Thursday, April 30, 2009

This Week....

This week I have......

  1. nursed two sick kiddos,
  2. turned the heater on,
  3. enjoyed a visit from Little Sister,
  4. had my new dining room table replaced....twice,
  5. turned the heel on the second Polly Jean,
  6. started looking at birthday cake recipes for The Boy's first birthday,
  7. dyed some yarn for a hat for Little Sister,
  8. continued to work through the terrible task of eating the Easter eggs,
  9. watched far too much reality TV,
  10. answered the eleventy-billion 'why?' questions that Noo has started throwing at me.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Sydney Aquarium

I love it when family comes to visit. I actually get out in the city and see some of the attractions.

Little Sister is visiting and yesterday we spent the day at Darling Harbour. We went to the Aquarium. Lots of fun.


We saw some teeny tiny seahorses.......



a dugong (looks a little ghostlike doesn't he).....


some loggerhead turtles.....


Nemo and his Dad, Marlin.....


and their friend Dory......


and some various sharks, rays, a saltwater crocodile, some jellyfish and a crazy amount of fish. I would have taken more photos but Noo had her cranky pants on and we had to rush through a few areas.

We learned how to tell a crocodile from an alligator, how to treat the different jellyfish stings, and just how hard it is to take photographs of moving underwater animals behind some very thick glass.

We came home exhausted.

I have to wave goodbye to Little Sister this afternoon.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Lest We Forget



They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

An exerpt from "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943)


Thursday, April 23, 2009

This Week....

This week I have.....

  1. watched The Boy start to walk, learn to wave and say boo.
  2. had coffee with the wonderful Donna and her equally wonderful daughter Em.
  3. washed mountaines of laundry.
  4. not folded said laundry.
  5. enjoyed a lot of rain
  6. eaten too much chocolate.
  7. not looked forward to Soldier going away tomorrow.
  8. had Jack the dog to the vet twice.
  9. hardly worked on my sock.
  10. looked forward to Little Sister coming to visit.
  11. listened to Noo complain that she isn't old enough to go to school.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Birthday!

Well Soldier's birthday went off without a hitch, but it very nearly didn't.

It is a tradition in our house that the birthday boy or girl gets to choose what they want for dinner and what cake to have afterwards. Soldier decided on lasagne and a chocolate cake of some description, he wasn't fussy.

After okaying a menu of bruschetta, lasagne and salad and chocolate butterscotch cake with him I sat down to write a shopping list.

Yesterday morning I set off to the shops with my list and what I thought was plenty of time to get everything. My plan was to bake the cake and ice it, assemble the lasagne and bruschetta and have it all ready in the fridge when he came home from work. I wanted to greet him with a beer and some bruschetta when he came home from work, and just pop the lasagne in the oven and all would be well. You know what they say about best laid plans don't you!

I get to the small shopping centre that is about a ten minute walk from home, with both kids in the pram, to find a rather large group of people milling around out the front, the fire alarms ringing and the firies in attendance. Seems there was something wrong with the airconditoner at the supermarket that was setting the alarms off.

I waited ten minutes, until the firies gave the all clear and followed the mob into the centre. I went about the business of filling up a basket and no sooner had I put my stuff on the conveyor belt, the fire alarms went off again! This happened again at the butcher and again at the grocer! So a little trip to the supermarket that should have taken about an hour, took about three.

Then I get home and discover that I had forgot to get the butter that I needed for the cake. So out we trot again.

Because of all of this, The Boy hadn't had enough sleep and when we get home again from the shop it was about four and he had a major meltdown. By this time Soldier was home and I hadn't even started any of his birthday dinner.

He was put in charge of The Boy, and I got started. I am very happy to report that everything got made and was on the table by 6.30, and it was the best lasagne I have ever made. The cake tasted great, pity the same can't be said for how it looked.

Maybe next year I will go shopping the day before!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Found 'em!

I found my Spring Forward Socks!!


Pattern: Spring Forward by Linda Welch
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Wool - Misty Greens - 51% bamboo, 39% wool, 10% nylon

Needles: 2.5mm knit pick circular


The pattern is written top down, however I worked it toe up without changing the pattern. The yarn is great, there is something in it (the bamboo?) that makes it shiny, and the colour is gorgeous!

Once again, they are a little hard to get over my heel. I obviously didn't learn anything from the Pablos. They do fit well though, once they are on.

That makes four pairs already this year!

Busy

Oh boy! I have been busy the last week or so. All the activity has but me completely out of whack. I am used to a slower pace of life and I have just recovered. So what have I been doing?

* I finished the March socks, but I haven't been able to take some photos because of the camera issues I was having. The new batteries have been purchased, but now I can't find the socks to take some shots of them.

* I have had my cousin and her partner and three children visit for the last few days. That makes four adults and five children - four of whom are under four - in my little house, and when you add my Dad who stayed for a night, that makes for a lot of noise and a lot of stuff.

* We visited the zoo. I love that place. In the two years I have lived here I have been about six or seven times, and I never grow tired of it. I always see something that I missed last time. This time I actually got to see the tiger and the lions pacing around their enclosures. Every other time I have been there they have all been asleep. My personal favourite is the Meerkats.

* The Boy has started walking. He is pretty unsteady still, but is very determined and is now walking across the room unaided. He still prefers to crawl, mostly because it is faster I think, but he is getting there.

* I have started April socks and I am having a ball. I am using some Patonyle that I dyed with food colouring a little while ago. They are really pretty and I am really proud of the yarn. I need to finish three more repeats of the pattern and then I can start decreasing for the toe.

* Our chocolate Lab, Jack is at the vet at the moment. He has been there since Saturday. He had surgery on his ear on Sunday and we should be able to pick him up today. This will be his third surgery and his fourth general anesthetic and he is just six years old. Poor puppy.

Wow that is a lot, I think I will go and lie down now.

Oh, and tomorrow Soldier will be the same age as me!!


Sunday, April 12, 2009

The Kids Were Good.......


and so was the chocolate.....at least they waited and ate their breakfast first.......just!

Happy Easter!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Five Years Ago

Five years ago today, this is what I was doing!


What were you doing?

 

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