FINISHED!

Well, one project is finished. Today we finished the diarama. When I say we I mean pretty much I, but hey, if she gets a half reasonable grade I will be happy. She did do a lot of the work. What do you think?
Here you can see the back of the kangaroo, the emu, a frilled neck lizard, a goanna, a wombat, a hiding snake and a tiny desert rat.

From this angle you can see the lizards and the emu better, and also the "opals" among the rocks.

Can you see the Wedge Tailed Eagle? Also, a possum up the tree and a bilby/numbat beside the emu.

This side shows the kangaroo pretty well, and the possum up the tree. Crude, yes, but cute I think. Dobby is really happy with it.

I think it turned out quite well. It's a pity that the papiermache made the sides of the box warp but never mind.

This week has been actually quite boring. Very nice change for me. We still have not made any progress on those games. Hermione said she hasn't seen them, and we still haven't gotten the van back to check there.

Work has been flat out. End of month, end of financial year. Also, I waited until Friday to receive one supplier's invoices, and gave up waiting. I had to do up proforma invoices, then enter those into my software system. Eighteen of them I did. About fifteen minutes later, eleven or so turned up in my email in-box. Typical! So those I have processed and will reverse out Monday. I have just one or two more things to do then I can present it all to the accountant. As Boss is interstate as of tonight, I think I will take Tuesday rather slow. I do have to nick out for a bit anyway to take Dobby to the dentist for an adjustment. I will drop her home then go back to work for about 45 minutes.

Saturday was an early netball game. We didn't do too much before hand, just washing and mucking about. I washed the dog, too, which he doesn't like but he comes out so lovely and fluffy. Take ages to get the hair out of the bath tub afterward! Dobby helped me here and there, but she got playing with the XBox and almost made herself late. The game was good. Very close, but Glengowrie won 27-23 if I remember. Which is sad, because I was scoring! I was co scoring with a funny fellow who made it interesting. Halfway through Fluffy brought me a cup of tea (we were allowed courtside, the others had to sit outside the fence). My partner in crime complained that he didn't get a coffee! I told him he obviously didn't marry the right bloke! A bit later my right bloke brought me a Chomp chocolate, too, the little treasure!

After the game, we did a small grocery shop and before had I had to go potty. Which is across from Millers... And Millers had a two-for-one cheap rack! One was $5 and the other rack was $7.50. I found two pairs of pants for $7.50. Don't know about you but I say that's a bargain! Fluffy just rolled his eyes when I cam back with a Millers bag...

Dinner last night was a bake-up. I just cooked up a frozen pizza, some garlic chicken balls, meatballs, and some chicken strip things, and put out cheese, pepperoni, ginger, and dipping sauces. We watched The Wild while nibbling on finger food.

A little while later I noticed I felt a bit funny in the tummy. Dobby said she did too, and Fluffy did too. Uh-oh! I had poisoned the family! Fortunately for Fluffy and I, we just had a sore tummy for a bit, so we figured it must have been the pizza. I had one slice, Fluffy two and poor Dobby had 5. She was on the loo all night. Poor lamb. She called out to me before midnight, saying she couldn't sleep because every time she dozed off she had to go to the loo, or the stupid dog would jump up on the couch. I rummaged through the cabinet and found some Imodium tablets, and got her to take a couple. Then, after she went again I made her take another. Then I sat up with her for two hours and watched TV.

Eventually I went back to bed and she drifted off to sleep. Today we decided to have a slow day. Dobby must have gotten it all out of her system because she was fine this morning. She has had bits and pieces to eat and nothing bad has happened. Fluffy looked at the pizza box - and found with a shock the use by date was December 09! Oh dear. Lesson learned. Check!

So, today we have played with the diarama, played computer games, done some washing and washed the floor. Oh, I forgot to mention. Through the week I had looked for a steam mop on ebay, looking for one with a portable attachment with which I could do the bathroom, windows etc. I found one that had a detachable bit to do all that, which was only a cheapie, and showed it to Fluffy. He encouraged me to buy it. It arrived Friday evening so we tested it today. Unfortunately, what I wanted it for most was to clean the huge rug in the lounge. Sadly, though, I think it got the rug too wet because it looks like it may have picked up the dirt from the carpet underneath. I will vacuum it again probably tomorrow evening now, to see if I can pick up any more the hair that seems to have grown itself into the rug. We also did the kitchen portion of the open area. Boy, it seemed to have brought the floor up clean but you have to go around after and pick up the black pet hair the it leaves streaking about behind. I had swept beforehand too! And the state of the removable cloth! It was so filthy! So at least we know it does actually pick up the dirt.

Anyway, now it's relaxation time. I am so tired my shoulders and back are killing me so I might plunk myself in front of Fluffy with my book and ask nicely for a shoulder rub. If he's in the right mood I won't have a problem!

Roast pork for dinner tonight (shit, nearly forgot I have to put that on now or it won't cook! Stupid girl!). Catch you next week!

Can You Believe it?

I actually had a kind of slow weekend! I KNOW! How shocking is that!

The week was busy at work, it's End Of Month and End of Financial Year too, and I am waiting on a couple of suppliers to forward their invoices, and a customer to forward their credit request, and a producer to forward his production report, so essentially I'm waiting on others before I can go any further.

Boss's mother-in-law also passed away this week. As sad as that was it was probably a blessing in disguise as she had been suffering (well, she hadn't but those around her had) with dementia for some time. Poor Jane had been running around after her quite a lot. Then, when she had her hip replacement she was unable to pay her the attention she needed. But now Jane can concentrate on her own recovery.

On the home front, we had been sitting here with Dobby's bunk pulled to pieces, parts in the car port and parts in the hall just inside the front door. I decided to put it on ebay, and surprise, it sold. We put $180 on it and it sold for $187.50.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the IT issues we had the week before! I realised I am a legend. I know. How hard is that to believe? See, when we bought Fluffy's laptop, we couldn't get it to connect to our internet. Not wireless anyway. It would connect using the ethernet cable but not wireless.

So, I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Netgear, then we took it down to Harvey Norman and it connected straight away to theirs. Ergo, it must be ours. I was pretty frustrated, as was Fluffy. We always seem to end up doing things the hard way. Nothing we venture is every easy.

So, when we got back home something had been nagging in the back of my mind, but because Netgear didn't bring it up I didn't think it was important. But I checked anyway. One box on the Netgear settings was ticked. As soon as I unticked it, Bingo! We were on. So I added his laptop into the allowed users, re-ticked the box, and away we went. Then, at work, the boss email program failed so I had to fix that. I skyped our geek, who is still in bloody Bangkok with no intention to return, and he talked me through it. Problem fixed again. I. Am. Legend. Yes, it's true.

Anyway, back to my week. On Thursday we got a call from Nan. We had discussed Dobby going to Hermione's for the weekend, but as Nan was going to confirm in a couple of days, and we hadn't heard anything, we figured she wasn't going. Then Thursday night Nan said yes she could come. Yay for us! Friday we drove her out there. Another friend of Hermione's was staying there. She was down from Queensland apparently. She does not get on with either parent so was just spending the weekend with Hermione. This was the reason for the delay in coming back to us. Nan wasn't sure about having 3 teenagers in the house.

So Friday night we came home, it was dark and cold, so we just put on the heater, put Last Man Standing in the DVD player, and watched a movie. Then we watched the last of the Power/Collingwood game then went to bed. Talk about bliss!

Next morning I slept in till 8, arose to a silent house... I could get used to this. Fluffy and I did some tidying (around loads of washing) and put together the bunk ready for the winning bidders to collect. He figured, quite rightly apparently, that if the buyer saw it assembled he would have a better idea of how to put it back together when he got it home. Then I took some stuff down to the Salvation Army (and did NOT go inside for a look! *is proud*).

Back home, we sat back for a little while to wait for the buyer to show up. Then, just after he did, my friend who is heading to Bali soon phoned to say they were on their way over. They brought back Fluffy's other laptop after replacing the DVD burner for him. Fluffy gave him a bottle of red for his efforts. When the buyer left (after paying Fluffy $190 and refusing change) he joined us for coffee and nibblies. They stayed a couple hours.

When they left we tidied up a bit and headed down to KFC for dinner. Oh, that reminds me. On the way home Friday I stopped at KFC, but after all our food was ready, the EFTPOS machine went on the fritz and I had to leave it all there because we had no cash.

So, I went to Barnacle Bill's again, which was good because upon entering a "birthday" draw last visit I found I had won a voucher for a free car wash. Lucky me!

So, Fluffy and I went to KFC Saturday night for dinner. Back home we ate it in front of the telly again. Then, I ran a bath but just before I got in, SOL sent me a chat message, and being the lovely chappy he is, he answered for me. So, he got my bath and I got to chat to SOL. Which was good cause she gave me a couple of lovely recipes to try, one of which Nan wants!

When I finally stopped chatting I found Fluffy snoring in front of the television. I watched a little television then had a shower, washed up and went to bed.

Today, Sunday, we took our time, just sat around watching the telly. I did some washing and very little else. When the shops opened we headed off to return the doggy jacket we bought Ozzie last weekend, and swap it for a larger one. We couldn't get one the same but he now has a red one with I'm The Boss on it.

We stopped at Game Traders and picked up a buy-one-get-one-free pair of games for Dobby. Paid $29.95 for them. A trip to Spendless Shoes on the spur of the moment saw me with a pair of calf length boots! Finally! Then a grocery shop, home to unpack, and then head out to pick up Dobby.

Apparently she did really, really well. Nan said she can go there anytime. That's always nice to hear. On the way home she told us that the other lass staying there had shoplifted in her presence. Now we are stuck as to whether to tell Nan. Dobby thinks Hermione will tell her, but I wouldn't really trust Hermione. Dobby also thinks Hermione has one of her DS games as it has dogs on it the same as she had made before she lost her game.

Now, as I write this she seems to have lost all but 5 or so of her games. We cannot find them anywhere. Nowhere in this house. We have turned the house (and the rubbish bins) upsidedown but to no avail. Sigh. Puts a horrible feeling on the weekend. Fluffy is ropeable and Dobby is in tears. I am at a loss of what to do next. We have checked through her bags, we know it's not in her cupboards, because although we rechecked, they weren't there when I cleaned her room. Gone.

It's really very sad to see her upset and it's a complete mystery as to what has happened to them. I sincerely hope they turn up somewhere.

On another note, earlier tonight I took these pics of my little girl....

Almost finished...

So the bedroom makeover is almost done.

This week we had been told Dobby's new bed would be ready Friday. So on Thursday Fluffy went down to Super Amart after work and picked up the desk. We put it together, he and I, on Thursday night. It looks pretty good!

On Friday I asked about her bed. Turns out they sent the wrong one. When I phoned Fluffy and told him he was quite angry, as Dobby is now sleeping on the floor. He phoned them back and spoke to the manager. He offered to take one of the brown beds they sent in, but the manager said they had already been allocated and we couldn't have one.

Fluffy said that wasn't good enough, as how would he like it if his daughter was sleeping on the floor in Winter?

So the manager gave us a choice. She could go down and choose a replacement bed, and if it was dearer he would not charge the extra, or she could borrow a bed until hers came in (approx mid August). She really has her heart set on this bed so she chose to wait. Which is just as well because they hardly had any beds at all, and hers was the most expensive anyway!

Hermione was coming Saturday morning so we had to wait for her to arrive... and we were kept waiting an hour or so too! But that was not really anyone's fault.

As soon as she arrived we went down and picked up the replacement bed. It's a brand new one too. We then went back to the cheap grocery shop and replaced all the snacks Dobby has been hoeing her way through lately. Then it was race home, have lunch (Barnacle Bill's fish and chips!) and off to netball. Dobby's team played really well and they won 50-8!! Excellent! As Fluffy and I were on canteen duty it fell to me. But I got him to do a few things for me. About half way through the urn decided to turn the water black. EW! So Fluffy found a little jug and we used that.

After the game we came home and the girls spent all their spare time on Dobby's new singing xbox game. Fluffy and I finished setting up her new surprise... we bought her a little TV of her own. It's a Centurion, white, with a green fascia. Goes really well. But we had issues with the aerial.

She, of course, loved it. They ended up in bed nice and early, which was a surprise too.

Sunday I had won a double pass to an advance screening of Karate Kid. So, as Hermione was here, I sent the girls. Fluffy and I were to see A Team but he was in a mood so we decided to have a coffee instead. We met up with a lovely couple and found out she is pregnant again with their second child so that was nice.

Then we wandered to Cheap as Chips and bought two aerials - one for Dobby's room and one for ours. Plus a dog jacket, but I will need to get him a bigger one this time.

Bought a couple pairs of skinny jeans for Dobby (It's school holidays and she only has one pair of long pants apart from her school pants). She was happy. After the movie finished, we again saw our friends so chatted to them for a bit, then we brought the girls home, gave them lunch, gave Dobby her pants, and now it's vege out time before we go up north to take Hermione home.

We have listed Dobby's old bed on ebay, so lets hope it sells. A lot of people are looking at it, and someone wants to see it today but of course we won't be home. I'll let you know next week if we sell it or not.

And, next week I will put up pictures. I don't think it's quite ready. Still some little bits and pieces to do to make it right. And at some point it is supposed to get painted. I wanted to do that before it was changed but Fluffy said no, no rush. Which means it won't get done.

Anyway, it's looking better and needless to say, she is over the moon!

I'll keep you posted...

Another week flies by

I swear, they are going faster and faster!

It seems like only a week ago I was sitting here updating my blog...

So, this week was fairly busy at work. Friday was very busy and I finished a little late. But Boss is away the first half of next week and I only have some last minute things to finish before Wednesday so hopefully I can slow down a little.

On the home front, apart from meeting Fluffy up at Blackwood after his doctor's appointment, having dinner at Barnacle Bills (gee they do good fish and chips, and cheap too!), then him heading home and Dobby and I doing a grocery shop, all on Thursday evening after work, not much out of the ordinary happened. We had tacos for dinner Friday, which always goes down well at my house.

Saturday Fluffy and I decided to check out tvs for the bedroom. We have a really, really old 13" heavy little thing, and a set top box, but you couldn't watch DVDs on it, so we had seen a 22" with a DVD player for $500 in a Good Guys catalogue. However, first stop was Harvey Norman just to check out the competition.

We did see a few, but then the sales person said "do you really want a DVD player attached? If something goes wrong you lose your TV too..." Fluffy got to thinking. Maybe we didn't. And for a few $$$ more we could get a 32" instead. So we had a look, and decided to have a look back at Good Guys.

When he had finished I wandered over to the computer section just to check out laptops. We figured we could just dump it all onto interest free finance (God bless GE cards...).

Anyway, while chatting to the bloke, I noticed a picture of a house on his shirt. Said "Free TV, Ask Me How". So I did.

It seems they are having a promotion at the moment where if you lease a computer for $1800 over 2 years, you get a free 32" TV, and an XBox. Wow. So we chatted on a bit, asked a few questions, and liked the deal. We pay for 24 months, then at the end of that, pay an extra month and for the next 2 years, we get all the support and replacement stuff, without the payments. Then, after 4 years, if we choose to go again, we keep the old machine and lease a new one. If we want to.

I asked about overall price, and he said usually leasing is dearer (as we all know) but when you take into account the price of the TV and the XBox, it works out a little better.

We signed up. Then, while Fluffy was filling out the paperwork, Dobby went to look at XBox games (I told her I would buy her her first game, as of course none came with the controller), I toddled back to the tv place, and paid cash for a little 15" flat screen with 4 colour facings (green, blue, pink and white) for when Dobby's room is clean. Including extended warranty and cleaning kit, I paid $285. She doesn't know we have it yet so don't tell her.

So, race back home and get ready for netball. The girls are not playing well this last few weeks. They lost this game but did give a huge effort. In the last half they really came together as a team and prevented the other team from scoring a lot more than they could have.

After netball it was play with the new hardware time. Turns out the tv is a little cheapie. It really isn't a good quality picture, but we don't really care. It plays DVDs through the old DVD player great, and the picture isn't that bad, just not crystal clear. Dobby has just about worn out her game - it's a sing-a-long type, with microphones and all.

Today (Sunday) was chore day. I got up early and by 10.30 had:
* Done two loads of laundry and hung them out
* Stripped and remade the bed
* Swept and mopped the kitchen/dining room
* Made an emu, wombat, desert rat and numbat for the diorama
* Changed the kitty litter
* Picked up all the dog poop from the yard
* Washed up last night's dinner dishes
* Got the curry into the hotpot for dinner toinght
* Cleaned up the blanket box top, on which all my junk had been waiting for my attention, and moved the cat bed into the corner as the tv now sits where his bed was.

Not a bad effort I thought.

Then, I swept the leaves from down the back, and helped Fluffy pull apart Dobby's big bed and move everything around in her room, in preparation for her new bed, which was supposed to be here this week...

Then it was quick hair wash and off to see Disney on Ice. I took Dobby. She loved it. It was pretty good, except for the kid screaming out behind us and kicking the seat in time to the music...
Here's proof that we really did go...


Fluffy had been busy. He worked really hard to undo Dobby's bed and then had to move it all outside. Then he chopped up most of the fig tree down the back. Now there is a HUGE pile of wood waiting for the landlord to pick it up later in the week.

Here's a pic of what we brought Fluffy home from Disney on Ice...


He looks good as a blonde, doesn't he? LOL!
Well, we really didn't buy it - it came with the fairy floss. But if you look at the cost of the fairy floss, we paid about $6 for it!

So, tonight it was very mild curry for dinner, and Dobby is lying on her mattress on the floor, ready for bed, watching a DVD on her laptop. Looks like she is settled in.

Fluffy is just about to do the dishes, and I am running a bath. Whew. Now if only I could just sit down and do nothing for a while...

Changes, Changes Everywhere...

But if you sit and stare......

You stay the same.....

Haha. Just a line or two from a Play School song that was stuck in my head.

Dodgy helping me sort washing and tidy up... I think....

So as always it's been a busy week. Finished end of month about mid week but got a new project to work on. It's half finished and hopefully I can clean it up Monday to leave some relaxation time for me. Boss is at the beachhouse for the weekend, which means at least Monday free for me. Then he wants to travel, but we'll see.

Oh, he's just phoned me and said he won't travel but will stay at the beachhouse for another day.

So, anyway, on the weekend we promised Dobby we would go bed hunting. Hers is just too big and cumbersome. So our first stop was Super AMart. She found one which was exactly what she was looking for, but probably not quite practical. It was white leather, very low to the ground, and quite cheap too. Best price about $199. She also found another higher bed with a trundle under that, with 3 drawers under the trundle. Best price was $380. It, too, was available in white, and seemed to be timber, not laminate. Nice bed.

Next stop was Forty Winks. Nothing there. Harvey Norman also drew a blank, as did Dreamland and Captain Snooze. Keep looking.

Off to Le Cornu for a sticky. She was quite taken by the wooden Carriage bed for little girls. If only they had those when she was small! Anyway, she did find another she was really taken with. It had small storage cupboards underneath, and the guy gave us a price of $299. She really wanted it. I expressed my doubt that it would last long because it was laminate, and would chip easy. She didn't want to choose. We tried to put a positive spin on it, and said that whatever she wanted she could have. Eventually she thought about it and decided that the trundle bed was the more practical. It had the extra bed and extra storage under it.

Over lunch at Hungry Jacks we agreed that she could go back and have another look at the Super AMart bed and climb up on it, and make her decision then. She was happy. Oh, by the way, at Forty Winks, we found a lovely quilt cover on sale for $20 for her.

Anyway, she hopped up on the bed, decided it was just right, and so we bought that one. We also, for another $120, bought a small white desk to go in the corner of her room. Now all we need is for Fluffy to pull her existing bed out, and give the walls a lick of paint to spruce it up.

When we got home she and I started work on her school project. They are studying deserts, and she got the SA desert. So we found an old boot box of mine and slopped together some papiermache and made her a little desert landscape of rocks in one corner, a tiny cave and the rest is flat. Hopefully it will paint up okay. We need to buy those supplies.

Netball after that, and sadly they copped a small flogging. A lot of that was to do with umpiring I think but anyway, they enjoyed themselves and played well as a team.

Sunday I got up early, stripped and remade the bed, including quilt cover, did 2 loads of washing, swept and mopped the dining room floor, changed the litter tray, vacuumed the laundry and outside carpets, and vacuumed the back half of the house. Then Dobby and I went to find little animals for her diarama.

I did get sidetracked on the way at Millers. They had a rack of 50% off so I found
a pair of brown long pants,
a blue, black and wite striped shirt,
a brown suede jacket
and a pink knitted top with flowers sewn around the top. The whole lot cost me $62. The jacket itself was priced at $50 before discount! Bargain!

Anyway, after that we got down to business...

We tried the cheap shop but could only find African animals. So across the road to Spotlight (where they had 20% off everything). We picked up a white flat sheet for Dobby (not a fitted single sheet in sight!). Then up to the craft section for paint. Geez, it's expensive for the little bit we would need. We chose white, two browns, two greens and a mauve.

Then we bought modling clay, and a pack of little opal-like beads to stick around the ground too. Hopefully it will look great. I'll put up photos when it's done.

Back to Castle Plaza to buy meat and stuff, then lug it all home. Oh, and we stopped at Wendy's for lunch.

Home to bludge for the afternoon. Seriously, I just sat around and read my ebook all afternoon. Oh, and I did stop to make some little animals. We made a kangaroo, koala, possum, two retarded looing lizards, one with a frill, and a little black snake. And a tree. Two of his branches snapped off this morning, and although I could glue them back on, I may leave them laying on the ground under the tree. Tonight I will paint them for her while she is at netball, I think...

Time to stop now

So what a week it has been. At work, I put my nose to the grindstone to get end of month finished before my two days off. But then, about 3.00 Wednesday afternoon I realised two things. One, one page of my production report wouldn't be forthcoming from our plant at Nowra until Thursday, which meant I couldn't finish my stuff, and two, I didn't have the memory stick to back up the accounts even if I did finish my stuff.

So I left knowing I would be all set to go Tuesday.

Thursday, I got to sleep in till 7.00. That was nice. I got Dobby off to school then attacked her room. I worked until 1.00pm, and got it pretty much finished. The rest of the house was a disaster with bags of rubbish and bagged stuff for the 2nd hand shop in the hall, bags of clothes for friends in the office, and the kitchen full of dirty drink bottles and washing.

I changed and dashed off to meet Nan at the cheap grocery shop, to give her one of the bags of clothes and pick up the cake she had made Fluffy, and to do some last minute snack shopping for the weekend away.

Then, back home, and picked Dobby up on the way home from school (she was almost home anyway). I finished the last of the tidying up, and she sorted her shoes. When Fluffy got home he was still annoyed at the mess I had left behind, even though I had not stopped since 8.45. I put it down to his giving up smoking. For now.

Lazy tea Thursday night. Friday he and I both had the day off work. We had planned to go to Waikerie early, say lunch time Friday, but wouldn't you know, Dobby had her one and only SAPSASA netball game at 2.00pm. Sigh. I took her to the game, they lost by 3, and when we got home she dashed inside to change, I went to the loo, and we jumped in the car to go.

We did the trip in just on 3 hours. Arrived in the dark, and found that the park was just a field with randomly placed power boxes. Some even had water. There was a kyak or canoe regatta on as well, so the place was a huge tent city. We found, in the dark and after some driving around, a free power box close to a water tap and settled down.

Poor Fluffy was having a stress attack and sadly Dobby and I wore it. I vowed then and there I was not going to do this again. It is always the same. We always fight because he gets stressed. Dobby and I tried so hard to help, she even doing things without being told, but it still wasn't good enough. We were still yelled at and my handbag was thrown to the ground (not by me).

Anyway, eventually he lit his firebox (made from a wine keg cut in half length wise and welded back to back), and other members gathered around. Dobby and I pretty much stayed inside.

Saturday we hosted morning tea, as we had taken possession of the utensils at the last rally. After morning tea we pretty much had free time. The kids went to the ferry and rode across the river for Kids Club, and we just sat around. After awhile we went for a drive into town, and bought a mat. It was terribly foggy and everything was wet.
This is overlooking the field beside the park, and what you can't see is the treeline at the edge of the Murry River.

Given that most of the ground was find silty dirt with patches of grass, we ended up tracking mud everywhere. The mat worked a treat. We also stopped at the Chocolate Cafe. It's a little place that does handmade chocolate. Very nice, but extremely expensive. We spent $38 on 3 blocks of chocolate and two little packets. Fluffy bought those for us.

Happy hour was, as usual, at 4.30pm. We moved the fire pots into the huge common ground between our rows of vans, and everyone gathered around. It sure kept things warm. I had put on a hot pot stew for dinner so that was easy. We just filled up bowls and took them back to the fire. I stayed in the van and watched TV in the quiet. Dobby loves the rallies because she gets to hang out pretty much all day with the other kids. We like that too. She brings them back to our van, or they go to someone else's.
this is his firebox during Happy Hour.

I had a headache pretty much from Friday morning on, so I took pills for it, which make me sleep, so I dozed on and off until midnight when Fluffy came back to bed.

Sunday we did morning tea again. After that was treasurer time, and it was then that we decided not to go to the next rally. Fluffy had said to me that it just wasn't worth it, it wasn't working because we didn't enjoy ourselves, so we needed to take a break from it for a bit. I thanked him. So we didn't pay for the next rally this time.

After that we had club game. Dobby always makes it to the semi finals, and this was no exception. Good girl, she's good at it. In case I haven't said, Club Game is a lot like bocche, where you have a Jack, but you throw wooden discs at it, and the aim is to get as close as possible. Kinda boring, kinda fun, depending on whose go it is.

Anyway, Fluffy and I always get knocked out in the first round. Then we have to be polite and sit there until the end. We do.

This time, however, I had something to look forward to. After the game I raced up to the Chocolate Cafe and had an amazing lunch with my friend Leanne. It was the first time we had actually met face to face, but it was like we had always been friends. A very lovely, together, lady. We chatted for two and a half hours! We shared a platter of crackers, cheese, olives, nuts, pesto, chutney and ham. Then we shared a delightful apricot pie with cream. Wonderful! Expensive, though, but wonderful!

While we were there several members of the club traipsed in. Whew. Fluffy hadn't met Leanne so I did wonder if he thought I was running off to meet a guy. Having said that, the club secretary went back to him and said "gee, when she said she was meeting a friend, I didn't realise it was a bloke". Fluffy just stared at her. "No," he said, she's meeting a girl..."No, it was a guy" says the secretary.... Then she saw the look on his face, and put him out of his misery! I would have loved to have been a fly on THAT wall!

I walked back to the park and again we met around the fire. As Social wasn't until 7.30 we all just ate our dinner around the fire. This time I did a corned beef in the hot pot.

Social was a series of games that everyone joined in. First, we all had to make a paper paddle boat with newspaper. That was fun! Then, we got split into groups and again using newspaper, had to dress a group member as a royal. For some reason, all but one of the groups dressed one of the kids in their group. It was fun.
This is our queen, we figured it was the best way to make him settle and be quiet for a few minutes!

The next game then, was to list first of all things starting with the letter P that had legs, then things starting with the letter S that float, and lastly things starting with the letter G that grew. It was interesting some of the words people came up with.

Lastly, most of the group formed two lines down the middle of the room and played balloon soccer, where they had to see how many goals they could get by hitting a balloon across to each other. If it went over the other side's heads, it was a goal. Fluffy scored most of the goals for his side.

This is the 3 wize monkeys... sort of.... The lass in the middle is the secretary who told Fluffy I was meeting a fella!

Supper followed that, and everyone was back beside the fire by 9.30.

This morning we packed up slowly, hosted morning tea again before passing things off to the next family. We left Waikerie at 11.15 and were home before 2.15. Unpack, washing, put the food away. Now we can relax. Dinner tonight will be toasted corned beef, pineapple and cheese sandwiches for Fluffy, who knows what for Dobby, and I think I may indulge in one of those sandwiches too.

Note to self... need to buy bread tomorrow.....

Clean! Almost...

So what a week this one has been. I had planned to slow down but at work it's end of month, so that's always busy, and I even took some home to do cause I have two days off next week, but the weekend was so busy I didn't get to even look at it.

So, what sort of drivel can I entertain you with this week? Usual, netball and guitar for Dobby. Hermione was going to come over this weekend but suffered a small loss of assignments on her memory stick so had to redo some of it over the weekend. Then Dobby asked if her friend Tiny could come over. Sure, that was all arranged, but on Saturday Tiny was sick so at the last minute canceled. I myself am skeptical... But hey, who and I to argue?

So, Friday night was cold and wet and I brought home junk food. Gotta love it. On Thursday I had taken Dobby shopping for black pants. We only went to KMart, but I found two pairs for her, plus I bought two pair on ebay cheap. We also saw a black jacket/parker reduced from $59 to $29 so I bought her that.

Friday on the way home from work I was chatting on the phone to Mother, and she said she was unable to find black pants for my niece anywhere up there. So as I was about to pass KMart I took a detour and stopped off. I found two pair of black track pants and one pair of black light weight pants for her. She was also after a sky blue polo top for sports day. KMart didn't have any so as I was going to Red Rooster at Castle Plaza anyway, I stopped in at Target and found the top there. Now I just need to package it all up and send it with the kids' birthday gifts.

Anyway, Saturday morning we had a counselling session again, and it went very well. We all came out with positive things - Dobby's being a new room! See, her dad said she could just pull out all the clothes and dump them in the office for sorting. Then, she could look at cleaning the remainder of the stuff through the week. At the meeting, it was agreed that she could pull the clothes out, she and I would sort them, and then if she did more I would spend my day off cleaning the rest and remaking the bed for her. Things I do...

She agreed, and then started planning her new room. Yes, her dad said she could have a new bed cause her's is just not viable anymore. But nothing until the room is done.

Also, to pay for this, we discussed things she could do for us. She doesn't like going to after school care, so I said, okay, I will pull you out if you come home and take the washing off the line for me. And you can help with your bed by wiping up every night. She gave it some thought then agreed. So, now she doesn't go to after school care, she does get the laundry in, she does help with dishes, and she gets a clean room which she also has to keep clean.

Hopefully it works out that way...

Saturday afternoon they played netball, and sadly got a total thrashing! During the game I texted her other friend, whom I shall call Mighty. Cause she is like dynamite! Loud! In your face! lovely little thing she is really. Anyway, Mighty's mum said she could come over instead. Well, you should have seen Dobby's game improve! Did wonders. Didn't win them the game but it helped.

So, we got home and Dobby had a shower, then Mighty turned up. They together are noisy, loud, gigglers. It can get annoying but I know they are only having fun. I had made a mild curry hot pot for dinner and Mighty ate most of hers. She said it was nice, which is good.

They were supposed to go to bed at half ten but instead were putting on make up and doing their hair, but by 12 it was lights out and all quiet. They didn't surface until late Sunday morning. Fluff and I went out to the van and did some work to get it ready for the weekend. Beds, food away, setting up the TV etc... I took them to the video shop and then bought hot chips for lunch. Nice.

We had to take Mighty home at 1, then headed up to Nan and Hermione's for afternoon tea. Fresh scones and biscuits....mmmmmm.

Back home and Dobby and I finished sorting her clothes and put them away, then dinner, then a bit more tidying up and it was bed time already. Where did the weekend go? Back to work this morning to try to cram more stuff in before Wednesday afternoon. Sigh....