Tuesday

I could have had an earlier night last night, especially as I was still tired from the weekend - so I have resolved to be in bed by 9:30 tonight. We will see how close 1 get!

It was another busy yet satisfying day at the office and I managed to get away on time without feeling I needed to give a reason (read: excuse).

2arraffas was busy this morning. ... and this afternoon - I managed to call in for a quick coffee before I completely forgot to go to the Post Office. I had meant to but ... well, I can't even claim that I had other errands to run.

The furries are good - and they've well and truly settled back into their routines now that their real mother has returned. The sleepIng places have been swapped again a little bit though - so Sooz and I no longer have a furry in with us ... Maggie seems to have completely forgotten the electric blanket ... but she probably has no need for it as her mother's room is as warm as toast!

Monday

M is on a mission to protect the Plovers nesting in Hermes' yard. She's right. They are amazing: building their "nest" on the ground and then the parents taking turns to sit while the other acts as a diversion and stands guard.

Trivia was good tonight although we are missing St and Ni and that certain je ne sais quoi they bring to the table. We would have come very close to winning tonight (instead of a hair's breadth from third) had they been there. And this was Anita's last game for a couple of weeks but she is supplying her own replacement! Maybe we need to make that a proviso of not being there ... you send in a comparable substitute - and so Tag Team Trivia was born.

 

Sunday

I was able to sleep in this morning - and while I had been planning to be up before 7 it was after 8 by the time I woke - realising that if we didn't get our skates on we were going to be late for breakfast with We and the family. As it was we were only a little bit late which meant the kids were up - okay they had been up since half-five, but at least We had had a chance to dress them and jump into the shower herself. When we arrived Mi was climbing on the fence and waiting for us. She had bare feet ... and that made me cold just looking at her.

By the time she dragged me outside to push her on the swings, we had coloured (make sure you stay in the lines she told me), eaten breakfast (she helped me eat mine so we could get outside faster), and tried on different shoes - she had even started to put Ka's shoes on.

After breakfast and play time, we gave We a lift across town so she could pick up her car. It apparently needs a new valve which is going to be a fairly expensive proposition but the good news is that she is about to get a tax return which will cover it - lucky ... although I'm not sure she thought so.

Ju popped in to see us before we left and we caught up on some more family news, and found out a bit more of the family's history as well. It was interesting to hear about people we thought we knew but obviously not that well!

We called in on Jo on the way down the highway and they are all well, and preparing for Jo's birthday on Tuesday. It's a while since we've seen them and they've had some changes in the meantime but they seem to be coping.

Saturday

We had originally planned to get away at 8, but took that back to 7:30 - and then were finally ready to leave at 8 - making sure to give Pearl the rest of her cookies before we left.

It was odd not having M there to see us off but she was long gone - off to deepwater running and then to pick up Mi and Az to take them to the airport.

It was a good trip up to Toowoomba - not much traffic and No-name performing well. We stopped at Marburg, at "The Girls" for breakfast (yum, yum and yum again) before testing No-names fuel capacity. We had planned to get petrol at BlackSoil but we had oodles left so pushed on to Gatton - and then on to Withcott - -the last stop before the Range and Toowoomba. At one stage we were 75 km from Toowoomba with a predicted fuel range of 86 Km but when we pulled in to the Caltex at Withc with 13km left in the tank, even though I toyed with the idea of pushing on to refuel in Toowoomba, common sense prevailed. Imagine my surprise when we filled the tank and had change from $50.

We had a few hours before we were due at We's for the housewarming so we took No-name for a drive around some of the Toowoomba tourist places including Picnic Point. The face of Toowoomba population is definitely changing. No longer is it the white homogenous town it used to be,

Mi on the swings.

Next was a quick tour of Aldi for party supplies then on to Macca's - for a cup of coffee and a Skype call with "The boys" - Gr and Wa who is visiting him in Sydney for the weekend. They are both in good form and Gr didn't disappoint - he did his "elevator" gag again.

It was an afternoon housewarming - possibly because the later it gets, the cooler it gets - especially in Winter in Toowoomba.

The Range View

It was great to see the kids again. They have a swing and slide set in the backyard now - and they're both mad keen on being pushed. Mi just wants to go "higher... higher" and Ka is content to just be on the swing! He loves the trampoline as well.

The afternoon was a good oppportunity to catch up with kith and kin - including meeting some of We's friends we have heard about but not actually met before.

The new parents Ti and RH were there as well, with Em. She is the cutest baby - and even though she is only 7 weeks old she is ultra-alert. I told them I was didappointed i had not been consulted regarding names and iT was then that they told me they were going to try for another baby almost immediately - and if it's a girl I have naming rights.

We had a relatively early night - except for the middle layer. The youngsters had been put to bed ages before but not before we'd watched some "Ice Age". It was the teenagers who were off in search of something to do or somewhere to be ... and we were happy to leave them to it.

 

Friday

I decided to go shooting tonight as Sooz and I are going to be away for the weekend - in Toowoomba - for We's housewarming party ... which means no shooting on Saturday morning as there won't be time. It was air pistol - but not competition as they have just finished the 8-week comp, had their presentation on Wednesday night - and tonight was "games night" - where one of the contingent had devised a game called "cricket" where one shooter "bats" - firing three shots at the target - and then the "bowler" shoots twice - and if they hit a nine or a ten, those points are deducted from the "batter", otherwise the batter's score stands. It was good fun and a great opportunity to become a little more familiar with air pistol.

We were finished just after 7 which gave me time to get to Mouse's for dinner. Sooz and M were there well before me and had just about finished (except for fruit and tea) by the time I arrived. The soup was good though - and lots of it. We really missed Mouse's cooking while she was away. I don't know how she does it ... but she just seems to gather up whatever she has around, and make that into the most delicious soups you can imagine.

The extra guest at dinner was Prince - who is now staying with Mouse while his parents are away. He seems to have settled in very nicely ... and seems to be a little more comfortable than he was when he stayed at Latimers the year before last (was it the year before last? Time kind of melds all together after a while).

M and Mouse met with Az at lunchtime - and presented her with her early birthday present (she'll be in Thailand when the day actually rolls around) ... and she liked it very much. Great choice M.

EOM continues at work and by the time we went home (Ch stayed a little longer) there were only 12 invoices, worth under $30k still to be cleared from the system. It was truly a mammoth effort made by all .... recognised by Man sending someone out to get us lunch so we could keep working our way through the list.

I would have stayed but I had organised to meet a mortgage broker - and that meeting took place in the car on the way to the Pistol Club. That was okay because it was just an "introductory" meet, with a real face-to-face still to be scheduled.

Thursday

It was another busy day at work as we inch closer and closer to the End of Month. We are making good inroads and we hope to have the invoices whittled down to a very manageable under $100,000 by week's end. Hopefully this goes well because they are looking at switching all reporting over to the financial system this month.

After work, it was straight to Zarraffas to meet a mobile banker from our usual financial institution. It was good - she had a lot of information for me and I filled out a pre-loan application form. She's going to send me some more product information so that will give me some light reading to do.

Then it was home for a quick cuppa before setting off for The Big House where I could hear the Roulette calling my name. It wasn't calling it loud enough because by the time we were finished the game, I was one chip ahead - and a red chip at that. Still, I was glad to have retained my stake for another time!

There were a few folk at The Big House tonight but M and I managed to get a table and have a reasonably fast dinner at Spinners before going up stairs.

I drove in this evening - taking no-name for a drive. Someone suggested "Lamington" but I suggested he "try harder" ... there's no rush to name the car ... which is good because we don't want to give it a dud name. At the moment I am leaning towards "Seeker" (Prius C-Car). I'm not sure Sooz is keen on it though.

Wednesday

It was nice to have a later start at work this morning - even though it wasn't as late last night as I'd thought. I puddled, which is to say I took Pearl for a walk and then had a read of no-names manual - confirming that what Sooz thought was the "cigarette lighter" actually was! I don't know why I ever question what she says - especially when it comes to Trivia. We met Na and An-M at Tallai tonight for a rousing game of Trivia - and even though we tried hard - we didn't make it on to the podium there either. Seems like the flavour of the week. But we didn't come in last, so that was something to be thankful for! As was the opportunity to have breakfast with Sooz and M at Maccas this morning - and to say hi to Jo - since I haven't been there for at least a couple of weeks. They are still making the coffee as well - so it's good to know their skills haven't slipped in my absence.

Tuesday

The Choir ... moments away.

How could I have got it so wrong? Who knew that a lovely evening out listening to Kings College Choir would turn pear-shaped even before we left the house. It was my fault (sorry Sooz) but right from the start when I booked the tickets I just couldn't get it into my head when the concert was on. At first I thought it was on on 27 July but in the middle of July Sooz said to me ... was I sure? I checked - yes, I was sure, but the concert was on the 29th. Okay, at least we hadn't missed it. But, that didn't mean the possibility wasn't there. I had prepared Sooz for a 5:45 leave from home, we'd do the drive to Brisbane (in no-name-car), have a leisurely dinner and be in our seats for when the concert started at 8:30. Luckily I checked the tickets when I arrived home ... the concert started at 7 - and it was already just after 5. Panic? Panic? Yes, of course I went into a panic. It takes an hour to drive to Brisbane at the best of times, and if there was any kind of traffic blockage, there was a good chance we wouldn't make it in time. Especially when I grabbed the GPS from Lars and then realised there wasn't a cigarette lighter in the car - so nowhere to plug in the flat GPS. Sooz did find one likely candidate but I was fairly sure (and wrong as it turns out) that it wasn't it. Anyway, I had my iPhone and Siri (and Sooz) came to the rescue. We made it to QPAC, parked the car, and were in our seats with three (yes, only three) minutes to spare.

The concert was amazing ... they sang Faure's Requim - which Me and Be had at their wedding ... it is an amazingly wonderful piece and those voices just carried it to the sky.

We did manage to have supper at the little place outside QPAC before we drove home. And because the concert wasn't as late as I thought it would be, we were home well before midnight. But it was totally amazing and wonderful ... and I can't imagine how much better it would have been had I managed to get the details right.