Monday 31 December 2012

November report

Sorry for a belated report about November as I had a busy start of summer.

November being the eleven month of the year, was also the last month of spring.  Like always I was busy with normal commitments at home, craft and sport.

My Sunday night league of bowling ended this month as well.  We had our break up party and prize presentation held at a sports club near the bowling alley. Both myself and team partner did well with prizes from the social night out until late.

Another best highlight of the month was attending to the second scrap camp at the same venue for two nights.  In spite being a wet stormy weekend, it was a good weekend to stay indoors to be creative and completed many pages as I could.  I was busy finalizing two albums to give as Christmas presents to a couple of relatives who I seen at Christmas (while on summer holidays up north).

Hope everyone had a good Christmas with their families.  And best wishes for a prosperous New Year.  Good luck with whatever goals you might have planned for 2013.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Days are passing too fast

Hi everyoe!  How's your week been going so fast?  This week marks the first week of summer school holidays.  And yes... I have been busy with last minute stuff and fnaliaizng Christtmas cards ready to post.  Normally I am pretty good on organising this in advance but this year I think time just got the better of me.
 
Only have two more sleeps at home then we will be off to my holiday destination in Central QLD for ten days. I am going to spend time with some extended family members and friends over Christmas with my darling 14yo daughter.  Her sister has already started her holiday at Grandma's (who lives very close to a beach).  She left on the weekend and be up there for four weeks.  I can't believe how quiet and stressfree this household has been since she left. Even the cats are enjoying it because the little girl (not really a baby anymore) intends to annoy them all the time.
 
Guess this will be the last blog positng until New Year.  I hope everyone has a lovely festive celebration with someone you care about over Christmas and New Year.
Safe travels!

Saturday 15 December 2012

School year ended

Good morning all!  I hope you all had a good week.  Like always I had a busy week with normal commitments.  School is now over for the year.  The kids will be on school holidays for six weeks until 29th January 2013.
 
There will be a couple of holiday trips planned to leave before Christmas. And I can't wait to have a break from homelife as it has been a while since I last went away on holidays.
 
Both girls had a break up excursion on Tuesday.  The junior high school went to Wet 'n' WIld waterpark and the year 7s from  Rachel's school went to Southbank. Both girls seemed to had an enjoyable day in the water and of course came home abit sunburnt.
 
On Wednesday Rachel had her graduation night, held at her school. Consider how much the guests had to pay for attending,  I was abit disappointed with the presentation of the food served but the presentation of the awards and certificates were good.  The night ended around 9ish! 
 
Better get going as I have a busy weekend planned.  Have a good weekend everyone!

Sunday 9 December 2012

Partying weekend

 
Hi everyone!  How was your weekend?  As usual I was busy with afew events on.  Once school ends this Friday, things will quieten down abit. 
 
On Friday night I was out socializing with the ladies from Wednesday's bowling league until midnight. After we exchanged gifts we had our dinner. I had a lovely chicken filo with salad for dinner.  My dessert was triple chocolate cheesecake. Afterwards we watched some live entertainment, some ballroom dancers, got involved in the raffles and keno and had about half an hour play on the pokies.  I didn't win a cent!!
 
Yesterday Rachel and I went Christmas shopping as she wanted to buy afew presents for her grandparents.  In the evening we went social bowling with some friends.  It wasn't a late night out but I still went to bed late as I was chatting to a close friend for a while on facebook. She was very sad because her special furry friend died last night.
 
The Aquatic and Sports Centre
Today it was the kid's bowling party held at an aquatic and sports centre.  There were afew pools and one water slide for the kids to enjoy.  Most of us adults remained in the undercovered area and socialized while we allowed the kids to get wet and have fun.  Our lunch was a BBQ to choice from a sausage sizzle or steak burger.
 
I think it's time to get some sleep as I will have a busy day at home tomorrow.  Also my Dad will be over for lunch. 
 
Have a good week!

Friday 7 December 2012

Start of summer

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  As it is getting closer to the festive season, it's generally the busiest time to get things organised and catch up with friends. 
 
Last weekend were late nights because I went to the cinema twice to see two movies and had the final Friday night scrap workshop. This week I caught up with two of my best friends on Monday and yesterday. 
 
Also attended to one scrap meet on Tuesday.  A good thing!  The craft store was air conditioned comfort as it was a hot scorching day here in SE QLD.  Where I live the temperature reached 37.8C (the highest so far all year). I have another two casual meets to go and then I will be on a break for a couple of weeks.
 
Also I have the final scrap workshop and break up to be held next Wednesday.  It was meant to be held this week but the consultant postponed the day as it was too hot to have the event in her garage.  Instead I attended to the last day of bowling league with the social league. Our dinner gathering will be held tonight at a sports club.  I never been there before so I don't know what's on the menu to consume.  I can't drink any alcohol because I got to drive home later on.
 
I have been busy since the beginning of December and school year is coming to a close very fast.   This morning I attended to the last P and C meeting at the primary school. It will be a sad moment when I walk out of the primary school gates next week because of my last child attending primary school. I have met some interesting people over the years and I will miss chatting to them at the school.  I may see them out and about at the shopping centres which intends to happen at times.
 
It's only another week to go before the schools finished off for the year.  At present time junior high schools would be finalizing their end of the year exams and all teachers at state schools would be busy writing up the report cards.  My year 7 daughter will come home with her last report card next Wednesday while my oldest daughter in high school has her report card posted on the last day of school and it should arrived to me in the first day or two of the school holidays.
 
What's on your agenda for this weekend? Probably have a quiet Saturday night at home as on Sunday its the girl's break up bowling party at a local public pool. Also I need to get my card list done and finalized afew albums.
 
Only got another hour before it's time to pick up the kids from schools so better sign off and get afew things done. Whatever plans you got, have a good weekend!

Monday 26 November 2012

Bowling weekend

How was your weekend?  Did you get up to anything exciting?? Well.......I pretty much had a full on weekend and had alot of fun at bowling venues.
 
During the day on Saturday I was busy making up and signing 20 Christmas cards ready to give out to my bowling league mates that night.  It was quite a late night as we had our break up party and prize presentation for our yearly season played for 46 weeks. 
 
After our two course meal we had our cash or trophy presentation and multiple raffles drawn for cash envelopes. There was only one lucky door raffle, full of goodies inside a laundry basket which was won by one of our committee members. 
 
Yesterday, Monique had her final junior tournament for the year in Brisbane and last night our league had a fun night of bowling and pizza for dinner.  For other details, you will have to read my updates in my sporting report blog.
 
Now another working week has started.  What's on your agenda for this week? Probably be home more during this week as I have things to catch up with at home.  I don't really have alot on outside the home except for tomorrow and Friday night as I have scrap meets on.  Whatever plans you have on your agenda for this week I hope you all will have a good week.

Monday 19 November 2012

Best weekend of all

Hi everyone!  How was your weekend?  I had a great creative weekend away at Brookfield.  For further details you will have to read the report from my craft diary blog. 

Last night was our last night of bowling league for this year.  Surprisely I bowled better then I predicted and it was the best way to finish the season.  I bowled a 203 game and we won all the points against the team who came 2nd.  The final results will be revealed this weekend as our prize presentation party will be held on Saturday night at a sports club.

What's on your agenda for this week?  Besides my normal commitments during the week, I will have busy weekend coming up.  Just hope mother nature will be pleasant to us this time.  Whatever you might have planned, I hope you all will have a good week and be sensible on the roads during worse conditions.

Friday 16 November 2012

Love this weekend!

Hi everyone!  How's your week been going so far?  I have been busy by practically not home much during school hours. For the past four days I caught up with two friends and had two scrap meets to attend to as well.  
 
Also I had to try to finalized all the scrap pages ready for this weekend. Three albums are prepared and ready to scrap from tonight after dinner.  
 
I was hoping to leave home by 4pm as I know it will take close to an hour to drive there due to peak hour traffic in the afternoons on Wembley and Moggill Roads.  I use Logan Motorway (which has toll points) to get to Centenary Highway. Being Friday, the peak hour traffic starts when school finishes. 
 
Have a great weekend everyone!

Saturday 10 November 2012

Music technology

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  As usual I was busy with school and other commitments.  But I had two scrapbooking workshops this week.  Both were held on the same day on Wednesday.
 
Rachel had her final morning of her year 7 into 8 transition program at the high school yesterday.  For five weeks they had different subjects to have mild experience of learning for about an hour each per subject.  Can't remember what other subjects she studied but yesterday it was food studies and music.  She was telling me her small group made pikelets for morning tea.

The parents and/or carers were invited to come into the school on their first break to share morning tea with their kids and teachers.  I had an interesting conversation with a teacher's aide from another primary school. Looks like when the transition of all year 7s starting high school in 2015 will be a huge impact to all primary schools in Queensland.  Depending on the enrollment numbers of each primary place, the schools will lose enrollments of at least two or more classes of year 7s.  Also they might lose a couple of teachers as well.  Or less the education department transfers the year 7 teachers to the high school as well but I can't see that one happening.  But my thought is:  will most of the 12-13 year old students be ready to step up to learn at a high school environment by then??
 
After morning tea we went to the music room for the kid's final lesson of the program.  I was totally blown away as I had first hand experience what it was like to be a professional music artist. First time in my life I got up close and personal with this kind of modern technology equipment. If only this was existed over 20 years ago, I would of been learning more about music all through high school. The kids and I had abit of play and created some musical notes via a computer program and keyboard.  I was having a ball!! Even the music teacher loved what I created.  I told her straight that I couldn't read musical notes but I can pick up a musical note quite easily, just by the sound only.  There is abit of a music gene in my family as a couple of past generations had a couple of cousins in a music band.  I was told they used to performed at local pubs. 
 
What's on your agenda for this weekend?  I am hoping to finalized my scrap preparations, ready for next weekend while my 14 yo is away for the weekend at her friend's house.  Tomorrow I have to be at bowling about half an hour early because we have an AGM on to discuss what's happening at the break up and next year. 
 
Consider someone's alarm was set to go off at 6am, I have been awake since then.  Haven't been outside because it has been raining since last night. It's nice to have slow rainfall because it helps the environment feel fresh again after such a dry winter and spring seasons. This morning we watched four DVD movies.  The first three were the Crocodile Dundee series and the forth DVD was PUSS IN BOOTS.
 
Better get into sorting out my scrap papers for my albums now. 
Have a good weekend! 

Thursday 1 November 2012

October report

Goodbye October! Halloween is over and it's already halfway into the first day of November.  
 
Who believes in Halloween? Did you decorate the house with Halloween?  How many craved pumpkins did you displayed this year?  DId your local kids dress up and went door knocking for any tricks or treats?  I am not really a Halloween believer myself but my kids love to be involved by dressing up and etc.  Last night they went door knocking for treats around a couple of blocks until bedtime.  Only four local kids came door knocking in my street but while I was out to visit the corner shop before sunset, I spotted four adults all dressed up in Halloween gear.  It looks like they were heading towards the local club for celebrations. Last Saturday night (27/10) my 14 yo went to a Halloween Party with afew friends from her school at a house with full supervision of responsible adults, of course.  She would of liked to slept over at her friend's house but she had a bowling tournament to do on Sunday.
 
Hasn't it been a busy month? For me it might of been that busy.  Besides the normal commitments of being a mum, the taxi service and whatever other multiply tasks of being a parent, I had a busy month with outside commitments.  
 
The best highlights of my month would of been: Bowled my 200 game, a relative came into town for only two nights and I was introduced to French scrapbooking via AZZA. I attended two workshops to learn new techniques (ie interlocking photos and photo framing creation) from using the basic stencils.  SInce the workshops I have managed to complete afew pages in these techniques.  I had afew rubber necks looking on what I have done at other scrap meets. I have booked in to do another class this month with AZZA. The challenge is to create this A5 size album of 12 pages in three hours. It's going to be a surprise present to a friend who have I known for afew years now.
 
Only have another month of spring then summer will be here.  Actually summer temps already started since spring started in September.  There is times we had four seasons in one week.....from hot to cold, wind or rain.  Are we becoming like Melbourne now?  I heard over the years that capital city has four seasons all the time.
 
Consider storm season has started, we had severe warnings but most storms had hit in the west. By the time the cell moves to the SE coast, the tense of the cell dies down to more a local thunderstorm or just rain. We had a storm and rain by passing us here yesterday at around lunchtime.  I was on the way to bowling when the first dose of heavy rain appear! I thought my washing would of been wet while I was out.  So it was a surprise when I got back home to see the ground was dry as a bone.  On the way home the second storm didn't come here either but looked good to see the dark clouds in the distance for more heavy rain to hit elsewhere. But the kids told me it rained at school. On facebook last night (after I chucked my 14yo off my laptop) I did see that a severe warning was issued after the storm passed Logan area. But I didn't watch the night TV to find out if the storm hit severely or not.  I think the news report would of been more about the US hurricane hit this week.  Poor old US I feel for as I heard their perfect storm has hit in some states of the country. Is it common for a hurricane to hit just before winter?? Couldn't been a good halloween for them (the ones who celebrate the tradition).
 
If you love horses you wil love to hear this then. Next Tuesday it will be Melbourne Cup Day. As most Aussies know, it's a public holiday for Melbourne residents to celebrate a big horse race meet.  Thousands of people will dress up for the occassion and visit the race track to wine and dine. Other cities of Australia will have other people do the same at their local track or clubs for a fancy lunch.  They will watch the main race of the cup on TV which generally happens around 3pm (DST). I don't worry about this sort of thing as I am not really big on dressing up more formally or have the money to spend. To come and think of it, I never visited a race track for any race meets in Brisbane. I have a couple of friends who live near Eagle Farm and Doomben tracks but I am not sure if they have been to any of them or not.  Guess it's one of those questions I don't ask. Odd times I have driven past these tracks but never stopped and walked in.
 
For international readers, I have further information about the Melbourne Cup. Here's the website link for your enjoyment to read and learn more this annual horse race event annually in Melbourne.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Cup
 
While I was growing up my Mum used to follow horse racing throughout the country and placed small bets at a local TAB.  Odd times (when I was over 18) I might place a friendly bet but I haven't done it for the past couple of years.  Maybe because I never picked the winner!
 
Better go as I have afew other things to do at home today.  Have a good month!

Friday 26 October 2012

Day for Daniel

Good morning everyone!  How was your week?  Can't believe it's Friday already.  Where do our weeks go?  Guess it has something to do with keeping busy. 
 
I had a busy week by attending two scrap meets, catching up with afew friends, prebowls, shopping and assisting my daughter with a couple of school assignments.
 
What's on your agenda for this weekend?  It seems most of the household members here will be busy with their plans. 
 
Little old me just has scrapbooking workshop tonight until late and bowling league on Sunday night. My 14 yo will be bowling in a tournament on Sunday after attending to a Halloween party on Saturday night.  My 12 yo and her Dad will be off four wheel driving all day on Sunday.  A perfect day to have the house all to myself. 
 
Today is Day for Daniel Day. It's an annual event held once a year to focus on Child Safety Awareness. Most schools are involved in this event by allowing students to wear something red on the day and be involved in activiities by having guest speakers or talks from their teachers about child safely on the streets and internet. If you are parent, I hope you will provide your child/ren the general life skills learning at home. For further information go to http://www.dayfordaniel.com.au/ 
 
Only two days ago I heard it's only two months until Christmas. Guess that means I really need to get my act together and get these presents finished. Thank goodness there is a scrap camp coming up in November.  I plan on using that weekend to finish off the albums projects that are almost finished. Guess there will be afew late nights coming from next month as well. Have any of you started on your Christmas shopping or card writing yet? 
 
Better go as I have some things to do around the home today.
Have a good weekend!

Thursday 18 October 2012

When's this roller coaster ride going to end?

For the past week I felt my life was like a roller coaster ride.  Dealing with two cancellations and a rebellious teen who decided to change schools again.  Only today she finally went back to school after half a term of absence.  Just hope she doesn't give the run around and stress like she has been giving me for the past few months.

She decided to go back to her old high school as she claims she's missing her friends.  At least I don't have new uniforms to buy or be interviewed for new enrollment.  All we had to do was show up to the office this morning to have her enrollment re-activated.

Last weekend I wasn't online as our internet service was down. I couldn't logged to the net or emails.  The problem wasn't solved until Sunday night. But during this time I decided to make a start with camp preparations as the scrap camp is held next month.

This week I had a relative (on my Dad's side)down as he had a specialist appointment at the hospital on Monday afternoon.  He stayed at my parent's house for only two nights.  We went over on Sunday afternoon to catch up with him for afew hours.  We picked him up from Roma Street Station in Brisbane city.  It's been quite a long time since I last drive about in the city.

Time for bed as I am getting tired.  Enjoy the reminder of this week!  My weekend will be busy as I have a couple of events on.

Friday 12 October 2012

Term 4 started

Good evening everyone!  How's your week been going?  This week was the first week back for the students to learn after a two week holiday. Inspite the weather changes from summer to winter I had a busy week with normal commitments, attending appointments and I had two scrap meets this week on Tuesday and yesterday.
 
Yesterday I was introduced to French scrapbooking through AZZA.  It's only a new company introduced to Australia for about three years now.  It’s an European style of scrapbooking which uses very few embellishments. The ideal design of this scrapbook layout is based on creatively cropping your photos by using stencil templates of different shapes or from a pre-made template.  Majority of these templates come in 12 inch to fit your 12 inch square pages.
 
My 12 yo started the year 7 into 8 transition program today at the high school. Being the first day for her to be there and didn't know anyone, I stayed with her and observed what was going on for two hours.  At arrival a group of SEU students had a booklet received to do abit of writing about themselves, then they had a tour of the school, had about half an hour of doing PE and back to the room to do more bookwork.  For PE the students played Futsal (which is indoor soccer)
 
Once a week for five weeks she will be visiting this school for a couple of hours each morning to do a program to help to get used the idea of getting ready to go next year.  She's a SEU student so her first year of high school will be different then the other students. 
 
Better go and think about getting some beauty sleep.  Not sure what I will get up tomorrow.  It just depends on the mood I am feeling in the morning.  But I know I will be busy on Sunday as I will have an Uncle down visiting for afew days. 
 
Have a good weekend! 

Monday 8 October 2012

Weather changes fast

Good afternoon everyone!  School holidays are now over and the kids went back to school this morning.  Boy!  It was hard to get up early as I was getting used to sleeping in over the school holidays. 
 
This term will be only ten weeks long and what a busy little term it will become in such a short time.  I know it will travel by so fast and farewelling primary school life will be upon us before I know it.  My darling little 12 yo will be graduating year 7 in December. BOO HOO!  I wish kids didn't have to grow up so fast!! Why can't they stay young and be in primary school forever???
 
How was your weekend?  I hope you enjoyed your time off with your family and/or friends.
 
What a hot weekend we had here.  Yesterday the temperature reached 36C (96F) but by 8pm the southern change came and temperature dropped so quickly.  It ended up becaming a cooler night and an overcast day here today.  BOM predicts this week will be abit of a mixed bag with either cooler or hot temperatures throughout the country and rain and possible storms in some areas of the state. It will be impossible to work out what to wear each day as we never know what's around the corner.
 
Consider my 12 yo and I were out at the public pool on Saturday, I decided to stay away from the hot sun yesterday.  I was indoors all day and watched most of the V8 supercar race on TV.  It was live from Bathurst, NSW. The race car drivers had to drive 161 laps around this circuit within about seven hours. Three years ago we stopped briefly in Bathurst, on our way home from our holiday.  We enjoyed the experience of driving this track under normal speed conditions.  I don't know how the race driver professionals can handle this track at high speeds as I found I was abit nervous driving around the hugh corner at normal speed. This circuit is a normal road for locals who live up the mountain. This website link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathurst,_New_South_Wales will give further details about the town and sport.
 
Last night's bowling was okay to play but unfortunately my team didn't win any points as we played against a top bowler.  But the good news I did come home with a star of the week certificate for bowling a great over average game from the week before. Only have another six weeks of play left, then the season will be over for the year.  After a six week break the new season will resume in January.  At this stage I don't know if I want to return or change leagues.
 
Better go as I have some scrap gear to sort out and have it ready for this week's meets.  I have my casual meet at the store tomorrow and a new workshop to attend to on this Thursday.
 
Have a good week! 

Saturday 6 October 2012

Goodbye Holidays

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  It's almost the end of the school holidays and what a busy week we had. 

While my 14 yo had her own organisations of activities with friends, her sister was booked in to do a sports program for four days.  Normally it runs over five days but Monday was a public holiday.  She seem to enjoy it but I think the last two days might of been abit too warm to be playing sport.  It will be her last time of doing this program because next year she will be in high school.

During the girls absence I spent majority of my time at home.  Except for Tuesday as I was at the craft store for my weekly of casually scrap with others.  Also on Wednesday night I was out as I had a workshop on about BOM. This time we had to do a page about our favourite things and things about yourself. 

It's just about the start of this weekend and I am guessing the highways will be busy both up and down the coast as we are predicting summer temperatures.  Tomorrw I have organise a day to go to a local pool in Brisbane to catch up with another family there with afew kids.

So whatever plans you might have for this weekend, don't forget to safe travel and slip, slop and slap if you are going to spend your time outdoors. 

It's now just after midnight and I better get some sleep, otherwise I will be snoozing more at the pool then swimming today. 

Have a good weekend!

Monday 1 October 2012

September report

Goodbye September!  Well...... that is what I seen on the facebook wall this morning from Snoopy page.  It was then I realised how quickly the first month of spring went.  I hope you all had a good month.  Any exciting news you wish to share, be my guest!!

Inspite on being involved in normal activities, I got back into the swing of things with my scrapbooking attendance again regularly at the craft store or through my CM consultant.  But I am now thinking of trying out French Scrapbooking as I have found some interesting and challenging templates to use at the craft show.  I have found a local consultant who does french scrapbooking.  I have booked my first introduction workshop to attend next week.  A couple of craft ladies I know at the craft store has done the introduction workshop in August and I had seen their first page layout done.  It looked simple to do to me!!

Also I joined twitter, only because Rachel's class is on twitter and tweets daily with what they get up to and learn.  I am not sure if her teacher will continue to tweet in term 4 as there is staff changes taking place after the school holidays. At present time I am following around 100 people, events or businesses and try to tweet daily. So if you have a twitter account, feel free to forward your details in the comment's column.

Rachel and her father had three nights in Hervey Bay.  Besides spending time with some family members, they experienced whale watching on a boat that went offshore from Hervey Bay.  They seem to enjoyed this experience and may wish to do it again in the future.  I know I don't want to this because I suffer sea sickness quite badly. It seems my body takes sometime to gain my land legs back after being on a boat cruise of all standards.  I can't even handle cruising down the Brisbane River anymore.  I only had this problem since I was pregnant with my first liveborn child. Fifteen years ago I board a day boat cruise to Brampton Island from Mackay. Because it was cyclone season at the time, the cruise was one uneventful ride of my life. I thought my life was over because the waves were very hugh. Easily been high as a dinosaur!! I was double the amount of sickness because I was just in the start of the first trimester of being pregnant and I had morning sickness too. It taken me days to get my land legs back to normal. 

Currently it's school holidays for my kids.  They already had their first week passed and they were busy with places to go.  This week will be just as busy with things to do and places to go.  Today it's the public holiday known as the Queen's Birthday in our state. For further details about this public holiday, read it in my Expression of Interest blog.

Whatever plans you might have for October I hope it will be a good month for you. If you celebrate an anniversary or birthday this month, I hope you will have an enjoyable day with your loved ones.

Saturday 29 September 2012

First week of School Holidays

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  This week marked the first week of the school holidays for spring. Inspite the weather changes from hot to storms and cooler days throughout the week, didn't this week go by fast? 

While Miss M had organised her own lifestyle with her bf and/or friends, I had to organised some activities to keep Miss R entertained.  This week we seen two children movies at the cinema and spend an hour at a public holiday for fun activities with other primary school children.  The activity tables had a rotation system going because they were about 30 kids of all primary school ages in this room. It was either lego creating, art and crafts or playing games on the ipad. I think the ipad table was her favourite because she taken a while to leave that table.

Yesterday we went to the club to meet up with my parents there for lunch to help celebrate my mum's birthday.  Even through I am now a yearly member there I don't go to this club very often as it is an hour's drive away from home. The club had Friday raffles going and a morning entertainment for two hours with a man and a woman (in my age group) singing a variety of music to the audience of mostly seniors who were doing line dancing.  Not sure reggae is the right music for line dancing but I love listening to their reggae stuff.

Poor little Miss R might of been abit bored because the childcare area wasn't opened during the daytime hours.  But she managed to keep herself amused by doing some origami folds of animals and a table lamp from the raffle tickets (after the draws were over).  She gave two of her origami folds to the lady who organised the raffles for the day. Miss R must of had the luck of the day on our table because she came home with $50 cash. She wants to save the money to use to buy an ipod later on. My Dad gave her only $2 to spend on the raffles. Also my Dad paid for our drinks because I was short on cash at hand. Thanks to someone who might of borrowed my money without asking.

What's on your agenda for this weekend?  Don't forget this weekend is a long weekend in Australia.  Queen's Birthday is held on Monday!  Haven't really got much planned with this household.  Just take the days after I wake up each morning.  But today I am hoping to get some washing done as I heard it might rain tomorrow

Whatever plans you might have, have a good weekend!

Friday 21 September 2012

Term 3 ended

How was your week?  Being the last week of term 3 I had a busy week attending two scrap meets, a school appointment and two school events.

Naplan results came in this week too and I have viewed my children's results.  They seem to be doing okay in a couple of areas while other areas need exra work.

Now it's the start of school holidays.  After all the dramas I had during this term I wasn't really in the mood for making any holiday trips. I had to think and organise activities to keep my girls busy for the next two weeks.  This weekend will be busy as I have two events on.  Tomorrow night I have a night of bowling fun with some friends until late. 

Speaking of time I think it's now time to get to sleep as it's getting quite late here in Australia. To all the parents I hope you will enjoy your holiday time with your kids. If you have any travel plans, have a safe destinaton!

Goodnight!

Thursday 13 September 2012

Tweet Tweet

How was your week?  This week I had a busy week so far with things to do at home and places to go while the kids are at school.

Consider I have been on facebook for two years now, I found alot of past and current friends and relatives on there. It's great to catch up with everyone at somepoint of time.  I found this service addicted at start but since then I don't intend to spend many hours on there as I used to. I generally log on once a day for an hour to see wall messages posted.  Either I will I probably might have an odd chat to someone if they are happened to be online at the same time or play a game or two if the laptop doesn't freeze on me.  

Only yesterday I decided to join twitter. It was more a group who gave me the incentive to join this service.  Its free to join and all you need is a username and so on. After day one I am following 17 groups (from TV) or people and have two friends following me. Yesterday I posted 20 tweets, mainly to a TV show as it was on TV last night. Will I become addicted to this service like facebook?

Have a good weekend!

Monday 10 September 2012

Memorable Weekend

How was your weekend?  I hope you had a great time with your family and/or friends.  My weekend was good!  Rachel and her father was away in Hervey Bay for two nights. They enjoyed the experience of whale watching with the inlaws.

Monique and I done our own thing. I basically spend some time with my best friend and  watched a couple games of the football as it is the start of the finals now.  The Grand Final will be held at the end of this month.

I had a day of scrapbooking on Saturday.  Wasn't really in much of a creative mood but managed to complete only a couple of pages.  I haven't seen alot of ladies in a while so I was busy more socializing then scrapbooking.  Saturday's lunch at he venue was good!!  I had fish, chips and salad. In the evening I had chinese takeway with my friend.
Last night's bowling was good and we managed to win most of the points.  But after bowling was more a memorable moment in the books.  For further details, you need to read he story from my Expression of Interest blog.
It's now that time of the day for the parent/s to pick up their children from school. The kids only have another two weeks of this term left then it will be school holidays again.

Saturday 1 September 2012

August report

Goodbye winter!  Welcome spring!  I enjoy this time of the year as the temperatures during the day and night rises slightly each month, the daylight hours increases, new wildlife animals are born and flowers are in full bloom.
 
How was your past month? I am glad August is now over as it hasn't been a pleasant month.  I had a couple of uneventful news or events had happened. We had one death in the family, flu virus hit most household members here and two cars with mechanical problems. 
 
The kids and I are still recovering from the flu for the past two weeks. We been to the doctors twice and consumed two coarses of antibotics for infections. I had sinus and chest infection. Rachel had one week off school because she was quite sick with a lung and chest infection.  She was a close call to be admitted into hospital too.
 
August was a busy month for birthdays. Consider I have met afew people through craft and bowling, I intend to hear some people celebrate their birthday this month too.  Myself and my rebellious 14 yo daughter are only three days apart. No celebrations happened this year because I have been sick with this winter bug. 
 
August was a very dry month with limited rainfall. The highest temperature we had was 28 degrees which happened on last Thursday week.  The lowest temperature we had was 1.9 C which happened in the first week of August.
 
Today is the first official day of spring here in Australia..  And what a gorgeous suuny day it was here (where I live).  A great day to start spring cleaning around the place but I think I will wait until I get over this flu.  I was told by the doctor it could take a month to really get over it fully.
 
Depending on how the tempertures go we could be in for an early summer this year.  Our storm season has started but the two storms we had recently sizzled out by the time they moved to the coastal areas. 
 
Our football season will be ending soon.  Both AFL and NRL games will start their final series next weekend. This year I started to do footy tipping, just for fun!  A good thing I didn't pay for it as I didn't get all my predictions right on most weeks. There was only one week I had my predictions spot on with all games.
 
Three games of State of Origin (NRL) were held between May to July.   These games were played between Queensland and New South Wales.  Queensland had won for the 7th time in a row now!!
 
In Australia it will be Father's Day tomorrow. The kids and I have been to the shops to do some present shopping today. Guess I better think about an early night as I will have visitors over tomorrow.
 
Enjoy your first month of spring (for southern hemisphere residents) or autumn (if you live in the northern hemisphere)!

Saturday 25 August 2012

Flu

Only six more days to go and we will be farwelling winter.  About time too because I am so sick of winter.  Temperatures hasn't really been too bad this season but catching the winter bugs, annoys me the most.

I thought I might of had a lucky season for once to not catch a virus but no...I had this flu for over a week now and I don't think this cough or sinus will depart in a hurry.  I just finished the first course of antibodics and I will have to go back to the chemist this morning to pick the repeat course to take for the next five days.  I will be back to see the doctor on Monday morning.

My darling 12 yo daughter caught the flu too and she had a week off school. Can you imagine how much sleep I would of had this week?  Not much each night so my daytimes would be more sleep when I could.

This week has been a long week! The first half was practically stayed in bed but for the past couple of days I managed to sit up more.  Mostly on the laptop here to check emails, etc, etc. And managed to spend an hour or two doing some digital scrapbooking. I only got four months left to complete a digital album for a Christmas present.

Have a good weekend!

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Birthdays

Only two days ago I turned another year older.  I can remember when I was growing up I always counted down the weeks, days and hours as a child's birthday would be the most exciting thing on their yearly agenda.  But I never really was the spoilt child to have parties with friends throughout my school years but I was still excited as I knew I would be expected to come home from school to see a birthday cake and a present from my parents and cards in the mail from my now belated grandparents, aunts and some cousins.

Compared to today's 21st century kids so spoilt with modern technology devices, I grew up from a low income family status so I only had the basics of food, clothing and shelter. Receiving a present at Christmas, Easter and Birthdays was something special because I wasn't a spoilt brat like today's unrespectful teens are of today. 

It wasn't until I become the young adult to go out partying or dinner dates for my birthday with friends. That is when I started to really enjoy celebrating birthdays with friends. I feel being with friends to share the occassion is the reason why to celebrate a new era. Was it the true meaning of celebration is what now I am missing??

Two decades on, I am starting to dislike celebrating birthdays now.  Not because I am growing older each year or happened to catch the flu but I am starting to lose my past  family members or family friends around my birthdate. This is when I realised I am not as young and vibrant person I used to be, anymore!!

Only a week ago I lost an Uncle and his funeral is currently in service at Sarina.  As much I would of like to see my extended family members this week and pay for my last respects to my Uncle, I couldn't go travelling because this flu got the better of me since last weekend.

So what's your ideal of celebrating your birthday annually?  Or are you like me these days, just let another day pass on by??

Friday 17 August 2012

EKKA season

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  Our week was a shorter week as Monday was a public holiday known as Show Holiday for Brisbane. 
 
The EKKA is an annual carnival event for the capital city of Queensland and it intends to run for ten days.  But they smack a public holiday in for one day. Personally I didn't think this public holiday is really needed for just a carnival. I am sure there is enough time over ten days to attend if people are that keen on going to the EKKA to have fun. 
 
I never went to the EKKA this year but the rest of this household did.  Monique went with some friends on one day while Rachel went with her father on a different day. I think they can home with the free event, known as the FLU because I just came down with the early stages last night. At current time it's more the sore muscles, high temperature and an annoying cough that is knocking me about. I intend to get tired quite quickly.  Been a mum it's impossible to rest all day when the kids are at home.
 
I am starting to really disliking August because of death notices. This is the third time in four years I have lost a relative in August. Only just less then twelve months ago I lost an Auntie but I couldn't attend to her funeral because the timing was lousy to travel on such short notice.
 
Less then a week ago I had the news about my Uncle was in hospital after suffering a heart attack.  But unfortunately he lost his battle to live on Thursday morning.  He only had 30% of his heart functioning and 40% of his lungs functioning because he suffered a massive chest infection that killed them.  I was told his funeral will be held next Wednesday afternoon which I am hoping to make the trip up to pay my last respects to him and visit my Auntie's resting spot. Depending on how this flu progresses in the next two days, I might consider leaving on Monday with my 12 daughter to spend five days away from home. 
 
This weekend I am supposely be going away to a stamping camp but luckily for me I managed to get my money refunded.  I wouldn't enjoyed my weekend away anyway as I would have next week on my mind more as well as trying to recover from the flu.
 
At present time it's after 10:30pm and I thought heard thunder outside. At first I thought it was only my imagination until I opened the door and spotted lightning. I checked on BOM website and there isn't any storms forecast for tonight. So I guess even the weather bureau didn't even seen this mini cell popped up to hit only minor in the Logan area.  Going by radar, the cell is quite fast moving so we won't be expecting much rain at all.  Don't even think it will come pass over my house even. While I was in the shower I thought of my belated Uncle.  It's only been less then 48 hours and he is already making up a scene from heaven.. Mate!  Is there any beer up there??  Have one on me!!!
 
Take care and have a good weekend!

Sunday 12 August 2012

Not 2010 again!!

What a year I am having?  At present time I feel more blue then happiness. Really it feels groundhog year of 2010 all over again.  They say things happens in three but not in this case.  When it rains it pours here in my life!! In the last five months I had striked one disaster of news to the next from sick relatives, rebellious teens to car problems. 

First it was my Dad back into hospital for an emergency hermia on one weekend in March.  Luckily so far he is fine and recovered well.  But looks like my mum might be the next hospital case I will have to deal with down the track as I only found out today she started to have one catarat in one of her eyes.  They said it might be 2-3 years before the catarat is fully covered over that eye. I do wonder if it's a family gene problem because her mum had it years ago and went totally blind in that eye.  It was too late to have anything done as she didn't go to her local medical centre for treatment.  I don't think she like going to GPs or dentists as I heard she never went to any in the time I existed in life.

Just when I recovered from my Dad's weekend ordeal I found out one of his cousins had early stages of prostate cancer.  He came to Brisbane to have surgery to remove the prostate organ in June.  Only last week the same cousin was back to Brisbane for the check up and good news he is fine. Just requires regular PSA tests done every three months for two years!! 

But this morning's bombshell news at breakfast hours was really the last straw.  I have an Uncle who's currently in hospital after suffering a massive heart attack sometime during the night.  Going by the diagnose,  I was told he might not last the weekend as it is quite serious.  Because he lives miles away with his wife (who is my Dad's eldest sister), I don't get to see my extended relatives as much as I used to when I was a child. 

He's been quite an ill patient for quite a long time with heart condition issues and even had by pass surgeries to survived on borrowed time.  I don't know if his past generations had suffered the same condition but I hope their three sons have regular health checks with their family GP. Their youngest child is about the same age as me so most of my life I used to see him more at home as the older siblings already left home with their partners.  My Uncle enjoyed his beer because he was a hard worker on their family farm in Central QLD. There is alot of other good memories of my uncle as he was a good man with a sense of Aussie humour. When that time goes when he gets call to go back home to God, he will be sadly missed by his beloved family members and friends.

They were married for 56 years which I think back in those days, the ladies intend to get married young.  I wasn't even born when they got married. The last time I saw him was when I was invited to attend to their 50th wedding anniversary celebrations in 2006. They raised four kids on a cane farm!  I used to visit them at the farm on school holidays. It was a twelve hour drive from Brisbane! I always knew the farm was getting closer because of other sights I can remembering seeing first.  I can remember my Uncle was out most of the day working on their farm and only came in for lunch and supper.

It's after midnight here on now Sunday morning. I am not sure what kind of day I am expected to have. At present time I am just taking one day at a time. All I will say I will dread the hour when I hear the phone ring and the call is the one I don't want to know in the next day or so.  I don't know if I can attend to his funeral as it all depends on how much notice we received.  But there is one thing I am kicking myself for not making the summer holiday up there in January.  It's the second time I have done it and I am not happy about it as I intend to lose a relative that year. 

It's not even quite twelve months yet I had lost an Auntie in the same area.  I couldn't go to her funeral because it was just too short notice to travel to go by car.  I thought about flighting up just for the day, but the flight times didn't agree with the time of the funeral starting.

Yesterday was just lazed about inside as I wasn't in the mood to be socializing outside the house.  But my best friend was supportive as we spoke on the phone for a couple of hours today.  It was nice to have a supportive friend at time of need! It was a quiet household as the other three members were out most of the day.  My rebellious teenager was out most of the day with friends while her sibling was out with her father at the Brisbane EKKA until 9pm.

Better go and try to get some beauty sleep but I am not expecting to sleep well as I just have too much on my mind at present time. Have a good week!

Sunday 5 August 2012

Computer time

Goodbye July!  Hello August!  It's now the fifth day into August and what a cold start of the month it has been here.  It was on Friday we had the coldest morning here.  At 6:30am the temperature outside reached one degrees celcuis.  No wonder why my cat didn't want to go outside in a hurry.

How was your week?  It was pretty much an ordinary week for me at home, dealing with normal commitments, watching the olympics on TV and made a start with camp preparations as my weekend away to a stamping camp this time is held two weekends away. It's been a decade since I last attended to a stamp camp in Brisbane.

How's your weekend been going?  I decided to be different yesteday by going to a softball competition in the morning as one of my friends were competing in the masters over three days.  Out of the four games so far they have won 2 or 3 matches.  If they win this morning, they will be competing for the gold match this afternoon.

Better go as I have some things to do at home today.  Have a good week!

Tuesday 31 July 2012

July report

Today is the last day of July.  And what a month it has been for me. I will be glad to farewell July as it hasn't really been the favourite month of the year. After experiencing a rebellious teenager and my car had major problems, my life is slowly going back to normal. I missed alot of scrap meets as I needed to sort out other problems that arised first.

The first week of July was the second week of the school holidays which the girls were still away at Grandma's. They arrived home on the eve of semester two resuming. During the second week I managed to see two released movies at the cinema.

The girls have been back at school for three weeks now.  I changed high school enrollment in this time for my eldest child.  She's been at the new school for one week now and seems to settled in well.  She's studying the same subjects she done at the old high school and junior sport is held on the same afternoon of the week as well. Just she needs to get used to the new timetable system as each lesson times is slightly different each day.  She starts school 25 minutes earlier then her sister and generally she's home by the time I picked up her sibling from her primary school. On Mondays they finished high school half an hour later because of their whole school assembly in the mornings.

After season one of junior bowling the girls had their prize presentation when semester two resumed.  Both girls done well and it was mentioned what they got rewarded for in the sporting blog a couple of weeks ago.

Right now its the 30th summer olympics held in London for two weeks. It would be a great experience in my lifetime to watch a sporting olympic event or more but I guess it is just too far for this olympic to sit and watch live.  How about you? I guess the next two weeks I will be glued to the TV screen on most nights or laptop for reading the results.  Channel 9 has been fairly good and shown a variety of sports involving afew nations of the world.  Just it's impossible to stay up all night to watch! 

At present time Australia is ranked in 10th position as they only won four medals from swimming. Going by media reports I think most of our Aussie olympics feel disappointed for letting our country down.  NO paw-ese!  I don't think so!  They are already winners in my books by just going there to enter. How many people dream of entering the olympics but never get there to compete?? The olympics is a very strong competitive sport and involves all nations of the world. But I have noticed the competitors are getting younger to enter and they are the ones who intend to break either the world or olympic record.  I feel our olympians are doing the best to their ability.  Support from their family, coach, fans and their country should be their top priority before and after the event taken place.  I feel their trainers/coaches put too much pressure on their trainees and expects them to be coming home with the gold only. If my children were involved in an international event I would be proud of them for just representing their country, with or without any medals around their neck. 

Enjoy the last month of winter/summer in your hemisphere! 

Monday 30 July 2012

Olympics started

Australia will be competing
Good morning everyone!  How was your weekend?  Basically I just hanged around at home to watch the Summer Olympics, live from London. On Saturday morning I was up early to watch the opening ceremony live.  Did you see it? What did you think of the ceremony?
 
The Olympic Logo
In Australia we see the daily day events start from 6:30pm and is shown all night on TV until 9am in the morning.  Twice during the day they show highlights of each day for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Each night I plan on watching some events until I fall asleep around midnight.  Then I am up by 6-7am to watch more events until 9am on the weeekend.  During the school days I will watch some until it's time to drive Rachel to school.  Once I get back from her drop off (when I am at home)  I will watch the highlights for two hours in the morning.  I was told I will get square eyes from watching too much of the Olympics.
 
The Cauldron was lit at the opening ceremony
It's seems Australia isn't doing so well with their water events this time.  So far we only have one gold, one silver and one bronze from swimming.  At last count of the medal tally, China is in front with 12 medals and USA is second with the total of 11 medals.
 
Shame ten pin bowling isn't part of the Olympics games. Last night I was at bowling to bowl in my league.  We won all the points against one of the top five teams.  My team partner bowled a 201 game.
 
Better go as I need to get to the shops to buy a birthday present for my husband as it is his birthday today.   His mum's birthday was only two days ago and I don't know what her family got her for her birthday. In August we have two family members with their birthdates, only three days apart. I don't think there will be any huge celebrations on these days as they aren't hitting a new milestone era.
 
Have a nice weekend! 

Saturday 28 July 2012

July ending

Hi everyone!  How was your week?  Its now eight days since I last drove my little sedan.  A quote has been done and it seems to get the transmission fixed it will cost us around $3000. The first day of a new school week I drove the big 4WD ute but since then I changed and drive the large sedan more this week.  I am more comfortable and confident to drive in each time I get into the driver's seat.  At least the CD works well in this sedan. 
 
When you think about it...I have driven four different vehicles this year.  I drove one of my friend's 2011 hatchback earlier in the year for the sake of it.  Just to see how it feels to drive a new car 21st century these days. But since the last school holidays I have driven either the 4WD ute or the large sedan to schools and shops mostly. 
 
I had a busy week with normal commitments and attended to one scrap workshop on Wednesday night.. We had two themes:  TV shows and about your partner. This scrapbooking workshop was about remembering past TV shows by creating a TV page layout. What shows did you remembered watching when you were a child? I never really the type of child who would sit and watch children's shows. I was more into music.  I would sit and watch countdown and Young Talent Time until the shows end their viewing times.
 
This week I managed to watch two DVD movies that was borrowed from a friend.  I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  Does anyone know why the joker licks his lips all the time in the movie? Has anyone seen THE DARK KNIGHT RISES?  What was it like?  
 
Another school week has passed on by quickly but this time I changed enrollments for my eldest teen to start a new high school on Wednesday.  This school is closer to our home address which will be more convenient for her sibling next year when I plan on returning back into the workforce and study. They will be able to walk to and from school while I am at work or studying.
  
TIme to go as I need to have some rest before watching day one of the London 2012 games tonight.  I was up early to watch the opening ceremony this morning. Have a good weekend! 

Friday 20 July 2012

Teenage's life

Hi everyone!  How was your week? This week was long and challenging since the issued problem started late last week.  The main cause of the problem has been sorted out but I think it will take a while before our life gets back to normal.  This will test the family: if it will break the relationship of the trust barrier or not??
 
To all the parents who have teenage children in their care, just keep an eye on them.  Today's teenagers seem to be in their own little world.  And what is more important to them is their new circle of friends and relationships.  The school nurse added her information in the latest school newsletter about the teenager's life this week. Unfortunately most teenagers seem to develop puberty earlier then we predict.  LIke a friend told me recently, a teenager is still only a child but they feel trapped inside an adult body.
 
I think the society should never introduced modern technology devices because they are a heartache for parents to deal with the use from their teenage child. In 9/10 cases this is where the problem starts.  It might be the right idea for these kids to use modern technology devices to keep them off the streets but it seems to develop other problems without the parents knowing what's gong on in their child's mind.  It's impossible to watch your child 24/7 and you don't want to be over powerng with discipline ruling at the same time.  Otherwise you might have a run away teen on your hands.
 
Besides dealing with teenagers lately, today was more the last straw for me. My car died this afternoon! It seems the automatic transmission is totally stuffed which I think it might be a huge expense to fix.  When the tow truck guy was removing my car from the tilt tray in my street, I spotted some liquid on the tilt tray.  By the way, guess where the car stopped....at a petrol station!!  Just a shame this service station doesn't have a workshop there.  Otherwise I would of just left the car there and caught a bus or taxi home with two teen kids.  But because we are RACQ members, I was lucky to have the car towed home for free.
 
Have a nice weekend everyone! Guess I won't be up to much because I don't really have a car to drive alot at present time.  Then again we do have four vehicles parked in our property but only two vehicles are in working order.  Guess I will be driving the 4WD dual cab for sometime now. Not really comfortable driving larger sized cars but I guess I don't have a choice right now.

Sunday 15 July 2012

The Vet Appointment

Because I have a rebellious teenager on my hands I had forgotten I mentioned I had taken one of my cats to our local vet surgery on Wednesday morning for his annual check up and yearly immunisation.  He was not impressed on being there!  He was in no hurry to get out of the travel box for the vet to perform her vet duties.  But as soon as the check up and immunisation was done, he was like a bolt of lightning to get back into the box. So, how are your pets when it is time to go to their local vet clinic?
 
On the holidays I had to pay for Gismo's annual animal registration. It went up $11 in one year.  It was introduced to have cats registered four years ago while I have no clue when dog registation started.  Does your country have animal registation for cats?
 
Shame we can't have some form of chip registration into teenagers. It least we would know where our child is at all times.
 
I wouldn't say I was the perfect teenager over twenty years ago but I know I didn't pull this form of stunt that my daughter is currently doing. If I done this at her current age I would copped a belting of a lifetime but today the law says the parent aren't allow to smack their kids.
 
Better go and sort out the clean laundry.  Have a good week!