Leap Day 29th Feb

A fairly busy day today. School, then Dom and I went to Stafford. He got his hair cut - it's so cute - spiked on top



I had to return a few things to Big W and grab some other stuff (mostly camping bits and pieces). Got a box of 60 chips (Real McCoy ones ) - so there's our junk for the Easter trip!!

Then went to Bunnings to buy some camping drawers for food and stuff (but I think I've got the wrong ones as they were individual drawers, but I think they'll be ok.

I tried getting a new mobile on Telstra on line (as it will be a business phone) and I got all the way through until the credit card part. Because someone has stolen our credit card numbers and we have to be reissued new cards, it wouldn't accept my card. Now I'll have to wait until we get the new cards!

I rang the EP Child Care to see if they got my deposit and Dom's got a position there startingt on the 17th March!!! So I had to ring Pickering St and tell them that he's finishing up - she was ok about it - I just said it was for financial reasons. (well the other place is cheaper and they provide cooked meals!).

I also didn't get the psychologist's job - but I didn't want it anyway....I think there is something else out there that I'm meant to get.

Dom and I slept from 2-4 pm. I was just exhausted! Seem to be on Fridays, so was wondering if that was because I did the gym twice on Thursdays??

Walked Oscar as he hadn't been for a decent walk in ages and dropped into Craig and Denise's place (who live in the next street) and they asked us over for a bbq tomorrow night, so that will be nice to catch up.

Kenzie's ears stink! They didn't look infected or pussy but they really stank so we had to take them out. It was a bit of a nightmare, because Ben pulled one out and all her hair was wrapped around the stud and her ear started bleeding and she started screaming. Poor Kid!! I had to race off to the chemist, buy some sleeper earrings and some numbing cream, so I could get the other one out and put the new ones in. The cream worked really well. She's happy with the sleepers and at least she can turn them and keep her ears cleaned properly.

Then Ben and I watched "Into the Wild" - it was a good movie - long, but a good movie.

Gym twice today

Dropped Kenz at school and took Dom to the gym. I did the Body Pump class.

Raced off grocery shopping and did a big shop as we didn't have much food left after camping.

Home for lunch.

Then Dom and I went to Brookside to return a pair of shoes for Kenz as they were too big.

Picked Kenz up from school (I took Oscar for a walk as Dom was asleep) and then Kenz and I walked to the post office to drop off some mail.

I cooked a roast pork which was really nice and then went to the gym with Dena and Sharon to do the Body Balance class.

Oscar assuming his usual position...

Where are my car keys???!!!!!

I walk into work and apparently Ben has called me twice - so I knew something was up.

When I called Ben (who apparently had been trying to call my mobile, but it's playing up for some reason and I wasn't getting any calls or text messages) he couldn't find his car keys!

Guess who had them - in my handbag....

The problem was Ben had to go to the shop to buy some milk for breakfast because we ran out, then he wanted to go to the gym and then he had to pick up wedding clients from the train station as they were down from Darwin!

So I had to get a courier from work and send them back home - $25 later!

Then Ben sends me an email to say that Virgin Credit cards had phoned him and said someone OS has stolen our credit card number, so now they have to issue us new credit cards - joy!! Luckily it doesn't seem that they've bought anything with our cards.

Packing Up

We started packing up the campsite. It seemed to take ages!! We packed up the campers, took the kids for a swim and had some lunch and then packed up the tarp and the last lot of things. Got home about 6pm.

This was our campsite before we packed up..

Hot Hot Hot

Woken up by Dom at about 6am, but he just wanted to get out of the camper and go on the beach. It was so warm, I don't think we could have stayed in the camper beyond 7am anyway!

We went for swims and the kids had a fantastic time with the boogy boards and Dom and Abbey were actually getting used to the surf - it took a lot of coaxing to get them in the surf but they were happy!!

We even drove up to Freshwater to go under the cold open showers - the water was so refreshing - I think we probably hit about 38 degrees. Apparently Brisbane was 40.2 degrees!!

Then at about 6.30pm when we just sat down for dinner this massive storm came from nowhere!! Thunder, lightning, rain and wind - nearly blew us away!! The kids were in the camper trailer and poor Dom was terrified! I was trying to close the camper's windows and then the tent nearly collapsed with the kids were in it! Ben and Mike were frantically trying to save the Tarp!!

Anyway after about 45 minutes it went away, we salvaged a bit of dinner, put the kids to bed and then Mike Kate and us sat around a campfire for the night!!!

All I can say is setting up a campsite with little kids is hard work!!!

I dropped Kenz off to school and then Dom and I drove Oscar to his kennels at Samford.

Mary phoned to say that Tracey is coming up from Melbourne in March and she was hoping we could all get together for it.

I picked Kenz up at 12.30pm from school and she did a quick change and had some lunch and then we left about 1.15pm and went to Mike and Kate's place.

We headed up to Teewah Beach and got there around 4.30pm and it took us til nearly 7pm to set up and have dinner ready for the kids!

What a beautiful campsite. Ocean views, lots of shade and heaps of places for the kids to play.

Dom didn't go to sleep until nearly 10.30pm (little rascal).

Job Interview

I went for a job interview today for a Psychology Practice - it's for Reception / Admin and sounds quite interesting. I was pretty nervous as I haven't been to an interview for years! Not sure if i want the job - would seriously have to think about it.

It has advantages and disadvantages. It's close to home, good pay, but longer hours and that sort of defeats the purpose of me changing jobs as I wanted to finish earlier so I could go to McKenzie's school and help out in her class and help her more with her homework! Not sure how I'd handle irate patients either (which apparently happens).

Did the grocery shopping for camping as we leave tomorrow with the camper trailer for Teewah Beach again.

The tooth fairy comes tonight

Yes McKenzie has lost another tooth!! She was just sitting on the lounge (and she did mention on the weekend that her tooth was a bit loose) and next thing her little bottom tooth is in her hand!! Amazing - has to be the easiest tooth out yet!!

What are the chances!

Driving to work today, I was turning right into the train station and I saw a white van flying up behind me and he obviously hadn't seen that I had stopped and was turning. I look in my rear vision mirror and saw the look of horror on his face as he realised he was going to hit me! Luckily he swerved and missed me (especially since I was in the Peugeot) and thankfully no other cars were in the inside lane so he could swing over). I'd hate to see how I ended up with him hitting me doing 60klms / hour!!

I emailed Ben about it.

Then a couple of hours later Ben replies and says "you wouldn't believe it, I was turning into a garage and this chick (a P Plater) bumped into his rear bumper on the Patrol. Luckily there was minimal damage to the Patrol - I think the rear tail light popped out but Ben could put it back in. there wasn't much damage to her car either!!

I found a really great house at Samford that I loved but found out it went under contract today - Bummer!

Went to Body Balance with Sharon.

Sunday - restday (NOT)

Up early this morning with Dom and we drove down the coast to see Mum and Dad. Rochelle and Nanna popped in for morning tea.

Then we went to visit Pa at the Gold Coast Hospital. He seems to be doing a lot better and at least he's started eating again.

Went back to Mum and Dad's place and then we went to Jacob's Ridge to see their new block of land (hopefully their investment property will start being built soon). After that we went to the Warehouse Tavern (somewhere around Ormeau) and we had lunch.

To our surprise Rich (my uncle), Rebecca and the kids turned up and had a drink with us. We haven't seen them since Boxing Day (and actually we didn't see Rich or Bree then as they were away camping).

Raced home and then Mike and Kate and the girls came over so Kate could do our BAS statements etc. They ended up staying for dinner (pizza) and left about 7pm and the kids were so worn out they went straight to bed!!

At least we're camping next weekend, so it will be a lot more relaxing!! :o)

Saturday - another day of running around

8.30am I took McKenzie to gymnastics. She said she didn't want to do it any more and she was too tired after Girl Guides. Now I have a dilemma - do I take her out of gymnastics and let her go to GG on Friday nights, or do I sent her to the Everton Park GG which starts at 10am on Saturday???

Then we raced over to Brookside and bought McKenzie a new pair of joggers as she had grown out of a pair which were too big for her about 3-4 weeks ago!!

Came home about 11am and the fridge mechanic turned up. He fixed the fridge and then we raced up to Minden to see Rod and Mary. Rod was having computer problems, so Ben was trying to fix them. The kids watched Sound of Music up there.

Left Minden and then popped in on Selina and Shameem's gorgeous new house at Brookfield. It was so nice to to see them and little Zara. We stayed for about an hour and then raced home to get the kids ready for bed etc.

Friday

Dropped Kenz off to school and went to the gym again (only managed to get their twice this week).

I did the Body Step class - boy that was hard - I haven't done step since I was about 24!! It doesn't help when the teacher asks who is new to the class and then said "boy you've joined a hard class"! Just great!!!

Then Dom and I had some quiet time at home before I took Dom swimming. His in a class of 3 and he's with twin sisters - so they're all very cute in the pool together. They even got to use flippers and a kickboard today - not bad for Dommy who is only 2 years and nearly 3 months old!!

Ben picked up Kenz from school whilst Dom slept after swimming.

Then I took Kenz to Girl Guides at Ferny Hills as Liz was taking Shaelie to try it out. The class lasted 2 hours - so I went back to Liz's place for about an hour. McKenzie really liked Girl Guides and said she'd like to go back again. Only thing is it's from 5-7pm so it's really a hard time with getting dinner ready and for Dom, so I'm not sure what to do.

I'm also looking at Scouts as I believe they are closer to our area.

We'll see.

Thursday - Valentine's day

Took Kenz to school and then went to the gym this morning and did Body Pump. Then after I raced off to the Everton Park Hotel to meet up with Lise (and her 2 gorgeous kids) and we had a coffee and let the kids have a play in the brilliant playground. (Hi Lise - I know you're reading this!! :o))

Then Dom and I went grocery shopping and picked Kenz up from school.

Ben and I didn't do anything for Valentine's Day (we normally don't - just a card).

Ben had his photo shoot at Helen's showroom in the evening.

Didn't make it to my Body Balance class tonight - hopefully next week!

Happy Birthday Tresona

Still not much talk between me and Ben. We can both be very stubborn when we want to!

The neighbours had a huge fight - at 4.15am!! They never seem to sleep.

Tres' birthday today - sounds like she's having a nice day.

Came home and said to Ben - so are you talking to me or not tonight? And he said "that depends".

Anyway we ended up talking things over - he still doesn't see that he's done anything wrong - typical man!!

I'm going to Kill Him!!

Well Ben got home at 2.20am this morning (Monday morning) and I could have killed him!!

I thought it was very inconsiderate of him to go out so late, and i was so worried that something had happened to him since I couldn't contact him on the phone! When you say you're going to a seminar (which finished at 5pm) and you're going for a few drinks - I wasn't expecting a BLINDER!

Needless to say, we had our words and now aren't talking.

I had a crap day at work because I had hardly any sleep - and Ben had even less - and he also had to go back to the photography seminar.

He sent me a text message about 4pm and said the seminar was running about 1 and a half hours late - so I wasn't expecting him to be home until 6.30 - 7pm. Ben walked in at 8pm. Again I wasn't impressed because I thought he'd been out to dinner.

So we're still not talking......

Sunday

Another early start this morning with the kids and I dropping Ben off to his photography seminar at 8am at Southbank.

The kids and I spent the morning at home, and we watched Arthur and the Invisibles and also Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium on DVD (Helen gave them to us to watch as she got them from Bali).

Then we went out to the park in the afternoon and did a quick grocery shop for some dinner.

Ben phoned at 5.30pm (which I missed as we were still out) and said his phone battery was flat and had to turn his phone off.

I must admit I sorted expected him to be home by 9pmish - since he has been out all day, but I went to bed at 9.30pm because it was obvious he wasn't coming home for a while - little did I know it would be the start of a huge fight, something we have not done in a long, long time!!

Saturday - a lot of racing around

Wow what a busy day!

Up early with Dom, since he wakes up at about 5.30am every day now!

I dropped Kenz off at gymnastics and I took Dom and Oscar for a drive to the dog groomers at Eatons Hill. Left Oscar there and Dom and I went back to gymnastics - bad move - Dom just runs around everywhere - it is exhausting!

Once Kenz finished, we raced home, I dropped Dom off to Ben and Kenz and I changed to my little car and we went to Mt Coot-tha to catch up with Tresona, her new partner Aaron and his little girl. Kenz and Grace fed the ducks and ran amok, and we had morning tea at the cafe. It was so hot too!

Then we unfortunately had to race off (sorry about that Tres) to come home. At that stage Ben went back with Dom to pick up Oscar from the groomers. He looks like a Poodle!

Ben and I both got home at the same time, we jumped into his car (as Dom was asleep) and then we went out to Helen's Showroom at Samford. Helen owns/runs HG Unique Spaces and the showroom looks fantastic!!!

Then we went back to Helen and Garry's place - which is also looking fantastic as they last time we were there was back in Sept 2006 when they got married in the shell of their house!!

Then Helen came back to our place to give us some ideas on how Ben can modernise the front office and studio as she said it's a bit of a mix of stuff.

It's Colonial, colonial colours and then there's Meditteranean floor tiles and the kitchen tiles, it's also got the funky purple lounges and then it's got the casual leather recliners! So we need to do a bit of work to it!

Helen suggested getting the tiles 2packed a dark grey colour and have the wall times changed as well, paint the walls white, get some new bits and peices of furniture and turn it into a funky New York style Bachelor Pad. I'm quite excited about it, because we do need it to look professional and up to date!

Helen also made some great suggestions for our lounge/dining/kitchen upstairs!!

Helen and Callum (her little boy) left about 8pm.

Thursday / Friday

Thursday - F&P arrived at 8.10am to look at the fridge which has been broken down since the weekend. All it was, was that the seal is damaged and the fridge had frozen up so I have to defrost it for about 24 hours and then it should be working ok and then he had to come back with a part in about 2 weeks time, so hopefully it keeps running ok until then. Then I took Kenz to school (Ben went to his photographers breakfast) and then Dom and I raced off to the gym. No joke, there were about 50 people in that Body Pump class - Alex is a great instructor - she's so fit!

After the gym Dom and I went grocery shopping but I couldn't buy too much because we only have the small drinks fridge on the deck to put everything in. I have thrown out so much food from the fridge and freezer, it's not funny!

Dom's child care phoned to say they had a Thursday for Dom and he can start his 4th day next week!! I am so not ready for him to 4 days yet.

Then we picked up Kenz from school and Dom fell asleep in his pram, so he slept until 5.30pm! Kenz, Ben and even Oscar fell asleep too - I should have had a sleep since Dom had me up at 5.15 am but I just couldn't go to sleep.

Then I went to the gym again to do my body balance class (this makes is 3 times this week) but our teacher is on holidays, so we did a yoga class instead (Sharon E came with me again).

Ben and I had a good talk about me working an extra day, but we worked out by the time we paid the extra mortgage repayments, paid child care, after school care, I caught the train in to work and the organising and re-jigging that I would have to do (like changing grocery days etc) we worked out I'd only end up with about $30- so it's just not worth it!!!

So Ben is just going to have to talk to his boss and ask for a payrise :o)!!!!

Friday - the fridge is finally getting cold. I took Kenz to school as Ben left at 7.30am to head up to Noosa with a group of photographers. Then Dom and I took Oscar to the vet to have his annual vaccination - Oscar sat in the front seat of my Peugeot - and he was great - like he was totally used to it - even though we normally just put him in the back of the Patrol (which Ben had up at Noosa). Osc has an ear infection so I have to put 8 drops in his left ear twice a day until the drops finish (in about 10 days). Poor dog.

I got all my blood test results today - and everything is NORMAL! So that means - no thyroid, no diabetes, no antibody problems - which is great - but still doesn't explain my mood swings, feeling exhausted and run down -etc etc. I still think it's hormones...

I think I might try those 30 Plus tablets that Lisa Curry-Kenny sells - it's worth a shot!

Came home, phoned Liz to see how her hand was as she hurt it whilst camping (but it's all good), and she mentioned she was looking at trying Shaelie at Girl Guides - which I had also been thinking about for McKenzie, so I'm going to take Kenz next Friday night to see how she goes. She can go up to 4 times before she has to join.

Took Dom swimming - geez he's doing well and then raced to get Kenz from school.

Then the children went a bit feral in the afternoon! Dom was in bed by 6.15pm and Kenz went by 7.30pm (even though I wanted her in earlier than that!).

Ben's been phoning throughout the day and it doesn't look like he'll get home from Noosa until about 10pm - if not later. A long day, but I'm sure he loved it!!

What a crappy start to the week

So where do I start?

Lets see, over the weekend the fridge wasn't feeling very cold and I was pretty certain that it had died, so first thing Monday morning Ben phoned Fisher & Paykel to get someone out to look at it. They can't come until Thursday! This fridge is only 2 years and 2 months old (thankfully we bought an extended warranty with it!). Lots of stuff thrown out of the fridge today.

Tuesday, nothing majorly exciting happened for me. Just the usual work, school, child care etc.

Tuesday Ben went to go a great photography Seminar, so that was a positive for him!

Wednesday I phoned our bank about our mortgage, as we got a letter from them, because every February they up the interest rates (in other words, they don't do it when there are rate increases- and got the shock of my life when I was told that we were underpaying our mortgage and it is now going up $88 a WEEK!!!! I was almost in tears at work.

Don't you think the bank would have contacted us within the year and said "hey, you need to increase your repayments?" - No that would be too easy.

Time to look for a mortgage broker, a new loan or a payrise!!!

Then after lunch I answered a phone call at work and a defendant was threatening to kill herself so she didn't have to go to Court, so that was a bit depressing for me and sort of wrecked my whole day.

Wednesday night I was also a bit stressed about how were were going to pay the extra mortgage repayments and if I should go back to work another day and do 4 days a week - only thing is work has just employed someone to do jobshare with me on Thursdays and Fridays - and I have Dom on a waiting list for child care - so that might take months yet before they get another spot there!!

A Cultural Experience

I love this photo!


Due to the wet weather, we decided to take the kids out and we've just spent 3 hours at the Queensland Museum, the GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art) and went to the Kids section of the Andy Warhol Silver Factory and the State Library - the Corner and the Parlour (and all of them were free). The kids had a great time. The Silver Factory was good - they had a room set up like AW's studio he had in 1966 - it had floating balloons called the Silver Clouds - the kids thought that was fantastic!!!! (only thing was that you weren't allowed to take photos).....

But anyway, here's a few that I took.

Little DinosaursChess anyone??
Museum Zoo - need I say any more???

Gymnastics

I'm really hating that Dom is waking up at 5.30am every morning lately - it's driving me mad - especially since we don't get to bed until 11 pm or midnight mosts nights!!

This morning McKenzie started back to gymnastics and it's now a one and a half hour class and she's starting Level 1. Little Emma and Big Emma (big because she is the tallest) were in her class so Kenz was happy about that. Big Emma gave Kenzie a lovely photo of the two of them and the gym comp last year, so that was really sweet of her.

So whilst Kenz was at gymnastics, Dom and I raced off to the gym. For some reason I just don't have much energy on a Saturday morning. I only did about 45 minutes as I had to race back to get Kenz at 10am.

We came home and made scones for morning tea.

We used the easy recipe:-

2 cups of SR Flour
1 cup of cream and
1 cup of lemonade!!

They turned out really nice.

Ian, Sandy and the kids popped in as they were in the area and we had the scones on the deck.

Ben had his 2nd wedding for the year and he left at lunch time.

Dom and I slept for 2 hours in the afternoon - geez I wonder why we needed to have a sleep - Kenz just watched a movie.

I woke up with a shocking headache and felt terrible. Nothing that a couple of tablets couldn't fix though.

I cooked Corned Silverside for dinner, bathed the kids and had dinner when Ben got home at 7pm.

After the kids went to bed I sorted the washing and ironed until 10pm - another exhilerating night at home!!

February already!!

Where did January go??

Kenz went off to school again - she seems to have enjoyed her first couple of days which is great!

I finally made an appointment to see my dr about my Thyroid (since McKenzie's ENT specialist said I should probably have it checked out). So I felt like a hypercondriac asking if I could have my thyroid, antibodies, hormones and a diabetes check! But since thyroid and diabetes run in the family, I just want them checked to be certain.

And amazingly, I managed to get into QScan to have a thyroid ultrasound in the afternoon. The radiologist said she didn't think there was a problem, from what she could see, but a report would be typed and sent to my dr.

To have my blood test I have to fast for 10 hours - that's going to kill me!!

Ben took Dom to his swimming class and picked up Kenz (since I was having the ultrasound done).

I did some of the bookwork for the business until 10.30pm - only have 2 more months to go!! What a great way to spend a Friday night (not)!