Hello Sailor

Nothing much to report today.

Dragged the heater out this morning as we were all shivering. Also got the hot water bottles out for night-time, yum yum, toasty toes.

Scott is a bit unwell. I sent him to school today anyway, but may have to keep him home tomorrow. He is complaining of aching bones and sore throat and he has a bit of a cough.

The rest of us are fine.

night
your wife

Hidey ho

Thursday was miserable as far as the weather is concerned, but I had a nice day. I spent the afternoon visiting with a friend, Kylie, who I don't get to see particularly often, she is getting married in August and I will be going up for the wedding. It was lovely to spend time with her and meet her fiance.

Friday was spent driving, well, that's how it felt. Went to mum's to get the boys, spent 2 hours there, then turned around and drove back again. The weather was pretty nasty so it was a slow trip.

Got home barely five minutes before Brenny and Paul and Harrison turned up, perfect timing! We had BBQ for dinner and Ally from up the road came down to have tea too, as her hubby is away and she is a bit lonely.

Saturday was full on, but we didn't actually do much. I finally at long last bought a stroller because I have had enough of lugging that pram around. It was never going to fit in Brenny's car anyway, after everyone was in there wasn't much room for anything else! Anyway, we went over to Manly and wandered around the shops and beach. We had talked about going to Oceanworld, but once we got there we couldn't really be bothered so we just let the kids run around for awhile. We went to the footy match, it was pretty good, abit cold. We got home around 8.30pm.

The boys were very impressed with the in-car dvd system in Brenny's car, they have requested that we buy a car just like it, lol. I commentated the Thomas the Tank Engine movie they were watching - the set comes with ear phones so most of us couldn't hear what was being said, so I thought it would be funny to make up my own script. Needless to say it involved alot of gas, lol, Scott and I found it hilarious, Brenny just thinks I am nuts, lol.

They left early Sunday so I occupied myself with tidying the house, getting washing done and going shopping for food. The day disappeared pretty quickly.

Today I had a flex day and sent the kids to vacation care and day care so I could have some peace and quiet, lol, that's so funny. I hired a carpet cleaner and spent two hours cleaning the floors, then I cleaned and vacuumed the car.

I haven't posted for a few days as you will have noticed, not only because I have been busy, but also because I had got totally sick of the internet speed. It was running at dial-up and alot of webpages actually drop out if the broadband speed isn't fast enough. So today I resolved to do something about it and contacted our supplier. The gentleman was very patient and talked me through the process and hooray! back to fast speed again. Not sure why the problem occurred but it was actually quite easy to fix and if it happens again I will be able to fix it.

After all that I sat down and sewed for an hour then went and got the kids.

Rhymetime is back on tomorrow. Hope my voice is up to it.

It is very cold tonight and I am NOT being wussy. It snowed in Thredbo and Lithgow and Orange. It is currently 11 degrees. It is predicted to be pretty cold all week, so I guess I will be getting the heater out sooner rather than later. I am comfy at temps of 18-25, more or less and I start to get uncomfy.

Well, I am off to bed to snuggle under my quilt.
Sweet dreams.
your wife.

Hi there

Matt is now saying 'Din-dins'. Everything else is 'Elmo'. Well, not really, but it sure seems like it.

Work was fine. Didn't get a good turn-out for an activity today, even though I had a few booked in. I guess the weather might have put them off a bit, it has been raining off and on all day.

This morning on my way to work petrol was 144.9, now it is 153.8. Lovely.

Haven't talked to the boys yet, I'll be ringing them later.

sweet dreams
your wife

Evening

hello there.

I am feeling cranky now because the computer hasn't been 'running', it has been c..r..a..w..l..i..n..g for the last few days and it is driving me round the bend. I had no end of trouble logging in tonight because the page kept timing out. We clicked over to a new month on Sunday, so it can't be because we've gone over the download limit. I shall have to investigate, grrr.

Had a great day at work, got lots done in the morning, then had the Magician in the afternoon. He was a BIG hit! About 40 kids turned up and had a great time, and even the adults were laughing and being thoroughly entertained. A number of people have asked when we are going to have him back, so it might have to be a regular thing (yearly will do, same as the farm). I keep getting parents asking about activities for under 5's, I really don;t run much for them during the holidays. I cater more for the school age kids because they don't get much through the term time and it is a good way of promoting the library to them. It is actually not that common for libraries to do stuff for littlies during the holidays.

I spoke to Jennifer about my holiday time later this year, and we also talked about what needs to be done when I am away. I have almost NO back-up at the moment, if I am sick (haha, don't have time for that), or at training, or on holidays, then the people/kids miss out. We discussed the need for someone who can come in at least when I am away, so on a casual basis. They need to be confident enough to sing (possibly badly, but enthusiastically if that is the way it is), read a story or two, and then run the craft. It isn't complicated. Jennifer is going to look into it further.

Amanda got Matt down at 8pm last night and I asked her how because I have been having so much trouble. Basically she just didn't let him get up again like I do. She picked him up when he yelled, but didn't let him go back downstairs and play. So I tried it tonight and persisted and got him down at 9pm. I will continue to do this and get him back into his routine.

Can't believe it is only Tuesday. I am glad it is a short week, even though I won't get alot of rest because of visitors.

night!
your wife

Dear Hubby

Well, I didn't get to play Yahtzee with Will because Matt wouldn't go to bed. Perhaps this new bedtime behaviour is as a result of you going, since that was when it started. I hope he settles down sometime in the near future because I am not getting any home stuff done while he is awake.

The house has gone to Hades as far as housework is concerned, except for when Amanda comes around and does some of it for me, lol. The bathroom stopped leaking for awhile and I was all ready to point the finger at you and say that it must have been you doing something (although I couldn't imagine what besides taking a cup of water and spilling it on the floor, lol), but then it got all wet again last night. Stuffed if I know where it is coming from. Back to putting towels down again.

Had an easy trip to mum's yesterday, there wasn't much traffic going up but the rain got pretty heavy sometimes. Got a bit lost finding her new place but sorted it out pretty quick. Her new house is ALOT smaller than her old one and they are all finding it taking a bit of getting used to. Even Bert had something to say about, lol. He said to say 'Hi'.

The traffic was pretty heavy coming back. We left at 3pm and so did everyone else, lol, or so it seemed. Still only took just over a couple of hours. The house is awfully quiet without the big boys, and so much less cooking and cleaning! I'd forgotten what it was like with just one small person around.

I must say that I really enjoyed spending time with Will. He is a different kid when Scott is not around, almost no whinging and easy to entertain. I didn't realise what an effect Scott was having on him till he was out of the house. I think I'll need to sit them down and write up some house rules when they get back.

I bought Matt a pair of Wiggle pj's at Coles last night and let him hold them while I finished getting bits and pieces. He loved them so much that I had to fight to get them off him so the checkout girl could scan them!

My friend Kylie is doing a rush visit to Sydney this week, I am hoping to catch up with her for a couple of hours at some stage, but not sure when. I'll be getting the boys on Friday before Brenda and co. arrive. Really looking forward to their visit. It is only 7 weeks till bub arrives!

We have a customer who is a bit challenging sometimes. He mainly requests song lyrics - at least 4 per week, but will phone up with apparently random requests. For example, tonight he called and asked for two song lyrics, then lists of the NSW locations of Hoyts, Greater Union Cinemas, Westfield and Stockland Shopping Centres. None of us have any idea what he uses this stuff for, but it takes up at least an hour of my desk shift finding it all and putting it into a format he can read. Needless to say this kind of stuff really gets up some of the staff's nose, but there is three of us who just deal with it and shake our heads at the oddness of it.

You also get the oddballs who come in wanting to personally email the head guy of AC/DC, for example, who can't comprehend when you say that that is just not possible. And you get people who come in, regularly, to use the computers, but who play the 'I am computer illiterate' line every single time, so who ever is on the desk spends time helping them (doing our job), but having to do it all so slowly that it disadvantages other patrons. Ahh, the joys of being an info librarian and believing in assisting the customer. We now have a policy that says we can only give them time as long as no-one else needs our assistance.

I had a lady come in with her twins on Friday who had forgotten that there is no Rhymetime during holidays. She begged me to at least sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the boys, so there I sat at the Info Desk singing, lol. But I was rewarded with beautiful smiles from both of them, so didn't mind embarrassing myself just a little (oh, hang on, don't I do that every time I get up and sing, lol).

Well, have a nice evening, hope they aren't working you too hard.
your wife.

It's been a good day

Had a nice day today. I worked this morning and it wasn't too busy. Had a lovely chat with one of my bookclub kids. Came home to happy kids, a freshly vacuumed house and no dishes on the sink, my babysitter is worth every penny. I could have asked your bro to babysit, but I'd prefer not, he tends to just sit on the computer the whole time and that's not babysitting in my book.

Got the kids organised and headed off to catch the 1pm bus to the city. We went to the museum to be amazed by the new Dinosaur exhibit. Matt slept the entire time! He was awake on the bus, then fell asleep while we were walking in the park to the museum. He didn't wake up until we were catching the bus home! Will thoroughly enjoyed the visit. I have a photo of him poking his finger up a replica Dinosaur nose, lol. I think the spiders/bugs were a big highlight for him too. I have been trying to upload a couple of photos but it isn't working today for some reason.

We got home around 4.30pm and I pottered around for a while, then cooked tea (Silverside and roast veges). Will and I are watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and hopefully Matt will go to bed so that we can have a game of Yahtzee.

It was nice to talk to you again today.

sleep well
your wife

Dear Hubby

Today has been a good day. Made it out the door on time. It was raining again. Dropped Will off to Vacation care. No zoo trip for them today, off to the movies instead, so he got to see Nim's Island. Got Matt to daycare and got to work with minutes to spare.

I don't think I have mentioned previously that petrol is now up to 152.9 cents per litre. Not pretty. Gas is still 62.9.

Work was fun this morning, I had two kids booked in for games in the library, and 15 turned up, lol. Lucky for me that I was prepared for that possibility. We played Musical Chairs, Egg and Spoon races and Musical Statues. There were three boys there about 10yrs old that were a bit standoffish at first, but by the end were asking me to keep going! Maybe it was the easter eggs I was handing out! Nah, I think they were actually having fun.

In stark contrast, my board games afternoon session had 4 booked in and none turned up! I wasn't too worried and I went back out the back and powered through some more work instead.
Not doing anything tomorrow for holiday activities, I have a desk shift in the morning and will get on with organising the trivia comp we are having next month (plus promos for the knitting groups, bookclub stuff and whatever else I can get done before home time). Also in the morning I will have a clean up of the children's area as it got trashed today. Not impressed with the number of parents that sit back and allow their kids to treat the library like that.

I bought some retro lounges for the children's section in the library, I'll take a photo for you to see once I have the area set up. There is a double lounge and two singles and they are red with white trim. I hope the kids are kind to them.

Not sure if I mentioned that I had another playgroup/kindy call asking for my services (I could just do outreach/library visits every day with all the requests I have had). I am glad there is such a need out there, but I am only one person and not sure how I can fit everyone in. The other big library in the area no longer does outreach at all and offers a very limited service within the library itself. I will try to fit this one in, because I am a key figure/representative for early child literacy and encouraging parents to read to their children. Have to sell it to my boss and supervisor though, because they want to make sure I don't stretch myself too far.

Will has been a bit emotional this evening. I think he is missing Scott.

Hope you aren't overdoing it.
your wife

Good Evening

Well, I have waved the three boys off on the train tonight. We made really good time into the city which actually worked in our favour. I had thought they might catch the 7.15pm train so we left home at 5.50pm (allowing 40mins for traffic). We were at the station by 6.15pm, so only 25 minutes! I bought the tickets ($6 each, bargain)and was able to pop them on the 6.30pm train instead, saved us hanging around for 40 mins. It also meant they avoided having to swap onto a bus as trackwork was going to disrupt the 7.15pm onwards trains.

I think my brothers enjoyed their time here. They didn't get to do an awful lot because I was at work, but they all went to the movies on Sunday and saw Spiderwick Chronicles and they have been to the park a couple of times and over to the shopping centre too. They played Spotlight and Murder in the Dark with half the neighbourhood a couple of times. I kept them well fed and they had a fairly easy time of it. Scott was being a bit difficult, I think he was trying to impress. He has gone with them so Will and I will have some peace from Scott's picking. Will is off to the zoo tomorrow with Vacation Care. We will go to mum's on Sunday for the day and I will leave Will there then and come back with Matt.

Matt had a really bad night last night and, not surprisingly, got up cranky. I think it is probably just his teeth again, there is a couple still coming through.

The weather's been a bit average. Rain, rain, and more rain, and more rain predicted for the rest of this week.

I received my Graduate Diploma certificate in the mail today. I might frame it and stick it in a box with the Bachelor Degree, lol.

Myself and a colleague ran a knitting class yesterday. Well, we supervised while a couple of lovely ladies ran the actual class. I learnt a new way of casting on. It was a successful class, we had a total of nine teens and adults turn up and all of them went away able to knit. They are all very keen to have a regular knitting session in the library so my colleague and I are organising that and talking it up.

that's it from us for now, take care
your wife

Dear Hubby

It has been a busy few days, so much so that I haven't bothered going near the computer.

We left home Saturday at 8.30am. Will had his game at 9am. They won the game YAY!

Scott then had to be at his field at 10.30am to play at 11am - his first game for the season! They didn't win their game but they played really well. Scott was running from one end of the field to the other for most of the game, and he handled it really well.

In the photo above he is the kid in the middle.

We finished with soccer just after 12pm and by the time we got ourselves organised to catch the bus it was nearly 1pm. Matt fell asleep in the car on the way to the bus stop, and then slept nearly the whole way into the city. We walked from Central to Darling Harbour and finally caught up with my brothers at 2pm. By that time it was too late to go to the aquarium (we thought we might get to go) so we wandered around the markets for awhile and then watched a bloke playing bottles. He was great! Very enthusiastic. Who needs to pay for concerts when you can watch this kind of thing for free! We gave him a few dollars and lots of claps, then went back to Central and caught the bus home. Matt was wide awake for the trip home and everyone on the bus knew it! He did his best impression of Tarzan calling to Jane and tried unsuccessfully to climb out of my arms. He said 'Ding Dong' and tried to press the stop button alot, I encouraged him to press the screw below it. Everytime the bell went to indicate someone had pressed the button Matt would say 'Ding Dong', it was quite cute. We got home at 4.30pm. So we were out of the house from 8.30am - 4.30pm. What a full on day. Matt was so tired that he was asleep by 7pm.

We got to talk to you! The boys appreciated that alot. I didn't have much to say because I generally find it easier to write about daily life, I have more time to think about it, I suppose.

Sunday was spent recovering from Saturday and catching up with the housework. I must have done about six loads of washing by the end of the day, I have no idea where all that comes from.

I brought a box home from work earlier in the week and Matt spent some time playing in that.

It was a nice break from watching the Wiggles and Playschool, lol. Matt and I spent time playing with the boxes and stacking blocks on top of each other.

So today I am back at work and finishing preparations for holiday activities. My bros have been quite happy to hang out with our big boys and will do so again tomorrow and Wednesday. Scott has asked to go up with them on Wednesday and I will check with mum to see if this is ok. It would be nice not to listen to him and Will argue. They don't have any training or games this week, so no commitments that he would be missing.

That's it from me for now.

Hugs

your wife

Hello Sailor

how are you going? Swimmingly I am sure, lol, lame joke, I know.

Matt has been practising going up stairs upright. He holds my hand and has a hand on a rail or wall and does one step at a time. Matt is very cheeky in the morning when we are leaving for school and likes to get out the door and run up the road. He thinks it is hilarious.

Scott and I stayed up last night to watch a show on the ABC about homeless kids in Surry Hills. It gave us an opportunity to discuss drugs and alcohol and he reassured me that he won't be smoking or taking drugs, but he will drink. So I emphasised the importance of being sensible about it and used you as an example (you have a few on the weekend, but you aren't silly about it). Glad to know where he stands on these issues and I hope he feels a similar way in the future (I'd be quite happy if he decided not to drink too, lol). We talked about some other stuff too but my mind has gone blank.

Scott got his needle yesterday. He complained about his arm hurting a bit. He said when the nurse was getting ready to give him the shot he kind of shuddered so she handed him this little toy, we thought this was really funny cause he didn't know what it was for, so it seemed really bizarre.

Will is cool. He has an email address now so he feels all grown up and is looking forward to getting some mail (hint hint).

Work is good. I have a headache, I am looking forward to going home in a few hours. School holiday activities start next week so it will be a busy time. My brothers arrive tomorrow and stay until Wednesday.

smiles from
your wife

Hello Hello!

I missed yesterday because I didn't go near the computer! How unusual is that! Got home at 6pm as usual and rushed around tidying and feeding hungry mouths before my visitors came. They arrived at 7.30pm and left at 9pm. Scott mucked up heaps and wouldn't go to bed when he was told and Will was overexcited and hard to settle. Matt did not go to bed until I did, at 11pm. Obviously I don't have visitors very often!

I got Will's spider suit done, he looked great, very spidery. Hopefully he has a nice time at school in it. Both the big boys were impressed with it.



hugs
your wife

Hello Sailor!

Hope all is chugging along nicely with you.

Well, I have sat for a few minutes trying to think of something to tell you. Ummmm.

I ordered photos online and they arrived today, there are some great ones in there.

I was fractionally late picking up Will today because Matt wanted to walk, literally, all the way up that hill. He did it too, and I picked him up at the top and carried him the rest of the way. Will's teacher pulled me aside to let me know that the parents of the kids who peed on Will's bag were absolutely horrified and have offered to purchase Will a new bag. I happily accepted. Not that his bag smells or anything, I am just glad the parents are being responsible.

Well, tomorrow I will be madly making a spider suit for Will's Bug ball on Wednesday. It is on during school hours, not sure if he wears his outfit or takes it with him, there has been no note. I think I will give his teacher a call and clarify that. Also tomorrow I have a neighbour and her daughter coming over for some patchwork discussion. The daughter has been told by her school to make a quilt. That's it apparently. No pattern, no info, no nothing. She has purchased some fabrics and we will look at some patterns and then set up a time table of some sort. It has to be completed by the end of term 2. I will help her along as needed.

Scott didn't hand in a History assignment when it was due so he is madly working on it this week. Silly boy. He knows the consequences if he fails any subjects.

Oh! The guitar hero thingy! We had 12 turn up!! YAY! It went well, two boys (not ours) walked away a little richer and all of them are keen to do it again (I think the huge screen was a big hit). We ran a bit late because so many turned up, but it also meant that we could turn up the music because the library was closed. We had pizza and drinks at the end. It was a good result and hopefully the next one will be even better!

Take care
your wife.

Good evening husband

I am truly glad the day is nearly over. I am tired. The older kids picked at each other when we were out shopping and just got me so cranky. Matt didn't have a sleep today so he is cranky too. What a pleasant household we are, lol. If I was a drinker then today would be a good day to crack open a bottle of wine. Instead, I will get a good book and go to bed early.

Horton Hears a Who was apparently a good movie, but since I spent most of it entertaining Matt in the foyer I wouldn't know.

Tonight we are partaking in Roast Chook and Baked Veges followed by Vanilla Icecream with Choc Topping.

sweet dreams
your wife

Dear hubby

Scott had school photos done yesterday. Will did a speech at school about Spiders. Someone peed on his bag, but he doesn't know about it, the teacher found it and washed it and he was told that it got wet. Spoke to the teacher and she said it wasn't a personal attack, the bag was hanging outside the classroom and some kids thought it would be funny to take it in the toilets. They were caught and dealt with.

Earlier this week I bought new computer chairs from one of those online bargain shops. They arrived yesterday, so I made one last night when I got home from my craft group and Scott and I made the other today. They are blue, have gas lift and they are comfy.

Will played a great game of soccer today. The final score was 0-0. YAY! Apparently the team they played won last weekends game 3-0, so it was good to see our lot defend well and prevent them from scoring at all.

Decided to rearrange the dining area/computer area today. Basically I just ended up swapping stuff from one side to the other. It was a good opportunity to give those hidden areas a good clean. It looks like it will work this way, time will tell. One of the legs of one of the dining chairs fell off completely, I think I am going to have to get the drill out and put screws in to hold it together till you get home.

Well, we are off to play Guitar Hero in the library soon. Should be fun. We bent the rules (that I made, lol) so that Will can play. One of the staff is bringing two of her nephews and one of their friends and it looks like Tim is coming along too, so maybe we will have a good turn out after all!

hugs from
your wife

Dear hubby

As you may recall, I start work early on a Thursday so that I can leave early to get Will on time for soccer training. It is very hard to start the day any earlier than I already do so it is generally a stressful and disorganised morning. Today was no different. I got to work on time, but forgot my purse (not actually a bad thing, lol), forgot Will's T-shirt for soccer again, and forgot the video game that was supposed to go back tonight. I had my head screwed on so at least I didn't forget that.

Scott had a barky cough and looked like death warmed up this morning so I allowed him to stay home. I called him a couple of hours later and he sounded much improved. Hmmm. He is going to school tomorrow.

Work was fine. It has been hard to be chirpy and motivated this week (can't imagine why, lol) and I think that has affected my performance. No one is complaining though, so I can't be doing too badly. Maybe it's just my own perceptions of myself. I was disappointed to only have 6 registered for the Guitar Hero comp this Saturday, I had pictured a healthy crowd of about 30. I had three different colleagues reassure me on this matter, the general consensus is that teens are lazy and it's hard to get them to do anything. We had another 2 register at the last minute so I have to be satisfied with a total of 8. We tested out the equipment today and everything is working fine. It looks really cool on the big screen, those kids don't know what they are missing.

Picked Matt up and chatted to Trisha about his nappy rash. There hasn't been any improvement at all so she has suggested I pick up some special cream for him that might do the trick. I will get it tomorrow.

Wazza is going to babysit for me tomorrow night so I can go to my craft thingy without the kids. I won't be able to stay as long, but that is ok, I can get alot done in a couple of hours.

We made homemade pizzas for tea tonight. The boys made one each and Will ate heaps! He made a pig of himself, lol, I guess he just enjoyed his own work. Pretty simple too, bit of pizza sauce, some salami, some ham, some pineapple, and a dash of cheese. What more could a kid want!

Chatted to mum tonight. Luke has moved out and she's noticing the difference already. She's still madly packing, they move on Saturday.

Hugs
your wife

Happy Anniversary!

Had an odd phone call today, well, it started off odd. I answered my mobile and a lady said 'It's ok, you don't need to worry' What The...! Anyway, it turned out she was from DCO, it was a courtesy call and they are sending me some info. But how odd to tell me not to worry before she had even introduced herself. And would DCO be the ones to call me if there was something to worry about? I thought I'd get a call from someone on the ship.

I was in a cranky mood at work today, so I pasted my happy face on and got on with it. But I had 4 people (without children) come and interrupt my Rhymetime session. Why would that annoy me? Because there is a large sign on the front door saying 'Children's Programs in progress, NO library services will be available till 12pm' (I was at the branch library, it opens at 12pm to the general public, I run my session before it opens). Grrrr.

Matt has a runny nose. Will has to do a speech on minibeasts on Friday. Scott reckons he has no homework, hmmm, no comment. We are having pasta bake for dinner.

Home now and glad to be nearing the end of the day. Matt is still up roaming around but I've managed to keep him away from the Wiggles, for some of the time at least. His favourite songs are 'Wags the Dog' and Quack, quack, quack, cock a doodle doo'. I noticed that when he hears those particular songs he starts doing the moves, sooo cute!

Goodbye

There was nothing nice about watching your ship sail away. We stayed until we couldn't see it any longer.

We had no problems getting out of the car park, although I am glad we hadn't parked any higher up as I felt abit sick going round and round to come down!

Kids were generally okay. I think Matt is a bit off colour with his teeth coming through so he was grizzly and a little clingy. We all went to the park with Ally and Jedd and had a nice time. It was a beautiful day for it. I shouted the boys to a hired video game and that kept them entertained for a little while, lol. Dinner was Chicken Curry, yum!!! Scott and I loved it, Will turned his nose up. He seemed a bit emotional all day, I think he was a little upset by the mornings' events.

I am back at work today. Law Week starts this week and today we had a visit from some police officers who kindly read a story at my pre school session and then gave out some goodies. The kids were very impressed.

I surprised yet another lady today with how many children I had personally and my age (never revealed, but hinted at), she was convinced I was no older than 23yrs, lol, guess the rough night wasn't showing on my face!