New Years Eve Eve!

This heat is really getting to me. I must be getting old or something. On the plus side, we put in an application today to extend our home loan so hopefully they say yes and we can get an air conditioner!

I made pizza for dinner tonight. From scratch. Whilst it was a good idea and tasted pretty good, I'll have to remember that kneading is a good winter activity, not something for a hot summers day. Man did I work up a sweat kneading that dough!

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. We've been invited for bowling to celebrate the newphews 12th Birthday. My feet are so sore I really don't want to go, but the kids are keen so we probably will. An hour drive there and back is not appealing. And DH said theres no way we are staying over sleeping on that awful sofa bed again at his sisters. I wonder if his back is still sore?

So in case I don't get to blog tomorrow. Have a safe and happy new year everyone. And I look forward to catching up with those of you that I can in 2006, and saving my pennies to meet the rest of my cyber friends somewhere in the not too distant future, I hope.

Oh and I put our entry in for the 32 million lotto draw tomorrow night. I'll let you know how we go!

Cheers

Its been action aplenty!

Shall I start at Christmas Eve? I don't think I've blogged since before then, so here we go.

Christmas Eve, food shopping at 6:30am, and it was busy!

On Christmas Eve Grandma arrived. Thats my mum. Her car was loaded up and could have been Santas sleigh! Every year we ask her please no more big toys, but every year she brings more. This year her gifts were a hit so that was wonderful. Dinner was prawns. Yum!

Christmas morning the kids woke early, BMW woke Nath so he could open presents. DH's parents arrived for breakfast at 8am and missed all the present opening. They were supposed to arrive at 7am. There was no way I was making the kids wait.

Mid morning my brother and his fiancee arrived. It was the first time we'd met Aunty Sarah. The kids accepted her quite well.

I baked a hot lunch of turkey, ham and vegetables. I put the rolls in the oven and promptly forgot them. After lunch finished I remembered them. They were more like little shot put balls. Black and hard. The rest of lunch was very scrumptush and relaxed.

It was then pool time. The kids got a waterslide off santa and had heaps of fun with it. We also played cricket. I've always wanted to play cricket on Christmas Day. Its a bit of an aussie tradition I reckon.

At dinner time we drove to DH's sisters to meet up with all his relo's. We had a few drinks and slept over. It was fun except for the bar through our backs on the sofa bed. Not very comfortable to put it nicely.

Boxing Day we went and visited Grandma at her house, had lunch and caught up with my dear friend Gill. We brought Grandma home with us for a dinner of turkey and left overs. It was very very yummy.

On the 27th I took Grandma home and then DH's sister and family arrived to stay at our place. They have only just left this afternoon, thus no time to blog or privacy to do so either.

Last night DH's parents and other sister and her family came for dinner. It was a pretty hectic afternoon and night with all the kids, pool, and parents. Partway through a customer of mine arrived to pick up her kit, and while she was here there was this ginormous bang. Our glass outdoor table gave way with my BIL sitting at it.

Well glass went everywhere. Through the drinks bucket, through the drinks, even embedded in the side of the tupperware glasses. All over poor BIL. It was a huge mess, and we are still finding glass today, even though its been hosed and vacummed down.

So we are one table down, exhausted, and now relo free. Its been fun, but I think we might have a quiet new years to make up for it. Oh and DH's work rang today, his holidays in January have been cancelled and he will be working 12 hour roster because they don't have enough beer. DH is a brewer for a major beer company in Sydney. I guess it will be mostly me and the kids doing stuff over the holidays. Oh well, we can do with the extra cash. Its been stinking hot and humid here and I would love to buy an air conditioner.

Thats all for now. I'm off to make something for dinner, other than ham and salad!

You know its hot when...

You know its hot when at 6:30am theres a hot wind blowing and its 33 degrees celcius outside

You know its hot when you prefer to be at the shopping centre with all the crazy people doing their last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve instead of being at home with no air conditioning

You know its hot when its too hot to swim in your pool

You know its hot when its 42 degrees celcius outside.

The heat must be getting to me....who's up for a hot Christmas lunch tomorrow?

Today...

Today we got Santa photos. $42 later and over an hour wait, note to self, take children out of school and get done before term finishes.

Today we got some more Christmas presents. MIL now organised. Still more to do tomorrow. Still no idea what to get.

Today we cleaned the cave. I threw out 2 bags of 'stuff'. TJ was not interested in helping, so I just kept throwing out more things. Although I am displeased that she didn't do it. I did have fun chucking stuff out and it looks way better now!

Tonight we opened the Christmas wine and hamper.

Tonight we are going to start to wrap. The kids are still playing outside so hopefully soon they will come in, bath and then be so tired out they will go straight to sleep.

My accordian album pics

So here we have the pics of the accordian album. I am really pleased with how it turned out, and my Dad just rang to say that he got it and its really nice. I put the ages they all turned this year so perhaps that might help him in getting their names right on their presents and cards next year. And I tried to include pics of some of the activities they do so he can feel a little bit of a part of their lives. I even got a pic of DH and myself in there. I might make another one next year for him.

Today was the last day of school. I spent it running around all over the countryside doing deliveries, shopping and best of all watched the new Harry Potter on the big screen with DH.

Last night I made an accordian album for my Dad. It turned out really nice, I will post pics in the morning. And tonight Santa came on the back of the rural fire truck, I have a pic of that too!

Tomorrow is house cleaning day in preperation for Christmas. Hopefully tomorrow night we can start wrapping some things!

End of the school year

Technically tomorrow is the end of the school year, but today they had to bring home all their things. Earlier this term TJ's class did a session on the olden days and what things existed and then they made robots for their assembly item. Today they had a draw with all the kids names from the class to see who got to take the robot home.

Well guess who won? Yes TJ. This thing is so big it was really hard to get him in the car and I have a 7 seater!

After some minor running repairs I would like to introduce TJ and 'zippy' the robot.

photo time!

I bought a cd of TJ's photos she had taken at dancing. It is supposed to be of all her dances and I thought it would be a cheaper option than buying them pre printed. I'm not sure if its the right choice looking at them, but I am a sucker and still want one of everything for her album. There's one pic that just jumped out at me as brilliant, and here it is...


I would also love to print this one out for her for Christmas and frame it for her room


All those hours of sequining look like they paid off too, lol.

The concerts are over

My girl danced all weekend. 2 Shows on Saturday for her ballet school, 2 shows on Sunday for her other dance school. We are all very tired today, especially TJ. I felt so awful waking her up at 8:30am this morning to go to school for her excursion. I can just imagine all these little girls asleep during the movie. lol

She did a wonderful job. You can really see her expression coming out and how much she enjoyed it. Seeing her so happy is what really made it all worthwhile.

Photo time

The elders are restless. When am I going to get a new photo? I haven't got one all year! Well Christmas is coming I respond sweetly. Hmph! is the response. Every year MIL does it to me. Wants or should I say demands a pic of the kids, one of the professional ones I've just paid a fortune for, the ones I picked up on Friday. And every year she spoils her Christmas present. Why oh why can she not just wait a week and let me make her a nice gift?

And then she tells me that I'd better be making an album for her son for his birthday. Yes early Feb my DH is turning 40. Maybe I'll get time to make him one. But do I have any pics? No! Perhaps she'll give me some of when he was little? Perhaps I can dream. I know his response (DH) he loves me no matter what I give him. Isn't that sweet?

Gingerbread Train

Tonight we have skipped going to carols and have instead played our own and made a gingerbread train. This year I actually got the sticky glue in the right combination because it worked! It stuck so well we had to put the train together really quickly. We still have our gingerbread house to make which I think we might do on Monday.

Here we have the checking out of the instructions...
The completed train...And now its finished can we eat it?



An update in other news...I went to see the principal of school this morning at 8am. I told her what had happended and that I was concerned for the safety of my children. Especially in light of the excursion on Monday where parents are welcome to attend. She said she would speak to the teachers and make them aware to take extra care and make sure TH gets no where near them. Thank heavens for that!

The saga continues...

Well what an afternoon. Today I am so lucky that I am feeling good, and strong. You know when you have those days when you could burst into tears if something goes wrong? Well today was the exact opposite of that. I was dressed well. I felt good. I was styled as DH would put it. And then we went to dancing.

You may or may not be aware that TJ does dancing. In fact she does solos where she is the only one on stage and competes in eisteddfods. So this afternoon before class, one of the studios was empty and we had permission from the principle for her to practice. She has an eisteddfod in the January school holidays and there just isn't enough room at home to practice effectively. So we've been taking advantage of the empty studio.

Well whilst she was practicing we got interrupted by that mother I mentioned the other day. Now if you want to continue reading my blog post, feel free. But today I am going to use my blog to record what happened, because I've been advised to record it. And figuring my luck with electronic things blowing up at the moment I figure the web is probably the safest place to store it. So read on or not, its up to you.

TJ was dancing in the ballet studio. Also present in the room was BMW, Shaina and Alana. TJ had practiced her modern twice and was now practicing her fast tap "Swingin Safari". I had my sunglasses and keys sitting next to the cd player. With no glasses on my vision was blurred but I could still make out most of her movements. Tamara was part way through her dance when TH strode into the room. She ignored the fact that TJ was practising and came straight up to me yelling in my face.

She said: I need to talk to you about that phone call. That was why I wrote the letter because that was meant to nip it in the bud.
She said: perhaps if I had rung maybe her boy had hung up on me.
I said : no,it was a ladies voice that said hello and when I said hello they hung up
She said: (yelling in my face)
I said(talking while she is yelling): whatever Tina, I do not want to talk to you, I don't want to have anything to do with you please go away
She said: you need to know whats going on, Joan and Karen are out there saying what a bitch you are. They're the ones bitching about you, its not me, you need to know whats going on and I have to tell you
I said: I am not interested, I don't want to know. You need to stop. Please go away
She said: (me not listening, her yelling in my face)
I said: no you need to stop. Please go away
She said: I'm going to get an AVO on you to keep you away from me
I said: you need to stop and leave me along. Please go away.

At that point I got up and walked out of the studio, thru the waiting room and into the other studio to the principal where I said to her that T H has just come in and has been yelling in my face I asked her to stop and she wouldn't, you need to deal with this.

The principal then came to the waiting room and spoke to Tina. She said: Tina this has to stop.

She said more but I left the waiting room and went back into the studio with my daughter and son.

TJ asked me what was going on, why was she yelling. I simply told her that Mrs H was being silly and not to worry about it.

I then asked her to start her dance again and we began the song.

Mrs B then came into the studio where TJ was dancing and hid behind the door away from the waiting room, crying. Mrs Calcagno came in to see if she was ok. I asked if she was right. She said yes. I ushered all the children from the room and shut the door.

I then went into the other studio and saw the principal and apologized for having to come and get her. She said that she had been on the phone today with T after another parent had telephoned her worried about a matter. She said she had now left the studio and it was for the best of everyone.

The other mothers in the waiting room and those outside asked me what was going on, to which I replied I don't know, she was just yelling in my face.



So see how strong I was. So proud of me for remaining calm. I'm a little freaked out that she would come and do something to my house or my Christmas decorations since she lives a couple streets from us. I rang my brother for advice. He said she can't take and AVO out on me for nothing, she could apply but would need to prove that I was voilent - uh hello, it was her yelling in my face.

He said I also need to remember what started this in the beginning. I remember. Last October her daughter was bullying my daughter. I finally got sick of it and stepped in and said something. What I said was not directed at her, but directed to the whole dance troupe. I said this has to stop, everyone has been pushing and shoving and its not on. You are a troupe. You need to work together and be friends. And then I left.

Later that afternoon or the next day I got a phone call from the principle saying that TH had rung her complaining about me. I was extremely upset and went to TH home to apologise if I had offended her. She yelled abuse at me as I neared her door. Threatened me. Abused me some more. Yelling the whole time. I only managed to get out that I had come to apologise. I then left in tears and went home. I rung the principle in tears to tell her what had happened. She told me that no one was impressed with what I had done. I then rang every parent still in tears, every parent of every child in the troupe to apologize to them. Some knew of what had transpired some didn't. Karen O'Neill said thanks for calling, it doesn't affect me at all, but thanks for calling. Maria said she appreciated the call. I had said something earlier in the year which she hadn't appreciated but thanks for calling and all was forgiven (I still have no idea what it was that I allegedly said).

That was the start of a really dark time for me. I have again come home. Locked my car in the garage and locked my front door shut. But this time I am strong. And I will be ok.

cake pics

Here it is, the pics from the making of the Chirstmas cake, about 9:30pm last night. The cake finished cooking at about 12:30am.

If you look closely you can see my messy kitchen in the background.

I'm going to ice it next week. Hope its yummy!

Its late and I'm still up. Wanna know why? 'Cause my Christmas cake is cooking! Its due to finish at midnight. Downside is I've still got washing up to do. I've been having fun though. Watched the Bachelor, bad idea telling the girls about waking up to a strange face every other day, and I've been SS'ing, even been on the debate board.

I made toffee!

I made toffee today!!!! Totally different recipe from yesterday. I discovered that yesterday's wasn't a failure, just a different sort of toffee. Like the ones you get in the middle of those lollies that come in the wrappers that only the grown ups like. Apparently its a Rusian toffee according to MIL. However she did share with me a recipe that she got when she was in school on how to make real toffee. Actually there was 2 recipes, but I used the one she said was more foolproof.

And it worked! So my macadamias are now toffee coated, well more like totally covered. And I had heaps of toffee left over, so I made 2 dozen of those little cupcake patty toffees like you get at a school fete. I just have no idea what to do with them now though. So I've stored them in a cupboard in a container for Christmas?

I am so proud that I actually successfully made toffee. Later I have to crush it and the macadamias for the Christmas cake. I can feel the food processor getting a run. Hopefully I don't blow it up given my run with electrical appliances lately.

Cheers!

Presentation night

Last night was presentation night. TJ received an award for academic excellence. This is TJ and her teacher. She also danced with the dance group which is why she doesn't have her uniform on.

Brendan wasn't even upset that TJ got an award and he didn't. Which is great.

Glo-girl put out a challenge today. The idea is your type "your name needs" into Google and list some of the funny results. So I found another Wendy who had done this and here are the results: (Cheating I know, but anyway...)

Wendy wants a new dress but her mum won't buy her the one she wants. (DH won't either)
Wendy wants to be on the TV Show Dancing with the Stars!!! (Simply dreaming here)
Wendy wants so very much to give ALL OF YOU CREDIT!!! (Always)
Wendy wants everyone to buy her music. (Well my dream was to play in a real huge orchestra, although I can't ever see that happening now)

Wendy needs your assistance.
Wendy needs to know.
Wendy needs a patient,loving, and committed family who can provide structure and support.
Wendy needs at least 5 business days advance notice for this process.
Wendy needs every measuring cup and teaspoon she can find. (And the dates I forgot to buy for the Christmas cake!)

Oh Google what would we do without you. (Here here!)

The saga - my very own soap opera, unfortunately the real deal

I am in two minds whether to blog this or not, but here goes anyway.

Part 1.
When we were at dancing on Thursday for the photos, TJ, and two of her friends who we were standing in line next to, decided it would be nice to have a photo together. I said that I didn't mind as I was buying the whole CD anyway and it would come on it.

So TJ has pic with friend 1. Friend 1 has pic with Friend 2. Friend 1 and Friend 2 have pic together with TJ. All is good. Its sweet that they want a pic together.

Remember that we were there for hours having to wait mostly in line waiting for the photos to be done.

Whilst in line again, Child 3 and parent stand behind us in queue. This parent has caused me major grief over the last 12 months so I politely stand, quietly facing the direction the queue is going and ignore what is behind me. This is a long queue and is very slow moving. A few minutes later there is a humph from behind and Child 3 is removed by parent and leaves the dance studio. Whilst the Child didn't seem impressed about missing out on her photo I felt glad that I didn't have to worry that she was behind me anymore. I think nothing else of it.

Part 2.
TJ had a bad scrape on her knee at school during the week and I was unimpressed about the first aid rendered, or should I say bad first aid rendered. Since we have P & C next week, and have heard so much other bad feedback about first aid I thought it would be a good topic for discussion. Enter Parent of Child 3. She is the secretary of the P&C and all agenda items have to go thru her. So I ring. And she hangs up on me. So I see the President at school and ask her to get it put on the agenda. I asked to keep it in her confidence that I wanted it on the agenda. I tell her that I rang and was hung up on. (Mistake #1)

Part 3.
At the birthday party today of Friend 1 her parent gives me a letter and says she was asked to pass it on to me. It was titled Wendy Ward via Tamara Ward. Just the same as they do at school which is why I opened it (Mistake #2) Its a letter from parent of Child 3 - the one who hung up on me - saying that her friends had told her that I had rung and she had hung up on me. She went on to say that 1. I didn't ring her. 2. her mother had been staying all week. 3. if I wanted something on the agenda I was to put it in the pigeon hole at school and not to contact her. It was a typed letter, not even handwriten.

Part 4.
We go to Kindergarten Party and P&C president is there. I tell her about the letter I received. She says that she spoke to child3's parent regarding me ringing her/ hanging up thing which she denied happening, and about the first aid for the agenda. THEN president goes on to say that she had a whole bitch about the photo thing at dancing and that her child was being left out becuase the 3 friends had their photo taken together.

Mother of friend 1 is nearby and tells me don't believe half of what president tells me. Its not necessarily true. I'm tired. I don't feel well. And I can't believe this is happening all over again.

So I go and do my class I have to teach. Decide that none of them really are my friends anyway, associates yes. True friends? No.

I go and look at my neighbours Christmas lights tonight as Grandma is leaving - parents of Friend 2. Do the polite neighbour chatter. Mention that my phone hasn't stopped ringing since I got home. And she says...about the kindergarten party? Err no about business and the MIL.

So news travels fast and gossip travels even faster. Do I want to go near school ever again? No. But will I let that b.i.t.c.h keep me away? Not this time.

Now this is where I am failing. Why is she doing this? Is she so sick that she has to make up lies and gossip? What else is she going to concoct? And is she going to take it to dancing again, like last year and make TJ's life a misery again as well? Making my life a misery is one thing, but you leave my daughter alone.

I cannot stand this woman and I truly think she is sick and wicked. And I'm sort of thinking that p&c president isn't much better. She certainly seems to be a gossip feeder.

Why cannot I meet some nice people here and actually make some real friends? It makes me sad and makes me want to go home. But home isn't there anymore either. I have to go and wipe my tears away and be strong. I don't want to let her do this to me again and make my life hell thinking about her. Why did we have to go do all these things for Christmas? It was so much safer staying in my hole. Alone and untouched. I can feel a migraine coming on.

What a week

I cannot believe its been a week since I've blogged. There has been just so much going on, and little ole me has been trying to keep up with it all.

*Monday was swimming
*Tuesday was dancing and tennis
*Wednesday was canteen
*Thursday while the kids were at school and Nath was at preschool we - as in DH and I - did a mad dash to Erina (40 mins each way) to the toy store and bought a slide that goes into the pool. I was sequening TJ's dance outfit the whole way there and back. I think it was only thru pure desperation that I didn't throw up.
*Thursday afternoon was dress rehersal and photo day. I slapped her makeup on in under 5 mintues, with hair and finished those bloody sequins! Rehersal was supposed to go for 2 hours and ended up going for 4. Finished up at McDonalds getting dinner at 9pm with some of her dancing friends and their parents.
*Friday, take TJ to ballet while Grandma takes the boys to the preschool Christmas party. Rush back after ballet finishes to discover we weren't allowed food tickets as I had forgot to RSVP - I don't remember how many times I told them we were coming but because I hadn't filled in the piece of paperwork so we weren't allowed to eat (hot dog), drink (cup of cordial) or have a water iceblock. TJ was not impressed. Nor was I. Nor was I happy about the lack of enthusiasm of the staff, the chaos, and that santa didn't bother to put his beard on when he arrived to had out presents.
*Saturday, tennis presentation in the morning, TJ off to a birthday party in the afternoon. Nath goes home with Grandma to sleepover and BMW and I treat ourselves to Chinese at Westfield while TJ's at the party.
*Sunday, nippers, then birthday party, then Kindergarten Christmas party at the teachers house. 2 kids were saved from drowning in the pool. Tag team with Grandma to watch the kids at the party because I have to go and do a class.

Tomorrow morning its up bright and early for swim training. And I am no where near as organised as last week. Breakfast is not done, lunches are not made. It will be a very early morning. And if you got thru reading all that you've done very well.

Update #2

First of all - do you know how hard it is to take a self portrait? It needs courage, grace and time! So for the moment you'll have to wait on that one.

I know I promised some pics from Saturday. It'll have to be just one for now. I love this one

Other news is TJ had her Dance Christmas Party last night. The kids got to bed at almost 10pm which is way late for a school night, but they had lots of fun! I bought some more decorations for the yard. Nathan and I put up some lights around the ground, they look really nice, more for us to look at because they are on the inside of the yard, but living in a cul-de-sac no one really comes to see our lights anyway. Today I've been in canteen at school. Theres supposed to be no hot food, yeah right, I only had 3 sandwiches and the rest was pies, sausage rolls, etc. Its over 40 degrees celcius today. Much too hot to be cooking hot food! Now I must go organise for class tomorrow. Bye!

Lets play catch up #1

OK, yes its been three days - but who's counting hey Mel! So time to catch you all up.

Friday night swim club: finally payed our $100 and joined TJ and BMW. TJ took almost 2 seconds off her PB. WAY TO GO !! She's just done 2 weeks of swimming everyday with school and what an improvement. I am so happy for her.

Saturday: Tooheys Kids Xmas Party at Fairfield City Farm. This was a great day and I will post about it seperately. And yes of course there was free beer. Stopped in at glo's on the way home. Gotta say TJ was disapointed you weren't home as she wanted to play with girl one. DH then decides to take scenic route home via Wisemans Ferry. It was a looonnngg way. You cross the river on a car ferry. He thought the kids would really like this. Yeah, our spot as next to the cabin and a caravan next to us. Could see nothing, and you weren't allowed out of the car. I tried to take a pic to capture the moment but the camera choose that moment to run out of batteries. DOH!

Sunday: TJ dance rehearsal and photo day, then Nipper Carnival, then Club for raffle. It was supposed to be a ham raffle but turned out to be a toy raffle. Still didn't win anything. Meanwhile DH took BMW to a birthday party and looked after Nath.

Monday: This morning we joined the world of before school swimming. TJ has gone up to squad. Her squad is called the frog squad. Too cute! It started at 6:30am and was meant to go for 45 mins. Just over an hour later she got out of the pool. Then at 8am it was BMW's turn. He has stepped up to Seal and was in the big pool. He kept going across the lane and caused about 4 collisions. I'll have to talk to him about that for next time. Then it was off to school and then back to swimming for Naths turn. Phew! Mummy needs a rest. At least this afternoon they get to come home and have a swim? lol, its really hot today.

OK must go and do the bus thing now, but I will be back with installment #2 later.

Historical Haircut

So yesterday I got my haircut. I haven't had it cut since February so its grown heaps. DH likes it long I've discovered. Which is sort of ok with me. Leesa (my hairdresser) decided she liked my ringlets, so she neated it all up and added some streaks. It looks really groovy now for summer, very beachie. My Mum is going to freak tonight when she sees it. Yes I may be 30+ but Mum still likes to have her say. I can just hear her now. lol - so you did that to it did you?

Anyway, tomorrow we are out for DH's work kids Christmas Party. So I'll try and remember the camera and post some pics tomorrow night.

Chow for now!

Reality strikes

I did 2 pages last night YAY! I actually ripped two pages apart and redid them totally. I am really pleased with the results, they looked cr@p before. We've gone from totally traditional with no paper at all, to lots of paper, tags and mounting. I'm just deciding if it needs a title, which I think it does, so when I do that then I will post them.

Yesterday I had this sudden reality of how much the children are growing up. BMW is almost finished kindergarten. Nath is giving me 'baby' toys, I don't need this, its for a baby mum. And TJ, well TJ is still driving me crazy. We found a box that hadn't been unpacked since we'd moved. Yes 4 years later there is still boxes. Anyway inside it was a photo album. The ones I'd been missing. They had all the ultrasound pictures, TJ's baby photos, all the cards. The picture that grabbed me most is one of her alseep and me bleary eyed in bed after being up most of the night with her. I hardly remember the nights with the boys, but I sure do remember a lot of nights with her.

Isn't it funny how she gave me grief then and is still giving me grief now. I just think that I haven't learned. You would've thought I would have by now. Maybe she takes after me more than I thought.

Definately stubborn.
Definately gets upset easily.
Definately takes things to heart and believes everything.
And looking at my scrap table, definately messy just like her mother.

So by realising this, I guess I need to work on ways/methods/means of helping to make life easier for both of us. Especially concerning the messy bit!

Off to ponder...