Happy Halloween!!

Monday 31st October, 2011

Happy Halloween!!!

While waiting for Tony to have his hair cut on Saturday, Katie and I came across this poor guy hanging around.  At first Katie was wary of him, but she soon got to warm to him when she heard that he could tell good jokes and didn't have bad breath.    



Maybe the joke wasn't that good after all!!  Or was it something he said?

Ipad, Girls And Animals

Sunday 30th October, 2011

It was somewhere near 11.00am before Katie got out of bed yesterday morning.  At least she had no after effects from the night before.....she said she was feeling good.  

Katie didn't know what she wanted to do for the afternoon, we checked out the movies but there was nothing showing that she wanted to go and see.  After she had brunch, we had showers and got dressed.   Tony thought he might go and have a haircut so while he was doing that Katie and I went girl shopping.

We met up with Tony and decided to go down to the Gepps Cross Homemaker Centre.  We want to replace the oven and hotplates and so we thought we would go and see what was available.  We went to the Good Guys first, and seeing I hate, absolutely hate stainless steel appliances there's not much available in white.

We got some brochures with the measurements of the appliances, unfortunately it doesn't look as if it will be a complete swap, looks like some cutting out and filling in will have to be done, we then went off and had a look at the IPod's.  Katie has decided she wants an IPod touch for Christmas.

They were having a sale on all Apple products and after not too much convincing we ended up buying an IPad.  It was something we had been thinking about for awhile.  Katie was excited, "at least Nanna, you'll be able to get some of my favourite books on the IPad, and I'll be able to read them when we go on long drives," she said.

Soon after we got home Jodi came by with Taylor and Tanecia.  She said that they had already had dinner.  She had cooked Beef Olives, but Taylor told Jodi they weren't as good as Judy's, hehehehehe, and so she said she was still hungry. 

I hadn't bothered getting anything for dinner for us as I didn't know if Jodi would have fed Taylor.   When Jodi left we went off to Fasta Pasta for dinner.  After we came back home we got the girls ready for bed.   It wasn't long before they were asleep.

Sunday morning the girls slept in.  Normally when Taylor sleeps over they are up at the crack of dawn, but this morning it was after 7.30am before they got up.  Tony and I were up before them.

They wanted to go swimming but with the temperature only supposed to get to 19 degrees I didn't think that was a good idea.  Plus it was quite breezy as well. 

In the end it was decided we would go to Monarto Zoo.  Thank goodness for the IPad.  I had downloaded some games, some books and the movie "Rio".  The girls were kept occupied for the trip up and back.

We went and saw the chimps, the wallabies, the meerkats and now they have tortoises in the same enclosure as the meerkats, caught the bus and got off at the rhino enclosure and walked up to hear the cheetah talk.   That was running late and we had to leave soon after it started as we wanted to catch the bus to go to the lions.  We ended up deciding not to go and see the lions as time was getting on and we said we would drop Katie off at 5.00pm.

The baby rhino we saw several months ago has grown.  There were some baby ostriches, only hatched a week ago, and a baby bison.  They also think there may be some more baby cheetahs on the way, but won't know until they are actually born. 

The girls had a great time.  We ended up dropping Katie off at around 5.00pm and then Taylor.  Tony and I came home, had dinner and decided we might have an early night ourselves. 

Yeah right.....it was still after 10.30pm before we went off to bed.

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

    

Hot Chocolate, Netball.....All Too Much

Saturday 29th October, 2011

Last night after picking up Katie, we were heading off to go and do some shopping and then go home, when Katie asked if we were going to go and have a hot chocolate.  I asked her if she wanted one and she said she did, so we headed back into the city.

Seeing Tony and I hadn't been for our usual coffee it was perfect timing.  After we had our coffee and chocolate we went back to Tony's work as Katie and I wanted to use the toilet.  While there she discovered a pair of crutches.  Hhmmm she thought, these look like fun.  Tony adjusted them for her and she was enjoying learning how to use them.

While there Jodi rang and asked us what we were doing and whether we would  like to go and watch Tanecia play netball.  Her game was to start at 8.30pm.  After going off and doing some food shopping we went over to ETSA Park.    Her game didn't start until after 9.00 pm.  It was a nice evening until the wind started to make things a little cool.

When the game finished we went off to Vili's, as it was just around the corner, and had some warm soup and a coffee.  When we got home we all went straight to bed.  Around 1.00am I was woken up by the sounds of Katie vomiting.  She came in to tell me that she had been sick all over the toilet floor.   I woke Tony up and he cleaned up the mess, giving the toilet a complete washdown, including the walls.

We all settled down and went back to sleep once again.   Here it is 10.30am and Katie is still asleep.  I will let her sleep as long as she wants as last night her and Taylor made arrangements for Katie to sleep over.  In the end it was decided I have Taylor come over tonight to sleep here.

So far nothing has been planned for the rest of today, so we will see what it brings after Katie gets up.  I think it may be a movie.

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

Finally, We Got To Clean Out The Garage

Tuesday 25th October, 2011

The weekend has come and gone and here we are Tuesday already.  On Friday night we went to Cafe Primo at Tea Tree Plaza for Tanecia's birthday.  The food was not so good, they used to be a great place to go for a quick cheap meal but over the last couple of years their food has gone downhill.  However, that is where Tanecia wanted to go.

On Saturday Tony and I made a start on cleaning out the garage.  We went to Bunnings and bought a whole heap of storage drawers, well 6 to start with.  Saturday night we went back and got another 4 and on Sunday we bought another 2.

We didn't finish it on Saturday and so Sunday we finished it off.  We didn't think we had much to get rid off until Tony started loading all the rubbish into the car.  We thought we were just re-organising the cupboard, getting rid of boxes and transferring everything into the storage drawers.

Once we made a start it was quite surprising to find what was of no use to us anymore.  Tony had a lot of computer hardware, but the way technology advances it was not much use to anyone.  We got rid of the old slide projector, an old turntable, our old antique radio, old computer programs and the list goes on.

We took all the rubbish into Tony's work and dumped it into the big bins they have there.  We stopped off at the Salvos and put a lot of re-usable things into the charity bin there. 

It feels so good to drive the car into the garage and actually see the work bench and not have everything standing along the walls.  Now we just have to sort out the back garden shed.

The weekend weather was rather nice, warm but humid.   Sunday, the skies looked threatening but we didn't get any rain.  On Monday it felt like winter had returned, it was so cold.  Still that's what you have to expect in Spring.

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

Happy Birthday Tanecia!

Thursday 20th October, 2011

Happy 14th birthday Tanecia!!!  Hope your day is all what you want it to be and more.  Love you lots xxxooo.

This morning my wrist is somewhat better and my leg and knee is OK too.  Still a bit tender but at least I can use them more than yesterday.   Ugh!!! just realised that means I can go and finish off the housework.

I've got plenty to do that will keep me out of trouble today, laundry, dusting, vacuuming and washing floors.

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

I Thought I'd Get The Earth To Move

Wednesday 19th October, 2011

Woke up this morning to a perfect day, overnight temperature was 22C and our expected maximum was going to be 33C.  During the night, at precisely 2.22am Adelaide had a slight earthquake, it registered 3.3 on the Richter scale.

Both Tony and I slept through it, never heard or felt a thing.  According to some reports on the radio there was a sort of explosion like a sonic boom plus the sound of rumbling, like a train coming through.  Peoples' houses and windows shook but there was no damage. 

Seeing the day was going to be warm I thought I would go and water the pot plants.  So just after 7.00am I went out and started watering.  I wasn't there for very long.........I went a gutsa.  I tripped over my own feet, falling flat on my face, hurting my knee and spraining my wrist.  All day I have been in pain, especially my wrist. 

I rang Tony to let him know that I did try and make the earth move for him, seeing he missed it earlier.   He laughed and told me to just take it easy for the rest of the day.  Little does he know that I can't do much anyway, just trying to make a coffee is about impossible.  My knee is sore but it lets me get around, using my left hand and wrist is what hurts the most.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring some relief.  I gotta get my housework finished seeing I made a start on it yesterday.

From the Lens..........lots of Hippieastrums this year

Ice Skating, Dinner and Airport

Wednesday 12th October, 2011

Time does fly!....a week has gone by since I last blogged and the last few days have been rather busy for me.   

Friday 7th October

This afternoon I went into town but first I picked Katie up before going on to meet Tony.  Seeing it's school holidays we arranged for me to meet Katie early.  We then went into town, met Tony, went and had a coffee and I wanted to go and look for a bookstore but unfortunately it's no longer there.  We headed back to the car and went off and did some grocery shopping.  Katie wanted to go to Vili's for dinner so we went there.  It was another night of singing.....Johnny Mac was there again with his guitar.

Talking to her 'boyfriend', Jason

Saturday 8th October

Last night Katie had asked to go ice skating for today.  After a slow start to the day we headed off to The Snow Dome at Thebarton.  Unfortunately our winters don't get cold enough for our rivers and lakes to freeze over and so if we want to go ice skating we have to go to a man made ice rink inside a huge warehouse type building.

Katie starts off on the small ice rink to get a feel for it and then heads off to the larger faster ice rink.  All they seem to do is just skate around in circles to the music while Tony and I sit and watch and freeze.....lol.

Today, however they let the kids have a go at ice hockey goal shooting.  Katie had to have a go.  While standing in line she got talking to some of the other kids and one of them is learning to ice dance.  She gave Katie some pointers on how to go backwards and stop with her skates.  Katie was rather pleased.

She even took a tumble

We left there and headed on down to Port Adelaide.  They were having a Festival so we wandered around having a look at some of the craft and food stalls.  Katie asked for pizza for dinner so seeing we were close to West Beach we headed on over there, got some pizzas and then went to the playground at West Lakes to eat them.  Katie had a lot of fun playing on the playground with the other kids that were there.

As it was nearing dusk we headed on back to Port Adelaide as I wanted to see the light show they were having.  Special scenes of what life was like in the Port a hundred years ago were being projected onto the buildings.  It was very interesting.

Sunday 9th October

Today we went to the Somerset Hotel for lunch in honour of Tori and Jay.  They are leaving on Tuesday to go and live in Tasmania.  I am not sure where but I think it's Wynyard.  It was a nice afternoon. 

Earlier on in the afternoon Kahra had rung me to say that something had come up and would it be possible for Katie to stay tonight as well.  At first Katie didn't want to but then she was happy to be staying another night.  When we were ready to leave Katie and Taylor had made arrangements for Katie to go back to Jodi's.  That was OK with us and I rang Kahra to let her know.   

Jodi dropped Katie off around 8 o'clock.  She was quite excited bcause she had a bag of clothes that they had given her but she wasn't feeling too well.  She had a temperature and said her ears and throat hurt.   I gave her a dose of Panadol.  By the time they left her temperature had come down and she said her ears and throat weren't so sore.

Monday 10th October

Dianne rang me to say that her and Rick would come and pick me up tomorrow to take me to the airport.  Tony wasn't able to go as he had meetings booked for the afternoon.

When Katie finally got out of bed she asked to go ice skating again.  I was a bit concerned as she said she still had the sore throat and ear ache.  During the night she was restless, and kept us awake for nearly 2 hours with her coughing.  She took her puffer but it didn't seem to help.  It wasn't good with Tony having to get up early to go to work.

She said she would rug up and stay warm and I gave her some more Panadol and off we went.  She was determined to master skating backwards. 

Seeing there were not as many there this afternoon it was colder than what it was on Saturday.  Brrrrrr I froze, but she enjoyed herself and yes, she got the hang of skating backwards and was very pleased with herself.

In the end her boots were hurting her feet and so we left early.  We went and met Tony and then took Katie to meet Darrin who was picking her up.

We went off and did some shopping and headed home.  I thought I would sleep while watching X Factor but I did manage to stay awake.  Maybe it was the nanna nap I had in the car on the way home that helped.

Tuesday 11th October

Rick and Dianne came by and picked me up around 1pm.  We headed off to the airport.  The flight Tori and Jay was on was due to leave at 3.05pm.

We got to the airport and Jodi, the girls, Beth, Savannah, Tori and Jay were at Hungry Jack's having lunch.  His dad and step mum were also there.

Around 2.45 they started calling for the passengers to board.  We all said our "see yas" (it's never goodbye).  Taylor got very upset and I walked away as I knew I would also lose it.  Jodi was upset too and I sort of lost it when I saw Tori shedding some tears as they were walking down the ramp.  She said she wants to come back for Christmas and that's not too far away.

The plane finally took off at 3.25.  We all left and on the way home Rick, Dianne and I went for a coffee dropping me off back home at around 5.30pm.  Tony was already home from work so we went to the shops to get some mayonnaise and celery so that I could make a chicken salad for dinner.

See ya Tors and Jay

Now today is Wednesday and it's a day to relax for me.  I'll get some washing done maybe, but the housework can wait until next week. 

Are You A Whale Or A Mermaid?

What would YOU rather be........A Whale or a Mermaid?

A while back, on the wall in the entrance foyer of a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman.

The caption was "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

And as the story goes, a woman (size unknown) answered the following way:

"Dear people,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans). 

They are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.

They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns.

They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.

They sing incredibly well and sometimes are even on CD's. 

They are impressive creatures and are dearly loved by everyone who defend and admire them.


Mermaids do not exist.

If they did exist, they would line up to go and see a psychologist because they have a problem with having a split personality: Woman or Fish?

They have no sex life and can not bear children.

Yes, they would be beautiful, but they also could be lonely and sad.

And, what guy wants a girl that smells like a fish by his side?

Without a doubt, I'd rather be a whale.

At a time when the media tells us that only thin is beautiful, I prefer to eat ice cream with my kids, to have dinner with my husband, to eat and drink and have fun with my friends.

Us women gain weight because we accumulate so much wisdom and knowledge that there isn't enough space in our heads, and so it spreads all over our bodies.

We are not fat, we are greatly cultivated.

Every time I see my curves in the mirror, I tell myself: "How amazing am I ?! "

By: Delphine Fieberg 

(The girl in the photo is French model Tara Lynn)

I copied this from a posting by a friend on my Facebook page. 

Long Weekend

Monday 3rd October, 2011


We have just had a long weekend in South Australia......Labour Day weekend.  This was our last long weekend until Christmas.  The weather was sensational, especially yesterday and today. The days were sunny, warm with little or no wind and temperatures in the low 20's.


We didn't have Katie for the weekend and so that allowed us to do some things we wanted to do.  On Saturday, after a slow start, we went up to Gawler and called into Robyn and Bob's.  Robyn wasn't home, she had gone out to lunch with some of the girls she works with.  Bob was there, he said he would ring Robyn to see how much longer she was going to be.  We wanted to go into Gawler shopping centre so we told him we would be back in around half an hour.


The shop I wanted to go to had closed for the day and so we decided to go to Vadoulis Nursery.  We haven't been there in years.   They have a nice gift shop and cafe.  While there we bought these cute birdies and also a windmill weather station.

We went back to Robyn and Bobs' and had a nice visit.  On our way out to Gawler earlier we called into Munno Para shopping centre to get some salad things (tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, ham) for dinner.  After we left Robyns' we didn't feel like going home and making salad so we headed off to Two Wells and the Empire Cafe.  

When we went previously for lunch, we promised to go back and try their pizzas.  Tonight was the night.  We ordered a Romano with pineapple but they ended up giving us a Ham and Pineapple.  Never mind, we loved it.  Instead of shredded ham they used real pieces of ham.

2.00am Sunday morning was also the start of daylight saving.  Yippeeeeee!!!  I love it!

On Sunday we thought we would take a drive up to Hahndorf.  They were having a Doodle and Dawdle weekend, plus for the first time ever a Yarn Bombing.  We got there just after lunch and slowly walked down the entire main street.  While wandering we met up with Svetlana, we used to go out to dinner with her and her partner, Denys, some 9 or 10 years ago.  When they split up and Denys went to Queensland we no longer kept in touch. 

I was surprised she remembered us.  She said she recognised Tony first.  Still, it was nice to have a chat with her.  I got some more Supre (cleaning product) and ordered another 5 litres plus we aso bought a new wall clock.  Years ago when Tony's mum was alive, she used to regularly go back to Holland and one time she brought us back a Dutch clock.  Imagine our surprise when we saw one in the the store priced at $1100.

We were disappointed with the Yarn bombing, but since it was their first year it can only get better, hopefully.  Plenty of kids and adults took advantage of the opportunity to doodle on the footpath though. 

Monday morning Tony had to go into work.......fire alarms and burglar alarms were going off!  My body was still getting used to the time difference.  Only an hour but it does make a difference.  I think the first week is the hardest when daylight saving starts,  why is it when it ends it's much easier to adjust?

In the afternoon we went out and cleaned up out the back again!  After the strong winds from the last couple of weeks it was a mess with all the leaves.  While Tony was working around the back garden he spied a stumpy tailed lizard sunning itself.  Maybe it's the one that was around last year.

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