Been a while....

Renees party was a success...my tip, hire someone else to entertain!! This company was just a good as 4 years ago for Nicola's birthday.

Sarah has turned 15 and Nicola has turned 11 - and got the Camera she has been asking for.

Currently in the throes of Christmas. Im about 3/4 the way through with the shopping and hopefully the tree will go up this weekend.

Renee has completed dancing for the year and had a concert a couple of weeks ago.

Tomorrow is the presentation day for that at a local Irish pub. Bizarre venue choice but apparantly that is where it is each year.

Bec has finally got a casual job and is earning money...woo! TAFE has finished for the year. We are spending New Years down in Huskisson on the beach and then will finish of the holidays with a week in Melbourn attending a friends 40th! All the kids are coming with us and are excited!

Im enjoying Facebook - its very good for finding old school friends. Some I shouldn't have lost touch with in the first place. Life gets in the way I suppose.

I need to keep this blog going for my own sanity...good luck to me!

Nearly there...

Party bags are nearly done, cup cakes made, everything else is bought. We've had 10 of the 20 RSVP's for tomorrow party. Ive planned around all 20 plus the older girls have friends coming, but Renees classmates will have first dibs on the lollie bags! I still need to get a couple more things for the bags that ran out and Ill go for a quick walk to the corner shop for those.
1 more sleep! I got 2 small Ice cream cakes. I priced the ones at Baskin-Robins and to feed the amount Im having I need to pay around $50. I dont think so!
Brett and I are going to the movies tonight. We have some freebies that have to be used by July 31st. We are going to see Hancock. Should be good as Will Smith is always worth a look!

Birthday Prep

The calls are starting to come in for Renees party. About 10 confirmed now, but Im sure some will just turn up but thats ok. I was planning on making an Ice Cream cake because I couldnt believe how much they cost! Ive changed my mind yet again and will probably buy 2 small ones, put the candles in one and have the other one ready for those that the first doesn't feed. Ive not made one before and I don't want to stuff up with an audience of 20 6 and 7 year olds!! Get the kids nice and hyped and send them home!!
Bec's friend has paid for her Timberland Ticket in advance like I requested so I guess that means Ill have to get the tickets. Was hoping they would all forget lol. Id love to see him myself but can't really afford another $100 so it will just be Bec and 2 friends. Im thinking about getting Billy Joel tickets for Brett for fathers day. BJ is due here in November. All depends on if the tickets going on sale co incide with a pay week!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Family BBQ (Sis in law back from Ireland this morning!)

Tuesday - Chicken Rissoles and Salad

Wednesday - Cajun Chicken with Fettucini

Thursday - Savoury Mince with Mash Potato

Friday -Toasted Sandwiches

Saturday - Chicken Pastries

Sunday - Lasagne - (Renees Birthday party is today so will have loads of party food. Depends on how much is consumed as to wether I bother cooking a Lasagne...will have to wait and see.)

Both Bec and I are attempting the CSIRO diet but I told her I wasn't going to cook us separate things for dinner, I was going to serve us smaller portions of whatever I was cooking the family.

My problem is biscuits with coffee at work and having 2nds of dinner....oh yeh and lack of exercise!

In other news....ITS A SCHOOL NIGHT!!!

Sandy is back from Ireland and we had a BBQ here tonight for dinner. Her ex and our 2 nephews were here plus the inlaws. Was good fun!

Have now had 2 of Renees friends respond to the party invite. School goes back tomorrow for Term 3 and the RSVP date is Friday so hopefully here from a few more. I must admit that I haven't always been good at responding so I guess my pacing is payback!! I hereby promise to always respond to an RSVP date for kids parties!!

Hehehe ooops!

40 As a 1930s wife, I am Poor Take the test!

Yellow Card!

Took Bec to her Soccer game today and stayed to watch. Believe it or not there were 3 yellow cards!!! The opposition goalie had such a foul mouth, ever second word was THE f-word. She eventually went too far and got a yellow card. Then one of theirs and one of ours bumped into each other, fell down and got back up swinging...hence 2 more yellow cards. We won!!!

Happy Birthday Renee!!

Renee turned 7 today!

Nana stayed over last night so she would be here for the present ceremony. Renee was very happy with her gifts. Nana came back after work for dinner and cake (thanks Woolies). Heaps of photos. She will have her birthday party with friends here on July 27th. http://www.boptillyoudrop.com.au/ are coming. We actually had them here for Nic's 7th as well. The price has only gone up $20 in 4 years. Should be great fun!

Missing in action yet again!

Things got way to busy obviously!

Spoke to my Doctor about the Cancer and she said it was all gone but I would have to continually check for anything that didnt look right! Ive also had pills for the lump/cyst on the outside of my breast. I think its just going to be a bad health year for me! Did finally have the Pap which is the ONLY thing I wanted this year lol.

School hols at the moment, older girls are looking after younger ones while I work 3 days a week. Nic has bad flu at the moment and is on meds for that plus the aches and pains that go with it. She has also lost 5 teeth in the last month which Im hoping is just a freaky co-incidence. Tooth Fairy has been busy!

Business is slow, Ebay is non existant for me at the moment altho I do have listings there. I got a neg from someone and ebay suddenly restricted me!! Oh well!! Currently getting some ads put into a magazine for The Embellishment Castle and received the first draft which is crap. They have SO obviously taken an ad from about 3 years ago and put on my new (to them) Logo. Even quoting stuff Im selling that Im not selling anymore!!

Renee finally lost her first tooth a few weeks ago. She is currently doing a dance each morning counting down the sleeps till her Birthday. 2 sleeps to go!!

Trying to organise a trip down to Tassie to visit mum. Chez said she will come with me.

Speaking of Chez!! I went up to Newcastle to witness the birth of her 3rd!! AWESOME!!! Keira Lilli-Ann was born on May 15th. Ive seen her twice since then lol. Hopefully Ill see them again either next weekend or the one after (when we have Renees birthday party!)

The C word

Spoke with the nurse at the Doctors surgery and apparantly the 'thing' they cut off my now was Cancer. She said no further surgery is needed but the Doc still wants to see me. I told her I had just made an appointment for next Wednesday and was that soon enough and she said yes. The deal was that if it was nasty, someone would have rung me last week while my Doc was away and no one did so Im not panicing yet.
I do think I have earned a big block of Cadbury Chocolate.
I came out of our ensuite telling Brett I was going to have Cascading Style Sheet nightmares, he looked astonished that I was reading TAFE stuff in there. WHERE ELSE can I read uninterupted!!!??? Men just don't understand hehe.

Saturday/Sunday

Finally got a couple of those Bulk packs on ebay. Brett took the kids Mothers day shopping ready for next Sunday. Nic and Renee also need $5 each for the Mothers day stall next Thursday. Hopefully Ill know tomorrow night which is 'baby' day next week.

Took Sarah to the funeral of her teacher today. Very sad occasion, Church packed to the rafters. I should have warned Sarah that as it was a Catholic service it would be at least an hour long. All the kids were standing around the walls on the inside of the church, I thought some would fade but they all made it through. I was able to see Sarah throughout the service so I could keep an eye on her. It was very moving, he sounded like he was quite an interesting fun guy. I assume he had ex issues with 2 of his kids as when one of his brothers was speaking he ended with 'it shouldn't be so hard to see your kids'. Very sad.

Sarah said today that the Principal at the High School is leaving. He found out about his new job over the holidays and was ready to make the announcement when school started back! Poor man, very sad week. I haven't had much to do with the Principal personally, although I do see him in the supermarket, but he loves the kids, is very enthusiastic about the school and is very good to listen to with speeches and such. They will have a fill in for the rest of the year and then get a new one for 2009.

Renee had an excursion today to an Aboriginal Cultural Centre. When I picked her up from school this afternoon I asked her how was her day. ' It was boring' 'We threw a boomerang, painted stuff and listened' ' The bus ride was SO much fun, I love bus rides'

The funeral is Friday and they have told the Year 9 and 10 accelerated students to go if they want and if they get permission. Apparantly they are going to have the students do a guard of honour which will be quite emotional. The service will be in a nearby suburb and then followed by a burial service elsewhere but I honestly don't think Sarah needs to go to this. This is really the first death that Sarah has had to deal with. Very sad school community.

Our local High School lost a teacher on Monday. Sarah's Accelerated History teacher had a heart attack Monday morning. Most of the kids found out via the MSN grapevine by Monday night. Sarah came downstairs around 9.30pm and started to talk and I asked her if she had been crying and she just broke down. First day back after 2 weeks of School holidays today and the poor kids were greeted by councellors. He was a very popular teacher.
He was only 49!!!!
Bec's school also had a special meeting as the teacher also taught there a couple of times a week with the Year 11 Accelerated class. He was supposed to have Sarah for this subject for Year 9, 10 and then 11. Today she was supposed to have her normal History class and then after school was the accelerated class. After school was cancelled and during school the other Accelerated teacher came to them (he does the Geography half) but Sarah said he was crying and the Headmaster turned up and he was visibly upset. Sarahs stepmum works at the school and she saught out Sarah for a hug which was nice. She would be hurting too from losing a collegue. Thursday night is the first night back for the basketball team and of course, all but 1 are in the History class so goodness knows how they will concentrate.

Monday - Tonights meal went from Lasagne to Spag Bol to BBQ and chips as the afternoon went on....

Tuesday - Chicken Schnitzel with Salad

Wednesday - Chicken Rissoles with Salad

Thursday - Chicken Stir Fry with Hokkien noodles

Friday - Egg/Beans on toast.

Saturday - no idea

Sunday - Garlic Roast Chicken made by Brett (he doesn't know it yet!)

Not very interesting, but gets us to the next pay day.

Check out Laura for more menu plans...fantastic ideas from all over the world.

Had a call from my Tutor today to say the paperwork had arrived. Had another call from Accounts wanting payment hehe. Hopefully I can put them off till Friday.

Took mother in law to the Airport. Managed to get through the M5 tunnel with out passing out. A lot of silence in the car and deep breathing involved. Its so easy to get to, M7 to M5 and the airport is at the other end. Coming back wasn't too bad. Parking was only $20 and we were there for a couple of hours. Anyway, Sandy and Maz are now flying on their way to Italy. While they are away, I have the Cricut AND the Cuttlebug embosser to play with! Woohoo!

oh and also - ITS A SCHOOL NIGHT!!!! WOOHOOOO!!

Quiet afternoon. The weather couldn't really make up its mind. No rain, but sunshine, then very windy then cloudy then sunshine again. Got very windy late in the day.
I put together 4 Embellishment packs. Managed to get 3 themed ones out of all my stock plus a Miscellaneous. Got a lot loaded, shelves cleaned off, now just have to get the packs listed.

Ebay Queen

Ive been an Ebay listing fool tonight! Got heaps on. Also have cleared the shelves of stuff that just doesn't sell and tomorrow I will be putting together bulk Embellishment packs to Auction. Pointless keeping stuff that just gathers dust. This will provide both $$ and room for the next load of Brads that I have my eye on!
Also had a call from one of the publishers Ive dealt with before wanting to talk about my website and advertising. Im willing to listen but will not be signing up for any long term committment. Can't do anything till the website is up and running. It doesn't function at the moment. That should be fixed by next weekend though.

Anzac Day

Whilst I don't personally have any Ancestors who faught in any Wars for Australia I do understand the significance of the day. Im first generation Aussie on my fathers side, and 2nd on my mothers. My WW1 ancestor Tom was English and faught with the Royal Field Artillery. He was from Lincolnshire and his father and grandfather were Blacksmiths in a village called Sotby. When I found him it was no surprise to see he was with horses. He died on the 4th April 1917 and is buried in France. I know exactly where and one day I will go there.
Sarah has to do an assignment involving placing herself in the position of a Politician, soldier or parent of soldier during WW1. We decided to transplant Tom to the Australian Army and she will use his name and family names etc. Thought that was a nice touch.
Whilst doing some research for Sarah I stumbled accross this fascinating website WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier This blog is made up of transcripts of Harry Lamin's letters from the first World War. The letters will be posted exactly 90 years after they were written. To find out Harry's fate, follow the blog! The Blog is kept by the Grandson of Harry. It took me a few hours to go back and read and Im now up to date. I couldn't find one of those RSS Feed thingys so I just go there each day and hope there is a new post. I have no idea if he survived the war or not. It wouldn't be hard to find out but I think I will just see what happens each day.

No soccer training tonight or any games due to the wet weather we have been having. Im sure we missed a load last season too due to the rain. Oh well. Not my weekend anyways!
Public Holiday tomorrow for Anzac day.

Bedside manner

I had my appointment today to get the 'thing' cut off my nose. The anesthetic hurt!! *snif* my eyes were watering. The nurse and my doctor were then discussing 'slicing' and 'knife size' and I called out 'ear plugs' which had them both laughing. I told her that the pills she gave me last week for the gastro thing had worked and she was quite pleased to get feedback. I said well Im not usually here often enough to give feedback. I still haven't had the blasted pap smear which is all I wanted this year!!
Anyway, they got the 'thing' off and have now sent it away to see what it is although my doc is pretty sure its a BCC. Just need to know if it is nasty or not. I have to ring Monday week to get an answer as of course my Doc is going away but she said if it is nasty, I will hear from someone at the Surgery.
Glad that bits over anyway!
Chez rang again tonight. WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG!!! Now her Liver is playing up and giving high readings. Sympton was itching. Now she has Obstetric cholestasis. Baby Gaylord (Ive renamed him from Luuuuke!) will most likely come anytime next week but most probably Tuesday. Chez would like to be able to keep her legs crossed till Thursday (May) but I don't like her chances. She gets monitored every second day now and then on Monday evening will see her Gyno for the Inducing date.
Bec is amused that I have only picked boy names for the baby. I hadn't realised lol but yes, I see her with another boy! She still says she doesn't know and I still tell her I don't believe her. She did admit that she has done the ring test etc etc and it is the same sex each time and also the sex that she thinks she is having, but of course won't give anything away.
Won't be long now!!