So I Married A Nerdlinger!

Tony just tried to convince me to let him buy a stupid Harry Potter Wand Duel iPhone game.

His final, last ditch effort was "C'mon! Expelliarmus baby!!!".

Nerd.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

He Said WHAT Now??

Driving home from Baba's this evening, Josie expressed concern about having to leave us when she has a boyfriend. We had a long conversation about how she would stay with us as long as she wanted to, boyfriend or no boyfriend, and that even when she has grown up she will always be able to stay with us as long as she wanted to.

And, kind of to explain where all this was coming from she went on..

Josie: Tomorrow at lunch time, Nicholas and Paris have to see the teacher.
Mari: Why?
Josie: Because.. uhm..
Mari: Are they in trouble?
Josie: Yeh, cause Paris asked Nicholas.. and he said he was going to marry me and kiss me and share sex with me. And Paris LAUGHED! So now they cant go on the walkathon tomorrow.

Mari: [at a loss for words..]

Josie: I don't want to marry Nicholas.
Mari: Thats ok sweetie, you are too young to get married, and too young for a boyfriend, so you can tell Nicholas that Mummy said No.

Achem.

As I tried to keep a strong grip on my steering wheel, my mind spun wildly out of control. Surely I dont need to have 'The Talk' with my six and a half year old?!

Moving on..

Its been a week of sadness that has gradually gotten better. I guess this is a good thing.

Last week we decided to let Josie chose whether she wanted to get her ears pierced or not. She said that she did, and was hugely excited all week.

So the big day arrived - Saturday, and after her dancing class we took her to the chemist to get her ears done. They were just brilliant in there, suggesting we have two of them do both ears at the same time. How brilliant is that??

So after spending about 10 mins picking out the earrings she wanted, Josie finally chose a pair of little pink stones.

She sat up in the chair, and the two girls, Becka and Eleni got themselves ready with the piercing guns.

Eleni to Becka: On 3?

And they both got into position.

Eleni to Josie: What year are you at school?
Josie: Year 1.
Eleni: You know what year is really good?
Josie: No which?
Eleni: Year 3!

Bang goes Eleni's gun!

We all look at Becka, who is still poised ready to go, obviously not getting Eleni's subtlety.

Tony to Becka: Go..

Bang goes Becka's gun!

We all breathe a sigh of relief. It was done, and Josie was too stunned to cry, and by the time she thought she might need to do a courtesy cry, she was just too excited about having earrings ;-)


So now we spray and rotate every day.. and she still hasn't really complained about any pain..

Go figure.. I was miserable for two days after having mine redone three months ago.. but then I am just a wuss.

RIP Zelli our Beautiful Furbaby

It breaks my heart to let you know that our beautiful Zelda passed away this morning.


Zelli was 10 and a half years old, we got her to keep Zakhari company. She was always a very nervous cat, and it took a long time to win her over, for us anyway. Zakhari and Zelda were siblings from the get-go. They played, ate and slept together every day. We always said Zelli was Zak's cat.

On Friday she started acting funny. I found her lying in places where she never lay. She was a very habitual cat and things out of the ordinary always signaled something wrong. On Friday night she peed on Tony, as we slept. The first thing that struck me was that she was lying asleep near the pee. Neither cats would ever do that. They would pee and then find somewhere else to sleep. Who ever said cats were not smart??

When we changed the sheets, the pee that Zelli had left us was bright bright yellow. More yellow than I had ever seen cat pee be. On Saturday we took her to the vet. The vet delivered the bad news that whatever it was, it was serious.

They put her on a drip, took some blood and told us to leave her there overnight for an ultrasound the next morning. The vet thought it was either heart disease, or feline flu. Either one was devastating.

This morning we got the news that Zelli had passed away during the ultrasound. There was just too much damage to her heart.

Tony and I are fairly devastated, Josie was also upset. We had the death talk with her, and asked her whether she would prefer to have Zelli buried in Granny's backyard with all of Daddy's past cats, or have her cremated and bring her home. Josie chose the burial.


Rest in Peace Zelli. We will all miss you, especially Zak.

We're On A Roll!

Daddy didn't get home from work till late so he was sitting with Josie while she went to sleep.

And after a while Daddy hears whispers from the darkness.

Josie: Daddy.. it stinks in here!
Daddy sniffs: Smells alright to me.. ?
Josie (still whispering): Must be coming from YOU then!
Daddy sniffs himself: Hmmm, could be from my feet?
Josie replies in a cheeky whisper: Nah.. I farted! *giggle*

ROFL.

To Facilitate Her Mum's Obsession..

After losing the townhouse at Botany, Tony and I agreed that we really like that street it was on and would really love to find something else there.

In order to facilitate that, we decided to write some notes to the residents across the complexes in that street (handwriting apparently attracts more attention) that announced our eagerness to buy there. After writing up about 20 of them we got bored, and decided we should just photocopy the hand written notes.

I got the photocopies done today and brought them home and the thought of having to cut up all the photocopies into the 4 notes per page was giving me chills, so, enter the 6 year old.

Mama: Hey Jose, you wanna do some cutting out for me?
Josie: Yes! Thank you Mama!!!
Mama: No no dear, thank YOU!

lol..

So after about 10 mins of cutting, Tony came home and saw what she was doing..

Daddy: You got her doing your job?!
Josie: Yeh, cause she's harvesting and stuff..

Hehehe.. well trained I say ;-)

A Personal Message to my Mother

Mum, please read below. There is a very important message I wish to impart to you..

Josie, sitting chatting with daddy, has the following conversation.

Josie: Daddy, when you and Mama got married, did Mama take your shirt off?
Tony: What?!
Josie: Did Mama take your shirt off? Did she undo your buttons.. did your shirt have buttons? Were you wearing one of those button shirts?
Tony: What are you talking about? Why would Mama take my shirt off?
Josie: To kiss you all over.. [at this point she pulls the front of Tony's shirt down to look at Tony's chest and says..] even though you are hairy everywhere?
Tony: You mean.. are you talking about when we had our wedding?!
Josie: Yeh..
And Tony thought for a minute.. and said: What have you been watching ?
To which she replied: Bold and The Beautiful with Baba.
To which he replied: MARI!!!!!!!!!

So Mum.. NO MORE Bold & The Beautiful. It is now in the same category as The News.

Geez.. sex education via US Soaps..

She Said What???

So Tony is really sick right now.. bad flu.. not the un-kosher kind..

Josie was at Baba's yesterday and was meant to come home, but we decided it was best for her not to be at home where she can catch Tony's lurgy, but should stay at Baba's overnight and then Baba & Dyeda (who is now retired!!) can drive her to Auntie Carol's place in the morning for their scheduled Big Adventure (tm).

As she was going to bed, Josie lay down, but kept tossing and turning.

Josie: I can't go to sleep!
Baba: Why not?
Josie: Because my tooth is wobbly and if I go to sleep I could swallow it and choke!
Baba: But you would be asleep, how would it come out?
Josie: Because as I sleep, my tongue might play with it and it might pop out and I might swallow it and choke!
Baba: So what are we going to do???
Josie: Hang on a minute.. Let me think..

(some time passes silently)

Josie: I know Baba.. you can take my tooth and I won't swallow it then.
Baba: But how can I take your tooth if its in your mouth??
Josie: Oh its not anymore!
[Josie hands Baba a bloody tooth]





We now have three missing teeth up top and one down the bottom. I am finding it very hard to understand what she says! And I am a little concerned at how long its taking for the top two front teeth to come out..

School Photos

Just as I was starting to wonder where Josie's School Photos got to, they arrived today!

Here is my little First Grader.

G.I. Josie

So Josie found Wolf3D on my iPhone.

We're driving through Coogee and we hear from the back of the car:

Josie: Sorry! Sorry! I have to shoot you or you'll shoot me! Argh! Sorry!

So after we recover from the fits of laughter we have the following exchange:

Daddy: Josie I don't think I want you playing that game.
Josie: why not?!
Daddy: you know you're not really shooting ppl right? It's just a picture?
Josie: yes I know that. (in the duh! What are you retarded? voice)

Time passes with much grunting and exasperated utterances when the final little perl drops out:

Josie: argh I hate this game!
Daddy: so why you playin' it?
Josie: 'Cos I love this game! I just can't always find the bad guys! I tried for ages with the blood searcher.
Daddy: the blood searcher?
Josie: yeah, the guy....blood squirting all over the place...the searcher. (In her best distracted monotone).

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

So Thats That Then..

The townhouse has sold, and not to us. It went for $582K. That's 2K above what we were going to buy it for, and 42K above what the idiot valuer valued it at. Thank you idiot valuer.

Needless to say, I am not taking it very well.

It's Saturday so we are of course house hunting again.

I didn't think I would be doing this again so soon. I can't seem to get very excited about anything though.

Oh well. That's life I guess.

Back To The Drawing Board..

So the bank valuation on the townhouse came in and it was $40K under our agreed purchase price. What this means is that the bank won't loan us enough to be able to purchase the property.

We tried renegotiating with the seller but he wouldn't budge. We needed him to come down 15-20K. We have rescinded our offer and he has relisted the property and will see how he goes.

I have a very smaller glimmer of hope that he won't find anyone willing to pay that amount and will come back to us and accept our offer.

Meanwhile we are house hunting again.

And I am just... devastated..

And now..

Some photos from the new house!

Josie's room. I am hanging to get her bunks like this.



The third bedroom, now officially Becca's Room ;-)


Part of the HUGE bathroom upstairs.


The main bedroom. Ours. Josie gets the biggest room though!


The Walk-Through robe, this joins our bedroom with the bathroom.


View from the front door towards the dining area and kitchen and courtyard.



The kitchen.Yes! Thats a DISHWASHER you see! After almost 3 years of no dishwasher, my dreams are about to come true!!


The stairs looking down.


The stairs looking up.


This is a storage room under the stairs.

The garage looking in. Its got some shelves, and Tony will put up more.



We are hoping to put in a gate here to stop the cats from going into the main part of the garage, cause we'll be using that for the car, but the litter can go before the gate.


Tony in the courtyard, with baby.


Everyone in the living room.


September cannot come soon enough!!

Bollocks!

So we're watching Funniest Home Videos tonight and one of the videos is of some teenagers creating bottle rockets by shaking up 2litre soft drink bottles and throwing them to the ground lid first, and of course for one of them, the bottle shoots straight up into his crotch.

To which Josephine responds (with her usual amount of paying attention):

Josie: What happened?
Daddy: The bottle jumped up and hit him in the.. PENIS!
Josie: You mean the BOLLOCKS?!

Mummy laughs.
Daddy laughs.

Josie: I have a BOLLOCKS!
Daddy: You do NOT have a bollocks!
Josie: I do have a BOLLOCKS!
Daddy: As I have told you already, you will have to wait to inherit mine from Mummy.
Daddy: You dont even know what a Bollocks is.
Josie: Yes I do, its your front bum.
Daddy: No its not.
Josie: Iiiiiiii-ve got a BOLLOCKS!
Daddy (shaking his finger at Mummy): BLOG that! BLOG that now!!

Addendum:
Josie says: I've got a BOLLOCKS and I LIKE IT! Write that down!

Just When We Thought it was Hopeless...

... we found a home!

It was hiding from us the whole time! Around the corner and down the street...


So I can't believe how lucky we were with this place. First of all, it was being sold without a real estate agent, privately. That in itself is worth an extra $10K ;-) It was such a different experience dealing directly with the owner.

So.. we exchanged with a 10 day cooling off period yesterday! Its a 2 storey townhouse, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car. Ground floor has a good sized living and dining area (DINING area! Finally, to have people over again!!). The kitchen is electric, with a dishwasher (WOO-bloody-HOO!), laundry, WC and exit to the garage and courtyard. The first floor has 3 great size bedrooms, enormous bathroom (with room for a Spa in the future!!) and seperate WC. The main bedroom has a walk through closet, into the bathroom. Josie's room is painted pink and purple, and has a built in, and the third bedroom has a built in.

The townhouse is in a gorgeous complex with about 80 properties. There is visitors parking all over the place. Mostly owners, and mostly older people.

We are so excited! And so nervous! But SO excited!!

So its a long settlement, as per the seller's request, but suits us just fine cause we are able to save a heap of money in those few months! We move in for my birthday mid September!

Best. Birthday. Ever!

And The Hunt Continues..

So the 2 bedder is gone (it started 20K over our max at the auction, and there were so many strata issues..)..

And now we're onto a 3 bed 2 bath 2 car townhouse in Botany. Also in our price range.. seeing it tomorrow.. being sold by private vendor and not real estate.. should be interesting.. ;-)

More later.. ;-)

Soul Destroying..

Yes we are once again on the house hunting trail.. and once again, despite the reports, its soul destroying..

Going from a 2 Bedder, to a gorgeous 3 Bedder in the north was awesome. Going from the gorgeous 3 Bedder in the north to renting a 2 bed semi in the east was depressing.. trying to now find another home to buy is just.. well.. we're a little stressed.

We've found a lovely 2 Bedder in the east, with slight water views.. only 6 units, lovely street, enclosed wrap around balcony, floorboards, 2 toilets, great sized laundry and living area.. bright, cheery.. they want $500-550K. And its going to Auction. I have a feeling it will go over $550K.. and unfortunately that is our limit. We are going to go ahead with trying to get it, pre-auction offer.. negotiating.. but its just.. soul shredding.. I am so over the stress, and its only been a couple of weeks since we started all this!

Cross your fingers, wish us luck ;-)

And Now A Word From The Holy Land

From Becca:

Mum had texted Baba to go on MSN so I could talk to her, but Dyeda came on so quickly I didn't know if they got it or if it was a co-incidence that he came on at the same time.

Becca: Hey!
Dyeda: hi it is deda
Becca: Is this both you and baba?
Dyeda: baba looking now bold and ....
Becca: haha
Dyeda: me to xaxa, cant helpet
Becca: deda go ask baba if she got mama's text message.
Dyeda: tell me how it was last day
Becca: It was good we saw grisha and kids
Dyeda: How they are
Becca: the girls are gorgeous
Dyeda: baba read your block but no any other messages
Becca: I am just about to write a new blog about yesterday now
Dyeda: good
Becca: go tell baba to check her mobile if she got a text...but you dont touch because you dont know how to read the text
Dyeda: and we now how you get last day by reading blogs
Becca: sigh... deda just do as you are told, go and tell baba to check her phone because mama sent her a text..
Dyeda: I talk to baba, she open phone and show me message: GO AND CHECK MSN, REBECCA IS ON LINE
Becca: okay so is that why you came online
Dyeda: i have phone on my hands, yes
Becca: okay thats good
Dyeda: now I have skipe nose

I tried and tried but to no effect, I could not establish what a skipe nose is...
____________

Completely unedited.. I swear..

Bon Voyage!

My sister and niece are off on a big month long vacation today. They will be visiting Israel and England.

We hope they have a lovely time and will miss them heaps.

Dont worry, we will make sure the cat enjoys midnight strolls in the neighborhood and the Tivo is shut down for the month ;-)

Mwahahahaha!

Uh Oh. Another Hill Roadtrip!

We are on the road back from Wyong where we and Roman, Helen and Stacey went to a place called Amazement.

It was great and the girls had an awesome time. They had mazes and games and animals and great big board games.

Going through the mazes was great fun, pretending to be lost, but I think the girls enjoyed the animals the most. They held bunnies and ducklings and guinea pigs.

We are now on our way to dinner at Ramsgate, completely exhausted but satisfied.

Photos to follow.

Mobile Blogging from here.

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Weirdest Dream Ever

I had a dream last night night that my sister was making dinner. She had a large pot on the stove and in the pot was a huge fish. The fish was descaled, covered in some kind of batter and was boiling in the pot. The only problem with this was that the fish was still alive and breathing and looking forlornly at me.

I was incensed. I couldn't believe that Vika was being so cruel!

I asked her why she was being so cruel to the fish, and she said she was making sushimi, so the fish had to be alive.

I was just horrified and began yelling at her that she must kill the fish to stop it's suffering, so she took a large BBQ fork and stabbed the fish in the stomach.

I think the fish died after that but I can't be sure cause I can't remember any more of the dream.

This whole thing stems from guilt I think.

On Friday, one of the girls at work got an aquarium and a Siamese Fighting Fish for her birthday, which she put on her desk. We got a mirror and put it in front of the bowl and made the fish think it was facing another Siamese Fighting Fish, just to see it puff up. Deep down I think I knew I was being a bit cruel to the fish, and finding it a bit funny.

So while I think it was really ME cooking the big fish alive, Vika, please don't cook fish for dinner for a while ;-)

Third Tooth Loss !

Many months after the last lost tooth, Josie has now lost her third. Its her top right tooth and it came out last night at a dinner at Baba's place. Auntie Vika had a hand in it:

I came in and Rebecca said to Josie to show me her tooth and how wobbly it was.

She skipped over and moved it with her finger. The tooth was almost out as I could see half of the root already detached from the gum and the tooth hanging by few threads. She was playing with it all the time so it was just a matter of minutes before it came out.

I told her it would be easy if she did it herself and just pressed on the tooth inwards and it would just pop out.

The answer was no.

I then asked her if she wanted me to take it out, and at first she said no, but I could see she was not afraid and wanted it to come out, but afraid to do it herself. So I called her over and said let me see again. She let me. So I just took it into my two fingers, pulled it down and it was over in 2 seconds. It started to bleed, we ran to bathroom, she washed her mouth with cold water for 2 min and that was it.


The excitement was pulsating out of her she was absolutely ecstatic, running all over. I sent her to look at herself in the mirror, she looked so cute with front tooth missing. I asked her if it hurt and she said nope.

Apparently multiple Tooth Fairies arrived immediately – special case for a special girl and she got 4 gold coins.

We put the tooth and coins in a plastic bag for safe keeping and decided that she would not tell mum and dad what happened and will wait until they had arrived. She would just start talking and see if they notice.

Lucky she did not have to bubble over for too long and first mum and then dad arrived and of course both noticed straight away with appropriate amount of excitement. Huge day for Josie!!

So there we have it. My big 6 year old has lost her third tooth! Thank god it didn't come out at school. I was having nightmares that she would lose it ;-)

On the street!

Hear 'ye, hear 'ye. I am blogging from the car en route to Mat's!

Josie & The Teether 2003

We were going through some old home videos and came across this one..
we laughed through the whole thing..

Update on Harry

Just an update on the Harry situation:

Bec: So Josie how is Harry going?

Josie: He's good.

Bec: Have you told him you like him yet?

Josie: hmm... no. You see I love Harry but Harry loves May, but Harry also loves me too.

These are complicated matters in the first grade..

Josie-isms

Vika & Becca brought Josie home from Baba's tonight, bursting with Josie-isms.

Becca was sitting in the car and telling Josie how Miriam has a boyfriend and that its so cute.

Josie: I also have a new boyfriend!
Becca: What about Beck? (old boyfriend from her old school)
Josie: Yeh Becks my boyfriend from my old school but I have a new boyfriend at my new school.
Becca: So whats his name?
Josie: His name is Harry.
Becca: So tell me about him.
Josie: Oh he's so annoying cause he keeps poking me with his pencil.. but I like it.
Becca: So whats gonna happen with Beck?
Josie: You know, he really doesn't like me hugging him, but I'm so in love with both of them!
Becca: Are you gonna tell Harry that you like him?
Josie: Oh god no, I'm just in love with him!

At Baba's Becca & Josie had a big discussion about who Josie loves and what level of love she reserves for Becca. Then in the car on the way home:
Becca: Tell Vika how much you love me.
Josie: I love you lots.
Vika: What about me?
Josie: Oh! I know the order of who I love now! Ok so first there's my parents, then my cousins (with Becca at the top), then there's the grandmas and the grandpas, then the uncles... and then the Vikas.
Vika: How many Vika's are there?
Josie: Just one!

And then..

Josie was really, really good on the way home with Becca and Becca told Vika that if she was good for Baba that she would get a black chip (reward system we use). Vika took Becca to Kumon, and Vika and Josie waited at Baba's while Vika kept an eye on Josie's behaviour.

Josie was watching one of her DVDs and was fully engrossed in the show, to the extent that she couldn't hear anything anyone said to her. Baba was trying to get her attention.

Baba: Josie.. Josie.. Josephine.. ? JOSIE!!! etc..

.. No reaction.

Vika: Josephine? Are you having hearing problems?
Josie: What?!!?
Vika: Baba is talking to you!

.. conversation with Baba ensues. 5 mins later, same scenario.

Then on the way home with Becca, Becca asked how she behaved and does she deserve a black chip.

Vika: Yeh, hmm I suppose..
Becca: Why? What happened? Josie, was there bad behaviour?
Josie: Well, you see, my ears.. they don't work properly.. and the Tv.. and it was just too loud.. and my ears just didnt work..
Becca: Josie! Seriously! Spit it out!
Josie: Ok. Well, you see, the problem is that my ears dont really work properly when the Tv is on because I cant really hear 2 things at once and the Tv is so loud and I cant hear and I have to tell Daddy about my ears.
Vika: Yeh its a big problem. You might have to go to the hospital and have an operation.
Josie (rolling her eyes): No.. dont be silly.. ill just turn it down!

Once they got here, we dumped Josie into the shower, when we heard: Daddy! Daddy!

Daddy sends Becca to go check.

Becca finds Josie sitting in the bath pointing to her ankle.
Josie: Look, I boompsed my foot bone!

And thats the end of the Josie-isms for today ;-)

Happy Anniversary 2009!!!!

Another year has passed and again I find myself reflecting on the past year and the past, now 16, years of marriage to my other half, my soul-mate, the other side of my coin; head to my tails.

It's fair to say we've neither of us made it easy on the other a fair amount of the time but I'd not have it any other way. There is no other soul on this or any other planet that can be who she is to me, can occupy the space-time that she does, the sub-net of neural pathways that specify not a perfect match but an actual part of myself that must be found outside the self and which she embodies. When I say "I" I mean "we".

I had a dream a few years ago that I was young again, and deeply in love with a beautiful young lady.
And when I woke up and realized it had been only a dream I felt a profound sense of loss; it had felt so real. I felt the tiniest inkling of bereavement. And I was depressed for days afterward.

When I finally came out of my funk I found that details of the dream had faded and were lost. And amongst the fragments I had lost was the face of the young lady. I felt that I knew her from somewhere in real life; an actress, perhaps a childhood crush - I couldn't remember.
Time passed and the memory haunted me less until finally I forgot about it altogether.

Late last year Mari started scanning old photos given to her by all parts of her extended family. And 3 weeks ago she showed me a picture that shot like lightning to my heart and squeezed. I was almost driven to the floor with the power of it. But for the photograph I knew to be the cause I would have thought I must be having a heart attack.

She had found the young lady.
In an old photograph in an old photo album that had lain forgotten in the bottom of a packing box in our shed.
It was Mari.

I knew it was so immediately.
The only image I had left of the dream was a vision of the young lady smiling at me with love; a vaguely familiar room in the background. The room in the background of this photograph.

16 years is a long time. And people change a lot in such timeframes. And in other ways they change very little. And in both ways is the strength of love tested and strained. And the fierce, sharp feeling of those first few days, weeks and months becomes a memory. Replaced by a distant echo of the original.

When my subconscious sought to feel once again the fire of the first passion, it brought my Mari back to me from the distant past and reminded me of the girl who drove all thoughts of others from me. Burned them out with a searing flame until there was nothing left inside but a vision of her, etched on the walls of my mind. Emblazoned on my retinae, ever after I saw only her.

It is for this reason that no matter the row, no matter the problem, no matter the sting of harsh words, I cannot hold onto anger. I cannot hold onto anything but the love I feel. All else slips, silky, through my fingers like smoke and is blown away. Blown away by the solar wind of the sun she ignited in my chest those many years ago.

I can but pray nightly that the same is so for her.
Because I am not easy to live with.

Happy Anniversary Baby. I Love You.

iPhone Contacts Sync Epic FAIL!

So I set my iPhone to sync contacts and it asks me "Do you want to sync your gmail contacts list?". So I say "awesome YE-ES!" and away it goes.

The next time I need to ring someone I open up the contacts list and HOLY BAT..er...POO BATMAN!(tm) there are 600+ contacts in my list. What the hell?!

Turns out it creates a new contact for every email address found in the gMail contacts list. And since every email address you ever send to or receive from is entered into your contacts list in gMail this is a phenomenally bad idea. This was The Little Fail.

So I lived with it for a few weeks and then a couple days ago finally put in the time (45mins!) to delete all the crap. And then just now I went to email someone in gMail and typed in the first few letters of their address and waited for the auto-completion to do it's thing. And then I waited some more. And some more. And then I started to panic. And then I absolutely flipped out!

When I sync'd my iphone this morning it went back to gmail and removed all the stuff I removed from the phone!!!! Now I know, I know; that's what "sync" means stoopid. Yes, yes it does. However in my defense usually when an ipod talks about sync it is talking about between itself and iTunes. I had assumed (I know, again; ass...me...yeah) it would download th econtacts from gmail and store them in iTunes and then sync between the iphone and iTunes!

This sux. *8'(

Disaster Averted: iPod Nearly Lost At Sea!

So most of the time I walk around the house with my iPhone headphones snaking from the iPod in my back pocket up my back under my shirt, out the back of my collar and into one ear.

Well earlier today I went to the loo to perform some 'routine maintenance' and I walk in, turn around... do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight... sorry where was I? Oh right, so I turn around and drop trow and my spider-sense kicks in suddenly; something doesn't feel right. A horrifying thought occurs to me and I turn around very carefully and my worst fears (of the moment at least) are confirmed as I behold the dry-mouth inducing sight of my 'pod dangling precariously from it's earphone cable over the bowl!

As the opening scenes of Cliffhanger race through my mind, I VERY carefully reach forth, and with the concentration of a neurosurgeon, enclose it once more in the safety of it's masters hand.

After reeling it in I was so shaken I had to sit down for a moment, which I was going to do for longer in the first place so that part worked out well.

Be careful people. Do YOU know where your iPod is right now?

Mr Mom

Mari had a seminar in the city yesterday and today she is sick.
So I've been in charge of the child from first thing in the morning for two days.
And for the second day in a row we (the child and I) were late for school.

Tony: C'mon sweetie out of the car quick we're running late!
Josie: We have to get a late note.
Tony: Did your teacher tell you yesterday?
Josie: Yeah. I didn't know where to get it then but I know now. You have to go to the office. And I want YOU to come with me!
Tony: *Sheepish* yes dear.

I've never actually seen Mari hand the jar she keeps my testicles in to Josie as they tag out in the morning but it must happen.

Incidentally at 6 years of age children do not see the late note process as a negative, deterrent-type experience. Josie is so excited to go to the office to get her late note I fear we may need to go to the office via the toilets before she pees her pants. And once acquired holds it clutched, triumphantly in her little fist and waves it about like a trophy.
Josie: IIII have a late noooote! Yeeeesssss! *in her best Bea Arthur voice*

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So we go to the office and I tell the nice lady that we need a late note.

She stops smiling. Obviously I've committed a terrible crime against humanity.

She regains her composure, looks at her watch and seems to need to revise reality so that this crime has, in fact, not been perpetrated on her watch.

Lady: They usually give you a couple of minutes.... but if they've read the roll already... you better get one.

She seems defeated by the facts and unable to complete her attempt to alter reality so that we are not, in fact, 5 minutes late for class. She then proceeds to point out all the places on the small form where not only is it clear that I have to fill something in but it is labeled clearly with what I have to fill that particular space with.

Lady: Put her name here. *in the underlined space with "NAME" under it.
Lady: Date here. *in the space with the unmistakable date-separator slashes*
etc etc etc
Lady: You can put a reason for being late here if you want, it's not mandatory.

So I begin filling in the form and two fields in, and in the midst of an internal monologue mocking the lady for pointing out all the obvious fields, I am stumped for the date. So I ask the child (as you do when your most constant companion is a little person who seems more like an 80year old curmudgeon - like George Burns basically - than a 6 year old girl). Who, of course, has no idea. Another nice lady in the office looks at me like I'm a mental defective.

Lady #2: What did you need to know? *she didn't hear the question, but she knows by the familiar pattern of sound that one of the idiot parents has asked their child for some actual information that needs to approach correct, and that the child has answered in the inevitable and distinctive sound pattern identifiable from 100 yards as "Idontknow?!"*

And then proceeds to give me yesterdays date, which I don't discover until I get to work 30mins later. So I continue filling out the form.

Name: Josephine Hill
Date: 10/2/2009
Class: *classified*
Reason my son/daughter is late: Mummy is sick and Daddy is hopeless.

Hill Xmas & New Year Wrap Up Plus Mega Update

Us at The Eiger

I really should not have left it this long to blog cause my world famous memory is growing fuzzy ;-)

Knowing my world famous memory, I enlisted my niece Becca to do some of the work for me ;-)
______

24th&25th- Xmas Lights, Sleepover and Trudy's
On Christmas Eve, Mari, Tony, Josie, Rach and I went on our annual Christmas Lights inspection, doing our usual Eastern Suburbs swoop. They did not disappoint this year, the display was spectacular and we even managed to catch some illegal firework action in one place.

The girls had an amazing time "ohhing" and "ahhing" at all the pretty bright lights. The one particular house we make a stop at every year, with the Luna Park display, was just as beautiful as ever. Unfortunately 2008 was their last year putting up the lights as it is an elderly couple who own the house and cant manage putting it up anymore. Josie particularly enjoys this house because she has been coming to see it every year for the last 4-5 years, and while she isn't so impressed by the lights anymore she still gets a kick out of the bubble machine and the ice cream truck parked out side of the house.

The girls managed to stay awake until around 10:30 before their eyelids wouldn't stay open any longer. Mari, Tony and I drove around for another hour before calling it quits and driving home.

Last year Mari and Tony had been going through a Tetris obsession phase and had even bought it on the Wii. Mari was set on getting me into it so she could play it over the Wii with me and made me stay up for another hour watching them play Tetris, even though I was asleep half the time, only being awoken by their random outbursts of "Silence, I kill you!".

The next morning I went with the Hills to Trudy's place for Xmas lunch, it was beautiful. The food was magnificent and I was very grateful to have been invited. After lunch, everybody opened gifts, one particular gift that stood out was Mat and Wendy's present to Mari: "Twilight: the complete and illustrated movie companion". I was very jealous as I had wanted this also but it was sold out, not just in every store but from the warehouse too! It is currently on my bedside table, where I am taking my time reading and enjoying it before I have to return it to Mari ;).

After the gifts, everyone played Singstar ABBA & Disney, which was a great hit! All in all Christmas 2008 was excellent.
______

Thanks Becca for putting the time in to write this up.

Now to the rest of it.

On the 26th, we had our Boxing Day at Mat's with David, Jacqui, Philip, Trudy, Carol & Gloria. Lunch was magnificent as usual and Josie even got to make cookies with the awesome cookie making set that Mat & Wendy got her.

On the 27th we had our New Years get together at my parents place where we had the entire family over, 30+ people!! It was very crowded. Food was awesome as usual and it was good seeing the cousins who we never see much (Rach, Zac, Ian, Daniel *POKE*). Ian (being the oldest) played Santa and gave out all the presents to the kids. They had a ball and Josie got very spoilt.

On the 28th, we went and saw Madagascar 2 again. Tony hadn't seen it the first time and Josie loved it. I am keen on taking her to the movies a lot. She has this irrational fear of the movies and we really need to get her over that. We also saw Bolt a few days after that. Bolt was an awesome movie. We all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tony & Gloria at The Eiger

We also had a couple of cleaning days where Tony and I spent many hours cleaning out Josie's room and the living room. We managed to get together 6 garbage bags, yes SIX, of old toys, to give to charity. I felt so good afterwards! And her room suddenly looked so much neater!

On New Years Eve we went to Mat's. This has become kind of a tradition now. Mat cooks, we eat, Davo throws Josie around.. its tradition..

After we had dinner, Tony spent an hour trying to get his trial contacts into his eyes, then he gave up cause we had to go to Easties to watch the 9pm fireworks from the rooftop.

The fireworks were great, but too short! We came back to Mat's after only about 20 mins, and managed to enjoy the Coogee fireworks from Mat's window a whole lot more. Those went for almost 30 mins!

At some point during the night, Mat put on this wierd asian cooking show where they showed this competition where these people had to speed cook this huge fish so that it's body was cooked but it's head was still breathing. It was SO wrong. I have NEVER seen anything like it. They stuck the poor fish's tail into the boiling oil up to its neck. They then quickly pulled it out and plopped it on a platter, and the body was all deep friend and the head was still moving as it opened its mouth to breathe in and out. It was awful! They did the same thing with a snake. The chopped it up and cooked it so fast that when they put it on the plate, the chopped up parts were still slithering!! *SHUDDER*

Jan 4th, we had dinner at Vika's and Vika made a mountain of BBQ Octopus and a HUGE pot of crabs. OMG it was good. We sat there for HOURS fiddling with the crab. HOURS. MMmmmmm!!!!

Vika & Becca at The Eiger

I went back to work on the 5th, and to be honest, it was a relief. It was good to get my mind working again, and the air conditioning was niiiice. Have I mentioned yet how hot it has been? No? I'll get to it..

The next few weeks consisted of us ferrying Josie from one Grandmother to the other. She slept over one night each week at one, then the other grandmother's, and the rest of the days stayed with Baba or Granny or Becca, as well as one day of vacation camp per week. She wasn't really impressed with the Vacation Camp.. mainly I think cause Rachel wasnt there and she didnt know anyone but we encouraged her to make new friends.. she would have to do that anyway once she started school there.

Josie, Dyeda & Baba at the Eiger

On Jan 20th, we celebrated Josie's 6th birthday by going over to Baba's for dinner. She got spoilt once again, but on the plus side, it marked the day when a big change took effect. She was no longer to have big girl sleeps (where daddy or I sat in the room while she fell asleep). She would be going to sleep by herself every night now (which she has done successfully). We have had some whinging, calling and constant excuses to get up, but we're getting there ;-)

On Australia Day we went over to Vika's for another Octopus & Crab dinner. Once again it was DELISH!

On the 26th, we went to Trudy's to celebrate Philip's 16th and Josie's 6th. Again, the food was awesome and the kids had a great time.

This brings us to the start of school. On the 28th, Tony & I both took Josie for her first day at her new school. She was nervous. We were nervous-er. She took it much better than we I did. They put into classes, sitting on the ground, but of course Josie didn't have a class so one of the teachers took her hand and led her over to her class. Josie sat down and listened to the Principal give a little speech and then they all got up and got led away to their classroom. Josie looked a bit forlorn but bravely went off.

I had a bit of a cry.

That Sunday was a busy one. We had Stacey's birthday party in the morning, which was heaps of fun. And the weather wasn't too hot, so that was a bonus.

Afterwards we had lunch at Coogee with Mirna & Rob, Granny, and Kylie who is visiting from Scotland. It was hot hot hot! Lunch was lovely, and catching up with Kye was great! Afterwards we went for a walk along the beach where Josie just *HAD* to get into the sand, much to my horror.
This brings us to February. Dinner at Mums on the 6th for Vika's birthday was nice. Great food as always, and air conditioning. It just can't be bad ;-)

Which brings us to this weekend's horror bushfires in Victoria. You will have heard, and if you haven't, you have been living under a rock, like my husband!

I remember the 2001 fires in Helensburgh, and they were not as bad as this. 131 dead so far.. its just so heartbreaking. If you can, go donate some blood. I wish I could, but I only donated for the first time ever about 2 weeks ago and you can only do it every 3 months or so. Otherwise I would be right there.

So on Sunday we had lunch at The Eiger Swiss Restaurant. As usual the food was divine.

Swiss Barley Soup

Chicken Schnitzel with Spaetzele & Roesti

Grand Manier Ice Cream with cream

Chocolate Fondue

And the after effects of the Chocolate Fondue.. This is Chocolate Fondue Art by Becca.

Mat & Kaylee at the Eiger

Which brings us to today. Today was my first day as Team Leader at work. My team consists of 5 people, and I have to say, today was not much different from last week ;-) But I am very excited to have this opportunity and I am *STILL*, after 2 years, loving my job.

On a completely different note.. this is a Dragonfruit. My first one. It was delish, and oh so pretty!

And thats about it folks. I have uploaded a heap of photos lately at Flickr, so do check them out. And I have finally succumbed to the dark side that is Twitter (find me as charis1974). I tried it out in 2007, but got bored very quickly. I am hoping its better now..


Till next time!