Wonderful visitors and a fantastic prize draw

Well, its been a very eventful week! My computer has gone to the doctor for a check up as I couldn't connect to the net and no matter how many virus scans I ran nothing worked - very distressing!! So I've nabbed hubby's laptop for some covert surfing and an update ;)

We had some wonderful visitors last weekend from the US. I have known Marilyn for many years online and she is currently touring around Australia with her husband. In approximately four weeks they are covering Sydney, Coolah (of course!), Lightning Ridge, Anna Bay, Melbourne, Adelaide, Coober Pedy, Perth, Albany, Broome, Darwin, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef! Thats literally from one corner to the next and from top to bottom! I'm exhausted just thinking about it! It was brilliant to meet someone you've only known online and she was just as sweet in person as she has been as words on a screen :) Her husband was just lovely and was so interesting ... its not every day that you meet a nuclear physicist! Even though they've said otherwise, I think my three very loud and rather bold children were a shock. (I seem to remember they used to be reticent around strangers.... what happened!?)

I'm sure you would like to win over $1000 in prizes just in time for Mother's Day? I was asked to be a part of this wonderful promotion and it starts Thursday (25 March)! Make a qualifying purchase from the businesses involved (for example, any purchase over $35 from my site) fill out the form saying why you would like to win (eg. Coz I want it all!!!) and you're in the draw!

Up for grabs is:
A variety of Ahava Dead Sea products valued at $125 from Dead Sea Source Australia
A handbag and purse valued at $100 from Baubles Bubbles and Bags
A mineral makeup starter kit valued at $125 from Southern Cross Beauty
4 atomisers of top selling fragrances valued at $128 from Perfume on Tap
Greeting cards valued at $100 from Think Cards
A 4 week on-line personal training program valued at $135 from Glow Womens Fitness Online
Soy scented candles to the value of $68 from Dream Candles
A personalised budget plan valued at $145 from the Budget Bitch
An $80 gift voucher from MooWoo Handmade Cards and Gifts
And of course, something from me!

My prize into the hamper is pictured above. You could pay $145 for it, or you could just win it instead!!!

It's a stunning ocean jasper and rutilated quartz, chain linked necklace in 12ct goldfill. This will be perfect for autumn and winter with its golden brown tones. (And will still look stunning in summer against white). The stones in this necklace are gorgeous - I'm a big fan of ocean jasper and these stones have some wonderful markings and patterns and such rich colours. The rutilated quartz has incredible needles of gold and red rutile - honestly, you could look at these stones for days and always find something new to admire!

The giveaway ends on April 25 so that you will receive it in time for Mother's Day, so get shopping ;)

I will soon have to get organised for my display at Mendooran Show this weekend - I'll be in the Ladies Pavillion if you're going to the show :) so,

Till next :)
Cheers!
Annette

MIA from the blogging world

I've been MIA (missing in action) from the blogging world again! You would think given hubby's return and my release from farming duties I'd be back in the swing of things. Far from it though.

Hubby has been busy with rock picking, cutting hay and now sowing and I feel like I've not quite got away from the paddock - even if it's just keeping him company. As well, there have been further incidents of farming jobs that involved me - such as the whole family going rock picking for a day last weekend. The kids coped remarkably well with manual labour - maybe they're not as soft as I thought!

Perhaps I need to have a guest blogger on hand to keep everyone entertained in such absences. Have you ever had a guest blogger on your blog? Or perhaps you've been one? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

I've seen guest bloggers occasionally but haven't really taken much notice. Then two blogs I check in on regularly have been talking about them. Your Cheeky Monkey had a guest blogger to talk about photographing children. As Monique's blog is connected to her business which caters to a lot of children products this is perfect! The other blog was the Business Mums Blog that was talking about the pros for both the blog and the guest blogger. Food for thought for when we're too caught up with other things?

Naturally, with everything else keeping me busy, not much has happened on the jewellery front. I've been busy with orders and remodelling jobs so I've only had time for a couple of new pieces. The necklace pictured above is one of the new ones - lava, freshwater 'stick' pearls in a natural pink / lavender tint and sterling silver. (I must apologise for the bluish tint in the photo - the light was a little past optimum.)

I have visitors arriving from the US this Friday for a short stay and in my mad dash around the house in cleaning mode, I tidied up my bench....so that's ruined any creativity until I can mess it up again. LOL.

Till next
Annette :)

Farmer Piper signing off (I hope!)

We've had rain today - a lovely drop, just steady without being too heavy - the type that soaks in the ground straight away. I was woken early by orange glow at dawn - the sky was stunning! It obligingly stayed that way while I found the camera. It did change quickly though. I took some pics to share with you (more below). Within half an hour of taking these the rain started.

It's been a long couple of weeks and I'll certainly be glad to hand back the farming duties to the man of the house! Whilst it can be visually gorgeous and liberating not having a neighbour within coo-ee, living out here on the land, it's often just a lot of hard work.

I was looking back through some notes I'd written to friends over the last couple of weeks about my farming duties and thought they summed it up pretty well...

Day 5:

Played farmer and spent hours moving mobs of cattle yesterday. One mob just didn't want to budge and went to the opposite corner of the gate.... like what the???? And my hay fever was NOT happy when I was riding through paddocks of lucerne in full flower! Sent many 'not-happy' vibes to absent husband at that stage.



Day 9:

Dear Bulls (yes you big bone heads), please don't rub against the tap in your paddock for a scratching post and turn the tap on, letting out a whole tank of water.

Dear trough, please don't get stuck 'on' because your water level dropped so low (blame the bulls, see above) and run 12 hours of pumped water down the hill.

Dear heifers, please don't rub against your trough because its dry (see the bulls - they had plenty) and move the float cover so that it gets stuck on when water is finally back on, pumping out MORE water all over the ground. (Well at least it was in a different paddock).

Dear husband, please come home, I've had ENOUGH.



Day 11:

I met my match this morning. The bulls. There are numerous bulls in a paddock. FIL moved the heifers into the paddock next to them when he was up here making sure all my water problems were sorted out. Then he comes back and tells me that "you may need to move those bulls into the paddock below where they are, as the heifers may be too tempting - they'll get in, probably breaking the fence doing it". Ah,thanks! So this morning I dutifully go down and there are three bulls hanging along next to the fence with 50 odd heifers right on the other side.

Think of three adolescent boys flexing their muscles and a class of tweens (who think wearing very short skirts is way cool) a few feet away avidly watching the boys.

So I move the older bulls (think men who really don't have time for silly little girls) as they'd break the fence in an instant if they wanted to get through. Mind you, one of them got very fiesty and started snorting and pawing the ground. Imagine a bull of around 1000kg doing this in front of me on a quad with a dog quivering on the back behind me. Hmmmm. Exactly. Anyway I get those three moved without TOO much terror on my part.

But the younger bulls. No way Jose, they're not going ANYWHERE. And you can FEEL the eyes of the heifers going "oooh, don't shoo them away.... they're CUTE". So after numerous attempts to get them away from them, I've left them there. Maybe they'll be tired of them and won't all be hanging along the fence tomorrow (yeah, right!). Ruddy heifers are going to be in for a shock if the bulls jump the fence!!!



Day 12:

No major problems today - well, the tank was overflowing and the pump was still on. So a little problem I guess. I couldn't understand why it was on when I had set the timer, so off I set to check it out. I had a close look - it has two coloured pins, red and blue. I had set the blue to 3pm and the red to 8pm so that it would pump for 5 hours. One would THINK that RED means STOP. Uh no. Apparently not. I experimented and turned the timer around and the RED is for GO and the BLUE is for STOP. Go figure. Must have been designed by a man....

The bulls have finally been moved - and I have to admit it was FIL who managed to get the dog to work for him and move them away from the silly girls on the other side of the fence. Who, I may add are still there, vainly hoping the boys will come back and they can flirt some more....



So that sums up my fortnight as Farmer Piper pretty well. Hubby is finally back in the country although not quite home yet. Hopefully tomorrow if the rain clears up (as he can't fly through the weather).

I'll be back next week, when I'm assuming my life will have returned to some sort of normality!

PS I had one question to answer from last week's post - 'What is a saleyard canteen?'. The saleyards are the local yards where cattle are sold every fortnight. The school's parents & citizens group runs the canteen there selling refreshments (tea, coffee, cake, sandwiches) for the duration of the sale.

Farmer Piper on Duty!

I've been MIA here I realise. But life, which was already chaotic (see last week's post!) has been raised to a whole new level this week with my responsibilities increased to 'farmer' status by my husband's absence overseas.

This week has included checking troughs, fences and moving stock - with the help of the younger man of the house of course :) I also had to do the farm bookwork which I hadn't done for the last 5 months (ooops). And, I almost forgot, my first time doing my new P&C (school) responsibity of working in the local saleyard canteen! I even got up at 6.30am to bake some fresh blueberry muffins to take along. Yep, a bit keen I admit LOL.

So, it has been a busy, busy week!

Needless to say there hasn't been much happening in the jewellery department. I did help a lovely gentleman find an aquamarine necklace for his wife's birthday and took on some remodelling jobs, but that was about it. I did, however, receive some gorgeous gems from a supplier I only deal with occasionally. I am thrilled with my selection and look forward to the beautiful new pieces that I can feel will spring from these wonderful gemstones.

Summer is almost at an end here with autumn due to start on Monday. The last week has been much cooler in the mornings and some days were a pleasant, mild temperature all day. Quite different to a couple of weeks ago when we were still in the high 30s/low 40s.

I love autumn - the crisp feeling to the air and the cooler days mean you can enjoy the sunshine without feeling like you are going to shrivel up! And cool, almost cold nights mean we can use our duvets again. Time to snuggle up with a good book - reading is a challenge when even sitting there means you break out in a sweat.

I looked out at dusk this evening and saw the bright moon in the still blue sky, with a little high cloud. I grabbed the camera quickly so I could share the sight with you. Isn't it lovely.



It will be busy again this coming week as I play farmer again, then hopefully I can get back on track - I can feel my bench calling me.

Today's pic is of a stylish pair of earrings - a bit longer than I normally make but perfect for a special dinner with your hair worn up? A large oval white freshwater pearl linked by chain to a bright apple-green chrysoprase pebble, more chain and then to stud fittings.

Till next :)

My chaotic life

OK, time to admit it. At least 70% of my life is chaotic. It didn't used to be this way and as I love routine most of the time, I'm sure I'll get past this stage. But it certainly isn't fun at the moment.

Children and computers are the major cause of this chaos. Sound familiar?

Last year, the children would head off to school, the house would be quiet. I could do the housework and then sit happily in my studio and create or do work on the computer. Naturally when shows would be imminent it would be a busier and by the end of the show I would feel quite worn out. (Nothing has changed in that department!)

This year however ALL routine seems to have gone out the window and the result is not pretty! The children are still firmly in holiday mode - sure they're going to school, but homework? And piano practice? And chores? I spend my afternoons and part of the weekend getting tense at everyone for not doing what they're supposed to and sorting out squabbling between the children as to who is going to do what first!

Add into the mix computer problems - a hacked website that took weeks to sort out, the recent trojan virus attack and associated problems. Oh, and a husband that appears to have watched too many aerobatic sequences on You Tube and our download quota being burned up so we're reduced to a snail's pace.

OK, now that I've admitted life is chaotic, it's time to do something about it! A timetable for the children perhaps, or a timetable for me?

Do you ever join in bloggy competitions? I've donated pieces to such events but never hosted one and rarely compete in them even though some sound marvellous. I saw that Monique of Your Cheeky Monkey won some luxurious soaps from Aroma Beauty recently and I know Monique would love them as Jan makes the best soaps around! Then Monique also won a children's hat, organic wool and some sustainable hemp products. That girl should buy a lottery ticket with her luck!

The show in Dunedoo last week was great fun. I saw lots of people I know and introduced new people to some lovely jewellery! The photo above is a piece that went on the day - lovely bright discs of mother of pearl shell and some sparkling rock crystal quartz. Perfect for summer, which we're not finished with yet down here :)

Till next!
Annette

Valentine's Day on the way and more rain - splash!

Another week flying by. We had around 4 inches of rain over the last week, although most of it fell in one day! The wet, almost misty and warm conditions mean that the feed in the paddocks is bulking up nicely and should see us through the first part of winter. Of course the hay hasn't faired too well. Hubby was actually baling when the rain started, and it didn't just start with a light misty type of rain, it RAINED. So the hay is still on the ground although he's gone to rake it this morning and see if it is worth saving.

I've been working on my site the last couple of days - I recently had an upgrade and things went very strange! So while the crinkles are being ironed out I put up a new pic on the front page. As we're still in high summer here, I think its very suitable, even though my readers from across the pond will be thinking 'that woman is FREEZING'!.

I recently mentioned how we all end up at weird and wonderful blogs by clicking on link after link. Do you ever check where your bloggy visitors have come from or where you are being mentioned? Someone advised me eons ago to register with Google Alerts and so its amazing to see where you get mentioned. Last night I received an alert that told me I was mentioned on the Business Mums Network. Thanks for the mention Melissa!

I've been browsing around Etsy again (that place is just addictive!) and found these cute little owl pins by Spinal Fusion in Chicago. And I bought hubby's Valentine's card from JBART in Washington State and some gorgeous little mini Valentine's from Twig Studio in North Carolina! Wonder what I'll find next week (yeah I know, sometimes I need to close my eyes LOL).

In honour of St. Valentine, today's pic is a BIG sponge coral heart on a strand of stunning pearls. I'm at the Dunedoo Show next week - pop in and say hello if you're there!

Till next :)
Annette

What a week - school is back, a nasty virus, the Grammy's and an Award

Wow, what a week. Not only have the munchkins returned to school, my computer mysteriously slowed up and I wasn't able to use a browser, so couldn't get online!!! It ended up being a nasty Trojan virus that snuck in somehow and wasn't picked up by my anti-virus software :( Thank goodness for the helpful soul at Microsoft Answers who gave me great advice that I followed and consequently seem to have solved my problems. Of course, what would have taken 15 minutes to do without the virus, took over 3 days!!! Very, very frustrating.

The children have settled into their new school brilliantly. They have made lots of new friends, are liking their teachers and overall are quite thrilled to be there. Such a difference to the end of last year, when they were dragging their heels at anything to do with school. My eldest is now in high school and I think the set up of lots of different teachers and subjects suits him down to the ground.

I managed to watch the Grammy's this week - as we all know I love to look at the jewels, although I rarely sit through a whole awards presentation. However due to a small mishap, I spent the evening on the floor in front of the TV.

(OK: this is why: the children were making up their jigsaw puzzles and had them all spread out on cardboard sheets on the lounge room floor. The door was open, a big gust of wind came in, lifted up the cardboard and puzzle pieces went everywhere. So what's a mother to do? Make them all up again so then put them away complete!! Do you know HOW LONG it takes to do a dozen or so jigsaw puzzles from 50 - 300 pieces each when they're all mixed up!!! No wonder I had time to watch the Grammy's!)

Anyway, I must say I really enjoyed it, particularly how they matched some newer faces with older established artists. It was quite spectacular and on the jewellery front those gals are certainly into bling. Lots of wow-factor diamonds!!

I've also been checking out the fashions at the Paris couture shows when I can. Of course, it's mostly unwearable-by-mortals clothing, but the jewellery was pretty amazing. Galliano (Dior), Lagerfield (Chanel), and Armani had big statement pieces, particularly for evening wear, that covered all the major types of jewellery - necklaces/chokers, earrings, bracelets/cuffs, rings and brooches (the latter worn in the hair or as a jacket closure).

The Tuscon gem shows are also in full swing and I keep hearing about tantalising new things being shown. I would just love to be able to go one year *sigh* but till then, I'll keep living vicariously! Have you ever noted how many events are held in Tuscon? I also saw a reference to the Tuscon Quilt Craft and Sewing Festival later in the year on the Road Home Quilting blog. THE destination for shows and festivals it seems!

Back down to earth, however, I have my first show coming up in less than a fortnight - the Dunedoo Show on Saturday, 13 February. This will be my second year there and I will be in or adjacent to the ladies pavillion. I don't know what other artisan/craftswomen will be there - I could hope for a lovely turnout as mentioned by Elena at her recent Handmade Show, but maybe that might be stretching things a bit! I will be taking lots of my new pieces along so the ladies will have lots of pretty things to look at. Pictured above is one such piece - amber, carnelian and pearls in wonderful shades - apple green, fiery orange, beaten bronze, cranberry and mauve. It makes me happy just to look at it :D

While I've been off the air, I received this award

from the lovely I am NOT a VOLCANO and other such stories. I am to pass this on to newly discovered lovely blogs...enjoy!

The Laurel Hedge
Escapade
Dustjacket Attic
Dress Design Decor
Plush Palate