Mamma Mia! What a weekend

I'm home at last from a weekend in Melbourne.

After dropping Mim at school, I joined Anne and Janelle in Jane's car. We made it to Melbourne just after one thirty, having stopped in Ararat for a coffee and stretch.

Anne was in Cougar mood, which afforded much hilarity on the trip. She even made contact with a Botanical Gardens worker (ute with no ladder) and a Hire a Hubby (ute with ladder) - I guess you had to be there though!

The rooms at the Paramount Aparment were..... adequate. We had three two bedroom apartments for the eleven of us. In the first apartment, the phones didn't work and one of the bedroom doors was locked, so I had to go ALL the way downstairs to reception (two sets of lifts and one security door) to advise them (twice). The second room was rather dingy, my water bottle froze in the door of the fridge, we couldn't get the foxtel to work, there was no alarm clock/radio/dvd player in the rooms, the hairdryer didn't work and the soap dish fell off the wall. Oh, the window didn't seal properly in my bedroom, allowing in the stinking heat and noise of the traffic. Only one small air conditioner in the apartment, it was fine for cooling the lounge room but no cool air made it to either bedroom so it was uncomfortable to sleep (the other girls pulled the double mattress out to the lounge room the second night). Won't stay there again.

Anyway, Janelle and I went shopping in one direction and the other girls headed in the other direction. We found Big City Chic, for plus sizes and browsed. I heard the other customer in the store, so I was had an idea of her condition... but Janelle went up to the counter to speak with the salesgirl and the other customer whipped around and snarled "Fuckin' queue jumper!" Janelle was horrified and apologised, she had thought this woman had already been served. The customer then said, "oh, don't worry, I've just got Tourette's". I'd already heard her walking around the store going "Fuck!", "Fuck you all!" "Aaaarghhhhh!" so I'd figured she had Tourette's. The saleslady apologised afterwards as well, the lady was a regular customer there.

We then caught the tram out to HarbourTown at Docklands and met Tracey and Janelle had an amazing shopping spree. I think I'll have to hire Tracey as a personal shopper!!



Friday night we dined at Dion's Greek Restaurant, naturally I had my favourite - Arni Lemonato. The food was divine, as always. Afterwards, we wandered the streets wondering if we'd go to a club, but instead decided to go back to the hotel for drinkies. It was almost 2am before I got to bed.



I was up and at the pool at 7.30am to do some laps. It was only a small pool, it was heated and the tiles felt slimy so I only spent 20mins there. Then I got dressed and walked up to the Queen Victoria markets to have my borek! Spicy Lamb Borek, only $2.50..... yummmmmmmmmm!

The Mamma Mia Matinee performance started at 2pm. As I was a tag on, I was not seated with the other girls. They were all upstairs on the balcony, and I was up the back and on the side. But it didn't matter - the view was still good and the performance was brilliant! The set was very simple and the choreography was tight. I can understand why people go and see the performance again and again.

After the performance was over, a few of us went and dined at Docklands whilst the others went to a Japanese restaurant. It was lovely watching the sunset over the harbour. Then the two girls and I jumped in a cab and headed for the Casino to watch Burn The Floor.



We had a booth near the front, so we had dancers right next to us a few times. It was a great show, very fast paced in the first half and a bit more balanced in the second. Not only were the dancers amazing, but the vocalist was spectacular. She could have given Shirley Bassey a run for her money!

I had planned on staying at the Casino for some dancing after the show, but decided that I needed to lose the high heels so we went back to the hotel. The other girls arrived back (after stopping off at the Continental Cake Shop for dessert) and we had more drinkies before finally going to bed (at 2am, again).

I was up early again on Sunday morning (when will I learn to sleep in!!!!) and Janelle and I walked the length of Bourke St and then back again, stopping for a white chocolate mocha at Gloria Jeans. After check out, a few of us had breakfast at a lovely little cafe (really good Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon) and then I caught a lift home with Tracey (in her Peugeot, Michael's approved method of transport).

It was a great weekend, and I'll definitely be in for it again next year.

Random Photos

Somebody loves her dog!


I can never sleep alone!!


Mason and Noah, collecting plums (and eating them) on the night that they slept over.


Margaret and the girls


Mim at the local pool, looking really cute in her new bikinis


Caitlin learning to sew under Margaret's instructions


Mim cleaning her room

My cooking endeavours over the last two months

I've tried a few recipes over the last two months, but the nicest (and the richest) would have to be the Brownie Mosiac Cheesecake from Smitten Kitchen . I used the proportions of her recipe, and it made two! It was so rich that you could only physically manage a small sliver at a time.



I also made some plum jam from the multitude of plums that dropped off only one of the plum trees. I collected a full bucketload but only used less than a quarter of them in the jam.

from this

to this
the end product

There's a world out there, besides Vickery Bros!

Kylie (Mac's mum and the HR person at VickeryBros) related a conversation that Charleen, the carer, had told her about:

Mac: So what truck does your dad drive? (Mac's father drives a truck for Vickerys)
Mim: He doesn't drive any truck!!
Mac: Well, what does he do at Vickery Bros?
Mim: He doesn't work at Vickery Bros! He's a teacher at Monivae College!

Charleen told Kylie that a blank expression came over Mac's face, he didn't realise that there could be a world outside of Vickery Bros!

It's a small world!

Jemima had a student teacher on Friday, Miss Rachael. She helped out in the classroom, but more especially, she was able to take a group when they went swimming.

I arrived at the pool at 2.20 ready to collect Mim and Mac. They were still swimming, playing with Mrs Taylor whilst Miss Rachael took a group of the less capable swimmers. They were in the pool for an extra ten minutes, during which time Michael arrived, home from the Yr 12 retreat that he'd been on. Mim was very excited to see him.

Whilst she and Mac were getting changed, the Prep teacher, Mrs Waldron, introduced us to Miss Rachael. Rachael just stared up at Michael and said, "You taught me!" Appears that she was a Casterton Secondary College student six years ago!! As I always maintain, you can't take him anywhere without him meeting/knowing someone.

Mrs Waldron told us Mim was a wonderful student, though they sometimes 'lost' her in the other Preppies as she was always the quiet one and the others were always talking, lol! She makes up for it at home though, certainly makes her presence felt.

First fortnight of schooling over

Jemima has survived her first fortnight of school. More importantly, so have we, LOL!

She still gets Wednesdays off until the March long weekend, and finishes school an hour early until the end of February.

Her first Wednesday off, she was invited to play with Mason. I'd put her ballet dress in her bag, in case she wanted some "girly" time. Janelle told me that it was very cute, Mim had decided to clean out the cubby house and wash the dishes that were in there, and had roped Mason into drying them. She was wearing her ballet dress at the time. When Barry came out of the woolshed, Janelle called him over see what his son was doing. Barry's comment? "He's only doing it because of what she's wearing!" LOL!!!! I had to laugh, and told Janelle that she should put on a French maid's outfit and see if that'll get Barry doing all the housework for her!!

We've still had some 'moments' after school. Not quite the crying spree of the first day, but there's definitely some attitude happening that needs to be knocked on the head fast! She was better the second week, maybe it was because they did swimming for the last hour of school and that was a good outlet for her. She is getting really good at swimming, using her 'big arms' and breathing to the side. The swimming carnival is in two weeks time, so I'll have to try to get some time off to watch her compete.

The New Ballet Dress

Mim loves her new ballet dress. She thinks she is a prima ballerina or a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance!



And look at the length of her legs!



We couldn't get Mim back in the dance school she attended last year. It's just not physically possible (even if I wasn't working) to pick her up from school at 3.20 and have her at dance class in Hamilton by 3.45. Luckily, the other dance school has a Saturday class so we've booked her into that. I called the original school and let them know that she wouldn't be continuing because of the logistics. Two weeks later I got a call from the same woman, asking if Mim was going to be doing classes this year. I had to explain that I'd already let them know she couldn't because we lived/schooled/worked in Coleraine and it was just not physically possible. "Oh, that's a pity, Jemima showed a lot of potential, " was her remark. "oh, don't worry, the other dance school runs a Saturday class, so I've booked her in there. I think it's important that she keeps doing ballet" was my reply. She sounded very put out at that. But her company does not cater for anybody that lives outside of Hamilton so hopefully she'll take that on board when organising classes in future.

Mim also wants to do gymnastics, but classes are in Hamilton at 4pm, again not a possibility at this stage.

First day at school

The day had finally arrived...... Mim was finally allowed to go to school. I'd spent the previous week covering her books and reading folder, taking up her trousers, ironing uniforms and packing her bag. Everything was ready the night before..... except I couldn't find the new lunchbox I'd bought her, grrrrrr! (It was found a week later, on the floor of the lounge room, hmmmmmmmmmm)

We thought we'd let her sleep in til at least 7.30, but she was up (barely awake) and putting on her uniform at 6.30. I encouraged her to leave her PJs on until after she'd had breakfast and cleaned her teeth, just in case she spilled something.



I had to take Caitlin to the bus stop at 8 so called into work to get some hours up. Michael was able to go into school a bit later this morning, so he could help take her to school. At 8.40, I raced home and Mim was waiting, all kitted up. She looked very cute, more so when she put on her school bag and it was almost as big as she was!



We drove in convoy to the school gates, where Michael was able to have a photo with her, give her a kiss good bye and head into town. She turned and wandered on up the path, with not a care in the world, as if she owned the school! (I got to follow, carrying the school bag). We found her desk in the classroom and unpacked her bag and took some photos. We had to take some photos of Mason as well, as his mum had left the camera on the bench in her hurry to get three boys plus Noah out the door! Then it was time for assembly.



The principal, Mrs Gregory, told an inspirational story of the building of the Washington Bridge, how it took 13 yrs to do, and that's how long the new Preps would be in school for (don't turn them off school on their first day!!!!!!) All the little Preppies were shuffling, moving around, talking to each other..... except for Mim, who spent that five minutes standing very still and staring at Mrs Gregory. She's going to be that kid in class who's always well behaved, sits up straight and uses her manners!!! (Hope she'll do it at home too).



I attended the Tears and Tissues morning tea afterwards, although there were no tears from any of us. I knew most of the mothers from Kindy, and we introduced ourselves to the one new mother. Then back to work.

At 2.20, I arrived back at school to collect her. She chatted happily about what a good day they'd had, they'd been read a story and did some playing. I dropped her off at the daycare unit, where she knew Noah, Mason's little brother.

I picked her up at 5, she said she'd had fun playing. Charleen, the carer, told me how Jemima had helped clean up the toys... I told her she should have given her the vacuum cleaner and let her go!

I had to go back to work to finalise some things, so gave Mim the option of heading down to the milkbar with Caitlin for a drink. She said yes, but changed her mind and stayed with me. We went to pick up Caitlin ten minutes later. Walked into the store, she saw the blocks of chocolate and asked for one. I said no...... and the trouble started. She started sulking, and then arguing and didn't want to walk back to the car, so Caitlin and I walked without her. She caught up to us before we crossed the street, crying that it wasn't fair!

When we got home she continued the ranting. She wouldn't get changed out of her uniform, or take off her shoes, or unpack her bag. She just lay on her bed crying, "it's not fair, I want to be as big as Caitlin. I wanted to be born first! Why didn't you let me be born first!" I tried explaining that I had no say in who was born first but she wouldn't believe me. "If you wish for a baby, then you get one! Why couldn't you wish for me to be first!!!"

Luckily the tears stopped after half an hour and she'd calmed down enough to get changed. She wouldn't speak to either Nana or Mumma when they called to see how the first day had went, though. But she did do her homework. She had to read her book to me, which she did very well. She then spoiled the impression that she could actually read, by closing her eyes and "reading" the book with no mistakes!!!! Smart arse!

It was early to bed for her that night (8pm is really early for her). And she was looking forward to school again.

A Weekend in Sydney

As Margaret was a bit too 'under the weather' to be traveling back to Brisbane on her own, I organised to fly up to Sydney that weekend to visit Michelle and Olivia.. and Mark too. The local doctor wanted Margaret to delay flying for another couple of days, but she wanted to get home as soon as possible and see her own doctor.

So I organised us onto a Sharp flight from Hamilton to Melbourne and then Virgin flights to Brisbane and Sydney. I arranged to leave work early, at 4pm, to get to the Hamilton airport for the 5.30pm flight on the Friday afternoon. I thought I had everything covered....... but of course not!

About 1.30 on the Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from Sharp airlines to say there was a problem... the plane was no longer leaving from Hamilton, only from Portland which is an hour's drive to the south! They could arrange for someone to drive us there, but Margaret and I would need to be in Hamilton by 4.30. So I madly arranged to leave work at 3.30, race home and grab my suitcase, get changed and Michael drove us into town. The mini bus was waiting, we jumped on with another woman and drove off to Portland.

aerial view of Portland

As soon as we got to the Portland airport, our bags were checked in and the plane was boarded. Usually (well at Hamilton anyway), the Sharp people ask if we need a taxi at the other end, they didn't at Portland and we didn't think of it in the rush. We got to Essendon airport only ten minutes after originally scheduled and disembarked. They brought out the suitcases.... and ours weren't on the trolley! I had to track down the attendant and ask them to go and check the plane. By the time the bags were brought out, all the cabs were gone so I had to ask them call for one! We waited for another ten minutes before it arrived so checking in at Tullamarine was a bit hurried. Margaret's departure gate was almost down the end, and she had to use the toilet first and have a sit down to catch her breath so her flight was already boarding by the time we got down there. But at least we got there in time!

(She arrived safely in Brisbane, but still out of breath, so a wheelchair to the front gate was the best option)

My flight left about 20 minutes later and I got into Sydney about 9.45pm. My bag was one of the first off the carousel so I was outside reasonably quickly waiting for Michelle to pick me up. Unfortunately she was stuck in the traffic heading for the pick up zone. Sydney Airport, you may need to rethink how you've organised that!!! It doesn't allow for traffic flow at all! Still she made it there, collected me and we were off to Mary's (collecting Mark and then via Maccas of course).

Sunset, somewhere over southern NSW

Olivia is gorgeous. She was asleep on Mary's lap when we arrived, but I still got to have a cuddle.



The next day, Michelle and I went to Chatsworth Shopping Centre. I'd forgotten just how rude people can be in shopping centres but it was good to be able to look in a variety of shops. I found a beautiful little white ballet dress in Bloch, a dancewear shop. Michelle has threatened to get Mim a pair of tap shoes for her birthday (I've found a large drum set for Olivia in Dick Smith, if you do!!) The sales lady was cooing over Olivia, and trying to sell Michelle a little pair of ballet shoes for newborns!!

Michelle's parking ticket would not read in the machine, despite several attempts by herself and the security guard, so she got let out of the gates for free, yippeee!!

That afternoon we went to Catherine and Dom's for afternoon tea, and to meet Erica. The poor little dear had a bad case of nappy rash.

Me with Erica
Michelle and Olivia

That evening was a wonderful takeaway pizza from Livio's. I still think that he makes the best (and garlickiest) Margherita pizza in Australia! Olivia still preferred her milk on tap, as long as it was still wrapped in plastic... none of that natural nipple in the mouth, thank you very much! She's a young lady who knows what she wants!

Asleep at last!

MOKMOK, OKLOK and MOKLOK (mother of OKLOK)

Michelle dropped me off at the airport, leaving Mark holding the baby. The flight to Melbourne was uneventful, even though I had to sit next to two smelly teenage boys! I had an hour to kill between flights, so I headed to the Essendon DFO and had a look. Didn't even make it into the main part where the clothing was, will have to do that another time. Found Howards Storage World and enjoyed browsing there for a while and then heading back to Essendon airport.

The flight home was uneventful as well, and we touched down at Hamilton ten minutes early. Michael and the girls picked me up. Mim got her ballet dress, Caitlin got some folders she had requested and I got Michael a thing that hangs over the door that he can put his wallet and phone in, so he won't keep running around the house looking for the damn things.

almost home, the Grampians

coming into Hamilton airport