Just a few things that have happened of late before i forget…

– Justin got swooped by a magpie and it drew blood.
– the pool is brown after the dust storm yesterday
– I asked Amy how do we sing Happy Birthday and she sang it like this
‘Ha ppy birth day
Ha ppy Birth day
How it drips,
how it drips..’ which is really the tune for the watermelon song!
– Jess asked me what the difference is between a girl and a mother. Trying my best to be diplomatic I rambled on about a mum being a grown up yada yada yada, And she said “A mum has big boobs and I only have pimples”. “What do you mean ‘pimples?’ I asked her. She said, pulling up her shirt, “These things – pimples”. She meant Nipples!
– Meg’s tooth is still not loose enough to come out. Either is Jess’s. Maybe by Christmas.
– Today is Amy’s 3rd birthday. She was born at 8.14am 2006. She is so cute and so delightful and everyone loves her. I am not biased – she really is the most adorable thing ever!
– Playgroup finished up yesterday. Renovations to the school (with a Krudd stimulus grant) mean that we have nowhere to go next term. The other mums gave me a bottle of wine and box of chocolates for my hard work running the playgroup for the past 2 years. I was moved to tears. They are so precious and their kids are great too. I will miss them.

That is enough for now. I’ll remember more during the day!!
Bonjour!

Un cafe s’il vous plait. Au revoir.

That is about the extent of my French. And I believe that a cafe coffee is $10 🙂
Booked a bike tour today. Our meeting point is the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, then we grab a bike and get a guided tour around the city. Sounds so great. This is the morning after Moulin Rouge, so I hope we won’t be too under the weather from our free bottle of champagne!

Holly sings at Floriade tomorrow and there are thunderstorms predicted, so I am wondering whether or not we’ll get there. Hope it holds off. Last week of school is always nice with no homework. I’m pushing Holly a bit harder though as she got the results of her NAPLAN tests and didn’t do so great in Numeracy (Sorry Adas, she just doesn’t have the math gene from you!!) . On all other subjects she was in the top band (reading, writing, spelling and grammar) so she did very well. We are very proud!!

It is Amy’s birthday in 2 more days. My little monkey is nearly 3. We ran out of nappies yesterday. She still needs one at night but not a single one was left in the house. So Justin puts on a swimming nappy! Let’s just say that they are nil percent absorbent and she may as well have had nothing on at all. I’ve had a lot of washing to do today!

Dinner time. Got a roast chicken in the oven and the smell is divine. Lets eat 🙂

The weekend was SO busy – here is a wrap up…

Garage Sale: The ad in the paper said “From 7am” but at 5.45am the cars started to line up. I was still in bed, heard some cars coe up the street and jokingly said to Justin “Is that someone for our garage sale (ha ha so crazy it is only 5.45!). When he peeked out and saw the cars parked outside our place, we both hastily got dressed and ran down to open the garage and set everything out. it was 7am before the rush calmed down and we got a chance to put the signs up at the end of the street. After that initial peak, the people came in dribs and drabs and we sold a lot of stuff and met some crazy, wacky people. By midday we’d made over $260 so we closed up shop and went back to bed!! It was so exhausting.

We continued to clean up after a rest, with Justin taking a load to the tip, me putting the rest of the stuff back into storage and both of us sweeping up leaves and dirt and generally tiding up the place. it is wonderful to feel de-cluttered.

Fun Run: Sunday morning I was so nervous with the impending run. I was hydrating myself with lots of water, but the nerves were kicking in. Justin and the girls dropped me off at the start (for 9.45am) but it was delayed till well after 10am, so there was a lot of standing around, getting hot and tired even before it all began. Finally we were off and straight away I felt thirsty. I couldn’t even swallow properly my throat was that dry. No drinks till after the 4km mark and I was feeling really tired at that point. Kicked on and got to the hill at State circle and had to walk to regain some energy for the final 2.5km run home. The wind was coming straight at us as we got onto the Kings Ave Bridge and headed down past the Carillion. It was at the this point that I could see the finish line, but my legs were like lead. Nemesis girls from my morning run went past me (Shit!) so I tried to keep up with her, but legs were so tired and I wanted to stop and cry. I reminded myself that I have giving birth and that was harder than this, so put head down, and ran for it. Sprinted for finish line and there were Justin and the girls cheering me on. Official time still to come, but according to my watch I did it in 57.56 mins. Under the hour, not quite 56mins but pretty close.

Today I am pretty sore in the thighs, but on the whole am not doing too badly. Will be having a sleep at lunch time though!

Justin has started to paint the man cave and he met an electrician at the garage sale who came and put in some new lights.

Been to the mall this morning where I bought some new sunglasses with the garage sale takings. Now it is bedtime!

In the process of cleaning out under the house so that Justin can move in down there and have an office, we’ve cleaned out all the junk and are putting it up for sale. Tomorrow from 7am there will be bargains galore at my GARAGE SALE and I’m hoping to make my fortune (or at least enough to buy a new pair of sunglasses!).

I also cleaned out the filing cabinet and was shredding the secret documents when in a slow motion moment watched Jessica put through my chit from the post office telling me I can collect my Passport. I could have cried, but kept it together and simply went in there today, told them what happened and they gave it to me! So now I am in receipt of my official passport (photo pretty good!) and am ready to holiday.

Off to swimming lessons tonight. This is the beginning of a new ear, and Amy has her first lesson and that means all 4 will be in the pool at the one time. Quite a milestone for us, there really is light at the end of the tunnel 😉

Fun Run on Sunday – only ran once this week in my preparations for the race. Took it fairly easy but in the middle ran 2 KM in under 10 mins so I was thrilled with that. My nemesis was also running this week (while I was walking so I felt like a weakling even thought it was my strategy!) and while she was stretching and cooling down I asked her if she was training for anything in particular. She said that she was going in the CT Fun Run. Cooly I replied that so was I and what was her goal time. 56mins she says. Yeah Me too I say, then walk away thinking, holy moley 56mins – that is not beatable! I cannot let her beat me, she has a weird run technique where one leg flops out. So suddenly 56 mins in the time I have in my head. Before it was a vague “Under an hour” response when I was asked about a time. Oh man, I dunno if I can do it, but I’m give it my best shot. At least the weather will be fine.

Full report on the flip side of this weekend. Think of me!!!

….has been cleared. Just got an email to say that my passport has been approved and it being posted to me now. Phew! Justin also got word (finally) that he has been accepted onto the course in Paris. It got to the point that even if he didn’t get into it, we would have gone anyway and holidayed the whole time. So nothing else to do except wait for the time to pass.

The car is in for repair over the next 3 days. Justin side-swiped another car in a carpark a few weeks ago. Not much damage but the insurance is going to cover it. I was a little miffed at NRMA at not granting us a hire car for the 3 days that we are without our car. There are 6 of us to get around and it is not easy with one 5 seater car. We have been members with NRMA for 20 years and have 3 other policies with them, none of which we have ever claimed on. Never Ever. So after forking out thousands of dollars over the years to them, I thought the least they could do was give us a car for 3 days. But noooooooooooooo – it isn’t in our policy. Are they stinkers or what!

So today after playgroup, Jess Amy and I caught the bus home. It is only 4 stops, but too far for Amy (and I would have ended up carrying her and that is insane!). We got on and I told the driver we were only going 4 stops and he let us on free. Now that is what I am talking about – if only NRMA could take a leaf out of that book!

Just got Amy’s Possums (3yr old playschool) enrolment for next year. Going to send it in straight away so that we have the best chance of being accepted for the 2 full days next year. I am going to be loving those two days – it has been ……well a long time since I have had any days without kids….probably about 8 and a bit years!!

‘Tis Book week this week at school and today Meg went as Megan the Monday Fairy, wings and all; and Holly went as an Indian Princess (complete with Sari and Bindi). Both will be parading around as I type this so I hope they did OK!

That is about it for today – over and out!

It hasn’t stopped raining all day! Nice, soft, slow rain. Love it.

I can’t shake this nervous feeling that I have. Not sure why but I think it is because I finalised all the trip details and payments today. Have this sinking feeling that I got something wrong and we’ll be stranded in some airport for 2 weeks. It all all happened so fast and yet so smoothly…..I won’t jinx it by going any further with this train of thought!

TV repair man has been back for the 3rd time and this time the problem is still not fixed and it is actually worse then when he took it away on Friday. I’m getting slightly cross at having to lift my heavy TV in and out of his van every week or so. Technology is well and truly advancing but the problems associated with it are not good. I’ve had my little TV since I moved out of home in 1995 and it is still going strong with never a problem. Pretty soon I won’t be able to watch it at all without a set-top box. Ahh the good old days – when everything worked and lasted forever!

My least favourite words this week are “Mum I need to do a wee!”, and that is because it now happens every five minutes and whenever we are passing a toilet while we are out. I can remember the thrill of seeing a new bathroom/toilet as a kid, so I understand her desire, but it is getting tiring!! At least she is doing really well and even having a sleep in the day without her nappy. Go Amy, you rock!

Time to do the school run.

Socks, lollies, notepads, lollies, chocolates….Lovely cards with heartfelt messages and drawings. So cute!!

Just back from a 45 minute run and it was hard this morning. I’m not feeling ‘peak’ at all, but I am hoping that this week of short runs and rest days will get me in top gear.

Booked all tickets and accommodation for Paris and London. I also splashed out and got Tickets to Moulin Rouge and “Wicked” in London. It is going to be some trip.

Off to Yum Cha now – haven’t eaten breakfast in anticipation!

Happy Fathers Day xxx

A beautiful first day of Spring – kids are outside running around, front door is open to let in the fresh air, friends pop in and out for a coffee and chat. What could be better!

John in under the house making a larger window opening for Justin’s new home office (aka Man Cave). He wants his own space in this house of girls, and one with a separate entrance! We’ve cleared out all the junk from under there, set aside what we are selling in the garage sale, and taken a heap of it to the tip. It was cathartic to be able to put in one of those two piles, baby stuff, broken stuff, mattresses, one-day-I’ll-do-that projects and never-to-be-used-again items. I’m sure that I’ll be able to find just as much stuff inside the house, lurking in wardrobes, linen cupboards and my pantry!

We made Father’s Day presents at Playgroup today – a rudimentary bonbon with lollies inside. We are taking Justin to YumCha on Sunday.

Enjoy the start of Spring!