Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Window Washing

Tuesday 31st May, 2011

Well here we are, the last day of May.  Five months of 2011 already gone!  The day doesn't look so nice outside, overcast but I don't think we are going to get any rain.

Today is window washing day for the bathroom, toilet, study and spare bedroom.  I have to do both outside and inside myself.  While I am doing the windows I will get the curtains washed.

When Tony came home from work he hung the pictures back up in the study.  I got the windows washed and so we got the curtains back up.  Before we could hang the study curtains he had to fix the track.

It feels so good going into each of the rooms now......they look and feel so fresh!!  Maybe it's all in my mind!!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Still Plodding On....

Monday 30th May, 2011

Today I got the study back to normal.  Decluttered the bookshelves and threw out empty computer program boxes.  Why they were kept I don't know....lol.

I had to go to Spotlight to get Tony some curtain track accesories.  When he was vacuuming the curtains in the study one of the attachments that hold the curtain track to the pelmet broke.  Luckily they had some.

I met Tony at the Plaza and from there we went to the laundromat to wash the blanket from the spare bed.  OMG! someone beat to us to it, and practically had every machine in the premises in use, including the 2 big machines that take the blankets/quilts.

The normal washing machine (the only one not in use) was too small for the blanket.  We sat and waited as the machine that we wanted to use had only 7 minutes left on it.  When that finished washing the girl then dragged a bag down and had curtains she wanted to wash.

We decided to leave and go to the laundromat at Holden Hill,
We had no problems there, so while the blanket was washing we went and did some shopping at Gilles Plains.  Came back and collected the blanket and headed home.

Tony didn't feel like doing any more cleaning tonight so we took the night off.

More Productive Today

Sunday 29th May, 2011

Today was a much more productive day.  With no interruptions this morning we got straight into the cleaning.
Thinking we had taken our last bag to the charity bin last night, I managed to get another bag of gear to take.  I found some more books, computer programs that we longer use and ornaments that I no longer want.

Tony got the spare bedroom and the study walls and ceilings washed today.  When he finished the spare bedroom I changed the sheets on the bed and dusted and vacuumed.  I still have to wash the window and net curtain.

I can start to see some progress now that we have done the three rooms plus the bathroom.  Before, even though I was sorting through wardrobes and cupboards, you couldn't actually see what had been done.  With the walls and the curtains washed the rooms look a lot cleaner.  I am rather surprised that there hasn't been so much dust and dirt.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Good Intentions But.........

Saturday 28th May, 2011

First thing this morning Tony had to go to the doctors and have his 6 month blood test for cholestrol.  When he got home we had some breakfast and then it was time to continue on with the cleaning.

All we managed to get done today was the bathroom walls and ceiling washed.  I did get into the study and sorted through some books.  Tony also built the bookcase and got that in place for me in the study.


Tonight we went and dropped off some bags for the charity bin and also dropped off the old bookcase.  We then went into work and dropped off some rubbish and cardboard boxes.  We got back home around 11.00pm and when we walked in the door Tony's mobile phone was ringing.  He had forgotten to take it with him.

It was Security letting him know that there was an alarm at work.  When he dialled in, he saw that one of the water tanks had gone into fault.  He thought he had better go in because if the float was stuck it would mean a flood in the basement.  So back into work we went, getting back home at 12.45am.

Friday, May 27, 2011

No Cleaning Day Today.......Yay!!!

Friday 27th May, 2011

Today was a day off from cleaning.  I had an appointment for my nails and then I went into the city to meet Tony.  I had to go and buy a birthday present for a 3 year old and then we went and had coffee.

When we left the city we headed to Ikea.  I wanted new bookshelves to replace the one I already have.   I know I vowed and declared that I would never buy anything from Ikea ever again after the incident with the door on the DVD cabinet, but hey I'm a woman and it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind.  hehehehe

We got what we wanted and then went over to Harbor Town and Woolworths to do some grocery shopping.  While we were this side of town we decided to have pizza for tea.  Our favourite pizza shop was just down the road.

From the Lens...............

Thursday, May 26, 2011

No Katie This Weekend

Thursday 26th May, 2011

Today was a rather quiet day cleaning wise.  There was only the DVD cabinets and desk to clean in the bedroom.  There's nothing much else I can do until the weekend when Tony washes the walls.

I got caught up on the ironing this afternoon.  Katie rang after dinner tonight to let us know that she won't be coming this weekend.  She didn't sound too happy and so I wonder if her mum wanted her to come for the weekend but she didn't.  When we dropped her off last time I asked her, did she want to come in 2 weeks or 3, she said 3.   She didn't want to talk much either which is unusual for her.

I know she told me weeks ago that she didn't want to come every fortnight like she has been doing and that suits us fine.  By having that extra weekend free it will give Tony and I more time to do what we want to do.  As it is with just having one weekend between visits we don't get done what we want to.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Wednesday 25th May, 2011

Back to doing more of the same today.  I sorted through some of my scrapbooking supplies and put them into containers.

Then I started to sort through the photo boxes.  What a mistake that was!!  I have hundreds of photos, most of them duplicated, so I tore up all the duplicated ones.  When we bought our first digital camera we would go and have the photos printed off.  Now I just download them onto the computer and print off whatever photos I want myself. 

Tony emptied out the top of the cupboard when he came home from work.  Most of the stuff we have up there is already in boxes so that was not too much of a drama to sort.

The boxes mostly contained scrapbooks of our wedding cards, baby cards when our son was born, newspaper clippings and old postcards that we'd received from friends and family.  It brought back some wonderful memories going through these boxes.  There's no way I can throw any of this away.

Come the weekend and Tony will wash the ceilings and walls in the bathroom, vanity room, toilet and spare bedroom.  Then I will wash the curtains and windows, vacuum, mop the floors and two more rooms will be finished.

From the Lens..........

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sorting, Sorting......Out You Go!

Tuesday 24th May, 2011

I have been having trouble trying to log in to Blogger again, hence no post yesterday.    My cleaning is going gang busters, I am up to the spare bedroom.  Yesterday I finished off the linen press and was surprised at how much I threw out.


Tonight when Tony came home he was utterly shocked with what I had taken out of the spare bedroom and that was only half the built-in.  "Where was it all put?" he asked.  This is the room Katie uses and so there was paper, books, toys, dolls, clothes and bags.  He could not believe where all of it had come from.  


I still have to sort out the bedside cupboards, the top of the built-in and one side of the built-in that has all my scrapbooking stuff.  I'm not looking forward to that.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

A Good Day For Ducks

Sunday 22nd May, 2011

What a horrible day weather wise!!!  Lucky we didn't plan on going anywhere today.  It was cold, very windy and wet.  A good day for staying indoors and getting some more cleaning done.  And the weather doesn't look much better for the rest of the week.

This morning we finished off the bedroom and then started on the vanity.  I sorted through the drawers and Tony cleaned out the underneath cupboard.  Then he made a start on the linen press.  I got him to do the top shelf as I could manage the lower shelves by myself when he was back at work. 

We called it a day, early.  I was in agony.  I think I pulled my stomach muscles.  I could hardly move.  All this stretching and bending and lifting and using muscles you never thought you had takes its toll. 

 From the Lens.........

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Spot The Difference!

Saturday 21st May, 2011

After our late night last night, this morning we slept in until 9.30am.  So much for getting an early start with our cleaning.

After breakfast Tony started washing down the walk-in robe.   I cleaned the light fittings and the ducts for the heating and cooling.  In no time at all he was finished and so everything could be put back again.  We sorted through the clothes and ended up with 2 garbags of unwanted clothing which we would drop off at a charity bin later.

Tony then started on the bedroom.  I can see a difference already......it looks and feels cleaner.  He vacuumed the curtains and we took down the net curtains for me to wash.
By now time was getting on and it was after 5.30pm when we decided to call it a night.  If we feel like doing more after dinner we will or else tomorrow is another day.

From the Lens..........

from this.....


to this......

got to pick up the bedspread Monday
and this......

to this........

Friday, May 20, 2011

Taking It Easy

Friday 20th May, 2011

This morning when I woke up I didn't want to face another day of sorting out and cleaning.  The day looked beautiful outside, sun shining and it was supposed to get to 25 degrees.   Normally, we don't have weather like this at this time of year.  It is usually cool, perfect for staying indoors and heater time.    When the weather is nice you want to go outside and enjoy it. 

Instead I did some washing, caught up on some computer work, one day I'll get to all the emails, and just lazed about.  I got all the washing folded and put away before Tony got home.

When he got home he wasn't too enthusiastic about washing ceilings and walls after dinner.  We decided to go to the movies instead and see "Water for Elephants".  He said we could get stuck into the cleaning tomorrow and hopefully have no interuptions.

We ended up going to the 9.10pm session at the Plaza.  What a beautiful movie.   It was most enjoyable.  Now, I would like to read the book.

From the Lens..........

Thursday, May 19, 2011

More Of The Same

Thursday 19th May, 2011

More of the same today.  I totally emptied out the walk-in robe.  All I have to wait for now is the weekend so that Tony can wash the walls and ceiling for me.

I got a phone call regarding my cleaning products.  They had arrived.  When talking to Tony I mentioned it to him and he suggested he leave work early and we take a trip up to Hahndorf and pick them up this evening.  I had said we would go and get them on Saturday morning, but I know that when we got back we wouldn't feel like doing any cleaning.

I met Tony just after 4pm, got to Hahndorf in time to pick the goods up.  Had a coffee and then came back and called into the laundromat to wash the blanket.....wow, $9.00 it cost.  While waiting for it to wash we went and got some Chinese take away for dinner from the restaurant next to the laundromat.



Now they are predicitng 25 degrees for tomorrow so that will be perfect for the blanket to dry on the line.  We also dropped off some bags into the charity bin.  Hopefully tomorrow I can also make a start on the bathroom.

From the Lens.............an empty walk-in robe

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Another Day Of Cleaning

Wednesday 18th May, 2011

I got stuck into more cleaning this morning.  Today was the walk in robe.  Later on I am going to go and get some more storage bins.  They look neater stacked on the shelf rather than a lot of boxes plus items stay cleaner inside them. 


Monday I dropped off the bedspread to the dry cleaners, but it won't be ready for pick up until next Monday.  Tomorrow I will take the blanket to the laundromat to wash it.  Friday we are expecting temperatures of around 22 degrees C so I can hang it on the line.

Todays rubbish consisted of lots of cards.......Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day and Father's Day.  I even found a card that I had written on, in Dutch, (Tony must have helped me), to an aunt of his in Holland.  The date on the card was 26th October 1981.  Don't know why I never posted it and I don't know why I kept it all these years.

From the Lens............

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Have I Bitten Off More Than I Can Chew?

Tuesday 17th May, 2011

Well today I started.........'spring' cleaning.  Oh boy, all I managed to get done was the drawers in the bedroom.  That's still a total of 20 drawers.  I got one large bag of unwanted items to take to the charity bin, 2 bags of rubbish and a bag of recyclables......paper, boxes etc.

Tony was rather surprised at the amount of rubbish I was getting rid off.  "I thought we had got rid of a lot of stuff last time," he said.  "We did, but this time I am being more ruthless," I replied.  My feeling is, if anything happens to us, then whoever has to come in and sort out the house will have no sentimental attachment to our belongings, so I may as well  do it myself.

From the Lens............. for the charity bin

Monday, May 16, 2011

Sunny Days And Cold Nights

Monday 16th May, 2011

Another week starting and we're already half way through May.  The weather predictions for this week are supposed to be good.  Nice days, cold nights getting up to 22 degrees C Thursday and Friday.  On the weekend we are in for some more showers.  I can handle that.

Have to go and re register the car today.  This will be the last time we get a registration sticker to put on the car.  Another thing the government is doing......phasing out the stickers.  From July they will not be issuing them anymore.   To some people the sticker is a reminder when their rego is due.

Wonder how many people will drive their cars unregistered?  Apparently all the police cars (both marked and unmarked) have on board computers and they will be able to check, but how can they check every car on the road?  You just have to shake your head in amazement at some of these bureaucratic decisions!!!  Just to save some $2 million a year!!

From the Lens..........

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Hills Were Alive......With The Sound Of Music

Sunday 15th May, 2011

This morning we all slept in, not getting out of bed until around 9.00am.  While having their breakfast Katie and Tony watched "Despicable Me".  Katie said it was a good movie and enjoyed it. 

We didn't have anything planned to do today, just take it as it comes.  Around lunch time we decided to go for a drive into the hills.  While passing through Hahndorf we stopped to see if my cleaning products had come in yet.  No, not until this week sometime.  We then went onto Mt Barker and stopped off at the playground.



Katie had a run around and played with some other kids on the playground for awhile.  When they left she said that she had had enough too.  We decided to go onto Strathalbyn.  Here we had a look through one of the antique shops, they have several of them in the town.  Tony and I thought it might be best to come back one weekend when we haven't got Katie.  Though she enjoyed looking at the old dolls, nothing else took her fancy.

We went and had a coffee and something to eat at the local cafe.  By the time we were finished it was time to head back to Adelaide and to meet Kahra.  We have been thinking of having Katie every 3 weeks instead of fortnightly.  As she is getting older it's getting harder to find things to do with her. 

She loves coming to stay but soon gets bored.   She is not interested in playing with toys anymore, she loves reading, playing her DS and the Wii.  She'll watch TV for a while but she mostly loves being outside.  We don't have a big backyard where she can run around or ride her bike or scooter.  We have to go to parks to do those things.  Not that we mind, but sometimes she's not too enthusiastic.  Katie seems to be happy with coming every 3 weeks, but Kahra still wants her to come fortnightly.   We'll have to wait and see.

From the Lens..........time for a 'schlucken'

Saturday, May 14, 2011

A Taste Of Culture

Saturday 14th May, 2011

This morning Katie helped me bake some more Florentine cookies.  She got all the ingredients out, measured and mixed them together.  This time I used Corn Flakes and I must say they are even nicer than those I made with the Special K. 

Tony had to get his prescription filled which he tried to do last night.  As the chemist in the city had 'stuffed' up his repeat notice they wouldn't fill it, so they told him he would have to go back there to get it done.

Seeing that we had to go into the city I thought I would go online and see if I could get any tickets for Cirque Du Soleil's "Saltimbanco".  I didn't know that they were here until we saw a grab about them on the news the other night.


The last time we saw them was about 10 years ago which was when they were last in Adelaide.  We thoroughly enjoyed the show then and so I thought Katie might enjoy it as she is into dancing and acrobatics.


We managed to get some tickets (in very good seats) for the Matinee show which started at 4.00pm.  Drove into the city, got Tony's prescription, had some lunch and then caught the tram down to the Entertainment Centre.  This time they are not performing in their Grand Chapiteau (tent).


The show was brilliant!!!  Well worth the money.  It was funny, entertaining and we marvelled at the supreme fitness of the cast.  Katie thoroughtly enjoyed it and oohed and aahed at some of the acrobatics.




We were home soon after 8 and Katie went to bed soon after with me planning to follow not long after.  About 9.15pm Tori rang.  She was at the football club and wanted to know if we could drop her friend (Mark) and her back to his place.  We had to wake Katie up and then go to pick Tori up.

We dropped them off at Parafield Gardens and when we finally got back home again I was ready for bed.  It took a while for Katie to fall asleep but eventually she did.  She said that she had enjoyed her day.

From the Lens..........

Cast of Cirque Du Soleil - Saltimbanco

Friday, May 13, 2011

Friday The Thirteenth

Friday 13th May, 2011

Thanks to blogger, 2 posts in one day.  Does anyone care that today is Friday 13th?  I don't.  I can remember many years ago lots used to be made of this day especially on the radio stations.  Today, hardly a mention is made of it, or maybe I just don't listen to the right radio stations anymore.

Tonight we picked up Katie.  It seems like ages since she was last here.  She said she couldn't remember when she last spoke to me because "she'd had hundreds of sleeps since then".   Yeah right, maybe it was just 5 sleeps.

We went off to Hawkers Corner for some dinner (Chinese) and then called in to get some shopping and home.  It's not nice to spend too long out at night these days as it's too cold and winter hasn't officially begun yet.

From the Lens...........

Katie's Honey Chicken

Tony and I each had a Curry Chicken

Grrrr!!! Who Needs Governments?

Thursday 12th May, 2011

It is still cold and we are still having showers of rain passing through.  Tonight, when they gave the weather on the TV, they said that we have had more rain so far in May than what we got for all of April.

I wish there was some way we could keep all the rain that is falling.  Yeah, I know we can.....in rainwater tanks.  That is OK if you have a large backyard and can have several tanks, but we haven't got the large backyard.  We have a rainwater tank but it would only have the capacity to water the garden (pot plants) for about 6 months. 

I don't know what is going to happen come July.   The Government has just announced that our water rates and sewerage rates are going up by some astronomical amount....a 50% increase.

They have built a de-salination plant and it is way over budget and way behind being finished.  As a result , us the tax payers, have to pay for it.  It's OK for SA Water to have some 200 people working for them being paid in excess of $100,000 per year.  I wonder what the rest of their employees get, nothing like that I bet.

I feel really sorry for the low income earners, how on earth are they going to afford this new lot of tax increases?  It's not just water prices increasing but also electricity, gas, food, petrol.  Where will it end?

I remember we used to make fun of the Poms by saying they only bathe once a week.  It's come to bite us on the bum now, because that's what I can see happening here.  People will only shower every few days instead of daily just to save on water.  Gardens will be neglected, it was bad enough when we had water restrictions during the drought years.  These restrictions were only lifted late last year.

I am so glad we own our home and don't have to worry when the interest rates go up, and that we are not raising children.  It's still not easy on one wage but we manage.  We are still able to afford a few luxuries like going out to eat, go to the movies and do other things. 

I can see in the not too distant future we will have to tighten our belts too if these taxes keep going up.  At least we don't smoke or drink because that's another cost that keeps going up, especially cigarettes.

Enough whingeing, no matter what we say the government won't reverse their decision.

Oh, before I go, what's up with Blogger?   They shut down for maintenance and are off for the whole day.  Grrr!!!

Well I did manage to get some more laundry done and I got to do the ironing....yayyyy!!!

From the Lens........just some of the ironing

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Waste Not, Want Not

Wednesday 11th May, 2011

Today was another non productive day.  No ironing done, no more laundry done.  I went into town to pick Tony up from work as I wanted him to print a photo for me but forgot to take the photo paper and the USB stick.

We decided to go back in after dinner.  Tony had also started to organise the emptying out of the coffee shop.  All the food had to be tossed out.   A large bin was filled with some of the food that had been left there and another bin was still needed to throw more of the food away.

He was going to offer the food to a charity but on closer inspection decided against it.  As some of the food had been removed from the freezers and fridges earlier, it was decided for health reasons, just to bin it.

Tony got me some small jars of jam, these would have been tossed out otherwise.  It's a shame that the owners of the coffee shop just decided to walk out and leave everything behind.

From the Lens.......

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Busy At The Computer

Tuesday 10th May, 2011

Brrrr today is COLD with a sprinkling of rain.  I definitely am not looking forward to winter!  The next few days forecasts are not much better.  Time to hibernate!!!

I had a sleep-in this morning, got up at 7.20 am.  Had a tidy around, put some washing in the machine, looked at the ironing and thought, you can wait until tomorrow.  Spent most of the day on the computer transferring files to the EHD.

My computer is just about at its maximum capacity.  I have 2 EHD's and one is full and the other one has barely got anything on it.  I want to do a reformat on the computer, but before I do, I have to take most of my files off it so I don't lose anything.  It is the most tiresome task but it has to be done.  Either do that or transfer everything onto CD's or DVD's.

The trouble with transferring onto CD's is that I download digital scrapbooking stuff everyday and I don't know what I've put on CD's and what I haven't.  Putting them on the EHD is much easier.

Oh well, with winter just around the corner this will keep me busy for sometime.  I get to stay indoors, in the warm.  It also gives me an opportunity to go through all my digital scrapbooking files and delete what I don't want.  I also want to make some pages to be sent away for printing into books.  Oh God, please give me more hours in a day!!!

From the Lens...........EHD's

Monday, May 9, 2011

Surprising Who You Meet While Out Shopping

Monday 9th May, 2011

I have been having some trouble with Blogger the last 24 hours but it looks as if the problem may be fixed, fingers crossed.

Today was a rather quiet day.   I had planned on starting my 'spring' cleaning today, but after being interrupted with phone calls I lost interest.  Maybe next week now.  In the afternoon Rick and Dianne called around with Katies' easter egg.  Rick is on holidays until the end of the month.  While having a coffee I got caught up on all the gossip.

I had to go and do some shopping and met Tony after work at the Village.  We had a couple of vouchers for coffee and cake that expired today and so we thought we would use them.  Dessert before dinner, hehehe.

When shopping at the Village a couple of weeks ago it's surprising who you run into.  While we were having a coffee guess who should come walking by......Minnie Mouse.  All the kids were excited to see her and rushed to give her high 5's, hugs and kisses.  Even the big kids (me) got excited, but I would have rather seen Mickey.

From the Lens...........


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

Sunday 8th May, 2011

Today in Australia is Mother's Day.  We celebrate it on the second Sunday in May.  Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there and hope you have a wonderful day with your families.

I personally don't celebrate Mother's Day and all the palava that goes with it.  To me I don't believe that our children should spoil us on one day of the year, be nice to us and then be a......holes on other days.  I think why can't our children give us flowers, or give us breakfast in bed, or buy a small gift to show that they love us on ANY day of the year.  Why wait for Mother's Day!!!

Also it is too commercialised.  Look at the brochures that come out prior to Mother's Day.  Are your children failures because they didn't give you that expensive perfume, or that beautiful piece of jewellery, or the latest kitchen appliance?  Too much expectation is placed on families to go out and buy Mum a gift that sometimes they can't even afford.

And let's not forget the hotels and restaurants.  How come they charge exorbitant prices to go out for lunch today, just because it's Mother's Day.  Maybe the only difference by going to some places today from yesterday is that every Mum may get a wilted chrysanthemum.

I suppose why today is no different to me than any other day, is because I have Mother's Day every day.  Every day I am spoiled in some way, and I truly appreciate all that is done for me. 

I have had a great day......done nothing except make some more of those Florentine biscuits and got a phone call from our son.

From the Lens..........

Saturday, May 7, 2011

A Day Out At Monarto Zoo

Saturday 7th May, 2011

This morning we decided to go Monarto Zoo.  The weatherman said todays predicted temperature was going to be 20 with a chance of a late shower while Sunday it was going to be showers with a maximum of 18 degrees.  Today would be the better of the two days.  I also wanted to go and see if the new baby rhinoceros was on show.

When we got up there we decided that seeing we didn't have Katie with us, we would walk, instead of catching the bus.  The weather was perfect.  You can get on a bus and they will take you around the park and you can see the animals, sometimes up close if they are near the road.  Alternatively there are walking trails that take you throughout the park.


We headed off to see the chimpanzees first.  Five of them were out in their enclosure while two more preferred to stay indoors eating the leftovers from the feeding containers.  I could stay and watch them all day....they are beautiful animals.



From here we walked to the Waterhole.  If you get here around the right time, you might be lucky enough to get to feed the giraffes.  We were about 10 minutes early so we decided to wait.  The keeper came and hung a branch on top of the walkway.  One of the giraffes came and ate it.



You could easily put out your arm and touch it but that is not allowed.  About 7 or 8 giraffes followed but unfortunately they didn't want to stay around and be fed.  The Monarto Zoo has had a lot of success in breeding giraffes.


From here we walked over to Bomo, an area where the rhinoceros are kept.  Oh wow, what an amazing sight to see the little baby rhinoceros with his mum.  He was soooo small and sooo cute!!!  He just stayed by his mother's side all the time, didn't go wandering off.  Though we were behind the fence, at one stage he was no more than a metre from us.



Just behind the rhinos are the Cheetahs.  We walked up to where they were and the keeper was just about ready to give a talk.  She had the 3 males with her.  These males were born  in 2004 at Monarto and when they were born their mother took ill and so the cubs had to be hand reared.  Consequently the handlers can get up close and personal with them.  They reacted just like cats do when you feed them, purring loudly and being playful.


She hung a kangaroo tail up for them to fight over and fight they did, until it ended in a tug of war, with the one who got it running off into the bushes.  She said that they have dog tendencies and sometimes with the noises that they made you would think they were dogs.


After having walked for about 2 hours and 5 kilometres (well, it felt like it), we decided to catch the bus to take us to see the lions.  We caught the bus down by the rhinos and it took us to the lion area.  In separate enclosures there are also hyenas and the coloured wild dogs.

The dogs just laid on the edge of the road, laying around like dogs do.  When we got to the lion enclosure, they were down near their night quarters as it was time for them to be locked up for the night.  Apparently one of the lionesses has had a baby cub, but as yet it is not on show to the public.  Another good reason to go up again in a few weeks.

We took the bus back to the Visitor Centre and we went and had a coffee.  It was getting rather late, the park closes at 5.00pm, and when we were walking back to the car, there above us up in the tree was a bird feeding two baby birds.  We were unsure what type of bird it was but some-one said it may have been a currawong.  Another awesome sight.  Monarto Zoo never disappoints.

We headed back home but first wanted some dinner.  We both thought Chinese may be nice for dinner and trying to find a Chinese restaurant (with takeaway) was nigh impossible.  We went into Mt Barker, nothing, down Glen Osmond Road but we drove past them before we realised. 

Found one on Goodwood Road, Tony went into order and was told that there was a 60 minute wait.  Err no thanks.  So down to Glenelg, surely there has to be some down there.  We eventually found a couple and got something to eat.  Went and had coffee at Cibo's (seeing there is no more Dome) and got home just after 9.00pm.  I was in bed soon after.

From the Lens............a view over Monarto Zoo

Friday, May 6, 2011

Love Fridays

Friday 6th May, 2011

Looks like a nice day outside, the sun is shining and there is lots of blue sky.  Katie was upset last night when I spoke to her.  Kahra hadn't told her she wouldn't be coming this weekend.  Seeing it's Mother's Day on Sunday I thought that maybe she would like to spend the day with her mum.

Today was nail appointment day and Zoe, who does my nails, got engaged over the Easter weekend.  Congratulations to her and Steve. 

I was also able to go and pick up our DVD player.  They had to replace the Blu-Ray disc drive.  I called in on Tony and when he finished work we went and did some shopping and got our water bottles filled.

Tonight for dinner we decided to have noodles at Wok in a Box.  We both had Chicken Satay.  We haven't had it for so long and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

From the Lens............

Thursday, May 5, 2011

What Do Ya Have To Do, To Get Ya Message Across?

Thursday 5th May, 2011

I am so annoyed today.  Over the last couple of months we have been getting phone calls from India.  At least I think it is India because that is the accent the person uses.  Some give their name but most don't and they say they are ringing on behalf of 'something' Solutions.  You can't understand the name fully.

They ask "Are you the main user of the computer?"   Then they ask you if you have noticed that your computer is running slow.  They go onto tell you that your computer has been infected with an infection.  "No ma'am, not a virus, this is an infection".

He then asks you to turn on your computer and he will give you a code to type in.  Uh uh I'm not that silly.  Apparently it is a scam, once you type in the code they have access to all of your information on the computer.

Well, over the last couple of months I have played along with their silly game, banging away on the keyboard letting them think I was entering the code.  I have been so rude to them, even telling them to p... off.  One night when I got a call I put the phone on speaker so that Tony could listen to what they were saying.

I told the caller I was too busy and so he said he would ring back later.  When he rang, Tony answered the phone and told him he was in IT, and often checks our computers and finds nothing wrong with them.  One time when they rang I told them that we only got a new computer that day and hadn't connected it to the internet yet.

I have asked how do they know my computer is infected.  "Oh, from Microsoft", they say.  Maybe next time I will tell them that my computer is a Mac.  I have asked what do they do with the information they get from the computers but I don't get a response.

Today I had 2 phone calls from them.  The first one I told (no, more like yelled) them to take my phone number off the list and never ring me again.

Less than two hours later I had another phone call.  He goes through his usual spiel and so I ask him "Are you stupid?"  "Excuse me ma'am!" he says.  I ask him again and he says "No."  I said to him, "I'm not bloody stupid either " and hung up.

When will these fools get the message.  Our phone number is on a Do Not Call Register, they ring from overseas so there's no-one to complain to, I swear at them and I am so rude to them even Tony can't believe his ears, but they still don't get the hint.

Maybe they like being abused over the phone. Hmmm next time I will be very polite and thank them for alerting me and maybe they will leave me alone. 

It's worth a try because nothing else is working.

From the Lens..........

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

On The Lookout For Another Coffee Shop

Wednesday 4th May, 2011

The weather has not been the best, cold and overcast but we haven't had much rain.  The weather bureau said that in April we only got about 13mm of rain for the whole month.  That's way less than what we normally get.

Last night Tony and I took the tram down to Glenelg and had dinner.  There was a reason we went down there.  Earlier in the day he rang me to tell me that the Dome coffee shops had closed their doors as of close of business Monday night.  I was shocked.  They had only opened in November last year.  He said that all 3 stores had closed.  I had to go to Glenelg and see for myself, so that's why we went.

Now we have to look for another coffee shop when we go to Glenelg or up to Hahndorf.  I can't see a problem, there are plenty of them around.

From the Lens..........The Dome coffee shop at Glenelg


Upstairs