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...

Day 37

Love is in the air!! Chris, from work, met her man on the 'net. Today they met for in real life and she took him up the hill, so that we could see them from our office (yes the hill that has appeared on my daily photo pages twice already). Obviously we couldn't see much..she just wanted us to be able to "see" him without actually meeting him stirring the with good natured jibes. I'm hoping to print this picture to give to them as a reminder of the day they finally met.
They are off on a holiday to see the beautiful tourist spots famous in our area.
We got a "mini holiday"/long weekend after our fire alarm went off. Something electrical set the alarm off and the power went out so we were sent home. It's amazing what a difference a three o'clock finish makes to your Friday afternoon! I met the kids after school, dropped T at tennis, took the girls home for a snack/swim and then spent the evening at tennis with Julie and Liz and even enjoyed a couple of coldies before arriving home around 8.30pm.

Day 36 - Mum to the rescue..

M's tennis shoes should have been enough of an indication that price doesn't necessarily equal quality..or longevity in shoes. However having purchased Colorado's before, I really expected a LOT from her new school shoes. We tried on a heap of shoes before purchasing and these were the most comfortable. We hadn't heard the "lace up" black, polishable shoes mantra so as these were polishable black shoes I thought they'd be fine. One complete week after school started I got a call from M saying that her shoes were broken (see pic). Ugh! I rang the store and organised to swap them over at recess time. When we got there we made it clear that we'd be going for a different style "thankyou very much" and the tryons began again... We came home with Colorado's again (they really are a nice shoe) but this time they are lace up and quite honestly I think M is much happier with these as they are almost the same as everyone else's. AND her sandshoes should last longer too, with her not wearing them to school every day..you've gotta love a uniform!!