morning tea, lunch and dinner

firstly little Caiden is still in hospital and i think today his blood condition is improving.  let's hope it continues to improve.  he's had a few ups and downs 

now for the title of my blog.  it's my last weekday (i have to work saturday) tomorrow and we are having a day of eating and partying.   morning tea first.  i must remember to buy something sweet.  council is paying for our lunch so we are having platters and fruit.  and then, we are going to my retirement dinner in the evening.  it's at a local indian restaurant and the food is really good.  lots of old workmates are coming so i'm looking forward to seeing them and catching up with everyone.  yay.  we are experiencing a mini heatwave atm and saturday is expected to be cooler. 

i'm off to one of the other libraries soon to make christmas treats with Lan.  that should be fun. 

presents and fish

i hope your Christmases were happy and safe.  i received a herb garden from my son and dil and various other pressies.  the g/kids were happy with their loot and lunch went without a hitch.  they all begged asked for dessert this year.  usually i have to persuade and coax them to have some.  i think we all had a good time.  the weather was certainly kind to us, 39 the day before and only 26 on the 24th (when we have our Christmas lunch) .  i'm off work for a week and am busy doing up my spare room coz i got a new bed.  there's so much stuff in there.  mostly books that i'll probably never read again, and sewing and painting stuff.  there's a mountain of it.  i don't know where it all comes from.  :)  my last fishy died the other day so i cleaned out the bowl and got some more.  i wasn't paying attention and the girl gave me five of the biggest fish.  hmmm.  i have a very small bowl.  they are a bit crowded and unfortunately my favourite, pinky, died the very next day. i haven't told the kids yet.  they are dirty little things too.  the water was like pea soup yesterday, i had to run the filter thingy all day, and that agitates the water like a washing machine.  i think their days are numbered.  sorry fishies

my herb garden, i hope i don't kill them.  i am growing some coriander from seed and it's doing well atm

                                     

jourdy and ants

michael and shar

                                                         

                                                             

a few things

i went back to work this week and survived.  yay.  i just realized yesterday that it's only 17 months before i retire.  yikes!  i took the g/kids out for lunch and shopping yesterday.  we had a fab day and were all a bit tired by the time we got back to their place.  my daughter made me a cappuccino in their new (father's day present) coffee machine.  very nice.  i like my coffee :)  we bought lots of stuff.  i even started on my christmas presents.  just started.  my dil returned from cairns.  her mum's op was postponed until next thursday.  let's hope it goes ahead without problems.  i haven't caught up with her yet.

i woke up this morning and turned the laptop on, as you do.  it had crashed AGAIN. what the?  it's happened twice before and i've restored it.  shouldn't happen at all as it's only a few months old if that.  so....  this time i had no choice but to take it back to factory default. i lost all my unsaved stuff, including my tax file for this year.  i printed it out. :(  ahhhh.  i put chrome back on.  i've been using firefox coz chrome kept crashing and doing weird things.  for example, it loads google.com.au in chinese and then offers to translate it.  i've checked all of my settings and they all say i'm in australia and speak and type ENGLISH.  not very well i grant you.  :)  how rude!

as i was getting ready to go shopping a while ago i looked out of the bathroom window upstairs and there was a man lying face down next to the back of the office wall in the cemetery workyard.  i've told you i have a cemetery on one boundary and a park on the other.  i look into the workyard of the cemetery from my bathroom window.  it gets very dusty some days with their machinery etc.  anyhoo.  i didn't know what to do.  next time i looked he had rolled over onto his back and was looking at his mobile.  then, the next time i looked he was gone.  omg how spooky.  no, he wasn't a ghost.  well, at least i don't think so.  :)

i'm listening to the new bob dylan cd on itunes (click here) and thinking about island holidays.

everything's broken

what's going on?  my suitcase, camera and glasses whilst i was away - broken.  (glasses fixed).  now my laptop crashed and has a disc error.  the other laptop won't charge.  the power cord won't go all the way in to charge it.  ahhh  i got a second hand lappy recently for when the kids come over.  that in itself is not a good thing, we should be outside playing in the fresh air.  :)  i can't find my windows 7 disc anywhere and the cord for the external drive which has my recovery file on it has gone missing too.  bloody hell.  i'm a little bit over computers atm.  so, i'm going to turn them both off and go and clean something.  in a minute or two, when i finish this.  i had an awful day yesterday.  i put some rice on to cook and forgot about it.  half an hour later i smelt something not quite right. saucepan cleaned up really easily thank goodness. the installer came to put the new screen doors on and they have that thick mesh on them so that the house looks a bit dark.  my computer crashed etc etc.  i had to have a chocolate brownie and a coffee and felt much better.  i have to go back to work tomorrow after a month off.  hmmm  interesting.  on a bright note i think i've fixed the keyboard that was repeating letters willy nilly and had a nice breakfast with my son and dil this morning.  it's the little things.

this is one of Dizzy's pups.  the kids are keeping her.  cute and mischievousness. she chewed a shoe this morning 

good news at last

well i'll be.  i think i told you that i requested a major change to my existing hours with the restructure going on at work recently.  we all had a one on one today with our boss and guess what?  YES YES YES.  they gave me everything i asked for.  i can't believe it.  yippee.  wednesday, thursday and friday and every other saturday.  i don't know the fine details atm but will hear soon enough.  they are expecting the new hours to start in may. i'm on annual leave for the whole of may so when i get back hopefully it will be in place. this is due to the new eb that states that all full time staff are not allowed to work weekends anymore. we are getting a new library system very soon and training will start while i'm away.  no problem.  i'll catch up.  it's a fairly user friendly system by all reports.    all that and my new phone is waiting for me at the post office.  it arrived today but as i was at work the courier took it to the post office.  all in all i'm pretty chuffed.  i think i'd rather win lotto and retire but hey one thing at a time.  :)   the kitty is pleased too

a birthday and a panda

birthday girl

i didn't get home until 8 tonight coz i went up to see cookie as it's her 12th birthday today.  harmony day too.  she had a lovely day and we went out for dinner.  i gave her a name necklace for want of a better name.  she has a very unusual name, she's the only one i've ever heard of, so i got one made by a jeweller in melbourne.  silver with swarovski crystals. she loved it.  her parents gave her clothes which she loved too.  she's having a party on sunday at the local park.  she's excited.  it should be a lovely day.  now i'm pooped.

so on to the panda.  well!  i was at the end of my busy desk shift and doing three things at once as usual.  i looked up and there in front of me was a 7 foot panda.  well, a person in a panda suit to be precise.  i said hello, as you do, and he waved at me. he could have been there to rob us for all i knew.  he was carrying a gift basket.  i asked him a question and he shook his head no.  i asked if he wanted to give out the lollies around the library.  he shook his head.  then i noticed that he was tapping on his gift basket and written on the box was the name Sarah.  drrr  i finally got it.  he was there for sarah.  so after getting a very embarrassed sarah out to the desk the basket was presented to her.  by now a large crowd had gathered.  camera flashes went off.  it turned into something of an event.  it seems that the person inside the suit has a bit of a crush on sarah.  he's older than her and she doesn't really reciprocate his feelings.  he stayed around for ages, i thought he was waiting for a tip or maybe he was going to strip. a stripping pandagram.  he finally left and things settled down when all of a sudden a young woman came in to the library with a gift basket for sarah.  the two are not connected at all but you have to admit it was a doozy of a coincidence.

it's hard to understand panda sign language

bug run 2

bug run march 2012

we went on another bug run today.  up into the hills, down to the beach and cafe primo for lunch.  we are all pooped.  my son made a short video. the backing music is by his band khatrun.  i have to put it in as a link above.  apologies.  we had a lovely day.  the club members are all very friendly people and a good time was had by all.  i'm off tomorrow and then back to work on tuesday.  ewwwww  :)

a pic from the last bug run. i forgot my camera today :(

the weather today was perfect.

yesterday i went up to see my daughter and g/kids.  their dog had nine puppies.  the pups are too cute and have their eyes open now.  we had a nice day.  a little lunch and a little shopping.  we went to about four garage sales too and had a great day.   i hope you enjoyed your weekend 

dinner

my sister is down for a short visit.  she went to the hospital today but we ended up in emergency coz her bp was too high to go through with the procedure.  we were in hospital for the afternoon.  we went to sunflower, a vietnamese restaurant a few neighbourhoods away for dinner.  the food was delectable.  honey chicken, satay chicken, king prawns and beef curry.  all with rice and drinks.  yum.   we are home now and i have to go back to work tomorrow after three days off.  yuk.  i'm working sunday too.  double wammy.  :)  my sister is staying over until monday coz i'm going back for my first check up.  going to bed now.   goodnight :)

i'm going to give it another try

i'm going to try these even though my last attempt was pathetic.  call me a fool for punishment and wish me luck.  there's lots of cheese though.

Lasagne "Cupcakes" from http://www.emilybites.com/2011/07/lasagna-cupcakes.html

Ingredients: ½ lb 95% lean ground beef 1 ½ t Italian seasoning 5 oz mushrooms, chopped 16 wonton wrappers, 4 oz fat free Ricotta cheese, 1 ½ oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated 1 c pasta sauce, 4 oz reduced fat 2% shredded Mozzarella cheese Directions: 1. Pre-heat the oven to 375. Lightly mist 8 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside. 2. In a sauté pan or large skillet over medium-high heat, add the ground beef and Italian seasoning and brown beef, breaking it up with a spoon. Add mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until mushrooms are browned as well. 3. Push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each of the eight sprayed cups in the muffin tin. Using about half of the ricotta, spoon evenly into the wonton wrappers. Follow by spooning some of the meat/mushroom mixture into each cup (using about half the total mixture) and then splitting ½ cup of the sauce between each cup. Sprinkle about half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan evenly over the top of each cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining ingredients. 4. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin. Yields 8 lasagna cupcakes.  we shall see.  i'll let you know how they go.  sans pics this time i think  :)  sorry it's in imperial measurements not metric.

Emily

this is what they are supposed to look like :)

i'm watching Baz Luhrmann's version of romeo and juliet.  it blew me away when i saw it on the big screen all those years ago, 1996 in fact.  it still does.  it's an amazing movie. it's stinky hot here and i'm just about to make a milo smoothie. the movie is quite long i think and i worked today so  will probably be a late one.

just a few things

not too much has happened this week.  my home phone died yesterday morning but internet is ok.  (obviously).  there's a little tower that's been  pushed over just up the road.  it's full of cables and some of them are daamaged.  i'm guessing that that is the reason.  my keyyboard is playing up.  i had a virus  yesterday and i tried to d/load itunes but it wouldn't run.  i've never had problems with it in the past.  i'm going up to see the kids in a while.  i'm lookinng forward to that.  we may go to maccas and get an icecream and maybe tthe playground.  see what i mean about my keyboard.  maybe it's the settings.  i've just finished watching popasiia.  i lovee it.  everyone is 12 years old and so cute.  my sister is coming down soon.  she's got an appointment at the hospital and will stay over to go with me when i have my first check upp a few days afterwards.  work is suckier than usual lately as our databases have been affected  by a new achieval  system.  notthing but problems.  ahhhh   makess everything so difficult esp. when a patron is waiting to be served.  the cataloggue is down half the time too.  very inconvenient.  oh well.  could always be worse i suppose.  enjoy your sunday  :)

my g/daughters shopping in the city

benni, my favourite g/cat.  sorry it's a little bit blurry 

benni and etta. etta is the feral kitten my son hand reared.  she's a daddy's girl and is totally spoilt

back to work tomorrow

yuk, but at least it's a short day.  i don't know where the hols have gone.  christmas then new year and now it's back into the swing of it.  we have had a nasty heat wave which thank goodness is over for the time being. 41 degrees is too hot for me.  nice weather now except that it's windy.  garden has suffered and i got drenched this arvo when the hose exploded and went everywhere.  fish are still alive.  :)  i'm going to get a new mobile on the 27th of this month.  i can't make up my mind whether i'll stay with my plan or go prepaid.  probably stay on the plan while i'm working.  i can ring the kids/family for free, make overseas calls and go on fb all on my plan.  oh well, i suppose i should get ready for work tomorrow and have a shower (another one).  have a good one everyone  :)

just a catch up

i had the kids over for christmas a day early, which is something we often do.  we had a nice dinner and then opened presents and that was crazy.  kids were excited and it was great.  very noisy.  i went to wallaroo to visit my sister and her family on christmas day.  i came back yesterday and was pooped but had a great sleep last night so feel much better today.  i may go to a friend's house for a very quiet new year's eve.  i usually stay at home.  then, i go back to work on the 4th of january.  fish are ok atm :)

i found some old photos on the phone.  this is benni when she was little.  my favourite grandcat

i'd like to wish you a very happy 2012.  be safe, healthy and happy

i've been throttled

i may have told you already. tpg, my isp, has throttled my speed simply because i've used all of my peak 20 gig allowance. i have heaps on my off peak to use but i'm rarely up after one am except on weekends. oh well. it's supposed to return to normal tomorrow. i hope they don't stuff up and i have problems. it's all because i've been watching sewing tutorials on youtube. i love youtube. if you want to do anything at all there's bound to be an instructional video on youtube. i've found them very useful. i've also purchased a new modem from ebay, so am waiting patiently for that to arrive in the hope that it will cure my noisy phone line when i'm on the net. ahhh technology. lovely when it works. i also wait, not so patiently, for my new mouse. must go, got to get ready for work.

i'm looking for a new tattoo design. i like this one.