May 31

I am so far behind, but really committed to this 365 project that I've decided to try to post one old and one new picture each post, to try to get up to date!!

MAY 31
Another horrid day! Although I stayed in my PJ's all day it was a very productive day. My scrapbooking area is clean, although rather unused :( and I have done most of the organisation for the SSNT Tennis Exchange. Mum came to visit to pick up her portion of my Stampin Up! paper order and we managed to get a little of the washing dry by hanging it all over the loungeroom!
B spent the entire day with Kat, with M popping over to visit them for a while and joining them for lunch. T caught up with Adam again and A cleaned the club and took a trip to the tip.
I actually love Pyjama days, but am glad that we don't get cold wet days very often as I'd probably never leave the house :)

March 13 and May 30

Photo for March 13 is the School Sport NT Desert Storm Logo. I've been doing a bit of work for them of late (and as usual it plays on my mind during the night) so I thought I'd take a picture of the logo. This picture is off the plaque I was given on leaving my job as Cluster Administrator. It sits on the desk at my new workplace. I am still a volunteer for the Cluster and get a lot of emails at work regarding what's happening (or not) in the region. Unfortunately some of the emails get quarrantined by the email administrator, but he's pretty understanding and usually lets them through when he realises what they are about :)The young lad who's taken over my job tries hard, but doesn't take notes so if he doesn't do the "thing" right away he often forgets to do "it" at all. It's also tough for him because the other person helping with the Cluster is also new to the job. I'm thankful to be able to be involved even though I'm no longer working in the school system and I'm looking forward to my next adventure - convening the State Tennis Championship event for School Sport NT, in June.

MAY 30
What a horrible day!! Wet. Cold. Grey. We couldn't even see the the mountain from our front door. It stayed like this for the whole day and the next as well. It makes it tough to get the washing dry as it rains so rarely that most of us don't have clothes dryers. Saturday is usually our big sport day - coaching, umpiring, playing or watching, sport takes up most of the day. On this cold wet May day almost everything was cancelled. Soccer was most organised, letting us know early that the whole day was cancelled, where as netball unfortunately cancelled game by game, which meant we had to sit by the radio or computer to know what was going on. After attending the delegates meeting at lunch time I'm not sure the policy will be any better next time, although I'm hoping they'll cancel by blocks rather than games...
After buying a heap of hot food from the no longer required canteen at netball we spent some time down on our bed, all five of us, laughing and joking and talking. We are usually so busy these times, are few and far between so it was great to be able to spend the time together! I had a granny nap, T went to his friend Adam's, B went to sleep over at Kat's and M went to a party. A cooked a curry for tea, but it wasn't ready in time so we put on the menu for sunday.

March 12. 12 on 12 day.

As usual, I've taken my 12on12 photos...but who knows how long before a layout gets done? Today was a busy day, like any other Thursday. With work, Netball and Cricket it gets a bit long. When I got home from work on this particular Thursday, B had been cooking...Jam Drops or Billy Buttons. She loves to cook. Cakes. Biscuits. Chocolates. I used to love to cook too. I love having home made wares in the cupboard, but I no longer enjoy cleaning up after the baking process. I'm happy for B to do it :)
Jam Drops
INGREDIENTS:
120g Butter or Margarine
1/2 Cup Castor Sugar
1 Egg
1 3/4 Cup Self Raising Flour
Pinch Salt
Vanilla Essence (1-2 drops)
Jam for "drops"

DIRECTIONS:
1. Butter and sugar to cream
2. Add egg and vanilla
3. Gradually add sifted flour and salt
4. Mix with spoon until mixture forms a dough like consistency
5. Spoon small amounts and roll to form a ball
6. Use small finger knuckle to imprint into ball
7. Spoon small amounts of desired jam into ball centres

Oven Temp: 180*C
Ready when biscuits are brown
Approx 20-30 minuntes

March 11

This is a terrible photo. But it's a photo...taken on March 11th. LOL. I was trying very hard to get a photo of the awesome moon. I'd walked around to Kat's house and seen the moon and asked her to take a photo of it. She tried, but couldn't figure out which setting, and with no tripod it was blurry. I tried from home, but unfortunately the street light kept interfering with my shot.....
March 11th is my mum and S/dad's wedding anniversary. We don't do anything special for them, it's their celebration, but it was interesting to note that when I emailed her to say "Happy Anniversary", she'd forgotten until she arrived at work! This has happened to me on occasion too. Once I went to work and only realised it was our wedding anniversary when I wrote the date on a cheque! True romantics aren't we...?

March 10

This was dinner. Nothing is more frustrating, than getting home from work on a day when your DH has been home on a rostered day (or two) off, and having him ask "What did you want to do for tea?" It happened so often in recent times that on this occasion I simply said, "I don't want to think about it. Let's go to the club" So that's what we did.
Apparently A didn't know what to cook because I often don't want fattening things - like sausages. Well, I don't like sausages anyway, but pretty much anything else would be good. As you can see, this meal from the club is hardly fat free! LOL, Men.

March 9

Pack. Unpack. Take out half. Put it back. There you are ready to go....
That's what they say anyway. I'm not really sure how many times I packed and repacked, but I was pretty sure it was not all going to fit and I was pretty sure I wouldn't have room for my shopping!! We did so much planning for our NZ trip, it seemed it would never come. I got A's backpack out of the shed, months before I needed it, to see if my items would fit or if I'd need to buy a bigger pack. In the end I decided to go with A's pack as it was clean and easy to carry, most of my gear fit and there was no point wasting $200 on a pack I'd rarely use...
This photo is of all my gear that wouldn't fit into the backpack! I bought a day pack to use as my hand luggage and for our day trips, but with all the bits not fitting into the big backpack I borrowed B's school bag to use as my carry on luggage. Her bag was bigger and had more pockets... I packed my day pack into the big bag as well, to use as my day pack in NZ so I wouldn't have to carry everything with me every day during our vacation. It also doubled up as an extra bag for my shopping if needed.
Initially I had my clothing sorted into stuff it bags (see the red bag) but decided it was probably not making the best use of the space inside the backpack, so I removed the bags and packed my gear straight into the backpack instead. Kat convinced me on one such repacking venture, that I really didn't need 8 pairs of socks and liners, freeing up quite a lot of space, which when we finally got to NZ I was grateful for :)

March 8

This was photo was taken after the School Sport Tennis Exchange selection trials. For the first time, both our girls were selected to the team. M has been a part of the team for the last three years and plays heaps of tennis, but B only decided to try out because we were there. I have been a coach/manager of the local representative team on and off since 2005. This year I am convening the State event so won't be taking on a team. As I was at the trials to assist the new team management, and M was trying out, B came too. She filled in during the Bump Doubles to help even up the numbers. The following week she got her forms filled in and entered to try out at the final selection trial - and was selected to represent our Cluster! She was very excited and it was great to see both her siblings excited for her. She's since joined the local club and is having some successes.

March 7, Day 66

B is the most accident prone of all our children - and has lots of scars to show for it! On this particular occasion we were attending the Middle School's Movie Night (Bedtime Stories)...a fairly safe venture, right? Unfortunately B and her friend Ebony had already seen the movie so were a little restless. They wondered off to the toilet (and side tracked to the playground) and didn't return for some time. Eventually Ebony came to get A and let him know that B was stuck, and there was lots of Blood! A went to see what the fuss was about, bringing B back into the hall, just as the movie night was winding up. She sat at the back, resting until the lights came on. When they did come on there was a lot of fussing as everyone realised just how badly B had cut her toe, and how much blood there was. She had slipped on the play equipment, slicing the skin off the back of her big toe - kind of like it would look if a big blister had popped. The principal, seen above, raced off immediately for the first aid kit, tendered to her and with a worried look sent her home. I must say, everyone else was more worried than we were...I wonder if it was because of all the scrapes B has managed to get herself into over the years? FTR - the toe healed quickly and B was able to play tennis the very next day :)

Happy Holidays!!

Hi :) Just a quick message to say "HI"! We are having an awesome holiday in New Zealand, and until today the weather has been GREAT! We were meant to go on a heli-hike up the glaciers today, but it hasn't stopped raining. Even on a walk you can't SEE the glacier!
We've done a 19.4km mountain hike (AWESOME), zorbing (in a bubble ball down a hill), seen countless geysers/mudpools/mountains/lakes etc, ridden the Tranz Alpine train, swam with DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!!!! (in the pacific ocean!!), driven around more bends than I've ever seen, caught up with Liz from SS, gone 130m into a cave, walked on a SWING bridge (waaaaaaaay out of my comfort zone!)
Loving it!
We've stayed at backpacker lodges and have met some lovely people. Hopefully we won't have THIS much rain for the rest of the week :)
Unfortunately I can't upload any pics from this computer so I'll just say...it's AWESOME!!!
I'll get back up to date with my pics soon :)
Take care!
xx

March 5 and March 6

March 6

Every week, at our school, somebody from each class gets an award. The student of the week receives a certificate for some reason or other. The kids love it. I'm not sure it's great - after all, EVERY kid gets it at some point during the year, usually twice.
However, on this occasion I was very proud to be able to attend our assembly to witness B receiving her award. Her Teacher had handwritten a note to say how wonderful B's work was and that it was of a 5/6 standard, even though she'd just entered year 4.
With my new job, I am unable to attend assemblies as often as I'd like, but I'll always make time for something special like this.
If the kids are performing at assembly, usually A or I will make the time to go and support the kids. The assemblies are run by the students in 5/6 and are usually good fun.
I am a hopeless sap though, and often have tears in my eyes during assemblies - even if it's not my kids doing it! LOL, I even cry when people leave and I don't know them...

March 5
After some very busy days, I decided that this morning picture could quite possibly be the only photo I'd have a chance to take on this day. So, I took it :)
As usual, being a Thursday with work, netball and cricket, it was a huge day!

Day 63 - March 4

Wednesdays are so huge, with netball and tennis!
If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.
Lucille Ball
It seems all I do at my house at the moment is sleep. This is what it looks like if I ever get home before dark :)

March 3, 2009

Homework. We spent a couple of years thinking our dd didn't have enough homework. We knew she'd get heaps when she got to Middle School as we'd heard from other kids who'd gone from our Primary School to the same Middle School as M. Well, we got our wish! She has so much homework it's not even funny. But it's good for her..right? Wait, did I say SHE had homework? I'm sure I did. And I know she does a lot of good work on her homework (we are very proud of how she's settled into her new school) but you know what? I don't think I have ever done this much homework either...
So far I've done Maths palindromes, used my Cricut to cut the title on this timeline(as well as helped her with dates, layout and construction), studied Egyptian Gods and all about Moses.
Thankfully she gets home before I do and does a lot of it then. I'm usually her editor in chief :)

Wowsa!! I am so far behind!

I'm off on holidays today - to New Zealand - for just over two weeks, with my mum and sister. Kid free. According to my countdown, we will be taking off from our local airport in 7hrs, 57mins!
Sooooo, I thought I'd better update here before I leave :)

Day 61: March 2
Grrrrr. First CM frustrated me for months by ignoring my request to send my orders via Australia Post and ensuring my delivery time took much longer than was necessary. Eventually, after having got CM sorted, Australia Post decided to ignore my delivery instructions, meaning I had to wait for the weekend to go by until I could pick the parcel up from the post office... what next?
Well, at least it wasn't like last year's episode, where the Delivery Lady ignored my instructions, left the parcel around the back, and the dog ate my order!!! After chasing it through the Post Office, my order was replaced and the delivery lady gave my chewed product to her daughter for Christmas LOL

Day 60 - March 1st!

I enjoyed a quiet morning at home, in my still spotless, child free home :) I organised my netball coaching and did a few loads of washing. After lunch we had to go to the School Sport Trials and then after a short break, the first round of the town Championships.
I LMBO when I discovered that I was a "seeded player" in the competition! M is seeded Number 1 in the ladies comp!! As I was seeded I had a bye in the first round but played a nice match with one of the tennis mums, including a nice chat half way through the second set about schooling... I won 6-0;6-0, a smooth transition into my return to tennis..
Next weekend I won't play at all as my opponent lives out of town and won't be here. I need to arrange to play her on the Saturday of the following weekend, meaning two matches in one weekend for both of us!!
Today's photo is me a couple of hours after the match, but still dressed to play...

Day 59

OH MY! Can you believe how fast February is flying by? It's all good, it means my New Zealand holiday is coming up very soon!! Less than 25 days now!!

Bonnie's friend ended up staying all day whilst her parents worked and I was seriously in need of some adult company! After tennis we popped into town and grabbed some kabanos, coleslaw, noodle salad, potato salad and smoked salmon for lunch and headed over to Auntie Kat's. After lunch we piled all 6 kids in the car and went back to our house for the afternoon. Kat and I spent the afternoon working on our New Zealand holiday, making sure we had all the addresses we needed along the way. Kat even managed to cut some scraps out of her travel brochures, in preparation for her New Zealand Holiday scrapbook.

The kids swam, skootered, rode the ripsticks and watched Horton Hears a Who? whilst Kat and I chatted, typed and cut over a couple of quiet Vodkas. Literally a couple as there wasn't much in my bottle!

Around tea time Bonnie's friend was gone and Kat took all our kids back to sleepover with their cousins. As I rushed around tidying my now kid free home I got a phone call inviting me to mum/dad's for tea. It was a lovely quiet meal with just the three of us. After tea mum and I printed the vellum for Kat's birthday card and then I went home to watch a bit of tele with A before bed.

Day 58

Sleepovers. Why is it kids always want to have a sleepover? Why can't they just "play"?
Last weekend B did an impromptu sleepover at her new friend's house and spent the whole next day at her house. On pick up I was greeted with a lovely artwork promising me the world..if D could sleep at our house..LOL
I agreed to a sleepover this weekend as I knew A would be out, doing his new job as a "barman" at the club.
In all honesty the little girl was fine (I'd only ever spent ten minutes in her presence prior to the sleepover) it was me. It was the end of the week, a week of nights out. Fridays are no different, with Tennis straight after work and usually going until late. I work full time and I was ready for bed..last thing I felt like doing was entertaining an extra person and the bickering that always happens when one of the kids has a friend over.
We watched "Mama Mia", with the kids on the lounges and me on the computer chair. I think the computer chair might be my new movie chair because I actually watched the WHOLE movie!! Usually I fall asleep on the lounge....this time I stayed up long enough to put all the children to bed at a decent hour and we all got a good night's sleep which was very unusual as often, sleepovers mean not much sleep....
And, incase you missed it...friends equal makeup/dressups where B is concerned..there's a bit of a trend in the photos of her on my blog!

Day 57

As is now fairly usual, Thursday's are busy days! I spent my lunchtime shopping for NZ stuff with Mum and Kat..and I'm sure I'm almost done (except for my little camera tripod..)
A went around to my workmate's place to collect some corrugated iron for our fence and then picked me up from work, ready for netball. On arriving at the netball courts I got a call asking me to "please" play cricket..so of course I said "yes, ok, if you really need me" LOL. This photo is of my netball club sponsored waterbottle and my very recent purchase of Batting Gloves...
At about 7pm, after my first 15/U training session I went home to change for Cricket, and brought home one of M's friends, ate our tea (hamburgers) and then K and I went down to the cricket field. Our game started at 8pm and even though I was soooooo badly needed, Julie went home to her family and I played in her place.
In the end it was a good night. I played wicket keeper (also fairly expected now a days) and didn't have to bat. Our team won the match about half way through the allocated overs. I spent the batting portion of our game chatting to team mates as our team only needed to use three of our 8 batters to reach the required runs.
I was on a bit of a high when I arrived home...netball was a success and Cricket was fun! Overall a great Thursday!!

Day 56

Obviously not a photo as such. But it sums up today. We had our first 13/U training for the season and I only knew three of the girls! This will be a completely different coaching experience to last years, when the teams were made up of mostly girls I'd coached before. It's hard to remember back to the start of the season, but I wonder if last year's Div 1 girls played at a similar standard to the girls I had at training tonight...if so they came a long way in 6 months. I'm not really sure how I've ended up with a 13/u team as well as the 15/u team I volunteered for. I'm not really surprised, and not really too fussed. It means I have some input into the formative years of both our girls, with relation to netball. I'm looking forward to being able to watch both girls play this season, after missing out on most of B's games in 2008.

DAY 55


Tuesday. A nice easy day at home with a "sick" B. She was sick yesterday but made it through the school day - trooper that she is :) B was probably on the mend today, but a quiet day at home was good for both of us. I had lots of things I wanted to do: New Zealand planning/repacking my backpack/scrap booking/netball planning etc. etc. but I didn't do any of it :) It really was just a nice relaxing day at home, until I had to pick up M from school and take her to tennis. We visited Auntie Kat on our way home and that was the extent of our activity for the day!

Day 54

Today started the first of our "sport everyday" weeks for this year. We knew early in the day that we'd have to have take away because we had work/school, tennis and then a School Council meeting...no time to cook! I did manage to go shopping though, and got some stuff for the freezer for those days when we will need to "whip" something up...
The kids were humbugging for Macca's or KFC, but as I knew this could become a bit of a regular occurrence we had something, perceivably healthier...Subway. M's disappointment meant that she ended up having a sandwich instead lol. . one day she will learn to be thankful for what she gets..we did allow her to take it to school for lunch, though she didn't know that at tea time!! I always have a lot of fun choosing toppings for my Subway meal...I mean does anybody really care what type of cheese they have? The sandwich is loaded with so much stuff you can't even taste it! I always have all salad toppings, except halapenos and pickles. A doesn't have onions because he gets a headache from the raw onion. T and M got Meatball Subs and Bonnie was sick and couldn't eat dinner :(

Playing in PSP7

I was looking for some tutorials on colouring in PSP, most are for "proper" photo editing programs, like PSE and Picaso.

Here's my first result, from this tutorial ... I blurred the original a little bit, before colouring, for an artistic look :)
Next one I tried was selective colouring - very basic, I'm sure I'll find better tutorials...For this tut I actually coloured part of the image in greyscale - rather than adding colour to a black and white photo.....but it was fun :)
Now, the colours aren't great in this last one, but it turned out HEAPS better than I imagined it would :) I think I have to play with the layer saturation some more, and the base colours, but at least now I know how to do slective colouring in PSP and it doesn't look terrible!!

Tag, you're it.

I saw this on Sherry's blog and thought it would be fun to do. When I started storing photos on my computer they were mostly scanned or taken on a 2mp digital camera, so not great.
Really not sure how I was supposed to choose the file, but I sorted these by "date taken" and this is the sixth file... B, in toilet training!

I think I'll ask the following people to play along:
1. Aussie Leanne
2. Nadya
3. Meg
4. Melita
5. Rhonda
6. Veronica

Day 53

I woke at 5.38am this morning, dreaming about going for a walk. After looking at the clock I decided I could not, in good conscience, skip this morning's walk. It's been about two weeks since I walked last and it felt good to get back on the track, as it were. We took the long walk to the Telegraph Station and that always includes a couple of hills and some beautiful bush scenery.
Later in the morning M and T attended fitness testing at the tennis centre. I helped out with the Spider Run before attending a meeting on upcoming tours etc.
After lunch A, B and I went to look at some old tin for our fence. A came home to watch some Rugby League History thing on the tele and I did some school sport work for the Tennis Exchange.
B made some afternoon tea (see pic) and we invited ourselves over to my sister Kathryn's for afternoon tea, taking along some of these delicious biscuits.
They were going to be Teacup Biscuits, but B forgot to buy Marshmallows when she went to the shop.

Day 52

Can you believe I didn't actually take a photo today? Aaargh, my first missed day! Thankfully I found a picture of the All Seasons Resort, the location of our very emotional netball meeting.
Last year I coached two 13 and Under netball teams for our club, with one of my dds in each. Unfortunately both played at the same time and I didn't get to see B play much at all. At the end of the season most of my team, needing to move up to 15/U in 2009, asked me to coach them again.
As it turned out, the lady who helped with my 2nd 13s team also offered to coach 15s in 2009. Our meeting on this morning was sort out who would coach 15s this year. Eventually we decided to let the kids decide who they'd like to be with...we ended up with two teams. Our team (co-coaching with one other mum, Lisa) is made up of mostly kids from my last years Division 1, 13/u team - all specifically asking to be with me, including M and her friends. Sharon and her daughter Mel will do the other team, with most of those kids coming from the Div2 team and not fussed about who'd coach, and the rest of their team is made up of players who haven't played for us before.
I called the parents of the kids in our team and they were all delighted to know I'd be coaching their kids again. Oh it's nice to be wanted :)
The best part is B will still be in 13/u so I'll be able to coach her team this year too!

Day 51

Mum and I were very excited to be able to try my new cartridge - ZooBalloo to make her a crocodile for a Scrapbook page after trying, unsuccessfully, to find a picture she liked on the internet.
We made a large (4inch) one for the main page and two other smaller ones to fill a space she had. The cartridge is very cute - we'll be using the Narwal as a dolphin for my sister's surprise birthday present card - we've written her a poem and have shouted her a swimming with dolphins voucher in New Zealand when we go on our holiday in a few weeks :)
I love the funky shape of the letters on the ZooBalloo and the fact that I can get Pictures, Upper Case and Lower Case on the one Cartridge. I'm not sure I'll need any more cartridges, but if I do, I'm sure we'll use the OhMyCrafts website again ..what a bargain.. and I received great service.

Free Stamp

Browsing Nadya's Blog I found a link to , Let's Get Jazzy

She is offering a free stamp!!!
Just by responding to her blog EVERY one can get a free stamp!
Can't wait to see how her blog blossoms :)

Day 50 - and I'm up to date!!

I remember to take the photo each day..I just don't always have a chance to post here. I'm still a few weeks behind in my layouts, but find that as long as I print the photos I can catch up pretty easily. I'll have to print LOTS this weekend :)
Today's photo is part of a little story...

On my way to work this morning a Huntsman Spider ran across my bonnet - totally freaking me out! I mean really, why do they always run over the car when I'M driving?? At least it's outside right? Right!
I tried to get it off the car by turning on the windscreen washer and wipers, to no avail. The hairy little (?) spider ran along the passenger side of the door, not totally freaking Miss M and Courtney! All was good whilst I had sight of the spider in my side mirrors. We watched him run along the window and into the handle recess of the passenger door....and then he disappeared!!!!!!!!! Aaargh! Chaos reigned! The spider ran into the space between the passenger and rear passenger door, right near where M was seated....
...it didn't come inside, but it may as well have! M couldn't sit still. She had to be forced to sit and put her seat on, even climbing through to the front seat to "get away from it". When she realised the space between the two doors was actually closer to the front, she moved to the back again. . but I still had to convince her to put her seatbelt on and SITDOWN, because being dead would be worse than a spider bite. LOL - she didn't agree!!
When we got to school we got out to have a look, but couldn't see the spider. There was no way we were going to open the passenger side doors so both girls had to climb out my side.
The passenger doors stayed shut until around 6pm, when we went to Cricket and my team mate, DI, offered to remove the spider for us. When we got to the car Di looked into the crack between the doors and could see the spider still there, 10 hours after it climbed into the crack! She opened the front door first and tried to remove the spider with a stick. The spider ran into the rear passenger door space - exactly what I was afraid of!! Thankfully she removed it and it ran under the car, over to the driver's side rear tyre. We took the handbreak off and pushed the car to try to run over the spider, but the car wouldn't roll far enough. I grabbed T's SpeedStick and nudged the spider out from under the tyre, with the plan that one of us would tread on it as it escaped. NOPE. It ran under my mum's car!!! Last time we saw it it was laying under the edge of her driver side rear tyre.
We didn't tell mum it was there, hoping it would be gone by the time she went home, as we didn't want to worry her about something that might not be an issue. I might tell her tomorrow....I'm just glad it's not on our car anymore!!!

Day 49 - 18th February

Wednesday's are big days at the moment. M has swimming at school and then we all head down to the tennis courts at 7pm for M's hit with her coach Craig. B and T spend a lot of the time playing tennis too, and sometimes playing with Turner...
Turner isn't really allowed in the car because he leaves too much hair and he won't sit still, so the hair goes all over the car...BUT, when Dad isn't home we sometimes sneak him down to tennis with us :)
Wednesday's are great because there's very few people at the courts and Turner can run around all he likes. We shut the front gate and he walks around and sniffs things, chases the kids, has some cuddles and if he's really lucky, gets to play with a ball.
It's really hard to take a photo of Turner because he always seems to move just as you click...

Day 48

On Sunday, M attended her friend's little sister's party and took along her newly acquired "ripstick". Somehow or other the board got water in it and was difficult for M to turn safely. She lost balance and fell backwards, steadying herself with her right hand and causing herself some pain in the process. After a couple of days listening to her complain about the sore arm we whisked her off to Emergency for an X-ray. We got to the hospital early and were seen fairly promptly. On examination the doctor informed us there was no break and no need for an xray, even though I asked for one "just to be sure" because she plays so much tennis (at least 5 times per week). The school was just around the corner, and by the time we arrived at reception, to sign M into school there was a message for us from the hospital. We hopped back into the car and returned to emergency to pick up a form requesting an xray for one RW (right wrist). Again, we wer attended to pretty quickly and we were back at school and work, with the "no break" verdict, a couple of bandages, some panadol and instructions to "rest", by 10.30am.
M rested for one day (the day Before the x-ray) and attended her tennis lesson as per usual on the day we visited the hospital. Her arm is still sore, and still strapped, but she's not taking pain medication and is icing after use. She's not wanting to miss her tennis and whilst she can cope she's going to give it all she's got. She's one tough cookie!

Day 47 - Out with the Old

My purse has been on the way out for sometime. I purchased the black one in Darwin last year when I was there, because the zip on the brown one kept splitting. I like the layout of my brown purse (which doubles as a bag) and so was delighted to find another with the same layout! The black one doesn't have bag clips and it will take me some time to get used to looking for a black purse in a black bag...
I managed to prolong the life of my brown purse for quite some time and believed it would continue to work ok, as long as I didn't stuff it full of register receipts... It finally bit the dust on the 16th of February 2009. Thankfully I had the black one on standby and was able to clear out my old purse and swap my bits and pieces to my new purse right away.

Day 46 - Pyjama Day

We had plans to go for a drive, and to spend the day as a family out of the house. . . Somewhere during the week M made plans to visit Courtney, right in the middle of the day - throwing our plans somewhat off course, not that she would have minded us going without her!
As it turned out it was a very relaxing day. I stayed in my PJ's for the entire day and no one else seemed to have much energy either...although T was very keen to go for a drive..
Maybe when the weather cools and the flies aren't so bad, we'll go for that drive.
Overall, it was a lovely day at home with the family :)

Day 45 - 14th February

Valentine's day. The day I came back from Darwin.
The day I got the most beautiful sentiments in a card from my darling A. He said the words I needed to hear :) It was the best present I could have received on a day that we don't usually celebrate!

However, being away from home I spent the morning walking down Smith Street mall in Darwin and found a little shop full of chocolate, tucked away in a little side street. I bought a lot of Fudge for A and and little heart shaped box with a heart shaped chocolate for each of the kids :)
The kids went all out for Valentine's too; making me cards and a heart shaped cake, filled with Nutella.

After the airport we went straight to the Club to celebrate the birth of A's workmate's (Murph) baby. We had a nice afternoon, chatting, "sharing a few quiet ones" and dabbling in Keno (We won $2! lol) before deciding to stay for tea, the perfect end to an almost perfect day :)

Day 44 - February 13th

Black Friday. Friday the 13th, unlucky for some..but we had a great day!
M's school had a casual day and "Meet the teacher BBQ", which I couldn't attend as I was out of town. M couldn't go to the BBQ either as she was busily cooking a fundraiser BBQ and playing tennis. The Tennis centre organised a Friday the 13th night fundraiser for M's squad to assist with their "Girls Only" tennis tour which is in planning for sometime in the future - they raised $160 and plan to do more soon.
B and T got right into the spirit of things, dressing up and inviting their friends...and eventually winning the dressup prizes!
Our Interstated PD was also based around the Friday 13th theme with decorations including, cobwebs, black cats, skulls, pieces of skeletons, couldrons, worms, glow in the dark frisbies and bats and a little dressing up. We had a fun day and Peter and I managed to finish most of our planning. He's offered to learn to Blog so that we can set up a blog for the team to use to communicate with each other. Apparently he'd like to learn, so I'll let him, seeing as how (obviously) I already know how to do it...

Friendship Award

I received this lovely little Friendship Award from my friend Sherry :)
What a great surprise it was too!!
Here's what the award says:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Now my job (pleasure) is to pass it to 8 more people deserving of the award :) I can't really give it back to Sherry...But I certainly would..she's very deserving...


1. Mary ...seriously hoping she'll come out and start blogging again..
2. Lita ...hoping she can afford to get the net back on again soon..
3. Michelle ...a wonderful new-ish Mum..
4. Leanne ...very giving person, who's had a lot of heartache this past year..
5. Susan ... for inspiring us to complete our challenges..
6. Rhonda ... Su! Demonstrator with a HUGE heart...
7. Cori ...I first "met" Cori through Sister Swaps...love her down to earth Blog...
8. Meg ..Somone I've wanted to get to know better since I found SS ... Her honesty and strength is truly inspiring.

Day 43

I planned to finish work around 2.45pm today so that I could pick up the kids and get some fuel before collecting A on the way to the Airport. We made good time, even though I did get out a few minutes late. I rearranged my schedule, got fuel, picked up M and then went to get B and T from the bus stop, where they were waiting patiently all by themselves!
At the airport we checked in then sat down to a big bowl of chips and gravy, before boarding.
I sat with Budgie on the plane, with Mandy and Bil behind us, and we chatted most of the way, which passed the time nicely. I unnecessarily ate the dinner (stew, rice, roll and chocolate) on the plane and then ate again when we got to Darwin!! This is a photo of my lovely Laksa Soup from the Noodle House...absolutely fantastic!
We spent the night at a new Hotel, the Mantra Panadanas and I shared with Rowan from Gove.
This was also 12 on 12 for February so I had an interesting look at the day through the lens of my camera..making for some different photos for this month's 12 on 12....I'll post my layout when I get it done :)

Day 42- "Love Potion Lushy"

As all good Territorians, and probably Aussies know, if you play sport you have to have a nickname... Today's nicknames were based on our numbers e.g. Legs (11). When I put my shirt on Lushy was discarded and I was known as "Love Potion (number 9)" for the day!
Today I played Cricket. Imparja Cup is in town, and until a few days ago I thought I wouldn't be participating this year. BUSH POTATOES asked me to play for them as they were to be short a few players. I usually play for Catz, so this was something new, and a whole lot of fun! When I play in the regular comp I am wicket keeper and I don't bowl. As today's team made up of players from all teams in the regular competition, we had more than enough (3) wickies to choose from. I fielded instead, which meant I needed to bowl - something I try NOT to do if I can help it. To my surprise (and probably everyone else's!) I bowled two overs today, and didn't do too badly... the trick is to not try too hard...
This is the only game I'll play this time round as tomorrow I'm off to Darwin...

Day 41

Tuna. I love it with Couscous and Tinned tomatoes with herbs. I love it in a tossed salad.
I love it as a mornay. I love it with onion on a sandwich.
I love it with pasta.
Today for lunch I ate a flavoured tin of tuna with my Ryvitas.
Such a little tin, from such a big fish!!

Day 40

Monday and the weekend is well and truly over. The mornings are filled with haste (ours but not the kids!) trying to get everyone out the door on time. Now that we have two schools to go to it adds another 10 minutes into our already tight schedule.
The afternoons are just as busy with pick-ups, drop-offs, sport, homework, dinner and trying to spend a little quality time together. But as far as I can tell, we wouldn't have it any other way...

Spare a thought for the families of all those who have lost loved ones in the Victorian and New South Wales Bushfires who will never have the chance to rush anywhere, ever again. Over 150 people have died and the death toll is expected to rise as the authorities search the ruins of the hundreds of homes and cars that were lost to the fires. There are many charities and organisations running appeals for the victims of the fires including Telstra, Cricket Australia, AFL, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac, AMP, Coles, Woolies, Red Cross, 8HA Radio and thousands of Aussies are digging deep to show their support.
The true Australian Spirit is shining through when you hear stories of Queenslanders, who have been flooded in the past few weeks, giving their Government Relief money to the Bushfire Victims. Remarkable.
Today's photo shows our town giving respect to the families, by flying the flags at half mast.

Day 39

The alarm went off at 5.30 as arranged but I was quite happy to keep sleeping, after a restless night spent checking the girls and the dog. A short time later T woke M to let her know it was time for her walk, Mel convinced me to go walking with her and then we were off. This morning there was a group or 14 men and women and we walked via the golf course, a route I hadn't done. It was an interesting walk with unsealed roads, sealed roads, hills, flats, built up areas, greens and fairways, new houses and old, nice houses and some very strange, including one with a former rugby player as their letter box...it was bigger than me! I thought this picture of the green nestled in amongst the rocky outcrops was a good representation of this morning's walk.
After our walk and brekky at Macca's, M and I went for a short game of tennis before heading home to the girls, A and T. A was busy making pancakes for everyone and when the time came the pancakes were served with Icecream and/or maple syrup..mmmm...but I resisted as I'd already had Banana Bread and a Mango Frappe at McDonald's.
BTA and I had an afternoon nap, whilst M went to her friend's for a swim and ripstick riding. Late in the afternoon MT and I went to play tennis with M's friend Georgia whilst A cooked us a BBQ tea. It was a great way to spend a lazy hot Summer Sunday :)

Day 38

The trial run. I'm not really sure what the trial run was actually for? Maybe B's birthday party, seeing as how she'll be turning 10 this year..
Anyway, she convinced her dad to let a group of girls sleep out the back in a tent. About 15 minutes before the girls were due to arrive we learned that the tent was broken and not an option. Instead the girls arranged to sleep in swags under the back verandah, and Turner the dog was to be given a chance to behave. The girls had a great time swimming, watching movies, dressing up in Halloween Costumes (why? I don't know either, although we did stop them from Trick or Treating as they were headed to the neighbour's....), putting make up on B's little brother and nail polish on the dog. (See corresponding pics)
Around 1am I gave them the final "GOOD NIGHT" and I finally fell asleep. The girls are convinced it was around 3am when they finally hit the sack! In all it was a good night and the trial was a success...