Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Another Weekend Goes By

Monday 26th September, 2011

Another weekend is over and the countdown is on to the end of the year.  Only 3 more months to go.

This weekend we only had Katie overnight on Saturday.  Instead of picking her up on Friday night she was dropped off by Kerrie late on Saturday afternoon.  For her birthday Kerrie took Katie shopping at Colonades.  She had her nails painted at a nail salon and Kerrie bought her a butterfly necklace.

After dinner we decided to go to the drive-in.  They were showing The Smurfs, Zookeeper and The Abduction.  For $22 per carload you pay for however many movies you want to see.  If you want to stay for 1 movie it's $22, 2 movies is $44 and 3 movies is $66.  Katie didn't want to see The Smurfs but wanted to see Zookeeper.  That was scheduled to start at 9.00pm. 

We left home just after 8.00pm and already the line-up was long.  We got to the end of the queue and waited, and waited.  The first movie had finished and people slowly began leaving the drive-in.  It was well after 9.30pm before they allowed letting the cars in.

Zookeeper was OK, the story line was a bit pathetic, but the animals made up for it.  Katie enjoyed it and we got a few laughs out of it.  It didn't finish until 11.50pm. Unbeknown to us, Jodi had gone to see The Smurfs with Taylor.  She said the lineup for that movie was sooooo long as well and it took ages getting the cars in, so consequently it was late in starting which then put the other movies behind time.

On Sunday Katie wanted to go swimming down at Marion again.  Before we went we had to go and buy her some new bathers.  They didn't have the diving boards open this time but she and Tony had just as much fun diving off the edge of the deeper pools.  She still has to master the technique of pushing off with her legs.  She has accomplished so much with her swimming and we have every confidence in her swimming in deeper water.

From the Lens........





Friday, September 23, 2011

Window Shopping

Friday 23rd September, 2011


When Tony rang during the day he asked me to come in and meet him.  After we went and had our coffee we went off to do some window shopping.

Our first stop was Harvey Norman to have a look for some new speakers for the computer.  They didn't have a good selection.  While there I also looked at getting another cordless vacuum cleaner.  Electrolux have a new one out that I wanted to see.

We then headed off to David Jones to have a look there.  For a few years now they have had these soapbox religious preachers in the Mall.  Some time ago they were banned and as a result took their complaint to the courts and were given the right to preach again in the Mall.

Since they have been back they have caused more problems than what they are worth.  I don't know what religion they claim to be from, they sound like spruikers who just like to "stir the pot" throwing in God's name every now and then. 


Anyway as a result, there are always plenty of protesters and hecklers who like to "confront" these preachers, resulting in police presence.  They congregate around the preachers with their placards, disrupting people who want to shop or just stroll along the Mall.  I don't know which is worse.

I personally believe that religion should be kept out of the Mall.  If people want to know more about God, there's plenty of churches in and around the city they can go to and they can contact a local minister or priest and take it from there.  What do they say.......never discuss religion or politics, it usually ends up in an argument.

We went into David Jones but they didn't have what we were looking for so Tony suggested we go to Myers.  When we left DJ's, the preachers and protesters had gone, thank goodness.

Myers had what we wanted.  I wanted another Scanpan stewpot (40% off) and a new microwave.  We had been looking at the Panasonic flatbed microwave oven for a while now.  David Jones had sold out of them and back about a month ago told us that they had to order more in. They told us that they were expecting new stock around late September/October.  Myers had some in stock and so we decided to get one now.  Plus they were cheaper than what DJ's had them for.

So much for window shopping.  Still, you have to buy what you want when you see it and especially if they are offering it at good prices.

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

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Have Made A Start On The Christmas Shopping

Wednesday 21st September, 2011

Today I am going out for lunch with Dianne.  We ended up going up to Tea Tree Plaza as she had to pay a lay-by.

We had lunch at 42nd Street Cafe, shared a large bowl of yummy wedges with sour cream and sweet chili.  We had a wander through some of the stores and she ended up buying Katie her birthday present.  Katie had asked for Gomu's, they are erasers.  She had seen them in Melbourne, but I think some of her friends at school have also got them.

She also got her another book by Andy Griffith.  While we were in Toys R Us we also bought Katie some of her Christmas presents.  Katie had also told me that she wanted Squinkies for Christmas.  Dianne offered to buy her some for Christmas, I will get her some later.  I got her a few more Gomu's, a tin to keep them in, plus a pencil case and some more erasers.

We had a very productive day.......I made a start on my Christmas shopping....yay!  I have also been wanting the Jimmy Choo perfume, so I decided to treat myself to it.  I am so lucky I have a wonderful husband who doesn't say anything about me spending $139 on a bottle of perfume.  Love you Tone!

Dianne told me that Troy and Jodi won't be selling their house and moving to the country after all, well, not in the immediate future.  Apparently the bank didn't approve the loan.  She said that Jodi still wants to go and live in the country at some stage though.

After I dropped Dianne back home I went and met Tony at the Village and we did some grocery shopping.  We went and had coffee when we finished and then got some chicken for dinner.

It was great to come home and sit down and relax.  I was wanting to watch the Tuesday night episode of X Factor but unfortunately the recorder didn't tape it.  Tony was sure he programmed it correctly.  Hmmmm I wonder lol.  Thank god for the internet.....at least I could check and see who got voted off.

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

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Katie's Special Day

Tuesday 20th September, 2011


Today is a special day for our special little girl......Happy 10th Birthday Katie!!  Wow the years are flying by, it wasn't that long ago that you were born and here you are already turning 10.   Nanna and Poppa hope you have a very special day.


We ended up going to the Tonsley Hotel tonight with Kahra, Darrin and Katie for her birthday.  It was a very nice meal.  We had some coupons, Split the Bill, and so we thought we would use them. 

I bought Katie a birthday cake, some balloons and she was happy.  She was even more excited when she saw my old phone that I had given her.  She LOVED all of her presents.



Well it's been a week since my last post.  Life has gone on as normal.  The weekend weather turned out to be rather nice.  Saturday we didn't do much, it was warm but very windy until a cooler change came in later during the afternoon.  In the evening we went for a drive to get a pizza.  On Sunday, the day was nice and so I thought I would finally get out and clean up the back yard.  Tony washed the car.

I vacuumed out the back and then washed the outdoor furniture.  It looked pretty good when I was finished.
Imagine my horror when I woke up on Monday morning to a hurricane wind blowing.  All my good work from the day before was undone.  There were leaves, dirt and twigs blowing everywhere.  I was not happy!!!

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



Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Phone Calls.....Tinged With Sadness and Full Of Excitement

Tuesday 13th September, 2011

Katie, Kahra and Darrin left to drive to Melbourne early this morning.  They have gone to look after Jessa as Zoe and her partner, Michael are going to Fiji for a few days.  Have a great time guys!

Dianne rang me to let me know that Luke's father had passed away on Friday night.  I thought it was rather strange as Tony had seen Luke yesterday and he made no mention of it.  I even said to Tony, next time you see Luke ask him how his dad is doing.  His dad had cancer but was admitted to hospital with pnuemonia.

Our deepest condolences go to Luke and Megan, just letting you know that our thoughts and prayers are with you at this very sad time.  Our thoughts are also with Lukes'  family and his mum, Joan.

While I was talking to Dianne we made arrangements to go out for lunch next Wednesday.  Katie rang tonight.  They arrived in Melbourne mid afternoon.  She sounded excited to be over there.  She didn't know what they were going to do or where they were going to go while over there.  All she hoped for was new handlebars for her scooter for her birthday.

From the Lens..........  our lanterns we got from the Moon Festival

Monday, September 12, 2011

Moon Lantern Festival

Monday 12th September, 2011


This evening, Adelaide is holding the Moon Lantern Festival, as part of OzAsia, down on the banks of the Torrens.  Let's hope the weather will clear up for it, at the moment it is overcast and looks like it might rain.

Well the weather held out for the Festival even though it was cool down by the river.  I went into town and met Tony and then we wandered off down to Elder Park.  We found a place to set up our chairs ....... I can no longer sit on the ground.  There were already quite a few people there.




On the main stage they had several acts mainly coming from the various Asian organisations here in Adelaide. The highlight of the evening was the performance given by the dancers and acrobats from Xiandong Province.  They were amazing.  It sure whet the appetite to go and see more of this group.




The parade of the lanterns was amazing.  This year they had a lot more school children involved and they made some beautiful lanterns, fish, grapes, wattle, flowers, triangles, and traditional Asian lights.  There were also some new designs from the corporate world as well.  Even the moon made an appearance from behind the clouds.






They estimated the crowd to be around 20,000, each year more and more people are getting involved.  This was the 5th year holding the Festival.   I think Tony and I have been to the last four.  After the parade of the lanterns, were the fireworks and by 8.30pm it was all over.  It started at 3.30pm with various cooking demonstrations, origami making, drumming, and lots of other activities to see and do.

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







Sunday, September 11, 2011

10 Years On.....

Sunday 11th September, 2011

Today is the 10th anniversary of that atrocious terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York, The Pentagon in Washington and an airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Times of impact: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m.
Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes.
Time they took to fall: 12 seconds.
2819 dead from 115 different nations.
343 Fireman/paramedics, 23 NYPD, 37 Port Authority officers and 1 Search and Rescue Dog named Sirius 

May we never ever forget that terrible day.  It was a day that has changed the World.  Maybe not for the better as there is still terrorist attacks in various parts of the world today.

Due to these attacks army personnel from around the world were sent to Iraq to fight and also to Afghanistan.  Many of these soldiers have now lost their lives fighting for the freedom for their respective countries.

Australia, too, has had their share of lives lost.  Let's hope that history will show, that these lives have not been lost in vain.

From the Lens.............Twin Towers

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Winter Has Returned

Wednesday 7th September, 2011

What a difference a day makes.  After some gorgeous Spring weather the last few days we have returned to Winter.  Yesterday morning we woke up to grey overcast skies and the temperature plummeted.  A hailstorm came through in the morning. 

Showers have been predicted right up to next Monday with temperatures in the mid teens.  After a lazy day Monday I made a start on the laundry yesterday.

Tony came home from work last night suffering with a sore throat, headache and feeling cold.  He said he wasn't able to get warm all day.  Uh-oh, doesn't sound good.  There is a lot of this going around at the moment.

This morning I woke up around 6.30am, it was fairly light outside and Tony was still in bed.  "Did you sleep in?", I asked.  "No," he said, "I turned the alarm off as I'm not going to work today."  Now for him to say that, he must be feeling really crook.

He said he didn't sleep very much during the night, had a headache, his throat was sore and his teeth ached.  I gave him some Sinus tablets as aching gums and headaches across the bridge of the nose usually mean sinus.  After an hour or so he said that they had eased but he still had the sore throat.

I let him sleep until around 9.30am and then woke him as he wanted to try and get in to see the doctor.  He rang the surgery and could get to see the Doctor at 10.45am.  He showered and got himself ready to go.  While he was gone I showered and got dressed as I thought we could go and do our shopping when he came back.

He was home around 11.30.  The Doctor said he had a virus, gave him a prescription for some anti viral tablets.  He also gave him tomorrow off work, Tony was hoping for Friday as well.  We left soon after to go shopping.  While out we went and had a salad roll and coffee for lunch.  We also bought Katie's birthday present for her.

We did our grocery shopping and on the way back to the car Tony stopped and got me an iPhone.  I have been having trouble with my other phone, it charges then goes flat after a day or so.  We know the problem could be fixed with a new battery but what the hell, it's over two years old, so I may as well have a new phone.

We called in home and dropped off the shopping and then went down to Bunnings.  Tony wanted some wood, and was hoping they had some off cuts that they could sell us.  As it turned out, they had a bin full of off cuts and the guy let Tony have a couple of pieces at no charge.

Now I know why I go shopping late afternoon/evening.  Today we left before midday and got home after 4.00pm.  That's not counting calling in home earlier to drop the shopping off.

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


Sunday, September 4, 2011

The Show Comes To Town

Sunday 4th September, 2011

Firstly I must wish Jodi a very Happy Birthday for last Friday, the 2nd September.  Just remember Jodi, "Age is not important unless you are a cheese or wine".  Hugs and kisses for your birthday!



The Adelaide Show began again on Friday and it goes for the next nine days.  What wonderful weather they are having for the start of it.  We picked Katie up on Friday night and so we went to the show yesterday. 

She had already rung me a couple of times during the week letting me know what Showbags she wanted and that she wants to see a couple of the actors from Home and Away who will be there.

On Friday, when I got into Tony's work after getting Katie, he told me that Jodi had been trying to contact me.  I rang her back and she asked us to call into her place on the way home.  She said she was not having anything special for her birthday, just pizza with Rick and Dianne and the kids.

As we still had to go and do some shopping I said we would get something for our dinner but would call in.  Just before we were ready to leave, Taylor came and asked if she could come to the Show with us.   Grrrr........kids and their big mouths!!!  Jodi had asked earlier if I could have Taylor on the Saturday but when I told her we were going to the show she said not to worry about it.

Taylor and Katie enjoying birthday cake

Anyway when I said to Taylor that she had to ask her mum, Jodi said yes.  So home we went with Taylor and Katie.

I "laid the law down to Taylor" about wandering off (she is a great one for that, especially if she can't get her own way), and also explained to her that there were rides that Katie could go on but not her.  She seemed to be OK with that.

Saturday morning we were up early and left the house about 8.15am.  We called into Maccas and got breakfast.  We left the car at Tony's work and caught the Show shuttle bus to Wayville.  We got there around 9.30am.


Our first stop was the showbag hall where the girls got the showbags they wanted,  they both got the Diva bag, the Beanie Kids and Katie got the Supre bag.  Jodi had told me that Taylor could only have 2 bags.  I got a Hello Kitty bag ('cos I wanted the hand towel) so the girls shared the rest of the gear that was in it.  They also wanted to do the Yellow Brick Road.

We then went and let the girls have their first ride, on Traffic Jam.  After this we went and had a wander down to the Animal Nursery, then onto to see the pigs, cattle and cows.  The girls got to have a go at milking a cow.  We walked through the sheep hall.






On the way back to the rides it was time for the Home and Away actors to make an appearance.  The crowd around the stage was unbelievable.  The girls could hardly see and the lineup to have an autograph was so long it would have taken at least a couple of hours to get through all the signings and photos.  We decided to give it a miss.

The 2 actors being interviewed by Caroline Kelly from Channel 7

Then it was back to more rides.  Katie and Tony went on the Sky Flyer to which Taylor was not happy about.  Even though she came in at the right height to ride it I didn't think it was appropriate for her to be 150 feet in the air.......I had visions of her falling out of the thing.

Anyway she calmed down when I said she could go into Psychodelic with Tony and Katie.  She was happy with that.



It was then off to the Dog Pavillion, the Dairy Hall for a milkshake and then we thought we would sit and wait to watch the pig racing.  Only thing was, we were 90 minutes early.   I thought it was 3.30pm when we sat down and at 4.00pm, the advertised time for the next race, the place was crowded.  Shortly after, everyone started leaving.  I couldn't understand why and when I looked at the watch again it was only 3.00pm.


I knew the girls wouldn't sit there for another hour, so we decided to get some more goodies from the Yellow Brick Road and then back to the rides.  This time Katie wanted to go on some ride called Disko.  I was apprehensive but right next door was Gravitron, so I asked if she would rather go on that.  "Yes, Yes  Nanna" she said.  I asked at the ticket booth if it was OK for Taylor and the lady said that her daughter had been riding it since she was 3 and half years old.  We got tickets for both of them.

I was so nervous about letting Taylor go on it, the one good thing about it was that she wouldn't fall out.  I said to Tony if this scared her then she wouldn't ask to go on any more of these rides and go on about how it wasn't fair that Katie could go on them but not her.


When the ride was finished and they came out, how wrong was I.  The smile on her face was so broad, she was jumping up and down saying how awesome it was and wanted to do it again.  Katie wanted to go on the Rock n Roll ride, the show's fastest ride.  Taylor said she wanted to go as well.  Maybe this ride would put the wind up her.

Off they go.  When it was finished Taylor had the same reaction as she did with the Gravitron.  OMG what's Jodi going to say!  Her little girl won't have anything to do with Kiddie rides now.


I wanted to go and see the Parade by Jenny Gillies so we headed over to the Goyder Pavillion.  We got there just as it was about to start.  She designs clothes based on flowers,  she had a lot of gerberas, the wattle, sturt desert pea and fruits, strawberries, lemons and grapes.  I loved it, the girls, not so keen.



We finished off the Yellow Brick Road and by now it was time for dinner so off we went to look for something to eat.  We decided on Chinese and it was so yummy.  Plus it was great to rest some tired feet and legs.

We then headed over to the Main Arena but couldn't get a seat in the stands.  The girls didn't want to stand up for too long, neither did I, so Tony said we would be better off walking around.  Guess where we went?   The rides.  The girls had another ride on the Rock n Roll and Gravitron. 

While they were on the Gravitron a shower of rain came through.  It had been spitting earlier but it didn't amount to much.

We found a table and sat and had a coffee.  It was nearly time for the fireworks so we headed off to the Main Arena again.  Luckily fireworks go up into the air or else the girls would have seen nothing.  By now it was more packed.  With them over the girls wanted one more ride before we left.

They decided on the Ferris Wheel, but changed their minds at the last minute.  They went on the Magic Castle.  As we were heading for the bus Katie asked if they could go on the large Slippery Dip.  Why not, we may as well go home completely broke.   The cost of that was 3 goes for $6.   Most of the rides were $8 each, the Kiddie land Traffic Jam was $6 per person and Physchodelic was $20 for the three of them.

Even though the girls had their own money to pay for the rides, towards the end we had to pay for a few of them.  They also had a couple of goes on the sideshows but quickly realised what a waste of money they were. 

Caught the bus back to the car, and headed for home.  It was unaminous that we all had a great time.  Taylor asked to come again next year to the show with us.

It was getting on for midnight when they finally went to bed.  They first had to go through their showbags.  They voted that they had got the best bags from the show.

Their Beanie Kids

This morning they were up early.  Today is Father's Day so I want to wish my hubby a very Happy Father's Day!  Love you xxoo

We decide to have pancakes for breakfast and guess who cooked them?  Tony.

Jodi rang just after we finished breakfast and soon after that came and picked Taylor up.  When they left Katie didn't know what she wanted to do for the rest of the day, I suggested going to the Show again......hehehehe, but she wasn't interested.

She laid down on the lounge and fell asleep for awhile.  Earlier on Friday she asked to go swimming but I said to wait and see what the weather was like.  When she woke up she asked if we could go swimming.  She wanted to go to Marion but her mum was going to be over our side of town so I said perhaps we could go to the city pool. 


We rang Kahra but her plans had changed and they were going to stay home so we decided to go down to Marion.  This is a new swimming complex that has only been opened since May.  Next year it is going to hold the Olympic swimming trials.

It is all under cover, except for the water slides, and has a water park included.  Katie was excited when she saw it all.  They have numerous casual pools.  She played for a while in the water park, then wanted a go on one of the water slides.  The only negative to the complex is that you pay an entrance fee to go in and then have to pay an extra $2 per slide.  Personally I would rather have the slides included in the entry fee.

We noticed that the slides were not being used a lot.   Anyway Katie loved it.  Tony took her out to the diving area.  The only board open for diving was the 5 metre platform.  She climbed up there, looked over the edge and quickly came back down.  Another girl was in the same boat........too scared to jump.

After having a swim in one of the pools Tony noticed that the girl who was afraid of jumping earlier, actually jumping off the diving platform.  When he told Katie, she immediately wanted to do it.  Up she went and with a bit of coaxing from the Lifeguard and a few false starts she jumped.

Wow, way to go Katie!!!  She swam out of the pool, up the stairs and jumped again.  Third time she got the jitters and didn't jump.  She came over to where I was watching her and asked to go on the water slides again, she wanted to race Poppa down them this time, so I said if you jump one more time for me, (I wanted a photo), you can have a go on the slide. 

She agreed to that, up the stairs but when it came time for her to jump, no way.  After some more coaxing she finally did it.  Go Katie!!



Another go on the slides and then it was playing in the water park until Kahra and Darrin came and picked her up.  When I told Kahra that she had jumped she was horrified, when I showed her, she was even more so.

We left Marion around 6.30pm got something for dinner on the way home and when we got home I was ready for bed.  We'd had a great weekend.

From the Lens.........the girls with their crazy wigs


and Tony had to get in on the action too