Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Ho Hum

Here it is, 2.09am and I am still awake.  Let's get this week off to a great start...not.  Take no notice of the time at the bottom of the blog as the computer thinks daylight saving has ended, but due to the Comm Games it doesn't end until next weekend.

Blame my wakefulness on the air conditioning company.  Yes, he fixed it on Friday, no, it broke down again tonight.  Time for a snooty letter and a unless this is replaced or repaired by 7th April (Happy Birthday, Jenny) further action will be taken blah blah blah.

Just a wee bit ticked off

Just checked the olde banke balance prior to ordering some stickers from Stickers'N'Fun and discovered that CHOICE magazine have renewed our subscription without our permission.

Guess who's getting a snooty phone call on Monday morning. 

And, my ankle is sprained.  Bruised, tender, swollen the whole nine yards.  Who else do you know that managed to sprain an ankle just walking around in the house?

No, I am not blonde

The problem with the blog was that all my links in the sidebar weren't showing up.

Well, they won't if you make you link colour THE EXACT SAME ONE AS THE SIDEBAR ITSELF.

That, ladies and gentlemen, was my blonde moment for today.

And, yes, I did have to go back and amend my help ticket to indicate that I had an <insert slapped forehead movement> moment.

Crawling back into self-imposed blog design hole now.

Challenge!

Who just nominated their house for a Cuthill Family get together on Sunday?

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

I can do this.  I can do this.

It's my first real challenge since starting flylady and I can do this.

In case you were wondering...

Yes, you can run a USB/Flash drive through the washing machine and have it work still.

Go on, ask me how I know ;)

From the jaws of defeat...

This morning we loaded the car with all the clobber for the party and set off for Penrith Lakes.  The sun was shining, the skies were clear and it looked as though finally we were going to have a birthday celebration at the lakes. (We've actually planned Mike's birthday there for the last three years, but it has been moved to our place each time due to either rain, high winds or sweltering temperatures).  We drove to the Lakes in high spirits, only to find a sign out the front that read "EVENT IN PROGRESS" and a man at the gate collecting $10 from each car for parking.

"You've got to be kidding," I hear you say.  Nope, not joking.

We pulled in to the side of the road and had a hasty conference about what to do.  Gran and Grandpa were with us and a quick phone call to Grandma and another to Lamb confirmed that they hadn't left yet and could be contacted about the change of venue.  Grandma rang Chickabid's aunty and let her know, the only problem being Mike's playschool friends for whom we had no contact numbers.  The playschool friends included the dad who was bringing the sausages.

My dad and Ian took the cars, the kids and the party gear to Tench Reserve (the new venue) while Mum and I stood at the gates to the regatta centre with a sign, written in lipstick, for playschool parents.  I know most of them but not all and one child at least was coming with grandparents, whom I didn't know from Adam.  We caught up with three sets of kids and redirected them but three were still missing and in the end we had to give up.  Ian's dad came and collected us from the Regatta Centre and took us to the party.

Now here is the really, relly weird bit.

The guy with the sausages hadn't turned up by half ten and I was panicking, thinking that we'd need a repeat of the loaves and the fishes to feed everyone with just 2 dozen sausages.  He was meeting us at Penrith Lakes at 10.  I rang Ian (at Tench Reserve) to see if he could remember the guy's phone number and the guy showed up at Tench Reserve just as I rang.  He thought Tench Reserve was Penrith Lakes...but for the Regatta we would have been sausageless.  Yet again, as in so many things, God was there ahead of us.  We didn't know about the Regatta, but God did.  He knew we needed the food and it all worked out through no intervention of ours.  PTL* is all I can say

By the time we arrived the snags were all cooked, the party was set up and everyone was having a good time :)

Three sets of parents were missing but one lot came to Tench Reserve as they too thought it was the Lakes and the others were redirected by the kindly gatekeeper at the Lakes (he was the one who gave us the bit of paper on which we wrote with lipstick!)

We had a lovely party by the Nepean River...Ladybaby and I got a little sunburnt...and Mike thought it was fantastic!

Pictures below for your enjoyment.

The Cake

The Birthday Boy and his Family

* Praise The Lord!

I kid you not

I found last week a wonderful site for doing things.  Anything you've ever wanted to do will have a page here.  I subscribed for an email tip of the day as well.  Today's tip?  Well, I'll let you see for yourself and no, I'm not kidding.

Warning, warning

There's Christmas stuff up in the shops already and it's not even October yet.  And this is what we think the little treasures will be getting out of Santa's sleigh this year...

Gettin' Old

- in 15 years I'll be 50.  50!!!

- I am half way to 70.  That's scary, too.

- I met a girl at our ladies craft night on Monday.  She goes to our church but I actually knew her 20 years ago (!) when she was a *little* girl, like barely out of kindergarten...the daughter of the lady who taught me flute back in the mid 1980s.  The daughter is now a married mother of a 5 month old baby!!

Hello??  Oh, gosh I feel old.  Someone push me over a wheelchair and I'll grab that ole afghan for my knees.  Oh, yeah, and if you want to buy me something for Christmas, better make it a walking stick...or maybe a frame ;)

What the...

I have finally gone and done it.  And it isn't good.  Folks, I have lost the roll.  Yes, the class roll.  The one with all the confidential information in it, the legal document that can be subject to subpoena at any time, the only record of my children's attendance at school this year and I have lost it.  As in, I can't find it.  Anywhere.  Not on my desk, not in the drawer, not in any of the cupboards.  Trust me on this one.  I emptied all the cupboards, drawers, nooks, crannies, trays and boxes on Thursday and it was nowhere.  I keep hoping that this is some sort of bad dream and I'll wake up and see it sitting in its usual spot to the right of my desk.  But, no.  This is not a dream.  This is where I have to front the Deputy Principal on Monday morning and tell him that my roll is gone.  This will no doubt be followed by an interview with the Principal and then the Administrative Manager (which scares me more actually) and then I don't know what.  I'm not sure if losing the roll is a sackable offence.  If it is, then in 72 hours from now I could be jobless.  I am not kidding.  I am scared silly and depending on my anti-anxieties to get me through the night.

Friends, this is not good.  Short of hitting a child it is about as bad as it could be.  If you have a chance this weekend, please spare me a thought (prayer) or two.  I dread Monday morning.