Happy birthday Jared!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!

Hope you have a most excellent day.

*big hugz* from Aunty dayna
(and keep your eye on the post box.. *grin*..although it might take a week or so....)

Patrick's adventures

Damien and Cheryl sent Patrick to me. He's a very cool little monster and he likes to go on adventures. His first adventure (other than his trip over here from Adelaide) was in London. He didn't leave Glenn and Dee's apartment, but he still managed to get into a few things..


His second adventure was up in Scotland. He came to Glasgow with me - I'm not sure what kind of mischief he got up to while I was working...



And then when we got home, all he wanted to do was play with the toy "Lab in a Lorry" that I'd got.. of course, he was good enough to share with Moo.


I'll try to keep track of Patrick's adventures - but sometimes he wanders off without telling me. Cheeky monster. *grin*

quick question..

i was just going back through the Bandwagon (i need to provide my addresses for the last 5 years for a CRB check so i can work with kids).. couldn't find my addresses (worked them out tho i think), but i did notice that tim still has some posts back in the archives..

..anyone care if i delete them? i know he was part of my life for a while.. but i don't need reminders of it. only thing is it will delete comments too.. ..i'm sure he's not said anything important.. and i can put any interesting comments into their own posts..

that okay?

Flashback... Dublin and Catania

I've just recently uploaded these photos, so I figured I could write a little bit about them. :)

I'd planned my trip to Dublin for a while.. I was going over to see my friend Paul (he lived next door to me in Halls). But then a last-minute work trip to Catania cut my weekend short. So rather than having a weekend in Dublin, I had one whole Saturday.. and then a few days in the south of Italy (with warmish weather, so I won't complain *grin*).

I met Paul in Dublin on Saturday morning - he had to go off and do some singing, so I wandered around the city for a while. I went and did a tour of Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells (amazingly intricate designs that were drawn with bone and stuff), had lunch in Temple Bar (at a wholefoods market.. tasty food!) and then wandered my way out to Kilmainham Gaol (and did another tour).

I caught up with Paul again in the afternoon and we had tasty tapas dinner, went home and dropped off my bag and then headed back into town for a Halloween Party (Paul dressed up as a zombie pirate.. I just went as a demon - they look like normal people *grin*)


Sunday morning I headed to Catania.. It was some trip.. I got a bus from near Paul's, flight to London Gatwick, waited there a while before getting another flight to Florence, a quick change over and the flight to Catania. The change-over between Florence and Catania was a bit stressful. Actually a lot stressful! On arrival into Florence we had to go through immigration - somehow I ended up at the end of the line (not at all sure how!!). Anyway, the result was that they were calling my name over the PA.. I scurried to security near the gate - but had to go back and get a boarding pass (they couldn't give me both when I checked in at Gatwick because the systems are strange..). I ran back downstairs to the check-in desk, the girl didn't understand that I was meant to be on the next flight.. she thought I wanted to buy a ticket or something (she didn't even understand my printed itinery). So another trek across the hall to the ticket people and FINALLY I found a lovely woman who understood what I needed, phoned the girl at the check-in desk and off I went to get my boarding pass. Back upstairs, through security (although they stopped me because they thought I had water in my bag!?), and eventually I made it onto the plane. *phew*

Catania was interesting.. the city itself seems like it was beautiful once.. but is now run-down and decaying.. I was staying in a hotel out of town - not far from the village above.. it was pretty .. especially at night and when the sun was shining. :)

The meetings were a bit interesting.. but it was better once they were finished. :) I wandered around Catania, got rained on a LOT, had the best hot chocolate EVER! It was a thick Italian (of course) hot chocolate with some Grand Marnier in it.. mmmmmm... Andrea made it for me (and even paid for it..heheh). He's a chef/waiter at the little cafe I went to to get out of the rain. He ended up coming to the castle with me and I had fantastic pizza dinner with him one night too (the picture at the top).

All in all, not a bad few days (and so long ago now it's hard to remember it). *grin*

...and I'm still not up to date yet.. *grin*

new ceiling

After a busy week we now have a plaster ceiling in the sunroom. Dad sanded it today and went to buy some ceiling paint. He hopes to get the undercoat on this weekend since the weather is to be cool. He's very tired at the moment.
I've just finished my first full week. I'm glad to have Fridays off. I did my aquaexercise, walked down to the library then to work to sign my roster. Laundry is up to date including some from work because I forgot to send it home with a parent. A good day off.
When is the house warming?
Great to talk to Glenn this morning. I tried for Dayna as well but no answer. Is she still in Glasgow? Maybe on the job arranging volunteer tutors and schools.
Heard from Val Loomes last night. All good now, but Peter has been sick and has finally given up smoking.
Lots of love to all

Cross age tutoring & OH&S

Well tuesday I had to do 2 OH&S test & the good news is I past both of them. So now I have to find some where to do cross age tutoring.

names

Hi all, I'm back at work and we have four new children due on Wednesday. One is called Dayna. Even spelt right. I met her today but haven't had a chance to ask her Mum where she got the name. After one day I'm tired. I'm sure by Thursday night I'll be looking for takeaway tea and collapsing. Oh well the children so far are OK and have even coped with a change in routine because of the weather. Our Blue group is now full but we haven't had the full 29 in either group yet. I should be losing weight but somehow I'm gaining. All that energy used should be making a difference.
Today Dad and Phil put the formwork up for our ceiling in the sunroom.
Yesterday we had a visit from Val and Trevor Peacock for lunch and the afternoon.

Book Cover

This is the front cover that I entered in this comp. hope it wins maybe not.

Home again

We had a wonderful time in Adelaide and a good trip home. It only took 35 minutes from the end of Wheatsheaf Road to the freeway, but it was very bendy. Also very scenic but the driver couldn't watch the scenery. We had to pull over a couple of times to let the locals through. They travelled much faster than we were comfortable with.
Les got the clothes line working better than before and the two rooms with toilets now have privacy locks if required. Damien now knows how to attach hooks to hang pictures. The house has internal brick walls as well as external. That keeps it cooler and better insulated, but is harder to bang in hooks for pictures.
Damien and Cheryl have a lovely house. We didn't have time to play the wii this visit. The ocean is only ten minutes drive away and the wineries about half an hour? They'll be more familiar with what's in their neighbourhood by our next visit.
I left Dad's blue cheese in the fridge. Please use it for the house warming. I also left our freezer bricks in your freezer. Please return when someone heads for Bendigo from your place. No rush and use them if you need them in the meantime.
Thank you to Damien and Cheryl for a great holiday. I think retirement is looking better and better, but for 2008 it's back to work.

What I immediately imagined

Cheryl began to worry that Damien and Les might be taking the dare a little too far.

Parents visit

Ann & Les (aka Mum & Dad... or is it Nanny & Poppy? :) arrived safe and sound in Adelaide last Thursday afternoon. Damien whipped up some lamb kebabs for dinner, yum! Friday Damien & I worked, so Ann & Les spent part of the day at a nearby shopping centre, and then the rest of their time fixing things around the house (Parents... bless 'em!).
Today we drove out to Willunga to have a look around the local farmers market. We ended up with a lot of yummy (and cheap) grapes & strawberries. Les also managed to find some lemon flavoured olive oil and dukkah (both for dipping bread into).
Next stop was McLaren Vale, one of the large wine regions in Adelaide. We stopped at about four wineries and then had a break at an olive farm where we enjoyed a platter of local produce for brunch. We then went on to four more wineries.


Our last stop before home was a bakery in the town of McLaren Vale for a late lunch/afternoon tea. After a bit of a rest at home we were out of the house again, this time to the local beach, Port Noarlunga, for fish'n'chips and a bit of a dip in the ocean.

(It was a little chilly & I think they were daring eachother to go deeper into the water, hehe ;)

I've entered a book design comp !

well I found this comp in a girlfriend mag and really liked the sound of it see the details here. well when i get on my computer i will post a pic of my book cover.

A White Christmas..

It's about time for an update.. I know there's a few trips I've not mentioned yet.. I'll get to them soon.. *grin*.

Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas this year.. probably a combination of it being cold, no decorations at home (I still don't want to buy too many 'non-essentials' - though I did buy a stick-mixer to make soup today.. but that's another story), no pressies to unwrap (I bought boots from Nana and Mum and Dad They're great! *big hugz*) and we didn't have a real Christmas lunch. Nevertheless, there were sparkly Christmas lights in both Manchester and Budapest, there were some pretty Christmas trees in Budapest (including the one to the right which had HUGE decorations!) and it snowed on Christmas Eve in Budapest so I got to have a white Christmas. *grin*

Budapest was good. I took a LOT of photos, so I've got the Highlights set with 111 photos and the Everything set with 257.. I think I need to cut down the highlights some more. There are comments on most of the photos, so if you view the pics as a slideshow, put the cursor over a photo and click the "i" to see them.

Highlights of the trip:

• Snow the night we arrived - I know this picture looks fake but it's not!
• Very sweet hot spiced wine (it was mostly white wine - I'd only had hot spiced (mulled) red wine before)
• Entertaining Hungarian guide who showed us around the Royal Palace and told us good stories
• The post-Christmas Christmas market (I bought a hat that makes me think of Dr Seuss - blue and black on the top right)
• Beautiful buildings and churches

Lowlights of the trip:

• "Hungary doesn't do vegetarian" muttered the Concierge when we inquired about where we might go for food on Christmas Eve..
• Chapped lips and bad skin from the cold (-5 degrees Celcius)
• There wasn't enough time to see everything.

Overall it was a great trip - lots of fun and definitely somewhere I'll return to... sometime.. (possibly when it's warmer. *grin*)

It was good to hear from everyone and great to see the photos of Aussie Chrissy. *big hugz*

Christmas photos and videos

Ok, this is mainly for Dayna, Glenn and Dee.. I've posted some photos up on Flickr here and also a couple of videos here. The trin_foxy.avi is well worth watching if a little bit gross :)

In other news I've been pretty sick - I had a stomach virus that hit me Wednesday night. I'm getting better but still feeling a bit dodgy... Cheryl stayed home Thursday to look after me, but neither of us really got to enjoy our "day off". We got our new kitchen table and chairs and a bookcase delivered on Thursday too, and i've already filled the bookcase... but i still have boxes labelled "books".. whoops.

We're looking forward to Mum and Dad visiting next week, hopefully the weather is nice so we can drive to the beach or over to McLaren Vale (since it's quite close to us now).. there's also a Hardy's Winery just on the corner near us. I'm going to try to clear out the spare room this weekend so they don't have to share the space with all our boxes.

Ok, that's enough from me. I hope you enjoy the Christmas pics.

Thanks for the prezzies

well thanks for the prezzie dayna i had trouble getting it to it as u said. it was funny to watch everyone try to open it we all thought that there was no key with it until we noted that it all slid the get to the key. this is my e-mail address kittycatcarolynn@yahoo.com.sg .