I won something!

I won something!

A week or so ago I saw a competition on The Livingroom (I think it was -- we weren't actually watching, just surfing for something to watch). Typical "25 words or less" with a website under tenplay -- or maybe I just went to the site looking for a way to win an Xbox One? Whatever the case, I entered (with a barely witty appeal to the competition sponsors, Temple & Webster) ... and a few days later I got a call telling me I'd won!

Not a small prize, either: a $20,000 living room makeover, complete with our own personal interior designer figuring it all out for us, and delivery and "bump in". We don't even need to be here! Once I'd gotten over the feeling that it must be a joke or a mistake, I was excited: what with the house and everything, we were planning on a pretty austere Christmas (no presents for each other, but of course we have some stuff for Jules). But winning this competition is OUR Christmas present!

On Friday morning I met Jess, our designer (see her style on Pinterest). She toured the house, measured stuff and helped me pick some "styles" from a bunch of magazines. Really just a fact-finding mission for her -- she'll go away and select some things from the suppliers to Temple & Webster and get back to us with options. Since we do most of our "living" throughout the whole house, there's a good chance at least (I'm flying blind here really) that her suggestions will run all the way from our little kitchen to the outside balcony where the dining table is. We might even get some bedroom stuff, towels, and possibly garden supplies! Who knows. I'll yay/nay stuff when she comes back to me, then I expect there will be a bit of back and forth until we're set on the "look", if not the individual items. So freakin' excited!

(Dee's taking a passive role, which was a surprise to me (perhaps doing our place in Cockatoo was stress enough?).  She just wants to come in one day and have a new living space, which I totally understand. It will be a surprise! Luckily I'm reasonably confident that I can pick stuff that she will like -- and, more importantly, veto those that she would hate! And of course I'll try to take some "before" and "after" photos -- they're the best part of any reno show, aren't they?)

In other good news, our house sale is now unconditional -- the buyers have been approved their finance, and the building inspection was clean. We're going to ask if they want to move up the settlement date (it's February at the moment) but I'll be taking a (frequent-flyer points) flight down to Melbourne (and a visit to the 'go if I can squeeze it in ;-)) to get the last of our stuff. (Yep, part of the sale deal included the furniture, so we don't have too much to move. Perfect, as we were just going to sell it on gumtree anyway!)

I really feel like our karmic investments are finally paying off.

Happy birthday Aunty Lisa!

I like berries!

Happy Birthday Carolynn

Happy birthday cousin Carolynn! Sorry it's late, lemme put the clock back ...

Work, swords, costumes, and general fun times.

It's my final week of work - I'm taking two weeks off over Christmas/New Years, and rather looking forward to them. Last week I was averaging 10 hours a day trying to hit a deadline for a job. It's not fun. On the plus side, though, I made the deadline ;)

On top of that Shihan contacted me to say he'd decided to come to Bendigo for a training session rather than doing one in Melbourne. That caused a mad rush to find an available hall, since my usual dojo was pre-booked. Thanks to Cheryl's quick thinking and Lisa's useful contacts I was able to organise the EUC Hall. I've since discovered my estimated 8-12 students has ballooned out to more like 20. The Melbourne guys disorganisation led to Shihan deciding to come to Bendigo in the first place, so I shouldn't have been surprised to find out only today that there's about 8 coming up. Anyway, the logistics are sorted I think and it's a huge win for the Bendigo club - hopefully if we look after him Shihan will consider coming here for gradings in the future too :)

Speaking of the dojo, we had our end of year BBQ Sunday. Cheryl did a Herculean effort organising stuff for that -and- did the actual barbecuing while I waltzed around teasing the teenagers and generally not being very productive. She is a saint. I was sorry to see Daria wasn't feeling well, and Lisa took her and Trin home. Lucky for Jared and Carolynn Nanny couldn't resist the temptation of a free hamburger and took us up on our offer to join us for lunch so she could shuttle them home afterwards ;)

We've been organising our costumes for Lisa's birthday party too. We're being a bit secretive about who we'll all be going as - all I can tell you is I've done my best to grow a beard in the last month for my costume. Oh and we're very thankful Edith is nearby and knows how to sew :)

After that Christmas day is going to be relaxing by comparison, even with two very excited little kiddies ;)

That'll do from me. Oscar's got a Kindy concert on Tuesday during which he'll apparently sing "lots of songs" and Nanna, Granddad, Nanny and Nanny's Nana are all coming to watch, but I might let Cheryl post about that after it's happened.

Cheerio!

School, Moving and China!!

So I know its been ages since my last post but I've been busy. I have finished uni and decided that this isn't the course for me, so I've applied at TAFE her in Bendigo to do a cert 4 in professional writing and editing that I find out in a week or so if I'm in, and I hope I am pretty confident with it. I get my uni results next week so I'll see how I went with that. Other than that I've moved from where I was and I'm now at Nanny's and still collecting stuff from mum's because I was there for a couple of weeks before I moved, and after thinking that Brady and I were friends I learnt that he wants nothing to do with me really but oh well friendships can fall in a heap.

I've been to China so I'll do a short post about it and put it up in full on my travel blog. So China was great fun I got to bond with a few of the girls (all younger than me) and fall out with them over little things, like knocking on the door and running away lots of times and invasion of privacy. We climbed the Great Wall and visited all the places the emperor and his family lived and visited. We spent 7 days for 3 hours dancing although I didn't do all the hours because I managed to get sick and injure myself :/ I have lots of photos that I will put up on facebook at some stage too. We had lots of eastern food and the occasional western food, like KFC, McDonalds and chips and tomato sauce. The photo is from the second day at the Ming Tombs :)

Happy Birthday Dee!

We've been quiet on the Bandwagon (and other places) for some time now. Mostly we've felt squeezed, I think - moving, work, the house in Cockatoo...

Happy to say we have one of those mostly sorted out now - we have accepted an offer on Baker Street! ("Mostly" because it's contingent on their finance and a building inspection - we SHOULD be fine but will know on the 19th.) Less than we wanted, but it is just a liability for us, an ongoing source of  expenses and stress. So it's a massive relief!

We had a long lunch and the afternoon together yesterday,  and today (Dee's actual birthday) we are... scrubbing the outdoor furniture, eaves and pavers?!? Don't tell ME I don't know how to show a girl a good time!

(Disclosure: Dee is scrubbing. I'm playing cars with Jules. # DadLife)

Otherwise things are okay. My work at Palantir is always busy, but especially so at the moment because my pilot finishes in January. Dee is submitting a proposal for funding her own project which would see a 12 month extension to her contract, so we have our fingers crossed on that one too.

Jules is totally settled into day care, and his vocabulary is steadily increasing - a speech therapist claimed he was not as developed as he should be but I think that's bollocks: he's a shy boy, so didn't really want to talk to her. He does still love his dummy so we're trying to encourage taking it out to speak.

I think I've said it before but we all really love living in Sydney. This area is so nice, Dee's work colleagues are great, we can cycle into the city, there are beaches and parks and markets and cafes.

Christmas is coming up mighty fast. We are staying up here this year, so will have to get on a Hangout on Christmas day. The Melrose family are visiting (from Scotland) on Tuesday so that will be fun; Dee's mum and brother are joining us for Christmas.

Signing in from Shaft St

So it's been about 6 weeks since I've posted, that's better than 6 months LOL  So, I've officially finished work until February when we start back. It's sort of a relief, I've got those 3 days a week back to sort out this house, but I also won't have the extra $$ coming in. It's not too bad, we can survive, I've just enjoyed watching my account balance rise, if slowly. The car is going into the mechanice tomorrow and I hope it's not going to cost too much. My ignition has been playing up, by that I mean it won't lock without jiggling the key madly. I was thinking about when it started and I remember when we parked at the club for Trinity's cali break-up I was sure that I locked the car, but when we got back my door was unlocked. Nothing was missing so I didn't think too much about it. What can I say, I have children and it's not uncommon for me to find the car unlocked, usually it's one of their doors though. So I suspect someone has tried to steal my car and stuffed my ignition, b@$t&s. I'm also still having trouble with the alternator, or that is my suspicion anyway. Will ask the mechanic tomorrow and hope that 1. it doesn't cost me too much and 2. I get the car back in time to pick Trinity up from school.

I spent last Saturday at home cleaning out the shed, or attempting to make more room for my own stuff. There was still a lot of stuff belonging to Adam's family. I've bagged up clothes for Cheryl's mum or sister to take to the Phillipines, thrown out heaps of old schoolwork, and found a heap of books. I was going to keep the books, or donate them to playgroup, but since it's likely we'll see Rick in just a couple of weeks I'm considering giving him the option of delivering them. Under the books was a photo of Adam from primary school, I'm keeping that. I made room for 2 of Carolynn's tubs so that means there is a little more room in the laundry, but I have a long way to go to make this house less cluttered.

Jared has finished up at school, including 2 weeks of orientation and Bendigo Senior. He's made some new friends. Hopefully he'll help me out around the house for the summer holidays, but I won't hold my breath. He's warned me it's time to get him to work shortly so I'll cut this short...

Rugby is the national sport

I know, I know.. I said I was going to update the bandwagon weeks ago.. sorry! I've been overwhelmed with work lately and haven't found the time nor inspiration to write a post.

I've been able to recuperate somewhat this weekend - B & I joined one of our mates to see Wales play Australia at the rugby! :-)

Millenium Stadium is in the middle of Cardiff, so match days always cause a big stir in the city. Around the stadium becomes super-busy as 70,000 people try to get in and find their seats before kickoff. All the bars in town fill up, especially those showing the match on TV. To avoid these crowds we decided to have a drink in the pub near the university. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones to have that thought! Properly hydrated, we wandered past Winter Wonderland and into the throng, stopping to buy a match day scarf as we headed to the gates.

Our seats were on level six, so we had a great overview of the game. I felt like a tiny island in a silent sea during the Australian national anthem (and yes, I sang!) and was completely immersed by the Welsh national anthem - so many voices! I still don't really understand the rules of rugby but it was a good game and I think I know more about the game now than I did before.

It was really good fun. It's just a shame that the weekend is over so soon!

4 weeks until Christmas!

Time is flying by now and it's less than a month to Christmas! Cheryl and I share a Google calendar (which means it's on all the computers and both our phones, very organised ;)) and the weeks are filling up with events.

We all got our eyes tested a few weeks back - Cheryl will be picking up her glasses this weekend, and me the weekend after (Lil is wearing my chosen glasses in the photo), as well as doing some weird eye test where they put drops in my eyes to make my pupils widen and then take photos - the general photos don't get up around the sides of the inside of your eyeball, and the optometrist recommended doing this once every 4 years or so. I've never had it done, so that'll be fun.

We also got Ossie's eyes tested, which you might have seen on Facebook. He was terribly nervous, and did his trick of not saying a word. Luckily it was less of an issue for the optometrist than when we went to the speech pathologist ;) He was well prepared with a sheet of letters Os could point to, iPad activities and other games.

Ossie's vision is fine. It's one point long-sighted, which isn't an issue and shouldn't (fingers crossed) degrade over time. If he can avoid my stupid super-shortsightedness and astigmatism that'd be great.

We also had Oscar's Kindy Art Show/BBQ last Friday. Oscar's picture is great, and has pride of place on the lounge room wall :) Apparently there's a concert coming up which grandparents are welcome to come and watch - Mum I'll send you details. It'll be during the day.

My Iaido Christmas breakup is approaching, we're going to have a barbecue in the park. Should be nice. Then Shihan is visiting Melbourne, so a few of my students might go down to grade. I think I'm more nervous than if I was grading myself, actually.. I know these guys are representing me. We'll be making the most of the final 3 classes, that's for sure. The club is going well, anyway - I'm averaging 4 or 5 students a night, which is great. I only need 3 to cover the hall cost, but we could certainly fit in more now.

On Sunday I looked after the kids while Cheryl went to the Food and Wine Festival. I'll let her fill you in on that one - as for me I took the kids shopping and then we lazed around the house in the afternoon.

We've got our planned movie for Lisa's birthday party - I'm not revealing anything, except to say we might be appealing to Edith's greater sewing ability if we can't find what we need in op shops. I think it's going to be a great evening :)

Oh, and if you've made it this far I'll ask again - who will be around for Christmas?

Quick update as promised ;)

Just a quick one from us - our weeks aren't nearly as interesting as Mum's I'm afraid :) We did put up the Christmas tree the weekend before last. Oscar is so excited by the idea of Christmas so we decided we might as well kick it off early. The kids loved putting the tree together and decorating it, although both of them have a tendency to just put every decoration on the same branch. I think we'll have to make putting the tree up on November 1 a bit of a family tradition.

We're going to get an advent calendar for December and watch as Ossie's brain gradually explodes from the building excitement.

We also had a picnic for Landon's birthday. The weather was beautiful.. lucky he wasn't born a week later since it's been pretty cold and rainy since then.

Last weekend we drove to Melbourne to check out Highpoint Shopping Centre again. It's a good one - huge and out our side of the city, so you can avoid tollways and the like. Daiso is the best store there.. it's like a Japanese $2 shop. I bought socks! Tutti Frutti is also a winner.

But that's about it for us, apart from that it's been work and kindy, looking after the kids, iaido, the same old same old. Somehow the weeks are still flying by mind you. I haven't worked out when (if) I'll take time off for Christmas but I'm sure I'll get a week or so in. Gotta catch up on sleeping in ;)

Happy Halloween

This morning I came back from the water-cooler to find a tiny skeleton dancing on my laptop...

Happy Halloween everybody!

Happy Halloween

I've just had a really fun evening making my first real jack-o-lantern. :-D I made a mini one when I lived in London but this is my first "real-size" pumpkin. Bruce made one too - you can see the photos. :-)

This week is fairly quiet for me after another busy one last week (three Spectroscopy in a Suitcase visits and an open day at the uni).  I've been catching up on paperwork and not doing much after-hours.

Unfortunately B found out today that his job is going to finish early - they don't have enough work for him and didn't get the extra funding they were hoping for. It's a real drag because it means B has to start looking for new jobs again - we thought he'd have until March, not end of November! O well.

We're popping over the channel to southern France this weekend. I'm looking forward to wine and cheese. ;-) I'll update after we get back.
*hugz*

Angry cats are the best cats

Saturday we took the kids to the Bendigo Show. We knew someone at the gate and got in for cheaper, which was nice. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the animals - Lily certainly liked the flat-faced "angry" cat ;)

The kids also did a cooking class and made rice paper rolls. You may have seen the photos on Facebook. Right at the start the chef accidentally sprayed Lily with water, which made her cry (she was probably a bit tired anyway). Still, she recovered and made her roll, then when she started making the second one she sprayed Ossie in the face, so he cried, and that made her cry again as well. The chef kindly gave them both a hat and apron combo which cheered them up enough to taste their rolls, at least :) He only had about 5 or 6 to give away so it really was nice of him (and yes, he had a variety of colours including green and I think yellow or red).

After that I took Os on a ride (a spaceship thing that moved around while a video played at the front) and Lil got a balloon (since she was too small for the ride) and then we headed home. It was a nice day out. I'd planned on buying an Adventure Time showbag, or maybe one of the lolly ones, but they were $28 each! Just a bit too much to spend on a whim, really.

Sunday Cheryl went to the movies with Oscar. He's been wanting to go with her since he and I saw Monsters University - I guess he wanted to share the experience with his Mummy, which is sweet :) I took Lil to the playground in the mall and then we all met up for lunch.

Tomorrow he's off to school! Just one hour in the morning, and he'll be there with cousin Daria which I think he's really looking forward to. I do hope he enjoys school as much as he's enjoyed Kindy.

Brooklea Park Banter

Back from holiday and straight back into it! My week was a little insane really..

Monday: drove to Aberystwyth for a Spectroscopy in a Suitcase session (the team there are just starting with the scheme).. unfortunately, crossed wires meant there were no students, only one teacher for the session.. oops!

Spent the evening talking to members and non-members at the RSC Mid-Wales Local Section Mixer Meeting.

Tuesday: drove to Swansea after a morning meeting with two of the RSC team who had also stayed in Aberystwyth. Spent the afternoon catching up on emails in my hotel. (There was initially a Chemistry at Work event scheduled for the day but it was postponed - and I'm very glad that it was!).

Wednesday: Chemistry at Work event in Swansea - we delivered our Body in the Lab session five times throughout the day to a total of about 80 students. Phew! Stayed at the hotel again.

Thursday: The second of my Chemistry at Work events for the week, this one in Neath Port Talbot. This time we had six sessions throughout the day and I was really tired by the end of it. I thought that I was going to lose my voice during the day (it was really husky on Wednesday night) but somehow I made it through! Finally got home to see Bruce. :-)

Friday: Another early start, this time to head towards Barry for an outreach session followed by a Spectroscopy in a Suitcase session. Busy day but a great bunch of students! By the time I got back to work (3pm-ish) I was really tired and decided to finish early. :-)

Saturday and Sunday: Sleep! And did my best to get better. At the start of the weekend I was sure that I'd lose my voice sometime this week but I was definitely feeling a bit better by Sunday evening.

This week isn't quite as bad as last week - we had a SIAS session today (just in Cardiff, so no long drives) and tomorrow is another day similar to the Chemistry at Work days (six sessions throughout the day)! I'll fill you in on it all next week. :-)

*hugz* to all.

Same old same old... or is it?

Ok, my turn. The year is flying past too quickly, and yet so much has been happening in this little house. In the school holidays I got new glasses, Carolynn had an eye test and also needed glasses, and I bought a new bed. Add Carolynn's trip to China and my plan to buy a new car has been postponed, so we're stuck in Bendigo for a bit longer since I have been recommended NOT to take the Laser on long drives. It's good advice, I'm finding when it's been going for a while it's running pretty rough. I'm sure the alternator is having a hissy fit despite the auto-elec saying it's fine.

Carolynn can update about her trip later, for now - she joined the Bendigo Chinese Association (BCA) Plum Blossom Dancing Team earlier this year after finding out that there would be no senior calisthenics team for Sabelle. Trinity is now a Sub-Junior so we've still had 4 comps this year. Anyway, the Plum Blossoms got a grant to help them go to China to learn more about the culture and to attend a dance school to learn more about traditional Chinese dancing. I thought it was a great opportunity for Carolynn and supported her going. She left last night for an overnight flight with those of the team that were going, there's a photo on Facebook. We're on Skype and waiting to see her online. I bought Skype credit for her to use but it will need to wait until she's somewhere with free wi-fi.

Jared's still with the BCA Lion and Dragon Team but has given up karate for now. He also got his Ls on Friday - eek. Now I have to psych myself up to take him out in the Laser! To top it all off he got his first job as well last week. A junior in the kitchen at Pizza Hut. The problem is his hours, 6.30-8.30pm. The girls have been staying up and watching Dr Who, which is difficult but does mean we can all go and pick Jared up, but it does delay their bedtime that bit more.

As I said before, Trinity is a Subbie in calisthenics. They performed their best at the last comp in Shepparton. They placed in every item, but it was their 4 firsts that gave them the points to win Aggregate. Basically they got the most points over all, there are points for placing in items. I could explain it all but I'm not sure you need to know :)  They've also had comps in Melbourne, Echuca and Horsham in the last couple of months, so lots of travelling - carpooling of course, and not in the Laser. Their end of year concert is the 9th of November and then we're all done with cali until next year. Trinity loves it, it's just great for her self confidence, she's come a long way since she started 3 years ago.

Now Daria, she's going to a big school girl next year. Orientation starts at the end of this month, of course Damien and Cheryl know that :)  Of course all of her orientation days fall on group days for work. It's not too bad, orientation is 9-10am and group starts at 10am. We're supposed to set up at 9.30am so it's possible I can help out a bit before I pick Daria up. It's also kinder for her so she'll be late to that too.

Work for me is going well. I have some training days coming up so it's good that I can work around most of it. I love the flexibility, but I'm also looking forward to finishing up for the year in the first week of December. I'm so not ready for Christmas... at all!  I'm going to need to do some serious last minute shopping. I'll have a handful of Mondays where Daria is at kinder and Trinity is at school and I can get out alone ;)

I think that's about it for our news. Busy but run of the mill for us.