Birthday Weekend Update

It was a loooong celebration ;-)

You don't turn 29-again every year! err.. well.. some of us actually DO ;-)

So for my 5th 29th birthday we had dinner at mums, dinner at Mat's, then dinner at Mat's again and then lunch at Trudy's! All the while, my tonsils were swollen and not getting any better!

Starting with the night of my birthday, Thursday, we went over to my mums for dinner. Dinner was lovely as usual and Josie had a great time playing with Becka.

On the Friday night, Mat offered to make dinner for us for my birthday. This was such a lovely gesture and I was very touched. Then I laid down some ground rules.

1. No Roasts.
2. No stupid movies
3. No Snatch (a movie Mat has been trying to get me to watch for years!)
4. No British Movies
5. No Victor Borg

I had to lay down rules or I would have ended up watching some comedian from Scotland who I couldn't understand! And The-Rules(tm) I relayed via Tony.

So then we had the following conversation on Meebo:

Mat: so Miss Fussypants No-Roast .. what DO you want for your birthday dinner?
Mari: lol
Mari: did you get my list of demands?
Mari: No Snatch
Mari: No Victor Borg
Mari: No English crap
Mari: No Stupid DVDs
Mat: nothing good in other words
Mari: ;-)
Mat: how bout we all sit around and read The Belgariad?
Mari: YES!!!
Mari: HOW wonderful!
[The Belgariad and The Mallorean are my all time favourite books by David Eddings]
Mari: as for dinner.. uhm.. the only exception to the No-Roast rule is chicken ;-)
Mari: We like roast chicken ;-)
Mari: and a no-weed salad policy exists ;-)
Mat: you'll get baked beans on toast at this rate Missy
Mari: lol
Mari: well like i said.. chicken's ok ;-)
Mari: how about steak & kidney pie ?
Mari: ;-)
Mari: or you know.. any seafood is likely to make my night ;-)
Mari: any seafood and I may even move in ;-)
Mari: and messy seafood.. the kind of seafood you can get up to your elbows in
Mari: lol
Mari: seriously though, anything is fine ;-)
Mari: I was only joking ;-)
Mari: but if theres no seafood then Ill pout.
Mat: lol
Mat: your husband works VERY close to the fish markets
Mari: hehehe
Mat: of course this is of little use as he will not transport any seafood to my place within anything approaching a reasonable timeframe
Mari: I could get him to buy stuff.. he would HAVE to cause its for my birthday
Mari: Ill make him
Mat: how about .. you get him to buy the stuff at lunchtime or in the morning
Mat: and you will probably have to make it VERY clear to him that this really needs to be done, or else his 'nads are forfeit
Mari: yup!
Mat: and I will go by his work on the way home and collect it
Mari: ok done deal
Mat: if you can convince him that buying seafood would be a better option for his health than playing basketball
Mari: he can bite me.. im more important than his bloody basketball
Mari: lol
Mari: oookay
Mat: so .. what seafood to get ...
Mat: prawns
Mat: can make some of that really nice sauce that Wendy and I learned at the seafood school for BBQ prawns
Mat: you can either marinade the prawns in it and bbq them or you can just dip em in it
Mari: hmmmmm.. prawns!!!
Mat: scallops?
Mari: and crabs
Mat: I have a very nice scallop recipe
Mari: yeh.. scallops will come up to my finger nails
Mari: elbows!
Mari: ok.. so what about lots of crabs.. in a pot.. with some spices?
Mari: ;-)
Mat: hmmm ... got a seafood spice blend from Herbies that should be good
Mat: I'll make a shopping list for Ant
Mari: hehehe cool ;-)

So then I relayed the mission onto the field agent..

Mari: Here is your mission
Mari: You have no choice but to accept it
Tony: I symbolically accept the mission
Mari: on Friday during your lunch hour
Mari: we (me and Mat.. mostly me..) need you to go to the fish markets..
Mari: Mat will provide a list
Mari: You must fulfil the list, and store it in your fridge at work
Mari: Mat will come by after work and pick it up
Tony: ok
Mari: You must state categorically that you accept your mission
Tony: I categorically accept my mission

And the deal was done.

Mat: what about fish .. I suppose Antony will whine if there is no barramundi on the menu
Mari: yah
Mari: lets just provide something symbolic for him
Mat: a picture of a fish?
Mat: a photo of a fish!
Mari: LOL

So on Friday my wonderful, dutiful, loyal, loving husband went to the Sydney Fish Markets and got:

• 2Kg Prawns
• 1Kg Scallops
• 3 Mud Crabs
• 2 Lobsters
• 1 Barramundi fillet
• 4 John Dory fillets
• 1 dozen oysters

(are you starting to see WHY we had dinner at Mat's two nights in a row ??)

Unfortunately, my wonderful, dutiful, loyal, loving husband didn't actually pay much attention to how long his list was and decided against taking the car to the fish markets. He walked. And then walked back. Carrying two huge boxes of seafood. Poor thing.

And then I get this msg from Mat:

Mat: ROFLMAO
Mat: Ant is having fun with the crabs
Mat: Tony: these crabs are alive!!!!!
Tony: you didnt warn me about live produce!!!!
Tony: and the biggest one has slipped his bonds!!!!
Mat: ROFL
Mari: ROFL

We laughed.

And then I get this:

Tony: the beast refuses to die!!!!!
Tony: over an hour in the freezer and he immediately tried to escape from the box as soon as I took it out to check on them!
Mari: ROFL

All in the name of love! ;-)

So Friday nights dinner was exquisite! I cannot even put it into words!

However we did run out of time (and stomach space!) to cook it all, so hence dinner on Saturday night.

On Saturday morning I went and did grocery shopping while Tony took Josie to her dance class, and then I got Josie, and Vika and Becka picked us up and we went to my cousin Anna's for lunch. This was fun and Jayden and Josie played for ages really well. Josie always loves playing with Jayden.

After lunch, Vika dropped us off home and we got Tony and went off to Mat's place for dinner where we were joined by a very lucky Karsoe who scored a magnificent seafood dinner ;-)

Then Sunday started off with a party for a school friend of Josie's (Jessie). Josie had a great time playing with her friends, and watching the show (The Funky Bugs).

After the party we grabbed Josie's best friend Rachel and headed straight to Grandma Trudy's place for lunch. The girls played beautifully inside and out in the backyard the whole day. Lunch was fantastic and we had a great time.

By the end of my 4 day birthday celebrations, I was pretty much over my tonsils. On Monday I went to the doctor with the intention of having them out but my doctor convinced me to give the antibiotics a last go. By Tuesday afternoon I was feeling much better and now I am fine, just have to finish the course of antibiotics, then take another month at a reduced intake, and then cross my fingers that its over.

I have always had large tonsils. Since I was a kid everyone was always impressed with my tonsils. They are big and round and surround my uvula. When they swell they are so big that they actually partially block my airways so that when I lie down, I dont get enough oxygen and wake up every 20 minutes or so gasping for air. Thus I hadn't had a good nights sleep in about two weeks! Its nice to be able to breathe again!

This has been a long one.. I am ready for bed ;-)

Happy Birthday Mari!!!!

I would like to wish a very happy birthday to the first love of my life (and mother of the second)!

To my wife, my heart and my soul, thank you for sticking with me for another year.
As most who read this site will know I am basically a disorganised, clown of a man most of the time and I thank God every day for her continued presence in my life.

In the latest of Mari's 29th years she has started a new job (the first in her professional career where she actually enjoys the role - and that's a long time for someone to wait to be happy in an endeavour that takes up such a big chunk of all of our lives) and has quickly shown her quality and come to be relied upon and looked to as a leader by her colleagues and boss. In the same time period we moved house in a long, drawn out and complicated procedure involving a layover of several months at Mari's parents and through all this Mari has continued to raise our daughter while also taking care of the vast bulk of organisational requirements that come along with a young pre-school-age child. She has done all this with little effectual help from the previously mentioned circus performer (except for the raising of the rug rat - I think I do alright in that area but lets face it, I find my hands full with just that one shared task).

Thank you baby.

LOVE

DUBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

.. otherwise known as DUMBO!

So our long weekend began on Friday morning when we all got up to pack (!) and get going to Dubbo.

We were all very excited.. and true to form, even though it was a 2 night trip, we had 2 big bags, Josie's suitcase, two fridge bags and a bathroom bag! Comparatively it was a lot better than our US trip.. but still..

So away we went.. at about 1130am (I had desperately wanted to leave by 10am but it was not to be). Our first stop was Uncle David's house where we swiped his GPS. That GPS turned out to be a godsend! More on that later!

After having secured the GPS, I was horrified to realise that the Nintendo DS that I had borrowed from Jacqui for Josie to play on the way was almost out of battery and while I had a charger for it, it wasn't a car charger! Josie was told quite firmly that she had to ration her DS use and I was SO surprised at how well she did that. Every time I reminded her that she should take a break from it, she handed it over without a problem. On a couple of occasions she actually handed it over without a reminder from me. I was very impressed, considering how little impulse control our daughter has! ;-) The DS lasted to about the Blue Mountains. After that Josie was quite content to look at books and draw. In fact she was just an angel on the way there. I don't remember her complaining at all (although I may have just blocked it out ;-). We stopped a couple of times at Hungry Jacks, to have lunch and for a toilet break, where she could play in their playground. I think this broke up the journey somewhat for her. She was just magnificent on the way there.

The journey there took about 9 hours. 9 hours! This was mostly due to the long weekend traffic. The huge long weekend traffic! Having said that the GPS was wonderful. We were able to bypass chunks of the traffic by finding parallel roads and just taking them. She (the GPS) would freak out when we would do this. She was quite happy when we stuck to her instructions, but when we strayed, she became quite irritable, however, once we did take other roads, she was very helpful in finding our way back to the highway!

We got to Dubbo at about 830pm. Josie was already asleep by then, so we basically put her in her room, shut the door, and melted into the tub. I had specifically booked an apartment that had a spa. It wasn't a round type spa, it was long, but it did have bubbles. We couldn't turn on the bubbles cause it was too loud, but the bath was larger than a standard bath, so we both managed to relax in there for a while.

On Saturday morning I woke up with a bit of a sore throat. I figured it was probably from the dry, dusty outback air.

We got ready and headed out to the Western Plains Zoo. When we got there, the queue of cars waiting to get in was down the road. We got the the end of the line, and 45 mins later we finally drove through the huge zoo gates.

The Western Plains Zoo is just beautiful. Its huge, with animals everywhere and I don't know how people do it all on foot. We took our car around. We managed to see lots of animals and Josie loved it all. I will post some photos on Flickr soon.

Unfortunately, after about 4 hours there my throat started to hurt a lot more, and by the time we got back to the hotel, my tonsils had swollen so much that lying down I could not breathe. I lay down for much of that evening, and when it came time to go to bed, Tony had to prop me upright with about 4 pillows so that I could sleep and breathe at the same time. It was the most uncomfortable night of my life. I woke up every 15-20 minutes and the time just crawled. By about 6am the swelling was down a bit and I was able to lean back, so Tony went into Josie's room (she had woken up), got in bed with her and they fell back asleep. I figure I must have kept him up half the night. Once he left, I removed all the pillows, left mine, lay back, and slept till about 8am. It was bliss. My back was aching though.

That morning (Sunday) we packed up and headed off back to Sydney. The GPS once again was great in helping us avoid the Back-To-Sydney traffic, but the trip, even though it was only 7hrs this time, was difficult. Josie was quite restless and sick of the whole thing. In the last 2 hours she basically kept repeating "I wanna go home!! I wanna go home!!" over and over again, to the point that Tony and I were just ready to leave her on the side of the road and make her walk!! ;-)

We finally made it home at about 530pm. We were all exhausted!

I went to work Monday but left a bit early to go see the Dr.. took Tuesday off to recuperate and am now back at work with very little of my sore throat left and my tonsils back to normal. Yay!

It was a nice trip.. but I think next time, anything over a 5 hr drive, and we'll just fly ;-)

Slow News Day in Sydney.. ?

Read it here. Give me a break! ...

Meat and greet all the president's lunch

September 5, 2007 - 3:00PM

He may have a lot on his plate during this week's APEC negotiations, and critics have argued he bit off more than he could chew in the Iraq war, but a Sydney nutrionist is now chastening US President George Bush over his choice of food during an official lunch today.

The main concern with the plate is the quantity of the protein-rich foods, with a very small amount of vegetables and no breads at all

Mr Bush - a self-confessed "meat guy" - was snapped holding a plate with a large steak, two sausages, at least four prawns, a sliver of carrot and small piece of corn.

Not Poxy!

.. but here's some spinning.. sideways...

Does This Look Chicken-Poxy?

?!


Please tell me I'm just spotty?!

Conversations With Young People

[21:45] Meebo Message: Jac is offline
[21:46] Meebo Message: Jac is online
[21:46] Tony: what happened?
[21:47] Tony: you went offline,,,,,
[21:47] Jac: yeah ichat isnt working so i tried restarting the internet
[21:48] Tony: THAT'S why our connection has been going in and out for the past few days!!! YOU'v been restarting the internet!!!
[21:49] Jac: har har
[21:49] Jac: :\
[21:53] Jac: i meant my internet
[21:55] Tony: you have your own INTERNET?!!?
[21:55] Jac: u r very annoying...
[21:55] Tony: Where did you get it?!?
[21:55] Jac: and yes, yes i do
[21:55] Jac: i get it from the magical fountain at the end of my bed
[21:55] Tony: _I_ want an internet!!!!!

Playing with Photoshop

I am about to go to bed.. but I wanted to post a photo I got at the beach today. Ive been playing with Photoshop the last couple of hours.. this photo just makes me cry..

School Photos!

We got Josie's school photos last week. These are the final ones from her preschool. Next year she starts wearing a uniform.

Here is one.. and the rest you can see here..

Weekend Happenings

We had another jam packed weekend.

On Friday we went over to Mat's place for dinner and a movie, managed to have a lovely dinner and watch some of Planet Earth before I couldn't take it anymore and fell asleep. I did NOT snore!

Saturday was going to be a pretty good day. We were MEANT to go see Harry Potter at iMax. Again. The first time we tried, we all got sick so I had to cancel. This time we got there, saw a couple of ads, and waited for half an hour before they announced that they were having technical difficulties and the session was cancelled!! Can you believe it??

We had gone to Yum Cha before that, so that was nice. The day was not a whole a whole write off!

Josie spent the day with Granny, so after the whole iMax debacle we went to a normal cinema and saw License to Wed with Robin Williams. Good movie, not one of his best.

Sunday was lovely. Raining with gale force winds, but lovely.

We were going to go to the Aquarium with Ines, David & Josh, but the weather was just too scary to brave the city, so we went to Mamacinos instead. We stayed there from about 10am till about 3pm, having breakfast AND lunch! The kids played really well and had a great time together. Josie was not a happy chappy when we had to go.

I will post some photos soon, haven't updated Flickr in a while. Just have to get around to it.

New Relatives and a Very Busy Friday

On Thursday night we went to dinner at my mums where we met some second cousins from Russia. My mum's mum's sister's grandson and his wife. They were very nice, Grisha & Ira. Ira spoke and understood some english, Grisha not so much. They are planning on moving here in the next 12 months on Student Visas.

Today (Friday) was a very long day.

It started at about 7am when I hurried out of bed and got ready to be at the school by 8am for a talk on drugs, alcohol, smoking and cyber bullying.

It was extremely interesting with great presentations and insights from psychologists, police, researchers and youth support people. It raised some things that I couldnt even begin to imagine existed. Such as parents who let their year 8 kids leave the house on a Friday or Saturday night (any night really) with a bottle of vodka, so that they will only drink from that bottle all night, and not from a strange bottle that could be spiked.

Uhm, hello ?

14 year old kid? Shouldnt be drinking anyway?? What kind of world are we living in??

During the Q&A one girl (there were parents and students in the talk) asked about catching buses home after a party in groups, "because we can't expect our parents to come get us at 1230am"...

Uhm, hello? Why the hell not?!?! What kind of parent lets their kid leave the house on a Friday or Saturday night without having organised exactly how they are getting home, and certainly NOT on public transport!

What the hell??

Anyways, we came away from that talk a lot wiser, and I hope the kids there (from Year 8, 9 & 10) were listening very carefully.

After that I went to work for about 3 hours before having to leave again to pick up Becka and Josie and go to a Pain Study at the Childrens Hospital.

The study was very interesting too.

Since the age of about 2, Josie has had leg pain at night on and off. We always put it down to too much activity during the day.. but then I started thinking maybe it was rheumatism, because almost all the females on my mums side of the family, including myself, my sister and Becka, have always had this muscular rheumatoid type pain, since childhood. We have always said it was rheumatism, but we never actually got it diagnosed. It was usually fixed up by keeping the area warm and taking some Panadol or Neurofen.

Anyways, so we went in and the researcher did a bunch of tests on Josie to show how much she was feeling the touch. They think that the pain is caused by a high nerve sensitivity. She used different tools to touch Josie's legs, arms and tummy, and asked Josie to tell her whether she felt the touch more on one leg or the other etc. It as very interesting.

I spoke to the Dr in charge, and told him about the rheumatism that has always been in my family and he said that it probably was not rheumatism, but was actually Fibromygalia.

The 'Growing Pains' that Josie was experiencing would most likely develop into Fibromygalia as well. So now I am trying to find stuff about it ;-)

So after the study, we went to Anna's place, where Becka was babysitting Jayden for the night, and we stayed and played for a while before dropping Anna off at the station and heading home.

It was a fairly looongish day..

Should be an interesting weekend ;-)

Long Weekend and a New Baby!

My best friend Harri gave birth to her first child yesterday. She and her husband Sven named her Ella. What a gorgeous name, and we are so so happy and excited for them.

Still waiting for photos and measurements though! Ahem! Its not like she's... busy.. or anything.. ;-)

Can't wait to see ;-)

This past weekend has been pretty full on.

Of course we had Dance class and swim class. Tony as usual took her to her classes and I went and did the grocery shopping.

But to pack even more in we went to Mamacinos with Roman, Helen and Stacey for brunch (it was great fun and the girls loved playing in the play area) and ontop of that off we went to a birthday party for some girls in Josie's class. That was good fun too as they had a big trampoline set up with the side nets so the kids had a ball in there.

To top it all off on Sunday night we went to Mat's for dinner with Wendy's family. Wendy's family is so lovely and we always have a great time with them. Josie had a great time, as always, at Uncle Mat's place.

During my weekly shopping I came across something that I had only seen once before at the school. Its called Floy and its like playdough but slightly different. Its little white balls in this gluey, slimy mixture, and you mold it like playdough, but when it dries, it feels like polystyrene. Its fabulous! I got a kit of 5 colours for Josie and we had a great time playing with it.

I had an appointment with the dentist today. I havent been since Xmas 2004 so I was long overdue and my teeth aren't the best anyway. It took him an hour to clean only the top left quadrant. I have to make some more appointments to finish off the whole mouth. My health insurance is not going to cover them all. I don't know how we are gonna pull this one off.

This week is fairly hectic at work. We are one down, actually we are two down with one coworker on paternity leave for two weeks (everyone is having babies!!).

Anyways, theres my update. Ive been kinda slack lately but Im hoping more interesting stuff will happen ;-)

Four Under FOUR!

Huge congrats to my cousin and his wife.

They have just had their 4th, yes FOURTH daughter.

Thats four (4) girls, under 4 (FOUR) years old.

FOUR.

Under FOUR.

Girls.

My eye is twitching..

Twitching.. but decidedly jealous ;-)

My Child is a Genius

Tony has set up a profile on my iMac for Josie and showed her how to log in.

She now knows to:

Click on my name in the top right hand corner, then select her name in the drop down menu.
Then it comes up with a window asking for a password and she knows how to enter her password (josie).
Then she has her little dock of games and applications at the bottom and she knows how to click on them to load the programs and away she goes.

Four and a half years old.

Genius I tell ya.

Four and a Half, Going on 40

In the car this morning..

Josie: I can be lots of things. I can be a girl fireman, and a fairy, and a butterfly and a pony..
Mari: Yes honey, you can be anything you want to be..
[A few minutes to ponder]
Josie: Mummy, I just can't help the silly moments..

;-)

On.. In.. Doesn't Matter!

Ok I haven't been posting any conversations with my dad cause my mum told me off for embarrassing him in front of the entire world (cause thats who reads my blog, didn't you know??). So I stopped. But this I couldn't resist.

He had been given a second hand laptop at work and wanted us to have a look at it.

Mari: well bring it tonight and we will have a look over the weekend
George: so don't be late today
Mari: I will be there before you
Mari: and if not you can just leave it
George: ok see you
George: it is on my car
George: so it is mine already
Mari: well take it off your car before you leave because it will fall off when you move the car
George: no it is on the car box
Mari: your car has a box ?
George: yes on the boot
Mari: well you need to take it off the boot because when you move the car the box will slide off the boot.
George: it is inside of box
George: and box is fixed to the car
Mari: on the boot ?
Mari: you fixed a box to the top of your boot?
Mari: how do you open the boot ?
George: it is inside of my boot
Mari: ahhh right
Mari: so IN your car.. not ON your car then ?
George: at least
George: for my it is the same
Mari: its at least in your car?
George: on.....in.....
Mari: and at most under it ?
George: you want competision in russian
Mari: no thanks.. I dont live there
George: i will laught too
George: you was born....
George: and you first languch was russian
George: so you probably just forgot russian
Mari: probably

My mum will probably have strong words for me.. but after three days of taking care of a house full of sick people, it was a good laugh ;-)

Harika & Sven's Baby Guessing Game

I have set up a Guessing Pool for Harri & Sven!

Please have a guess!

A Sick Household

Bah.. this is fun.. NOT..

Josie has the flu.. Tony has the flu.. Granny has the flu.. everyone has the bloody flu!!!!!

Josie has had temps up to 39.5. Tony hasn't had temps but he has thrown up all over the floor.

Gloria is sick in bed with temps AND throwing up.

I'm fine ;-) I had a flu shot. I'm ALL good.. so far.. lol..

I managed to be at work for a whole hour before having to come home and take care of both sick people.

Tomorrow Josie will be going to Baba's, Tony will be home and I, hopefully, will be going to work.

Mini Update

I know I haven't blogged for a while..

Just been very slack is all ;-)

I have updated Flickr with a LOT of new photos.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiephotos/.. check them out ;-)

Everything is fine with everyone.. although Josie is kinda sick at the moment with a cold..

Its 1130pm and I need to get to bed now.. enjoy the photos..

Fall of The Great Thinker

See.. even the intellectual have their moments..

Mat: tried to get some cool photos of the moon two nights ago
Mat: was very full and yellow over the water
Mat: couldn't stop the camera shake .. even on a tripod
Mat: just pressing the button moved the camera
Tony: set the timer
Mat: bought a remote shutter release on Ebay for $6
Mat: ok you know what .. you go to hell
Mat: you go to hell and you die
Tony: ROFL

And More From Josie..

She was just full of conversation today..
_____________

From Becka..

We are all watching The Bold and The Beautiful and Josie starts talking:

Josie [in a nagging voice]: Becka... Becka...

Becka: Shhhh Jose we are watching..

Josie runs into the other room and returns a few minutes later.

Josie: Becka you were silly. I thought about it. I went and sat in the naughty spot and I thought about it, you were just being silly, ok?
_____________

Then on the way home.. out of no where..

Josie: Mummy, Bambi was little.. and then he growed big..
Mari: Yes honey, Bambi was a dear..
Josie: But I am already a dear!

and later still in the car..

Josie: Mummy, do I have any bruddas?
Mari: No honey..
Josie: Do I have any stisters?
Mari: No honey.. you have cousins..
Josie: Yeh like Matty.. he's my little baby boy.. he sits on my lap and he's so heavy that I can't even pick him up, he's a big baby but I am bigger.. I am this big [shows me how big she is.. which is about the size of a cat]..
Mari: Yes ok honey..
[A little time passes..]
Josie: What were we talking about??

LOL..

Lions and Elephants and Josie.. Oh My!

Josie is at Baba's today with Becka..

They were watching Play School on TV and they were showing elephants..

Becka: Have you ever seen real elephants?

Josie: No because they will eat me!

Becka: No, they live in cages.

Josie: Well i don't want to go to the zoo.

Becka: But they can't eat you because they will be in cages!!

Josie: Yeh but what about the Lions?

Becka: No everyone lives in cages so you just go and watch them.

Josie: Well I just don't like lions.

Becka: Well what about if on a nice day we go to the zoo and see everything except the lions?

Josie: Yeh... But no lions.

[Pondering...]

Josie: I have an idea, what about if we dress up like elephants and go to the zoo like that? I'm going to ask my mum to buy me an elephant suit because I want to be an Elephant!

LOL.. I'm off to the shops..

A New Babysitter

For years now our niece Becka has been bugging us to let her babysit Josie. We have always been reluctant because we were not confident in Josie listening and following the orders of anyone else. We were worried that Becka wouldn't be able handle an out of control and willful Josephine.

Over the last couple of months we have noticed a new maturity in both Josie and in Becka. One shows more promise in listening and following orders, and the other shows more maturity in thought and deed. So we decided to give it a go.

So last night, Tony and I went to see Fantastic Four (which was fabulous!) and left Becka in charge of Josie at home.

All worked out very well. Becka made sure that Josie had dinner (finished all her veges too!) and had her in bed and asleep by 8pm. She did a great job and Tony and I were very impressed. Well done Becka!

Its nice to think we now have another option at babysitting, and this one Josie will enjoy the best.

So the night before last Becka came over in the evening (to wash my dishes cause I am a lazy woman who let her dishes pile up to a state where I couldn't bare to look at them and had to go to rent-a-niece to get them done) and Tony took her home after that. The next morning Josie wakes up, comes straight to me, wakes me up and says:

Josie: Mummy! Why is Becka not asleep on the couch!?

I had to explain to her that that was happening the following morning.

So the next morning Josie joined Becka on the couch.. see below..

Mari & Josie == Everything

I related a set of events that happened today that renewed my appreciation for my wife and child on the message board of a podcast I listen to regularly (The Deadpan podcast).
Not going to re-write it here, you guys can deal with second hand content. So without further ado:

"Hey guys,

Sorry i haven’t contributed to the community in quite a while Jack (and after you gave me such a high by mentioning me in a list of new community members and all) but I have been listening to the podcast (Deadpan is indeed the way) and lurking in the boards every now and then.

Anyway, I wanted to share an experience I had today that involved the deadpan in finale.

I had a dream/nightmare last night (ie it started off ok and then went bad):
My wife and daughter and our 3 cats moved into a new house in a great neighbourhood.
My wife left the house to go to work leaving me and the Spudlette (my daughters nickname which is short for her super hero name “Spudlette The Crazy Chicken”….erm….mine is “The Bowel”…don’t ask. My wifes is “The Glare”…anyhoo!) to start getting the house into some kind of order.

Well after a few bits which aren’t Germain to the nightmare part the time period sort of changed such that even though time had gone forward I no longer had ever had a daughter and my wife had left me. And I was still in the living room of the house (with just the cats now) having to start the unpacking.

Just as I finished the unpacking and was doing something at one of the windows I saw my wife's car pull up and she got out in a wedding dress. Somehow I knew she was coming back from her honeymoon. She and her new husband who was an old friend of mine. They were going to live in the new house. My mother was helping her out of the car (because of the dress being so cumbersome) and into the house.

They all entered the house and while my mother and my wifes new husband and (perhaps) his mother were all sorting stuff out my wife (Mari - ironically…you should have seen what a clown I looked like when I asked her father for his permission to “marry…er…Mari”) came into the lounge room and started to talk to me like nothing was wrong, like we must have had a perfectly amicable split. That wasn't how I felt. I felt destroyed.

I left the room, pushing past her and heading for the kitchen. She followed me and I realised I was going to try to win her back. With her standing in a wedding dress and having just returned from her honeymoon. Tough but I needed her. I couldn’t live without her. And I remembered my baby, like she was a future that had been changed because I had stuffed up and lost my wife.

Just as I was starting to talk to her the husband, my friend, walked into the kitchen and knowing our history he was suspicious and well to cut a short story shorter we started to fight.
A sword fight.
With hard cardboard tubing.
Awesome fight. Very kung fu.

In the middle of the fight I woke up in my bed. I looked over my shoulder and my wife was not there. And my heart just about exploded until I rolled further and bumped up against something. Turning over fully I found it to be my little girl snuggled up in the covers up against me. And my heart did burst. I drew her into my arms and held her against me for a long time. During which I heard sounds of Mari in the other room getting ready for work. Everything was ok.

The dream didn't really linger in my mind very long after I too got up and started (very hurriedly) getting ready to take my daughter to school and then myself to work (we were running very late now) but when I got into work I remembered the dream and started to related it to Mari over IM. By the time I was finished I was feeling very emotional again and sad. The feelings were still very fresh. Just as I finished recounting the tale I hit the end of Deadpan 59 (which I have listened to before but I like the Tee Morris interview enough to keep listening when my playlist clocked over back to the beginning) where you (Jack of course) played the song which I don't know the name of (To Make You Feel My Love seems possible) and I just about lost it completely. Being an emotion junky and a bit of a masochist I don't know if this was the worst time or the best time for that song to kick in but it had a pretty spectacular effect to say the least.

Mari suggested chocolate to cheer me up but I opted instead for the solitude of the bathroom for a little breakdown. I’m ok now though.

Thank you Jack, for playing that song as frequently as you do. Though it may have been painful it enhanced an experience I was having and made the lessons learned all the more powerful.

Deadpan for life.

Myrddin"

We Have Harry !

Woohoo!

Harry Potter Gold Class! First Saturday, 1pm! Back centre seats!

WOOHOO!

Weirded out by Josie

I often feel like I'm going slightly mad in the moments between when Josie suddenly starts talking out of nowhere and when I figure out what she's talking about.

This morning we were sitting in traffic on our way to school and I'm thinking about stuff going on at work when I hear, in the background of my thoughts, floating out of the back seat as if on the wind:

Josie: The chicken is holding the cats label...
Daddy: *distractedly* is he?
And then as my sub-conscious begins to start rapping smartly on my conscious for attention and the words "DOES NOT COMPUTE" start to light up in my head I become confused and swivel around in my seat in the hope that if I can see and therefore focus on the child she will start to make sense and the feeling of holding onto sanity by my fingernails will fade...
Daddy: Huh, hang on what? The cats hat?!
Josie: NOOOooo, its LABEL!
Daddy: Wha?!
But before I have time to ask some questions to try and make sense of this conversation she quickly hits back with...
Josie: *in her special thinking voice* I think it's a duck.
Daddy: *completely out to sea at this point* Wha? Duck? What?
Josie: It's not a biiiird! *VERY earnestly*
Daddy: *nothing. But in my head I'm screaming*
Josie: It's a chicken *her mind is made up by the tone in her voice*
Daddy: *I go to my special place...again...in my head* Dribble
Having decided what it is (whatever IT is) Josie now has enough bandwidth to notice Daddy is drooling into his beard and in exasperation points past my shoulder and says...
Josie: The bird!!! Hanging there!
I turn and see the bird and cat fluffy toys which harbor the deoderisers for my car and suddenly I feel myself washed ashore once more on the land on sanity.
Daddy: Oooooooh -thank christ for that-
I turn the bird around to get a look at it and proclaim...
Daddy: It's a toucan sweety
Having now had a good look at it and clearly disgusted by Daddy's paltry mental abilities Josie deadpan-stares me and matter-of-factly states...
Josie: It's a parrot.

Adendum
After we started moving again and a small pause in conversation I tried to reclaim some of my lost status with my daughter by suggesting...
Daddy: Is it a Pirate Parrot?!
To which Josie replied simply...
Josie: No.
In a tone which clearly stated "You are neither funny nor particularly bright. Now, I have intelligent conversations to pursue with my imaginary dollies ... shush."
I shut up for the rest of the trip.

First Ever Layout

I got the scrapbooking bug last night. Decided to try some digital scrapbooking. Here is my very first attempt! A bit simplistic but there you go ;-)

Who Is Family?

As we were pulling into Granny's driveway over the weekend we had the following conversation.

Josie: You are my family..
Mari: Yes honey, we are, good girl!
Josie: Me and Daddy and Mummy are all family.. and Granny and Baba..
Mari: Yep, and Grandpa and Dyeda and Uncle Mat and Auntie Wendy and Becka and Vika are all our family..
Josie: yeh and Auntie Harri..
[Dramatic pause while I wipe a tear..]
Mari: yes honey..
Josie: And Matty.. and Jayden..
Tony: Who is Jayden's mummy?
Josie [thinking]: Uhh I dunno..
Tony: Anna!
Josie [slaps forehead]: Yeh! Anna!

lol..

Tales from the back seat (get your mind out of the gutter)

Heard floating out of the back seat while driving Josie to school this morning:

"Dear Rachel,
Sharing is clareing...and Hairy A'Clarey is afraid of Slinky A'Linky...He's a Bad Cat!...I'm goina wrap up this [feather] for Rachel..."

Some Photo Compilations

I've been busy..

A Breakthrough!

For the first time in years and years, Josie went to bed by herself!

Since she was a baby, we have always stayed in the room with Josie as she was falling asleep. A VERY bad habit to fall into, I know, but there you go, we fell. A few periods of time through her younger years we have had succeful results from control crying, and she would go to sleep herself but then she would get sick or something, and would revert to needing one of us in there.

So tonight, she was at Rachel's house, and was being naughty. Wouldnt get dressed to go, wouldnt clean up, and I have had a very long day so I lost my temper and went off at her. Her punishment would be no story and no daddy for bed.

She was on her best behaviour for the rest of the night, expecting us to relent if she was good. We didn't, and she was qite upset going to bed, but Tony took her in, changed her and got her ready for bed, then explained that he would leave the door open and we were right outside.

He came out and we very quietly watched TV.

We didn't hear a peep out of her, and she just drifted off to sleep!

WOOHOO!!!!

Now I have no illusions.. this was a punishment, so I have to be very careful how I encourage this, but hopefully this is just the beginning!

Yay Josie!

From the Mouth Of A Babe

Driving back to Vika's from school..

Josie: are we there yet?
Vika: soon
Josie: vika, you are slow
Vika: well i cant go too fast i have to wait for the other cars, cant jump over them
Josie: no you dont have super powers, my dad can, he can do anything, he is super...ahm, special.
Josie: vika go faster
Vika: i cant go too fast or we can have an accident
[a few seconds of thinking....]
Josie: did you know that granny had an accident
Vika: no, what happened
Josie: granny smashed when i took seat belt off, she smashed into a
man with brother and sister and i took seatbelt off because i wanted to
so i did and when i did granny had an accident
Vika: you took seat belt off while granny was still driving?
Josie: yes and she smashed into man and brother and sister.

She is a bit confused..

Josie has gotten in trouble twice in the last week or so, most recently yesterday, for taking her seatbelt off while Granny is still driving the car. She got a stern talking to last night.

On a completely separate occasion, Granny had a small prang while Josie was in the back (with her seatbelt on).

Understandably, Vika was quite concerned when she questioned me about this.. ;-)

Josie, Road Rage And The Jean-Stock

Yesterday evening, having picked up Josie from Granny's, we were driving home. I came to some lights and edged forward to turn right but there was traffic so I didn't have enough room before the light turned red again. Seeing as I was out too far I started back up a bit, the car behind me was quite a way back so there was no problem, however seeing me back up, the silly woman started beeping at me. I groaned.

Mari (looking back): Yeh yeh, I SEE you!

So I back up and wait for the green light. Lights change and I go, having turned the corner, we passed a bus and a truck, who after an altercation of some kind started beeping at eachother. Josie has learnt well what to do in this situation.

Josie (from the back): Yeh yeh, we SEE you!

LOL.

Then...

Driving to school this morning, Josie was reading from her Read-Along Jack and the Beanstalk book. When you open the book and turn the pages, it reads to you. But alas, it has stopped working, so Josie has to do the reading herself, but seeing as she can't read yet, she makes it up as she goes along. Here is a snippet..

Josie: Jack gave some coloured beans to his mummy but his mummy didn't like them so she threw them.. out the window.. but Jack went up the jean-stock and saw the giant and he got scared and came back down.

Pretty succinct, no?

The Perils of Paying BIlls

Ok so my dad is not the only one.. here follows a story from Mat..

Mat: your husband sucks
Mat: never answers his phone
Mat: there is NO WAY that I am related to my mother
Mat: you think your dad is bad
Mat: you have NO idea
Mat: I need alcohol
Mari: LOL
Mari: whats happened?
Mat: oh where do I start
Mari: heheh
Mat: she was trying to pay her council rates online
Mari: oh dear
Mat: so she calls me up to say she's at the Botany Bay council website but can't find any sign of an option to pay rates
Mat: so she tells me the URL and I go there and there's a button to pay your rates
Mat: after some mind-destroying investigation it becomes clear that she's searched for the council via Google
Mat: and is most likely looking at a Google cached version of the page rather than the page itself
Mari: LOL
Mari: ahhh google is becoming the bane of our existence methinks..
Mat: so I click on the link on the page I'm looking at and it sends you to a third-party financial portal
Mat: so I figure I may as well just get her to type THAT URL into the address bar and go there
Mari: lol
Mari: ok
Mat: so .. I begin telling her what to type
Mat: this was painful in itself
Mat: I tell her to select the text in the address bar .. so that begins more pain
Mari: lol
Mat: "Where's the select button?"
Mat: "How do I select?"
Mari: PMSL
Mat: "USE THE MOUSE TO SELECT THE TEXT"
Mat: "Where?"
Mat: "IN THE ADDRESS BAR!"
Mat: "What's that?"
Mari: mwahahahahah!!
Mat: "OH FFS!"
Mat: so I help her to find the address bar (or so I think but that's giving the game away)
Mat: and I start dictating this URL
Mat: "type clearance"
Mat: "clearance?"
Mat: "yes .. the word clearance"
Mat: "there's no ... clearance"
Mat: "IN THE DICTIONARY THERE IS A WORD CLEARANCE"
Mat: "oh you want me to type it out ..>"
Mat: *SOB*
Mat: through much pain she types out the whole URL
Mat: and hits enter at my behest
Mat: page not found
Mari: ROFL
Mat: crap, I think, she's typed a bit wrong ..
Mat: "ok click the back button .. no wait .. don't ... it'll probably go back to the cached page you had up ... what does it currently say in the address bar?"
Mat: "it still says http://www.google.com"
Mat (starting to have a meltdown): "you typed that whole URL into the Google search box didn't you?"
Mat: "What's that?"
Mat: "it's too difficult"
Mat: "No Mum it's not .. it's really not .. kids can do this .. Josie will be able to do this shortly!"
Mat: "What is at the top of your screen ..."
Mat: "There's a box with http://www.google.com in it .. and then Q .. and then there's google and another box"
Mat: "and that's the box you've been typing into haven't you?'
Mat: "yes ..."
Mat: "ok just tell me your goddamn rates notice reference number...." (start to do it myself)
Mat: finish rate payment and bang head on desk
Mat: repeat
Mari: ROFL
Mari: ok are you gonna blog this or am i
Mat: heh .. you can ... I told her i would when I was going through the ordeal .. but now I just want the memory to fade
Mari: LOL ok

lol.. See at one point we all thought Google was the schnitz when it came to getting our parents off our backs when they were looking for something on the internet. "Just google it!" we'd say.. but alas, those days are over.

Last week my mother was trying to find the specs on a Toyota Tarago. She of course googled it, which is great, but then she didn't go to the actual Toyota website when google came back with the search results, so of course didn't get any further. And of course when she rang me for help she told me she was looking at 'toyota page' which I took to mean http://www.toyota.com.au. Obviously she was still looking at the google search results.

Fast forward a few days and I get an IM from my dad wanting to know how to bring up an ebay auction from an ebay auction number he had. Did he go to http://www.ebay.com.au? Of course he didn't. He went to google. When I told him to put the number into the search box in the top right hand corner of ebay.com.au he said there wasn't a search box there. I asked him if he was on ebay's website, and he of course said yes. Was he? No of course he wasn't.. he was on google's search results.

Come on!! Its really not that hard to understand!!

Parents! Listen to your children!! Stay AWAY from the internet!!!

A Hard Day's Night..

We were watching TV in the living room when I heard what sounded like the plastic stool beside Josie's bed moving.. Tony went in to check it out.. and this is what he found..

The four year old teenager ... Oye!

Josie was describing her morning to Rachel the other day while I was driving them to their swimming lesson:

Josie: Mamma got up with me this morning and we were watching tv.
Rachel: Uhuh I like DOOORa!
Josie: Yeah and ... weeeeell I was being naughty
Rachel: Uhuh
Josie: and Mamma ... FREAKED oooout! *complete with the waving of the hands*
Rachel: *Gasp*
Josie: an' I cried.
Rachel: *nods as if to say "yeah, good move. Nice one."*

Update
I thought I would tape Tony telling the story, the blog just doesn't do it justice..

Click To Play

The Cleaners Are Coming! Run For Your Lives!!

We have a couple of guys come and clean once a month, they are really great and we have been using them for a number of years now. You would think that Zelli would have gotten used to them by now.. alas it is not so...

After they left, I, as usual, went to see that the cats were ok.. this is what I found..

For The Love of My Job..

I have had such a busy week.. so much work to do.. and I have loved every minute of it.

This is such a wierd thing for me. To love where I work, and to love what I do. I have never really had very much in the way of career aspirations. I always just wanted to be a stay at home mum and just bring up a huge brood of kids. And job after job I have started off liking, but after a while I just grew bored and frustrated.

But this one.. I am so in my element. I am so content and happy and confident. I am finally happy in my job. Blissfully happy. And I just can't get over it.

Imagine.. looking forward to Mondays!

Mother's *Cough* *Splutter* Day

Well I made it through Mother's Day! With a sore throat, constant coughing, an all day fever and various other aches and pains, but I made it!

And here endeth the Pity Party!

I had a fantastic Mother's Day!

It all started with my present from Josie. It was a gorgeous little silver box with little jewels stuck on the lid, and a hand drawn card with MUMMY on the cover! Just gorgeous ;-)

Then at 10am we met Baba and Dyeda, Vika and Becka and Anna and Jayden at Yum Cha. It was nice and early so the crowds were non-existent and the food was quick and plentiful. For anyone in the Sydney region, there is NO better Yum Cha than at Marigold! It was, as usual, delicious, and Josie loved playing with Becka and Jayden again.

After Yum Cha we went to Granny's for a bit while Tony fixed the gate so that Rascal (the annoying mutt!!) couldnt get out. Its a metal chain link fence. And he chewed through it! Then about a year ago Tony attached some perspex against it and that lasted a while before Rascal finally demolished it. Into itty bitty pieces (ok so Im taking a bit of poet license here). So now he has attached some wood to it so hopefully it will last a bit longer against the might of Rascal the Destroyer.

So after that was done we all went to Uncle Mat's for lunch and games. After eating MORE delicious food, we sat around for a bit while Mat and Tony and Jacqui played with the Guitar Hero, and then we played Cranium for a while before it was time to go as we had ANOTHER get together to get to!

Now since last week I had been telling Josie that she had to stay overnight at Baba's this night because mummy and daddy were going to be going out and we were getting back very late. She wasn't too pleased, she's gotten a bit difficult about staying overnight at Granny's and Baba's places. So all through the day I kept reminding her, and then when we were coming back from Yum Cha (with Becka and Vika in the car) she had a bit of a tantrum cause she wanted to go to Becka's house to play. So I told her that if she was a good girl and came to Uncle Mat's place for a while, then we would take her to Vika's place and she could sleep over there. She uhmed and ahhed and then agreed.

Mari (looking back at Vika): Mum's gonna have a cow..
Josie (in surprise): Did you just say.. Baba is going to have a COW?!?
(hysterical laughter ensues)

Mum actually took it much better than expected..

So after Mat's we go to drop Josie off at Vika's place. She got a bit clingy when we were going to leave but she was ok. Luckily Becka is reading The Hobbit for school, and Tony is in the middle of reading it to Josie each bedtime, so Becka was able to read to her from it.

So off we went to the climax of our night.

Eurovision at Ines' place! We got there with seconds to spare, Brig was already there, so we rushed in and got settled on the couch (the boys on the floor) and took out our scoring papers, and Harri's printed out score sheet.

Yes its that time of year again when Europe (and some tag alongs) get together, choose their wackiest (and I mean WACKIEST) singing sensation, make their politically correct votes and entertain the world.

And may I start by saying WACKY!

Leading the Wacky Pack was most definitely Ukraine. It was a fabulous song, but the act, well, lets just say they used a lot of aluminium!

Runner up in the Wacky Stakes would have to be the guy in the feathers, silver bolero jacket and huge thing around his neck from Sweden. He took his jacket off. That could be bonus points, or it could be loss of points, depending on how you look at it.

I really loved Romania though. No one else liked it, but I thought the song was great ;-)

The voting was the usual politically motivated rubbish. How else would have Serbia won? I mean she was good. Better than a lot of the acts. But I swear the Ukraine should have won on sheer wackiness! They did come second though!

Now having been watching the TIVO'd prelims from the night before as I write this, I have to say, Denmark, I cannot believe they didn't make it into the finals! A man, dressed in a hot pink, sequinned, revealling dress, and feather head piece.. a shoe-in I would have thought!?

So that made for a late night, with Tony lamenting the over abundance of clothing on the female performers, and the lack of clothing on the male performers, but it was a great conclusion to a fabulous Mother's Day!

For last year's recap, click here.

I fell asleep on the way home and went straight to bed because I had to be at Vika's at 7am to pick up the kids and take them to school.

6:20am my alarm went off. With my coughing and not feeling well it took me all my will power and determination to get out of bed!

So after picking up the girls, dropping off Becka at school, then heading down to the preschool, I parked the car and got out, putting my phone in my pocket. Which normally isn't a problem, except this morning it had to be a problem. As I turned around, the phone popped out of my pocket and flew under the car. By this time Josie was out of the car and I couldnt be bothered putting her back in in order to move the car so I left it there.

In we went to a lovely set up of breakfast cereals, assorted bagels, and fruit. We had a lovely breakfast all together with Rachel, Michelle and Miriam, and then went out the back where one of the dads had set up a Dr Smoothie stall (he owns it) and was giving out snow cups in various different flavours, including coffee, which I desperately needed!

After saying my goodbyes, I headed back to the car, where I had to reverse, hop out, grab my phone (thank god it had a plastic cover on it!), and then head off to work.

I have to say, Im still not 100%. Coughing like a madwoman, a fever lingering, it was not a pleasant day at work, but having said that, a non-pleasant day at this job is 100 times better than a pleasant day at any other job I have had so far. I continue to be amazed at how much I love what I am doing at the moment ;-)

Aaaanyway.. this has been quite a long update hasnt it? Happy Mothers Day mum!!

Tonsilitis and Photos

Again! I have tonsilitis again!! Can't swallow, high fever, and tomorrow is Mothers Day!! WAAA!!

I went this morning to the Dr to start on the antibiotics quickly. Im starting to feel better tonight but its still gonna be a bummer tomorrow. We have such a fully day planned!

Yum Cha in the morning. Uncle Mat's for lunch. Eurovision at Ines' at night.

Bah!

So I thought I might stick in some photos to make me feel better ;-)

So first up we have Josie and Jayden when we went to see Meet The Robinsons for Jayden's Birthday.

And this is Becka and Josie on the same day...
And Miss Josie posing as usual..

This one is when we had Shabbat at Mat's place. This little wooden Shabbat set is from the school.

This is Rachel and Josie at Trudy's place.. the girls had a great time and Rachel was a great distraction !

This is Josie in her school uniform for next year! We were so excited to see her in it! She is growing up too fast!

And her sports uniform for next year..

And winter uniform!

So cute!!

Mmmmmmm Chocolate !

Tony and I went to a Lindt Warehouse Sale on Saturday.

We got lots of chocolate. LOTS. We have more chocolate than you could poke a stick at. Not that you would want to poke sticks a chocolate. But I digress...

We drove about an hour to get there, and as we drove past the entrance, looking for parking, we saw the queue, with probably a couple hundred people waiting.. and Tony says "You know, your parents LEFT the USSR to get away from shit like that..".

I somehow managed to convince him to park, and 45 mins later, we were in!

There wasn't a huge variety, but they did have yummy mint, and various different darks, and creme brulee and caramel and lots of milk..

We bought about $200 worth, to sell.

$3 per 100g bar. If anyone would like to purchase, please let me know ;-)

Mari