Dinner Date

Last Friday night, we went over to Caitlin's friends house for a dinner. Caitlin and Emma had been working on their Media assignment, a movie written, directed, filmed by and starring them.

Last time the Millards had come over to us for dinner, Emma had made a fantastic carrot cake for dessert. This time, I attempted some petit fours to have with coffee after dinner.



I thought they worked quite well, although Michael said he was disturbed by the blue ones. I thought they might be too sickly sweet to actually eat, but all bar one was eaten by the end of the evening. I think Jemima had about five, and Michael managed to shove one whole one in his mouth while the girls madly scrambled to get the video camera to record it. They were too slow.

We were a bit late getting there, five minutes before we attempted to leave home, the heavens opened up. I got slightly wet just putting the dogs in the dog box. We made it over the Merino hills, despite the tailgater and took the Grassdale Rd. We only had Emma's directions to go on - five houses on the left, opposite X lane and with a white mail box. We traveled about two kilometres up the road, not able to count houses in the dark and rain. Then we turned around and went back to the start, not sure if the first house we'd come across was the right one or not. Then back along the road, for another five kilometres, unsure if we'd missed it or not. We were just looking for a place to pull over and ring when, hey presto, we saw the white letterbox opposite X Lane.

Debbie had made a lovely lamb casserole, a absolutely divine honey mustard chicken dish and a scrumptious potato bake. It was a fun night, Jemima enjoyed stalking Emma, when she wasn't playing Super Mario on the 54inch plasma TV screen or playing with Emma's iPad. For dessert, we had a chocolicious rocky road cheesecake.

It was after 11.30pm when we finally left their Merino property. At least the rain had stopped... for a while anyway.

A Beautiful Present

Mim received a wooden jewellery making kit from her Aunty Meegan and Aunty Carla. She loves it, and made a beautiful necklace for both Caitlin and me.



She presented me with my necklace this morning with the words, "I wanted to give you this for Mother's Day, but my present hadn't arrived yet." LOL



I guess she must be gifted with a bit of ESP, Meegs and Carls?

Her gaydar is working!

Last night, Caitlin was watching St Trinians, whilst Jemima was doing crafty things and not really paying any attention to the movie. During one of the last scenes, where Colin Firth ends up in the bed of 'Camilla' (aka Rupert Everett in drag), Jemima looked up and said "They're gay".

"Pardon?!"

"They're gay"

I still couldn't believe my ears! "What did you say?" I asked yet again.

She looked at me. "Those men are gay"

I'm hoping she means 'gay' in the teenage vernicular, meaning silly not homosexual! I dared not question any further! And she's pretty observant, recognizing a man in women's clothing.

Run Rabbit Run

The weather today has been 'indoor weather', horizontal rain hitting all the windows and doors. It stopped raining for half an hour and I took that opportunity to go outside, letting the dogs out for a pee and the chooks out of their muddy enclosure.

Gomez took off down the driveway and was ignoring my calls, so Sarah and I went for a walk to get him. By the time I'd gotten to the bottom of the drive, he was all the way up the service road and sniffing around the tree that marks the entrance to the highway. He understood that he was in trouble when I screamed at him "GET! IN! SIDE!" Sarah cowered at my feet, probably thinking 'Christ, I hope she's not talking to me'. He came trotting back, tail between legs and Sarah started up the drive. Hadn't gotten five metres up the driveway when a rabbit streaked past us in the front paddock and tried to squeeze out through the fence. Gomez started whimpering with excitement but Sarah didn't initially notice. As the rabbit (which was twice the size of Gomez) managed to get through the fence and across the bottom of the driveway and under the birch pines, Sarah noticed and was about to take off in pursuit. Luckily, she was well trained enough now that I could call her back, otherwise she'd be over the hills and far away! Still, if she had caught it, we could have had rabbit pie for dinner (for the next five nights)!

Clever Pussy

Morticia brought us a present the other day.

Normally she just plays with mice. Today she decided that a decapitated rat was what we needed! This was left in the driveway.

Margaret's 80th Birthday

Margaret celebrated her 80th birthday last weekend.

 

She came down two weeks ago, in time to celebrate Mother's Day, Jemima's Birthday, Jemima's loss of two teeth, Caitlin's cadet camp and finally, her own birthday. (Who says it's a quiet life down here, lol)!



We had a lovely lunch, catered by Jenny Tully, for Margaret and her three remaining siblings, Gertie, Kitty and George. There was also Eric (Gertie's husband), Sylvia (George's wife) and Malcolm (Kitty's son) plus Jenny and Warren.

It was the first time the four siblings had been together for about 30 years.

Margaret's Meringue

Margaret admitted that she was partial to meringue as a dessert. This was music to my ears.

Why?

Because we have five chooks. Which lay eggs. Daily. So I like to use recipes that use eggs, as we can't consume 35 eggs per week!

So the day before her birthday, I made a meringue for dessert. It used up some eggs and some leftover strawberries and cream.



It was divine (even if I do say so myself). And it also looked, when sliced and served, like it had a a pair of breasts!



Totally boobalicious!

Cadet Camp

Catitlin suffered through a week away at cadet camp, for her sins.

It was cold. It was wet. They got to sleep in swags (those that were prepared) or sleeping bags (those that weren't) under a small piece of canvas. No bathrooms, only portaloos. Lots of boring drills like marching.

She hated it!

Michael, Margaret, Jemima and I went up to the paddock that the cadets called home for a week, on the Wednesday night for the Mass. It was dark by 6pm and very very cold. They didn't fire up the generator for the spotlights, because they'd make too much noise. So instead of watching the cadets march in, we got to listen to them march in, just dark shapes rustling. The priest said the Mass by torchlight. He got to the Eucharist when somebody's mobile phone went off. In his not-so-quiet voice Michael intoned, "Christ has died, Christ is ringing, Christ will ring again". Caused some giggles over our side of the paddock.

We'd brought up a foot long sub from Subway for Caitlin, which she inhaled. I'd also brought her a block of chocolate, a bribe to keep her at the camp for the rest of the week.

Caitlin told us how one girl (a Coleraine local) had been a b#@ch the whole time. During drills, she was behind Caitlin and kept kicking her in the heel and thought she was funny. After Caitlin had turned around and told her to stop it, the young bint swung her foot back and delivered a healthy kick to the back of Caitlin's calf. When Caitlin told me this, I cornered the girl with her parents and asked her about it. She claimed it was just an accident and stormed off in a huff. (Caitlin was told later in the week that she was going to be bashed up for dobbing on the girl, luckily for the girls concerned, this never happened!) The girl continued to be a trouble maker for the rest of the camp - believing it was her mission in life to make the camp "fun" (for her cliche, at the expense of the rest)!

She survived, without washing, for a whole week and arrived home very tired and determined never to go to cadet camp again. I'm very proud of her for persisting with it, despite having to deal with a bully the whole time!

Bye Bye Baby (teeth)

Mim lost her first two baby teeth last week.

She met me at the door of the daycare unit on the Wednesday afternoon absolutely besides herself with excitement. "Mac punched my tooth out" she screamed at me. Charleen, the daycare mum, looked horrified. "They were just playing and then she turned around and said her tooth had come out" she explained, "she wasn't crying or upset". I reassured her that the tooth had been very very wobbly and ready to come out for awhile.

(Mac's mum Kylie asked him later what had happened, he said it was all Jemima's fault, he was trying to punch her on the top of her head and she'd moved her head so he got her on the mouth instead!) LOL!!

We put the tooth in the glass of water over the sink and headed off for the cadet camp Mass.

The next morning, the tooth fairy had taken the tooth and placed $2 in the glass. Mim was very excited about the money. She went and told Mumma how rich she was and then, as she was coming back down the corridor, the second tooth just came out!

So two teeth in 24hrs, the tooth fairy will go broke at this rate!

Happy Birthday Mim!

Mim turned six today!



Certainly doesn't feel like only six years ago that there was life without her. She is such a vibrant personality, it feels like she's always been there, getting into mischief and talking her way out of anything.



After school, Margaret and Jemima had a 'coffee' at the Milkbar whilst I finished work. I gave Mim $20 to buy Margaret a coffee and some afternoon tea, so she was happy as Larry! Michael picked them up and took them home and I got home shortly after. I'd made Arni Lemonato in my new slow cooker, that was enjoyed for dinner, followed by a birthday cake whipped up at the last minute.



On Saturday afternoon, she had a small party down at the playground. The weather held out for us, only starting to rain once the last child had left. The kids had a great time playing, including creating a large dam in the sand pit. I think they were playing Mining, Jordy and Mim were the CEOs and oversaw the operations.





Instead of baking a large birthday cake and having to transport it down there, and take a knife to cut it, and transport it back, I got smart this year and did individual cupcakes with a chocolate ganache icing. Most of the kids liked them (except the one child that flicked the icing onto the ground and ate only the cake part).




Mim loves being six, she's such a big girl now!

Jayant Patel of the Automotive Industry?

My car wouldn't start this morning. I tried a few times to kick it over, wondering if it was just the cold weather, but all I could get out of it was a wheezy wrrrrr... wrrr... wrr.

So I rang work to let them know I'd be late, and Sue put me onto the workshop manager who offered to come out and jumpstart the car. Yah! He'd also been out this morning to jumpstart a truck, so mine wasn't the only one having issues with the sudden cold snap. He was out here 10 minutes later and I had Jemima at school just on 9am. Paul told me to leave the car in the work yard and he'd test the battery for me.

He came in at lunchtime and told me that the battery was almost empty, so he'd filled it up for me and to see if how that worked tomorrow morning. He also mentioned that he'd knocked part of the battery cap into the engine so had reached down to get it...... and found this!



W!T!F!

Seems at the last service, someone had left an oil filter wrench in my engine! How the hell can you lose something that size in an engine as small as mine! And as if you wouldn't have heard it! I've just been very lucky that it was obviously wedged tightly somewhere and hasn't put a hole in my radiator or worse!

Car is going in for a service on Thursday, and a "please explain!" As the mechanic we use is usually meticulous and has always done great work, I am wondering if this was the work of the apprentice that they had to 'let go' over six months ago.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.....

Today, Michael and I participated in the Coleraine Hotel Social Club wood cutting.

A local farmer has donated a paddock to us to cut up some dead redgum. We cut up the wood for firewood and then raffle it off. He gets his paddock cleaned up (and some firewood left for him) and the Social Club raises some money)

We met at the pub at 8.30am and then travelled in convoy up to the farm.



The sheep saw the vehicles coming into the paddock and started following us. First time a Peugeot has EVER been followed by livestock!



The boys pulled out their big guns (chainsaws) and set to work. Roger brought along his wood splitter which made short work of the logs being cut.





Paul piled the crap sticks into piles and poured diesel on them and set them alight, whilst Mousie set up the bbq and started cooking snags and rissoles. We stopped briefly at 10.30 for a can of softdrink and then stopped for lunch at 12.

a watched snag never burns

We managed to fill three trailers (about 10 cubic metres) and there's still plenty left there.

Apparently this was the club's third attack at this paddock, and there's still plenty of wood to be cut. There was one massive fallen tree that was six foot high lying on its side. No-one had a chainsaw large enough to attack it so it was left. It made a great screen though as there were no toilets in the paddock!

Michael's chainsaw was playing up, so I only got to cut a few sticks. I spent most of the time hauling around cut logs and loading them onto the splitter.



Minnow (aka Heath) making short work of a gorgeous piece of wood

It was nice to sit around afterwards and enjoy a cold drink and a laugh with the blokes, and admire the sheer amount of wood that had been cut. I also collected some of the sawdust to put on the garden. Must remember to bring along more bags next time to collect more.

Honey, Honey, how you thrill me!

Michael and I attended an Abba-solutely fantastic party last Saturday night.

Janelle is a mad Abba fan, so for her 40th birthday, the dancing queen organised an Abba themed party at the Wannon River caravan park.

The beautiful Jess (as opposed to Braincell Jess, the dog) came up to stay the night with the girls and Michael and I booked one of the cabins at the park. They were very basic but clean and the toilet/shower block wasn't far away.

It was great to see the number of people that had dressed up. It was a sea of artificial hair and white flares. Janelle had family from as far as Port Pirie staying for the weekend. She'd hired a jukebox, catered a fantastic meal (the lamb and turkey were home grown and slaughtered ably by her husband Barrie)
the birthday girl.....

and her husband in matching outfits
group shot

locals, including president of the P&C and a cop

I'd dressed up in an outfit that was vintage 70s polyester pantsuit. It was actually Mum's Going Away outfit from 1971. I only lasted two hours in it, then had to change into jeans as it kept sticking to all the wrong places.



I stayed awake and dancing until about 1.30am before going off to bed. Michael staggered through the cabin door at 5am and crashed onto the bed, covered with his sleeping bag. Thank goodness for twin beds!

fire still burning in the morning

I was up the next morning at 7am, and helped another early riser do some clean up of the hall (lots of cans and bottles involved). Michael and I got home by 9.30am, to find Jemima playing on her computer and Caitlin still in bed (Jess had to be at work by 7.30am).

Re Planting the Avenue of Honour

The Black Saturday fire in February last year decimated the old Avenue of Honour, trees planted to commemorate veterans.

Using a government grant, a community day was held to replant this Avenue, using native Australian trees, rather than the birch pines that had preceded.

We started with a free breakfast at the Showgrounds, a choice of bacon and egg sandwiches, cereal, juice, tea, coffee, all catered by the local Rotary group. It started raining lightly but that didn't last long. By the time we walked up to the Avenue a weak sun was trying to break through. The kids had a good play on a pile of dirt in the showgrounds, although I did have to tell more than one child not to throw hardened lumps of dirt at each other (Baydn, that means you too!)

eating a bacon sammy
playing king of the hill - Gypsy, Jemima and some other kid
Our esteemed Mayor, in his bestest hat

Mac, Baydn and Jordy waiting for the planting to start


The local children were given a special spade each and a tree to plant.



Michael and Mim got hijacked. They had to share planting with Dan Tehan, the local Liberal candidate and his family. Seems like a nice enough guy, but one of his daughters could use a good kick up the backside, she was a fair little minx.




Got some nice photos of Michael talking to Dan, which, when flicked through quickly, looks like Michael's doing some funky chicken dance!


Thought about setting this to Beyonce's Single Ladies



After our trees had been successfully taken out of their pots and placed in the predug hole in the ground, we all went back into town to the RSL rooms for morning tea. Lovely (cold) party pies, sausage rolls, cream cakes, jelly slices... yum, yum, yum. Jelly slice and cream cakes are also great for decorating the carpet, thanks to the interior decorating skills of several small children.