Looking back on another week

From the middle of the week this time.

Last Wednesday was Joanne's funeral. It was held at the crematorium at Leura. There's a lovely little chapel building at the edge of a hill looking over bushland. It's quite beautiful. Ian and I went up with Robbie and Ishbel. Joanne's eldest sister, Margaret, gave a lovely speech followed by Joanne's friend from college, Linda. It was very hot in the chapel and a few people had to leave to get some air and three people passed out - including our own Ishbel. She was complaining of feeling a bit sick, I was trying to find a seat and then her eyes just rolled back in her head and she just flopped. A short rest on the lawn at the front of the chapel with all the other floppers and a glass of water and she was right again. After all the ceremonial stuff was finished we let go 47 purple balloons. The reception/wake was held at the golf club in Springwood.

On Friday the washing machine was finally fixed with a new pump being installed. However, after putting on the first load I found water all over the floor in the laundry - the man hadn't connected things up properly. Luckily Ian had been paying close attention to what he'd done otherwise and was able to correct the problem.

On Saturday Ishbel and I went down to Bowral with Cathy for the afternoon. Her boys had left their Nintendo DSs at friends during the holidays and we were meeting Chris to get them. After meeting Chris over lunch we pootled about the bookshops and antique shops then finished with 3 enormous ice creams before heading home.

Meanwhile Robbie and Ian went cricketing leaving Jamie to hold the fort at home. Robbie's team lost - the umpire came from the opposing team and the decisions were not without controversy apparently.

Robbie has signed up for both soccer and rugby this winter. I'm not at all sure how we're going to manage to get him to games and Jamie to his AFL games. Jamie doesn't start his comp until April but we have the draw already. He has games ALL over Sydney. Some with early starts. I've said to Ian they should just stay overnight near the venue for those ones.

Ian went for a long bike ride to Oberon on Sunday morning. On the first Sunday of the month he usually does that with a crowd of fellas while I go to RFS training leaving Ishbel at Ruby's house. We'd not got into our stride after the holidays though and hadn't arranged for Ishbel to go to Ruby's. It wasn't until mid-morning that Carolyn rang wondering where Ishbel was! Ruby came round to play in the afternoon and we'll get back into it next month.

The boys have started back at Venturers tonight. Tomorrow Robbie starts work at McDonalds in Blaxland. He's to be there at 4:30pm for orientation. Jamie starts his AFL training at 6pm and at 7:30 I plan to take Josie to dog school. Phew!

Oh and the forecast is for hot, hot, hot weather this weekend. Yeuch.

Another weekend gone

It was a bit less frantic on the sporting front this weekend.

Robbie's rugby league season is finished. All he had was a presentation in the morning.

Ishbel's soccer team had a bye so they just met up at Springwood High School for a knockabout. It didn't matter that we arrived late. Or that Elki and Lily didn't come so that Ishbel was the only girl.

After the soccer we came home and picked Jamie up for his Aussie Rules game. It was on just near the shopping centre with Aldi in it so Ishbel and I dropped him off and headed for the shops. In the car park we were tracked down by Ian and Robbie who were finished and said they'd bring Jamie home so Ish and I could finish the shopping and take it straight home. Ian was going to drop Rob off at his mate Harley's house.

On Sunday we had another birthday lunch for Ishbel. This time Roey and Al B came up (Pete was working and Jack was at a party) and Karen and Ben (Dan was doing a First Aid course). Spent all morning getting the lunch ready.

Except that is, for taking a look under the house to see what could be put away in to the storage place. Hardly found anything - most of the STUFF under the house is only fit for the tip. However, we need to borrow a trailer to get it there so that's next weekend's project.

After lunch we piled in to Roey's car to take her to see our new house - just from the outside. We were passing the end of Karen's street (sort of) so we swung past her house and let Roey see that too for the first time. Then all the way out to Winmalee. I think Roey liked both houses.

Whirlwind weekend

Another weekend spent at full tilt. We were up early on Saturday and trying to get the grocery shopping done and be back for the sporting events.
Ian took Ishbel to soccer while I did the shopping. I missed out on seeing her score her first goal. She surprised everyone, including herself and almost scored another one shortly after, so high was she on adrenalin.
Playing tag, Ian took the groceries home and got the boys ready for their sports. Meanwhile the soccer team were having a little party - it being Gala Day, some organised members had sausages cooked for sausage sandwiches and the Coach had brought a birthday cake for Ishbel. I was very touched by that kind gesture.
Ishbel and I were home long enough for her to have a quick shower then we had to go back down to Penrith to collect Jamie from his AFL match. After taking the scenic route, we arrived in time for the last quarter. Ish was very impressed - Jamie appeared to be playing the Sydney Swans. No wonder they lost badly!!
Rob and Ian had further afield to travel for Rob's game and were back in time to help with the last of the preparations for dinner. It is our friend Janet's birthday so we had her and her family and some other friends for dinner.

Up early again this morning for RFS training - we did off-road driving and recovery - winching the PC out of trouble - fun!.
Ian had the kids up relatively early too and down to Penrith to get some gear for Jamie who is off to the snow this week on a Leadership Camp with school.
Back home I shoved a cake in the oven and we are just now waiting for Auntie Karen, Dan and Ben to arrive to share it with us.

Footy footy footy

We had our first weekend where each of the kids had a footy match. While I took Ishbel to her soccer match at 11:30am - Ish's Bower Birds won 5-1, Ian took Jamie for his AFL (Aussie Rules) 11:30am match. His team also won - very comprehensively - indeed when the score was about 148-1 in Jamie's teams favour the "Mercy clause" was invoked and they stopped counting the goals!
Robbie's rugby union team lost 65-5 -ah well.

Jamie's AFL slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11895723@N05/sets/72157604534123995/show/

Soccer and Rugby Gala Days

Saturday 1st March was Springwood Soccer Clubs annual Gala Day for the younger players and the first opportunity this season for the players to get out against another team.
We were rung up the night before by John, the coach, to be told to have Ishbel out at the park by 11 for an 11:30 start and that the kids would be playing three games or so.
Arrived around the 11am mark after haring around all morning. Jamie and Ian were up at the crack of dawn to take Jamie to the rendez-vous point for a Venturer hike. It's part of the Venturer skills program and Robbie had already done it so it was just Jamie going from our house. They got to the rendez-vous on time but another boy hadn't got his permission slip signed and everyone had to wait while his parents were called and someone came to give permission for him to go. They were not so much hiking as going down the Grose River on li-los.
Once they were back I was able to go and do the weekly grocery shopping. Ian had done it all the weekend before while Rob and I were at the First Aid course so we had heaps of meat but had run out of fruit and vegetables by Wednesday.
Anyway, back to the park at 11am. Found the rest of the team, kids all rounded up and given a pep talk and then we find they are only playing ONE game and it isn't until 1:30pm. Eeek. There was some 'entertainment' there - some jumpy castle things and Winmalee RFS had their truck on show. I took Ishbel and Elki over for a play in the big red truck and met up with Scott, one of the fellows from last weekend's course. There was also a police car and the police were giving away cardboard make-it-yourself paddy wagon money boxes so that kept the girls busy until their game.
The rules have all changed for the younger players this year. In Ishbel's age group, the Under 8s, they are playing 7 a side. There is no goal-keeper, the goal is tiny and once a player has scored 3 goals they are not allowed another kick at goal. The officials say it's to make things faster and fairer. They will also only be playing other Springwood teams. There are about 10 Under 8s teams. That means all the matches will be at the home ground instead of all over the mountains and western Sydney.
Ishbel had a very good game, getting much more involved than she often does. She had told her coach at training that she was 'rubbish' at soccer - she disproved that.
She'd also apparently growled at him for something during training and told him she had a dog and "wasn't afraid to use it." We had Bella with us on Saturday - I don't think John is having any more nightmares about attack dogs!
Finally her game was over and we were able to head down to Lapstone for Robbie's rugby union day. He'd gone down with Karen, Dan and Ben a bit earlier in the day so we met up with them there. We also met up with old acquaintances Cathy and Tony whose son, Mitchell, used to do the Fencing with Robbie and who is in his rugby team.
They were having a sausage sizzle and an opportunity to buy some gear. Ben got some boots but the team supplies shorts, socks and shirts and Rob got his boots a few weeks ago so we got away scott free!

Busy weekend

Another busy weekend half way through.
Today, apart from the usual housework and grocery shopping, we have signed up the kids for their winter sport. Despite her less than enthusiastic end to last season, Ishbel has decided she wants to play soccer again this year so she was signed up to that today. Robbie wants to play Rugby Union this year. That coincides with Ben's wish for this year so Ian and Karen took the boys down to register for that this morning. Jamie says he wants to do a martial art. I think there's a guy does something in the hall at Faulconbridge so I'll have to be proactive in making sure Jamie gets along to that.
Tomorrow RFS training is on so I at least will go to that. Rob has made arrangements to go to see Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter) with some mates. I'll see if I can get Jamie up early.
For lunch we are going to Kim and Graham's. Their eldest son, Alex, was killed this time last year in a motorcycle accident and the lunch is a little family/friends get together and memorial for him.
At 5:45pm I've arranged to go and see Death at a Funeral with some girlfriends. Karen, Dan and Ben saw it and said it was hilarious. Could be the antidote to a potentially glum afternoon that I need.
Next week promises to be busy too. With the schools back, the Scouts also start so Ian will be out running the Joeys on Monday. Ishbel is going to be moving up to the Cubs sometime soon with her little friend Joanna but I think they go to Joeys still/also for a little while doing a 'link' or some such.
Tuesday night is RFS meeting night for me.
On Wednesday Ian is off to Adelaide for a couple of nights to train staff in new software that was installed over the Christmas break. He was devastated to learn that there was nothing in the way of budget hotels left and he's had to book in to an expensive one!
Thursday night I should be going to belly dancing but, unless I can persuade Ishbel to come with me, I won't be able to go this week. I'm not making much headway in the persuasion department so far even though there was another 7 year old girl there this Thursday past. I had been thinking about going for a while then Jenny at work said she and some others had been talking about it while I was on leave and so 4 of us from work rolled up. When we got there, apart from the ladies I knew from before, there was Francoise from RFS and Diana who is one of Cathy's friends.
My work promises to be frantic. The library is undergoing ISO (international standards) accreditation this year, starting on 18th February with the first, gap analysis, audit. I am in charge of the procedure manual (have I said this all before, I think so). To cut a long ramble short, it'll be a lot of work, not made easier by our supervisor, who has been on 6 weeks leave over the school holidays already, ringing to request another month off. She is also the only staff member in the library with ISO training. Vicki didn't think it would be a good idea to force her to come back if she wanted to be elsewhere so granted Robyn the extra time.
On Monday I also have to go in and fight with the enveloping machine again. Friday was a beggar of a day all up with all the technologies fighting me - I was fiddling with the library catalogue settings and had to do the same thing several times before it would work, the enveloper kept saying the envelope tray was empty when it clearly wasn't and kept jamming and messing up my mailout, I set the printer to double side print my mailout letters and must've taken a page out too early and ended up with the address to services on one side but the details of another service on the other and had to start all over again. When I tried to shred the stuffed up mailout pages, the shredder wouldn't work, with the bin full light on when the bin wasn't on. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArgh!