Back to School!!!!!!!!!

No photos this week, no exciting stuff to report - just back to school after 2 weeks of school holidays and about 2 weeks before that of not having to have a school routine! I found my feet dragging on Monday and found it hard to be motivated - it gave me a little insight in to how Amy must feel about school when you throw in the anxiety!

Have managed to get a bit of gardening in - or rather landscaping, mulching, digging up grass so we can put down mulch and setting up the vegetable garden area, it is more getting the structure in place so we will be ready to plant in spring when it warms up! I even rang up the ABC 666 Gardening Show last week to get advice on how and when to plant my new lawn - and Canberra being Canberra - about 4 or 5 people I knew heard my and recognised me!

Have managed to get some trip planning in as well, have now got accommodation booked for Paris and London, have booked transport from Paris to London, London to Vienna and Vienna to Frankfurt so we can fly home so it is slowly taking shape- probably a good thing as it is now less than 8 weeks till we go!

Had a bit of culture this week - attended a concert of the Griffyn Ensemble - Amy's oboe teacher plays in the ensemble and we got free tickets. I didn't really want to go out at night, and I must admit I have a bit of trouble just sitting still and listening - but I found I did enjoy it. It as not too long and the music was good, interesting and varied - so am feeling quite cultured!

More House Stuff - Amy's Room

Amy is now all settled in her room - she has pink hair to go along with her red velvet curtains and silver feature wall. She was promised a new double bed if she could keep her room tidy for 3 months. However I think I am pretty safe. It is now July and she has not managed to make 3 months yet!

School holidays are about to finish - Amy will not be able to sleep in till 12 any more, she will have to get off the computer and do some homework and oboe practice. However she will only have to do it for 8 weeks because then she and I head off to Europe to visit my brother and his family! We did our passports this week and the lady at the post office couldn't believe the passport photo of when she was 10 was the same person as the 15 year old photo I took in!

We had a fire party in our backyard this week - Amy and about 8 of her friends, they had a good time and consumed plenty of Turkish Pizza and Nutella - but not all at once I don't think.




I will try and sneak into Lachlan's room this week and get a photo - maybe while he is out at school, or maybe he will let me take a photo of him in his room- keep your fingers crossed!

I had my 2nd race at bike racing this week - ventured all the way out to Gunning - takes most of the day - left Lachlan and home in charge of the locksmith and landscaper! It was worth the drive out - I won F Grade - I was pretty happy - beat the blokes - I am getting crafty in my old age - mind you I had to work hard to beat the 70 year old - I wonder if I can still race when I am 70- it is a bit of a scary thought!

House Extension Continued

Work is beginning on the back yard. We have put in some red gravel paths and I now have a clothes line to hang my clothes on! I went for a rotary one- not a hills hoist as they are now made in China, but an Austral one - Australian made. Boy how exciting is my life when you get excited about a clothes line!

The mulch arrived this week so that has been spead to the right hand side. We are getting some more edging done where we wil put in a small area of grass and the kids are going to build a fire pit in the flat area between the bins and the gazebo!

Return to Racing

I had my first bike race yesterday in about 9 months. I had finally run out of excuses of why I couldn't go- no painters, no tradesman, no netball etc. It wasn't that I didn't really not want to go, I was just putting off the pain. Returning to racing after a break is always hard, even though you train, nothing gets you race fit apart from racing, and often the first few races back are very difficult, often you get dropped within the first few minutes, you know you are going to suffer, so you put it off.

My excuses ran out this week, I had one last home that the landscaper would ring and say he would be coming around to finish of the edging and of course I would need to be there to give directions. By early Saturday morning he had not called, so that excuse had gone, then it did look like it might rain, but that cleared up, and Bill had loaded the bikes into the hi lux so I knew he was keen for me to come, so off I went.

I got a good warm up and made my way to the start line and before I knew it F Grade was away. My first goal was to stay with them up to the first turn about 4km away. If I made that I knew I could stay with them at least some of the way - a few dropped off but I was still there, making sure I didn't get stuck in any gaps. The next bit was down hill, so I knew I would be okay. I made the next turn and the next - that was one lap down and one to go. If I made it back up to the next turn I knew I had a good chance of staying with them the whole way - I did, so I was happy. There were now 5 of us in the front bunch after starting with about 12, so I was happy. The last leg back was where I should have tried to have a go off the front as I was riding with big guys who would easily outsprint me, someone else was thinking the same thing, they went, the others followed and so did I but it made me realise that just to finish with them was all I was capable of- I did and finished 4th! Tired and weary but pleased.

When I got home the landscaper was there, he managed to work out what he needed to finish off with out my help - maybe he did call during the week and Bill just conveniently forgot to tell me! Now I better start thinking of my excuses for next week!

Uber Pink Haired Teenage Daughter!!!!!!!!!!

Bad timing- guess what we have to have done next week - have passport photos taken. Can you imagine what is going to happen when we go through passport control on our Europe Adventure in a couple of months- I will get stopped and searched everywhere with this scary teenager accompanying me! Well on a positive it may keep the punks and goths away from me, or at least they may treat me nicely!

I warned her people would treat her differently and judge her - so we will see! She reckons a lady at the gym looked very scared when she walked in and was shocked when Amy smiled at her! I said she should hire herself out as a Club Pink Mascot - that is the gym we go to and it's colours are pink and black!

2009 - The Year of the Extension

Dreams can come true! Plans can happen - sometimes it just takes time and patience - in this case many years. We have been talking about an extension for years, but now it has happened. We began looking around last year for builders and working out what we actually wanted and how much it would actually cost - always more than you want to spend! That part took 6 months, then it was 6 months of planning, approvals, etc and then 3 months of building and 3 months of getting the house organised but now we have our new house and it is wonderful. Will probably take the total of that combined to get the gardening done!

We were so lucky (fate, divine intervention, call it what you may) to get the original builder of our house- a woman -I think that is why the process was relatively trauma free! So now here are a few photos of the completed project. Will post more in the coming weeks or when I can get the teenagers rooms tidy enough to photograph

This is a view from the outside, we have put in some retaining walls and some paths, we have to get some mulch to put down then in spring we can start planting!

My favourite room - the kitchen/family room. We knocked down the wall to Lachlan's old bedroom and incorprated his old room into a bigger family kitchen area. We now have a table to eat at that is not covered in computers!

The rumpus room where we can lock the teenagers away in and bring them out only when needed!