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The Family Bandwagon

Our family is spread out across the country and across the world, and what better way to keep in touch than a collaborative digital journal?

Friday 31 March 2006

Trinity's cheeky grin



And Jared's looking a bit cheeky too...he didn't want his photo taken, but after being told if he was going to be silly (hiding grumpily) then he wasn't going to be able to ring his friend and would be grounded (he threw a major wobbly!) Can't tell from this pic tho'!

Thursday 30 March 2006

Just a quick one: we've just emailed the real-estate agent about getting a viewing for a new flat!

It's got everything we want and need: it's closer to a train station, so Dee can get to Glasgow that wee bit quicker; it's two bedroom, for any guests; it's not a ground floor flat (the drainage is always troublesome); it has a balcony which overlooks the Waters of Leith (a meandering stream which has featured in a bunch of my other photos).

It's also available in May, which gives us a little bit more saving-up time for our European holiday in July/August. And from the photo you can see it's a bit ... unique. Looks very nice on the inside, from what we can tell.

Also, we're looking to go somewhere for Easter, just as soon as Dee confirms her leave (American company -- no regular or bank holidays) and we've decided on Münich! It's fairly cheap, looks very relaxed and is in the heart of Bavaria (so choccy desserts ahoy!).

That is all.

Monday 27 March 2006

NEIS

Just thought I would post here that Adam got accepted into the NEIS program. What does that mean? Adam can earn money without us losing our weekly Centrelink payments. yay! Before he was worried that if he got a couple of bigger contracts that Centrelink would cut us off for 6 or 13 weeks, now that won't be an issue :)

Besides that, well, the kids are back at school for second term. Calisthenics started tonight. Lions go back next week. Trinity is growing (still haven't had her weighed yet) and she has the cheekiest grin!

Monday 20 March 2006

Threads, Glasgow and Back In Black

Now that we've both been paid, Dee and I went shopping in Glasgow this weekend. It was meant to be a big splurge, and we earmarked £100 each to spend, mostly on clothes and shoes. My wardrobe, for example, is pretty "backpacker" at the moment, with a bunch of short-sleeved shirts and sensibly warm jumpers, one pair of jeans and one pair of corduroy pants, all colour-matched a fetching (and grime-disguising) brown.


So my plans were to get a bunch of hip new threads, to ready myself for the coming months and the monthly charity "casual days" at work. On top of that, I thought I'd get another shirt and tie combination for work. I think Dee's plans were similar, although she's had to get a few things for work already. Women have it both better and worse in corporate attire I think - more freedom in their choices of what to wear, but more freedom means more choice, and more choice means more sophistication is necessary. Me, I've got the good pinstripe suit I brought from home and a plain grey one from the local op-shop. Sorted.


Anyway, long story short (too late!) we walked around for hours and ended up with very little. I got two jumpers, Dee got a £5 t-shirt. Tried on a lot however, so that's something.


This morning we've gone through our budget, and thanks to on-call money for both of us, an extra couple of weeks on Dee's first pay cheque and a profit-sharing scheme from my work we will be able to completely pay off our Australian debt this month! Brilliant to be out of the shadow of that looming responsibility, and to be able to close the account off completely. Better yet, next month we should (if frugal) be able to pay off both of our British credit cards, clearing the score-card completely and setting us up fresh and new - just in time to save some dosh for a 2-week rail trip around Europe in July/August with Dee's brother Chris.


It's quite exciting to think that we can do that - get a cheap rail-pass, book some backpackers and travel from Scotland to England, to France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and home again. It's also the whole reason we're here, so actually doing something about it is a very refreshing feeling.


Well, best get to work. Cleaning up the house in preparation for the coming week!

Friday 17 March 2006

forbidden

Somehow I can't access the family Bandwagon. Lisa told me about the St Pats header and I tried to see it.
I can click on a post and it expands but if I click on view it says HTTP some number Forbidden.
Please can someone fix it? Love Mum
that could be hmlt?

Thursday 16 March 2006

not quite as fun as the Adelaide festival..


just thought i'd share my Tassie pictures.. I was in Launceston for three days last week.. mostly for work.. but i also got to check out Cataract Gorge (see the picture on the left).

I've got a few more photos on Flickr.. in a Tassie set (had to delete another set to make it.. that's what you get for having a free account) *grin*

i bought a tv cabinet today.. it's one that i can shut the tv in (so i don't have to be a tv addict..). i'm going to paint (or get damien to paint) the doors to reflect damien's angel murals.. ...so, damien and cheryl.. when are you coming to canberra for a visit? *grin*

Final festival update, honest

Ok, just a couple more things we did. We finally saw Adam Hills, and he was, as hoped, incredibly funny. He's that guy from Spics and Specs. We bought a couple of t-shirts (which he signed) to support a charity in Cambodia. Then on Thursday, I won a couple of tickets to see a show called Trad. It's from the Edinburgh fringe.. two guys playing a 100 year old Irishman and his dad. And it had a couple of guys on the stage playing live irish music at random intervals, which was fantastic. All up it was really good. Then on public holiday monday we headed into the city to see a couple of the finals of the International Buskers Festival (which were kinda disappointing really, but it was packed so that probably didn't help) and had a wander around the Fringe Family Day, and then we headed to the other side of the city to see a Poster Gallery from Japan.

And I think that's probably about it from us. It's been a fun few weeks, and since it's apparently becoming an annual event I would strongly recommend visiting Adelaide while it's on. Just to head into the city and see how alive and vibrant it is makes it worthwhile, and it seems like every pub and club has some sort of live entertainment. It's probably helps to plan somewhat, but I think we're evidence it's not essential to do so :)

Sunday 12 March 2006

programs wanted

hi all. I'm still waiting for you to email me so I can add you to the contacts list. I have MSN going again. I tried to use the Sims but it says I need to install the original disk. I have the Sims livin large expansion pack(probably Damien's) and a copy (Lisa's writing I think ) of the Sims House Party expansion pack. Who has whatever else I need ?
My Virtual Home is now running better. I manages to put in some doors without it crashing.
Auntie Elaine's Cheryl had a baby girl yesterday Amy Elaine was 9lb + so Trinity was only little.
Lisa please can I have a copy of Bejewelled and Word Zap.
Staying in today because the forecast is 39. I still did the ironing. About 10 of Dad's short sleeved shirts. I'm surprised he hadn't run out. I guess the ones that don't need ironing just circulated. We'll have to get Auntie Denise on the bandwagon.
Thinkingof you all. Looking forward to seeing D and C for Easter.
Love from Mum

Tuesday 7 March 2006

More snow

We had some more snow!

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More photos are now in the photoset.

Monday 6 March 2006

Back on line

Hi all. I'm just catching up on the bloggers. Love the haircut Damien.
Adam has our computer running Windows XP now. Many thanks to him. I downloaded the 48 emails via the Post Office at TPG so I could delete before moving to inbox. Now you all need to send me an email so I can put you back on my contacts list. I'm still trying to get the printer to work. I'll check with Lisa tomorrow.
Kitchen reno progresses. The vinyl we wanted was discontinued and out of stock so we chose again. This time it's on it's way ----to Australia, by the end of the month. We've also ordered tiles we're waiting on and tonight new blinds. Tomorrow the electrician's will be back to finish rewiring and install the lights over where the stove will be once the vinyl is down.
I've been offered a job at the local primary school four hours a week. ( two hours Monday and two on Friday)
Dad has been loading the trailer today. Out with a stove, sink, clothes line old tiles and lots of rubbish. It will be well worth the trip to the tip by the end of the week.
love to all.

Sunday 5 March 2006

More festival stuff

Damien and I have had another weekend of arts festival fun :) Friday after work we went to a Adelaide United football club BBQ (not exactly part of the Fringe) but it was for supporters and players, so it was cool. We were there with Oli (who works with Damien) and Oli's wife, Bron. Oli is a huge United fan and he spent a lot of time on the field kicking around a ball with some kids :) After that we all went to a pub over the road for 'Best of the Edinburgh Fest'. We saw 3 standup comics and they were all really good!

Last night we met up with Oli and Bron again at the banks of the Torrens river to watch "The Dancing Sky". Basically it was an open-air theatre, with classical music, ballet dancers suspended from cables above the river, a lot moving lights and best of all Giant helium balloons painted in a baroque-style with more dancers suspended underneath. It was very very cool!! One balloon was being held down by three guys on the ground and they ran through the crowd with it, lowering it occassionally so that the dancer was so very close to the audience (she even touched hands with some people). We tried taking some photos with my phone, but they didn't really work out :) This is an article about the show on the festival site http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/program/cielodanza.aspx

And finally, today were in the mall and had our photo taken at a booth, which was then displayed on a giant screen! There's also screens in NY, Beijing, Seoul and somewhere in Austria, and all of the screens display the same photos simultaneously :)

More pics from me..

I've had a rather relaxing weekend..

haven't really unpacked many boxes (i'll get to them eventually.. *grin*) but i've been playing with photos (both real and digi) and have put up another set.

This time i've put up the ones from my trips across to Sydney. Click the picture to see the whole set.

Enjoy...

Sydney Opera House

Saturday 4 March 2006

give me some advice, tech-heads.. ;)

i'm thinking about buying a new mp3 player (yes, i know i've just paid off my credit card and i don't want to go back into debt.. however, if i know what i'm saving for, i'm sure i can manage. *grin*).

anmyway.. i'm really not sure what i should be looking for. my little old one is a 256 kB (expandable by SD card - but my 256 kB card died a week or so ago). i found the 512 kB was not quite enough space (especially since my SD card was frequently stupid and wouldn't play tracks that were supposedly there..). i have between 2 - 3 GB music.. so i'm thinking of either a tiny 1 GB one (like the iRiver T20) or a slightly larger 4 - 8 GB one (i saw the Sony "Aura" NW-A1000 today). However, looking at the reviews for the Sony, the computer interface is not good. This is something else that annoys me about my current player - the interface is dodgy and doesn't always work - in fact, it frequently has 'issues'.

so, basically i want:
  • something that is at least 1 GB
  • something convenient (that i can easily carry around)
  • a good interface (or just a 'copy files across')
  • good battery life (or takes AAAs since i've got quite a few rechargables - for my old one)
  • preferrably something that can play WMA (since that's what all my music is currently saved as)
  • preferrably something with a voice record (cos my current one has it - but it's being dodgy right now too..)

suggestions??

*hugz*

IQ test

ok, i am probably a glutton for punishment, i know you are all smarter than me, but i thought i would post this anyway...it was a bit fun...there's 40 questions, so you know (i kept thinking "how many more can there be" lol)
http://web.tickle.com/tests/uiq/?test=uiqogt
anyway, i scored 127, making my Intellectual Type - Insightful Linguist. "This means you are highly intelligent and have the natural fluency of a writer and the visual and spatial strengths of an artist. Those skills contribute to your creative and expressive mind."
see, that sounds ok, right lol

Thursday 2 March 2006

No hair!


There's something glorious about the extreme sport of random hair cuts on a whim. With that in mind, i decided it was time to shave my head. It's so much breezier and easier to deal with this way. Call it my summer style :)