Day 91 Will the real Illi, please stand up?

Today when we were at Costco, Illi pointed out the shelf with with Illy Coffee. It was kind of funny to see that she really blended in as she was wearing the same colour as the cans! 

Unfortunately on the coffee, it is Illy, not Illi (however many people assume her name is spelt with a y anyway). 

A few years ago, I did a search and found there is a place in the USA called Illiana...well not so much a place, as an area. Apparently where Illinois and Indiana meet, there is a speedway and it is called Illiana Speedway. There was also a milk processing factory and they produces glass bottle stamped with Illiana too! I suspect though that while my girl's name is pronounced Illi-ar-na, that in the USA they pronounce it Illi-a-na. 

Whatever way others say/spell their versions, I love my Illi/Illiana!

Day 90 Welcome Teenager!

13 years ago, my baby was born. Now before anyone says she is not a baby anymore, if I am still my mum's baby, Illi will always be my baby!

The schedule for Illi's party went like this....Most of the girls came home from school with Illi on the bus (one girl was dropped off around 5). 

They mucked around getting acquainted with the house and each other for a while, then I made pizza bases and chopped up toppings and they all topped their own pizzas. As the pizzas came out of the oven, they took them to the lounge room to eat while they watched tv. by the time all of the pizzas had been eaten, it was pretty much time to leave. 

I had previously made up lolly bags, complete with a little popcorn box and a bag of popcorn. They also grabbed a small bottle of fizzy drink out of the fridge and we piled into the 2 cars and traipsed off to Tuggeranong to see 'The Lorax.'

When we got home, we did the birthday cake thing before one of the girls who had an early start with sport on Sat morning was picked up. They then all climbed into sleeping bags and blankets and snuggled down in the lounge room to watch 'Hop.' 

I went to bed at this time and as one of the girls was already asleep, assumed the rest would not be far behind. 

However I found later that they actually all woke up and watched Barbie and  the 3 musketeers after Hop! They went to sleep around 1.30am, but considering the activities they undertook, I reckon it was a fairly low key late night. 

Happy Birthday Illi, I hope you had a fun night!

Day 89 Cooking to contribute.

This past term, I have been lucky enough to be at Queanbeyan High each Friday. 

Why lucky?? Because Friday is their morning tea day. So each Friday this term I have partaken of their yummy offerings. 

As I am not part of the staff based at QHS, I am not on the morning tea roster, so as tomorrow is likely to be my last day there, I decided to contribute to the feast for tomorrow. 

I made pizza scrolls and weetbix slice. The pizza scrolls are raw but being a high school, they get take to the home science classroom and cooked there so that they can be served warm. I am hoping that my offerings will be well received!

(BTW the party bags in the background are for tomorrow's teenage birthday!)

Day 88 Trouble...with a capital Purple!

Today our car had to go to the workshop, and they gave us a loan car. To be helpful, they said I could have the car from last night so I didn't have to rush to get in there this morning and this afternoon. When I got the car last night I was a little astounded to see the loan car was an XR6 demonstrator...in Purple no less! 

It was sweet torture driving this car last night, knowing I would have to give it back the afternoon, however I decided by the time the afternoon came, that it was best to give it back as I could get myself into far too much trouble driving it! So while it was a lovely treat, I think that seeing that I value my license (and prefer to spend my income on items of my choosing rather than traffic fines) it is best that I didn't get to keep the XR6!

Day 87 RIP radishes.

So today when I went to Gunning, I went with my student to check how the radishes were growing. Unfortunately, another class is now undertaking a planting project in the garden we were using, not knowing that were were trying to nurture radishes in the garden. The 4, 5, 6 class is growing snow peas and have built frames for the vines to grow on. 

To overcome the problem, I worked with my student to write a letter to the 4, 5, 6 class asking them to plant the remaining radish seeds with their plants in the hope that they will grow.

Day 86 Trying to be heard.

In my current job, working with children with Hearing Impairments, I work with a little girl who uses an FM receiver to hear the teacher (who wears a microphone with FM transmittor). 

Being a small child, the headphones she uses are a problem as they are the style we used to use when walkmans first came out...you know the metal headband with foam covered earpieces.....they are the wrong size for her head and as a result, they often fall off her head in class. 

I recently went out and bought some alternate headphones to use in place of them that may fit her head better. 

The first pair were ear bud style but they are mounted on a plastic ear shaped piece so that they hook behind the ears. These work well but as her ears are still very small, they fall off her ears easily. 

The second pair I bought are the behind the neck style  which hug the head, while these fit really well, for some reason they don't work with the FM receiver. They work with my phone and computer but not the FM. The only reason I can think of for this is if they require extra power from the source-like an amplifier. Both sets of headphones are made by the same manufacturer and carry the same specs on their packaging yet work differently.

 I also tried a pair of Phillips headphones, while they fit her head and gave great sound, they were noise cancelling headphones so all she could hear was the teacher's voice-she couldn't hear other kids, group discussion or the CD they were singing to! 

So at the moment, it is back to the original ill-fitting headphones until I can find something that is an improvement-not a sideways move to something that has its own issues.

As you can see by the above pic, I am determined to find something appropriate for this little girl to use. Any input will be happily considered!

Day 85 Unplugged.

On our way home from Newcastle today, I suddenly realised that neither Illi nor Declan was plugged in to anything! 

On the way to Newcastle, Declan had my netbook with his external hard drive attached watching Manga, while Illi had the portable DVD player watching DVDs. When I looked into the back seat today though, Declan was building a model (yes...in the car...and successfully!) and Illi was doing Origami (making a flower ball). I was amazed...and even more so when the just ignored me taking pictures of them! 

Well Done you two! 

It just goes to show that they CAN survive when they are unplugged!

Day 84 Bling it!

 This evening the main reason for our trip north arrived. We were off to Simone's 50th birthday bash, with the theme 'Bling' your sunnies! ...and 'bling' we did! 

The above pic is of Ali, Simone and I blinging it up. 

Nina and Illi were occupied with craft making fluffy toys out of pipe cleaners and Sean bumped into people he knows, so it was a night enjoyed by all (even Declan who stayed home with Josh-both almost surgically attached to game controllers!)

Day 83 We're on the road to....

Newcastle! 

We left home a little later than planned, but better late than never! After a pretty uneventful trip (apart from McDonalds not having their signs turned on so I nearly missed the turn-off), we neared Newcastle. 

I took the above pic as Billy Joel came on the radio. We were I was singing along to Billy (We didn't start the fire) and nearing our destination...a sign of a great weekend to come I'd say!

Day 82 What passes as work....

Although I have had a hard time settling into my current job, Many aspects of it have been quite fun. The hardest bits are the bits I don't understand so it is quite motivating when I do things that are less pressured. 

One particular girl I work with, has her lessons based around life skills. She needs an opportunity to use language more and to gain confidence when speaking. The activities I have been doing with her generally gives her a lot of conversation and I always make sure we 'need' something in particular to complete a task, so that she has to approach an adult and ask for or offer something. 

Some of the activities we have completed include sewing a small stuffed toy (cat), scrapbooking, plaiting and braiding and cooking (we have made jelly bean fudge, frozen banana pops, cake cream cones [iced cupcakes on top of icecream cones] and pizza). Today's task was making funny face pizzas. We used pita bread bases, prepared pizza sauce, sliced cheese to cut out eyes (with capsicum eyeballs), capsicum eyebrows, tomato mouths, capsicum noses, chicken ears, and crumbled feta for teeth and freckles. The hair varied between pizzas but was generally a combination of tomato and cheese. Above is a pic of one of the pizzas. 

I only have 2 weeks left in this job as it is being filled permanently and I don't have the appropriate quals or long term experience to have applied for it. I will quite miss the craftiness that I have been able to pass off as work!

Day 81 A modern depiction of a hippy...

Last year, every time there was a school disco, Illi had Calisthenics and couldn't go. Calisthenics went 5-8pm, the discos go 6-9pm. 

This year as she has taken up Karate instead (which she trains on Tuesday and Friday nights) her Wednesday nights are free. 

Tonight was the first disco of the year and Illi's first disco of high school! The theme was Hippy (it was actually much longer winded but the gist of it was hippy). 

Last night while the kids were at karate, I popped in to Kmart and found a shirt on a reduced rack that was suitable for our cause. 

I did her hair before she left the house, but then I got an SMS during the night telling me I should take a pic of her hair when she got home for this blog...here is a pic, doesn't show much of the hair but does show the outfit that she deemed not too embarrassing to be seen in public wearing but different enough to be in theme.

Day 80 I'm having a shower...

You know how dads have sayings? One of my dad's sayings when asked what he is doing is "having a shower, can't you hear the water running?"

I wish that my children DID have a shower when directed to. 

The above pic is of a 15 year old boy having a shower..no really!! Sean and I both told him, about 5 mins before, to go and have a shower. Sean then told Illi to shower and she said but Declan is in there, so I went to investigate and found him sprawled in front of the TV. So I took a pic of him and told him that it was gonna be my photo of the day!

Oh and NO I couldn't hear the water running!

Day 79 15 continued....

At 2am I was transferred to the labour ward as I was being too noisy for maternity. At 6am the midwife told me I was too fat for an epidural. At 7am I was told the baby's head was right 'there' ready to come out. At 9am, they decided the Dr needed to help get the baby out. At 9.15am I had a 9lb baby boy by ventouse delivery...by 5pm he was looking of Sean's shoulder watching M*A*S*H on the hospital TV above my bed...hmmm fixated on screens from an early age!

Fast Forward 15 years and Declan spent the evening with his eyes on a screen...the computer screen now though! 

He requested pizza for dinner (we splashed out on Crust as it is a special occasion) and he had been talking about ice cream cake (think he was normal caked out) so we had almond brownie ice cream cake (same price as a normal one from Woolies) for dessert. 

Above is a pic of him waiting for us to take his pic so he could blow out his candles (again-he blew them out too quick for a pic originally!). 

Happy Birthday Declan! (Oh and please slow down your growing, not only am I feeling old, but you are taller than me too!)

Day 78 What were you doing 15 years ago??

15 Years ago my day went something like this....Hospital appointment for antenatal checkup at 8am. Get told by nurse we have to wait to see Dr who will be in at 9am. Get told by Dr that things are not going to plan and they want to get my baby out sooner rather than later (I was 38 weeks pregnant) and he would like me to go straight up to the labour ward. I asked if I could go home and pack a bag first, he relented and said to come back that night to be induced at 9pm.

I went home and rang mum (I was in Sydney, she was in Nundle) who booked a ticket on the train and I picked her up from near Riverwood station around 6pm. By 9pm, I had an insertion of Prostin and was told it was just to start things moving. 

After a little while (timings get a little fuzzy here) I was in quite a bit of pain, but was told that it was impossible to be in labour as the gel doesn't work like that...To be continued tomorrow (well the rest of the story is 15 years ago TOMORROW!!) 

BTW the above pic is what I have 15 years on!

Day 77 Needed....a better contingency plan!

After a slow start to the day following a late night last night, we headed off to Skyfire (Canberra's big annual fireworks display).

As we were leaving I made a conscious decision to not wear my docs as they can be annoying when sitting for long periods and to not take a jacket because it hasn't been very cold the last few nights. The weather forecast for today had been for showers (90% chance) but there had been no sign of it all day and nothing on the radar. 

When we got there at about 5.30, it was lovely. We didn't have to wait long to see the navy squirrel helicopter display (WOW). Then it started getting a little chilly but I had no-one to blame as I had made that conscious decision earlier! 

We saw the Roulettes fly over (see above pic). It got quite a bit chillier and there were some menacing clouds on the horizon. Then the sun came out to give a spectacular sunset! Then it got darker and the spits of rain started! We tried moving under a tree, but with over 20 mins to go until the fireworks started, we made for the car. 

As we were cutting across the wet grass, my fabric ballet flats became a hazard and as so as we reached a path, I took them off and walked barefoot, wishing for my docs! 

We got back to the car and repositioned it just as the fireworks started. The problem was that between the car and the lake was a bloody great row of trees! 

We gave up before the display was finished but as we tried to drive home, we encountered a line of traffic that had just stopped in the right hand lane and put on their hazard lights to watch the display!! As we inched past we even had to wait for people reverse parallel parking into the line of traffic!!! 

We got home safely, changed into nice warm jamies and had hot chocolate with marshmallows. 

I think that next year we might have to plan for contingencies...warm jackets, sturdy shoes and umbrellas to go with the mozzie spray, picnic and seats we took this year!

Day 76 Take a bunch of teenagers.....

Tonight was Declan's birthday party. He turns 15 on Monday. He invited 4 girls and 4  boys for his party, 4 boys and 3 girls came and 3 boys and 3 girls slept over.

They started off the afternoon (most came straight from the school swimming carnival) with one computer hooked up to the tv-watching Jesse on his computer. Then Declan went to the computer room and was playing the same game online with Jesse. They Youtube surfed a bit and then I distracted them with giant balloons, so they went outside. 

I cooked the bbq while they mucked around with the balloons, play swords and an oversized soccer ball. After they ate, I cranked up the music from the office and they were singing along with 80's hits on record (yes vinyl)! 

As the office was open, I grabbed out my parachute and balls from my resources and we had 9 teenagers in the backyard playing with a parachute singing along to 80's music...who'da thought?? We also built a fire in the brassier which added to the atmosphere.

I figured at around 10, that the neighbours had had enough of the ruckus and suggested Lego back in the lounge room, which they jumped at. However Lego ended up being Lego Rockband on the Wii until midnight. They then decided it was time for Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

This was where I retired for the night (I only had 6 hours sleep the night before with cooking/icing the cake and getting the house in order for the onslaught of teens-as they were gonna beat me home). So at 2am when THEY were all going to bed-with a large amount of fuss, I stumbled out, half asleep and told them to keep it down...which they did. 

All in all they are a really well behaved bunch who seem to be happy to enjoy the simple things!

Day 75 Finished!

For the past week (or so) I have been undertaking a project that many thought amazing. My current boss another teacher and I all work part of our time in a room that used to belong to the school nurse in days gone by. These days it is a weird sort of space, no opening windows (the frosted glass in the fixed windows is broken-only held together by the wire embedded in it) an aged exhaust fan fitted into the window (but doesn't work-just lets in cold air in winter), at the end of a long corridor, with years of dust, resources, files etc that had no order to it. 

Last week I asked the gentleman in question, if he had any problems with me sorting it out. He said no, as long as anything you want to throw away, you run by me first. It took 2 days and some sweet-talking, but I got a long way...so much so that when he saw it, he realised what could be done and how good it would look. So when I asked if I could spend money on the project he agreed! I only spent about $130 but it went from looking like a storage cupboard to the above...he is now talking about actually going through all the resources and paperwork and culling because with order restored and workspace available, he feels it is now achievable-rather than seeming to be a job far too big to even contemplate. 

The above pics (OK I cheated by using 2) show the finished product...unfortunately I didn't take 'before' photos, but to give an idea, pretty much every surface was cover with toys and other resources. The room was so 'busy' that when you took a child in there to work, they had no idea where to look as there were so many distracting items! There is now order, and appropriate visual aides to convey it as a learning space rather than a storage room bursting at the seams! 

Even though I only have 3 weeks left in this job, I really feel I have made a positive mark on the place!

Day 74 It takes one to know one.

I generally try to be generous in my actions, and believe that you treat others the way you wish to be treated. 

Today, Sean also took that position. He had a meeting before work today and volunteered to organise bacon and egg rolls for brekky for the team. You would expect that he would turn up with a stash of McMuffins or the like, but no, he did it the REAL way. He took in the portable gas burner (from our camping supplies) and set up out the back of the office and cooked fresh, real food type bacon and egg rolls for his workmates. They were pretty impressed with his efforts and appreciative of the tasty start to the day. 

The above pic is of the leftover rolls, as he overcatered-but at least no-one went hungry!

Day 73 Getting a round tuit!

When I was young, my mum and dad had a shop and garage in a country town. On the wall in the garage there were a few signs that were humorous, like the Irish contraception one, another one or two I can't remember, and the 'Round Tuit' one (I'll do it when I get a round tuit). I am sure Mum and my sisters will be able to refresh my memory on the contents of the posters! But back to my tuit I got round today....

In the January holidays, I finally got around to calling the service agent for Moulinex to ask about a new jug/seal for my blender (I started making equiries in November last year). I was told that rather than getting a whole new jug, I should be able to pull the jug apart to get the seal out. It took a few days, but I finally got it apart. Then school went back! 

There is no service agent in Canberra so I have to get the required part ordered in to an agent and then arrange to have it sent on to me. Each time I called (I spread the calls around to various agents so I wasn't being a bother to any particular one) I had to go through the whole "make/model...are you sure that is the model no because I can't find it...I will have to call Moulinex and call you back" scenario. So I needed to have time on a weekday at home to call and order the part. Then last weekend, Illi was wiping the kitchen bench down and knocked it off the bench onto the tiled floor and the bottom of the jug smashed. So now I definitely have to order a new jug. 

Today, I had a plan pop into my mind, that if I ordered it in to Newcastle, I could pick it up when we are there the weekend after next. So using technology, I emailed home from work with a reminder to get the details. Then when I got home, I took a picture of the 'compliance plate' and emailed it and the contact details of the agent to my work email so that I have the details in front of me during the day so that I might remember to call them! After all that, I certainly hope I remember to get another round tuit tomorrow at work so I can finally get my new blender jug!

Day 72 How about a public holiday?

Today in the ACT is Canberra Day. I have no idea why we have Canberra Day. What I do know is that as I work in NSW (Queanbeyan) I don't get the Canberra Day holiday, whereas Sean and the kids do! So this morning I got up and went to work leaving them in various states of wakefulness (in the case of the kids they were in the least state of 'awake')! The trip to work was fairly quick and uneventful because a) Scotty and Nige also had the day off (104.7fm) and b) most of Canberra were doing other things than getting out on the road at around 8am (like sleeping!)

The above pic is of the road I have featured a few times in my blog, except this time there is next to no traffic on it. Normally as I enter Erindale Drive going towards Long Gully Road, I have to dodge trucks, buses and other cars to go from the left lane to the right lane (of 3 lanes of traffic) to turn right. Not today! There were only myself and 2 other cars in sight the whole way up Erindale drive...and all 3 of us turned toward Queanbeyan. I reckon Queanbeyan should jump on the Canberra based public holiday bandwagon, as ACT has 2 more public hols than NSW, and Queanbeyan doesn't have any locally based days off. What about a show day, or a Queanbeyan Day or even a "HA HA Canberra we can have a day off 'just because' too!" day??

Day 71 With a start like that, what more could the day hold??

This morning by 9.30am I had put 3 loads of washing on the line, had another load washing. Had tidied the kitchen that Declan didn't do last night, showered, dressed and also bathed the cat (from the waist down). What more could the day hold?

Caramel has had some toileting problems the past two days and I was talking to a cat groomer in the January holidays who said that if that becomes a problem, that he would need clipping. So by 10am, having washed him twice this weekend, we decided to clip him as well.

The children both have assignments due, so a lot of the day was spent keeping them on task (boy are they gonna get a surprise tomorrow when I go to work (I work in NSW and therefore don't get the Canberra Day holiday like the rest of our household does) and they have to answer to Sean for the day! 

I also got the initial 3 loads of washing off the line and put a further 3 loads on...and then took them off too!

I sewed some curtains, mended some clothes, cooked pumpkin soup (another dish that apparently only I can cook correctly) gave some tech advice, and I really can't remember what else as the day was so jam packed!

On the up side, I got nearly everything done that I wanted to today! Whew...please can I have a day off to get over the weekend now?

Day 70 Mmmm Yummy.

This evening Sean and I went out for dinner. We had planned to do this in February, on the weekend between Valentines day and Sean's birthday, however the restaurant that we planned to go to was booked out. At the time, they offered me a booking date of 10 March, and finally it arrived!

Our booking was for 7pm. Upon arrival at La Piazza at Wanniassa (Erindale), we were informed what our meal would consist of. We had a (semi) set menu as I bought a deal a while ago. We had garlic bread, bruschetta, wine and pizza (a choice of any pizza and half/half was allowed) Sean had POLPETTINI (meatballs, garlic, fetta, olives, parmesan, basil) and I had PESTO (chicken, roma tomato, feta, pine nuts, pesto). 

I took a number of photos and when I took the first one (of the bruschetta and garlic bread), the waitress came over to ask if everything was ok, and whether I was taking the pic because the food was good or bad. I said that I was going to use the pic for my blog. She said Oh don't use that photo, wait until the main! 

But when the pizza and salad arrived, I promptly forgot! So the above pic is after we had started on the pizza but also shows the salad, wine and the last of the garlic bread. 

The food was lovely, service friendly and we would even consider going back again!

http://www.lapiazza.net.au/

Day 69 A comparison photo.

A few days ago, I took a pic of the number plate of a car at a set of lights on the way to work. Today as I was stopped at the same set of lights, I took the above pic. 

I could not believe how foggy the trip to work was today! The day didn't turn into a particularly warm day, and the evening is proving to be a little chilly, but I really hadn't expected the fog to be so thick at this time of year. I suppose, with the amount of moisture in the area from recent rain, that science would dictate the amount of fog, but sometimes you don't think scientifically, you just take things at face value!

Day 68 A change of Laksa

Sometimes households get their favourite meals for different reasons. As I have mentioned before, often my family likes the meals I make as I tailor them to each person's taste. This is certainly true of Laksa.

The coconut curry noodle soup that I serve, I make using rice noodles, carrot, baby bok choy, bean sprouts, baby corn, fried tofu, chicken, coconut cream, sesame oil, chicken stock and Laksa paste. It is then topped with fried onion and coriander. If we have people over with any food intolerances, it is a great meal to serve as the only thing I have found in it that may be a problem is the laksa paste. 

Usually I use Jimmy's sate paste for flavouring, however I have found that it has gluten in it, therefore I use a different base when friends with gluten intolerance come to visit. 

Tonight when Steve came for dinner, I stopped at the supermarket to source a different base as he has an intolerance to soy which is to be investigated, and Jimmy's contains soy products. I grabbed a different paste at the supermarket than the one I used most recently and was not overly impressed-maybe because Jimmy's is SO good! Steve liked it though and did not react to the food, so it was a win for him!

Pictured above is the different looking dishes of food made from the same ingredients according to people's tastes.

Day 67 It arrived!

Sean has been looking at buying an e-reader for some time. He didn't want a full sized tablet, but the e-reader facility on his phone was a pain as the screen is so small that he is lucky to display 1 paragraph at a time on it. He liked the idea of the Amazon Kindle Fire (as it had more 'bells and whistles' than a plain kindle) but they have not been released in Aus. 

A few weeks ago, I got an email from spreets.com.au advertising an "Android 2.3 Tablet with 7-Inch Touch Screen, Wi-Fi, & 3G Capability for Just $89 - Including Delivery!" This was a great fit for the money we weren't prepared to spend, so I ordered it. It was to be a part of his birthday present, but we had to wait for it to arrive. I actually didn't read the fine print and didn't know how long it would take to be delivered, however Sean did and told me it was 3-6 weeks. 

As it turns out, the freight company tried to deliver it yesterday while we were at work...3 weeks exactly from when I ordered it. So without telling Sean, I popped on to Toll this morning (it is just around the corner (ish) from work) and gave it to him this evening. 

Today's pic is of Sean curled up on the lounge playing with his new birthday toy! Happy (late) Birthday Sean!

Day 66 Radishes.

Some of the kids I work with in my current job need the opportunity to practice their conversation skills so I get to do some fairly practical stuff. 

 The boy I see on Tuesdays is interested in the garden. We go out and water it (if it needs watering) and we inspect the plants. He particularly likes harvesting the cherry tomatoes (I just wish he would eat them instead of throwing them away)!

Two weeks ago I got him to plant some radish seeds. I chose radishes that were fast growing (the pack says harvest in 4 weeks) so that we would have results fast. As I said, that was 2 weeks ago. 

When we checked them last week, I was disappointed to see that they had not grown, however when we checked them today, they has just started to sprout! I will be interested to see how much they grow in the next week and whether they live up to the packet's claim of 4 weeks til harvest! 

The above pic is of some of the little shoots that have appeared just above the soil this week.

Day 65 They work!

Generally my children are not very motivated and as they are both high schoolers, they seem to think that anything requiring effort is too much work! This afternoon, they have both been working on assignments that are due tomorrow. 

After procrastinating lots, they both got into what they were doing and the above pic is proof that they both CAN work in the same room without arguing and can both achieve positive results! Well I hope they will be positive results, we will have to see how they are marked by their teachers. 

Whatever the teachers say though, I think this is a win as a positive way to start the assignment year of 2012.

Day 64 Changing colours.

Today Illi had her first formal karate grading. She has already graded to yellow tip in class, but today we had to go to St Edmunds College for her grading to Yellow belt. 

She has been showing great progress and most people know I can be very critical of my childrens' efforts, (mostly because I know when they are not giving 100% even though others think they are!) although in today's grading I think she was equal with 1 other girl for most impressive at white belt level. There were quite a few people grading to yellow belt, so I could compare her to others at her level and even though she is not well (head cold) she still performed very well.

The above pic shows her in action, while the insert shows her receiving her grading certificate. So now she has changed colours, from white with a yellow tip, to a full yellow belt. Congrats Illi!

Day 63 My impressive meal!

This evening we joined Rowena, Trevor and their family and friends to celebrate Rowena's 30th birthday and their housewarming.

We met at the Burns Club at Kambah on a particularly rainy afternoon (could even be described as a floody afternoon!) for drinks and dinner. As you often do, we rearranged the space in the bar area to accommodate the numbers as people arrived, before moving into the restaurant for our booking. 

This is really where things started going wrong. Even though Trevor booked 3 weeks in advance, and confirmed the booking on Monday, they were not prepared for our arrival, moving tables around to fit us in. 

When we started ordering, the meals started coming out in sporadic order to say the least. Glen ordered for himself and Vick, and it took 30 mins from when her schnitzel arrived to when his rare steak arrived. Trevor Snr ordered an entree of oysters kilpatrick which arrived at the same time as his and Roz's main-then got sent back as they were so overdone that they were inedible! 

I was lucky though and ordered a satay kebab. When it was carried out, there were many gasps from my dining companions as it looked so impressive. Even though it was a single kebab of beef, onion and capsicum, they were 4cm squares on a skewer which was about 40-45cm long, suspended by a frame over a serve of rice and gorgeous veges with a side of cucumber dip. It truly was delicious, but I forgot to take a pic until I was done! The above pic shows how impressive the plating of the meal was!

After dinner, we car pooled back Rowena and Trevor's for cake, drinks and more socialising. So while we probably would not go back to the cclub, the night was lovely for the company and the occasion - and my meal at least!

Day 62 Torn!

Today as I drove to work, I stopped at the lights behind the above car. It made me think of my sister Wendi. I wasn't sure whether to take the pic though as I know she reads my blog. 

When we were younger, we lived in a 2 story house. There were 21 stairs from downstairs to upstairs so it was much easier to stand at the bottom and yell up the stairs. As I am one of 4 girls, often the person yelling would get confused as to which sister they were calling out to and say the wrong name. On any occassion, it could sound something like "Net...Wen..Chri...Fli...OI FRED!" Somehow, Fred stuck as my nickname for a while. 

Now, while most people stopped, Wendi still calls me Fred (sometimes changed to Freddette to be more feminine!). Wendi, her partner Amanda and her ex Kevin, (yes, I know it is confusing to explain) all call me Fred. Even Wendi's kids Djamin and Torhi call me Aunty Fred! 

So you can see why I wanted to take this pic! However I was torn about posting it as the number plate is RED and Wendi certainly does NOT like red! 

I am less than impressed that in a territory where number plate colour is predominately blue (Wendi's fave colour) and white, that the plate I want to show her is RED! Some people are just so inconsiderate :P 

So now you can see why today's pic has me torn!

Day 61 A month in a day?!?

According to the news, Canberra has had the equivalent of its entire average March rainfall in the past 24 hours. 

Not long after we bought the house, the office space flooded with a deluge so Sean set about waterproofing it. The office had not actually been finished when we bought the place-it had bare gyprock walls and no floor or window coverings. So after he did his best waterproofing effort, we painted and furnished it. We made sure that everything was on wheels or had metal legs in case water ever did come in. However when I brought everything home from my classroom last year, there was not enough shelf room so a stack of boxes remained on the floor. 

This morning when I got dressed, Sean came to tell me that there was quite a lot of water around the shed and office. I went to look but the water was too deep to walk through so I went back to the house, took of my shoes and socks and rolled up my jeans to check out any water ingress. To my surprise, there was none! 

The rain continued all day, roads all around have been closed due to flooding so when I got home, I again went to inspect any water that had breached the waterproofing...and...NOTHING! The water drained away so I didn't even need to take off my shoes and sock this arfternoon as the water was only about 3-4 cm deep around the doorway (not 10-15cm like this morning)!
The above pic shows the water around the shed doors at around 8am today.