Bella's been feeling the cold

Luckily our young friend, Georgia, miscalculated the size of her dog, Mindy, and got her a coat which didn't fit.

It does fit our Bella though and is keeping her nice and cozy warm.

Sizzlin' sausages

Yesterday Jamie, Rob and I helped out with the Valley Heights RFS BBQ stand at Springwood Public School's Twilight Fair.

We met at the station about 1:30pm, got the gear loaded up into the truck and the PC and headed up to the school to set up.

Bruce soon had the BBQ going and was busy making sure things were cooked in the right order while 15 kg of onions were peeled and chopped and heaven only knows how many slices of bread were put between serviettes ready for selling.

We started off slow but by 6 we had a queue going back a fair way and we'd run out of onions. Not long later we'd also sold all 1000 sausages and had to go and buy more. We were only able to get another 50 at the local supermarket so we were all done and washed up by the time the fireworks started about 8pm.

We all traipsed over to the Big Red Truck and had the best seats in the house for the fireworks.

Click here for some more photos of the afternoon.

We capped off the evening with tea and stuff at Janet and Steven's house where somewhere along the line I ended up with Kate's undies on over my yellows!!

I'm not even going to try to explain . . .

Teething troubles

Ishbel has been a regular at the dental clinic lately. Mostly all she has had done is fissure seals put in - stuff put in the crevices of the back teeth where they are particularly deep with the aim of preventing food getting stuck in there and causing cavities. Today though she needed a filling. The tooth was actually filled 4 years ago but at the time she was unco-operative and Lesley, our dental therapist, noted the hole was not caries-free.

Ishbel was very good and did not complain about having to have a needle and her tooth drilled. She even had a little bit of fun sucking on the sucky thing and watching the blood and yuk drain out of a tooth that would probably have abcessed very soon, Lesley said.


By the end, however, Ishbel was fairly shaken up and didn't want to go back to school. I said I'd take her to work for an hour then I'd take her to school. At work I put Ishbel to work, helping me unpack the boxes of new books that came in this morning (Jenny usually does that but she's on holidays). After an hour Ishbel was still not happy so, with Gillian kindly offering to do the lunchtime desk shift I should have done, we decided to go home. We took the library mail to the post office then decided to ring Auntie Karen and see if she was up for a visit because we know she's spending Thursdays at home. Armed with afternoon tea we spent an hour or so with Karen and a snotty Uncle Dan.

Valley Heights RFS AGM

Last night it was our brigade's Annual General Meeting. All positions are declared open and nominations made either before the meeting or from the floor. My friend Steve was running for Captain against our current Captain, David. David won again which was disappointing for Steve, but David is a nice man so it's not a bad result.
I was nominated unopposed for Assistant Station Officer. I only allowed the nomination because I have been assured the position requires no work - I might sweep out from time to time. I was also nominated for Secretary but I declined, a) because I want to be able to be free to support my friend, Joanne, as she gets sicker and b) it's a stinker of a job and you'd have to get your head looked at if you said yes.
I also won the Attendance Award - aka the Get A Life Award - as the non-field officer who has turned up to the most training sessions, etc. I got a lovely acid yellow compass as a prize. As I said at the meeting though, all the members contributed to my getting the prize - while we have made particular friends, every person I've met has been unfailingly friendly and generous with their time and their knowledge and has made it fun for the boys and I.
Ishbel isn't convinced the compass works because it points North towards the front corner of the house, not at the front windows where she thinks North should be!

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

Amazingly simple home remedies

This was one of those emails that just tickled me with its simple brilliance and I decided to post it here rather than send it around.

1. If you're choking on an ice cube, simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. Presto! the blockage will instantly remove itself.


2. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.


3. Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat ~ use the sink.


4. For high blood pressure sufferers ~ simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. Remember to use a timer.


5. A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button ~ Jamie needs to do this. He forgot to set his alarm for work on Friday morning and even insomniac Me did not wake until 5:30 something when he had to be at work at 5:45!


6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives ~then you'll be afraid to cough.


7. You only need two tools in life ~ WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.


8. Remember ~ everyone seems normal until you get to know them.


9. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

Thought for the Day: some people are like slinkies - not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.

James' news

woot i passed my L's test today with a pass of 100% in the multiple choice test. now i can legally drive on the road so stay off the footpath. oh and thats a natural smile by the way cos there was a person there who made me laugh as they took it. he told me to look the way i wanted the police to see me when they pull me over.

Ishbel got an award today

In her own words . . .

I am proud of myself because I had a different teacher today and it takes alot of hard work to impress someone new.

Ishbel

Keeping you updated . . .

Not much to add, just to let you know we are still about really.
Jamie had exams last week at school and is getting his results back. He's done pretty well. He also entered a Science competition a while back and did that test today. He's happy with how he went, he thinks.
Robbie is having his exams this week.
Ishbel's school had an open day yesterday but, unfortunately, with having been off sick and with having had to take time to take her to the dentist AND with a colleague off on leave, I didn't make it to school. Today she was at a play - The Happy Prince - which she was very excited about going to see and which she thoroughly enjoyed.
We spent last weekend doing a light on sport runaround - Robbie and Ishbel both had bye's so that gave us time to help our friends, Bec and Steve, move house.

24 Hour Teacher's Strike

Tomorrow there is a 24 hour teacher's strike so I will be home with the children.
I told the boys they would not be allowed to XBox or play computer games or anything else unless they were all up-to-date on their homework. They are planning now to "sleep in until midnight."