whoo boy!

My, sometimes it doesn't rain, it pours. Last week was rather slow, with a somewhat relaxing weekend. Dobby had a friend over for the day who ended up staying the night. That's about it. This past week has certainly made up for that.

It's birthday week, so Fluffy and I spent some time on the weekend doing the last bit of shopping. I also stopped at Wendy's and ordered the cake. Icecream cake of course. Expensive but hassle free.

Monday was rather quiet. Dobby was asked last week did she want to go to her old OSHC (Out of School Hours Care) to help out. They get free labour and she gets to add something else to her resume, win win I'd say. She agreed, so Monday morning I dropped her off on the way to work. She stayed the whole day and I picked her up on the way home.

Tuesday she also spent the day there, getting a free ticket to the movies. She was home around 3.30 though that time. Tuesday night she was complainign she didn't feel well. As Wednesday was birthday day, I hoped she wasn't coming down with something. She got out of bed to ask her dad if she could have some money for a new school bag. She had arranged to go shopping with a friend for the day, with the friend staying over. We agreed, and gave her some money. She was hoping for a bit for shopping too, but we didn't give her any.

Wednesday she was actually out of bed without me having to wake her. Naturally. I told her she had to be ready before the friend arrived at ten, so she was. I gave her her birthday card - with $100 in it. One happy birthday girl.

I went to work and she went shopping. She didn't find a bag, and surprisingly enough, gave me all the money back. We agreed we'd go shopping on Sunday at Harbourtown to see if we could find something there. She bought herself a pair of blue pants for school and a pretty knitted salmon-coloured jumper. When I got home they had actually cleaned the dining and lounge rooms. Apparently Dobby had cooked herself breakfast, washed up, and put the dishes AWAY. Amazing.

She had asked another friend to come over but she could only come at dinner time. So it was agreed she'd stay over. The first friend, Tiny (from years ago), was also invited to stay over. So much for no birthday party. Mum's a schmuck.

Anyway, when I asked what she wanted for dinner, she decided party style nibblies. So on Tuesday I picked up party pies and sausage rolls, spring rolls, and some lovely chicken kiev balls. Fluffy and I went for a drive and picked up hot chips and a pizza too. He and I then filled our plates and retired to the lounge to leave the ferals in the dining room. From the sounds of it they had fun.

Later when we'd (and by we'd I mean I'd) cleaned up, we did the cake. Dobby was very happy with it. Her friends didn't want to be photographed but agreed eventually.  I've not put their pictures up here.

Then I went to the office, Fluffy went outside (and fell asleep in the hammock poor fellow) and left them to take over the lounge. I did have to yell at them several times because they kept waking me up.

Thursday I took great pleasure in waking them up early. Another friend, Sarah, was coming for the day as her kitchen floors were being sanded and they had to get out of the house. Not sure I like that idea - 4 teenagers in my house unattended. One left about lunch time, another at 3 and the last just before we got home. The house was even clean when we did. Aaah. Looks like Dobby has the capability to look behind her after all!

Friday Dobby had a quiet day at home.  the house still looked good when I got home.  Not sure what she did.  Friday evening some friends from the club stopped in to drop off their two daughters.  They live an hour away so it's easier for them to drop them over, and the girls stay the night.

Saturday we took the girls go kart racing, meeting another SAPI daughter there.  The girls paid $25 for ten minutes, and Fluffy treated them to a round of laser skirmish and another ten minutes of racing.  They had a blast!  Their time finished just before it began to rain, which was good because half the track is outdoors.

Here's a short clip of the hoons in action (that's Fluffy overtaking Dobby at the start, with the rest of the group following).





After the racing, we met the parents at Hungry Jacks across the road for a late lunch.  Everyone was very exhausted, and the weather had turned cold, so it was a very tired family that headed home.  Fluffy set up camp in the hammock with the dog and a blanket, Dobby put herself into her bed, which was still made made up from last night and put Mr Bean on the TV.  I went and lay on the bed watching Contagion.  Good movie.  Toasted chicken sandwiches and ice cream cake for dinner.  Yum.

Sunday and Fluffy was back at work.  Dobby and I had a previous engagement with our friend Marg for lunch.  She'll be 80 this year and I think she's finally starting to feel 70.  Lovely little thing.  She insisted on treating.  Usually I pay or let her pay for dessert.  Today our whole order was only about $37 so I relented.  Truthfully, I had to keep money aside for something Fluffy wants to do on Monday so wasn't game enough to spend too much today.

After lunch Dobby and I went to Harbourtown to find that school bag.  She knew what she was looking for, so it was just a matter of looking at any shop that may have back packs.  She found it on about the 3rd shop but sensibly decided to keep looking.  Along the way I stopped at Rivers to see if I could find a replacement pair of work shoes.  I didn't find what I was looking for but did find a nice pair of black patent cort/loafer style shoes for winter.  And they were on special.  Dobby found black suede ankle boots she loves.  She bought those herself.  Even better.

I also found the white ceramic garden gnome a friend had asked me to get if I happened to see one.  Harbourtown is a big place and my back isn't what it used to be, so by the end of the day I was quite exhausted.  When I got home it would have been very easy not to move again.  Apart from getting the washing in and cooking dinner, I didn't do much.  I also have a headache.  Not a bad one, but if I don't take care of it tonight it will become one.  That's the result of watching movies yesterday afternoon.  Which is why I don't do it much.

Anyway, that's my week.  Thankfully I only have two days then Anzac day off.  And at that Dobby is bringing a friend home from cadets Tuesday night.  Sigh.... oh well.... at least we can all sleep in!

Bunny Hopping

So, I hope you had a good Easter. As always, we went away with the club. I'm not going to bother putting pictures up, because the one or two who actually read this are also FB friends and can see them there.

It was a horribly busy week last week. Work has been rather stressful (for both Fluffy and myself) and Dobby has been busy with an incident at school. Seems some immature young girls posted a stupid video on Youtube, which caused a minor riot at school. The poor students were inundated by media and horrid taunts from other school kids. Dobby was very stressed about it. She mentioned it to me late on Tuesday night, after cadets, while she was checking Facebook, and said that some girls had done this stupid thing and that the proverbial was going to hit the fan the next day.

It blew up on Wednesday, and the girls were put into lockdown. They were not allowed to walk home from school alone, and her friend, who lives close by, asked if Dobby could walk home with her. I picked her up on my way to run a million errands, and as a result completely forgot about guitar. Sigh. Means I have to pay $50 this week... they rip you off cause you have to pay whether you go or not. Stupid.

Anyway, we got through that, and it was time to pack up and head up to Eudunda Area School for the long weekend.

Fluffy took a couple hours off on Thursday afternoon, so headed up early. Dobby and I left around 5pm and got up there just before 7. We even took the long way around because we missed a turn off...

Later that night Fluffy realised he had left the most important part of the weekend at home, so had to go back on Friday morning to get it. He took a lovely fellow named Danno with him and left early.

But through the morning a horrible gale force wind blew up, and where we were parked we bore the brunt of it sweeping down the oval. All his awnings blew down, with menfolk running from all over to help me dismantle it all.

Naturally, when Fluffy got back and saw what we had done, he was livid. He pulled down the remaining stuff, hooked up the van, and turned it around. Then that's where it stayed for the day with no awning or anything. That wind was ferocious! The tent that Dobby and her friend had slept in the night before fell over, so Fluffy put up her tent (facing backwards) and added the side walls and then strung our spare awning across the front as an extra wall. That left a tiny gap in the side for access. Did you know what you can fit 3 stretchers and a mattress in there? Mind there was no walking space... but it was fun to set up for them.

Friday night Dan's father died. Wenz came into the room in tears saying she had to go. Her daughter was sharing a tent with our kid and another teen, who arrived that day, so they stuck together to wait for more news, while Wenz and Danno drove the short trip to the next town to be with the family.

Later that night there was a terrible cry. They had just told the young lass that her pop had passed away. Her sister was brought back with them, and the girls (including my kid) all rallied around and they all stayed in a 2 man tent ...

On Saturday the wind had stopped (thankfully) and the sun came out for the most part. I think a lot of people were a little unsettled. Danno drove back to Kapunda but the girls and Wenz stayed. There wasn't anything anyone could do until Tuesday when businesses opened again. We kept them all distracted.

But then later in the morning Sally, a rehab nurse, found out that one of her patients had passed away. He had been there for quite some time, and apparently all the girls who travelled used to send him postcards. So that was a little sad too.

But the Advisory Committee (as us girls call ourselves) rallied around and had some lovely girly time doing our toenails out in the sun.

Saturday night we had a hot pot dinner. There were supposed to be 20 families there (67 people in all). I think that may have been close. We all put dishes out on the long centre table and helped ourselves. I did a slow cooked chicken curry with corn, but it really needed just a bit more coconut cream. I have the leftover for lunch today...

That was followed by what Crate labled "prum" pudding (it was a wonderful boiled plum pudding her dad made, which was 2/3 rum! Bloody good it was!) with custard.

Sunday was a visit by EB. I had to help put out the little eggs for the egg hunt. I gave my camera to one of the lads to hold, and it came back with pictures of a dog's bum, keys hanging out a car door, ME (ugh), car tow hitches, and other ramdom stuff. Funny as.

The kids had a ball. After, they all go and sit on EB's lap (including the adults). As I was taking photos I was happy to stay there but then they all started chanting my name so I had to hand over the camera to Dobby and go up for my bunny. Sigh...

Sunday night we had a social. They are always fun. We never know what we are doing until we get there. This time Crate and Jenny had organised a game show themed night. We had a game of Price is Right (which was hilarious because they got 4 kids for each team to hold a grocery product, while two families had to arrange them in order. One of the kids was 17 and over 6' tall, and another of his team was 7 and about 4' tall).

Then we played some family feud type games, followed by a wheel of fortune game, which I participated in. Couldn't get the clue, but eventually someone did and got the question right.

Then of course, it was Monday and time to pack up. It rained. But luckily it was only light, and by the time Morning cuppa was over the tents and stuff had dried out. We took our time, and headed off spot on 12. We were home by 1.45. Always nice to come home after a weekend away. It was an odd sort of weekend. Because he has been under a lot of stress, Fluffy spent a lot of it alone reading or sleeping. Dobby disappeared with her girls for the most part (coming home only to eat and leave a mess), and I got some paperwork and a lot of reading done.

It was so cold, though. We found ourselves pulling on winter coats quite a bit. It's even cold here today, and overcast. Dobby is on holidays now, and spending the day with a friend helping keep her two fluffy cats out from under the feet of the renovators doing their kitchen. Should be an interesting day for her...

Anyway, not sure if there will be anything to post for the next couple of weeks. Dobby is on holidays, I am at work, nothing new. She is marching in the Anzac Day parade on the 25th, so that will be the next lot of photos I'll have up. If all goes well she'll get her slouch hat on the night before, so keep your fingers crossed for her please!

Till then, stay well and finish that chocolate off! Mmmm!