstill....

Today has been one of those days where you feel like you have so much to do, yet don't feel like you have achieved anything. My sister and I hung out for a while before she had to go back home and then I did little more than a bit of housework really. Things begin getting hectic starting tommorrow though. We are having a garage sale to get rid of some junk and then during the next two weeks we have a lot of work & fun to cram in all together!
Hopefully we will be extracting our first honey next week which I am getting excited about. My mind keeps wandering to Pooh bear, thinking about all that honey.......