Yay, mid year break!!

I'm on my mid year break currently and doing really well at TAFE, I've found doing less classes is less stressful and gives me more time to focus on my assessments. I picked up a bit of holiday work for 10 days at the eisteddfod which has been pretty good and relaxed as well as some experience for my resume and a little extra money. Other than that I haven't been up to much.

Jarrad's waiting for his appointment for scopes and a biopsy which will hopefully show something because we still don't know why he's sick, but it can be up to 90 days before we hear anything. His doctor still won't look at what might be wrong with his knees though because she thinks it's related to his stomach issues and doesn't think that any of it could be chronic fatigue, so depending on these results and what she says it might be doctor hunting time again.

Sunday Mum, Jarrad, the girls and I are going to the Lego expo again. We went last year and loved it, so I'll make sure to take lots of photos of all the cool Lego things :)

And relax..

After a month of what felt like non-stop work, I've had a very quiet week. I managed to take some time off (most of the week, in fact) and have achieved very little. This is a good thing!

This weekend we're at John & Gwen's - we're all going to see Elton John at Walsall Football Stadium tonight. :-) I've heard that he has a very good live show, so it should be fun even though it's raining!

We've been shopping this morning, picking up some random bits and pieces ready for Glastonbury (at the end of the month) and summer (hopefully arriving soon). Tomorrow we're going to Ikea for breakfast and bed shopping before heading back to Cardiff, and then it's back to the grindstone on Monday.

Been a good break for me though!

Yay for Bruce

Today B had an interview for his (next) job at Swansea University (how it came to this is a long story..) and I'm very happy to say that he got it! His post will continue until September, at which time there should be an extension for a year or two!

Needless to say, we're out celebrating with a tasty meal! We're also going to see the Woman in Black at the theatre (edit: Not as scary as i was expecting.. Apparently you have to be down in the stalls for the full effect, we were above that in the circle).

Hope everyone is happy!

Gordon St Gossip

It's been a big couple of weeks.

I took on an illustration job for d'Arenberg (along side my usual GDD stuff..) - they sent me a wine to drink, and then I had to draw something that I thought the wine represented. Payment was $500 worth of d'Arenberg wine. Nice reward, but it did mean all my spare time was taken up working.

We also had school holidays, and Chez has done an amazing job of keeping the kids entertained while I was at work. They did a bunch of activities (there was some good stuff on at the Marketplace - craft activities, a treasure hunt, digging for dinosaur bones) and nearly got eaten by a T-Rex ;)

Last weekend as well as the Easter fun times we also went on a trip to Hepburn Springs and went on a 1.5km bushwalk. The kids had great fun, even when clambering over trees that had fallen over the path. We got out to the spring but sadly it wasn't working, plus it was overrun with wasps. Then another 1.5km walk back, but the kids had plenty of energy and played on the playground.

We also checked out Scienceworks, which was good. The kids entry was free during the holidays.

Chez won a 1kg Easter Egg for giving feedback to the Marketplace about the aforementioned activities. Turns out that's a lot of chocolate (apparently we're all about chocolate and wine these holidays) so she's put some in biscuits and some in muffins. Another activity for the kids.

Then yesterday was an Iaido seminar in Melbourne, which turned into a very long day - I left home at 7am and returned at 8pm I think. A bunch of my students graded, and the Hokushin Victoria associate had it's AGM, the result of which is I'm now President.

And that's about it. Ossie's had school followed by soccer training today, and Chez took Lily to the gym. We're getting back into routine.

Who's up next?

Easter wanderings

Happy Easter everyone!

We've had a fairly quiet Easter this year.  Had a few drinks with a friend on Thursday night, so it was a relaxed start on Good Friday. Pancakes for brekki (not home made nor raising money for a good cause... But they were only 2p for four!) and then headed up to Wednesbury for Easter with B's fam. After a traditional Good Friday tea of fish & chips, we played Scattergories. Good fun and exercises the brain. ;-)

Yesterday we went to Ironbridge to see the oldest cast iron bridge in the world! It was built in 1779 and was the first metal bridge ever! It was essentially an ad for the versatility of iron and the skill of the locals. It's now a World Heritage sites in recognition of the contribution of the area to the birth of the Industrial Revolution. Lots of history! And good cupcakes too! ;-)

Today's been fairly quiet - B and I went for a walk along the local canal (I was foolishly trying to catch you lot in the weekend walking challenge).  It was a beautiful day and I took a few piccys along the way. We got back in time for Sunday Dinner - a proper roast with all the trimmings (including vege chicken fillets). Dinner was superbly cooked by Gwen and John and we were joined for the meal by Grandad (who will 104 next month). Thanks to food, wine, age and a general feeling of contentment, everyone dozed in front of the tele for a chunk of the afternoon! That's what Sundays are for, right?

We're on the way home now - attempting to miss the "end of Easter" traffic. If the sun stays out tomorrow, we might head to the Brecon Beacons to make the most of the long weekend.. But then it's back to work on Tuesday!

How was your Easter weekend?

Gordon St Gossip

Hi all, time for a post from us.

You've probably all seen by now that I rolled my ankle pretty badly last Monday. It's not broken, just pretty swollen and sore. That bit of excitement aside, I've been doing the usual - working, training etc. There's an Iaido grading coming up at the end of this month so I've been preparing my students for that. I'm also starting to organise the mid-year seminar, and teaching a couple of the Melbourne students on the side.

Cheryl's also been doing the usual - looking after the kids (and me now!) and getting to Pilates once a week. She's been teaching Lil to use the potty, and that's coming along really well. Oh, and walking. So much walking, thanks Dee for the Fitbit ;)

Ossie is enjoying school more this year. His favourite subject is Maths. I take him to a kids soccer class once a week to help him with his coordination (and confidence), and after some uncertainty and tears during the first lesson he's really gotten into it. I'm not a fan of forcing him to do something he doesn't want to, but in this case I think he needed the push - for the first few weeks he would complain and say he didn't want to go, but within 5 minutes was running around kicking the ball and loving it. Now he's keen to just get straight into it and start kicking goals.

Like I said Lil is learning to use the potty, and loves wearing jocks. She's got them on for most of the day now. Cheryl also takes her to a kids gym where she loves climbing, jumping and rolling around, and to the library for toddler sessions, with reading and singing. Actually, Lil loves to sing - she made up this song the other day (she was in her high chair and had finished dinner):

I want to hop down
That's what I really want
I want to hop down
All over the place
I want to hop doooooowwwwn.

Max sleeps all day.

Cardiff capers

Time flies! I can't believe that my last post was last year! ....actually, I can believe it but I'm not pleased about it. January was extremely busy - I talked to trainee teachers in Swansea, Aberystwyth, and Newport; a new Education Coordinator started in Bangor and I went up for induction; there was a team meeting in London and Cambridge with lots of new faces - the RSC education team has doubled since last year! Phew!

February was a very different beast - not away at all (I think)! Lots of office days have helped to get some of the paperwork under control and things are looking positive for the future - especially now there's two of us working in Wales. :-)

Speaking of Wales, last Sunday was Saint David's Day (1st March). B's folks were visiting and it was a lovely sunny day here in Cardiff, so we went in to town to see the parade. The parade started at the Town Hall (next to the museum - where we grabbed a cuppa beforehand). It wound through the town and finished in Cardiff Castle grounds. Entrance to the Castle was free for the day, so we got to watch the start and the end of the parade.


According to the St David's Day Parade website, the non-military parade is an opportunity for those who live in Wales, regardless of age, ethnic or social background, to join a dignified and imaginative celebration of Welsh heritage and culture. So there were lots of community groups in the parade this year: Welsh pipers, giant seagulls, choristers, and lots of people in traditional dress. :-) The rest of my photos are here.

From 2012

I really liked the home-made costumes - The dragons were some of my favourites - they were all so different (other than being red and black) and fabulous. I don't think the parade was impressive as the last time I saw it... mainly because they didn't have ANY of the giant puppets of famous Welsh people.

Wonder what next year's parade will be like.
:-)

Nelson Street New Year, New Car, New Job

Hurrah -- I have a new job! As of next Tuesday, I'll be a Senior Software Developer (Team Lead) with  Rozetta Technologies.

The company is, among other things, the technology arm of the not-for-profit SIRCA, which provides historical financial data to a number of cooperating Universities, government departments and financial institutions. Experts in "big data", of which there is a large and growing abundance, as well as "cloud computing" (since that's the only way to scale). Fun stuff! I can't wait!

Big data is one of those things you can't REALLY mess around with at home on the weekend, so it will be awesome to get my hands dirty with some of the cool stuff I otherwise just read about. (My last role used various bits of "big data" tech, but also tended to customise it for specific use-cases and hide it behind an API -- this should be a lot more down in the details.)

Even better (read: more challenging), the primary programming language of choice is Python. Now, I've done some Python, but not commercially and neither as much nor as long as Java -- so I'm brushing up on that and really looking forward to diving into some brand-new code. I never thought I'd be excited to NOT be doing Java, but I really am!

And of course, the team leading component: I'll be looking after a team of around 5 or 6 other (more junior) developers, across a number of different projects, which is a whole different class of problem altogether.

To finish of: some photos of our new car (in case you missed them on Facebook):

Nelson Street News

We have a new car!

We bought a Toyota RAV4 Cruiser - 2.2L diesel, AWD, graphite grey and with more gadgets than a Radioshack bargain bin. We have a reversing camera, proximity sensors, built-in GPS, Bluetooth handsfree, blind-spot alerts, automatic wipers and high-beams, traction control, key-less entry and start, iPhone and Android integration. It beeps and boops and comes with a separate user manual just for the centre console unit. I feel like we've bought the Starship Enterprise.

I'll get some photos this weekend.

On the job front, I'm getting interviews, now people are back for the new year, and I'm expecting at least one, maybe two, firm offers on Monday - as well as an interview for a short term contract, should I feel like going for money over "job security" (whatever that means). Keep fingers crossed for the *good* job, as the other one looks like a much less geek-friendly environment (and I think I've been spoiled by Silicon Valley).

Jules is settling into his preschool room well, it seems, and his favourite teachers have both moved to his room too. He's made some friends (they say) and is much vocal than he was in the tiny-tots room; he also stole a Professor Zee car from somebody's locker, so it's swings and roundabouts I guess.

The weather still sucks, so we're all happy to skip the bus for a while, and thus weekend I hope we can get out of the city and spend a little time enjoying the new car smell.

Gordon St Gossip

My holidays are drawing to a close, sadly - I'm back at work tomorrow. It's been a good (and busy) couple of weeks off.. others have mentioned some of what we did - Christmas lunch at Nana's (and a bbq for dinner at Edith and Landon's), Boxing Day Brunch with EVERYONE.

Sunday after Christmas we headed to Highpoint in Melbourne to spend some Christmas money. Os bought a marble maze game and Lil some Frozen jewellery. I tried to talk her into a craft kit, but nope - she's a girly-girl and insisted on earrings and a necklace :)

Monday we saw Big Hero 6. If you haven't seen it it's pretty awesome. It kept both the kids interested the whole way through (which is an achievement) and has changed the way they fist bump forever.

We then took the kids to Melbourne Zoo Tuesday, where they laughed at the monkey butts :) Os had been wanting to go again since he went with school, so it was good to get out there.. especially during school holidays, when kids get in for free. There's a few pictures (including the monkey-butt.. okay, ape-butt)here

We also checked out the splash park, and they had a fabulous time until Lil fell over and scraped her knees pretty badly. Turns out the rough, non-slip concrete surface is also a rough, knee-destroying concrete surface. As I was carrying her to the car to put on bandaids, between the tears she said "I'm pretty lucky to go to the splash park" so I guess it wasn't too traumatic for her ;)

New Years Eve, like Carolynn mentioned, we joined them at a friend's place, although we piked early.

At that point the heat started kicking in and we gave the kids some quiet time playing with their new Christmas toys. Os painted his shield from Auntie Lisa (I helped a little) and I think he did an wonderful job.

Today we're thinking about checking out Jumpz in the morning, before the heat really kicks in again. Then back to work for me, although I've told my work that I'll take another day off at some point in January so we can go check out the Aquarium.

Very Long Time No Post

So last year was busy, with TAFE and dancing. I have re-enrolled to complete the classes I didn't pass last year to do this year and dropped my workload from 21 contact hours a week to 15 (which I think is more manageable with the homework load)

Christmas was busier than usual for me  this year with trying to fit in visiting Jarrad's family, we spent the morning with mum and the family before Jarrad played golf with his mum's partner Neil and then the normal lunch and tea at Nanna's. We had brunch at Damien and Cheryl's before tackling boxing day shopping with mum and the girls, then tea with Mum and Neil. We spent the next few days recovering before NYE.

NYE we went to Darren and Danielle's with mum and the girls, the kids had a water fight before Damien, Cheryl, Os and Lily turned up and we had tea. We walked up the street to watch the fireworks in Rosi park and came home to no power (it went off just after we left turns out), so we sat in the candlelight playing trivia until the power came on and we all went to bed (roughly around 2.30). We then spent new years day with them to help finish off the food and the kids could play some more.

Yesterday we went to the splash park with mum and the girls, this time the water was on and working properly unlike the first time I was there and it's actually pretty cool...and I didn't get burnt!! (only a little red but it went away). That's about all from me, besides Mum, Jarrad and I are going to see The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies tomorrow.

Will try to post more often this year :)

Nelson Street notions

It's been a LOOOOONG time since we posted - but as you know, there's been a few things happening.

We had a very (blissfully) quiet Christmas at home. Jules woke up and walked straight past his Santa sack, which was cute, then spent the next few hours opening presents and generally getting over excited. We were pretty restrained this year, since we got the trampoline BEFORE we realised I needed a new job (!!), but Jules still had a ton of presents under the tree -- thanks to all you nice people!

Dee did a great job of food with zero help from me -- lots of little grazing snack throughout the day, like rare beef and horseradish Yorkshire puddings, savoury pin wheels and twists, mini roast pork and even seafood cocktails for lunch (classic). I tried a few new beers, and wine (naturally), but we weren't going anywhere in Sydney's heat!

Jules eventually had a nap, too, although fought tooth and nail to avoid it. Of course, once he woke up he figured it was time to open more presents! Um...

The trampoline was disappointing -- we opened the boxes on Christmas eve and discovered we had been given the wrong parts. After A LOT of running around with Vuly support, it now seems like we MIGHT get the parts delivered from Brisbane on Monday. No confidence in that at all by now and we're writing a stern letter...

New year's eve was similarly low key, and similarly humid. Both Jules and Dee had sensible afternoon naps (I didn't, and thus didn't see midnight). We sat inside under the AC and watched the 9pm fireworks on the ABC -- synchronous with the sound we could hear outside. I think it was good for our boy to be in the comfort and safety of his home while seeing the fireworks, as he tends to be a little intimidated by crowds and loud noises both.

Looking forward to a new job that doesn't involve travel, and a prosperous 2015.

From the Madhouse

I can't believe it was October last time I did this, time has flown. My contract with St Luke's as a HIPPY Parent Tutor finished with our Age 5 Graduation in November. Since then I've got another casual position, this time with Goodstart Early Learning, there are 5 centres in Bendigo and I've said I'm happy to work at any of them, though the Strath one is pretty far out from here. I've taken in my paperwork now waiting for the rest of the process to be finished. They don't expect me to work through the holidays as they know I'm a single mum, but all being good the option could be there in future. After talking to the acting centre director I also decided to apply to do Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care at Tafe. I got my acceptance letter and enrol in January - Woot! Between those 2 things I hope Centrelink will be happy and leave me alone for 18 months, when Daria turns 8 I go from Parenting Payment Single to Newstart Allowance and there's a bit of a difference in the payment. I think the difference is/was around $120 a fortnight, which is ridiculous, but hopefully I'm able to be working more and it won't affect me too badly.

In other news, the girls both did really well at school, they are both excellent readers which is no surprise. Daria also did really well in LOTE, she's good at sports (PMP) too. Next year Trinity has her prep teacher, who was also Daria and Oscar's teacher this year - Mrs Manley. She's in a grade 3/4 class. Daria goes into a 1/2 I think, with Mrs Pally, and Oscar is in the same class too.

It's New Year's Eve and the girls are looking forward to going over to Adam and Connor's (Danielle and Darren's) where we're having pizza for tea and playing board games. If the kids stay up we can walk up the hill to watch the fireworks in Rosi Park. Last year they were up until 3am, so we'll see how they go this year. I hope everyone has a great night and we'll chat to you all in 2015.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FAMILY!!!

Back on the Bandwagon

We spent yesterday in Blackpool - a tacky seaside town in North West England. Back in the 60s & 70s it was the place to go on your holidays..  Now it's the place to go for your bucks or hen party.. Not that we saw any of that kind of group (not surprising on a Sunday).

We arrived just in time for the Santa bike ride along the sea front - the road was closed to cars so that hundreds of people could take part safely. There were baby Santas and child Santas, male Santas and female Santas, Santas of all shapes and sizes - all dressed in red suits and riding bicycles. What a sight!

Other than the beach front and a couple of piers, the town is full of souvenir shops (rock anyone?) and amusement arcades.  The arcades are fun - there are a whole bunch of grabber machines ("the claw") and 2p slot machines (drop in a coin, it rolls to the back and, if you're lucky, causes a chain reaction that knocks coins, and prizes, off the pile at the front of the machine).  Our £1 on the slots lasted ages, and we even won a little, plastic, yellow bunny-thing! We didn't win anything on the grabber machines and neither did Gwen or John.

After a cafe lunch, we checked out a few of the post-Xmas sales... Bruce and Gwen both found new shoes. By the time we finished in the shops, the street lights were on (it's dark by 4pm!) so we wandered along the esplanade and took some photos. Without the sun, the temperature plummeted, so it wasn't long before we were back in the car and on the way back to the hotel in Wigan.

We've got three nights away with B's folks (part of their Xmas present from us), the hotel is kinda dodgy but it's somewhere different and we're able to do day trips.

Christmas day already feels like a long time ago! It was fairly relaxed - we didn't do anything much; ate, gave presents, opened presents, and watched tv. I feel really spoilt by my gifts - I got jewellery, toiletries, jumpers, books and a Tetris lamp. A big thank you for our presents (mum and Nana, I'll collect my merino jumper from the shops next week). :-)

Today we've explored Skipton Castle - well worth a look if you're nearby.

Tomorrow B & I head to Scotland - we've got a few days visiting Vicki & Steven in Oban. Got to make the most of these holidays!

Your turn.
*hugz*

Gordon St Gossip

Update from us - we've had a bit of a busy weekend.

So speedy!

Saturday I taught Iaido from 9:30 - 11. The kids are doing well - Trin especially seems to be picking it up really well. She brought her friend Talia along, and while I was expecting some nuttiness from her she actually also did fantastically. Right now I'm thinking of doing set terms (eg. sign up and pay for the whole term at the start) for 7 - 12 year olds, with a mini-grading and certificate at the end, but I'll have to check all that by Shihan and see what he thinks, since it's different to how the senior classes are run.

Lily picked the design

Then it was off to a joint birthday party for the kids' friends Archer (5) and Alexis (1). It was superhero themed - Os dressed as Batman, and Lily, not one to be constrained by societal expectations, dressed as a Ballerina. Possibly a Super Princess Ballerina :) She also had her face painted for the first time ever.

Friendsgiving

They had an awesome time, especially in the balloon-filled trampoline which you can see in the background of that pic of Ossie. Cheryl has put some photos up on Facebook if you want to see more.

Pumpkin pies! Okay tarts maybe

We got home around 3, and then cooked up some pumpkin and sweet potato as our contribution to the inaugural annual event "Friendsgiving" :) A bunch of us got together to eat turkey, potatoes and the like, and it was great. Everyone brought a dish, there were mini pumpkin pies, the kids ran around madly (hopefully running off that birthday sugar).

After a Saturday like that we took Sunday very easy, although we finally managed to get out and catch up with Mum.

So that's us :)