K's birthday has come and gone - who would have thought that 16 years ago Al and I were driving to Ouma's home from the hospital with this tiny little thing who was too small for any clothes we had so we had to stop off at Reggie's to buy some premie clothes that fitted her !!!! Now she has her learner's licence and is raring to get on the roads !! Thank you for all the birthday wishes you sent - she will be mailing you to say thank you herself as soon as she gets a chance.
Life is extremely busy for all of us - with the accelerated learning that K is doing, she really doesn't have much time to herself. I do feel very sorry for her at times - I would hate to have to do the work that she is doing - but she is doing it well and accepting the challenges thrown her way and I do believe it is the best thing that she could have done. This system has extended her in ways none of us would have thought possible.
Work is going well - long hours over month end are the go right now although I am hoping that once I get the job under control, it won't be that bad. It is a case of getting my head around the terminology, the costings, the departments and the different systems that each hospital uses. I have four hospitals - each using 3 different systems and a joint venture which is included then excluded and then included somewhere else - all to be accounted for each month - not an easy task I have to say but certainly a challenging one !!!
My studies have been on hold last week and this week as we are having a mid-semester break. It has allowed me to get my assignment finished - now I just need Al and K to finish proof reading it and then I can get it printed and bound and handed in next week. I have done no studying for my exam in two weeks time - will tackle that this coming weekend.
Next weekend we are off to Sydney for a friend's 40th birthday. Al and I fly down on Friday morning and are going to Taronga Zoo for the day. Then K flys down in the early evening and we will pick her up from the airport. We will be there until Sunday night when we fly back to Coolangatta - hopefully it won't be too cold down there !!!!
I hope you are all well and that things are going well wherever in the world you are - take care and look after yourselves !
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Sunday, 27 April 2008
April (nearly May) update
Who would have believed that it is nearly May already. Before we know it K will have her licence and be out on the roads !!!!! She has already arranged for my folks to take her for her learner's licence on Monday 12th May and wanted to know who was going to pay for her licence when she passes !!! It is $17.50 to write the learners exam - we said we would pay for one learners test - and then $65 if you pass to actually get issued with your learners licence - I guess we will be paying for that when she passes as well !!!! Then it will be up to Al to teach her because I don't think I will be any good at it. According to the new laws the kids now have to have a certain number of hours with a driving school, so many logged hours of day and night driving as well as some other things which I can't remember !!!
I started my new job on Wednesday - what a different environment it is - so much more dynamic that the school (or any of the other jobs I have had come to think of it) but it is certainly a challenge and one that I am looking forward to meeting. The hours are longer but at the moment that isn't a problem - I am happy to put the hours in for the challenge that this job presents. I guess if it gets too much I can always look for something else but for now I am really happy that I made the move.
It was ANZAC Day on Friday so we have had a long weekend - which has been great. I spent Friday working on my assignment for anatomy and physiology and then on Saturday we went up to Redlands Bay (where K plays softball) as there was the Southern Cross Tournament on - between some Qld state and club sides and some sides over from NZ - they are hoping to have the tournament every year over the ANZAC weekend. So that was all very relaxing except that I landed up with the worst headache ever - it is just hovering at the back of my head at the moment - hope it is all gone tomorrow as I have lots to do at work and don't want to have to put up with a headache at the same time.
Today we went for brunch with one of the ladies who used to work with me at SSC - she invited us over before I left work. We had a great time there - chatting away about all sorts of things. Al gets on very well with her husband who used to play baseball for Australia so they have lots in common to talk about and of course the two of us could talk the hind leg off a donkey given half a chance. The good thing was that apart from the initial conversation, work at SSC never even came up although I did get to hear all the goss on what has happened since I left - who would have thought that so much could have happened in two days !!!!!
Well - I am off to watch the last of the footy - take care and keep in touch !
I started my new job on Wednesday - what a different environment it is - so much more dynamic that the school (or any of the other jobs I have had come to think of it) but it is certainly a challenge and one that I am looking forward to meeting. The hours are longer but at the moment that isn't a problem - I am happy to put the hours in for the challenge that this job presents. I guess if it gets too much I can always look for something else but for now I am really happy that I made the move.
It was ANZAC Day on Friday so we have had a long weekend - which has been great. I spent Friday working on my assignment for anatomy and physiology and then on Saturday we went up to Redlands Bay (where K plays softball) as there was the Southern Cross Tournament on - between some Qld state and club sides and some sides over from NZ - they are hoping to have the tournament every year over the ANZAC weekend. So that was all very relaxing except that I landed up with the worst headache ever - it is just hovering at the back of my head at the moment - hope it is all gone tomorrow as I have lots to do at work and don't want to have to put up with a headache at the same time.
Today we went for brunch with one of the ladies who used to work with me at SSC - she invited us over before I left work. We had a great time there - chatting away about all sorts of things. Al gets on very well with her husband who used to play baseball for Australia so they have lots in common to talk about and of course the two of us could talk the hind leg off a donkey given half a chance. The good thing was that apart from the initial conversation, work at SSC never even came up although I did get to hear all the goss on what has happened since I left - who would have thought that so much could have happened in two days !!!!!
Well - I am off to watch the last of the footy - take care and keep in touch !
Sunday, 30 March 2008
March post
Well, I am once again sitting at a softball field – seems like the only time I get to sit down and catch up on some news. Kaitlin is playing in the State Softball Championships U19 tournament. They started on Thursday – Alan managed to get down for a couple of her games – I wasn’t able to as I was beuy finalising the financial statements from the auditors. Mom and Dad also managed to get down and see some of her games. We both had Friday off and so have been here since then. The weather hasn’t been a little miserable – raining on and off most days. Today is the last day of the tournament and the sun is out and shining brightly !!! no doubt everyone will go home looks like lobsters. The tournament was held on the Gold Coast last year so at least we did not have the expense of having to travel and just the long hike from home to Pizzey Park each day. Kaitlin’s team finished the pool games in 5th spot – I think last year they finished 6th – so they are in the playoffs between 5th and 6th this morning.
About 3 weeks ago my Mom stood on a needle in their sewing room and it broke off in her foot. Dad found half the needle but couldn’t find the second half. They didn’t know if it was still in her foot or if it had just got lost in the carpet. Anyway, she continued with her 2.5km walk to meet Dad when he comes home from work and so thought that it was out. On Easter Friday they came over for dinner and Mom was limping a little – I asked her what the matter was and she said that her foot was sore. I had a look and it was little ball on the ball of her foot. Anyway, the next day she tried to see the dr – not there – so went to Gold Coast hospital – the long and the short of the story is that they had to get an orthopaedic surgeon to operate (at about 4pm on Sunday afternoon) and she came home late on Monday afternoon. It is all still bandaged up and she has to go back to the hospital on 4th April for them to take the stitches out. Mom told the dr that she walks around bare foot in the sewing room so that she can find the big headed pins !!!!!!!! He told her to walk around in the sewing room with shoes on in future !! She seems to be managing OK and of course she has Dad to look after her to it is all good.
Kaitlin seems to be settling into life at QAHS. It has certainly been a huge adjustment for both her and us. There seems to be a lot more running around that we have to do but that may just be because we have to travel in the opposite direction to drop her at the academy before travelling up to school and work for Al and I. This year she has to do 100 hrs of volunteer work between community, artistic and sport activities. She has been teaching refugees on a Monday afternoon in Southport so normally catches the bus there after school, then on Tuesday she catches a bus down to Emmanuel College to go to softball training, then on Wednesday and Thursday she is doing a year 12 subject after school from 2.20 – 4.30 and on a Friday she goes to extra maths tuts at school. Then on Saturday she works at Bakers Delight the whole day and Sunday afternoon she has softball training again – so as you can see she has a rather busy schedule at the moment. Thank goodness school softball will finish today and then it is the start of club softball up at Redlands Bay (about 1hr 15mins north of where we live) – they have training on a Tuesday night and games on Sunday morning sometime. Everyone mentioned that year 11 was a big jump from year 10 and I think with the changing schools and being taught in a completely different way, it has certainly been a challenge but one that she has risen to and made us proud. I think it will be good grounding for when she goes to uni as it is based very much on how they teach at uni compared to how they teach at school – they are expected to use their initiative heaps more than what is expected of them at school – plus they have to be motivated to get on and do what needs to be done. They have about 3-4 hrs homework each day on top of assignments / studying for test / volunteer work so it really is a full on programme.
Work for Al and I is the same old same old. I am looking to move now that Kaitlin is no longer at Saint Stephen’s – it isn’t the same working there without having her pop in during the day. The only problem is that the hours are good – 8-4 – I love finishing at 4pm and don’t know if I could handle the 5pm finished. There are times whenI do work late 0 finished at about 7pm on Thursday so that I could have Friday off but on the whole, 4 – 4.30 finishes are what I have. At least if I have to leave at 4pm I can without it being an issue for anyone. Oh well, will wait and see what happens. When I win Lotto (which may be very soon) – I won’t have to worry about working at all and can do all the other things I want to do !!!!!!!!!!!
My studies are going well – I passed my first prac exam with flying colours and got 100% for the first theory exam I wrote. It was good confidence booster as it is many years since I wrote exams. Next week we start anatomy and physiology which is something I am looking forward to but not looking forward to the exam bit !!!!
We had a quiet Easter – Al was fiddling around in the garden and I spent some time visiting my Mom in hospital. Then on Easter Monday we went down to Pacific Fair as Kaitlin wanted to go clothes shopping so we had a full day down there in and out of most of the shops – she managed to find a couple of things to buy so was very happy at the end of the day – I was glad she found something to buy so that we didn’t spend the whole day in out of shops and not buy anything !!!!!
Well that is all the news from the family over here – would love to hear any news from you out there.
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Happy New Year to You !
Well another long drinks between posts although I am sure that everyone has been too busy to have read anything I wrote anyway.
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas wherever you were and whomever you were with and that 2008 brings you everything you wish for yourself.
Our surprise party for Dad was very successful - he was surprised so that was a good thing. This is the link to the photos from his party if you are interested http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/DadS70thBirthday Everyone seemed to have a good time - there was plenty of food and drink and most importantly we had a great time.
We had a lovely Christmas day lunch with our family and our extended family. We had family from Perth and South Africa share the day with us and all had a good time. I did eat too much food (actually I think we probably all ate too much food). Luckily the weather was good to us - normally it is as hot as Hades - this year we had a much cooler day with a nice breeze and not the blazing hot sun we have got used to since we arrived here 8 years ago. This is the link for the photos from Christmas day http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/ChristmasLunch2007
I haven't had any time off over the Christmas period. Al had the two weeks over Christmas and New Year. Kaitlin was working on and off back at Bakers Delight and seems to be very happy there. Everyone was sad to see her go from Muffin Break and happy at BD to see her back.
Kaitlin starts at QAHS on 29th January. She has found out that there are a couple of children who live in the neighbourhood who are also going there and has met up with some of them so at least they won't be going to school not knowing anyone. Their uniforms are very smart - white shirts and charcoal skirts to the knee with 3 knife pleats over the left knee. Their sports uniforms also look very smart. They do have the option of wearing long pants in winter as well. I will post some photos once we have them taken. She is very happy playing with her computer - it is so tiny - not sure that I would be able to work on it for umteen hours a day.
Well it is just about time to be on our way to Coles - take care everyone and go safely.
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas wherever you were and whomever you were with and that 2008 brings you everything you wish for yourself.
Our surprise party for Dad was very successful - he was surprised so that was a good thing. This is the link to the photos from his party if you are interested http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/DadS70thBirthday Everyone seemed to have a good time - there was plenty of food and drink and most importantly we had a great time.
We had a lovely Christmas day lunch with our family and our extended family. We had family from Perth and South Africa share the day with us and all had a good time. I did eat too much food (actually I think we probably all ate too much food). Luckily the weather was good to us - normally it is as hot as Hades - this year we had a much cooler day with a nice breeze and not the blazing hot sun we have got used to since we arrived here 8 years ago. This is the link for the photos from Christmas day http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/ChristmasLunch2007
I haven't had any time off over the Christmas period. Al had the two weeks over Christmas and New Year. Kaitlin was working on and off back at Bakers Delight and seems to be very happy there. Everyone was sad to see her go from Muffin Break and happy at BD to see her back.
Kaitlin starts at QAHS on 29th January. She has found out that there are a couple of children who live in the neighbourhood who are also going there and has met up with some of them so at least they won't be going to school not knowing anyone. Their uniforms are very smart - white shirts and charcoal skirts to the knee with 3 knife pleats over the left knee. Their sports uniforms also look very smart. They do have the option of wearing long pants in winter as well. I will post some photos once we have them taken. She is very happy playing with her computer - it is so tiny - not sure that I would be able to work on it for umteen hours a day.
Well it is just about time to be on our way to Coles - take care everyone and go safely.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
First day of summer
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.
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, 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.
Friday, 13 July 2007
Some in-between photos
The driveway finished. The garage door shows all the sample pots we used to try to find the right colour.
The small brown section on the very right hand side of the door shows where I have stripped the paint - that section took me about 4 hrs !!!!!
Another shot of the driveway
The front entrance now prepared for the pavers
The rectangle showing the pavers on the 45 degree pattern we have on the verandah, driveway, the entrance area (this picture) and on the front of the pub.
July 07 update
So much has happened since I last updated I hardly know where to start. Kaitlin went away on Sports Tour and had an absolute ball. They had decent weather most of the time and there was heaps of snow when they got to Snowy Mountains. She said she had a great time on tour and really enjoyed the skiing but was very happy to get back home. It is amazing how being away from home opens your eyes up to how fortunate you are - she said that she was really disgusted with how some of the children on tour ate as they had no table manners and didn't know how to eat properly !!!!!
The tour got in at about 8.30 on Friday night - we picked her up, got home and unpacked the dirty washing which needed to be washed, dried and packed again by 10am the following morning. The good thing about only being able to take 2 medium sized soft bags on tour is that you aren't able to take too much therefore there isn't that much to unpack and wash when you get home again.
10.30am saw her leaving on the bus with about 15 other teenagers - none of whom she knew - for the start of their 12 day Outward Bound experience. They split into 2 groups - one for the year 12 students and the rest of the kids in the second group. Kaitlin wasn't impressed that a lot of her group couldn't navigate their way to anything and most days they took the scenic route between camp sites !!!! This meant that they arrived at their camp sites in the dark so had to set up and cook in the dark - not happy Jan !! But she said she enjoyed this trip as much as the last even though they were both different. On this trip they had to spend 24 hrs by themselves - contemplating questions given to them and thinking about their values and morals, aims and ambitions - she did catch one mouse running up her shoulder while she was sleeping and managed to shake him off but not before he left her a little parcel on her glove !!! The worst thing was she had to tie her bivvie (piece of plastic to shelter her head) up over a grassy area and that wasn't good (apparently) as when you are in your sleeping bag on the grass and you move, it makes a noise and you don't know what made the noise !!! A stick kept close at hand which she used to hit the bivvie everytime she heard a noise seemed to get her through the night unharmed and in one piece.
She came back dirty and smelly (just like last time) and very appreciative of her home comforts - flushing toilet, toilet paper, bed, electric blanket, something to drink other than water !!! She got back on Wednesday afternoon and so had had two days to recover. Alan has been off the past two days as he got an ulcer in his eye this week which didn't heal so eventually yesterday morning the doctor scraped his eye and that seemed to do the trick - it is now healing nicely and today he has had to put in drops every hour or so - tomorrow we go back for our daily visit to the dr and hopefully the hole will be closed and all will be well.
While Kaitlin was away on Sports Tour we bought a new car - a Kia Ria 1.4 5 door hatch back. The white Toyota had to be put down - she was going to start costing us a lot of money to keep running and it just wasn't worth it. Charlie (the new car) goes like an absolute bomb and is so lovely to drive - really zippy and very comfortable. Plus she is so much lighter on fuel than the X-trail. Kaitlin was very pleased when she saw the new car as the Toyota has been the source of much embarrassment for her - nothing like being thankful she doesn't have to walk anywhere more a case of "Can't we take the X'trail rather" when faced with the prospect of having to arrive somewhere and be seen getting out of or into the Toyota - now she doesnt' mind which car we go in except that the Kia does only have windy windy windows at the back and she is used to having electric windows !!!!! We didn't think she would want to contibute the $1 500 to upgrade to the next model.
The other good news we have had is that Kaitlin has been offered a scholarship to go to a new school being started by Queensland Government called Queensland Academies for Health Sciences at Griffith University. These scholarships are being offered to brighter students following the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme (www.ibo.org if you are interested to see what they do) - basically it is a programme which is recognised internationally should you wish to get into a university outside of Australia. They have offered 150 year 11 scholarships - I don't know how many children sat the exam in total - there must have been about 200 students at the venue where Kaitlin wrote the exam and they did testing at venues throughout Queensland so you can imagine how extremely proud we were when the letter arrived offering her a position. They offered Health Sciences, Computer Technology and an Art programme. I have to be honest and say that I didn't think she had much chance - then the Friday before she left on Sports Tour we received an e-mail asking her to go to an interview (set for the week she was away which had to be changed) and after she showed me the questions she had had to answer at the interview, I really didn't think she would go any further so you can imagine my delight when the letter arrived on Tuesday before she got home on Wednesday from Outward Bound. Given that the date it arrived was 10 days after they said we would be told, I had really expected to get a regret letter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to make a 'pros and cons' list and then discuss what is going to be the best option for her. Will keep you posted on what decision we come to.
The tiler came today (finally) and all the grouting / paving / bull nosing is now all finished - YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!! I have to admit that there have been times over the past few weeks when I wondered if we were ever going to get it finished. The paving looks really good - will take some photos and post them once the grouting has all been washed and the pavers sealed. The entrance area is so much lighter now with the pavers rather than the slasto that used to be there and the pub looks really good. Al put the counter on last weekend (we think that is when he got the rubbish in his eye which caused the ulcer). Last weekend we managed to finally find the paint for the garage door and so I started to strip the garage door but, as per usual, it is turning out to be a bigger job than I originally anticipated. I am using paint stripper on it but it is still taking me a while. Will try to post some photos I took and you will see what I mean.
Tomorrow we have a couple of things on the go - and top of the list is the Mudgeeraba farmers markets for the bestest do-nuts in the whole wide world - for anyone coming to visit - make sure your time here includes either the 2nd or 4th Saturday of the month so that you can try them for yourself. I am not a do-nut person but honestly, you will not taste anything nicer. They are so lovely and fresh. All I can say is that thank goodness we don't go every 2nd and 4th Saturday otherwise my weight problem would be even worse than it already is !!!! Special occasions only - tomorrow's special occasion is that we haven't been for months and months !!!
Kaitlin will be back to softball on Sunday and I think that maybe I will send Al up with her (if his eye is OK and he can drive) and I will stay at home and carry on with the garage door otherwise it will turn into a never never project and I can't wait to get it all finished. Al wanted to have a combined birthday for me and outside area wetting but as we aren't really anywhere near finished, I said to leave it rather until the outside area was actually ready to be wet !!!!! Kaitlin is off baby-sitting for a friend of mine tonight and then tomorrow she is baby-sitting for our next door neighbours so the money is continuing to flow in for her.
On that note I am going to be off to see if I can load the last couple of photos that I took and then into the lounge room to watch some Friday night footy. The temps here have dropped quite a bit - now getting down to 3 and 4 degrees in the mornings - the weather forecast gives those temps for the Gold Coast but I don't think that is what we have at home - most mornings it is still about 12-14 inside the house. Thank goodness for our electric blankets - they have certainly been put to good use since we got them and I am sure, had we paid for them, we would have had our monies worth by now - instead we have had my folks monies worth !!!!!!
Take care everyone and drop us a line to let us know how you are getting on when you get a chance. Also, if you don't want to be included in the e-mail advising when I have up-dated our blog, please let me know and I will take your name off the 'mailing list'. Have a great weekend, go safely and (as a very good friend of mine says) try to do one lovely thing for yourself over the next two days.
The tour got in at about 8.30 on Friday night - we picked her up, got home and unpacked the dirty washing which needed to be washed, dried and packed again by 10am the following morning. The good thing about only being able to take 2 medium sized soft bags on tour is that you aren't able to take too much therefore there isn't that much to unpack and wash when you get home again.
10.30am saw her leaving on the bus with about 15 other teenagers - none of whom she knew - for the start of their 12 day Outward Bound experience. They split into 2 groups - one for the year 12 students and the rest of the kids in the second group. Kaitlin wasn't impressed that a lot of her group couldn't navigate their way to anything and most days they took the scenic route between camp sites !!!! This meant that they arrived at their camp sites in the dark so had to set up and cook in the dark - not happy Jan !! But she said she enjoyed this trip as much as the last even though they were both different. On this trip they had to spend 24 hrs by themselves - contemplating questions given to them and thinking about their values and morals, aims and ambitions - she did catch one mouse running up her shoulder while she was sleeping and managed to shake him off but not before he left her a little parcel on her glove !!! The worst thing was she had to tie her bivvie (piece of plastic to shelter her head) up over a grassy area and that wasn't good (apparently) as when you are in your sleeping bag on the grass and you move, it makes a noise and you don't know what made the noise !!! A stick kept close at hand which she used to hit the bivvie everytime she heard a noise seemed to get her through the night unharmed and in one piece.
She came back dirty and smelly (just like last time) and very appreciative of her home comforts - flushing toilet, toilet paper, bed, electric blanket, something to drink other than water !!! She got back on Wednesday afternoon and so had had two days to recover. Alan has been off the past two days as he got an ulcer in his eye this week which didn't heal so eventually yesterday morning the doctor scraped his eye and that seemed to do the trick - it is now healing nicely and today he has had to put in drops every hour or so - tomorrow we go back for our daily visit to the dr and hopefully the hole will be closed and all will be well.
While Kaitlin was away on Sports Tour we bought a new car - a Kia Ria 1.4 5 door hatch back. The white Toyota had to be put down - she was going to start costing us a lot of money to keep running and it just wasn't worth it. Charlie (the new car) goes like an absolute bomb and is so lovely to drive - really zippy and very comfortable. Plus she is so much lighter on fuel than the X-trail. Kaitlin was very pleased when she saw the new car as the Toyota has been the source of much embarrassment for her - nothing like being thankful she doesn't have to walk anywhere more a case of "Can't we take the X'trail rather" when faced with the prospect of having to arrive somewhere and be seen getting out of or into the Toyota - now she doesnt' mind which car we go in except that the Kia does only have windy windy windows at the back and she is used to having electric windows !!!!! We didn't think she would want to contibute the $1 500 to upgrade to the next model.
The other good news we have had is that Kaitlin has been offered a scholarship to go to a new school being started by Queensland Government called Queensland Academies for Health Sciences at Griffith University. These scholarships are being offered to brighter students following the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme (www.ibo.org if you are interested to see what they do) - basically it is a programme which is recognised internationally should you wish to get into a university outside of Australia. They have offered 150 year 11 scholarships - I don't know how many children sat the exam in total - there must have been about 200 students at the venue where Kaitlin wrote the exam and they did testing at venues throughout Queensland so you can imagine how extremely proud we were when the letter arrived offering her a position. They offered Health Sciences, Computer Technology and an Art programme. I have to be honest and say that I didn't think she had much chance - then the Friday before she left on Sports Tour we received an e-mail asking her to go to an interview (set for the week she was away which had to be changed) and after she showed me the questions she had had to answer at the interview, I really didn't think she would go any further so you can imagine my delight when the letter arrived on Tuesday before she got home on Wednesday from Outward Bound. Given that the date it arrived was 10 days after they said we would be told, I had really expected to get a regret letter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to make a 'pros and cons' list and then discuss what is going to be the best option for her. Will keep you posted on what decision we come to.
The tiler came today (finally) and all the grouting / paving / bull nosing is now all finished - YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!! I have to admit that there have been times over the past few weeks when I wondered if we were ever going to get it finished. The paving looks really good - will take some photos and post them once the grouting has all been washed and the pavers sealed. The entrance area is so much lighter now with the pavers rather than the slasto that used to be there and the pub looks really good. Al put the counter on last weekend (we think that is when he got the rubbish in his eye which caused the ulcer). Last weekend we managed to finally find the paint for the garage door and so I started to strip the garage door but, as per usual, it is turning out to be a bigger job than I originally anticipated. I am using paint stripper on it but it is still taking me a while. Will try to post some photos I took and you will see what I mean.
Tomorrow we have a couple of things on the go - and top of the list is the Mudgeeraba farmers markets for the bestest do-nuts in the whole wide world - for anyone coming to visit - make sure your time here includes either the 2nd or 4th Saturday of the month so that you can try them for yourself. I am not a do-nut person but honestly, you will not taste anything nicer. They are so lovely and fresh. All I can say is that thank goodness we don't go every 2nd and 4th Saturday otherwise my weight problem would be even worse than it already is !!!! Special occasions only - tomorrow's special occasion is that we haven't been for months and months !!!
Kaitlin will be back to softball on Sunday and I think that maybe I will send Al up with her (if his eye is OK and he can drive) and I will stay at home and carry on with the garage door otherwise it will turn into a never never project and I can't wait to get it all finished. Al wanted to have a combined birthday for me and outside area wetting but as we aren't really anywhere near finished, I said to leave it rather until the outside area was actually ready to be wet !!!!! Kaitlin is off baby-sitting for a friend of mine tonight and then tomorrow she is baby-sitting for our next door neighbours so the money is continuing to flow in for her.
On that note I am going to be off to see if I can load the last couple of photos that I took and then into the lounge room to watch some Friday night footy. The temps here have dropped quite a bit - now getting down to 3 and 4 degrees in the mornings - the weather forecast gives those temps for the Gold Coast but I don't think that is what we have at home - most mornings it is still about 12-14 inside the house. Thank goodness for our electric blankets - they have certainly been put to good use since we got them and I am sure, had we paid for them, we would have had our monies worth by now - instead we have had my folks monies worth !!!!!!
Take care everyone and drop us a line to let us know how you are getting on when you get a chance. Also, if you don't want to be included in the e-mail advising when I have up-dated our blog, please let me know and I will take your name off the 'mailing list'. Have a great weekend, go safely and (as a very good friend of mine says) try to do one lovely thing for yourself over the next two days.
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Some before photos
The area in front of our old verandah - new verandah now covers most of this area
Old verandah
Original pavers and blue garage door - still busy choosing new colour for door to go with sandstone pavers
Our back yard
Some more before photos
Looking from the front gate back towards the verandah and the (small) back yard
Our front gate
Looking from the back yard to the front
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Sandstone going down
Waiting for the concrete machine to arrive
The verandah sandstone down waiting to be grouted
Laying more sandstone
The front entrance
Sandstone already grouted
Replacing the facias and gutters
Replacing facias outside the kitchen
Replacing the facias outside the diningroom
Al and Dan getting the facias up while Kerry waits for the next instruction
No verandah or facia along our bedroom and passage wall
Saturday, 30 June 2007
Some pics of the new pool
The new pool with Kaitlin playing in the sheet of water
Al and Kaitlin fixing the sheet of water
Kaitlin still playing in the sheet of water
The old verandah roof ready to come down
Taking down the old verandah roof to replace with a bigger roof, new facias and gutters before Al went into hospital
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Update June 07
Finally, some time to sit down and update the blog. We have been sitting here watching State of Origin II - for those who aren’t Australian, this series is the biggest each year between Queensland and New South Wales. It is rugby league (the 13 man rugby) and each year they play 3 games. Most QLD and NSW supporters are really passionate about this series. They started playing in 1980 and since then there is only 5 points difference (in Qld’s favour) in total points scored. We won the series last year for the first time in I don’t know how many years - and tonight we won the second game - after having won the first game 3 weeks ago - so the series is ours !!!
Anyway, enough about that. The news from our side of the world is as follows :
Kaitlin got sick about 3 weeks ago - acute tonsillitis, temp and a dreadful cough. Unfortunately, this was about 10 days before her exams so that didn’t help with her studying - plus it wasn’t all that fun writing exams while coughing your lungs out !!! So, am not sure what to expect with her results but at least I know she gave it her best shot. She leaves on the school sports tour on Tuesday. They are going to Sydney, Canberra and 3 days skiing at Perisher Blue. They get home the following Friday and then she leaves for 12 days on Outward Bound. She went on an OB course last year and thoroughly enjoyed herself. They drop 16-18 teenagers with 2 instructors into the middle of the bush. They are taught how to navigate their way from one place to another, they have to organise their shelter each night, work out what food they need, where to dig their toilet, cook their good after setting up camp etc - it truly is an amazing experience for the kids who go.
After K got sick, because we are a caring and sharing family, she passed it onto me. So I had the cough and landed up losing my voice 10 days ago (and it is still gone - very peaceful at home but oh, so frustrating !!!!) - I haven’t managed to get rid of the cough which continues to annoy me (and the rest of the family and the people I work with no doubt !!!) And, because I love Al so much, I passed it onto him this week !!!!! He is now having a turn with the anti-biotics - I just hope that he managed to get to the dr soon enough and that it doesn’t take hold in his chest. The cold snap over here doesn’t help either - neither of us are working at our second jobs this week - going in and out of the cold certainly doesn’t help - hopefully we will be fighting fit and back at work with no problems next week. My folks gave us electric blankets for us for our birthdays and they have certainly been put to good use. We have even been using the heating on our reverse cycle air con - probably more in the past two weeks than we used it for the whole of last winter. The temps are down to about 13-14 in the mornings - a lot chillier than what we were used to in Durban !!!
This afternoon my folks had their citizenship ceremony - who would have believed that they have been here nearly 2 ½ years already - the time has gone to quickly. My Mom is looking forward to her sister coming to visit later this year - she gets here a couple of days after we get back from Spain and will be here for both my Mom and Dad’s 70th birthdays. My mother-in-law, Rhona, will also be here for Christmas - she is coming over for Danny’s 50th birthday and Roy and Kathy and children will be coming over from Perth as well - so we will be having a huge Christmas shindig no doubt.
Hopefully we will be able to have our outside renovations finished by then !!!!! The pavers have now been completed - last weekend we cleaned them with a high pressure gun and next weekend we will sealing them and then that is that (for the pavers at least !!!). We are still waiting for the tiler to get his saw fixed so that he can come and finish the tiling on the pub - we managed to get a great piece of wood for the top of the pub - Al just needs to work out how to attach it to the pub that he and Dad built. Then we need to get into the garden - with us paving a bigger area than what was previously paved, we have had to move the water feature and all the plants. Then it will be into the back garden where we have to lift the level of the grass and take some gardens out and put more grass down. We put in 4 water tanks to help with the drought - the water was great as it allowed us to use the pressure gun last week otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to clean them which would have been sad as I wouldn’t have liked to seal them without having been able to clean them.
I can’t remember if I told you that Al has had his frame removed - I’m sure I did as it was just after Easter that it was taken off. We went to the dr for his 6 week check up last week and he is really happy with the results. The dr is confident that his knee will be able to last until he can have a knee replacement at 55 (gee that sounds like he would be old and it isn’t that far away !!!!)
We haven’t really done anything else with our plans for Spain - we have our tickets (well we don’t actually have them in our grubby little paws yet but they are booked) and we have booked 3 weeks of our accommodation. We just need to sort out accommodation in Madrid and Barcelona and how we are going to get between the two cities. We will arrange to hire a car once we have finished in Madrid and Barcelona and will then be driving our way around. We are relying on Kaitlin’s Spanish to get us around - hope she doesn’t let us down !!!!! I am sure that she will do a great job - and at least we won’t go hungry as her Spanish teacher has said she will make sure she knows how to order food if nothing else ! We have lots of day trips and sight seeing that we want to do - just hope we can fit it all in - otherwise we may have to go back again another time !!!!!!
We managed to see some of the games from the French Open - not as much as I would have liked due to us living half way around the world from everyone else which means that the time difference makes it a little difficult to watch everything - I guess if we weren’t working we would have been able to watch more of the games but that is the price we have to pay if we want to do the renovations and keep on travelling!!!!
With a bit of luck, some extra time and good behaviour from blogger, I will try to upload some photos of the new pavers and the road we travelled to get the outside into the shape that it is in - the garden still isn’t done but at least you will be able to see what the pavers look like.
While it is not past my bedtime - I can hear my (toasty) bed calling me so will be closing this off so that I can save it and hopefully upload it onto blogger in the next day or two.
Take care Everyone, go safely and look after yourselves.
Anyway, enough about that. The news from our side of the world is as follows :
Kaitlin got sick about 3 weeks ago - acute tonsillitis, temp and a dreadful cough. Unfortunately, this was about 10 days before her exams so that didn’t help with her studying - plus it wasn’t all that fun writing exams while coughing your lungs out !!! So, am not sure what to expect with her results but at least I know she gave it her best shot. She leaves on the school sports tour on Tuesday. They are going to Sydney, Canberra and 3 days skiing at Perisher Blue. They get home the following Friday and then she leaves for 12 days on Outward Bound. She went on an OB course last year and thoroughly enjoyed herself. They drop 16-18 teenagers with 2 instructors into the middle of the bush. They are taught how to navigate their way from one place to another, they have to organise their shelter each night, work out what food they need, where to dig their toilet, cook their good after setting up camp etc - it truly is an amazing experience for the kids who go.
After K got sick, because we are a caring and sharing family, she passed it onto me. So I had the cough and landed up losing my voice 10 days ago (and it is still gone - very peaceful at home but oh, so frustrating !!!!) - I haven’t managed to get rid of the cough which continues to annoy me (and the rest of the family and the people I work with no doubt !!!) And, because I love Al so much, I passed it onto him this week !!!!! He is now having a turn with the anti-biotics - I just hope that he managed to get to the dr soon enough and that it doesn’t take hold in his chest. The cold snap over here doesn’t help either - neither of us are working at our second jobs this week - going in and out of the cold certainly doesn’t help - hopefully we will be fighting fit and back at work with no problems next week. My folks gave us electric blankets for us for our birthdays and they have certainly been put to good use. We have even been using the heating on our reverse cycle air con - probably more in the past two weeks than we used it for the whole of last winter. The temps are down to about 13-14 in the mornings - a lot chillier than what we were used to in Durban !!!
This afternoon my folks had their citizenship ceremony - who would have believed that they have been here nearly 2 ½ years already - the time has gone to quickly. My Mom is looking forward to her sister coming to visit later this year - she gets here a couple of days after we get back from Spain and will be here for both my Mom and Dad’s 70th birthdays. My mother-in-law, Rhona, will also be here for Christmas - she is coming over for Danny’s 50th birthday and Roy and Kathy and children will be coming over from Perth as well - so we will be having a huge Christmas shindig no doubt.
Hopefully we will be able to have our outside renovations finished by then !!!!! The pavers have now been completed - last weekend we cleaned them with a high pressure gun and next weekend we will sealing them and then that is that (for the pavers at least !!!). We are still waiting for the tiler to get his saw fixed so that he can come and finish the tiling on the pub - we managed to get a great piece of wood for the top of the pub - Al just needs to work out how to attach it to the pub that he and Dad built. Then we need to get into the garden - with us paving a bigger area than what was previously paved, we have had to move the water feature and all the plants. Then it will be into the back garden where we have to lift the level of the grass and take some gardens out and put more grass down. We put in 4 water tanks to help with the drought - the water was great as it allowed us to use the pressure gun last week otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to clean them which would have been sad as I wouldn’t have liked to seal them without having been able to clean them.
I can’t remember if I told you that Al has had his frame removed - I’m sure I did as it was just after Easter that it was taken off. We went to the dr for his 6 week check up last week and he is really happy with the results. The dr is confident that his knee will be able to last until he can have a knee replacement at 55 (gee that sounds like he would be old and it isn’t that far away !!!!)
We haven’t really done anything else with our plans for Spain - we have our tickets (well we don’t actually have them in our grubby little paws yet but they are booked) and we have booked 3 weeks of our accommodation. We just need to sort out accommodation in Madrid and Barcelona and how we are going to get between the two cities. We will arrange to hire a car once we have finished in Madrid and Barcelona and will then be driving our way around. We are relying on Kaitlin’s Spanish to get us around - hope she doesn’t let us down !!!!! I am sure that she will do a great job - and at least we won’t go hungry as her Spanish teacher has said she will make sure she knows how to order food if nothing else ! We have lots of day trips and sight seeing that we want to do - just hope we can fit it all in - otherwise we may have to go back again another time !!!!!!
We managed to see some of the games from the French Open - not as much as I would have liked due to us living half way around the world from everyone else which means that the time difference makes it a little difficult to watch everything - I guess if we weren’t working we would have been able to watch more of the games but that is the price we have to pay if we want to do the renovations and keep on travelling!!!!
With a bit of luck, some extra time and good behaviour from blogger, I will try to upload some photos of the new pavers and the road we travelled to get the outside into the shape that it is in - the garden still isn’t done but at least you will be able to see what the pavers look like.
While it is not past my bedtime - I can hear my (toasty) bed calling me so will be closing this off so that I can save it and hopefully upload it onto blogger in the next day or two.
Take care Everyone, go safely and look after yourselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)