More scrapes

We were down at the hospital again yesterday.

This time it was Robbie's turn.

He was warming up for his soccer game when he walked into the goal post. He was closer than he thought when he turned around and clonked himself on the head. Lots of blood apparently (I was at RFS training). He said the other boys were very helpful though - once they'd stopped laughing.

Ian, who is banned from driving because of his hand, drove Rob to Nepean Hospital. I got the message when I got home from training. I then had to scrabble around to find someone to go to the hospital with me to bring Ian and Ishbel home while I waited until I could drive Robbie home.

I tried Karen first but, getting no answer, then rang Sharon and Janet. Janet had just gone out for a walk so I left a message for her to ring me when she got back (she finally called about 6:30pm). I was about to ring one of my RFS buddies, Steve, when Karen rang and agreed to come and get me. Thank you, Karen.

By the time we got to the hospital Robbie had been seen briefly, had the dressing changed but was out in the waiting room waiting to be seen for stitches. He'd been waiting about 2 1/2 hours by then. There were lots of people waiting, including lots of people in sports uniforms of varying codes! I settled down with my book telling Robbie that if we hadn't been seen in 2 hours we'd give up and go and see our GP in the morning.

It wasn't too long after that that he was called through and a lovely Nurse Practitioner put 4 stitches in his head. The wound is only about 2 cm long but was deep - all the way down to the wood. It took two vials of local anaesthetic to make his skin numb! but he was very brave.

On the way home Robbie was trying to make up a story that had him as the hero, not the klutz. Nothing he came up with was remotely convincing, I've yet to hear what he told his mates at school today (he's working tonight).

As we came back up the mountain I told him I'd missed going to ArtFest (at Jamie's school). He had the nerve to ask me why?!

Anyway, he's fine. At school. At work. Stitches will come out next Monday.

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.

SOCCOR GAME

On Saturday I had my soccer match and I scored my first goal ever!
I was so excited I did a cartwheel.
I got a Gala Day ribbon.

Quiet weekend, still no boys

There's not a lot to report really, it's been a quiet week without Jamie and Rob. We last heard from them about Wednesday when they had been to Bourke and were heading towards Wilcania. We'll have to see if we can contact them tonight (they are not always in a mobile phone friendly area) and find out if they are coming home tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday.
Meanwhile we've been doing our normal work routine and Ishbel has been going to Tanderra. She had her mate, Ruby, to sleep over on Thursday night. Having watched a Jamie Oliver program about eating properly the night before, we let the girls order pizza so they (we) had pizza and fizzy for dinner and pizza and fizzy for breakfast the next morning. Being the last day of the holidays Tanderra had a party day that day and they would have been eating junk all day too!!! The sleepover (the first since Ishbel's nightmare birthday party sleepover last year) went very well. The girls snuggled up in Robbie and Jamie's bunks and we heard not a peep.
This weekend and last weekend we have been doing real estate stuff.
Firstly we spend time cleaning up our house so it is always ready for inspection at a moment's notice. I hope it doesn't take too much longer to sell, I don't think the vacuum cleaner will cope!
We had a couple of people do inspections last weekend, among whom were a couple who were viewing the house for the second time but I haven't had any feedback on that. Someone else had an appointment to view on Thursday, again no feedback. Today just as we arrived at Ishbel's soccer we got a call asking if it would be OK if people were taken round. The feedback from that sounds positive - the lady is in the defence forces and is keen but wants her Canberra-based parents to also see it and approve and that won't be before next weekend probably. Meanwhile the house will finally get a For Sale sign out the front sometime this coming week and will start showing up on the internet and in the papers.
We saw a few houses ourselves last weekend. Most of them are boring and the rooms are often not very big. For all ours is a 3 bedroomed house and too small for us now, all the rooms are a good size (especially now they have been divested of all the STUFF they usually contain). We did see an "interesting" house out at Yellow Rock last weekend - it was kind of Swiss Cottage meets Notre Dame!!
This morning we had an appointment to see a house in Winmalee at 10:30. We arrived about 20 past and sat in the car in the street. At about 25 past the tenants left and we sat on, waiting for the real estate agent to turn up. A call to the office had him chased up and we got another call letting us know he'd been held up but was on his way. About 15 minutes to 11 the tenants returned. Ian was out of the car, waiting on the footpath and the lady asked if he was waiting to view the house. She told him the estate agent was always making appointments and running late and that we'd have to reschedule. As we drew away the estate agent arrived but as the woman had made it clear she wasn't going to let us in we kept going; we had to get Ishbel to soccer anyway.
As we drove off we commented that the tenants hadn't been away from the house very long - about 15-20 mins and were making things difficult for the real estate (they'd been very definite about restricting access to the morning). When the real estate man got back to us he told Ian they'd had to get a court order to get the tenants to give access to real estate agents at all. Obviously we don't know the whole story, but it would seem to us that being asked to leave at any time is part of the deal if you are renting and one of the motives for owning your own home and that making life difficult for the estate agents and vendors is surely counter-productive in the long run - no reference for your next rental for instance. I'd be getting rid of them altogether if they were in my property; they probably aren't going out of their way to present the house at its best either. Anyway, we'll have to wait till another time to see that one.
Ishbel had a great soccer game. Although her team lost, the two teams were pretty evenly matched, played well and Ishbel was quite well involved this week and there were some fancy moves happening. Well done Miss Ish.
After soccer we did our grocery shopping. Ishbel spotted Karen and Dan's car in the car park and set out to find her. She was brought to ground, covered in bright purple hair stuff at the hairdressers. We've invited her and Dan to join us for dinner tonight. Ben is home from two weeks with his dad tomorrow middle of the day.
Better go and get some cheese and spinach for the cannelloni I'm making for tonight or it'll be toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Ishbel's Match Report from Saturday 31st May

Today I played soccor and we won and lost at the same time. It was Bowerbirds v Volchers. The Volchers won and lost as well. I almost got a goal and I would of got a goal if another girl was not in the way.

Final score : Springwood Bowerbirds (Ishbel's team) 1 : Springwood Vulchers 1

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!

Last weekend

Got through Ishbel's heavy social calendar!!! She had a school disco on Thursday evening and a Tanderra one on Friday evening. Went in to the school one telling me that one of the boys in her year had not danced last time and what a waste of time that was . . . came home telling me she'd been too busy watching the video of the music to dance. Saw no problem with that!
On Saturday evening she was at her friend Jessie's for burgers and a movie. The parents were going to drop her off between 9 and 9:30pm. Ian and the boys were out at the movies in Penrith to see the latest Bourne movie and I'd settled down to cry over Sheila Hancock's biography of her and John Thaw, The Two of Us with a nice glass of red. At about 8pm I got the call to come and collect her; she'd had a fall, banged her nose and wanted to come home. When I arrived she was sitting with an ice pack to her nose, very subdued. Wouldn't say thank you to Lisa. Howled loudly as soon as we got out the door! Nose and girl fully recovered.
On Sunday it was the soccer team picnic. We went down to Euroka Clearing at the National Park at Glenbrook. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had a picnic and games in the sun. Not far away a HUGE kangaroo was lurking in the bushes. We took some of the kids for a walk down to the river. It's a fairly flat walk until you reach sight of the river bank it is a pretty shear walk down the cliff to the river bank. Luckily Elki fell a little way down the hill and, although her cut was miniscule, she carried on like she'd broken her ankle so Ian and I offered to walk her back to her Mum and Dad so we got out of the really steep bit!

Soccer Gala Day

So that's the end of Ishbel's soccer career.

It was the gala day today where the team had two 15 minute games to play then had a presentation.


















Here is the team : Ben, Zanny (Alexandria), Elki, Oscar, Ishbel, Angus, Lily and Xander.


They lost their first game - by quite a lot - the other side were helped first by Ben and then by Ishbel scoring in our goal.

All the kids got a trophy.

The girls were very impressed because their trophies had people on with long hair and "bosoms".

This is Ishbel's trophy.