Monday 27 February 2012

Caravan and Camping Show

So this week was a busy one. Been working furiously getting stuff done ready for Boss to sign off on. He's now in Sydney for the week so I had to get all the end of month stuff ready before he left. All done.

This weekend saw Fluffy and I do four hours on the Association of Caravan Clubs of South Australia stand. There are 16 clubs under this banner, which offers a type of structure for clubs to work together under. Our club, SAPI CC, is just one. There are a lot of changes happening in our club, and Thursday's meeting brought some of them closer to resolution.

The original club was called South Australian Postel (Post Tel) Institute Caravan and Camping Club. However, we recently found out that the Australian Postel Institute has withdrawn support of our club. This means we are on our own. The repercussions of this are:

1. We recently took a vote on losing the SAPI part of the name, which was a majority vote to change the lettering entirely.

2. We have to clarify that they want us to change our name, relinquishing all reference to API lettering. There seems to be some confusion to the results of the vote - my understanding was that we voted to ditch the SAPI, however some people seem to think we were only voting to change the name, but keep SAPI. This needs to be sorted very quickly.

3. Changing the name is going to be very costly. As the API are forcing us to change our name, we are hoping they will come good on some funding to do just that, but we are doubtful.

4. Strictly speaking, in the constitution it is written that if the SAPI club folds, monies are to be returned to API. Now, we need to clarify if we are indeed folding and reemerging as something else, or just changing the name per se. Very tricky situation.

It will be interesting to see what comes this week from the president's communications with API.

So, anyway, all that aside, Fluffy and myself, and two other club members, spent the better part of Saturday at the stand. And it was hot. Where we were was hot, because there was no air circulation. But once our tour of duty was over, Fluffy wanted to look around the show (I did dob us in just so he could get free entry to do just that so I can't complain).

But boy, it was even hotter. By the end of it I thought I was going to pass out. Then I got a message from Dobby that she had been invited to a sleep over. At Woodcroft. Down the sourthern side of town. Sigh. Yes, she can go.

So it was a trip home, cold drink, pick up Dobby, and drop her off. Once we got back ran a cold bath and that's where I stayed for about an hour. It was bliss!

Because I had bought a seafood pack with calamari, salmon and prawns, and because I didn't think Dobby would like it, I made Fluffy and I some pasta with carbonara sauce and this seafood mix. It was bloody fantastic, with just a little left for me for brunch on Sunday.

I had some time to myself on Sunday morning. I didn't rush. Just pottered about. Then took a trip down to the supermarket, and while there I decided to duck into Target just to see if I could find something cheap. I have a dress to wear to mother's 70th, but thought I might just take a peek. And I found it. The last dress at all in my size, which was originally $59. Reduced to $17.83. It came home with me. I treated myself to a bra and knickers. But the bra is a bit small so I'll swap it tonight after work.

Then, after doing a few chores around the house, I headed up to Salisbury to have scones with Nan. Remember Hermione and Nan? Dobby was still at her sleep over so it was just me. Fluffy was good enough to pick her up on his way home from work, bless him.

Anyway, got home around 5, just in time to grab the washing before the rain (is that what it was? hardly worth the effort...) came. Dinner was going to be cooked by Dobby, but I ended up doing most of it, with her help. It was nice, sausages, baked (well microwaved) potatoes, and a salad.

Then Dobby decides that she hasn't finished this maths assignment, due today, because it's too hard. So I sit with her and try to help. We have to redo it a few times because we realise we made a couple (well, I made a couple) of mistakes. We work at it till almost midnight, then call it quits with one theory question to go.

I wake Dobby early this morning for her to finish. Dobby is not a morning person, and I have no idea what she wrote. The rest of the assignment was pretty much me, so if she fails, she'll blame me. Well, at least more of it was done than if I had left it to her. Who knows? It may just even be right....

Sunday 19 February 2012

Victor Harbour

So, another week down and dusted. Doesn't time just fly when you're having fun? This year will be over before I know it at this rate.

Busy one. Work is busy at the moment, which is good I suppose as the day goes pretty fast. Although some days I swear I do twice cause they seem to take twice as long.

Dobby had cadets. She has a friend there, whom I'll call Myrtle for the sake of this blog, although I know I must have used that before. Anyway, Myrtle is a couple years younger than Dobby, and the only other girl in her unit. She's a lovely little thing.

Anyway, this weekend we took the van away to Victor Harbour, on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Lovely little place. Myrtle came with us. She and Dobby camped out in the tent.

As I wanted to get a little practice with people and my camera, I asked a couple of the girls if they wanted to have some fun. They did. This is the result.







There were 7 girls there, and they had a blast.



This is Dobby and Myrtle.

Then, last night, the club vice president asked if I wanted to take some sunset photos, and if so he'd take me up to a nice spot. Just before we were ready to go, a couple of the girls asked would I take some nice photos of them as the light was just right. I told them what we were doing and if they were quick they could come too.

So we all jumped into Terry and went for a drive.

The view was nice. But the colours weren't as nice as previous. However, I think they aren't bad.







Anyway, apart from the fun photo shoot on the beach, and the pics last night, we didn't do much. Pretty tame weekend.

Next week will be busy. Nothing Monday, Cadets on Tuesday (which is also our 4th wedding anniversary), dinner with my boss Wednesday, then Dobby and I fly to Qld Friday. Fun fun that will be!

So much to do, so little time. On a positive note, I think I am all but done with the scrap books. I have about 5 clear sleeves, and I think I'll leave 3 of those to fill with photos from the weekend.

Anyway, the day is a wastin', so better get on with it. Housework has a way of not doing itself in this house... strange that....

NOTE. I have just gone online and read this blog, and it seems that some bug has put highlighted text all through it, wanting to take you to websites or something. Please don't click on them, they are not my links. Sorry :-(

Monday 13 February 2012

RIP Whitney

What a waste. Just when she was supposed to be getting herself clean. It will be interesting to see what happened. Perhaps her body gave out? Did she relapse? I also hear her daughter, 18 year old Bobbie, was rushed to hospital for treatment because she was totally distraught. Sad time for everyone.

But for me, well, not so bad. It's been a busy week. I have been flying solo at work, which being end of month, has been very busy. I got heaps done last week, so hopefully I can finish most of it today or tomorrow. Although, when you look at it, it's not end of month anymore, is it, today being the 13th already. Geez!

So, I have been working to get that last scrap book done. It's almost there. I also found a couple of sets of sleeves, which I think I'll leave empty at the back so it can be added to. If I get some good photos at the party, I can do them up for mum and send them up to be added.

I have the poster finished for the SAPI Club. I just found some photos of people doing funny things and stuck them on. Looks great, too.

Dobby has been scaring me a little lately. She has long said our house is haunted, because she hears things all night. A family friend gave her a cleansing ritual to perform, but Dobby thinks she did it wrong, because things did settle down a bit. Until Saturday night. Dobby has a friend who is quite sensitive. They apparently had a rough night, with doors opening, my beads rattling, and people moving around the lounge where they were sleeping. The friend was quite distressed, saying she could see several people. While we were discussing it, Dobby admitted she has seen a child walk down the hall, someone standing in her room watching her (a lot apparently), and on the weekend she thinks she saw her guardian angel, but that could have been a bit of suggestive transference. She said she saw a very tall, good looking man, wearing white, in the hallway. This is what I described another friend seeing, who introduced himself as her guardian angel. Now I don't discount what she's saying, but it could be that she has produced the image to calm her, as she said she was not frightened by him but calmed. Whatever works, I say.

While she is a volatile teen, we can expect a lot of negative energy to be circulating through the house, plus her dad is under immense stress at work (to the point I am quite worried about him), so we can expect things to continue. I believe perhaps that these entities feed off the negative energy, so we are trying to get more positive energy going. Not easy let me tell you! But I'll do some reading into it and see what I can do for her to put her mind at rest.

Perhaps this trip to Victor Harbour on the weekend will help relax them both a bit. Fingers crossed.

On a different note, I recently bought a CUDO voucher for a leather bound photo book (all the latest craze apparently, even though I gave mum one of my wedding photos 4 years ago), valued at $85, which cost me $25. So I wasted almost the entire day yesterday playing with that online. My computer is soooo sllooooow now, so it took forever. The flash player kept crashing and everything.

Anyway, it's done. Once I have the book back, if I can, I'll put up a link so you can check it out. But I want to take the book to Qld with me to show around, if anyone is particularly interested. It's personal to me, just a collection of the photos I have taken so far. Better get clicking so I can do some more!

Only 3 weeks till my girlie weekend. I really need this. Dobby has a new dress to wear. I have one that I think will be okay. A good old cheapie KMart dress and a pretty over jacket. Back to wearing fat clothes is quite depressing, but I guess I just have to make the most of it.

The next few weeks will be interesting, so with the threat of a blog that might be worth reading soon, I'll bid you adieu, till next time. Have a great week.

Monday 6 February 2012

Why do I do this to myself??

I always seem to jump in and do stuff without thinking about it.

This time I managed to give myself extra work while doing something nice for Fluffy. But more of that soon.

This week has been a quick one. Work, work and more work. Dobby started school, started back at cadets. The first week of school went okay. She decided originally that she was going to like this year because she had some good teachers and subjects. But typically that view didn't last long. Still, she is doing photography and fashion so she'll enjoy it more anyway. Turns out, though, that one particular teacher she had issues with last year has her for a totally different subject this year. Not too happy about that, but hopefully she'll adjust her attitude (Dobby, not the teacher), and it'll sort itself out.

The lass she joined that particular cadets unit to be near has quit. I expected Dobby to do the same (she's a follower in some cases, not a leader), but she hasn't. She said she likes the people there, and has another girl friend there. It's a long way for us to travel, but hey, if she's happy there, I see no reason to move her.

As you know, I am the scrap book queen. I have been going non stop for what seems like ages. I have finally finished two albums and started a 3rd. This weekend I also made the birthday card and a little envelope to put in the front of one of the scrap books. Whew. That was my goal, but now I think I need to get a few more pages of book 3 done, as it's mostly the grand kids and all the other rellies.

Also, we have been planning our trip up for the party. I have booked the flights. On Friday SOL said she didn't think she'd be able to go as life has a way of throwing bills at us when we don't need them (I know, I just paid out close to $2000 since Christmas, all of which ended up overdue cause I just had to juggle them). Anyway, Moose and I got together on the weekend and pooled our resources and bought SOL a ticket. Just wouldn't be right if she couldn't come.

She and I both had to leave our spouses behind, but hey, that means.... GIRLIE WEEKEND! OH YEAH! Cause we'll all be bunking at Moose's house. Man, I can't wait. We are going to have so much fun. Apparently the board game Mystery Date has already been hauled out of the closet...

So this weekend saw me spend all day Saturday at SAPI caravan club meetings. The first half of the day was spent in our regular committee meeting. Poor Fluffy was left all alone. I honestly thought, as we were following the meeting with a BBQ, that other spouses would be there, but they all came later. Poor Fluffy.

We took a couple hours for that, then fired up the BBQ and bought out the food. We brought cheesecake. Yumm.

After lunch we all sat around and discussed where we were going to go next year. Called a forward planning meeting. This bunch are such a bunch of women, with lots of too-ing and fro-ing and arguing. Great bunch though, but sometimes they seem to go back over stuff.

Anyway, we did end up with our program for next year, now it's just up to the forward planner to book what he can. We come up with 3 suggestions for each month and he goes off and books them.

During the first meeting, though, they asked for volunteers to represent the club at the Caravan and Camping Show on at the end of the month. A 4-hour stint at the information stand, where all the other clubs will also have people. Thinking Fluffy might like a free ticket to the show (he always try to go) I volunteered us.

Then got told by the vice president that he needs me to make a poster of sorts to put on the wall behind us. Sigh. More stuff to take up my time. As if I'm not busy enough. See, I can do it this weekend, then the next we are off to Victor Harbour with the club, and the weekend after that is the Show. The weekend after that is mum's party.

Luckily I know exactly what I want to make, and how it will be assembled. I think I'll stop at Officeworks on the way home this afternoon for a large piece of cardboard. orange, I'm thinking... nice and bright....