R.I.P.

At approximately 5pm last night, I received word that it had happened. Sleep well MIL.

xxx

All is quiet on the Western Front

The week just gone was the typical round of work, work, and work. I'm trying to think if anything exciting happened, but alas. No. Not a thing.

Admin2 returned to work so I was able to hand off the extra stuff and settle down to my proper job. I like that sooo much better.

We had been getting the Teen to register as a job seeker. Since December. Timing has been the issue and things haven't quite worked out. I did research. They said do it online. She tried. Can't do it. She went back. They said phone. She decided to wait until after her holidays. She came back. She phoned. They sent the paperwork. We completed and lodged it. Finally! But I think they've only told her half the story... We'll see what happens.

My Saturday was typically quiet. MOTH and I went out to collect some groceries that weren't done last Thursday. Both the Teen and Raisin were abed. Poor Raisin hasn't been getting to bed much before 3am as she stays up chatting to her friends. Who seem to forget that we are 3 hours ahead of them.

The weather was hot and steamy and I've had the airconditioners running for the last few days. Ouch! That is going to hurt the hip pocket!

Sunday was wet. And steamy as well. MOTH and I headed out to pick up some tailender stuff like bread and milk.

We thought we would go see Mother-in-law on Monday as she was due for admission yesterday afternoon. Surgery is scheduled for around 3pm Monday. It seems though that she wasn't well so was admitted early. Sister-in-law thought it advisable to come see her that afternoon.

All of us were going to see her, but at the last minute, Raisin decided to stay home. The logistics of getting to the hospital took a little while to work out. Eventually, MOTH decided to drive and park in a side street. None of us had been to the hospital before, so were a little uncertain as to where we could go.

We found a side street and MOTH decided to reverse park. Now, I don't know what he was thinking, but there was plenty of room and he used to be good at parking. Somehow he drove into the space, then decided he needed to do a reverse. He pulled out, shot back and ended up hitting the gutter with the back wheel. Pulled forward a little to try it again, and did the same thing. Forward again and back. This time, the rear wheel ended up ON the gutter. The Teen and I were half laughing. But it was our fault because no one would get out and guide him.

We did. And when I looked, he had the rear wheel on the gutter, and at LEAST half a car length between the back of our car and the front of the one behind us. And a couple of feet between our front and the back of the one in front. PLENTY of ROOM is what I'm sayin...

There was some sort of sport match in a nearby auditorium. They were cheering. The Teen and I decided it was because of parking that car.

Then around the front street and UP THAT DARNED HILL. Whew. It has a hand rail so you can hold on and pull yourself up. We stopped briefly to check out a scrub turkey chick that was pecking in the dirt at the bottom of the retaining wall.

There were a couple of other relatives in the room with MIL. She's looking a little frail, but still going strong. She doesn't give away much. We visited and laughed for a while then it was time for home.

Getting down the hill was a heck of a lot easier than getting up.

Hunger roolz

And Sol droolz. I had better make sure I eat some lunch while I'm typing this. I'd share, but I want this ham and avocado sandwich to myself. Sorry...!

It's been a rather eventful week.

For the first time in around 18 years, I don't have to go through the horror of Back To School. I can't say how wonderful that is. No forking out for new uniforms or listening to the complaints that the old ones need repairing. No having to find money for text hire fees, P&C and yearbooks before the school year starts. No having to fork out for exercise books, pens, pencils and other assorted paraphernalia. Wheee! Kinda liberating really.

It also means the Teen is home a lot more. I can see there is going to be a fair bit of the Just Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home thing going. So I'm curious. Did I ever do that when she was growing up and I was at home and he was working? Heh.

We had been talking about getting a new boarder in to help with costs now that Teen is no longer at school. *means a change to government payments* A recent acquaintance was looking for a place to stay that wasn't too expensive; MOTH offered her the place. The Teen wasn't very impressed; she was on holidays and didn't get any say. I think she was looking for a younger person. A student perhaps. I had investigated Home Stay but the criteria were somewhat stringent. Blue card. Their own room. Take them where they need to go. Provide a bed and a desk, minimum.

Besides, Raisin *i shall christen her so for the purpose of this writing* pays almost as much as they do. And half the hassle.

She flew in on Thursday. She seems very nice. But yow! Mizz Chatterbox. She is around my age, and likes to stir MOTH. We should get on very well. *big grin* She brought a gift with her. Kopiko, a hard coffee flavoured lolly. And was quite disappointed to discover you can buy them here.

Saturday we went out for supplies for Australia Day. Bestie and her family were coming for a barbeque. Saturday afternoon MOTH and Raisin went looking for Asian grocery stores that may stock hard to get hold of food ingredients. They didn't find what they were looking for.

Sunday morning we did the usual thing and went to the local mall. We picked up the perishables for the barbeque on Tuesday. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the cool. It was hot outdoors. Has been for the last few days.

I had managed to wrangle Monday off. And sat around for a while. Discovered that the WoW account I had been playing with had been banned. I was somewhat disgruntled, but if I can't play I can't play and that is that. It gave me something to do. I don't use the laptop for much else. Again it was too hot to do much.

Found out later it was something to do with abusing the in-game chat. What the? That is one feature I DON'T use!

Australia Day rolled around. I had decided that we would run the dehumidifyer if nothing else to keep the back end of the house cool while we had guests. Everything was prepped in good time. Bestie and the family arrived.

She brought Boston Baked Beans! *yummm!*

Raisin made tofu and a thick soy sauce for drizzling. *yummmmm!*

Sunny and Judah arrived as well. And a friend of the Teen's. We knew they were coming so it wasn't a surprise. I peeked out the door and noticed Bestie's man with his hair lifted off the back of his neck. I decided we'd serve and eat indoors....

We squished around the table and chatted and ate. More food than I had at Christmas! Steak. Sausages. Chicken rissoles. Tofu and sauce. Boston beans. Garden salad. Coleslaw. Topped with a cold glass of Brown Brothers Crouchon & Reisling. MMMMmMMMM! Sunny pronounced the international dishes were the most successful - tofu (Indonesian), beans (USA). The Teen was thrilled to realise for Australia Day we had an Indonesian, an ex-pat American and an ex-pat Pom gathered around the table.

Dessert was vanilla icecream and lemon sorbet.

We ate till we were stuffed, chattered for ages and eventually joined the kids watching dvds. Shrek, Spirited Away and Shrek the Halls.

Thank heavens for the dishwasher.

And no wonder I went to bed at 09:30pm....

To the Random that makes the world go round...

Yesterday I dropped a book back to the library. After the deed, on passing the Subway outlet, I became aware that someone was apparently speaking to me. Why, I dunno. I turned. A youthy type lad was sitting at a table with a group of other similar types. He thrust a picture out to me. Do you think this baby is cute? I stared, slightly stunned. Silence while I considered the comment and tried to make out context and background that may have prompted the question. Was he trying to sell me something? Was my opinion canvassed to settle an argument? I didn't know. *and if you know me, this process can take a wee while* They waited. Then he said, It's more bout the nose really.... Oh, I said. Well I guess that's a standard baby nose... *face palm. now THAT was a snappy comeback!* One of the others spoke up. He's a bit off the wall today. *sure is!* It was random. *sure was!* Yes, I agreed. It was a bit random. Well, anyway, friend continues, Thanks for playing the game... I smiled and left them to it.

I could have said so much! I think....

The week that was. I guess it was pretty normal. The Teen returned home from holidays. In a better mood than I thought, considering she'd been on a 9 hour train ride with only a bottle of water. Elder told me they didn't have money for food and she didn't think to pack a sandwich! *duh* I took one with me when I went to pick her up. It had gone a bit stale. I told the Teen what was on it - peanut paste. Oh great, she says. I've been living off pb&j sandwiches for the last week! But she ate it.

She's still talking of wanting to move back up north to Hometown. I really don't know why. She tells me it's the people. I'm guessing it's the ones her age, because when we left, the whole influx of new faces drove a lot of the locals out and changed the whole feel of the place. I guess that's what happens when Industry comes to town; the itinerants follow and the companies ship in their own employees. An acquaintance commented that she once could walk down the street and see so many people she knew. Now she can go a whole day out and not see anyone she knows.

Nothing much else happened during the week. That I can think of. Work interrupted my WoW time. So did the Teen. Saturday I didn't touch it because I didn't get the laptop for long. We did a bit of tidying in the outdoor area. I trimmed some overgrown ferns and fronds surrounding the gazebo. Sat the chairs/table out on the grass and scrubbed them down. MOTH grabbed the blower and cleaned all the old cut grass, leaves etc from the patio. And we put everything back. In different places. It looks much tidier.

It stormed that night.

Sunday was hot and humid. The Teen had taken over the laptop again. It was too hot to do much. I think I put the airconditioner on and sat on the couch reading and doing sudoku puzzles. Briefly. Doing that stuff is almost guaranteed to put me to sleep....

PS I thought the baby was pretty darned ugly too.

Sight of the week.

Imagine. Three burly constructions workers. All dressed in construction bloke uniforms - navy pants, fluro yellow and navy long sleeved shirts. Red hard hat. At the edge of one site. Run across 3 busy lanes of traffic. Pause in the middle. Saunter across the rest of the way. That's the way to do it lads!

A small yacht sailing up the river into the city precinct.

I thought this week would be rather slow. Only the usual work routine. *dangit. tea cup is empty*

But we had some news that MOTH's mother isn't feeling 100% and needs to have surgery. We don't know yet when that will be but will keep you posted as we get any news.

Saturday I spent time roasting. Yes. Roasting. It's been hot again. Not as hot as Adelaide, but we have the humidity to deal with as well. I've been melting, but not enough to run the airconditioner. For some reason, I've been a bit stubborn about that. It might have something to do with the fact that I get a bit too cold if it's been running for a while? I dunno. *shrugs* I have been spending most of my free time at home playing WoW.

Sunday morning dawned bright. I tried to lay in bed for a while but didn't succeed very well. I did some washing and pegged it out. I caught up on the folding and did some ironing. I swept the tiled areas in the house. I pulled a few weeds. I made the bed. I tidied the bench tops a little. I had a shower. Then, with all my chores done, kicked back to relax a little.

Mid quest MOTH called to me. Hon! I need your help. *great. it's bloody hot. i'm dressed in minimum and now i shall have to get properly dressed so i can go outdoors and help you* Hon! I need your help. I get up. Alright! I'll be there in a tic. Honey! I'm bleeding everywhere! *dammit! why didn't you just SAY SO?* I go to him. He's not joking. It's running down his hand and dripping on to the carpet square outside the door. *wonders what to do about that. we have no first aid kit and i'm not sure what damage he's done. a towel? some cloths? i get a washer* By the time I've done that, he's given up, come inside and rinsed off under the tap. We wrap the washer round and try to stop the bleeding. There's so much I can't even see the injury. We get it a little under control and wrap said digits in insulation tape. Good stuff that!

Turns out he had been trying to remove a blown bulb from the back of Jawsome's car. The bulb shattered in his hand and sliced his thumb and his index finger.

He sat for a bit then decided he wanted to go to the hospital to have the wounds looked at. The one on my thumb has me a bit worried. I think it might need stitches.

I drove him to casualty and settled in for the long haul. He was finished about an hour and a half later. They cleaned him up, put two stitches in. The one on his thumb turned out to be about 10mm deep and 15mm long. It goes diagonally from the corner of the nail over the tip of his thumb. Ouch!

So poor MOTH is at home on his lonesome today. With no opposing grip in his right hand. I had to help him dress this morning - he couldn't dry himself properly after his shower, couldn't hold his trousers and button them up, couldn't thread the belt.

You don't realise just how much you use your hands till you find your range of movement limited!

I forgot to mention...

That one of our trips out was to check out a new butcher. Yes, I DO lead an EXCITING FULFILLED life.

We've been to wholesale butchers before. Our biggest stumbling block is lack of freezer space. And we've always thought it too expensive to do the whole buying in bulk thing. Well, initial outlay anyway. But prices in the supermarkets are climbing and if I wasn't menu planning, the meat bill would be around $100 or more a fortnight anyway.

Bestie and her MOTH recommended this butcher. Good stuff and sometimes you get good bargains. They ended up buying two whole fillets and somehow scored another three. Five fillets for the price of two. Or something like that.

We thought we'd give it a shot.

It's located down the coast so the drive would be nice if nothing else. I had an address and an exit number. We decided to wing it without Karen. The GPS. Daring! *told you. exciting and fulfilled*

The drive was pleasant and the exit loomed before we knew it. Once off the exit, things got a little hazy. We knew the street name but no idea where it was. We picked an exit off the roundabout. Computer Road it said. Why not. Good a start as anywhere else. We laughed at some of the road names - the inner geek was happy. And there it was. The street we needed. We came to a T junction. Uh oh. No indication if the road we needed terminated here or continued around the corner. MOTH pulled over ready to do a U turn. He had to wait for a car. Oooh, let's follow that one. They look like they know where they are going.

So we did. And followed them right into the driveway of where we needed to be. *hi five*

The car park was full of inch deep water. And cars. It was busy, and most were family affairs. I managed to cross a puddle and only got one thong wet. *good going!* That's the part where you put your feet right. One foot stayed dry, the other did not.

Maybe I was distracted by a car driving over painted yellow lines. Only to discover they were painted yellow to alert to the fact that there was a drop of several inches on the other side!

On entering, you're directed down a narrow corridor by padded partitions. Just in front of the door at the end are large polar fleece jackets. I grabbed one. Cause I had forgotten the warning about needing a jumper. *kicks self* Through the plastic door and into the warehouse.

It was cold. Not positively freezing, but cold. The warehouse is huge. The meat stock is huge. Whole fillets. Whole rumps. Big hams. One I peeked at was around $100. It would have fed a family of 4 for a week. At a guess. Roast lamb legs for $24. Must have been on special. MOTH's fave pork spare ribs for cheap. Packs of 4 T bones for $23. The staff were all running around, greeting customers and looking like they were having a good time.

We bought a whole black angus grassfed rib fillet for around $70. We had it sliced for free at about 3/4 inch thick. It worked out around 5 or 6 meals of varying sizes. While wandering around, we managed to score a free 2 litre bottle of milk, and 1kg of bacon on special for $6.

I'm not sure how that compared to supermarket prices, but it was a fun way to spend the morning. We're considering doing it again for next shop.

Back to the grind!

Holiday week. It's flown by considering it's been spent on the couch in front of the telly. Now it's back to the grind of getting up early every day and off to the routine morning jaunt.

Today I left home at around 06:10 for the bus stop. I was in the city at 07:04. What happened there?! No traffic, that's what. And on campus at 07:30. Oh my good goodness. How will I cope?

Alas, while the Teen has been away, her phone has been out of action and now I have no way to contact her. Which is a little scary I admit. Makes me wonder how we coped before mobiles became a part of every day life. I keep wanting to know when she will be home, but that could be due to the fact that she's uncontactable.

The house is big and empty now. There are only MOTH and I at home.

So the week was spent on the couch and occasionally surfing the web. I gave in to my inner geek and dowloaded a trial version of World of Warcraft. A 10 day trial, and I've played it almost every day since. I haven't figured out many things about how to work it yet, like the chatting that everyone seems to get so involved in, the duelling and the NOT GETTING KILLED! Argh! I can see how people become addicted. Alas, work will now get in my way and I don't think I will continue once the trial concludes.

New Year was a quiet one. I decided I would rebel and watch McAliffe's Rave program instead of the insipid fireworks stuff. *at the same time i was playing wow. whoo! multiskilling!* Somewhere around 11.30 I gave up and followed MOTH to bed. Our street was quiet. Not a peep. Not even a random group of teens wandering past talking at the tops of their voices. I could hear a party going on some distance away. I don't know where they were, but I think they were in the Estate across the road. It wasn't loud enough to keep me awake though I did manage to stay awake chatting long enough to see 0:00.....

On Saturday I talked MOTH into going over to Chermside to windowshop in Westfield. It's been some considerable time since I was last there and even longer for him. We set out and drove where the car took us. So the aim was to miss the traffic, and that we did. But not with much clue as to where we actually were going I'm sure. Certainly not the most direct route! We arrived there eventually and wandered around until lunch time.

Then back home and a nap on the couch. Been doing a bit of that lately!

Sunday was spent again doing not much. The interweb has slowed to slower than snail pace as we've hit our limit. I have hardly even bothered to log on. I get so IMPATIENT! MOTH struggles on though. He's been a little stressed lately. Despite repeated warnings from those of us who are cynics *read the teen and i* he seems to have picked up a stalker. w00t! And now he has had to tell her to back off. I'm not certain she's aware of what she's doing, but she is a little too .... enthusiastic. And being the kind hearted soul he is, he didn't want to hurt her feelings. *heh. loves his sentimental side*

Then today is back to business as usual. Urgh *my get up and go got up and went*

Aquaman, be mine!

It's been raining off and on for so long, I think I'm growing webbed feet....

I had hoped the week before Christmas would be a bit cruisy. Nope. I had heaps to do. Except Christmas Eve. I did my best to have a little easier time workwise that day. There weren't very many people at work either.

I was up early. Well, not actually early. More like usual time. I thought I would make scones to take to work. They worked, and I took along jam and cream. They went down well.

I was excited for Christmas. I had bought Teen's present and MOTH had instructions to make sure he gave it to her last. He did. He left it to last. And handed it to her and took it back. And handed it to her and took it back. She was getting frustrated and wriggling on the spot waiting for it. When she finally had it and opened it, it contained another wrapped present. Sigh. And it's not even wrapped in crappy paper so I can't tear it! Oh! Oh! Oh! YOU GOT THE SHORTS!!! Oh!

She was very excited. And totally gobsmacked when she found out that I even managed to source them from the surf shop up the road!

We all got lots of great things. I even managed to get a sudoku board with all the numbers on little wooden tiles. Anyone would think I like sudoku hey. *grins* MOTH gave me a bottle of Appleton Estate Jamaican rum. *to die for!* Sunny and Judah gave me the Mummy trilogy and the complete series of American Gothic. A new quilt cover set from Froggy. I washed it straight away so I could put it on my bed. It looks great. A voucher from EB, the game store. A bath / lotion / perfume set. The scent is french vanilla and it is good.

MOTH had a voucher from Big W which he spent on the weekend. Wow. I even managed to get a bottle of ballantyne scorched almonds out of it. *swoon. faves!*

Boxing day saw us at Bestie's place for lunch. She had a baked ham, a turkey, and boston baked beans. I took a little roast pork and duck, salad. There was pumpikin pie with icecream for dessert. Someone bought a gingerbread house. Yummy! *which reminds me, the pieces are still in the car! retrieves from car and eats with icecream* We arrived around 1pm and left at 8pm! An excellent day.

Sunday the Teen left for up north for a holiday with a friend who was travelling that direction. She will be there for New Years, so I hope she stays safe. Her phone isn't working, so I can't check up on her. Heh. It's quiet. I miss her. And I miss Wogboy.

Which means, I guess, that we will be having a very quiet New Year. The Teen won't be around to keep me awake!

All in all.....

... it's been a really craptastic week. I'm tired and so ready for a break.

Wednesday, the Teen broke off with Wogboy. She's 17, nearly 18 but quite sure of what she wanted. And she wanted the whole deal, 100% committment. A home, a family. Wogboy is 18 and I don't think ready for a committment that deep. We hope they stay friends; he was a lovely boy.

Thursday I spent some time looking for a movie for one sibling for Christmas. Monsters v Aliens. A new release, so expensive. I thought I'd see if the local Blockbuster had an ex rental. Well, it hasn't even gone to weekly yet, so not really. I could put one aside for you but you would have to pay full price. Oh yes? Yes. $19.95. Done.

Friday was another wonderful day. While Admin2 is away, I'm also doing her work. One of those tasks is invoicing. I don't do this job regularly, so it takes me a little while. Add to that the system is closing down soon for the New Year. Bright and early Friday had two different sets of people wanting me to do invoices by lunch time. This is a lengthy process at the best of times. One of the managers wasn't particularly impressed to be told that the other invoice took precedence over hers.

As it turned out, the invoice that absolutely had to be done by lunch time took all day to complete anyway. I managed to slip in the other invoices so at least SOMETHING got done by lunchtime.

So glad for end of day to roll around Friday.

Saturday I kept myself busy looking for the last of the Christmas shopping. One dear sibling wanted a particular perfume. Which is old and no longer popular so is very hard to find. She gave me the name of a chain that stocked it, all I had to do was find an outlet.

Oh dear, I've left home without my notes regarding the outlet locations. We went to Mt Ommaney. Nope, not there. But there was a Smiggle store so that solved another dilemma.

Tried Jindalee at the DFO. Nope, nothing there either. But there was a 1st choice so that solved another dilemma and we no longer had to go to Brown's Plains.

Back home and this time took the effort to check the locations. Annerley. Excellent. Yay for Google maps cause then you can use street view to find out what the building looks like.

It was a lovely drive and we found what we were looking for.

Later I purchased online the tickets for the movie Sunny and I were going to watch on Sunday evening.

Sunday morning was up and baking bikkies for another siblings present. Ok, so her birthday was in August.... I thought I would include the present with the Christmas gift. I finished them and had a go at icing as well. The day was hot and humid though so the icing didn't fully set. I did the runny icing because it sets quickly and a little harder so it wouldn't matter they were all packed in a box. And no fancy bits to fall off either.

I found out that Judah would be joining us at the cinema so purchased another ticket.

Sunday lunch time I cooked dinner ready for Sunday night. I was going out. The others can figure out how to reheat it later.

Off to the movie and when we got there, the session was sold out! SO glad we bought tix online! We found seats; Sunny went out to find Judah when he arrived. Just as the movie started.

At the end, my first comment was ... WOW! It's 3 hours of total involvement, nonstop action and effects combined with a social message.

Amazing. Definitely going to my DVD collection when it's available...

PS. The movie was Avatar.

Today I asked....

... the Gods for a pretty Vietnamese boy to sit next to me on the bus (population density too high for much else really). He wasn't my idea of pretty, but he sure smelled nice. *cheerful*

The week passed by in a blur, trying to get my head around the stuff that Admin2 has left me while she is away. I only ever manage to leave her 1 job while she always leaves me at least one A4 page. I've deduced it's because I only go on leave a week at a time whereas she goes for 6. *memo to me ... get in early for Christmas next year* Two weeks worth. Yeah. That'll show her! *is such a rebel*

Thursday night the Teen slept over at Wogboy's. Friday night he slept over ours. And he was up early the next morning to go to work. I was stalking the halls when he tried to sneak out at 05:30. Ha! Caught!

A chance remark on Friday night saw Saturday morning busy; revamping, rearranging and otherwise getting hot and sweaty. Standing in my snug little study, I lamented the fact that I didn't seem to use it much. It's hot. My laptop always ends up down the other end of the house. Everytime I bring it back, it disappears down there again. I'm a sometimes culprit - I like to watch telly while surfing.

So, Reception is no more. My desk is in the rumpus room *aaahhhhhhh television! airconditioning!* the second couch has moved out to the ex-reception, MOTH's taken over the study. He's very happy with it - reception never even had a ceiling fan. *strange layout in my house. the front half of the house has no aircon, the formal areas don't even have ceiling fans. thankfully the study and my bedroom have one!*

That deserved a break and I worked hard on progressing through Tomb Raider Underworld on my DS.

Sunday morning I pulled out the overlocker. Last time I tried to use it, the lower loop thread kept breaking. I thought it might be needle changing time. But how should the needle need changing if the looper thread is the one breaking? I decided it might be the tension. But I'm not very good at judging which threads are the problem *on my sewing machine too* for adjusting the tension. I had a bit of a go, but I can't tell if it did any good.

I put it away and dragged out the sewing machine. I finally started on putting together the tote bag for the Teen. The instructions aren't the clearest I've read - I couldn't judge how it was supposed to assemble. After a false start which I spent many joyful hours UNPICKING - interspersed with stress relief in the form of the DS - I managed to work it out. Annnnnd the bobbin thread ran out halfway through a seam. *grumble. this happened the LAST time i tried to sew something* But at least this time I knew how to wind the bobbin. Started sewing again and guess what! Looks like the tension on the bobbin is frak'd. It's looping on the bottom of my sewing.

To heck with it! I don't have the cotton to waste on winding another..... this sewing gig is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth!

But Teen is sooo looking forward to having her Beatles patterned tote.....

The Christmas is coming!

And I've finally managed to get my shopping started. I always plan to start at the beginning of the year but there are always more important things to pay for instead. So it never happens and I'm left with a limited budget and little time. Long gone are the days when I could spend $50 per person and not even think about it.

Last week is a bit of a blur. Workwise, it was one of those weeks where you have a good sized list with many a good intention to complete stuff, but it never happens.

Commuting-wise it's been an exciting week!

A pedestrian dived across the road between cars and scared the heck out of the bus driver. At the next stop - a couple of metres up the road - the pedestrian jumped on, spoke to the driver and jumped off again. *shrugs*

Friday afternoon I was desperate to get home. Even more so than usual. Been a tiring week. Tootling along on the motorway and the driver MISSES the exit. Wonderful. Actually to confess, I didn't even notice. I was reading. I sensed the agitation of the passenger beside me so looked up. Unfamiliar territory. Sweet. I went back to my book. We had to detour out of our way by at least 15 minutes; thank heaven I had my book.

Saturday I talked MOTH into checking out the Sara Lee outlet. The Teen was sleeping over at a friend's place. I sent her a text to let her know we would be out. And therefore not able to pick her up.

Jumped in the car. It wouldn't start. Uh oh. Not a good sign! The battery needed charging. Luckily we have Jawsome's car! It's much sportier but I can't say I like it - no aircon! ANND the doors auto lock when you get a bit of speed on. The first time I found that out, I didn't hear the lock and then couldn't get out of the darned car. Must have looked real bright! Oh, and you can feel every bumped. Darned sport suspension....

Anyway, we checked the directory, jumped in the nonstarting car and went precisely nowhere. Jumped in the other car and we were off. I couldn't wind the window down fast enough.

We got over to Daisy Hill but by then, had forgotten where the shopping centre was supposed to be. Uh oh. Brilliant. No directory. No GPS. MOTH thought the map showed it back toward the suburb we had just driven through. Buggerit. We kept on, topped the crest and lo! There it was. It was airconditioned and lovely inside with plenty of things to tempt. Not necessarily a lot cheaper than the supermarkets markup. Certainly need to consider if it's worth the fuel to get there.

While there, a butcher from around the corner stopped by with samples. We detoured via the butcher on the way home for chilli beef and honey, garlic and herb sausages.

Back home to put the goodies in the freezer. Hurry hurry traffic! It's darned hot and I can feel myself cooking in this oven on wheels. I figure that at least dinner and dessert will be ready if we get stuck.

A call from the Teen. Help! I'm terribly hung over and it's too hot to walk home. Can you pick me up? The MOTH decided we would do that and go and finish the shopping we were supposed to do that morning....

The Teen has purchased herself a pair of Ed Hardy bikinis. They were supposed to be a size small, but they were not! I always thought the Americans underestimated their sizing by 100% or similar??

The sides of the bottom are held together with 3 metal medallions about the size of 10c pieces. We thought removing one of the medallions might help? The links holding them together broke during removal. Dang. We needed to find replacements. I needed to stop off at one of the local shops for a Christmas present for one neice.

We hunted high and low for a replacement link. Imagine a wide metal staple that's been through the stapler with no paper and you have an idea.

Eventually, after spending money on something else we may have been able to adapt, MOTH managed to charm a possible replacement out of ..... someone .... for nothing. He used three of those loops to fasten them together. Here's hoping they work! Although I think it could be alright - Ed Hardy swimmers, like most these days, are to be seen in not for getting wet!

They manage, but the material is still cut too wide.....

Sunday I wrapped presents, did washing, did baking. Apart from that, I didn't move from the relative cool of the rumpus room.

Whew. Back to work Monday for a bit of a break!

I remembered, I remembered!

Yes. It popped into one of the vacant spaces inside my head with no prior warning. Just *pop* and there it was....

I was walking to the bus. Grumbling. Which is purely a totally unexpected thing. *grins* I was grumbling about the woman in front of me towing one of those backpack/suitcases on wheels. They are so NOT appropriate in a crowd! You see the person and you can judge their position so you don't walk into them, but the case is below your range of vision and you KEEP getting your feet tangled in the thing!

HATE THEM!

Or is that just me???

Anyway, I was trying not to trip over the woman with the case when I became aware of another woman who had pulled over to lean against the wall. On the other side of me was a tall man fishing around in his pocket.

As we came level with the woman leaning on the wall, he pulled out a phone. Hello? he says. The woman turned - she was on the phone. Tom! she called, he looked at her and they fell about laughing.

Couldn't have planned that better if they had tried, could they.

Only a Ginger...

can call another Ginger Ginger *sings badly*

I had one of those random thoughts this morning that I determined would be a good opening for my blog. And gosh darn, I've plum forgot it.

Ah well *shrugs*

I didn't bother to write anything up after the Graduation. It was a quiet weekend as the Teen went out and about to parties. But then, that seems to be par for the course most weekends these days. Ah to have an active social life!

During the week, Tuesday to be precise, Jawsome dropped by for a visit. He had an ulterior motive - he needed to sell the car. We now have custody of it until it's sold. Another heap o'shit car. *grins* He only bought it last year, but discovered that while registration was fine here, it can't be registered in his home state. So he has to sell it.

He stayed for Wednesday and left again Thursday. MOTH was chuffed. I think he was happy to have another male in the house, even for such a brief time. Jawsome and I watched a Tim Minchin dvd. Now that's an education!

The weekend just gone was about the sum of most of our weekends these days. The Teen leaves the house, and we just sit and veg. I thought of doing housework and got the broom out. After one room I chucked it in. It was just way too hot!

I thought I had him convinced to check out the Sara Lee factory outlet store, but he decided to wait till next weekend after all.

Ah well. But I did manage to talk him into buying a block of chocolate from the supermarket! *beams*

Day 5! *sob*

This is the first time I've had a chance to kick back and relax a little. The last couple of days have been a little .... hectic.

Thursday is Bill Payin Day. Yay. *note the sarcasm* Life would be much easier if I didn't have any bills. Do the budget. Pay the rent. Pay the phone. Do the grocery shop. Buy the fuel. Recharge the go card. The usual stuff.

Which usually takes most of the day.

The Teen didn't surface today. She spent the night at her friend's house. School wasn't required for Seniors today. They recognised that they would need the day off after the late night. Formal began Wednesday at 18:30 and finished at 23:30. Then they had the after formal party to attend.

This school also does not recognise Muck Up day. And I can't argue with that! It's probably about the only thing the school and I agree on. I really don't see the reason for it. Why give them free rein to misbehave and destroy things? Can't they do that at Schoolies? And THERE is another activity that I don't agree with.

Thursday afternoon we picked her up from her friend's house and while we were eating dinner, Wogboy rocked up to do the usual Thursday night thing and rock out to late night shopping. Actually, I'm not sure what they do but I'm pretty certain it has nothing to do with hanging around the shopping mall.

She was home fairly early and I went to bed not long after.

There was a surprise organised for her for Friday morning. At around 04:30, the Elder rocked up. With her boy. They had made a special overnight trip to see the Teen at her graduation.

Friday morning everyone was up early. Even Teen. She was out of bed at 07:30. Amazing. During the noise and hubub as everyone greeted everyone else and she got ready to go to school, she came through the kitchen. What? Your blouse doesn't fit properly. You've grown! Oh Mum. That's my old one. I've been wearing it for ages - I don't wear the other one anymore. I disappeared into the ironing room and sure enough, it was in the basket. On the board quick as a wink and I handed it to her. It's graduation I said. You can do it properly for once. Dang she grinned and went to change.

It was desperately hot while we waited for admission to the school hall. Everyone was in a lather. People were fanning themselves with whatever they had. The situation didn't improve much once we were inside. The hall is big but it's not airconditioned.

When everyone was seated, the students filed past in their class groups as the parents clapped them through. Then it was time for the speeches. I confess that I really hate that part.
The headmistress is a dragon and advised everyone that the students had been asked to be on their best behaviour, with no calling out and to wait until all had been presented before clapping. Parents were asked to model the same behaviour. How lame! It lasted a while. Then some broke out and from then on there was a fair deal of cheering during the presentations.The Teen's class was near the end, so we had to sit through 2 hours before we could see her presented with her certificate. Brilliant. One high point was the performance by the music students. They did 3 pieces, the first being the Imperial March from Star Wars. With a heavy metal twist. I liked it!

Eventually the speeches and presentations were over and we moved outside for the Guard of Honour. The year 12s gathered on the steps at the resource centre. A digeridoo was played to recognise our indigenous beginnings; students filed out through the school grounds for the last time. For some, mostly girls, it was a very emotional moment. I'm sorry but the Teen and I don't find most things emotional or sentimental. Most things. This was one of them. *apparently she told them she would cry when she got home* I tried to get some good photos and every time I managed a perfect shot, SOME RANDOM BLOCKED THE FRAME and spoiled it all. And no, it wasn't MOTH.

The only thing I could think of was Thank Heavens It's FINALLY OVER! No more battles with homework and assignments; no more calls from the teachers about missing assessment pieces.
It's finished. And so is my holiday. Gods, I need a rest...

Chikka chow! Day 3.

.... Aaaannnnd I was awake again. Early. *sigh*

Mmmmmm. All these books to read. The odd thing is that I've got a couple of books from the library, but I'm currently reading.... one of my own! There is a method to the madness though. This book precedes one of the tomes I borrowed. So I'm having to refamiliarise myself with the story before I begin the sequel. Ah. I love reading!

My phone goes off. Amazingly it's a text from the Teen. Mu-um! Can I leave school today at 09.40? Why? Because that's when my friend is leaving and I want time to relax and plan? *sighs* I don't imagine that there will be many year 12s hanging around school today, so I concede. But 10am I tell her. She's happy with that.

MOTH and I pop up to the shops. We start comparing the limits of our vision and I decide it's time to organise an eye exam. It's been about 4 years since my last one. And my glasses script was kinda outdated then.

The Teen catches up with us while I'm in the supermarket trying to decide which chocolate I'm buying this time. We chat to the friend's parents and venture back home.

She chills for a while then starts to get ready. While she's sitting next to me in the rumpus room waiting for her friend to return home from having her hair and makeup done - they are getting ready together - she finds out that Wogboy hasn't quite followed the instructions she gave him and now things are confused with the lass who is going to be doing her makeup. She's stressing, so we eventually work out that she will dress at her friend's place, then travel to Wogboy's to have the makeup done as the last thing. This means that she won't be having photos taken with her friend.

Eventually her friend gets home and she's got approximately 3/4 of an hour to dress and do her hair. Yoiks! We pick her up and just down the road she realises she's forgotten to grab her false lashes. Back we go for the pickup. And off again to Wogboy's house.

Seated and work starts. The lashes caused a bit of a problem - the glue gets on her fingers and gosh it's hard to place them!

Time constraints are looming as the work progresses. But finally it's done and the result is amazing!

You're off now Teen. Have fun and I'll see you tomorrow. I'm so proud of you!

Day Deux

Two days down already! Man!

Today I resolved to do not much of anything. After I awoke early. Of course. I wandered out of bed and ventured out to the garden. The herbs haven't died yet, despite the best efforts of a suspected possum the other night.

The temp was supposed to climb today and it was already getting there. I dived through the shower and planted myself in the rumpus room with the airconditioning. And there I stayed. Reading, facebooking, sudokuing. Gotta love time off work.

I was good though and took a long enough break to do the washing and peg it out.

I checked the temperature on the kitchen thermometer. 34deg C! Heck. No wonder the washing felt like it was almost dry before I finished pegging it out!

The afternoon rolled around and I had to pick up the Teen and go buy the false eyelashes she wanted. I only had to wait a few minutes for her but I was melting in the car.

We took off to the shops and she picked the ones she thought might work best. They were $9. I did have a discount voucher I was hoping to use and by the time I finished the sale, I only paid $3! Bargain!

*uh oh. i've turned the aircon off and have kept the doors/windows closed and running the fan. MOTH has just come in, gone out and left the door open*

Tonight, it's been storming. The Teen is sleeping at a friend's place tonight so we headed out. The thunder rolled and in the headlights we watched the steam drift from the slick and shiny road. Beautiful. The lightening flashed, rendering the night as bright as day for that brief period. Occasionally it sounded ... loudly! The Teen and I looked at each other. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave MOTH at home by himself after all. *MOTH doesn't like loud thunder and lightening. he jumps. VERY high* What if he ended up doing a 'dead cockroach' while we were out?

I dropped her off and drove her back home. Whew. He's still in the chair, right where we left him. *grins*

Holiday. Day 1.

And I had forgotten how crappy day time telly is!

So I'm on holidays. And I wake up .... early. The usual time I wake. *sigh* Why do I do that?

Bright and early I decide I'm going to finish the skirt I started cutting out yesterday. Sis1 sent me some fabric and a very, very basic skirt pattern. How difficult could it be?

WELL!

The fabric was the wrong size so I had to lay the pieces out in a way that was completely different to their suggestions. No problem. Now, if I can just find the shears....

Nope. No shears. What? How come? Why would the person I inherited the sewing stuff from, who collected so much by way of sewing equipment, have NO SHEARS? Teen! Have you seen any? Nope!

Dang. I had to resort to pinking shears. What a rough cut out job.

I hung the pieces on the back of the chair ready for today.

Bright and early this morning, I dug the overlocker out of the cupboard and set it up. I haven't used it for SUCH a long time. It's all threaded and ready to go. Now if only I could remember how to drop the cutting blade....

So, one piece done; I overlock the edges before I start stitching it together. It's easier than trying to do it after you've done the seams. Halfway around the second piece and ...... suddenly there is no overlocking. What? It's a 4 thread overlocker running on 3 threads. Dammit! And it looks like a thread is caught under the needle plate. Heck. How do I fix that? AND WHY ISN'T MY INSTRUCTION BOOK IN THE BAG WITH THE OTHERS STUFF? Frantic searching going on. Whew. There it is. Oh, that's how you drop the blade.....

After much playing around, I can see that the thread is coming unhooked from the bottom loop. It stitches for a little while then the thread slips. I can't fix that. I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way. I drag out the sewing machine.

I finish the edges. For what they're worth. The pieces are kinda cut badly, due to having to use the pinking shears. Of course, then I realise that I've not marked the pieces with the chalk for the stitch to, leave a gap here, match this bit etc. Oops! When it comes time to put the front and the back together, wow. They don't match - the front is bigger than the back. Ah well. It's gathered so that will be hidden. There. Seams are done, pieces are joined and it's time to do the casing for the elastic waist.

Halfway round ..... and the thread has stopped stitching. The bobbin is empty!

And now I can't remember how to wind the bobbin. The lady had heaps and heaps of prewound bobbins so I haven't really had to do this before. I tried to do it the way I used to on my similar machine. But I can't loosen the wheel. It won't work. Now, where is the instruction booklet?? Oh no! I CAN'T FIND IT! WHERE IS IT?! It's not in the box with the rest of the stuff. It's not in the cupboard. Teen hasn't seen it either. *sigh* I'll have to see if I can Google it. And I can't find a solution. Eventually MOTH figured it out for me.

I finshed the dress. It took 4 hours. For a simple straightforward skirt. Man!

And then I had to trot off into the city to the library. In my enthusiasm, I'd grabbed a book on a fast back loan. That means I can only keep it for 7 days instead of 28. AND it has to be returned to the library from which it's borrowed. Instead of dropped off at any library branch. *sighs. kicks self for planning that well* Normally that wouldn't be a problem. But I'm on HOLIDAYS this week and don't need to go near that library at all.

So, two and a half hour round trip later, I'm home. Hot, sweaty but home.

I'm knackered. Hope I actually get to REST this holiday!

Murder she wrote!

Yes, that's right. I'm watching Murder She Wrote. With Jessica Fletcher. So, someone tell me, why didn't someone just up and job her one?

The last week just couldn't go fast enough. It was all the build up getting things ready to go on holiday. At work of course. Admin2 was away all week, well almost all week, so I had some of her work to do as well. Why does she call me to tell me that she's sending me an email? Four days and she calls me twice.

The final week of school rolls closer and things are getting hectic. The dress has been picked up after the final alteration. Whew. They were very apologetic, and the alteration looks fine. The Teen informed me that she won't be getting dressed here. She's going to a friend's place to finish up. How am I going to get photos? Well, she said, you can come down with us... It took a while to work out that she meant they were going to have some photos taken at the Lake and we were welcome to go there and get some. Right! Done. Guess I'll have to put up with the friend in the photos too.

Ah well.

She has so much to do on the day of the Formal, including school. I suggested that she should probably write out a schedule so she knows where she needs to be at what time.

Friday night was going to be quiet. The Teen was going out with some friends. The girl dropped over early; they got ready and left. I quit the day early - I'd been up since an early hour. Later that night the girls returned and left again. Early Saturday morning at Dead hour, I was woken by voices outside the window. Yep. They'd returned and were sitting out the front. I called out to tell them shush, and they soon disappeared. Indoors apparently. When I came out to the kitchen Saturday morning, there they were. Crowded in the rumpus room and watching noisy dvds.

They left to wander up to the shops and that was the last I saw of the boys. The girls came back later and retired to the Teen's room.

Saturday evening I drove the Teen over to Wogboy's place. With instructions we would pick her up 10am sharp on Sunday.

MOTH and I retired for a quiet night.

Sunday morning we were up early. The Teen had an appointment on the other side of the city to have hair extensions fitted. MOTH thought we might go visit Bestie since we were going to be in the same 'burb. I thought we might have some relax time and have a couple of flat whites instead. Oh no! The Teen gets flustered. You HAVE to come with ME! I KNEW I should have asked my friend to come with me. She's a bit of a Nervous Nellie. We'll see what happens.

We rocked up to the place we were supposed to be. Up the front stairs and I waited for her to knock. Oh no! I had to do it. AND I had to stand next to her. The lass answered the door and invited us in. After a short time, Teen settled in and I was free to leave.

We had about an hour and a half to waste. First stop was McDonald's. For lunch. MOTH and I shared a quarter pounder meal. I phoned Bestie; it went to the answering machine. The shopping centre in that suburb is very, very basic. Dull. Maybe there was somewhere else we could go? We thought about it and MOTH remembered the shopping centre up the road. We drove up there and right up front visible as the first thing we saw was .... BCF.

I told MOTH he could look in there. If he had to. We spent an hour there. An inspection of the rest of the shopping centre; and just as we decided to head back the text to say she was done arrived.

MOTH muffed the exit to the centre and we ended up in a deadend in the carpark. *shakes head*

Then home to recover and a nanna nap.

And I'm on holidays! w00t!

Feeling a little overrun right now....

I'm the only Admin person here this week. Although I enjoy the quiet, I'd much rather that she was here doing her own work!

You know, I'm beginning to think that I should probably just do away with the rest of my week. Nothing much happens, just the usual sleep / work cycle.

The weekends are what it's all about!

Thursday I picked up the Teen's dress for the Formal. The ladies in the shop love it. When she tried it on, they commented that she looked like a superstar. The woman who served me commented again that she looked stunning.

Since I couldn't pick up until around 5pm, I got to take the long bus ride home. Luckily the shop gave me a hanger and a 'suit bag' of sorts that I could pack it in. Do you have ANY idea how DIFFICULT it is to hang on to a dress in a suit bag when you are trying not to fall asleep?? Oh, and it was a different bus home too. Since I was going to the supermarket in the next 'burb, not home.

Friday morning I was on the usual bus and touring around the back end of our burb, picking up randoms. Well, maybe not so random - they were standing at bus stops. At one of the roundabouts, an army personnel carrier goes past. And another. And another. There goes our good taxpayer dollars at work. They must have been going out to the range for exercises. I got tired just thinking about it.

Friday. The work Christmas lunch. We went to the same place as we did last year. The German Club. The meals are fairly resonably priced. I guess. Most are around the $15 to $20 range. But the serves are generous. I am usually quite picky about where I sit at the table *alright I'm rather an ogre* and I didn't get to sit where I wanted. I bit my tongue and stayed where I was. The choices weren't that great and I couldn't really swap seats without looking obvious. I had ordered crumbed fish and salad with chips. It was a little overdone, but still palatable. I didn't finish it all, and the GTs down my end of the table were a little surprised. Ok, so I LOOK like I eat a lot... After lunch and a weak, non existent speech from the GM, most of the staff went back to work. A few of the diehards did not. I was the only female staffer left. One of the GTs noticed. Hey! You're still here *I THINK he was happy about that* and someone chimed in Yeah, but Sol is more of a bloke than she is a woman! That was SUPPOSED to be a compliment. But he is forgiven. *grins*

When I arrived home from work I discovered that the Teen would be staying home. I'm a little worried about the status of the relationship. There seems to be a male friend of Wogboys who seems intent on driving a wedge between the two of them. Whether he's doing it on purpose or just selfish I don't know. But I've noticed that a long time friend or two no longer appear on the scene, and even another friend is slowly disappearing from view. In fact, as far as I can tell, they are never ALONE anymore. I really really REALLY do not like people like that.

But where was I? Oh yes. She got home. And found out that her English teacher had been bugging MOTH about a missing assignment. I don't like that much either. These kids are nearly adults. They are old enough to think for themselves. Why do the teachers still think it's a parent's responsibility when the kids know perfectly well what the consequences are?

At any rate, MOTH told him there was no point asking him about it; he should be talking to me. I think Teacher was a little taken aback. MOTH doesn't beat around the bush these days.

As soon as Teen discovered the assignment was STILL IN HER BAG and she hadn't handed it in at all, she dived back to the school. Too late! She was upset and verging on tears of frustration. I emailed Teacher on Saturday morning.

Somewhere in there, a GF turned up. Teen modelled the Formal dress for her. BUGGER! One of the alterations had not been done. Luckily it wasn't a big one, but still I had paid for it. I would have to take the dress back.

Not long after, I encouraged her and the attendant GF to walk up to the shops. She wasn't impressed. However, by the time we arrived there she was feeling at bit better. Then I had a text from Sunny. What are you doing? Ummm wandering around the supermarket looking for food? Oh. Can I come over and bring some Passion Pop with me? Sure! Between the Teen, Sunny, GF and I we polished off 3 bottles of the stuff in short order.

A little later that evening, GFs other half and a couple of his friends turned up. Dunno where they came from! They didn't stay all that long when they decided to walk up to the shops. Sunny invited me along so we could have a sundae at Maccas. Yep, I'm in! We walked up. Left GF, Teen and the others at the shops. Sundae time with Sunny and I.

We collected the Teen on the way back, chattered for a while longer and then Sunny left. I crashed.

Saturday was a quiet recovery day. Till the evening. The Teen was going out. Again! Man, where do they get the energy? But with FatA this time. Next thing I know the GF turned up. Again. I don't really mind I guess, but boy this GF can sure talk about herself! The three of them went out. She told me Sunday afternoon that she had come home around 1am.

While she slept on, MOTH and I took off for an ex-GTs place for cake and coffee. There were a couple of other workmates there. The house - the small part of it I saw - is lovely. We wasted a couple of hours there, then decided to do the Walk. The walk along the mile, peering in windows, wishing and dreaming of all the things we can't have.

We did that for an hour. Until I could feel myself cooking and demanded it was time to give up. I think we'd covered half of it, both sides of the street.

I was tomato red *come on in dad, the water's boiling!* and in fact, still am. The lights here at work exaggerate it and I'm looking somewhat like a fire engine.

Sunday night, we talked, bullied, badgered Wogboy into coming over for a while. He wasn't going to; he had to do something for the PIA as mentioned earlier first. As always. He had dinner with us, stayed for a while then went home.

Today the dress is dropped off, and hopefully I remember to collect it Wednesday on my way home from work....

It's the final countdown!

Till the end of the year. Every year it seems to be going faster. And faster, as I spiral downward to the barely anticipated joys of old age.

Heh.

I've also just realised that the Teen has only about three weeks of school left. Forever. That's a huge step. Not that I'm going to wax philosophical, but wow. I feel so old!

Preparations a frantically underway for her Formal. I managed to purchase a dress for what I thought was a reasonable price; about $190 plus freight. Mind, it's going to cost $117 to have it altered! Each alteration on its own is quite reasonably priced; all together is a different story.

All in all, it's not a bad price for a Formal dress. She blithely informed MOTH and I while sitting at dinner the other day that one of her friend's parents have spent $800 on their daughter's Formal dress! *wonders what the really rich girl will be spending??*

I pick the dress up this Thursday. *fingers crossed the alterations turn out well*

The Teen and I are in discussions at the moment about monitoring the use of the phone plan. I think I mentioned that while she was away, she notched up a phone bill of astronomical proportions. Last month wasn't much better. It was better, but not much. We are now watching her fingers closely.....

We haven't had a chance to get out in the car much. My nerves still need calming. Timing is the problem. I can only manage when I get home from work. That borders on twilight and, she tells me, bad for her night vision. I think that option is still better than trying to get her up early. Teens are so not morning people!

The week was pretty cruisy; most weeks are. All the action happens on the weekend.

Friday it was Wogboy's turn to sleep over. He hasn't done that for a while because they usually go partying and go back to his place. Somehow or another he managed to bring Lion with him. *shrugs* Lion is quiet and polite, so I didn't mind.

Mum! Teen tells me. A friend from Gladdy is coming over. Oh, sure. No worries. I found out later he was bunking down as well. Huh. The noise in the yard increases. I look out. There are two extra girls and another boy out there. A friend of hers dropped by and brought two others with him. Before we knew it, it was an impromptu party.

She asked me to let her open the trick or treat lollies early. No! Why not? Because you had a party without permission. *grins* Pfft, Mum, it's a Gathering.... I thought about that. No, I said. A Gathering is a little food, conversation. Possibly some drinks. But no music. She laughed and took off outdoors.

For teens, they were remarkably good about noise. The Teen seems to rule her parties with an iron fist. The next morning, the Gladdy friend was up fairly early and finished off the tidy up that had been started the night before. He's welcome back!

Wogboy bought the Teen some new shoes. Plain canvas slip ons. She uses that boy and his wallet mercilessly. She decorated them ...

Saturday afternoon found MOTH in the garden again. I helped a while, trimming branches from the shrubs that guard the front of our house. They are a little patchy from the lack of moisture. The little mulcher he bought earlier in the year doesn't know if Armageddon has arrived or not.

Sunday morning I vacuumed and mopped the tiled area in the meals/kitchen. Whew. Sunday afternoon we were back in the garden. This time MOTH went at the shrubbery with ... a Herring! No, really he just used the hedge trimmers. The sun was bitingly hot and I was less than enthusiastic about helping. I stayed a while as I couldn't in all conscience leave Mr DNA man to his own devices with sharp things. He usually manages to leave his DNA all over them!

After playing in the garden it was time to help Teen rebleach her hair. It's two toned, so trying to grasp only the blonde bits and leave the dark bits behind requires quite a deal of concentration.

Sunday night Bones and Castle called to me *w00t for exceeding download limits and making the system slllllloooooowwwwww* and MOTH put the internet aside and joined me.