It's about time!

My first Welcome Home sign made by my one and only mother!

I know it's been FOREVER since I got on here. I honestly don't know what my problem is. There are so many things that happen and I think "Oh this would be good to put on my blog" and then I don't do anything else about it. I've actually only just transferred my pics from the camera onto my computer. How's that for slacker? I amaze myself sometimes, and not in a good way either.

Well, I have many many things to post. When I got back from Canada, I worked for several days and then finally got unpacked. I got used to the Aussie weather again. Not too hard seeing as how it hasn't been too hot. We had one day that was killer. 41° with about 99% humidity. Yuck. I was at work that day and even the air con in the office wasn't working too good. The cool air just couldn't keep up with the hot. Kind of like when I was in Canada, there was a couple of really bad days where the north wind blew so cold (-50° that time!) and the heat in my mom's house couldn't keep up with the cold. Just exactly the opposite.

(below) On the way up to Ft. Mac...typical canadian winter driving conditions

(above) On temple street in Cardston

I had a FABULOUS time in Canada though! It started out with a pretty nice plane trip stopping in Taipei where I slep t on the airport couches for quite a while and window shopped Taiwan sirport style. I bought a few little things like some fans for my neices and daughters. Then came an unexpected night in Vancouver (I missed my flight to Calgary) but which I was glad of in the end cuz that just meant I got to spend some time with me good pal Andrei! Hi Andrei! We went to Timmy Ho's/Wendy's where I got a frosty and my first Timmy donuts in a long long time.

Downtown Calgary...I'd never loved seeing it as much as I loved it that day!

When I finally got to Calgary it was so good, my mom was actually early and so Blaze and her were sitting there waiting for me when I got off the plane. Yay! This is what I came for. Thanks mom! I had my first bag of ketchup chips in about 18 months or more and they were every bit as good as I remembered. Thanks again Mom! Well, that's where the eating started and I'm sad to say it still hasn't stopped! yikes! I love food so much, I think that's one of the biggest things I miss about home is not having all the yummy food you can buy in Canada.

I spent the first few days of my trip shopping shopping shopping! One night Blaze said to me "Mom, what are we going to do tomorrow?" I said, "I don't know, probably just chill out" to which he replied "Mom, could we please not go shopping?" ha ha ha! Poor boy! He got to hang out with his mom for 3 whole weeks and he didn't even get sick of me! He is so cute though, we had a great time together. He is such a funny kid. Always making jokes and laughing at funny stuff like Corner Gas!! I can't believe that a kid finds that funny!! I watched a LOT of that show. My first time ever seeing it. It's so good. I love it! I think I love it just cauzse its Canadian.

I saw lots of friends and family but will post that later. Here are some pics to enjoy...

(below right) This is my neighbor in Welling's place...You know you're a redneck when...

(below) Only in Canada...what a corny canadian invention! I laughed so hard...Rrrroll up the rrrrim to win! ha ha. Then there's Old Chief and just some random Canada flag on the side of the highway...love it!

My Southern Alberta wheat fields...wheatless of course at this time of year...

Goodbye old crappy fridge, hello new fridge!

Ever since we moved here, I have had to put up with a sub par fridge. I don't even buy ice cream hardly ever because it doesn't keep it frozen enough! Then yesterday it hit an all time low in its effectiveness. The freezer was defrosting and the yogurt was like room temp. I knew that morning that we needed to get a fridge immediately if not sooner! So after work, Rick and I went fridge shopping and got a second for probably too much money but...oh well, we can't do much about it now can we? I'm happy with it so far and at least my milk and dairy won't be going bad after only 4 days! Here is a pic.

Also, Rick and I have been planning on putting in a pool and expanding our house a bit. So just before Christmas Rick spent a few days with the excavator guy and the dump truck guy and dug up our backyard, totally demolishing our basement and half our grass. Our place looks like a bomb! It is going to be one cool pool though and we want to share with all of you! So get yer tickets for about next Christmas...oh wait, I'm hoping not to be in oz next christmas, ok, next september or so and come for a visit! I'm totally excited about our pool and can't wait. Here are a few pics...

My big "little boy" just couldn't resist trying to make a 4x4 course out of the backyard...

Ok, ONE last thing...My kids and I have made it a tradition to make a gingerbread house every single christmas and so this year, we did and it turned out pretty cute! I was happy with it. Some years it's just not the best looking house but anyways, we had it all made and then left it on the kitchen table overnight (not highly unusual right?) and the next morning I go in there and one whole side of the roof is missing! So I'm like, "Rick?! What have you done!? I mean, couldn't you just control yourself for a day?" Only to look down at the floor and find mega crumbs and see on the table half eaten candies and then I realized that my Rick was actually a possum!!! Rick had told me moments earlier that he thought he had heard a possum in the night so got up but couldn't see one, closed all the doors and came back to bed. Yup! The one half of the roof was sitting outside on the front deck. I HATE POSSUMS!!!!! What's goin on around here!? says the cool Santa.

After the damage...

The Mess

What a slacker!

I know it's been like FOREVER since I got on the blog...I guess I've just been really slack and just plain old not interested! I've been trying to make myself interested but it just hasn't happened. Also, not having a camera really set me back. Well, we've had Christmas and can I tell you? It's just not the same without -20 weather and snow! I had a REALLY hard getting into it this year and last year too. I am really looking forward to coming home in about 2 weeks! I'm glad Christmas is over. I don't like to be a bah humbug but...I do love Christmas though. We had a churkey dinner this year for Christmas. Turkey is just too expensive here. Like, we're talkin around $10-$15/kg. CRAZY!!! I mean, we have some bush turkeys runnin around but I'm thinking they might taste kind of gamey. What do you think? Hah! So I bought a big chicken and cooked it like a turkey and decided to call it churkey! Pretty ingenious I know!



So the girls got spoiled with lots of clothes this year. I'm so tight I hardly ever buy clothes for anybody here so it was kind of different. They were totally excited about all their new clothes. I got my serger...did I already tell you about that? I'm really looking forward to using it alot. I got it a few weeks early though. Then Rick one day says to me when I got home from work, "Did you see my Christmas present you gave me?" I'm like, 'no?' so he tells me to go look on the front lawn and it's tied to the pole Mesa ran into. So I go look and I'll be darned if there wasn't a boat sitting out on the front yard! I swear I feel like I've already told this story on the blog already!


Well, I'm so looking forward to seeing my little boy and the rest of my family who just love being around me! And my best girlfriends and my fave sis in law! Then I get to see my favorite little grandson(hah! doesn't that sound hilarious!) and the rest of the Miller kids and friends in Cali before I head back to Oz. I'm also looking forward to spending some time with Jilly up in my home country! Yay! Here are a few pics of this Christmas...enjoy! Oh, and I had typed a post a month ago or so and was waiting for some pics but never got any so decided to just post without pics. It is down a few posts so check it out if you want to.

ha ha...still on our honeymoon!

Canny got some BO juice from Santy!

Mesa got 2 beanie kids...Aussie version of beanie babies

Canny got 2 beanie kids as well

I got this cute as little shopping cart! I've always wanted one cuz I think they're so cute!

Mesa was jumping rope when all the sudden her shorts fell down! Talk about gettin caught with your shorts down!

Goin home!

Holy cow! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last! I keep thinking that since I don't have a working camera that since I haven't been taking any photo's theres nothin to say! Well, there's something to say now!

I'M COMIN HOME TO THE GREAT WHITE NORTH IN JANUARY!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sooooo excited to freeze my buns off! I hope it's nice and cold while I'm there cuz it's way too hot and sticky here. I have been sweaty, sticky and itchy all day cuz of the humidity. Yuck. Anyhow, that's all I have time for right now.

Fun with Family

This was on Pin Cushion Island. It was really cool. It felt like we were on a deserted island with no one around.

Pin Cushion Island

Pin Cushion Island

Me, Mesa and Andrea at the Big Pineapple
This was at the 2nd hand shop...funny...body parts for sale...a little pricey dontcha think?
The girls had plenty of opportunities to act silly!
This is the boat we ended up hiring!

We had a good time with Guy and Georgiann Payne and George's sissy Andrea who came for a visit from Colorado. We went shopping and went to the Eumundi Markets and were going to to go sailing out on the ocean but the guy who was taking us out ended up having a leak in his boat and had to cancel on us. That was a bummer. We were joking on the way there about Gilligan's Island. Ours was supposed to be a 3 hour tour as well! Ha ha. So we ended up taking a little boat and sailing on the Maroochy River instead. A bit different than what we had planned! But we had heaps of fun with them while they were here and I cooked alot of food and ate way too much of it! I told them the only thing I was looking forward to them being gone was that I was going to stop eating so much! True.

6 Things about ME!

1. I was a heavy metal fan for a part of my teenage years...yup...imagine me...a nice Mormon girl into the heavy metal. I definetly went through a rebellious stage though. Wore the black heavy metal t-shirts with the tight jeans and everything. I would listen to my "walkman" on the bus on the way to school and look out the window and be mad at the world listening to Guns n'Roses, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard. I eventually snapped out of it although I still have a closet heavy metal crush. Hee hee don't tell!


2. I weigh more than I look like I weigh...Yah, maybe I just think I look skinnier than I really do look...but seriously, I had a major downer the other day when at the gym they had these 2 scale type machines that would tell you all sorts of info like your body fat %, weight, muscle mass and all that jazz. Well, I being quite skeptical wasn't sure I wanted to step on this thing even if it was offered as a free service which normally would cost $33. But, despite my reservations, I stepped on it and of course ended up wishing I hadn't! It said I weighed...hmmm hmmm...! I can't believe I just said that! But my body fat! Can I tell you I'm on the upper end of the scale? They tell me anything between 20 or 22 and 30% is normal. Well, when you're 28% that is not looking good for a girl who works out 4-5 times per week! No, not acceptable I tell you! My legs, do you even want to know how much they were? Ok, 32 and 33% Shockin is pretty much all I have to say about that. So now I have a choice to make, I could either (A) pig out due to some great depression that's setting in, or (B) Starve myself to get some better results cuz obviously, what I'm doin, ain't doin!


3. I LOVE horses and ranch life...Ok, born and raised in the country. Had piglets and lambs as a child. I've always had a major love for horses despite my allergy to them. I used to ask my mom for a horse and she always told me no, but it never curbed my love for them. I can't even hardly watch a good movie that involves horses and that, like Flicka with Tim McGraw without gettin so sad that I'm not there. So in my dreams, I am living on a ranch with horses, cattle, chickens, pigs, dogs and lots of green grass and trees and a cool old ranch house. In the mornin the kids have to go out n' do the chores before school and I can go out riding anytime I want...as long as I'm not makin' bread and butter. I am totally a cowgirl at heart, but instead, for the sake of love, I'm livin in a town next to the beach...go figure!


4. I hate running...What more can i say about this? I can't stand being so out of breath. But actually, as a youth, I used to run in races and was pretty good. I actually won 2nd in the Southern Alberta Summer Games once. I always used to get literally sick to my stomach from sheer nervousness though before the race. Not fun!


5. I am a very unorganized person...in fact I think I may have ADD...I should show you all a picture of my desk...But I can't find my camera underneath all the mess! And besides, I dropped it and it's broken anyways...(camera #2) Whenever I bring the mail in from the box, it ends up in a different spot every time. Rick actually sees it and says "Oh did you find a new spot for the mail? Cool, always changin things up around here!" My room is a disaster, and whatever I take off, my mp3, heart rate monitor, shoes, purse, sunnies, sports bra...whatever it is, it's in a different spot everytime and when I go to put them back on the next time, I spend ages looking for them. I swear I waste soooo much time looking for my misplaced items I could probably bake like an extra pan of muffins a week with all the time I would save if I was more organized. I'm serious guys, this unorganized part of my personality is a major problem.


6. I am a Canadian!...Yup! True blue Canadian. I've never been more patriotic than since I moved here to Australia. I love my country and all that it has to offer. I love the seasons, I love my family and friends and being close to them. I love weiner roasts in the trees. I love tin foil dinners. I love the mountains and I love maple syrup and nanaimo bars. I love Eatmore's and Spitz and Tacotime and Canada Safeway! I love Hockey Night in Canada! I love Whoop up Days and the Calgary Stampede! I love it all and I miss it! I can't wait to go home for a visit!


Ok, that was very time consuming! 5 people to tag? hmmm...that's tuff, I'll just do 3

1. Kelly
2. Robyn
3. Dan

The Big Deal

Has anyone heard of the Melbourne Cup? Major horse race. Takes place in Melbourne. Well, a big deal here it is. Lots of places and people take half the day off work and dress up in all their fancy dresses and sometimes suits and all. Women wear hats and its like the horse race scene from My Fair Lady! It's funny, but my work was one who took the avo off and all met at the Mooloolaba office for a big party. So I went to see what the fuss is all about. I didn't dress up but I did wear a hat but more importantly I took a pan of Nanaimo Bars and no joke, they were gone in 5 min flat! Here's my recipe for any of you who want to try them...they will NOT dissapoint, I promise! And they are truly Canadian!

Nanaimo Bars

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c. white sugar

1 egg

4 T. cocoa

1 1/2 c. graham wafer crumbs
3/4 c. coconut
1/4 c. chopped nuts(I use almonds and I put them in the blender so they're mostly crushed)

1/4 c. butter
3 T milk
2 T vanilla custard powder
2 c icing sugar

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate
1 T butter


Mix first 4 ingredients together in double boiler and stir until mixture resembles a custard. Combine 2nd group of ingredients with this chocolate mix. Press into 9x9 pan. Beat together 3rd group of indgrients till icing like. Spread over the base. Put in freezer to chill quickly. Melt last group in double boiler and spread over the custard bit.

*Hint- I usually need to add a tiny bit of milk in order for the chocolate to spread easier and go a bit farther.


Here's some historical fact for you about "The Legendary Nanaimo Bar"
According to local legend about 35 years ago, a Nanaimo housewife entered her recipe for chocolate squares in a magazine contest. In a burst of civic pride, she chose to dub the entry not "Daphne's Delights" or "Mary's Munchies", but "Nanaimo Bars". The entry won a prize, thereby publishing the town as much as her cooking. Some American tourists claim sovereignty over the dessert, referred to as "New York Slice" which is sold in many other places in the world. Nanaimo residents refuse to accept this theory, however, believing that once you set foot on Vancouver Island, there are no other places in the world. The official Nanaimo Bar recipe was available as a handout as well as on quality tea towel and apron souvenirs.