new site...

as if i didn't have enough to keep myself busy i've added a new site to my ever growing list of online places. this one is solely a place to post my photos...my blog will remain active just the same as it always was but i bit the bullet and decided it was time to have a website for my photos. view it here...chris turnbull photography. 

now i've said it before but i'll say it again i am not a professional photographer, i just love the creativity and memory keeping photography allows me and consider it a very serious hobby of mine. photography is my passion and i love it!!!

so i'm very happy for you to pop on over there as well and check my photography out and as i find time i'll add more pages and bits and pieces...just have to be patient ;)

onto other news...it's hot yep summer has finally hit 2 months later after it officially started in december....i'm not a hot summers day kinda gal, i love warm weather but spring and autumn are my fave months and summer doesn't quite sit as well. anyway we've had pretty odd weather this summer and the forecast looks like we'll have cooler days inbetween the hot ones so that's going to be quite a welcome reprieve.

yesterday tim, steph and i started on grace's room. we finally cleaned and washed walls, sanded back a couple of areas, sealed the new plaster wall finally and popped one coat of paint on the ceiling and cornices already. it's too hot for the next couple of days to do the extra coat on the ceiling and cornices but in a couple of days we should be right to finish the last of that only to look at sanding back the window sill a little more and really bring the colour in. grace has chosen a wattyl paint colour called grape sparkle for her walls and vivid white for the trims. vivid white will also be the chosen colour for all the trims right through the house and yesterday we finally decided on what colour we will be doing the floorboards. with all the colours chosen for each room we felt a dark colour for the floorboards would be great so we're looking at a charcoal grey for it. we can all visualise it although i'm sure everyone of us will be slightly different with that but still with the other colours we have picked it'll be perfect.

anyhoo gotta go...time to pick up a child of mine from a friends but before i leave here's a pic...

till next time take care and hugs...chris xoxo

not always doom and gloom...

although there are many days that you wonder how on earth you survive, there are the days, although rare that just go so well that you really have to pinch yourself and hard to make sure it's not a dream. today has been one such day. i got out on my own this morning to run some errands, grab a few things from the shops, purchase a v rocker gaming chair for isaac and take some much needed time out from 'home' life. i absolutely loved it and managed to get everything done that had to be done for a thursday.

after getting home i mentioned to hubby i wanted to pop out to bunnings to grab some ceiling paint, look at white paint for trims (amazing how many different shades there are but i've had my eye on vivid white for awhile) for window sills, door frames, skirting boards etc right through the house, grab some mdf and black chalkboard paint. we managed everything but the trim....that comes next pay day and also gives us time to start cleaning down walls, ceilings, the trimmy bits that need to be painted and perhaps even get rid of some more carpet and toss it out. 

today we also changed isaac's room around. we had talked about it over the past few days with him so he knew what we wanted to do and he gave us permission although somewhat hesitant when it came to the real deal. the only thing left to do there is paint his room (colours chosen), rip up the carpet, purchase new curtains and paint the floor boards with either oil or paint (haven't decided fully yet)...yep all the hard work is left to do...lol. however by changing his room around today the way we want it before we do the redecorating, hopefully he will manage the change really well. last time tim changed his room around isaac freaked out but we're managing that so much better now and planning it to so it's all quite a successful transition from one colour to another.

we purchased him a v rocker gamers chair from target this morning as seen below. something i had been wanting to by him since last year and something i finally managed today as target had them on sale and i simply couldn't resist or wait any longer. it is the reason and mojo behind isaac's room needing to be rearranged today and it's all been quite successful. i am so happy with the outcome so far!!!!!

 

isaac loves it...yep he has already made good use of the v rocker gamers chair and must say...for an old gal i'm pretty darn hip...lol. ok three pics below...latest random photos i've had fun being a little creative with...enjoy!!!

short and sweet tonight, boys are watching ufc, girls are watching movies in their rooms, i'm here blogging and over on pinterest...oh how i love this site ♥♥♥ and if you pop on over there don't blame me for getting hooked :) hugs chris xoxo

can you feel it...

no i'm not singing a mj song but i am sitting here at my pc blogging away after what has been quite a busy and productive hot summers day, feeling the evenings beautiful cool breeze coming through the open windows and doors listening to the rain and taking in the silence.....bliss!!!

today i feel blessed and although there have been so many difficult times, challenging moments and huge hurdles in recent months...i truly feel blessed!!! i have some pretty awesome online friends i network with, i have the most wonderful committee i work with (in real life), i have the most incredible husband that supports me and is by my side through all the good and bad times but mostly i feel blessed because i am able to help support others in need and that's pretty incredible.

i would like to mention that there is a very dear family i have come to admire and love over the past couple of years who are going through an incredibly difficult situation right now. my heart, my thoughts and mostly my prayers are with them as they deal with the situation they are in presently and although i know their faith and knowledge that God is in control, it is still a time of uncertainty for them. i know God is gracious and his mercy is everlasting. i know our prayers are being heard and i know that sometimes when our journey in life has obstacles that we feel may be almost impossible to overcome that our faith and his peace is what keeps us going.

just to finish up for the night i'm posting  some random pics i took about 3 years ago.

ok so there you go...i'm outta here...hugs chris xoxo

restless...

ever get those days that no matter how much you sleep you wake up feeling pretty darn exhausted and have no real explanation for it? well if you have then you know how it makes you and your day pretty restless. that's happened twice for me this past week and although i slept quite well, boy did waking up take it out of me. anyway today was one of those days and usually i just focus on doing things about the place to keep my mind busy so i'm not too overwhelmed with exhaustion but it sucks when you're pretty restless and can't seem to sit still or stay put doing one thing till it's finished. 

however i did managed making the bed, tiding our room a little, clean down the dining table, pop a new lace runner on it along with some gorgeous birds i purchased from a fabulous new store called oliver birch right here in bendigo, place a set of 3 new glass candle holders in our bedroom on our new bed side tables (which i'm slowly redecorating), rearrange a couple of pieces in the dining room, managed hanging a load of washing on the line, look through a couple of decorators mags, empty the garbage, take out the recycles, go and pick up grace from the boyfriends, read the paper, make jugs of cordial, make jugs of iced tea, go and lie down for 40 mins and rest the eyes (too tired to actually sleep but it worked), cook tea, eat and was desperate to get out early this evening and take a couple of pics....all this on a saturday in the middle of summer...on a hot day....my goodness!!! <---------yep i sure was restless alright!!!

anyway really enjoyed the photo outing tonight, not only was it nice to get out with tim and steph in tow, but getting out in the fresh air in the cool of the evening is just what the doctor ordered and as if by magic my restlessness was cured. so here i am sitting at my pc, blogging and editing some pics while listening to and watching ww2 lost stories on the tv with the boys. yes i'm multi tasking or...is it the fact that maybe...just maybe that cure for my restlessness was short lived and i simply can't focus on one thing and finish it...oh well seeing as it's been one of those days, i've managed to get quite a bit done.

oh and before i forget here's some photo's from tonight's little outing i took of the bendigo cathedral...enjoy!

ok i'm outta here for the night...you all take care out there, hugs xoxo

another day ends...

yes it's late, in fact it's already tomorrow here and it's been a busy day. paperwork done, updates, emails, phone calls, agenda, printing and pretty much most of it in regards to bendigo autism asperger group. so i'm pleased with what i've been able to catch up on, list what still needs to be done over the next couple of weeks and organise everything else necessary for the next committee meeting which will actually be the first for the new year.

life is we know it is back to 'normal'...lol although kids are still on holiday and not scheduled to go back to school till the 4th of feb. so for those of us still on holidays...how are you managing? for us it's been a relief, less busy in the way of no school runs or lunches to pack or the need to worry about homework but it's still been busy, it's just been busy in different ways.

good news...lance had his first professional driving lesson today with a driving instructor. he told her he had autism and she needed to be clear with her instructions. she replied that she understood as she has a couple of kids she teaches that have aspergers syndrome...oh a lucky break to have the right instructor. i feel quite confident that lance will manage. more good news is that she also mentioned to lance that he was an excellent driver and if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't have his 'official' driving hours yet that he would have no worries in getting his licence. so i also feel pleased about this. that's a good report for the first 'professional' lesson and allows tim and i to relax a little more on the 'driving' side of things for when lance does get his licence and is driving...um...on his own...not being supervised...clear terrible thoughts out of my head...be positive chris...he.will.be.fine!!!

just a short and sweet post tonight...or tomorrow whichever way one wishes to think about it. tomorrow is a busy day as i am meeting a carer in the morning as her partner was recently diagnosed with aspergers syndrome and she is going through a rough patch. then steph has another doctors appointment to see how her plantar wart on her foot is going since it was frozen and tomorrow night i'm meeting with the treasurer to catch up on some paperwork before our next committee meeting. i'll be ready to pop my feet up with a cup of tea and biscuit when the day is done.

you know how i ♥ b&w photography...well if you don't you should because i ♥ it heaps...the textures, tones, shades and details is enough to send me into a frenzy. i see so much more in a b&w photos then i do in coloured, there is just seems to be so much more to look at. anyway i will leave you with the latest batch...enjoy!!!

as it's way past my bedtime and i have a busy day later on...it's time for me to head to bed so goodnight, sleep well and sweet dreams, hugs chris xoxo

the weekend is here...

and i'm grateful for the fact that after such a difficult week today has been ok. yes we've had our own turmoil here at home with our son lance. 2 meltdowns in one week leaves the rest of the family emotionally drained and exhausted. we've been watching his anxieties build now since before christmas, we knew we needed to keep things calm and still but even for our family the past 2 months have been far from that. there have been some very serious issues that have caused this family and in particular myself a great deal of emotional unrest and angst.

to be quite honest the past 2 months have been quite unsettling and somewhat disturbing to say the least. there were days i was in tears, days i stayed in bed, days i just wanted to stop this planet and get off but with a wonderful group of friends and my family, i managed to get through that pretty dark time. no i'm not sick or anything like that, however i was put in the middle of a firing line with me being the target and found myself needing advice and help due to circumstances that were completely out of my control. that left me completely bewildered and totally baffled that anyone could do something like that. however with my family by my side, wonderful friends there as well, i'm ok...and i know that everything else will be ok.

so you can imagine the high levels of anxieties running through the home and with that and lance's already fairly full tank pretty much every day the stress, sensory overload and difficulties got too much for him and he crashed and burnt twice. monday night was the first and we had to tiptoe on egg shells and then sedate him because he was just completely out of sorts and very unstable then thursday night after another tough day, another mouthful of threats, another day of tiptoeing on eggshells lance got to his wits end and put his hand through one of our glass doors.

why do i blog about things like this....this is my journal, my therapy and my way of raising awareness on autism spectrum disorders. there is nothing easy about someone having an asd, there is nothing 'normal' about someone having an asd, there are days where it is bad, then there are days that are even worse, there are times that even as a parent having a child (or 3) on the spectrum is the most challenging and difficult situation to ever be in. there is nothing 'normal' about asd's and i have many parents/carers/individuals that are impacted by autism spectrum disorders that follow my blog and know first hand what i'm saying and even though lance is 19...it does not get better as they get older.

damage done...lance won...door lost, completely smashed to pieces and lance ended up in the emergency room after he had calmed down and it was safe to deal with him. as things were still quite unsettling i spoke to the triage nurse and asked if he could check the wound and see if it needed stitches, that in light of the circumstances that if we had to wait for any length of time we would not cope...he said it was possible, keep it clean and gave me steri strips to pop on. we came home and well it really did need to be stitched we've kept it clean but it has bleed a bit although that's good news as the blood supply is fresh and getting to the wound but it should have had stitches to keep the skin flap intact.

on a more positive note i was going to apply for a job. a casual photographers position with bendigo magazine. i've not worked since before lance was born so almost 20 years, i'm not an academic and i've never even put together a resume. but one of my friends brought this job to my attention and thought i was good enough to apply. so i started on my resume and pretty much had it done. i was still umming and arrring about it come thursday and then when lance had his 2nd meltdown for the week i realised that looking for work and if successful actually having a job was not for me just yet...nope sadly and just for now, it really is the wrong timing.

for any parent/carer out there and for those that may not have ever thought about this....i've sacrificed everything for my children and even more. because i am their full time carer and no i don't mean that i'm their mum...i am also officially their full time carer because 3 of them have a disability and i'm recognised as a carer to them by government departments...hubby and i can't do the things we dreamed off for our children, we've had to put so much of that on hold and now with no income and very little $$$ each fortnight it is extremely difficult. imagine not being able to always feed your children from day to day because the bills that keep coming in every fortnight apparently have to be paid too and with all the utilities rising quite a bit...that means only one thing...sacrificing even more....our income doesn't go up we get no more $$$ when the utilities go up to be able to pay for the increase so once again we sacrifice even more. oh and don't forget all the medical expenses...yep still enough of those. so although it may seem like i'm complaining, i'm really just trying to let people know that being a parent and carer to people with a disability is quite a challenge in many ways. it simply takes both tim and i to care for these kids and our eldest son requires most of our attention...that in itself is incredibly exhausting.

ok 'nuf of those ramblings...today i was inspired by looking through some beautiful blogs that are just full of inspiration for the home...if only i had the time...if only we had the $$$...if only i had help...oh wouldn't it be bliss... i want to do so much in our house and the list is growing longer everyday. it's desperate to be painted, the ceilings are actually peeling in the kitchen/dining and lounge area. the floors are falling to pieces and the carpet simply has to go. we need to pull all the carpet up we laid 12 years ago as it's just yuk and no matter how much carpet cleaning is done it's time for it to go. the shower glass is all broken, sink cabinet is rotting through, the floor tiles in the bathroom, toilet and laundry are mostly lifted and broken, the pantry door is in pieces, most of the internal doors need to be replaced again as through meltdowns many of them have holes and no longer close properly. front door and back door are literally just hanging in their with repair after repair and the back door has had to have temporary boards put on it as in another meltdown that door was taken out completely...once again door lost and lance broke his hand.

the list goes on and on and sadly i have to face reality...most things won't get done but still there is inspiration and that's what keeps me going when i feel the house is falling down around us and the fact that i try to keep it as homely as one can. ok better get some links to some blogs so you can see why i feel so inspired and drooling big time with the very first link here fiona and twig then there is tarnished and tattered and then my desert cottage oh how i ♥ these and what i saw today.

pics for the day...yep in amongst it all i took a few quick photos today and here they are... 

look at that little cutie pie above, she is absolutely gorgeous and we think we are keeping her. yesterday grace found her on a walk around the block, problem is kitty kept following her, all of maybe 4-6 weeks old and didn't seem to have any other place to go. we suspected where she came from and asked grace to take her back. 1st try...cars in driveway, doors open, knocked plenty and loudly and then still no answer...cat comes back after more loving and once again realising that this cat just like the last one (tilly) was in a pretty bad state...skin and bone and starved. so 2nd try...take her back up there, cars in driveway, doors open, knocked loudly and nothing, so she was put inside the door. thought that was that and all was well until i had to take one of the kids friends home at about 10.45pm when i needed to call tim out to help me with the gps (another story for another time...lol). as i was just about to reverse the car tim told me not to go anywhere and after questioning why, he bent down and picked up that beautiful kitten that had been tossed back aside to fend for itself and managed to find her way back to us. i can't believe people can be so heartless and so very cruel. so that did it for me i was down right cross and she wasn't going back. the poor thing has settled in well and loves us all and in light of her ordeals she is cuddly as anything the only downside at the moment is she had fleas as well and plenty of them. so we've bathed here twice with flea shampoo, and pulled fleas out galore. she will continue with the daily flea baths and combings until i am satisfied they are all gone. thankfully she hasn't really been close to the other animals and we've also sprayed and cleaned any bedding that she may have come in contact with. the other animals will be bathed and kept an eye on for any flea manifestations but i'm doubtful they will have them....we keep our animals clean and protected from those hideous things.

anyhoo think that'll do for tonight...this ramble is a long one...lol, ok take care, hugs chris xoxo

my heart breaks...

for all our fellow aussies who have been devastated by the floods ripping through queensland...making their way into brisbane and causing total devastation to everything in the path they have created. tears have filled my eyes countless times as i've watched the news, youtube videos, listened to and heard stories of how destructive these floods are.

thankfully our family members living in brisbane are safe and that gives me piece of mind as well, sadly many other families have not been so lucky with the death toll rising, people unaccounted for and the number of loved ones missing is rising and yet the worst is meant to come.

mother nature has truly dished out more then our continent, country and nation can deal with in the past 10 years. drought, bushfires and now the worst flooding ever in the history of our nation. the impact of the flooding is horrendous...1000's of people have lost their homes, belongings and personal possessions, 1000's more have had to evacuate and leave everything behind. countless rescues and tragic stories but one thing that i am proud to say...when australia and her fellow country people are in need, we know only all too well how to come to the aid, support and help of them all.

this largest natural disaster in our history is incredible, no words in our language can really describe the impact not only now or next week, or in a month, or when the clean up really starts, the recovery operation will be enormous, will take billions of $$$ and years of rebuilding not only physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. i'll leave you with a couple of photo's that have been taken by those near to the floods to show you just how destructive this flooding is. these images are not mine and credits are given on site which have been taken from couriermail.com.au...warning some images may be distressing to viewers!

 

to all my fellow aussies...my prayers and thoughts are with you. stay safe xoxo

weekend post...

finally saturday has arrived although it's hot and i'm feeling a tad exhausted. i use to hate the weekends...why? simply because they were just as busy, in a different kinda way, then the week and there was no time for much needed emotional and mental relaxing and recharging which for our family we really need. things are different now and for tim and i, we get that option a little every now and then and today will be one of those times. mainly because it's simply to hot to do anything else other then sit and read or watch tv, do a little online surfing and updating, scrapping or pretty much very little or not much at all...my kinda day!

i'm hooked...yep apart from all the other wee little obsessions i have i'm hooked on pinterest and boy do i heart this site. not only do you have the chance to create your very own boards of all things you love (photos, scrapping layouts, own art work etc) but wow what an incredible site for all things inspirational. you get to search through and fall in love with other pinner's goodies and pin those to your board as well. oh and you can check out my boards here and hope you enjoy them. what's not too love about this site?!!!!

another little bit of news is that i'm closing the group i started on facebook called i ♥ someone on the autism spectrum, however to navigate and make things easier i've started a 'fan' page i love someone on the autism spectrum. i'm bummed that with the fan page rules that i can't use the heart symbol or all lower case letters but nevertheless we are the same. so for all those incredible people out there affected by an autism spectrum disorder in some way, whether you have an asd, care for a loved one with an asd or are generally interested,  please pop on over and like the page. you can view the page here...i love someone on the autism spectrum. 

my plans for the page are simple...share our story, experiences and knowledge with others walking the same journey, try to have up to date information on asd's, advertise BAAG events etc and of course to be an online support group to all of those that need a little place on the net to chat, vent, ask and be there for others. so please pop on over and join.

ok then i think that'll do for today so please remember to head over to the new fan page on facebook and click like and i wish each and everyone of you the most wonderful of weekends. i'll leave you with the last of the heritage icon/landmark boxing day photo shoot pics i took.

 take care, hugs chris, xoxo