Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween In Junee

HalloweenHalloween is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweet things to eat.

After work I raced around to the supermarket and bought a couple of bags of chocolates and lollies. Tonight I expect plenty of door-knockers and need something to put in their bags for a treat.

Here in Australia we're not big on Halloween, but every year, more and more kids are dressing up and collecting bags full of goodies around Junee. Alex is walking around the street with a wig and a Dracula cape on in the hope that he'll fill his shopping bag.

I'm sure that none of them know what it's about, except there might be something nice to eat in the bag. Two years ago I gave a couple of kids onions, but they didn't see the humour. They're only looking for the treat.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Kids In Trouble

Carly hurt herself last Saturday playing touch football and has been hobbling around all week. She scored a try in the first five minutes of the game and must have bent down funny, because she had trouble standing up. Her hip has been giving her hell, so tonight she gave the Wagga comp a miss to rest up. She may not play this Saturday either. Her team lost that game but it may have been that the other team was just better on the day.

Once again Alex's team had a convincing win. I'm sure most of the under 12's teams groan when they know they're up against Junee. Our boys are good. (And yes, I'm prejudiced.)

Alex had a trip to Canberra with the school from Wednesday to Friday and they did the whole tourist thing: visiting Parliament House, The Mint, The War Memorial, Questacon, Telstra Tower, etc. He thought it was all pretty boring, except the part where he got to mint his own dollar coin. On the first night they went to Lazer Zone, where Alex came 1st out of 19 kids and he was proud of that. The second night was bowling but he had to stay at the motel, because he couldn't do as he was asked during the day. I was disappointed to hear this, but not surprised. He's supposed to be going to Sydney in November to represent for touch football, but he's been warned that he'll miss out if there is even one incident at school between now and then.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Lazy Sunday Morning

I made the switch to the new Beta Blog last week and can't notice much that's very different. I can now add labels (this must be the same as Tags or Keywords on other platforms), something for the search engines I suppose. You can see at a glance whick posts have comments on the posts listing, and there's a new range of templates. I rather like the look I already have, until I get creative and design something of my own.

Yesterday Carly, Alex and I went to Wagga early to look around for a new air-conditioner. I was difficult to get a park anywhere, there were people everywhere. The day started out so hot, about 35 degrees, but by the afternoon it had come over cloudy and I was cold at 4:00 when Carly was playing touch football. I got a great deal on an air-conditioner at Harvey Norman, and paid $20 less than I'd been quoted to get the old air-con fixed. Now we have to get the old one out of the window and get the new one in. There's no way I can do it on my own. It took 3 blokes to put the old one in.

Both kids won convincingly at touch. Alex's team won 18-0, with Alex scoring a couple of tries, and Carly's team had only 5 players and still managed a 20-0 win with the other team having 7 on the field. Carly scored 6 tries. She played really well.

I'm having a lazy Sunday morning. It's another beautiful day, less hot than it has been, but perfect weather for washing. I washed all night so have a huge basket to get out. A little tidying up around the place and that's it. This is the one day I can enjoy without rushing to get to work or the kids to some sporting event so I plan to make the most of it.

This afternoon Carly and I are off to a Body Shop party at a friend's and I hope to start my Xmas shopping by getting a few nice things for presents. I'm sure Carly is thinking moisturisers for herself. She goes through mine like it's water, but I don't imaging anything will be cheap. These parties are never cheap. But it will be nice. Lyn said she'll have a few bottles of wine and cocktails, so I could end up rolling out of there. But of course I have to drive home and there's work tomorrow. Can't be over-indulging too much.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Heat Is Upon Us Already


Today temperatures soared to over 30 degrees C, and this time last year we still had the heater running constantly. Thirty eight bushfires broke out in Victoria today and newscasters are warning of 50 degree days at the height of summer. My garden is looking stressed when it should be looking its best and the grass is crackling underfoot around the clothes line. Water restrictions are coming into force at the end of this month, to last until the end of April, and to top it all off, my air-conditioner packed it in at the end of last summer and I hadn't done anything about it. Normally it's closer to Christmas until we have to worry about the hot weather.

A repairman came yesterday to look at the air-conditioner, and rang today with a $740 quote to fix it, but advised me to look into getting a new one because he thought the part was over-priced. (Thankyou Fujitsu, I won't recommend you!) So I've decided to look around on Saturday morning when we're over in Wagga and try to get a good deal somewhere. There's no way I can face this heat without air conditioning. The alternative is to keep driving around with the A/C on in the car.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

We're Babysitting Tonight


Lauren and Daniel are going to a wedding today so we've volunteered to take Zeke for the night. He's never stayed over at our place before and both Alex and Carly are excited about babysitting. We have touch football in Wagga this afternoon so Zeke will come to watch too. We'll have a full car on the way home and I have to make sure the boot is empty so we can fit all his gear in the car. I just hope he's a good boy for Nanna!

Alex is even child-proofing the lounge-room for me without any protest! It's a miracle! He told me last night that I don't need to worry about Zeke -- he'll take care of him.

Carly is just as adamant that it will be her looking after him. I can see they're going to be treating him like a rag doll. I have visions of one on each arm. Looks like Nanna will be looking after him to save him from his uncle and aunty.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Labour Day Weekend

It's been a great weekend. Saturday and Sunday the kids and I went to Canberra and took in the spectacular colours of Floriade with a trip to the flower show. And it was spectacular. The flower beds were planted with over one million blooming bulbs and plants in designs which represent some 16 countries. The garden beds are inspired by flags, iconic symbols, history, flower festivals and traditional gardens from Canada, France, Spain, China, New Zealand, Turkey, England, Netherlands, Japan, America, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Colombia, Belgium, and Australia. It was fantastic to see. We also went to see Cockington Green, which catered to the Floriade theme with more fabulous gardens and minature villages and buildings from all around the world.


This morning it's back to reality and a few chores around the house that need attending to. Last weekend my back step broke while I was taking out a basket of washing and I ended up on my back on the stairs with washing all around me. Carly must have thought it was a funny sight because she stood there and laughed her head off. Until I couldn't get up and then she was a little worried. When I did manage to stand, I was very sore and bruised but could walk okay.

My neighbour from down the road replaced the 3 back steps during the week and told me I had to paint them with a wood preservative, so this morning I was out the back with the spanner and a tin of preservative and the job is done. I could have asked Alex to do it, and he would have jumped at the opportunity. They're both still in bed and the old saying is still true. "If you want something done you have to do it yourself."

Today we're going over to Wagga to collect Kate. She has a week off work and wants to stay with us for her "holidays". Kate is my sister's child. Not a child really, she's 21, but I can't help to think of her any other way. She isn't as old as Carly in the head and certainly never went through the teenage years, and she has the most fun and argument with Alex, who is 10 years younger than her. She's coming over especially to update her music collection and to download a few songs off the internet. She'll be sleeping in Alex's room and we'll have to clean that up before we go anywhere. Alex isn't the tidiest kid, and more than once I've paid Carly to clean his room.

Alex thinks (and believes) that I'm his slave until he turns 18. Yesterday when we got back from Canberra I asked him to make me a coffee, in appreciation for all the grouse things I bought him while we were there, and his response was that I'm supposed to buy him everything. I'm his mum. I guess that's true, but it irks, because growing up we had very few new things and getting a box of hand-me-downs was like Christmas come early. Neither Carly or Alex have lived like that and think it's their right to get everything they want, and it's my own fault.

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