Waiting for the Third One

Now before you go falling off your chair, I have not gone mad and am definitely not contemplating any little additions to our family.
"They" say things happen in threes... firstly my beloved coffee machine finally squeezed out it's last brew.  A difficult day given I had a sick child at home and couldn't escape to source my fix elsewhere.  After gathering my thoughts I remembered the Aldi coffee machine we had purchased to install at Grandma's house in Adelaide this Christmas was sitting idle in the garage.  Got it up and running in time for afternoon tea - voila!  Even better was the discovery that Miss I could operate this one and as such excessive amounts of caffeine have been consumed ever since.

Second to go was the "second" fridge, the one that keeps all the beer cold and the meat frozen. Not ideal timing as we had just done a big shop at both the butcher and Dan Murphy's, luckily we had the camp fridge on hand and all produce was saved.  One phone call and $275 later and the fridge was saved, we justified the spend in that we weren't going to be buying a new fridge for anywhere near the same cost and even if we could find one it wouldn't magically appear within the next week.  Another bonus from having a fridge expert in the house was that he also fixed the problem with the main fridge at no extra charge!

All the while I have been humming Monty Python tunes... always look on the bright side...

So now I wait... what will be the third appliance to go...  and how will it be magically saved...  odds are it will be the tv and it won't be salvagable and we'll be getting that even bigger screen that D has been dreaming of ever since we moved in... just in time to miss both the Olympics and the footy season.

Season Ends on a High Note

Miss I's netball team, STPNC (St Therese's Parish Netball Club) Gold Stars, played one of the best games I've seen this season, if it wasn't for roughly a 30% height disadvantage they may have even had a chance of winning.
Seriously, check out the height difference in these pictures!
Talk about a challenge, first they had to be able to see around Gigantor #1 to know where to pass the ball and then had to pass the ball precisely enough to stop it being intercepted by Gigantor's team mate, Gigantor #2. 
The girls worked really hard - taking their time with their passing, chasing down loose balls, manning up like they were wearing velcro and with the same enthusiasm from the first whistle to the last siren.  Such great attitude and determination from them all and not one word of a whinge!

Backyard Stoush

Since we moved in we have noticed a few cats hanging around, rather big cats to be precise, but in the absence of any noticable territorial marking smells we haven't bothered too much about it.  This week we decided to pay particular attention to the new neighbours and have counted 4 of them. 
On sighting we usually run outside yelling and hissing to scatter and deter them but last weekend I suggested that we should see if they seemed friendly at all - big mistake.
The very next day after said experiment I caught one of them abluting in the back corner of our yard so I immediately returned to charging at them growling and hissing.
On waking this morning, 2 of them were hunkered down in the not so recently mowed back "lawn",  maybe fantasising that they were African lions on the plains, strange choice though given it hadn't stopped raining overnight and was < 10 degrees outside.  We observed them for a moment but then I couldn't resist charging at them again to see what happened.
The pair of them ran straight for, and up, the back fence, not a bad feat for what I originally thought were some over loved pets.
We watched eating our breakfast quite leisurely as they faced each other off for @ 15 minutes, eventually Mr Grey started to back away.
I got bored with the stale mate so charged at them again, they both leaped over the fence and disappeared.
So, I think I either need to get a dog or a nerf gun...  figure the latter might be quite a bit less maintenance and expense, any suggestions appreciated.

 Round 1

 Round 2

 Round 3

A Little Olympic Inspiration

Every week I drag myself and my progeny off to swimming lessons, they don't particularly like it and whilst I don't mind it in a "something a mother has to do" kind of way, it is one of the more tedious hours of my week.
We have no expectations of our children ever being olympic swimmers, that will never happen if only because their mother struggles to rise before the sun does, but feel that they should be confident swimmers as we like to take our holidays in warmer climates, preferably near a beach or a pool.
This week I had the pleasure of the company of my beautiful friend C, who also happens to be Miss I's Godmother, we'd spent the day doing grown up things and she hung around for some family time.  So whilst my kids are slogging it out in the pool we were yacking away on the sidelines and I totally missed my youngest swimming her first full lap unassisted...  Mother of the Year award coming my way!!!!!
I didn't feel so bad after my little swimmer was so impressed with her achievement that she didn't bother to collect her certificate until I reminded her.
Very proud day though.

100 days

Doesn't seem like much in the general scheme of things, but when you're celebrating your first 100 days of school it's a pretty big deal according to St Therese's Preps.
The countdown clock has been on since the beginning of the year and they have been preparing and rehearsing since the end of last term.
Invitations went home and when the day finally arrived they were all super excited.
Parents arrived to be greeted from some very fine Year 5 hosts at the door, we were given our instructions and told where to sit, then the stars of the show arrived all dressed up and ready for action.
We were treated to some fine speeches, lovely singing, beautiful decorations and very funky dancing. There were also activities to do with the children so they could showcase just how much they have learnt in 100 days.
Pretty impressive was the general consensus and lots of fun too!

Straight from the Horses Mouth

Rather than write my own blog entry today I figured I would just post what the subject wrote about the matter herself.  We think she was very proud of her achievement yesterday, actually we know she was, the humongous smile on her face that is still there today gives it away!

Trying to smile with a mouth full of snakes.

The Face of Evil

Dr Evil that is!  Our fish formerly known as Speedie has earnt himself a new name.
Following the departure of his long time partner and the grief of a little girl, we welcomed a new member into our family (as featured in one of my original posts) probably a little sooner than would be the social norm.
Unfortunately Carrot was only with us for a week, I suspected that my misunderstanding of how long the bag containing the new fish should float in the bowl to acclimatise for was to blame, but she came good for a few days and then again, there it was, dead fish laying at the bottom of the bowl.
Fortunately the pet store has a 14 day warranty on fish and kids being kids they were keen to restore the balance of one fish each in the bowl and off we went to the pet store to make good our purchase.
Then along came Bolt, she was spritely and introduced into the bowl within the 15 minute guideline she was zipping about all over the place... and then we noticed, Speedie seemed to be trying to play Tiggy with her.
We kept our eye on the situation and Bolt seemed to be holding her own, but Speedie wore her down, the plant wasn't big enough for her to hide in and his pestering was relentless, before we knew it there was another victim laying at the bottom of the bowl.
So Speedie is to be known for the rest of his days as Dr Evil and will have to serve out his time in solitude, no more taking our chance with pet store warranties.