Police check

done and dusted! They were really fast! Got the app from the internet, had to fill in a few details and then get a JP or similar to sign that they had seen the documents, it was like getting a new bank account, needed 100 points, passport is worth 70, drivers license was 35 so easy peasy. Warren took it to the shopping centre Saturday morning as there is always JP's there then, can make a donation to Flying Doctors for using their services. He posted it before coming home, Tuesday we had an email to say that they had it and by Wednesday we could download the results. Doesnt say much, just that the person mentiones as no criminal .....to that date.

Warren attached it to the email to tennis and again in one day we had confirmation back that they had it, now we wait until they send us the online "test" that we should receive by the 15 Nov. I guess they wait until they have everyones and then sent a group one out.

The Mole

Love this show but didnt like it when they started changing the times around. had to get Warren to tape it (that says my age, RECORD it). Have missed a few due to holidays but have pretty much kept up with it.

Settled down to watch the recorded show on Thursday morning and it was the last one, the mole would be revealed/discovered! Phone rings and I am needed to go to Sheri's thank goodness for pause buttons. Continued watching yesterday and very happy to say that the one that I thought was the mole was infact the mole.

I had had a few "err,,but it might be her/him" but had always come back to the dizty blonde and yes it was Erin. So happy as although I watch a lot of murder mysteries, I can never pick it until close to the end.

Just a funny little thing about "pause" watching funniest home movies last night, a mum was showing her young daughter she looked about three and a bit, numbers. Put up number three, kid said three, next number was eleven, kid said pause, mum said no, try again, kid said it is pause and went and got the remote and showed it to her mum saying "see, its pause" gotta laugh!

Solar Phhhff!

Well, our solar panels were fitted nearly three years and after the first bill was really low, they (bills) hjave been climbing. Last one was $221 and $145 was credited for solar. I set myself a task to reduce it and started by having shorter showers, cooking two meals at once and turning off stove tops early using the residenal heat to finish cooking. Turned off the hot water for the ten days that we were away, came back and wall thingo had a funnt reading, oh no its buggared, had to call the company and last Thursday they came, dissconnected and took it away, maybe four weeks before we get it back! Arrrggg! just as well that we have been trying to turn the tables on our electricity, with no powere from the panels for a few weeks we will really feel it, I think.

They did say that they would come in two weeks and were here in six days so I'm hoping it will be the same with the four weeks, that it will be only a couple. They did say that it hadne been connected properly so maybe our panels once fixed will give a better return??? one can only hope.

Success!

Just received our emails to invite us to be ushers so therefore we were successful at the interview! We now have to gain a police check and take a test online but the test can be done as many times as needed. We have to go in again on sat 30 Nov to pick up our uniforms. Yay!

Tennis interview

Yesterday we went into Brisbane and beyond for an interview to be a volunteer at the Brisbane International Tennis Comp. There were about a hundred people there and we had an intro then broken into three groups and sent in different directions. Our first activity was to discuss scenerios that had happened over time at the tournement. Next was the actual interview, again in was in our group and everyone was asked why they had applied, most people gave about a two minute answer. Next was working with four or five people building a free standing tower using only five sheets of newspaper and duct tape, my teams stood up for the rest of the time but it was the smallest standing at about four feet high or just over a metre. It finished around 11am, right on time and it was an easy walk back to the train station and home by 1pm. We will be notified of outcome by the end of the month.

Melbourne

Since my last post we have been to Melbourne, it was cold wet and windy. The traffic was busy and a lot, these days I prefer not to drive in Melbourne and yet i have no worries about driving the van on the highways or anywhere else.

The trip down was good, we took our time, driving only about six hours a day, this included morning tea and lunch stops so pretty laid back. Three and a half days there, caught up with the kids, shared Lindsay's birthday with her and left again two days later.

We travelled back via the coast road and then cut up to Canberra, vivsiting friends in Yass. Our last stop was Moree and we used the heated thermal pools at the park. We had stayed there before but not gone in the pool, this time (we stayed there on the way down too) Warren went in the evening, I didnt think to bring swimmers ( a shopping trip required in Melbourne!). We used it on the way back and went into the 34 and 35 degree pools.

New zealand wool

I bought a couple of balls of wool while I was in NZ. It is real wool, pretty hexxy, $15 for two but can notice the difference in the feel. I decided to knit myself a beanie to take to canada when we get there hopefully in 2015. Finished off the project that I was making and started on it. I have been making kids beanies so I knew that i needed to make it bigger. Added an extra 20 stiches and instead of 5inches, I went to 8 inches as i wanted a brim. Completed it lunchtime while watching Ellen and sewed up the side seam, put it on and said to darling hubby "What do you think?" with a smirk, he says it looks fine. Beanies dont do a lot for me i know but its done, only took four/five days.

Soap

I had a go at making soap a few months ago, I found a soap making kit that I had bought several years before. We run out of soap a couple of weeks ago and had to resort to using the one that I had made. To my surprise it felt pretty good nad lasted a long time too, (probably because it had dried out for so long!)

I ordered some soap making stuff from the internet the other night, then kicked myself thinking that it would arrive when we were away. But no, it arrived this morning! what a fast turn around, I think it was monday or Tuesday night that I ordered it.

It does look a little complex so I will wait til we get home, I also need to buy some other stuff first.

New Zealand, what a great place!

Our first hotel was right at the airport, the next morning we walked back to the airport to pick up our car for the next ten days. Driving away we were going past farms not five minutes away from the airport, sheep lots of sheep right near the side of the road. it was cold. First day was driving over arthur's pass, we had lunch at the top of the range, first shock, a pie and coffee each and we shared a piece of cake for $38, wow! i thought breakfast at the hotel was overly expensive at $17.50 each, which consisted of yougurt and ceral, coffee and fruit juice, warren had a couple of pastries as well.

Petrol and food throught out the trip was the most expensive things. Fuel ranged from $2.24 to $2.80 a litre, luckily we only needed four tanks of fuel during the whole time. The scenery was awesome the whole way, snow capperd mountains were seen most of the time and at least twice it snowed on the mountains overnight, we didnt see it but there was more coverage the next day. Walked out to the glacier, almost as far as we could go, it has receded over the last few years but still very impressive. As you can tell, New Zealand impressed us, within the first few hours, we had decided to go back and just meanander around. Our tour was good but we had to be somewhere by a certain time as we were booked in.

Storms had hit the day before we arrived closing down some of the roads, another good reason to meanader and go where and when we pleased.

It was cold and I wore my heavy jacket every day, the food was good but heaps of it and rather costly. I didnt notice much of a difference in the supermarkets. We ended up going and buying breakfast stuff and had our normal breakfast which was a lot cheaper than having it in the motels. Queenstown was a very yuppy place and we did venture into town for breakfast and a wander around, ($38!)had to buy some stuff at the chemist, seemed that Warren was a bit senitive to the water or soap. Chemist things seemed the same prices at home and could even buy many of the same things.

coming up the East coast, I suggested that we backtrack a bit as I had seen a wool place, we were on holidays after all. Great handknits and commercial stuff as well but everything was pretty much too heavy for our climate. Warren did pick up some socks and he persuaded me to buy a pop over poncho, I was surprised that the amount was $64 as mine was only $30, marked down from $55, but he only bought one pair! they were $34! Later I did buy some NZ pure wool which I am knitting into a beanie for me, it feels beautiful.

Dunedin had a lot of things going for it but we only had one night there whic was a shame, would have liked to spent more time. We did go to the local museum and dropped into the cadbury factory on the way out, 3 chocolate bars for $10, what a bargain.

Had a day in Christchurch, visited the Aviation museum, went up the Gondola and then went to the beach, ended up talking to a Chinese guy, who was about 70's, I dont think he spoke English so we had a great time chatting to him in Madarin.

At the airport the next morning, that was an early start, we spoke with a lady who was in a wheelchair, she had had a beam of her building crash down on her in the earthquakes, she was very positive and said that it took her awhile but now she enjoys life as much as she can, she was travelling to Brisbane to surprise her daughter and grandson for his first birthday.  

New Zealand!

Today! Wish i could say I'm excited but I'm not and I dont know why. I packed yesterday, about to wash the last of our clothes and check our route to the airport. The only thing I can think of as why I am not excited is that I didnt do the planning and booking like I normally do and havent really looked at exactly where we are going.

Also I'm a bit worried about eating while we are away, car hire and motels could be lots of fast food which wont do much for my weigh loss. Anyway, we are due to leave home in approx three hours.

Jam and Butter

This is my second lot of passionfruit butter and a jar of strawberry jam. I have one jar each of this size and one smaller one but not eating a great deal of it as I am not having afternoon or morning tea. Mum used to make jams and chutneys, pickles etc, preserved fruit and while i dont want to go down that path, it is nice to make something that i know exactly what is in it. Both of these are a bit too sweet even though icut down on the sugar content, not overly so but I would cut the sugar even more next time.

Trifle

I bought this great bowl at an op shop and made the above have not made in years, not sure if there is a recipe but just layered jelly, custard, choc mousse (made my own, who knew that it was so easy, melted choc and cream) fruit, cubed jelly, biscuits as i had no cake and whipped cream on top. Very easy and reasonably cheap i guess, probably worked out at ten to twelve serves.

Travel card

wow, what a great idea. Aust post has one and we thought that NAB may have one so I went to ask. Yep, they did, cost was $10 and there is  no charges from NAB for the use although there maybe some in NZ. I put a thousand on it as we will only need money for fuel and food, will take some cash as well.
Works by pin and there are two cards one for each with a different pin, can even top it up while we are there if we need to, should save a lot of hassle to get money changed etc.

Cracked!

Yesterday, hubby was vacummning while I visited the toilet. I lent forward to pick up the toilet paper and heard a noise like cracking! Oh no, it was the seat, it had cracked on one side, not just a little but right across the seat.
I guess it had reached its use by date but did it have to happen while i was sitting there!
Hubby went and bought another and replaced it so we now have a new seat, so I'm okay for a few years hopefully.

New GPS

We get a lot of junk mail and while looking thru a Target one the other morning, I see a GPS for only $69, I discuss it with HATH and he says, I'm thinking of buying one as it has NZ maps on it as well. It was decided that we would go into the shops then and there and buy one as the sale started that same day.
Of course when we got there, there were several on offer, one had a bigger screen for an extra $20, one had free maps for another $10. we ended up paying $99. It says the street names which I like and our tomtom doesnt have (it being an older model) Hiring a GPS in NZ to go with the car was going to be $100 so we figured that we might as well, spend the money here and get something that we can use again.
HATH says on Saturday that we really need to go somewhere so we can use it. Hummm, I put three suggestions on the table, Woodford for coffee, Bribie for a fish and chip lunch or Dayboro for coffee. He suggested Beachmere but the beach is terrible there. Woodford won out so off we go and there are lots of turns to take so an excellent test for the new GPS.

We got there just before 10am and sat outside the bakery/cafe. It is THE place to go for the bikers (bikers not bikies) it was amazing to see the different bikes and how everyone was kitted out. Mostly their orders were a salad roll and either hot or iced coffee.

We walked up the road and saw a sign for an op shop, HATH is looking for a video player and they are no longer sold new. No luck in that area but we did find some interesting things. Stopped at a Farmers market on the way home and bought fruit and veg for the week which included 6 punnetts of strawberries. i made strawberry jam when I got home.

BTW the new GPS worked well, although some of the roads do sound a little funny, Annie was more like Any but close enough.  

An ongoing disaster

When I sat down at my sewing machine a few weeks ago, it didnt work. It hadnt been used for some months because of being away, I started researching new machines, costs etc. I decided before going and buying a new one, I would sit down and try to work out if I could do anything with it. Lo and behold, it worked, wow saving me about $200+. However, the bobbin rewinder still didnt work but I had plenty of wound bobbins so I didnt let that bother me. He about the house had offered to look at it for me, something for later.

I have been merrily sewing whatever my fancy takes me until last weekend when I had to put on my last bobbin of neutral colour, there were still a couple of blacks and navy blues but white or off white was the colour I mainly need to use certainly in the near future.

Put in my request for HATH (him about the house) to look at it SOON! Wednesday was the day (after I had greased the way with a yummy afternoon noon, I mentioned the machine. Right I'll do that right now.

HATH sits at my machine and needs instructions on what goes where and then when I turned away for a minute, the bobbin starts! I would like to say that hes a miracle worker but no, it was just that I had been trying to use the wrong button and of course it wouldnt go would it! Amazing what gets forgotten when something is not used for awhile.

In my defence, I'd like to point out that my sewing machine is a bit high tech (should be, I was urged to spend $3000 on it seventeen years ago by HATH)and it does not use a foot pedal. I was trying to use the straight stitch button instead of the go button which has an arrow on it and its red!

GF dropped for a chat and a coffee so HATH decided to clean my machine using the vaccumn cleaner (also to give us some chat time) and proceeded to pull it apart and defluff. Then he set it going and oh dear the noise it made was unreal. He emerged from the sewing room with a sheepish look and said I think you had better take it to somewhere for a service as I cant get it to go right.

I left it for a day and when he went out, I hurried into the sewing room to see what it was doing. OMG! the bit on the bottom was missing, therefore there was no tension. Again $$$$signs came up. When he returned I asked what he had done, at this stage, I didnt know that he had taken it apart. A little metal part was gone, we came to the conclusion that it had been sucked up into the vaccummn cleaner so we empty all the dirt and fluff onto a tarp outside and carefully go through it. No such luck, then HATH remembers that something had dropped on the floor so we go back to the sewing room and on all fours search on the carpet. Again nothing, a penny dropped, maybe it dropped inside the cavity of the machine so he unscrews the plate while I'm watching and then I see it, it was still there! just a quarter turn away from where it should be, took it out and replaced it in the right spot, screw plate back on and fingers crossed tested it. Sews like a new one, disaster averted again, thank goodness! 

"The Millers"

this sia funny movie. Last week for our wedding anniversity, I checked out movies and times and asked the other half about going, then he reminded me that he was booked to play tennis that night. Oh well, some other time which ended up last night. Yes, I know, not the cheapest night to go, if we wait til Tuesdays its going to cost $8 rather than $12. I was worried that the flipping movie would go off if we didnt see it this week.

Booked online, selected our seats and even ordered popcorn and coke. Lot of swearing in the movie but it does fit. really, really funny. Now I want to go and see Red 2.

Flavourstone cookware

I am always a bit wary of things advertised on TV, you know the ones that show this and promise the world. A few weeks ago, I did stop and watch a cookware demo and it seemed amazing. I posed a question on the SS forum, if anyone had them and what did they think. Some-one came back and said they had bought a non stick frypan from Big W which was working well for them. I checked it out and it looked preety similar and bought one, parting with $59. It is good and I di use it a lot but I wanted more.

I hate using the oven to cook roasts as it is a floor one and lifting a hot pan with a chicken and vegetables is not my idea of fun. If I could buy a roaster or Dutch oven that would cook on the stove top that would be sweet. Visited many places looking for such an item, no luck.

On the weekend, Hubby saw the ad and told me to ring them so I did. Just arrived this morning, I unpacked, washed and seasoned them, then thought I would try one of the things that they do on TV. Melted cheese straight into the pan. I didnt use as much as they did and added some ham, put a wrap on top and twisted it then flipped it out. OMG it worked and the pan was as clean as a whistle, just needed a wipe out. Looking forward to cooking more and clearing out my old saucepans, they are going straight to the bin.and that

Mondays

are great! Its my day to do what I want as hubby is off at tennis most of the morning. He always empties the dishwasher and makes the bed before he goes so I have the kitchen to tidy and put the washing on and then the morning is mine, all mine!

I put the cot blanket together almost had it finished before he got home. The dolls were the other things that I got completed this week, not a great deal to show for the week but we have been out quite a bit. I have been knitting a pop over Tshirt all week and that should be finished tonight.

Passionfruit butter

our vine is producing heaps of fruit and we have used them in desserts, over ice cream and given some away. Yesterday I saw a recipe for passionfruit butter so today i made it. I needed 12 and only had six left in the fridge so went looking for more, only one was down so I made half quality instead. supposed to use a double boiler which i have never owned but I di have stainless mixing bowls. It only took about fifteen minutes to make and looked and smelt pretty good.

Silly me, I told warren I would make scones for afternoon tea! Have not been successful with scones, the last lot I remember making were like rock cakes. Couldnt be bothered finding a recipe, how hard can they be?  So I throw some flour in a bowl and an egg and some milk, very dry so I decided to melt some butter, more milk. Then I remember that Mum used to roll the scone mixture out like bread and then cut into shapes, so i did that.

Slow oven, about 160, I usually go to 200 for everything but I read somewhere that 160/180 is enough for fan forced, I didnt want to burn the tops. OMG were they any good topped with the passionfruit butter it was very decadent! (Someone, who will remain nameless has just come looking for more, but I was clever and put the left overs in the freezer for later in the week). 

Catch up with rellies

Friday we drove to marchooydore to see barry, warren's brother and his partner Maureen. We had only met her once before. It was a good day marred by the fact that we had just heard that brother in law Allan had died earlier that day. He had been put into hospital with infections thru most of his body so it didnt sound too good and his body couldnt cope, I think he was about seventy seven.

Barry and Maureen have rented a flat overlooking the sea with a balconey, no furniture but they went to the local Lifeline and purchased what they needed. Plates and cups etc they brought from Maureen's mororhome which is in storage nearby.

We walked to a thai restruant for lunch, it was have to be the nicest place that I have eaten at for quite a long time and very reasonably priced, $44 for four. I had chicken satay, it said three sticks and I wondered if it was enough, well it was served with rice and salad and I think it was probably a full chicken breast between the three sticks. I am going to try to make it, it was yummy!

Closed our mortgage account today

Dadaaaa! Several years we opened a bank account that we thought we would be able to use in China. Not to be as it turned out so we used it to pay our mortgage instead. The branch is in Sunnybank, a long way from us. as we have finished with the mortgage, we have no further use for the account but has to direct the money elsewhere first.

A hour trip, had lunch (of course) and then a quick trip into the bank and walked out with a bit of cash and less bank accounts, an end of an era.

Dropped in to look at something in the reject shop, didnt buy that but bought a bit of other stuff as well. Home to relax. We were very good at lunch, sharing a plate of food and a drink, cost? just $10. After we had done what we needed to do, I suggested coffee and of course hubby askes for cake as well $14!ian

Seniors

Hubby and I went to a seniors information session at a local museum this week. I thought that it would be info on where, how and when we could use our pension card, what servises were available etc etc.

What we found out is there is a big difference in seniors! We went in a group of red hats, six ladies and three husbands, I was the youngest and the oldest will be 65 next month. Then there was the other side with many walkers and carers. It cost $10 and we were invited to have morning tea first. Tea, coffee and creamy cakes, all well and good except if one is watching ones weigh.

Old fashioned music (from WW2 was being played), the MC got things going about 15 minutes late and couldnt seem to remember peoples names. First was a Police Officer and he asked what we thought was the biggest crime against seniors. Assault, snach and grab,robberies were mentioned and he assured everyone that over 55's were in the lowest percentage for those but computer fraud was the highest. He then went on to explain that one shouldnt give passwords and details over the net. Our group all use computer banking except one and fully aware of the dangers and pitfalls. The rest of the people I doubt would touch a computer.

Each presenter had aboit fifteen minutes and between them was the singalongs with music and songs that were old when I was little!

Someone spoke from the hearing and someone from the medic alert were one wears a pendant with an alarm, history of pigeons in the war and then a bush poet. Three hours all up! we have decided that seventy should be the new seniors! 

Boob Squeezing

or Breast screening to give it the right name. I received a letter to tell me that it was time for my appointment (I was thinking of calling as I thought it was three years since my last), two years since my last screen.

Its no great drama, the most you need to remember it not to put any deo or perfume in the armpit or breat area. My appointment was 10.45 and I was a little early, they had advised to allow 30 mins for the apt. I was called early and away again in less than fifteen minutes. Last time the girl had to do a second shot of one side as she hasnt got it right but this time, everything was sweet, four shots, two full on and two side ones, they are a bit tricky and have to move. Get dressed again and go.

Ten days later i had a letter telling me that everything was fine so no worries there. the screening has certainly improved or gotten slicker from the first time, that was ten years ago. No pain, just a little funny with some-one moving your boobs in different ways so they can take a piccy.

Puppy Raiser for the Guide Dogs

This is something that I have thought about for awhile and so when we saw a stand at the Farm Fest, we made an application. The information session was last Thursday for an hour and a half, there were about twenty people there altogether.

They talked about how to handle and train, do and donts showed a couple of short videos. It was very interesting and quite different to how most people would relate to a puppy/dog.

We were asked to go home and talk to family and friends to see if we could comply with the requirements. at this point in time, we have too much on our plates to be able to do it so we have postponed doing the puppy raising until next year.

Actually the time involved is more than having a new baby and they need to be taken everywhere and no baby sitting so full on.

Public Transport

have bebetween usBetween us, we have been travelling to the hospital on public transport, train and then bus. Twice the bus was full when I got on and as i made my way to the back a young guy about 20 stood up and offered his seat. The next time was a teenager in school uniform. I know that they are supposed to do this but it was very nice all the same.

The trip took just over an hour about the same time as driving with a bit of a walk in between and no parking hassles or costs so a win/win situation.

New tiles

A couple of years ago we saw that the vinyl in the kitche was lifting at the corners, we thought that we should tile it. Of course when was the question. Yay, suddenly we decided we were going to do and ripped up the vinyl.

I bought the tiles but couldnt get the grey that we wanted so had to go a bit darker but I'm glad we did as it looks great.

It took about ten days to get finished and I was without a dishwasher for a week but definately worth it! Next is overhaed cupboards and a rangehood, maybe in another couple of years!

Three days days on my own, Bliss!

I dont think that I had spent a night alone in this house before, thats in ten years! It was bliss to be able to get up at what time suited me and have meals etc when it suited me. Not that my other half is demanding that meals and coffee at served at an exact time but I do usually consider or obsreve mealtimes regard of what I am doing at the time. No car available to me either which meant I stayed home or walked. I chose to stay home and get some projects at least started.

I have a huge stash of material and craft "stuff" that I want to trim down, I have ditched some stuff. My plan is to make cot quilts for CF babies with materials that I have, hummm, thought I had lots but not all is suitable. However i am going to work with what I have got to make a start. First one is blue as I have more blue material than anything else, a pattern in a book caught my eye so of course, I need to try it. Sme is handsewing so it wont be a quick projecto. Knitting while the footy is on and I got three done over the weekend.

Biker arrived back home in one piece for a late dinner and my time was over. It was an enjoyable time but nice to get back to "normal"

Acheivements of the day

Yesterday warren woke me with a cup of coffee, nothing unusual about that except that he followed it with a request! he needed help to lift the bike on the camper. What time is it was my question, just after 8am, I grumbled that the bike ride didnt start til the next day. My job is really just to hold the bike and make sure that it goes and stays in the slot. That done, I go back inside for my breakfast. "Err, I need some help to put the camper on the car" I wasnt dressed at this stage and figured that i couldnt care who saw me in my PJs.

Finally he left at 9am. i did some dreaded h/w, annoying but no-one else to do it. Then started on little jobs that i had wanted to get done. By the end of the day when I sat to watch the footy, I had tidied the guest room, vacced the front rooms, unpacked a box that was delivered during the day and put everything of mine away, it was mostly my stuff. Found and did some more mending, decorated my hat, striped another camper mag on the interesting articles, pulled some weeds from the garden. Prepared another strip for my quilt and handstiched that. It was really nice to be able to do things on my time and not have to worry about anyone else.

Hope to have another day where I get a lot done, a vest for me and some carry bags for Operation shoebox is on todays plan.

Afternoon tea at the beach

We received an invite to a friend (and recently discovered cousin's) house for afternoon tea, I had an idea that it was her birthday as it did turn out to be. There were six of us altogether, some other friends did not show. Fresh sandwiches and a sponge with cream and strawberries, yum! She only moved to the area about six weeks ago. Nice place, very open plan and can see the water from the back garden, its only a few metres away.

As we were out and about, I did a few things on the way home, went to the libary while Warren went to the bank. He needed cash for the weekend which usually cars or ATMs are used but not this time. then I went to Spotlight to buy a piece of material that I plan to make this weekend, finally I drove to another friend's place to pick up the pattern. Just as well, I was driving and he was a bit amazed at where and why I was going to different places. Just got to get as much done while out as possible. The less times I leave the house the more money I save!! well thats the therory.

Fifteen minutes.

Its amazing what can be acheived in fifteen minutes. I have been trying to get my sewing room into some sort of order and spent most of Sunday morning opening boxes and rearranging it. I emptied a set of drawers thinking that I would get rid of it and then had a brain wave, why not put it in the wardrobe? shame i hadnt thought of that because I had emptied it but it made sense, only trouble is that the wardrobe was full of boxes of material! The main reason to empty it, was so I could put up the table to cut on it (usually theres too much stuff to cut anything on it but thats the idea). However there is enough room to put up the table under the window until some stuff is lessened and the drawers can go into the wardrobe but thats certainly not yet.

I had unearthed a couple of cushions that needed fixing, one the zip had broken and the other had a seam split. They had been there for well over a year and I thought that maybe I could mend them while watching TV tonight. Went to get things ready and decided to sit down in the sewing room and do it right then and there while dinner heated in the oven.  Fifteen minutes was all it took to mend them! Why the hell had they sat there for so long, so are now back in the lounge and looking good.

Soccer

On Saturday we went to see Declan and Benny's soccer games. For a change they were playing at the same venue and one after the other, apparently thats a rarity. Lucky for us, it was the day that we decided we would go and watch. Benny's game was on when we got there and it was funny to see him in orange and one of the biggest kids on the field. He had already scored one goal and had two trys for goal that we saw, he also got a kick to the leg which hurt he said.

Declan's game was a couple of field over, it was amazing the difference in skill level, from under 6's to under 8's, wow. The coaches were great, very positive comments and full of encouragement, it was good to hear. Declan's team ended up winning four goals to one, Benny's team also won but they played against their own team members so it didnt really count.

We went back to Ja and Fi's for the boys to clean up and then out to lunch at a Yum Cha place. They couldnt believe that we hadnt had yum cha before. It was good but very little vegetables, I did have egg plant wrapped around a prawn, yummm!

The Heat

Last week we went out to dinner and a movie, cost was $16 each, pretty good value. the meal was at the local bowling club and there was plenty of it, I had roast pork and vege but couldnt eat it all. It was a nice meal but I didnt think it was worth raving over. The movie however was a different kettle of fish. I was loving the ads on TV and had also seen an interview that someone did with Sandra Bullock. often though the best bits are shown in the shorts and that is all there is, but not this one! I would have to say it was one of the funniest movies i have seen in a long time. The two women really compliment each other and with out the intent really play the bad cop good cop roles. I would go and see it again. Lots of four letter words but it fits with the theme, no sex and very little drugs. Top movie.

International visitors.

Last week we had a brother and sister stay with us for a few days. I had not met them before but it appeared that the girl, Rita had been one of Warren's students five years ago. She had been to Australia before and was bringing her brother to help improve his English. Had a busy week with trips out each day, its amazing what is in our own backyard (or within an hours drive). They went kayaking, to the zoo, a dairy, Ginger factory, the beach to see kangaroos in the wild, a local agriculture show where they saw wood cutting and sheep dogs plus racing pigs.

Visitors

Its nice being home and having friends and family drop in and also take phone calls from others friends.
So, yes, friend from Tassie rang this morning, now it appears as we have pencilled in a trip to visit, we have been to tassie before, twice each, once together for a conference and we took two days after to have a quick look around. One thing about having the camper is that the only thin g is fuel and parks so pretty cheap, (its going to have to be!). Possibly next march or April. Just printed off a calendar that we can pencil things in on.

Jason phoned and asked if we were home, he and the boys were only twenty minutes away, could they come for lunch. I had the doings of sausages rolls in the freezer so quickly prepared them and got them into the oven, just coming out as they arrived.

Later I found a couple of things in the house that I needed so that was good, I can rest easy now and stop looking.

Back to Driving.

That was a bit scary after not driving for nearly five months. at first it was a little different but didnt take too long to get used to it again, love having the opportunity to go where and when I want. Cant seem to get the size of meals right, made soup the other night and have so much left over, thank goodness for the freezer.

Retirement!

Its the first work day of retirement and we took great delight in paying out the home loan. Still have a few steps to do like, stop our regular payment which is at another bank but the home loan bank will do that and then we will cancel that. Dont need so many bank accounts. As I get older its harder to remember all the blooming pass words.
Its raining so cant do what I planned but did do a big grocery shop, i was surprised that it was only $204, did a small shop on Saturday of $130 odd but with almost nothing in the pantry, I knew the first shop was going to be big. Have a big pot of soup on with dinner and I will make some cheese scrolls to go with it.
Cant beleive how much "stuff" we have around the house! Def will be de-cluttering over the next few weeks.
My weight increased a little with so many farewell lunches and dinners out so need to peg that back, New Zealand trip is in ten weeks and I want to have lost 6 kilos by then, just over 500 gms a week.