Saturday

We were up early and on the road to Toowoomba by 7am! We left the furries sitting on the couch - wondering, no doubt, how long we were going to be in the laundry this time! Or maybe they are cleverer than that because when we came around the front, I noticed they were both sitting at the window - and while little noses were not pressed against the window, they might as well have been!

It was a good drive up, made better by finding a cafe that does decent coffee at the service station where we filled up, and because we stopped for a leisurely breakfast at The Sister Cafe, just out of Marburg. Also, the roadworks along the way, while still there, are less annoying and not as time-consuming!

Gr and Abs are in good form and the had just arrived back from "a hit" as we came down the street. I don't know what it is about some people but they never seem to change - not in terms of their external personas anyway. He is still the same jokester he always was and he had us in fits of laughter soon after we arrived with his dance moves.

I'm was totally smitten with Abs - just like she was when she met Ja. How those years have flown! And how many changes there have been along the way!

Lunch was at Mum's - a little taste of a few things - and we all managed to crowd around the tables (we had to join two together for us all to fit).

After lunch we drove Gr and Abs over to the tennis centre at the University so she could have another "hit", this time with one of the tournament girls rather than with Gr - and while I don't know that much about tennis - she seemed to be very good. She is in the top 500 in the world with her doubles, and top 750 individually.

We set off from Toowoomba just after 5 and were back home with Riki and Miki just after 7:30. It didn't seem as though they had missed us that much although one did go and sit with Sooz on the couch as she watched New Tricks! And as soon as the keyboard (for the iPad) came out, I had a little visitor as well.

Friday

Why is it that short weeks always seem incredibly long? Is it because we try to fit five days of work into four? Or, in Ch's case, two? It was productive though, so much so, that Ma favoured us with an early mark ... not much of one for me though as I leave at 4 ... but the extra fifteen minutes meant I had time to call into the Post Office and the Chemist on my way to the doctors (nothing serious).

Meanwhile, back at Jannie, Syl and An were dropping off Riki and Miki and settling them in. We will have them for three weeks and both Sooz and I are looking forward to having them. It will be interesting to see if they decide to sleep on the bed at all ... or whether they can tell that we've had other cats on the bed!

Dinner was at Mouse's tonight, so we had to work out how to effectively lock Miki and Riki in so they wouldn't slip outside while we were leaving. While Syl had patched up all the holes in the fence that might have allowed them to venture out into the big wide wonderful world, we don't want to risk putting it to the desk.

In the end, we decided it would work if we locked them in by us going out through the laundry and the back door. I can't help but wonder if they wondered why we spent three hours in the laundry ... and whether they were grateful that we had moved their litter tray and other accoutrements into the main bathroom.

It was great at Mouse's ... some good discussion and fantastic food - thanks Mouse! We also noted that Allure, the Currumbin restaurant where we had been with David and his family, had been named as the second best in Australia. (Aria was #1.)

Thursday

Today was Ch's first day off now that she is working part=time ... that's four days a week ... so she can spend time on her studies - end goal: acupuncturist. She has four years of study in front of her but as we all know, the longest journey starts with the smallest step (or something like that).

She was away yesterday too ... sick - so I am really looking forward to her being back at work tomorrow. Hopefully she won't be taking Friday as well and having an extra long weekend.

But enough about work. Sooz and I are not so much loving the kitchen sink at the moment. Marty fixed the leak there when he put the dishwasher in but Sooz noticed today that there is a leak in there again. She contacted Fl and Marty will drop back in tomorrow morning to have a look.

Sooz continues to do a marvellous job with unpacking boxes ... and making space in the second bedroom ... you can see the floor in there ... room enough for the ironing board to go up ... as it was this afternoon when I arrived home ... and Sooz (thank you!) was ironing me a work shirt for tomorrow.

We are very much looking forward to Riki and Miki arriving tomorrow for their holiday with us; while they are not Maggie and Tinka, they will be furries on the bed. We've missed that!

Wednesday

Wednesday 

l was so much looking forward to the lunar eclipse tonight but there was cloud cover which meant we couldn't see it.  We kept setting the alarm on the offchance the clouds would part ... but not to be.  We'll have to catch it on television or wait until the next. ne.  I just hope that all the people I encouraged to watch out for it did and that they had better weather than we. 

Sooz made good progress again today, probably helped by bed tea. It is a wonderful thing. She had a heap of boxes ready for relocating to the garage when I arrived home.  Tomorrow will be kitchen things. As long as Sooz can get to the boxes in the garage that is.  I have warned Sooz but I will try to clear the way a little before I go to work on the morrow.  (She hasn't been in the garage for a few days So may not realise how many things are now residing there- even if only on a temporary basis! .)  

Tomorrow will be an exciting day for Sooz. I did get a replacement hose for the washing machine today and now the laundry detergent has made it out of the car and into the house as well, I doubt she will be able to resist her first WashAthon at Jannie.

An had come down with a migraine (the bad kind) overnight and with M off at another engagement, there was no Aqua for Sooz today. 

Tuesday

No ... no ... not time to go back to work _ there are still way too many boxes to unpack! But we are getting there so that is at least a bit encouraging.

I woke Sooz with bed tea this morning ... she had to be up and ready for the plumber who was due at ... 7 am. Obviously I had made that booking without thinking it through properly. And it was just as well she was up because the plumber arrived spot on time. He was fantastic (thanks FI). The dishwasher looks fantastic - and works too! Ditto the washing machine except for the split hose from the tap to the machine - only discovered after Marty departed.

But he wasn't Sooz's only tradie today luckily ... there was also Chris who changed the locks and reduced our key load dramatically! Now to have some spares cut and distributed to folk. Chris was also very helpful in diagnosing the hose problem and taking it off so we can source a replacement.

The only ones who didn't show up today were Telstra who had managed to mess up our order - so still no Broadband for us. Do they not know I am hanging out to get back online?

Dinner tonight was down at the Broadwater ... seafood as we watched the almost (if not actually) full moon in the sky and the walkers, strollers and runners on the ground.

Despite my best intentions, there was no boxes unpacked by me today but I did help Sooz carry her empties out to the garage.

Monday

It was a lovely start to the day - bed tea and toast. I had wanted to sleep in just a little longer but my first mistake was setting the alarm - and then resetting it. The next thing I knew Sooz was at the bedside putting down tea and toast ... so my eyes opened and it was time to start the day ... with the SMH Trivia quiz. Alas, it wasn't our best score but we will have the chance to hone our skills tonight at Trivia. We're going to have our full team back on deck - for tonight at least; Syl and An are off for three weeks from Saturday which means we will have to manage without An.

We had a plan when we started the day ... to put up the curtains - one set Stone, one set Mocha, and I didn't catch the name of the ones going up in the bedroom. We were safe about it too ... taking into account Syl's words of advice that anyone over 50 shouldn't be up a ladder - except her.

Next task ... break down some of the boxes that have been entered but are still in the house ... to make the office and the second bedroom look a little less cluttered.

But what we really wanted to do was the washing. Otherwise it's going to be a little difficult to have clean work clothes since the plumber hasn't been to fix the tap in the laundry yet!

Over to Latimers. Syl and An were there - An came a bit later though. They were doing caravan cleaning out - although Syl had already been working with M on cleaning out the shed and they had already been on a tip run by the time we arrived.

It was good to see the furries again. It is the first time Sooz has seen them since we left. Tinka was lovely and when she saw Sooz she gave a huge purr, and then trotted over to the drawer where her cookies are kept, waiting for Sooz to catch up.

Pearl was happy to see Sooz too ... and rolled on to her back so Sooz could pat her tummy. Maggie stayed on the bed ... but she didn't get out of our visit that easily because we were in Shep's room with her sorting out the clothese we had left in the wardrobe there. (I can't believe how much stuff we haven't taken with us yet.)

Then it was out to grab a bite of lunch, and then home for a rest (of sorts ... I am still playing with the boxes in the office) before we went to Trivia. St wasn't there, he had his mother staying, so Ni brought Cl with her instead. 70 ... we managed 70 tonight which was enough to give us 2nd place. There was a tiebreak for 3rd and, wouldn't you know it, on ones where we are not competing, we can sometimes pull out the stops ... who knew there are 47 strings on a harp. Well, apparently I did!

Sunday

It was good I could make the Skype call from Latimers to Tr this morning because next week she'll be somewhere off Tahiti and not taking Skype calls. Alas she was a little early for the call ... there may have been a some confusion about Daylight Savings Time ... but she did find something to do in the two hours she was waiting for me to come online.

Out at Latimers, as well as using M's internet, we were also looking to use her washing machine... and her furries - we have been missing them.

M had a late night last night... with Bertha - when she had a flat tyre. It was probably good we were out there reasonably early so she was up - and thinking about going out to lunch with the extended family.

By the time we were finished at Latimers we had a car full of things to take back to Jannie. Which we did before going in to The Big House - to have lunch at Food Fantasy. It was good to be able to have tastes of lots of things - it was just what I felt like and Sooz felt like salads, so it all worked out well.

Then it was back home and a relatively early night ... there is much to do tomorrow ...curtain, breaking down boxes, and perhaps a little shopping.