Happy New Year

Well, this is my first real life blog - I've done other ones about travel etc, but never one where I write about our every day life.

I've enjoyed reading everyone elses blogs, so I thought, here we are, 2010, the perfect time to make a start. New Year, new start. Why Not !?!

What a year 2009 was: First of all I was contacted by my sister Denise, we got to know each other on facebook then we met for the first time in Feb 2009. She is absolutely gorgeous and we love each other to bits.

• Thats me with Denise on the day that we met in person for the first time. Also Peter there and Denise's son at the back, Shaun.
  We also bought a new house in Feb 2009, so it was a very hectic time. The first week that we had moved into the house I had my friend Donna  (who now resides in Armidale in NSW) come and stay with us. It was a sad time because our old school friend from St.Thomas Mores, Lorraine Kramer (Sweeney) passed away.

No sooner had Donna returned to NSW than the renovations began - the lower level of our house originally had a large rumpus room, bedroom and laundry. The plan was to convert the entire ground floor into a self-contained unit. We had until the end of March to do it.

we coverted the ground floor of our house into a self-contained unit




I found a great builder and plumber who, amazingly, turned up when they said they would, and did exactly what I wanted them to do.

In March we went for a 10 day trip to NZ. We had booked it six months before we even thought about buying the house. We found airfares for $43 on the internet and thought "Why Not" ? We only got time to explore the North Island of NZ and absolutely loved it.

• 
  
  
  Kirby stowed away in our luggage - thats him near some waterfalls in the Bay of Islands region
  
  
  When we got home we had to do the finishing touches to the downstairs unit and move Krissie's things from her unit at St.Helens at Easter.
  
  Then the fun and games with meeting and getting to know new carers. But that soon sorted itself out.
  
  

Then I got to meet another sister, Joanna. What an awesome person she is too! Joanna and Denise came to stay along with Jo's little girl Talia. Love them all.

Thats Krissie and Joanna above (taken one night when we all went to stay at Denises place at Port Sorell)

Joanna and Denise went and told our other siblings that they had met me - so I was soon getting to know my new brother David, and sister Sandra, on facebook each night!

me and my birthmother Valerie

This is all of us: Sandra, Denise, David, Me and Joanna

I took a day and went to meet Sandra at her work in Ulverstone. She is so beautiful and I fell in love with her straightaway.

*

Not long after that I was talking to David on the phone one afternoon and he said he had to go to Launceston that evening. So we arranged to meet up for the first time at the Saloon Bar. David is an amazing person and I felt like I'd known him all my life.

We've all met up heaps of times since along with cousins and nieces and nephews. What a fantastic bunch. I even got to meet my birthmother Val for the first time last year too. She doesnt have the internet to keep in touch all the time..... but, the great thing is, she has a mobile phone and does text messages.... so we keep in touch almost daily that way!

We spent some time together on the east coast at Binalong Bay in December along with her niece Colleen (my cousin) and their family, Kylie, Jamie, David, Colleens hubby Adrian and their grandchildren.

• The other big thing for 2009 was, After Peters holidays in October I decided that now that Krissie was all settled, I would go back to work again.

The first job I applied for, I got.
The Launceston City Mission have decided to sell some of their high value items on ebay, and as I've run a few ebay-based businesses over the years, I was lucky enough to get the job.


So, that was 2009 in a nutshell