Can you believe that today is the first day of summer - where has the year gone to ?????? I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that we are getting older - I think time is going quicker for everyone.
There hasn't been too much happen since the last time I posted. We went to Kaitlin's speech night last night and came home, once again, very proud parents. She received academic honours for semester 2 and came first in Spanish - really, what more could we ask for. I think it was a bitter sweet day yesterday - her last day at SSC. While she is very excited about the new opportunity which awaits her next year, I think she is also a little anxious about what it will be like. We are off to buy her uniforms next week and should take delivery of the new beaut all bells and whistles computer before Christmas - that will give her a couple of weeks of playing around with it prior to starting school so when they do get to school it won't be "Hey - look what this can do" - although I would imagine there will still be a little of that until they get used to a paperless school !!!
Work has been quite hectic - for both Al and I. The children broke up on Friday but we still have another week of teachers before we can settle down to some peace and quiet.
The renovations are very slowly creeping to completion - with just a few things left to do - moving of water tanks, finishing the servery, finishing the pub, a couple of plants to be planted and the last bit of painting to be done - hopefully by Christmas it will be all finished and we can sit back and relax and enjoy what we have accomplished.
Rhona arrived from Perth today and we are all off to Outback Spectacular http://outbackspectacular.myfun.com.au/ on Tuesday night - from what we have heard it promises to be a very entertaining evening. Roy, Kathy and the children arrive from Perth on 24th and we will all be having Christmas at our place this year. Heather and I were busy sorting out the menu for Christmas day tonight so that is all taken care of and under control.
We are going to be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks time - who would have thought that we could have had so much fun in 20 years !!! I know we have had our ups and our downs but it has certainly been a fun ride - here's to the next 20 years together - I love you Al. We have decided to combine it with a surprise 70th birthday for my Dad - he won't suspect a thing as his birthday is on 26th but we thought that it would be a bit much to have a huge Christmas lunch and then the next day another huge meal - so have decided to combine it with our anniversary and the official opening of our pub.
This is the link for the photos from my Mom's 70th birthday which we had at our home on 30th October http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/MomS70thBirthday
We have been having some good rain here lately - not enough is falling in the catchment area though which is a problem and not helping the drought at all. We are on level 6 water restrictions - thank goodness we have the 4 tanks which have certainly helped to keep our plants growing nicely. As soon as it stops raining long enough I will be out there with the Weed and Feed on the grass to get rid of the weeds and help the grass grow where it has died off due to various items - like crates of pavers - being dumped on it.
I hope you all have a great Sunday - take care and will post some photos and an update after the celebrations in a couple of weeks time.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Long time between drinks
I can't believe that it is over two months since I last posted - where has the time gone to ????? I know we had a month in Spain but it certainly doesn't feel like we have been home a month already - tomorrow will be 4 weeks since we got home and it feels like we were never away !!! (As is usual with a holiday).
You can read all about our holiday adventures in our Holiday in Spain blog http://holidayinspain07.blogspot.com/ if you are interested in what we got up to. For those who want the abridged version - we had an absolutely fantastic time - I truly loved Madrid, Toledo and Morella (and left a little of my heart in each of those places) - we drove 6400kms in the 4 weeks excluding bus trips and were approximately 88 hrs in transit on our holiday.
We got home and the next day it was back into work - luckily we had taken Monday night off from Coles work as I am not sure we would have managed that too well. We didn't seem to suffer from jet lag which was good. A couple of longer days at work saw me get the September accounts out the way and then we were pretty much back to normal.
Well except for the 7-1am shifts which we were doing at Coles as the night fill manager was off on compo and the lady who normally stands in for her was on leave and Al was running the fill each night - those couple of weeks weren't funny. The window of time to get things done between work and work wasn't really enough to do anything so we seemed to find ourselves running around like headless chooks (at least that was what it felt like some nights) and thank goodness it was only 2 weeks. The extra money came in useful but, quite honestly, I would rather not work those hours and not have the money.
Kaitlin has, once again, done very well at school - her results continue to be of a very high standard and last night we went to the Sports Award dinner where she received full colours for softball and was voted Most Promising softballer for 2007. She is very excited about going to Queensland Academies for Health Sciences (QA) next year. We still have to buy her new uniform and get her tablet / slate. I still can't really get my head around a paperless school - no doubt it is something which works otherwise they wouldn't be going ahead with it but I can't read more than two pages on a computer screen never mind study from books which have been downloaded onto the hard drive !!!!!
My aunt (Mom' sister) arrived from Durban on the Tuesday after we got home from Spain and we have had some lovely jaunts with them - either when K has been at work or all of us together. We took Cynthia down to Bangalow to the markets there (on a Sunday) as we were looking for a grass tree to replace the one which died after we moved him from the driveway - he didn't like his new home and so cacked it !!!! Very miserable of him because he was a lovely looking plant. Anyway, went down to Bangalow (about 1 3/4 hrs south of here into northern NSW) to see the grass tree guy who is normally at those markets but he wasn't there - bugger !!! We did manage to find another guy who only had one very sad looking grass tree but he mentioned that he had a nursery about 20 mins north of the market and gave Al his card. So the following Saturday we took all the oldies down to that nursery - what a lovely place and so many different plants to choose from at really reasonable prices. We landed up buying two grass trees (young ones which had been seeded) but he said that they should have good foliage within 6 months and should start to trunk in about 2-4 years (hope it is 2 rather than 4 years !!). We still have to decide where we are going to put the second one. We have moved a couple of those big pots we had placed on the pavers around but are still not 100% happy with where they are so will be moving them around again before Christmas no doubt.
It has been so lovely to see my aunt again - we haven't seen her since we left 8 years ago and we always seem to have some good laughs when we get together.
For all that it's been so long since I last posted that is about all the news from this side of the world. We have just got back from working and K is off baby-sitting - not sure what time she will be home but I am sure that unless it is in the next hour or so, I am going to be fast asleep.
Take care everyone, have a great weekend and drop us a line when you have a chance - we would love to hear what you have been up to.
You can read all about our holiday adventures in our Holiday in Spain blog http://holidayinspain07.blogspot.com/ if you are interested in what we got up to. For those who want the abridged version - we had an absolutely fantastic time - I truly loved Madrid, Toledo and Morella (and left a little of my heart in each of those places) - we drove 6400kms in the 4 weeks excluding bus trips and were approximately 88 hrs in transit on our holiday.
We got home and the next day it was back into work - luckily we had taken Monday night off from Coles work as I am not sure we would have managed that too well. We didn't seem to suffer from jet lag which was good. A couple of longer days at work saw me get the September accounts out the way and then we were pretty much back to normal.
Well except for the 7-1am shifts which we were doing at Coles as the night fill manager was off on compo and the lady who normally stands in for her was on leave and Al was running the fill each night - those couple of weeks weren't funny. The window of time to get things done between work and work wasn't really enough to do anything so we seemed to find ourselves running around like headless chooks (at least that was what it felt like some nights) and thank goodness it was only 2 weeks. The extra money came in useful but, quite honestly, I would rather not work those hours and not have the money.
Kaitlin has, once again, done very well at school - her results continue to be of a very high standard and last night we went to the Sports Award dinner where she received full colours for softball and was voted Most Promising softballer for 2007. She is very excited about going to Queensland Academies for Health Sciences (QA) next year. We still have to buy her new uniform and get her tablet / slate. I still can't really get my head around a paperless school - no doubt it is something which works otherwise they wouldn't be going ahead with it but I can't read more than two pages on a computer screen never mind study from books which have been downloaded onto the hard drive !!!!!
My aunt (Mom' sister) arrived from Durban on the Tuesday after we got home from Spain and we have had some lovely jaunts with them - either when K has been at work or all of us together. We took Cynthia down to Bangalow to the markets there (on a Sunday) as we were looking for a grass tree to replace the one which died after we moved him from the driveway - he didn't like his new home and so cacked it !!!! Very miserable of him because he was a lovely looking plant. Anyway, went down to Bangalow (about 1 3/4 hrs south of here into northern NSW) to see the grass tree guy who is normally at those markets but he wasn't there - bugger !!! We did manage to find another guy who only had one very sad looking grass tree but he mentioned that he had a nursery about 20 mins north of the market and gave Al his card. So the following Saturday we took all the oldies down to that nursery - what a lovely place and so many different plants to choose from at really reasonable prices. We landed up buying two grass trees (young ones which had been seeded) but he said that they should have good foliage within 6 months and should start to trunk in about 2-4 years (hope it is 2 rather than 4 years !!). We still have to decide where we are going to put the second one. We have moved a couple of those big pots we had placed on the pavers around but are still not 100% happy with where they are so will be moving them around again before Christmas no doubt.
It has been so lovely to see my aunt again - we haven't seen her since we left 8 years ago and we always seem to have some good laughs when we get together.
For all that it's been so long since I last posted that is about all the news from this side of the world. We have just got back from working and K is off baby-sitting - not sure what time she will be home but I am sure that unless it is in the next hour or so, I am going to be fast asleep.
Take care everyone, have a great weekend and drop us a line when you have a chance - we would love to hear what you have been up to.
Friday, 7 September 2007
Making progress
Today has been really productive - we have got the front yard just about there. Today we went and hired another high pressure cleaner and cleaned the pavers on the front entrance and up the side of the pub. AL, Dan and I moved the last of the stones to the front yard and then used the pressure cleaner to wash the sand off the stones - I should have taken a photo when the stones were wet as they look so much nicer than when they are dry. Thank goodness we have had a fair bit of rain lately as we were able to use the tank water to do all this cleaning - otherwise we wouldn't have been able to do it. Here's hoping that the weather stays fine tomorrow as the pavers will all be dry and I put a coat or two of sealer onto them.
When we went out at lunch time to take the pressure cleaner back, we stopped at a nursery to have a look at some plant pots and saw some nice little plants we could use around the water feature - came very close to buying them but then thought it would be better if we waited until we get back in case they don't get enough water and die. We have already had two lots of mini mondo grass in the water feature (at about $80 a pop) which have died so don't want to tempt fate by putting anything in the week before we leave and then expecting it to be alive when we get home in 4 weeks time.
This afternoon we mulched and put pine bark on the plants in the front yard and Al was busy changing some plants into bigger pots and putting new plants into pots. Once the sealer is all done we can get the plant pots where we want them so I think that before we leave we will be really close to having the front yard and all the pot plants sorted out which will be great as it will mean only the back yard and the painting of the garage (I still haven't gotten around to doing that - was going to do it today but the plants have taken longer than expected) and the front wall. Oh yes and sorting out the grass / garden in the front of the front fence and alongside the driveway. We are thinking of growing a bit of a hedge along the driveway to stop the postie from driving across the grass and driveway each day !!!! They are supposed to drive up your driveway and not along your property but none of them ever do - it would make their postie round so much longer if they did.
These are the latest photos taken after all the work done today (well some of them are from before we starting moving the stones on Sunday / Monday night / Tuesday night !!!! ) - I feel really good about what we have managed to accomplish to - it has been a really productive day. Here's hoping that tomorrow continues in the same vein - and that the weather continues to be good to us - http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/FrontYardSept07
Tonight we are off to friends for dinner - Kaitlin is going to a party with some people from work so we will spend the evening catching up with our friends before we leave IN 8 SLEEPS TIME !!! Gosh but it has come around so quickly - when we booked our accommodation months and months ago - it seemed like forever away - now it is next week that we leave.
This week we managed to book our 3 nights accommodation in Madrid - will worry about where we will stay in Barcelona and the last night in Madrid when we get over there. Now if we could only find out which of the (seems like a gazillion) Hertz pick up locations is closest to our hotel - we would be able to book our car hire. I did e-mail the hotel but am not sure if they will have someone who can read English receiving the e-mails. Think I will take the address of the hotel and the addresses of the Herz places to school and see if the Spanish teacher can help me out. This is the website of the hotel in Madrid http://www.madridpetitpalacetrescruces.com/
Well I am off to make dessert for tonight and then have a shower so that we can be on our way - have a fantastic weekend everyone and go safely !
When we went out at lunch time to take the pressure cleaner back, we stopped at a nursery to have a look at some plant pots and saw some nice little plants we could use around the water feature - came very close to buying them but then thought it would be better if we waited until we get back in case they don't get enough water and die. We have already had two lots of mini mondo grass in the water feature (at about $80 a pop) which have died so don't want to tempt fate by putting anything in the week before we leave and then expecting it to be alive when we get home in 4 weeks time.
This afternoon we mulched and put pine bark on the plants in the front yard and Al was busy changing some plants into bigger pots and putting new plants into pots. Once the sealer is all done we can get the plant pots where we want them so I think that before we leave we will be really close to having the front yard and all the pot plants sorted out which will be great as it will mean only the back yard and the painting of the garage (I still haven't gotten around to doing that - was going to do it today but the plants have taken longer than expected) and the front wall. Oh yes and sorting out the grass / garden in the front of the front fence and alongside the driveway. We are thinking of growing a bit of a hedge along the driveway to stop the postie from driving across the grass and driveway each day !!!! They are supposed to drive up your driveway and not along your property but none of them ever do - it would make their postie round so much longer if they did.
These are the latest photos taken after all the work done today (well some of them are from before we starting moving the stones on Sunday / Monday night / Tuesday night !!!! ) - I feel really good about what we have managed to accomplish to - it has been a really productive day. Here's hoping that tomorrow continues in the same vein - and that the weather continues to be good to us - http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/FrontYardSept07
Tonight we are off to friends for dinner - Kaitlin is going to a party with some people from work so we will spend the evening catching up with our friends before we leave IN 8 SLEEPS TIME !!! Gosh but it has come around so quickly - when we booked our accommodation months and months ago - it seemed like forever away - now it is next week that we leave.
This week we managed to book our 3 nights accommodation in Madrid - will worry about where we will stay in Barcelona and the last night in Madrid when we get over there. Now if we could only find out which of the (seems like a gazillion) Hertz pick up locations is closest to our hotel - we would be able to book our car hire. I did e-mail the hotel but am not sure if they will have someone who can read English receiving the e-mails. Think I will take the address of the hotel and the addresses of the Herz places to school and see if the Spanish teacher can help me out. This is the website of the hotel in Madrid http://www.madridpetitpalacetrescruces.com/
Well I am off to make dessert for tonight and then have a shower so that we can be on our way - have a fantastic weekend everyone and go safely !
Friday, 31 August 2007
YAY for Gold Coast Show Day
Due to a holiday on the Gold Coast for Show Day (something a bit like the Royal Show) we have the day off today which meant a short week and you can never say no to those - what a pity we don't get more of them !!!!
During the week I decided that today would be the day for me to do our tax returns - something which isn't (normally) that hard to do - it is just a pain and so I keep on putting it off. But, they need to be done before we leave for Spain so said I would do them this morning. Not so fast Linda, a few things have happened this year which have made them a little tricky so, while I have got most of them done, I haven't finished them as I will have to have some outside help - bugger !!!!! Never mind - at least they are mostly done.
Al has spent the day outside moving sand (see pics from Mid Renovations 2007) from the front garden to the back and then leveling the front garden. And he has also been helping the next door neighbour put in a GPS and depth finder on his boat. Kaitlin has been working on her assignments and doing her chores around the house. All in all a good day to get a jump start on what we want to do over the weekend. I think we need to revise our list of what still needs to be done - there are so many 'chain reaction' jobs I am starting to wonder where to start - we need to move the plants to sort out the garden - can't do that until I have sealed the pavers - can't do that until Al has finished moving the soil as the wheel barrow is making marks on the pavers which will have to be washed before I seal - and that is just one of the chain reactions on the go at the moment !!!!! I am trying to be patient with all of this - I know it will get done eventually - I really just want it all finished NOW so that we can sit back and enjoy it !!!!!
Last weekend the orientation day at Griffith was great - except for the rain !!!! I am so much happier about the decision to let her move now. The principal sounds very motivated and so passionate about what she does. Then I found out that she worked at a school up the road from us where the Dean of Students is the lady who trained Kaitlin for South Coast schools softball side so I spoke to her about the principal. Sharon could not speak highly enough of her - it was so good to hear that our perceptions of her from Saturday were right. She was sooooo excited that Kaitlin had been offered a position at QA. She said that about 720 kids wrote the exams and they are only going to be starting up with about 220 - 250 students so she has done extremely well to have been offered a position there. They are building the school across the road from Griffith University (for those who know - on the other side of Smith St where the hospital was going to go) - it is a $40million dollar facility with state of the art everything. The whole place will be wireless and the classes will be paperless classes - EVERYTHING will be done on a laptop / slate / tablet. All textbooks will be digitised and pre-loaded onto your device - I cannot imagine studying without having a book open in front of my but apparently that is the way the students of today are going. In the textbooks there are options to put sticky notes, underline, highlight and make notes in the margins !!!!! Give me a book or a piece of paper anytime - if I have to read more than a page on the PC I print it out and read it !!!!!
Tomorrow Kaitlin will be working as 'the muffin girl' at Muffin Break - we will be going for our (lapsed) customary Saturday morning muffin before hitting the shops doing some Father's Day shopping. Plus we need to look at getting new runners as Al and I have both been getting home from Coles and complaining that our feet are sore. AMart All Sports are having a sale at the moment so will try to get there to see if we can find anything suitable. I found a really good pair last week except they only had 1 shoe and couldn't find the other !!!!! I rang around to the other stores but nobody had the right size. Maybe I will try some others on tomorrow. We did manage to get Kaitlin a new pair of runners on sale so that was good.
Sunday is Father's Day over here so we are going to go to the lovely little place at the sailing school around the corner from us for breakfast and then in the evening my folks are coming over for dinner - not sure what we will have yet - will depend on whether Al wants to cook or not - if he does it will probably be a BBQ and if not, it will be something else !!! Will have to check what he would like for dessert - maybe something from the Cheesecake Shop ?????
Well it is time for me to go and see what I am going to organise for dinner tonight - will have to see what I can scrounge out of the freezer as I know that the fridge looks like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard - bare as !!!!! We will probably have to fit in a visit to Coles tomorrow otherwise the state of the fridge will not change.
Take care everyone and have a fantastic weekend !
This is the link to the latest photos of the renovations
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/MidRenovations2007
During the week I decided that today would be the day for me to do our tax returns - something which isn't (normally) that hard to do - it is just a pain and so I keep on putting it off. But, they need to be done before we leave for Spain so said I would do them this morning. Not so fast Linda, a few things have happened this year which have made them a little tricky so, while I have got most of them done, I haven't finished them as I will have to have some outside help - bugger !!!!! Never mind - at least they are mostly done.
Al has spent the day outside moving sand (see pics from Mid Renovations 2007) from the front garden to the back and then leveling the front garden. And he has also been helping the next door neighbour put in a GPS and depth finder on his boat. Kaitlin has been working on her assignments and doing her chores around the house. All in all a good day to get a jump start on what we want to do over the weekend. I think we need to revise our list of what still needs to be done - there are so many 'chain reaction' jobs I am starting to wonder where to start - we need to move the plants to sort out the garden - can't do that until I have sealed the pavers - can't do that until Al has finished moving the soil as the wheel barrow is making marks on the pavers which will have to be washed before I seal - and that is just one of the chain reactions on the go at the moment !!!!! I am trying to be patient with all of this - I know it will get done eventually - I really just want it all finished NOW so that we can sit back and enjoy it !!!!!
Last weekend the orientation day at Griffith was great - except for the rain !!!! I am so much happier about the decision to let her move now. The principal sounds very motivated and so passionate about what she does. Then I found out that she worked at a school up the road from us where the Dean of Students is the lady who trained Kaitlin for South Coast schools softball side so I spoke to her about the principal. Sharon could not speak highly enough of her - it was so good to hear that our perceptions of her from Saturday were right. She was sooooo excited that Kaitlin had been offered a position at QA. She said that about 720 kids wrote the exams and they are only going to be starting up with about 220 - 250 students so she has done extremely well to have been offered a position there. They are building the school across the road from Griffith University (for those who know - on the other side of Smith St where the hospital was going to go) - it is a $40million dollar facility with state of the art everything. The whole place will be wireless and the classes will be paperless classes - EVERYTHING will be done on a laptop / slate / tablet. All textbooks will be digitised and pre-loaded onto your device - I cannot imagine studying without having a book open in front of my but apparently that is the way the students of today are going. In the textbooks there are options to put sticky notes, underline, highlight and make notes in the margins !!!!! Give me a book or a piece of paper anytime - if I have to read more than a page on the PC I print it out and read it !!!!!
Tomorrow Kaitlin will be working as 'the muffin girl' at Muffin Break - we will be going for our (lapsed) customary Saturday morning muffin before hitting the shops doing some Father's Day shopping. Plus we need to look at getting new runners as Al and I have both been getting home from Coles and complaining that our feet are sore. AMart All Sports are having a sale at the moment so will try to get there to see if we can find anything suitable. I found a really good pair last week except they only had 1 shoe and couldn't find the other !!!!! I rang around to the other stores but nobody had the right size. Maybe I will try some others on tomorrow. We did manage to get Kaitlin a new pair of runners on sale so that was good.
Sunday is Father's Day over here so we are going to go to the lovely little place at the sailing school around the corner from us for breakfast and then in the evening my folks are coming over for dinner - not sure what we will have yet - will depend on whether Al wants to cook or not - if he does it will probably be a BBQ and if not, it will be something else !!! Will have to check what he would like for dessert - maybe something from the Cheesecake Shop ?????
Well it is time for me to go and see what I am going to organise for dinner tonight - will have to see what I can scrounge out of the freezer as I know that the fridge looks like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard - bare as !!!!! We will probably have to fit in a visit to Coles tomorrow otherwise the state of the fridge will not change.
Take care everyone and have a fantastic weekend !
This is the link to the latest photos of the renovations
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/MidRenovations2007
Friday, 24 August 2007
TGIF !
Thank goodness today is Friday and there isn't another working day in this week - I don't think I would have survived. It has been a hectic two weeks at work with things not looking to improve between now and when we leave for Spain. Roll on 16th Sept when I step onto that plane and can sit down and relax !!!
We have had the most incredible weather here over the past 6 days - we haven't seen the sun once !!!! Now I know why I wouldn't be able to live in England or NZ - while I am not able to sunbake like I used to, I certainly like to see it in the morning when I get up and when I look out the window at work. It has been raining since Sunday !!! We have had winds gusting up to 90kph at times since Monday - it seems that it has been raining and windy forever !!! Normally we may have a windy morning or afternoon but never like this - for days on end. It hasn't been raining non-stop and certainly not enough to end the drought but at least our pool is full, all 4 water tanks are full and the garden has had the best soaking in what seems like forever.
Last Saturday saw us moving closer to getting things finished - Al was busy running the wires for the sound system he is putting in his pub and I continued on with sanding the outdoor furniture. The problem with the furniture is that while it was easy in some ways to sand while made up, there were places I couldn't get to with the sander so Al took the furniture apart but the pieces are too big to clamp in anywhere so I am using the belt sander on wood which isn't secured and, at times, tends to shoot off the table into the garden. All fun and games as usual - the main thing is that it is getting done.
I was looking at the garage door the other day and think it would look better with another coat of paint so - if the weather is fine on Sunday - when we get home from softball I think I will give the garage door another coat of paint and then try to finish at least one coat on the front wall. Well I can't finish the whole wall as Al still has a HUGE pile of stones which have to be moved into the front garden but he can't do that until he has moved the excess soil from there - bit a chain reaction thing happening around the garden at the moment and we aren't sure where to start !!!!!
Kaitlin is enjoying her time at Muffin Break - they offered her muffins to bring home last week - thank goodness the little darling declined to bring them home - quite possibly the thought of a warmed up muffin would have been too tempting for me and seeing as I am (once again) trying to lose some weight before we leave for Spain - it wouldn't be the best thing she could bring home !!!!! This coming week will see her working two shifts (9.5hrs) for the week so it will be interesting to see how she goes - especially as on Saturday she is 'the muffin girl' who gets to put all the delicious toppings on the muffins (hope she doesn't eat too much of it and run out of topping for the muffins !!!!).
Tomorrow we are off to Griffith University for the orientation and information day. This is where Kaitlin will be studying next year although I am starting to wonder if we are doing the right thing. I guess at the end of the day we can re-evaluate after the first semester and if it isn't what we thought it would be or she isn't getting out of it what she thought she would - we can always change back to private schooling without too much trouble. Well it will be a little difficult because they study a completely different syllabus but, given what a smart cookie she is, I am sure we would be able to sort something out for her.
This is a link to some photos of our 'little baby' - I was talking to someone today and mentioned that she is able to get her learners licence next year and thought - geez, I really am getting old - this time next year my little baby will be driving us to school and back every day !!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/KaitlinSSC2007
Take care everyone, have a fantastic weekend and look after yourselves !
We have had the most incredible weather here over the past 6 days - we haven't seen the sun once !!!! Now I know why I wouldn't be able to live in England or NZ - while I am not able to sunbake like I used to, I certainly like to see it in the morning when I get up and when I look out the window at work. It has been raining since Sunday !!! We have had winds gusting up to 90kph at times since Monday - it seems that it has been raining and windy forever !!! Normally we may have a windy morning or afternoon but never like this - for days on end. It hasn't been raining non-stop and certainly not enough to end the drought but at least our pool is full, all 4 water tanks are full and the garden has had the best soaking in what seems like forever.
Last Saturday saw us moving closer to getting things finished - Al was busy running the wires for the sound system he is putting in his pub and I continued on with sanding the outdoor furniture. The problem with the furniture is that while it was easy in some ways to sand while made up, there were places I couldn't get to with the sander so Al took the furniture apart but the pieces are too big to clamp in anywhere so I am using the belt sander on wood which isn't secured and, at times, tends to shoot off the table into the garden. All fun and games as usual - the main thing is that it is getting done.
I was looking at the garage door the other day and think it would look better with another coat of paint so - if the weather is fine on Sunday - when we get home from softball I think I will give the garage door another coat of paint and then try to finish at least one coat on the front wall. Well I can't finish the whole wall as Al still has a HUGE pile of stones which have to be moved into the front garden but he can't do that until he has moved the excess soil from there - bit a chain reaction thing happening around the garden at the moment and we aren't sure where to start !!!!!
Kaitlin is enjoying her time at Muffin Break - they offered her muffins to bring home last week - thank goodness the little darling declined to bring them home - quite possibly the thought of a warmed up muffin would have been too tempting for me and seeing as I am (once again) trying to lose some weight before we leave for Spain - it wouldn't be the best thing she could bring home !!!!! This coming week will see her working two shifts (9.5hrs) for the week so it will be interesting to see how she goes - especially as on Saturday she is 'the muffin girl' who gets to put all the delicious toppings on the muffins (hope she doesn't eat too much of it and run out of topping for the muffins !!!!).
Tomorrow we are off to Griffith University for the orientation and information day. This is where Kaitlin will be studying next year although I am starting to wonder if we are doing the right thing. I guess at the end of the day we can re-evaluate after the first semester and if it isn't what we thought it would be or she isn't getting out of it what she thought she would - we can always change back to private schooling without too much trouble. Well it will be a little difficult because they study a completely different syllabus but, given what a smart cookie she is, I am sure we would be able to sort something out for her.
This is a link to some photos of our 'little baby' - I was talking to someone today and mentioned that she is able to get her learners licence next year and thought - geez, I really am getting old - this time next year my little baby will be driving us to school and back every day !!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/KaitlinSSC2007
Take care everyone, have a fantastic weekend and look after yourselves !
Monday, 13 August 2007
Less than 4 weeks to go
Well, as the title says - less than 4 weeks to go until we leave for Spain. At this stage I am still a little disorganised - haven't booked the car hire or the 6 nights accommodation which we need before and after our time share weeks - at least they are booked which is the bulk of our accommodation.
Alan and Kaitlin haven't been feeling well the past couple of days - sore throats, stuffy noses. We took Al off to the dr on Saturday - just the viral thing going around which EVERYONE is getting. At this stage no need for anti-biotics but we need to keep an eye on his chest. He has been using the nebuliser which does seem to help.
Kaitlin has been for some training for a new job with Muffin Break - she seems quite keen on it. They sell muffins, cookies, wraps and make cappuccino's, lattes etc so that will be good for her to learn - maybe a great barista in the making !!!! She played softball yesterday and then was asked to play up in the Res A side - she had such a great game and spent most of the game with a grin from ear to ear. She did get a lovely roasty on her knee when she had to slide into home which isn't so good. Wednesday will see my folks collecting her from school to take her to her Inter-school Athletics carnival where she is representing Saint Stephen's in the 100m and 100m relay.
The renovations at home are coming along - too slowly for my liking. The trouble is that there are only so many workable hours each weekend and there never seems to be enough of those. This past weekend we had a skip (big waste bin) delivered and got rid of lots of things which have been horded in the shed and garage - I'm sure some of what we have got rid of we will need in a few months' time - but at least for now we have some space in both the shed and the garage which is great. Next weekend we will be busy getting the front garden sorted out and then the following weekend we are off to an orientation and information day at Griffith University where Kaitlin is going to be going to school next year. We are really looking forward to that.
Well, had better be on my way - need to shower and get ready to go to work. Monday nights are a pain as we only start work at 10pm and it is all I can do to stay awake until we have to go into work. Take care everyone and have a great week !
Alan and Kaitlin haven't been feeling well the past couple of days - sore throats, stuffy noses. We took Al off to the dr on Saturday - just the viral thing going around which EVERYONE is getting. At this stage no need for anti-biotics but we need to keep an eye on his chest. He has been using the nebuliser which does seem to help.
Kaitlin has been for some training for a new job with Muffin Break - she seems quite keen on it. They sell muffins, cookies, wraps and make cappuccino's, lattes etc so that will be good for her to learn - maybe a great barista in the making !!!! She played softball yesterday and then was asked to play up in the Res A side - she had such a great game and spent most of the game with a grin from ear to ear. She did get a lovely roasty on her knee when she had to slide into home which isn't so good. Wednesday will see my folks collecting her from school to take her to her Inter-school Athletics carnival where she is representing Saint Stephen's in the 100m and 100m relay.
The renovations at home are coming along - too slowly for my liking. The trouble is that there are only so many workable hours each weekend and there never seems to be enough of those. This past weekend we had a skip (big waste bin) delivered and got rid of lots of things which have been horded in the shed and garage - I'm sure some of what we have got rid of we will need in a few months' time - but at least for now we have some space in both the shed and the garage which is great. Next weekend we will be busy getting the front garden sorted out and then the following weekend we are off to an orientation and information day at Griffith University where Kaitlin is going to be going to school next year. We are really looking forward to that.
Well, had better be on my way - need to shower and get ready to go to work. Monday nights are a pain as we only start work at 10pm and it is all I can do to stay awake until we have to go into work. Take care everyone and have a great week !
Friday, 3 August 2007
Access to more photos
I think I have found a way to load photos onto an album in gmail and then post a link here so I don't have to load the photos 5 at a time which takes forever and you don't get to see many photos. This way you can see heaps more (if it works) and it is so much quicker and easier.
Below please find links to the albums (would love to hear from anyone who tries them if they work or not - thanks !!!) If you hold your mouse over the photo you will get to see the whole caption.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/NoosaJanuary2007?authkey=rcxrfxuK1Qc - these are photos from our long weekend away in Noosa in January this year
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/OutsideRenovations?authkey=xQijz09b-ZM - these are a lot of the photos taken during the outside renovations
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/PoolRenoS2007?authkey=AiIsuPEWGIA - these are of the pavers on the driveway (haven't worked out how to add photos to albums already existing when uploading from the camera so there will be more renovation albums coming out in the future
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/AlanSSpatialFrame?authkey=s5jdVZVbVDc - these are of the frame on Al's leg - definitely not for the feint hearted although when you see them (photos) or it (the frame on his leg) for long enough you do get used to it. My stomach turned I don't know how many somersaults when I first saw it and towards the end I was cleaning the pin sites and doing what needed to be done if Kaitlin wasn't around to do it !!!!!
Have a great weekend everyone and take care. Go safely and look after yourselves. Will post an update in the next couple of weeks.
Below please find links to the albums (would love to hear from anyone who tries them if they work or not - thanks !!!) If you hold your mouse over the photo you will get to see the whole caption.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/NoosaJanuary2007?authkey=rcxrfxuK1Qc - these are photos from our long weekend away in Noosa in January this year
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/OutsideRenovations?authkey=xQijz09b-ZM - these are a lot of the photos taken during the outside renovations
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/PoolRenoS2007?authkey=AiIsuPEWGIA - these are of the pavers on the driveway (haven't worked out how to add photos to albums already existing when uploading from the camera so there will be more renovation albums coming out in the future
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/AlanSSpatialFrame?authkey=s5jdVZVbVDc - these are of the frame on Al's leg - definitely not for the feint hearted although when you see them (photos) or it (the frame on his leg) for long enough you do get used to it. My stomach turned I don't know how many somersaults when I first saw it and towards the end I was cleaning the pin sites and doing what needed to be done if Kaitlin wasn't around to do it !!!!!
Have a great weekend everyone and take care. Go safely and look after yourselves. Will post an update in the next couple of weeks.
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