My new home!!!!

Oh, what could you do with this, I would love to live in this building, it is just stunning. We found it yesterday when we were walking up to pick up the "working one", but didn't have the camera, a different story today.
We caught the train out to Spotswood to go to Scienceworld, had a great time but it was really crowded, it has a test yourself against Cathy Freeman, well, yes we had to do it, my time was 3.78 ( I am sure it was quicker) & the youngest's time was 2.14 & Cathy's time was 2.00, so back to some training if I want to take my position on the Australian Olympic Team for London......
We went up to Chinatown to have dinner but with two kids that think cheese or butter on pasta is disgusting things were bound to end in tears.......so a few prawn crackers & 2 meals that all they ate were the noodles & that was our dining experience (bring on Christmas, we are heading deep into China with no McDonald's, that will be interesting, rice for all 3 meals)
We tried to get into the Tim Burton exhibition but the line was too long, will try again tomorrow.

The most interesting arcade

Well here it is the arcade that I just have to go into, the people are electric. They are there all the time & much to my son's horror we have to walk through there just to have a sticky at what they are all wearing.
Some of them have gear that has huge spikes sticking out of it, nothing like what my local Target has in their fashion section.
I just love their style & their individuality not that I could ever do it...way to boring I think.....

The MCG

We have touched the turf of that famous ground, we did the tour today & got a special treat because Collingwood came in to train, as we were walking down the hall from the dressing rooms they were going in, damn if only we were a bit later..... Some of their guys are very tall & very well built, not that I was looking..........much!!!!!
We then headed to the National Sports Museum & that was great, lots of interactive stuff for both kids & adults.
We played Netball, AFL, Cricket, Soccer (that goal keeper sucked) cycling (I got 400mtrs before I fell in a huge heap, it was really hard), it kept us occupied all day we were there when it opened & left about 2.30. Caught the tram back & as usual ended up at a stop that we didn't want to go to, a quick walk back to the right stop & we were on our way again.
Lydia Lassila the Olympic Gold medalist in the Aerial skiing was there & I was picked for a trivia contest with her & a 10yr old boy, well I came second to the kid, had to let him win....with questions like " How many players have won a Brownlow Medal 3 times?" how would I know!!!! he did but.

My favourite arcade

Isn't this just beautiful? It's the Block arcade & in the foreground you can see the Hopetoun Tea rooms....yum,yum,yum. We drop the boy off every morning & head straight in there, we look in all the windows & then head straight to the Haigh chocolate shop for our morning fix.
Maybe not this morning cause after he finished work yesterday we hit the Lindt store & guess who's eyes were bigger than their stomach???
Chocolate waffles with chocolate ice cream & chocolate sauce it looked fantastic but way to much chocolate, oh & the drink to go with it, a hot chocolate of course.
We found another arcade yesterday but we only got to the middle & turned around & came out quick smart there was a group of young ones in there, some were punks, some were well just very different, one girl was bald with a spray of green hair in the front, another one was smoking something that was about 1/2 metre long. What was it, I don't know but it looked weird, they did look quite amazing though.
We are off to the hallowed grounds of the MCG today, to go the sports museum. The weather has been bitterly cold with a wind that I am sure is coming from Antartica, it has rained everyday since we got here, it is weird because one minute it's sunny & then it's pouring down.

Way to cute.....

How cute is this, the bigger baby is Mali she is 9 months old & weighs 450kgs the little one is a boy & is 2 weeks old he now weighs 165kgs with a birth weight of 140kgs. As you have probably guessed we are in Melbourne, we will be here for a week, the eldest is doing work experience down here at a game programming studio so I have both the kids with me.

We have sort of mastered the trams even though today we went to the zoo & had to catch the Number 55 tram which came in just as we got to the crossing, on we hopped & then got to the end of the line when we asked the driver where was the zoo, only to be told you have gone the wrong way, right number but wrong side of town & we thought we were so clever.......

Happy Fathers Day

We have a new addition to our family, a 10 week old silver minature poodle, she is just adorable. We got her on Friday night & she has been so good, she cried a little on Friday night when she was left in the laundry to sleep, but she didn't cry last night at all.
We had to get our beloved whippet put down about 9 weeks ago & it was terrible, our youngest cried for ages, it was in the holidays so he was at home & he had heaps of time to think about it. Then to top it off he broke his arm, so was not one of the best holidays that we have had.
So we have this beautiful little girl to love,, she is black at the moment but with silver under her fur, when she has her first haircut she will loose all the black & turn silver.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's out there, have a great day......

And some more black.....

And the total look, we are having having a smoke machine going outside the front doors, with lasers & we have changed the front light globe to be a black one (you know the one that makes white glow).

I have curtains to go around the bottom verandah bit in front to the front doors, so hopefully the overall look will be great, that's the plan anyway......

Not sure how many we have coming I think around 30, I cleaned the garage out on Tuesday in between taking the youngest to the dentist & doctors omg, there was so much stuff, the charity store got most of it so hopefully they will make some money out of it....

I've gone off track again, the garage is air-conditioned so we have set up a table tennis table & we have a slurpie machine & heaps of music in there, fingers crossed that it will keep the kids occupied for a little while....

Friday 13th.......

Ok, you get the idea, we just happened to have a party on black friday, so all will be black...

I give you the dessert table, with ghost cupcakes & tombstones, vanilla cupcakes & chocolate cake.

The creme caramel is in the fridge yum, yum, yum...........

It's been a year......

How time fly's, we have been in the house for a year, would I do it again omg yes, I would do it 10 times over, I miss every part of the build, I just wish that I knew that when we were doing it.........

The plants are doing well, we have lost a few, especially the ones that the council made us put in, they curled up their heels really quickly & went to plant heaven...

We are having a party tonight for the indoor cricket team that the youngest play's in they lost last week so no grand final tonight, he couldn't play because of his arm which was a shame cause he usually gets some good runs.

We are off to a Macquarie Street specialist on Monday for him to take a look at his arm, it is still hurting him , he has had x-rays & CT scan's & the break is still there.

My hubby & I have just finished a Cricket Umpiring course at the SCG, the exam is next Thursday night with a 85% pass mark, hopefully I can prove my son wrong & pass, he thinks I have no chance.......

I think that all the guys that I did the course with have the same opinion, as I was the only female it would be nice to get the win for the girls....there is a Ashes test coming up maybe I should make myself available!!!!!

We would win for sure if I was umpiring..........

"The Good Room"......

Don't know why I did it but I came home from work & decided to change the "Good Room" around.

There is not really that much I can do to it but I decided that it needed a change.....

Well it's probably a boring post cause all that I changed was the tables but I sort of liked the change.

Where did it get the name you ask? It comes from the fabulous series "Kath & Kim" they have a "Good Room" so why can't we!!!

We don't really use it, my Dad sit's there when they come over & my son's bestie's Mum sit's there when she comes over but other than than we don't use it.

Easy care fish.....

I just love to shop, but only certain kinds of shopping, one is anything for the house & the other is fresh food shopping, you know the kind when you go to a farmers market & find all the yummy things that are just waiting for you to take them home.

Well I am a lucky duck ( my husband doesn't think so), as I am able to access certain things wholesale, so what that means is that I can change things often.

Well it goes something like this, we walk in I see something that I like & I then decide I need it for that spot I have been looking for ages to fill, it's just "perfect" I say, but then the next time I go I see something else that is also "perfect" so the problem then becomes where do I put all these "perfect"things????

We went a few weeks ago & found heaps of those "perfect" things but last week we went again & I had seen the fish the week before but didn't take too much notice of them until that "perfect" flash went through my brain......

What about for in front of the fish painting, I thought will that work? who knows, if it doesn't maybe they could sit in the garden near the bowl that has water in it waiting for the frogs to jump in & lay there eggs so we can have a bunch of tadpoles....but as yet they haven't liked the bowl that is there especially for them......oh well....

Anyway back to the fish I put them on their table & I quite liked them, the kids liked them & my husband went "oh, nice" (man of very few words, I make up for him, in that area).

So do they fit there or is there another "perfect" something out there just waiting to knock the fish off???? only time will tell...

You truly are amazing....

Jessica Watson that is...... Yes, we met her, she signed my son's back-slab & her book & I went off one happy chappy.....

She is lovely, very unassuming & thinks that she hasn't done anything that was that remarkable, well guess what?? I do, but after reading some of her book, she said that she had wanted to sail around the world as a 12 year old. My youngest is 11 & I couldn't see him sailing down the river by himself at that age, but if it was a jet-ski that would be a different matter....

He also forgot to tell her that 2 of his mice are called "Jesse" & "Ella" the other mouse is a whole different story she should be called "Harriet Houdini" as she escapes through the bars of the cage & then sits on the top waiting to get put back in, which usually is ok but the days that the Kookaburra sits on the clothes line checking out whats going on in the yard is the day that she might become lunch. So now they have a cage that has no bars so she won't be the Kookaburra's next meal!!!!

Kids come in handy sometimes especially with a broken arm, she signed his plaster & he also scammed a poster that she signed for him. That poster will now go up in the library room as I needed something for one wall.....

Why the black & white? well our clothes clashed really badly, plus you can't see that my hair needs some work done to it & all those wrinkles are less obvious......

Did you know that Jessica's Dad had a TV rental business & they didn't have a TV, so that got me thinking what would you miss the most if any of the electrical things that have become a big part of our lives were taken away????......well for me it would probably be the TV, then the internet & then my phone( but that's not electrical is it)..
I will leave that one for you to think over...........

Check out my red plaster

This is the fold out sofa on the other side of the library, and yes it houses only a quarter of my cookbooks, and yes I have a cookbook addiction........is there a cookbooks anonymous????....do I love all of them well no but I just don't have the heart to send them on their merry way....

Anyway back to the story, it's all about the boy, he has his nice red cast on but we will be back at the doctors tomorrow because it is rubbing on his thumb so not sure if they can fix it or if the will have to put another one on.

It has this special foam stuff inside it & that is what makes it waterproof, it seems that the foam stuff has come away from the plaster around his thumb & it is rubbing on him.

Lucky its school holidays..........

The Library

I say it all the time and I will say it again we are slowly getting there, this is the upstairs living area it was a total waste of space to us, because we have 3 living area's downstairs we were not using this room.
So we put our thinking caps on & came up with this, it has a queen bed sofa in there as well & it serves us well for when we have kids staying. Usually they want to sleep upstairs were everyone is so that they feel like they are not on their own.
Pictures are not up on the wall as yet because I'm not sure what I want for the other side so it can stay like this till we find something else.

Look at my arm!!!!

The back slab is going on tomorrow & the full cast probably on Monday as it is too swollen for a full cast.
He did it at soccer training he hadn't even started he was wanting to try out to be the goal keeper for a week when their keeper was going to be away & something happened & he hit his arm on the post.
So no soccer, no indoor cricket, no winter cricket, no school sport & no huge bike ride that we were going to do with 8 boys in tow on Friday. Oh well hopefully he will be all good for the cricket finals & lucky it's his left arm as he can still bowl, but he is to try out for a Rep Cricket team as a bowler & wicket keeper that may now just be a dream, till next year.......

A clean bedroom....

I spent the morning with some help from the boys cleaning up this room.
There is still some more to do but it will do for now, We then spent the later part of the afternoon at the doctors because guess who has a broken arm????
Yes it's our youngest!!!

It's a party

Well after cricket in the morning how do you celebrate your birthday........have a cricket party....

The eldest son & I made the cake & it took ages but if you don't look too close it looks ok....

And here is the finished product...

Ok so it was worth it in the end.....
What I can't believe is the amount of things that were out of date, not by a few months but years.The worst one was use by 2006!!!! wt...... we have only been there for 9 months, how did that one get through 2 moves????? the mind boggles!!!!
Oh well maybe I should take bets on how long it will look like this?????
Oh & see all the soup, it's for our youngest & they have deleted it so we have something like 100 cans of it. Hopefully by the time he uses it all up he will be sick of it!!!!!

How can this be????

We had a break from soccer & cricket over the weekend because of the terrible rain that Sydney has been having. So what should we do??? take a lie down, have a bit of a rest, No lets clean out the pantry!!!!
Well this is the result!!!! How is this possible we have been there for 9 months & all this came out of it.
My eldest son helped me & it took us all of Sunday afternoon & right into the night. Yes that is a pizza rapper in the garbage because that's all we could have & the ironing board became the table.
Husband is off to the tip as I type......

A little bit closer

Well we are certainly getting there I moved the hall table to in front of the window in the back room (because I found a hall table that had drawers in it), we had a entertainment unit for this room on order but after 4 months of it not turning up I cancelled it. Off I go in search of something that would fit that I didn't have to wait months for (impatient, well yes that's me!!!). I went down to my favourite store Brescia at Alexandria (yes I am sure that the feeling is mutual) & found the TV unit pretty much as perfect a fit as I was going to get & they delivered it the next day. So then I need a coffee table & after looking everywhere in our spare 2 hours after cricket on Sunday we decided to go back to Brescia & we found this one, well its 2 really. I really wanted a marble one that was just stunning but it wasn't a white white & we needed the colour to match. My husband was really happy that it didn't match because in his words " you can buy a car for the price of that!!!" I have ordered a cabinet for the corner in this room & hopefully it will be ready soon.

Jessica Watson you are a superstar...

Well she was over 2 hours late but she made it & we were there to see her, what an amazing sight, there were so many boats both big & small & everyone was just there to wish her well.
We waited for hours to see her but when that small pink sailing boat was visible it made it all worthwhile.
She is a fantastic role model & I for one must eat my words when I thought her parents were mad for letting her go by herself to sail around the world.
Congratulations Jessica on all that you have achieved I will miss your blogs but can't wait for your book to come out. It was a honour to be part of your celebrations today, thank you for sharing it with us.
On other news my youngest son is on crutches after stopping a ball that was hit for a 4 with his foot...all you young cricketers out there tip #364 don't stop a cricket ball with your foot!!!!
So thanks to him not being able to play soccer today we were able to go & watch Jesse come in....
Cricket tomorrow 20/20 to watch & then a cricket presentation in the afternoon.....spare time does anyone have any?????
Also good luck to the Aussie boys for the 20/20 final on Monday morning going up against England how good would that be to have a win tomorrow what a fantastic "long" weekend !!!!!

After waiting nearly 5 months the console that goes with our table finally arrived from Italy. I was so happy with it, I think that it goes perfectly with the table. We also received the replacement for the glass top that was scratched, so now no-one is allowed to go near it.... It is don't touch it, don't put anything on it, it is just for looking at....hahaha

We have been so busy with the kids sport it is stupid, our week goes something like this Monday- Cricket training, Tuesday - Soccer training, Wednesday - Music, Thursday -Soccer training, Friday- Indoor Cricket & then Newcombe Ball, Saturday- Soccer game & Finally Sunday a day of rest!!!! NO that is now 20/20 Winter Cricket & this little black duck is managing the team, hahaha got sucked into that one cause no one else would do it. So I also now have Cricket meeting's to attend, but to top it off I think that I might do the Umpiring Course so that I can umpire, I took on the scorer's job on Sunday & loved it & we don't have a Umpire for Sunday's game, if we can't find one one of the other Mum's & I are going to give it a crack.....we are not talking Australia v's England here so we might as well.
I have some more stuff on order when it comes & as soon as I get a chance I will pop some pic's on the blog.

One more thing fingers crossed for Jessica Watson as she comes up the coast back to Sydney, I have been following her blog since the beginning & I have promised our youngest that we will go in & see her, I was hoping that she would come in on a weekday but I think it might be the weekend & see above schedule for a spare weekend slot.......none I'm afraid.....
We are with you Jesse, keep up the great work....& we will see you in Sydney very, very soon.....