Sunday 24 October 2010

Is it time yet?

How much longer do you think Dobby will be at home? Ten years? Twelve? Because I could seriously get used to this "me" time I have had lately.

This week has been a struggle to get through at work. It's quiet, which means a lot of web surfing while trying to look busy, feeling like I just want to go back to bed. I took Dobby to guitar this week and surprised the heck out of everyone. Funny how predictable we become in life.

Friday she had netball again. Typical for her age group, she has been experiencing some difficulties with so called friends at school. Remember Myrtle? Well, she is being a right little pain at the moment, making Dobby's days very uncomfortable. She is part of a group of girls, who all seem to be gathering around Myrtle and leaving Dobby out. When she found another friend to hang around, that girl's friend joined Myrtle's group and they all sit around gossiping about Dobby and her friend. Argh, girl's are bitches.

Anyway, at netball, one of the girls who is part of the group plays in Dobby's team. While she herself has never been mean to Dobby, she just doesn't talk to her as much as she used to, but sits with the rest of the group and not with Dobby. At netball, Dobby was a big phobic about missing goals again, so was not as confident as normal. I don't know what her problem was because this other girl had the same issue.

But once she got her first goal she was on fire. She played 3 quarters and gave it her all. Even the coach noticed. After the game, a mutal so-called friend took the other girl aside and said, within Dobby's hearing, "Gee, Dobby is not a very good player is she". To her credit the other girl didn't answer but just gave a brief nod of her head. Poor Dobby was almost in tears.

We encouraged her as much as she could, telling her the coach was very pleased with her game.

On Saturday she had an umpire's training course to go to. She was very cranky at me (what's new) because I left her there and didn't stay, but when she phoned later in the day she said she had enjoyed it and was learning heaps. Whew.

Once I dropped her off I took some videos back, went to the Chemist, wandered down to Harvey Norman and collected a Slushie Maker we had ordered, then home for a bit. At 11.30 I picked up my lovely friend Marg, and we had lunch at Fasta Pasta at Henley Beach. She is so bright and sprightly for 77. I love spending time with her.

I bought lunch and she bought coffee and cake for dessert. They do lovely cheesecakes!

Back to her house for coffee, and she gave me a wonderful little Royal Albert tray, on which I sat the couple of other pieces I have.

Home at 3, then pick up Dobby at 3.45 from the netball courts. Fluffy had just gotten home so he came too. We took her straight around to her new friend's house for a sleepover. Aaaah, peace.

I reckon I could get used to being an Empty Nester. So could Fluffy. We just sat around, then made lazy tea - toasted sandwiches for Fluffy, nachos for me.

Today, he went to work (again) and I stayed in bed till 8. Then it was time to start the chores. I had breakfast then stripped the bed, ironed some pillowcases and Fluffy's work shirts, did some washing, then off to Officeworks for a scientific calculator for Fluffy. He is doing some course at Mawson Lakes next week.

A trip to KMart to look for work shirts next. While there I wished I had taken Dobby there for her prom dress. They have two lovely evening dress type things for around $3o. Bummer!

But anyway, I found one work top for me, which was sheer, so I bought a white singlet to wear under it, and also a sun dress for holidays, and a two-pack of bras for less than $20. All up, around $65. Not bad I thought.

Off to grab some fresh vegies and milk, then home. I made more nachos for lunch and then steam mopped the kitchen and dining room.

Soon, I will clear up the dining table of shopping bags and stuff, put the chairs back, vacuum the lounge, and change the cat litter box. Then it will be time to pick up Dobby. I hope she has enjoyed her weekend. I sure have....

Monday 18 October 2010

It's a girl!

You know, this week was so boring I almost forgot to blog about it.

At work, it was go, go, go. But who wants to hear about work?

On the home front, Dobby didn't have to go to guitar on Wednesday cause the teacher called in sick. So we did nothing all week.

Friday night was busy though. I had to stop at the doctor on the way home to get a pill script, and get him to have a look at some spots on my arms and face. He wants to biopsy 3 of them. One, the one on my forehead, was biopsied last year and came back as sun damage to burn off. But it would appear a cancer has come up under that spot. He also burned another spot of my other arm.

Then, grabbed Barnacle Bill's for dinner, raced home, ate that, then off to Harvey Norman for a look. Man, won't do that again! The place was super crowded! It took about 7 minutes to find out that the two things I would have liked to purchase on sale were not available. So she ordered them and I had to stand in line and pay a deposit. The line was so long I waited almost half an hour! But, just before the end I called Dobby and asked her to grab a metal barmix blender I had seen earlier cheap. She didn't know the one I meant, so the girl helped her. I said "Just a cheap one" and she came back with a plastic thing. But it was only $33 so who cares. Dobby can make smoothies again.

After that it was quick run up to Anzac Highway for Dobby's first Summer netball game. Considering she is playing in an age group higher than last season, they did well. They only lost by 4 goals. It was a good game. But man, was it cold! It was about 10 degrees, windy as hell and on the verge of rain. Disaster! Poor kids.

While there we put Dobby's name down for the umpire's course next weekend. Coach Ruth said it would be good experience for her and once she's done it, she can umpire any game.

Back home at 10 pm. What a day!

Saturday I promised Dobby I would take her to look at graduation dresses. She is only graduating year 7, but it's apparently a big thing here. They have a ceremony, formal photos etc. Silly, but it is important to Dobby so off we went.

First stop though was to see if we could get a whistle for her umpire's course on the weekend. The girl behind the counter told Dobby that once she has done the course, come down to ETSA Park stadium because there is always a shortage of umpires there on Saturdays and she could make up to $30 for the day if she wanted.

Which brings me to something else interesting that happened this week. On Wednesday Dobby came into the office, plunked herself on the desk and declared she wanted to make money. She brought in her Schedule of Fees, a notebook and a pen.

As Fluffy and I have always encouraged her to do chores for money we were happy to come up with suggestions. We have done up a list of a couple of things:

Washing up - 50c a day
Bringing the washing in - 50c a day
Feeding the animals - 50c a day.

This gives her the opportunity to make $10.50 a week.

As a bonus, every day she either does work in her room, or her room is clean, she earns another $1.50. And, if she does the dog poo run on the weekend, she earns another $5.

That is a total possible earnings of $26. This week she made $20.50, because her dad backdated it to last weekend, when she had done most of the first chores. She was happy.

Anyway, when it comes to dresses, that girl is very hard to please. We looked at all these lovely little feminine dresses but she hated them all. One dress she did like and tried on, suited her. She wanted that one. Lets keep looking I said. Sure.

She turned her nose at almost every other dress. One she did try on was too small. So after hours looking at dresses we had lunch then went back to get the first one. $90 later....

But she likes it. Typically, though, when we got home and she put it on again, this was wrong, that was wrong, but she insisted she still liked it. I won't put up pics because I'd like to wait till December for the main event. But needless to say, I do actually have a daughter after all...

Later we took a trip to the video store and Sunday saw us bludge most of the day watching movies and making Christmas cards. And chocolate cup cakes. Then race down and take the movies back.

Fluffy gave Dobby her money last night. We decided to make pay day Sunday evening so she is more inclined to hang on to it for a while. We even gave her a Kombi Van money box. One happy teenager.

I have had a killer headache for a few days now, and today, Monday, it's not getting any better. But, still, I am vertical so it can't be all bad. Next week hopefully I will have something good to tell you. Or worth writing about anyway. We shall have to see.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Pics from last week

So here are a couple of little photos. Not much.

This is the lovely clock Fluffy got from Boss. His dad has one similar, as does my mum. His dad's is from late 1800's but I don't think this one is. Still, it is beautiful. We haven't wound it yet to see if it works properly, or if the striker works.



This is the roll top desk we were given. It is supposed to be my birthday present but sadly my Mac is too big for it. Fluffy had another smaller one but this one didn't fit in the lounge, so the smaller one went out there and now houses Dobby's keyboard, which she plays quite a lot.



This one is my favorite. It is a lovely china display cabinet, which houses all Fluffy's watches and wind up alarm clocks. neat, hey?



And this one, is the present Boss and his wife brought me back from overseas. Apparently Mrs Boss chose it. Boss thought it was too small, but Mrs Boss said he wouldn't have liked to pay for the bigger one, so I don't know how expensive it was. But it looks lovely on my silver chain.



The photo doesn't do it much justice. It's a lovely blue sapphire with diamonds around. Well, if they're diamonds. But it is a lovely piece, about 1.5cm long. I really like it.

Well, that's about it. Hopefully something exciting will happen this week that I can blog about. So far, nothing newsworthy....

Monday 11 October 2010

I could get used to this

I wonder what it is about Fluffy working every day that makes my weekend slower?

This week was my last week alone at work before Boss came back from overseas. Needless to say, I will miss the peace and quiet but there you go.

Dobby had guitar lessons again, and it was a struggle to get her to go this time. But she went. Luckily! It's been nice listening to her play her guitar and the keyboard. She doesn't do it seriously just plays around, but I will always encourage it.

Fluffy has decided to take whatever overtime he can get it, and sadly for us that means he is working every day. Non stop. No days off. I don't think he can keep it up personally but he is too stubborn to give up a day.

It does mean, however, that Dobby and I hang out together more. This weekend we decided that if she cleaned her room I would take her to see Diary of a Whimpy Kid. She did so I did. She also asked if I could take her to the beach. So as I had a couple of vouchers for the movies we decided to head down for the 10.40 viewing. Made it with time to sit and eat most of the popcorn before the show started.

She really enjoyed the movie too. It's a cute one, if you like kids. She does not read much. Hardly ever. But she devoured these books with a passion, so I knew she would like the pic. After that we came home, collected the dog, and headed up to Westbeach. It was so lovely out on Saturday. It got just a tad chilly by the time I was ready to go. Dobby didn't want to leave but she came without a struggle. The dog had fun but I wonder how I can teach him not to jump all over the towels and kick sand everywhere???

So, back home and on with a couple of chores before Fluffy got home. Boss had told me I could have a lovely roll top desk his mother in law had. So we made arrangements for us to pick it up Saturday evening. It is a lovely desk, a bit knocked around, and certainly not an old antique wooden one, but it is very classy and Fluffy loves it. His computer sits inside nicely and without clutter, just the way he likes it.

While we were there we noticed a couple of other bits and pieces, including a beautiful old clock, which Fluffy took a fancy to. I will put up more pics tomorrow. Anyway, yesterday morning I phoned Boss's wife and asked what would she consider a reasonable offer on a lovely china cabinet and old phone table/chair. She said I could have them, so back we went yesterday afternoon to collect them. The phone table is about to fall apart so it might need some TLC first. But the china cabinet was just right to replace the old one with one glass door (Dobby went through the other a few years ago) which houses all of Fluffy's old fob watch and travel alarm collection. It looks good. As I said, photos tomorrow.

Anyway, yesterday morning my friend Marg was coming for a visit so as soon as Dobby woke up I asked if she wanted to make our planned cupcakes early so we could have them when Marg came. She agreed.

She helped me make the cakes, and we had the bright idea of dividing the mixture into 3, adding pink food colouring into one, and hot chocolate powder into the another. Then spooning them into the patty pans to make rainbow cakes. And when they were in the oven they looked great. Sadly, when they came out they all sagged in the middle and looked rather odd.

But, I did ice them anyway and this is the result:



And I can tell you, they were very moist and tasty. Yummo! Delicate little ones they are, not big at all.

Anyway, I also cut some fresh flowers from my garden before she came too:



Then, when Marg left we wandered down to the shop with the dog, get him out of the house, for some sour cream. Back home I made nachos for lunch with the leftover taco mince. Plus, I bought fresh avocados and made guacamole. I have never made that before and it was divine!

Anyway, slow afternoon then until Fluffy got home, and we picked up that furniture.

Now I am just trying to win on Ebay a dress Dobby has her heart set on for Graduation at the end of the year. I don't want to pay a fortune cause she won't wear it again, but it's the one she wants. What to do? What to do?

Monday 4 October 2010

Aaaah, peace and quiet

This week has been one of the quietest I have had for some time. As Boss is still away I have been going slowly slowly at work. Although it's end of month, prior to that I had a couple of days where I wasn't really stressed. That helped. A trip to the accountant on the 30th to get some cheques signed, paid the bills, and that's about it. Then, Friday was my true start of end of month. It gets busy now, with customer pricing to do, bank reconciliations, invoices to get from suppliers and figures to get to the accountant.

But I only have this week of quiet before Boss comes back then I will have to make sure I am working again.

This weekend was lovely. On Thursday I got a message from Nan asking if Dobby was at home, as they were coming down this side of town and would stop in to see her if she was. She wasn't. But would she like to come back home with them for the weekend? You bet! So, 10.30 Thursday night Nan arrived to collect her.

So I had a perfectly child free weekend. We were supposed to go to Jamestown with the caravan club but Fluffy was offered overtime for the weekend. He took it. That meant, with Dobby away, and Fluffy at work, I had several hours each day alone.

Friday I worked but Boss phoned and told me to go early. I packed up at 4. Because it was too early to bring lazy tea home, when Fluffy got home after 5 we took Ozzie for a walk and bought fish and chips on the way home.

Saturday he went to work, and I pottered about the house. I had to run a few errands, so first I took Ozzie for a walk to the shop, did a spot of cleaning up, baked some biscuits, went out again to the supermarket, then had a lazy lunch out on the back patio in the sun. It was so lovely to see the sun! Then it was time to get the laundry in, vacuum the floors and wash the kitchen floor.

For dinner Saturday night I thought we could just bake some of the little snack type things I usually keep a supply of. Like Chicken Balls, Fish Fingers, and other little snack things. We ate it in the lounge watching TV.

Sunday I got up early because I was supposed to go to morning tea with my little old neighbour, but had some sewing to do before that.

See, ages ago Nan had asked me to make some arm covers for her lounge out of the leftover curtain material. Supid me agreed. So I figured while I was awake I would do them first. When Fluffy left at 5.45 I settled in at the sewing machine. I made six chair arm covers and two little pillows from the bit that was left.

Just as I was finishing up my neighbour called and cancelled. She was sick. Grr. So the pressure was off and I had the day to myself. I took Ozzie for a walk to the shop again, and picked up the fixings for cheesecake. Then pottered around the house. Cleaned up somewhat, did some laundry, remade the bed with clean sheets, and not much else.

When Fluffy came home I had showered and packed a toiletries bag, he had a quick shower, and it was off to pick up Dobby, then head over to Fairview Park for dinner with friends. It was lovely to sit around out there and just chat. We had nibbles first, then after 8 we had bbq dinner and salad. Lovely. As it was Fluffy's birthday, and a public holiday, on the Monday, we had the cheesecake for dessert and stayed over.

We all had separate rooms cause they only have 3 single beds, but it was still lovely. A slow get up this morning then head home. None of the others wanted breakfast up there so I waited till we got home too.

Now, we are home, Fluffy has opened his presents, and he has decided to clean up out the back.

As I have done most of the housework for the weekend I really don't intend to do much today. Probably catch an early night to get some of the sleep I missed out on last night (late night, different bed, you know what it's like).

So, that's my slow week. Makes for a boring blog, but man, it sure was needed! x