Day 31

School holidays are officially over. All the activities are starting up again, including Tennis and Baseball and School Sport planning. Sometimes I feel as if I've never left my old job. I spent a good deal of the afternoon doing School Sport stuff. Planning, emails, flyers and forms...just as well I love the work and what the organisation stands for. I'm wondering if I'll enjoy it even more now that it's not expected and it's a volunteer role. All I know is I'm not ready to let it go. Our Cluster is going through a rough patch at the moment, with nobody doing the Admin job and nobody stepping up to Cluster Chair, so I'm going to give it what I've got, to help it prosper. We've really worked hard to get it running more smoothly over the past few years and it would be a shame if it fell in a heap now. 2009 will be a good opportunity for the volunteers to actually be more of the process, rather than expecting "someone else" to do what needs doing. The cluster is a group of people working to a common goal, not an entity that works all by itself - just as a church is "the people" not the building.. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in 2009. This year's motto is "It's time to shine in 09".. we will see.

Day 30

As most Californian's would say: It's a MOST unusual day :)
It's been very strange. I'm not sure what it wants to do? It's windy, and grey and looking like it wants to rain, but there's no rain on the Meteorology website until the weekend, and it's really hot...at least it makes for different scenery from my work window! It also leads to discussion about the weather. Today, tomorrow, the last storm...THE BIG STORM, which by the way happened when the wind was blowing in completely the other direction and ripped the Territory Flag from the pole.
Great weather for take away.
T had a party to go to so B and M had hot chips for tea and A and I had burgers. T has a habit of getting invited to little girl's parties. Apparently they all "love me" LOL! Tonight he had trouble deciding if he should write "love from" on the card or only "from" ..because she already "loves me" LOL Not sure what he decided, but he trotted happily into the party, played with all the kids on the indoor playground, had two serves of ice cream cake and came home with a balloon and two bags of lollies
It's also great weather for Movies. After collecting T from the party we sat down together to watch "Kicking and Screaming". Will Farrell is the current favourite in our house, but as usual I fell asleep and woke just as the credits were rolling.

Day 29-my baby's growing up...

It was wierd taking a "first day of school photo" on two days, and with not all the kids together.
Today was M's first day of highschool. None of her close friends are going to the same school but she's got 8 other friends joining her at this new school. She's sharing her classroom with Courtney and the rest of the kids from her old school are boys, all paired up in the other three grade 7 classes.
I started work late so I could get her settled in and it was nerve wracking for her. . is my dress too long? no one else has the same shoes as me? my hair's all messy! lol. We started the day with assembly in the main hall, where all the kids sat in their class lines and then went to the home for the year, with their new teacher. The first hour was spent checking their stationery packs and reading the introduction to their diary before learning all the rules... I left her around 9.30am and headed off to work, more than a little worried about her and the fact that we'd separated her from her friends.
Just after 3pm I called her at home to see how she was and how her day had been. She could have knocked me over with a feather, she was SOOOO excited!! She said it was probably even better than her old school, and "my dress is fine"! They had chosen their electives for term one and she's chosen to do Tennis, surprise.. surprise!

Day 28 - I have CROCS!!

Well, I have a cheap pair of green shoes from Target that resemble CROCS. I've wanted some for the longest time but honestly wondered (and still do) if I am too old for them. I only got these because I was looking for sandals/thongs for showering and boating in NZ. I wore them to work today and thought they'd be perfect for today's photo. Green is my favourite colour and these are a really nice bright green...Quote of the day "you sure can see you coming with those shoes" LOL

Day 27

Work day today, and the last day of School Holidays for B and T. This photo is the view from my office window. I love it when the wind is blowing just right and you can see the flags flying like this. We see lots of weather changes from our office but we don't hear them. Like the day, late last year, when our town was battered by one of the fiercest storms ever seen in the town. We watched it come in, but were protected from it's violence. When we left the building to go home before the next front was supposed to hit it was almost surreal. The sky was a bizzare colour and the air was thick, with trees fallen all around. The town rallied together though and the clean up began almost immediately. One of our shade structures was torn off it's wire but we escaped pretty much unscathed! I wonder what the view will be like from our new offices?

Day 26 - Australia Day 2008

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR
Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free,
We've golden soil and wealth for toil
Our home is girt by sea.

Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty, rich and rare,
In History's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands.

For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
to Advance Australia Fair

In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia Fair

We got to sleep in today - our walk didn't start until 7am :) I was pretty happy with my walking time; finishing my 3kms in just over 23 minutes in a race to the line with a lady who had walked most of the way with me...I'm not really sure who won, but I think she may have pipped me by the smallest of margins! B and T took off running at the start of the race and I didn't see them again until the finish line. B got one of the coveted Australia Day medals for coming first in the 12/U girls division and T got his photo in Tuesday's paper. M and Auntie came up the rear, although not last and Grandma tried but couldn't catch me, finishing some where in the middle of the pack :) After the walk we had a light breakfast of fruit and cereals and then wandered around to the Australia Day Ceremony where our friend Gail became an Australian Citizen. It was a hot day and unfortunately the planners didn't provide shade for new Australians or School Citizenship Award winners, who spent almost two hours in the very hot sun. I was however impressed by the fact we sang both verses of the National Anthem and then after the ceremony were entertained by a man who sang good Australian songs like "We are Australian" There was a birthday cake for people born on the 26th of Jan for us to share and a BBQ breakfast, including Bacon and Egg Sandwiches!
After the ceremony we went to play tennis. Auntie and I played against Grandma and M and the other kids took turns in playing on the next court and the practise wall. It was a fun hit, with Auntie not having hit a tennis ball in a number of years and Grandma trying hard to impress her Grand Daughter with her Pre 1980s Yonnex Aluminium Raquet that the kids are sure resembles a squash racquet!

Day 25

Sunday January 25th 2008. This was the day Brayden and Auntie came walking with us and we walked 6.8kms at a much slower than usual pace. It didn't start well, Auntie's alarm didn't go off and M had to wake her up.Whilst they were getting ready I drove around to get "Grandma" who I nearly left behind as she got locked in by the "baby proof door"! When we arrived at the start point we passed the rest of the group and I never caught up to them - although M and G did :)
Auntie and I spent a good bit of the time trying to convince Brayden to hurry up, Maccas was closing, we were nearly there etc. etc. and finally made it to Mcdonalds for breakfast just as most of the others were ready to leave! He was very excited to see a Kangaroo cross the path behind us, but was VERY upset with me for trying to get him eye height to an Orb Spider!! After we climbed a hill to take this photo he wanted to climb all the hills we came across, but his legs were "too tired" to walk..... Considering his age and height Brayden did very well, but he was quick to say he didnt' want to come again LOL. Having said all that Auntie agreed to join us on the Australia day fun run on Monday :)

After going home for a shower etc. Auntie came to visit. The kids swam and Auntie and I "practise packed" my backpack for NZ. It was fun. It's all seeming more real now :) According to my desktop countdown it's getting closer by the second!!

365 Layouts Wk1 and Wk2

I started this project, simply to get me working on my albums. This album was going to be very simple, no wallpapering and hopefully sustainable..
Well, we are into week 4 and I've completed two of three layouts and taken photos for 12 on 12, which I will also include in this years album.
I've noticed my photos are becoming more mainstream and not so creative so I'll have to work on that! It gets hard to think of new things when you are at work most of the day :)
WEEK 1: Started out extremely basic. Printed journaling, photos, two strips of PMP, title, sentiment and lots of white space. After I went back and looked at it I decided it couldn't be THAT basic! I chalked the journaling with SU! chalks and added the "circle" in the corner and then another day added the pumpkin/leaves. It's still very basic, but not plain...and it's in my album!
WEEK 2: Fitting 7 photos on is a LOT harder than fitting 4 :) I played around with sizes for the photos plus tried a HEAP of different layouts, finally settling on a variation of a BH sketch VOL2. Again I have used chalk on the journaling boxes and also around the LHS page. Both pages have a bit of pen work. I think next week I'll pick a layout and take photos to fit....

Day 24 - A day I did nothing I planned to!

Well almost! M and I organised to have a hit of tennis and as we were leaving we rang Ross to see if he'd like to come and hit with T. The boys played doubles on one court and M and I hit for a long time then played a set, which I lost 3-6. Whilst we continued to play our match the boys practised their serves.. T and I teamed up against M and Ross for what was a fun mixed doubles match. T and I lost 6-5. Both boys learned some of the finer points of tennis and T's serves improved lots!
We visited Auntie on the way home and Brayden came to visit with us as did Ross. The kids spent a big day playing Sims2, watching tennis, swimming and chatting. Mum came to visit and to check out my green crocs (finally got some!!) which I'll be using for showering and boating in NZ. As she was leaving there was a spot rainstorm and thunder over by Mt Gillen. We got about 26 drops of rain, a few claps of thunder and the lovely petrichor (smell of rain) We finally dropped Ross home around 6.30pm and B returned shortly thereafter from her sleepover.
I had planned to do some more in my 365 project album, practise pack my backpack, clean up my clothes and prepare my itinerary pages with addresses for NZ.. thankfully it's a long weekend and I'll get another chance :)