One Week To Go

One week until the school hols. This feels like a very long term but not in a bad way as I've really enjoyed the work, but I do feel ready for a break. Nic has left us one week early to explore the wilds of Vietnam (apparently she's doing the not-so-wild westernised version so she's no doubt living it up in 5 star luxury - I hope). This apparently leaves me in charge -oops - so I've promised to wear the knee high boots I bought when we absconded from city school and even to find a head band so everyone thinks I'm her (bit of an in-joke really not at all funny if you don't know Nic!!!)

On the house front there's not a great deal to tell. Our new table finally arrived - and not a moment too soon, along with the coffee table. Living room now looks a lot more lived in and the dining area looks a lot less dangerous (old table and chairs in various states of decay resulted in a few close calls with our valued guests) of course with the Myer sale on we were obliged to get some lovely table wear, I stuck with the natural tones and ventured into olive green territory with some lovely bamboo (smells like the sea grass mats my grandma had in England) place mats and runner and two sets of coasters. As for a the garden, the plants are growing incredibly fast and mum is taking me out next weekend for my feng shui oriented housewarming gift.

Last weekend Sarah had her concert. She was very stressed in the week leading up to it and was worried she wouldn't get to the theatre on time so I nearly had to take her even though it was her mum's weekend, fortunately I was able to talk her out of it as it's an awful lot of running around - I don't mind doing it when it's my turn but seeing as I'm the one that takes her to rehearsals and waits around for two hours every week I thought it was a little unfair. I do understand why she was stressed though so I wouldn't have said no if she insisted. (I'm so weak!!!)

The concert went wonderfully well, Sar performed songs from Calamity Jane (yes we rented it in the preceding week) and The Little Mermaid (flashback to Dee's childhood when she was obsessed with the Little Mermaid). Sarah also had to learn the theme song from High School Musical and a few others for the encore. She loves high school musical so I think she practiced that more than her performance numbers.

On Sunday I had the place to myself so I managed to find my way to the gym, walk Max and visit mum. I took Max to mum's with me which was great. It anyone ever doubts the validity of pet therapy then they should have seen how mum cheered up when she saw that Beagle, it was magic. I really worry about mum since she lost Keshia and Lister and I'm planning to get her a cockatiel for company.

This weekend Aaron has been working night shift so Sarah and I have tried to stay out of his way and be as quiet as we could. Friday night - early night! Saturday we went to Switch for breakfast to meet Caz. Bit of an embarrassing moment as we sat there waiting and waiting and waiting, not realising that Caroline too was sat there waiting and waiting and waiting on the other side of the half wall. Typical us really. Still we had a great time, Sarah and I had hit Borders before hand to get Caroline's birthday present (Happy birthday Caz). We found a great book called 1001 Questions. I also bought the Caged Virgin for me and two Go-Girl books for Sarah. Breakfast was pretty ordinary, neither the service nor standard of food has improved since I was last in Switch which reminded me why I stopped going. However, the company was great!

After that we went home, walked Max, had lunch with Aaron then tootled off to the DVD library. That night I went and collected mum from home and she watched Music and Lyrics with us...I love Drew!!!! - a very cute movie! Mum stayed over which was nice. I walked Max in the morning then headed to the shops for the all exciting grocery shopping. I decided to give Aldi one more try but honestly, there's hardly anything there and any cheap food is cheap because it's chock full of gluten and other unhealthy fillers - so it was back to Safeway for me. I popped into Big W to get engine oil and was served by the lovely Jess - my fav student from my homegroup last year.

When I got back I took mum home then Sarah and I headed into town for the rugby. Melbourne played St George and absolutely annihilated them - a good result I'd say. We had great seats although we complained about the sun in our eyes - however, once it was gone it got cold very quickly so I guess you should always be careful what you wish for. I went across to the Ticket booth outside Rod Laver to get tickets for the Essendon game on Friday but it was shut. Sarah has announced she's coming with us so it should be a fun night out for us girls again!

Well I have a busy week ahead so may hit the sack for an early night.

See ya

love a long weekend

Well after a second week of city school (view from rialto was just as spectacular as the week before but no splurting fire hydrant at batman ave this time) I thought why not go back for more.



So Friday night Sarah and I hopped on the train in our Essendon gear, we met Deanne at a station closer to town and the three of us started to get excited. We got to Southern Cross and found a locker for Dee's overnight bag...then off to the Telstra Dome. Sarah was interested in the big green spring - funny that was one of the questions we gave the kids in the "Amazing Race" activity. We were miles away but still had a great view. First quarter was abyssmal and second not much better, and when Essendon decided to play keepings off for about 7 minutes I was decidedly unimpressed. At half time while Sheeds gave his rev up speech Sarah and I hit the hot food stands. Sarah had to wait ages for her doughnuts - in the mean time I could hear the crowd go wild - not once but twice. Terrific, more goals for West Coast - or so I thought. However, as I peered over the barricade, Scotty Lucas (I think) scored another goal and when I got back Dee said we'd missed three Essendon goals. Well whatever Sheedy said must have worked. It was an amazing come back and although we only won by one point it was the best game I'd ever watched. We talked to so many people in the stadium and back to the station - there was such a buzz from the Essendon crowd - fantastic

On Saturday the three of us went to Southland to take Dee's phone in for repairs and we did some shopping too - nothing terribly exciting. After Aaron went to work we watched some Doctor Who - yes Dr Who - and had a laugh.

On Sunday the girls headed back into town (in my car this time) and parked at Fed Square. We caught the city circle tram to the museum and although we'd only planned to go to the general exhibits we decided to visit the great wall of china exibit too. We started in the Indigenous section and went to the Bugs Alive, Human Body, Aquatic, Dinosaurs, evolution and Rainforest sections. It was great although I missed out on the VCE top acts and the Australian section. Dee stayed as Sarah and I headed back to Fed Square and ACMI. We went to the Big Shots Festival and watched 10 short films for kids, it was great. Dee met us back at the square, we treated ourselves to coffee and cake. Drove home, got some DVDs and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's, Hair and more Dr Who.

On Monday - a public holiday in honour of Betty Windsor's birthday, although her birthday is actually in April - we decided to visit mum and enjoy fish and chips on the beach. It got cold and rained so we ate in my car - it smells funny now. We went home, collected Aaron and swapped cars. We dropped Dee at Pakenham for her train back to uni and took Sarah to drama. After all that I was pretty tired.

Its a short week this week with report writing on Friday. I've nearly finished mine, so apart from staying back to help others on Thursday night I believe I may have another cruisy long weekend!!!

MWAH

May Day Mai Dez May Day

Unbelievably May has come and gone and I realise that we have been in the house for almost 6 months!!! I occasionally get "itchy feet" and feeling like moving on but it is awfully nice to have somewhere to call home. Just tonight as the rain poured down I smiled to myself and the luxury of driving into my garage (remote control that actually works unlike last house) and then I walk straight into a lovely warm house without the hassle of running back out into the rain. It's days like this I'm glad we had the brains to put the extra door in from the garage.
The plants are loving all the rain although they're a little battered by the wind. I think its time to buy some more but things have been very tight. Sarah has needed lots and lots of new uniform (my she just keeps growing), there has been a number of big dollar excursions, book club, swimming lessons etc from school and of course May marked her all important 10th birthday!!!!
Now I don't know about you but I think the transition into double figures deserves a big fuss.
The celebrations started on the Tuesday when she was allowed to open a few presents (lots of clothes) as her dad was working night shift that night so she wouldn't be able to open presents in the morning. I made a cake that night for her to take to school to share with her class.
On Wednesday (the big day) morning I took her to her favourite place (MacDonalds - yuk) for breakfast and let her open her High School Musical poster book. Her dad picked her up a little early from school so by the time I got home from work she was champing at the bit to open presents. She opened the rest before dinner, including Guitar Hero for xbox, Nintendogs, High school musical dvd and interactive board game, more clothes, deal or no deal board game and quite a few other bits and pieces. I baked another cake that night for us all to enjoy and so we could sing happy birthday to her.
On Friday we went up to the country club for dinner, she got a present and card from Ross that night. The waitress made a big fuss of the birthday girl. On Saturday morning it was up early for breakfast at scarletti's and a trip around the vic market. We finally found the perfect jacket for her. That night we had a few friends over for a birthday party. It was great having a house full of friends and kids running wild, it made the house feel more like a home. I didn't have to bake a cake for this party as Aaron stopped at the Cheesecake shop. Sarah did well with some lovely presents. In the early hours of the morning I started work on her final birthday cake which was chocolate, shaped like a butterfly and decorated...I realise now why I don't teach home ec but the kids at the Sunday party soon made it vanish. The party was great, it was held at Sidetracked and she had 12 guests plus two younger kids who couldn't join in the activities as they were too small. The kids did laser hunt, go-kart racing and mini-golf, plus they put on a lunch. It was really great value and a great way to run a party. The big kids got to go for a race afterwards in the bigger go-karts - great fun!!!

Of course Aaron couldn't help himself the following week and ordered Sarah another nintendo game - brain training - which we all love.

The last weekend in May Sarah went to her mother's new house. Of course now she is just around the corner so it wasn't far for her to go or to come back, so Saturday morning she popped in to grab blanky but stayed and walked the dog and didn't leave for almost 2 hours. She really is daddy's little girl. After she left Aaron and I headed into town. We had booked a night at City Club and decided just to enjoy our beautiful city. Funnily enough I'd actually spent four of the five preceding days in town with city school, so I was really beginning to know my way around and feel like a local. We had a wonderful afternoon. I got my hair cut and coloured and when I got back Aaron was enjoying room service. That evening we walked up to the elephant and wheel barrow, enjoyed dinner and two pints each. We then walked down to the Melbourne "Eye". An amazing view and very romantic..and yes I could see the clock on the silo and it said 11 degrees, so I was singing my favourite Paul Kelly song as we walked along the bank of the Yarra while fireworks exploded overhead. We thought about taking a quick river cruise down to the docklands but I'd been on one during the week so Aaron thought there was little point. We walked along to southbank and up King Street (I missed the half naked muscle man in the doorway of one club) we kept on walking (wow fun in my new boots - Myer had a sale and Nic is a bad influence!!!) and found ourselves on Swanston Street, at which time my very gorgeous and surprisingly spontaneous fiancee decided we were going to take a horse and cart ride around the city. Now that was romantic and most unexpected from Aaron...sometimes he has the power to astound. The ride was lovely and I felt like royalty as people waved to us all around Melbourne. We were delivered safely to our door and enjoyed a late night chai latte at the club. We then wandered down stairs and found the enormous billiards room, I don't think I've ever played on full sized tables and it really showed. I won the first game by default and Aaron got me on the rest. Eventually we headed upstairs to our kingsized bed. We tried to watch a movie but lost interest as the disk was faulty and it kept going back to the start..ironic really it was De Ja Vu with Denzel Washington.
In the morning we had a massive breakfast and took another walk around the block before check out. The car was safe and sound as it reappeared from valet parking and we headed out and up to the hills.
We went to Olinda, of course we visited Pet Panache and bought some Max food. We then enjoyed a delicious Devonshire tea at Woods and finally headed home. It was a lovely way to end the weekend.
Well I think that's enough of a catch up on the events of May.
Talk soon
Love wendy